Email from Abiding Place Daily Bread – August 8, 2025 (The Sixth Day – Genesis 1:24-31) Matthew 16:24 – Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. Jesus’ Consecration to the Father Jesus revealed His consecration to the Father, as well as how His relationship worked with the Father, when He said, “I do not have power to do anything of Myself. Accordingly as I hear, I judge. And My judgment is righteous, because I seek not My will, but the will of the Father Who sent Me.” (John 5:30). The realm of the self is one of the most misunderstood subjects, and is often confused with the sinful nature, or the flesh. However, the self is the essence of who we are as individuals. Self must be denied so as the servants of God, we may do His will instead (1 Peter 4:2; John 1:13; Colossians 1:9; Romans 12:1-2). Unlike the flesh nature that was crucified with Christ, the self -which makes us distinct from all other individuals goes on living forever. While we are here in our earthly sojourn, self must be denied so we might learn the ways of the Father. All of us have many choices we can make about our vocations, the things we are going to do with our spare time, and how we are going to spend our money. By definition, none of these choices may have anything to do with a sinful action, but neither would they necessarily be the will of God for our lives. If we are going to follow Jesus in the way He has called us to follow Him, then our own ideas and choices must come to an end. We have to be willing to learn a servitude and a submission to God where we do it all His way. We must be willing to come to a place where we are not going to decide anything for ourselves again. If we are going to live out the life described in the Bible of being those who are the witnesses of the resurrection, then we must learn that we can do nothing of ourselves (John 15:1-5). It is important for each of us to understand how this impacts us individually in the choices we make, and how we live out our lives. We can make the whole subject simple by saying, “Walk in the Spirit, and mind the things of the Spirit.” However, those things about ourselves that we do not identify, but rather overlook and refuse to deny, will continue to remain somewhat abstract and unattended Blessings, Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
Daily Bread 8/8/2025
