I'm Following Jesus – Page 1119 – Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Saturday, April 24, 2021
Chapters: Psalms 43-45, 49, 84-85, 87
Message: Joy Cometh In The Morning

Hello My Friend,

As I was reading the chapters, I thought about Jesus as He was praying to His Father before He was about to be captured, [Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.] Jesus knew His fate, He knew that He was brought here in the flesh to endure the most horrific pain, even though He is God, and could have made salvation permanent some other way, but He chose to sacrifice His very own life. In His human form, that did not stop Him from feeling the pain that we do in our flesh when we know we have this cup that we must endure, and asking our Father to remove it. Nevertheless, He says those words that we too must swallow, “not my will, but thine,” God’s will is not always pleasant, but just think of the joy that comes in the morning, [Psalms 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.]

Yes, God does get angry with us, after all, the majority of us are strong willed, we do not want to give up the things we work so hard to accomplish. I cannot tell you how many jobs, schools, or much money I put into ventures only to see them fail and end up right back where I started. It can be quite discouraging, especially when you thought you were in God’s will. And the thing is, perhaps we may have been in God’s will all along, sometimes it is in His will that we fail. For when we fail, that is when we depend on Him a little bit more, and cry out to Him like we never have before, and then, joy cometh in the morning, [Psalms 43:3-5 O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. 4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. 5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.]

[for I shall yet praise him,] There are mornings when I wake up raring to go, I am focused and ready to start the day, praising God for all His goodness. Then there are mornings, that I want to lay my head back down on my pillow, yet get up only to waste thirty minutes staring at a blank computer screen, with nothing to say to God, except to thank and praise Him for another day. And God is actually okay with that, we do not need elaborate prayers, sometimes the best prayers are saying nothing at all, [Matthew 6:6-8 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.]

[who is the health of my countenance,] [Countenance; the whole form of the face or visage] Our face can tell a lot, and is often a reflection of what is in our heart. We often put on a great face, or at least, try, but God knows what is deep down inside. The more we feel like we fail, the more we find ourselves asking God why we cannot seem to be getting it right. We read His Word and are reminded of all the miraculous things that He has done and wonder if He is done with us. David called it when he wrote this Psalm.

[Psalms 44:1-3,6-8 To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. 2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. 3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them. 6 For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. 7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. 8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.]

[because thou hadst a favour unto them.] You see, we sometimes forget that God is our will and strength. We always tell ourselves that we can do this in our own strength, but the truth is, we cannot. Christ is our strength. It is only by the grace, meaning the favor of God, that we are saved through our faith in Christ, everything else works the same way. And let me tell you, God does not favor us because we are more righteous than someone else nor because do more work than someone else, we have God’s favor simply because we believe in what He Son has done for us, [Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.]

And I get it, while we are not saved by our works, we do work hard to maintain some kind of morals and dignity, because after all, who wants to really live a life like that. Look at all these fools and how they are destroying the very foundations that our nation was built upon, and getting away with it too, while we are the ones who suffer. It is confusing and we also find ourselves asking God if He is

[Psalms 44:15-23 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, 16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger. 17 All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. 18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; 19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death. 20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; 21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. 22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. 23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.]

[why sleepest thou, O Lord?] Sometimes it does feel like God is sleeping through all this, that He has had enough and turned His back on us. The truth is, He is not, even when He judged Israel and sent them to Babylon, He was still with them. He actually sent them to Babylon to keep them safe while Israel was being destroyed by all the evil things going on. And let me tell you, if God sent His faithful, (Remember, the majority of them were Judean’s), to a heathen nation for safety, imagine how bad Israel had gotten. God has in no way forgotten us, He is not sleeping, and if anything what He is doing is waking all of His people up, [I Peter 4:12-13 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.]

Do you understand that if you have accepted Christ as your Saviour, that you are a child of the KING? You belong to Jesus, you are anointed, clean, and favored above all the people in the world. [Psalms 45:6-11 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. 7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. 9 Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. 10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; 11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.]

[forget also thine own people,] This is similar to what Jesus said, [Luke 14:26-30 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? 29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, 30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.]

All this is another way of saying that we cannot depend on anyone else, God may use some amazing God fearing people to grow and encourage us in the Lord. He may even us some evil, God hating people to remind us of how much we need God. Just like Jesus had to suffer His cross, we have to suffer our own, but in the end, we can say that we endure all of it through our faith in Christ. Just think about what Jesus is referencing, all these fools who are renouncing their faith in Christ are only making a mockery out of themselves. They are proving that their faith was never in Christ to begin with. I do not care if I am the only one left standing, I rather endure the pain that comes with my faith than the pain that comes without it.

[Psalms 84:2-5,9-11 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. 3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. 4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. 9 Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. 10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.]

[I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,] I always say that I rather be scrubbing floors in heaven than have everything I ever wanted here without God. This reminds me of my prayer yesterday, I asked Him why I have to be the one to live each day my daily bread without having extra savings for when something happens. God reminded me that something always happens, and I would not trust Him for everything if I had everything. Let me tell you, God will only give certain people that kind of faith, He always provides for His faithful, [Matthew 6:25,32-34 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.]

We certainly can take nothing with us, no matter where we end up so we might as well enjoy what we have. When you stop to think about all these fools and why they do what they do, it all comes down to this, jealously, covetousness, and greed. They are angry, bitter people, lusting over what we have, too lazy to work for what we have worked so hard to accomplish, and have no faith in God whatsoever. If they would only let go over themselves, and cry out to God, then He will turn things around and heal our land. And we, who are faithful need to praying that God will change their hearts.

[Psalms 85:5-13 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? 6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? 7 Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation. 8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. 9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. 10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12 Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. 13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.]

[and shall set us in the way of his steps.] In case you have not noticed, the world is following in the steps of Satan. The celebrities, the elites, the ones who are the gods to those who worship them. They disrespect God, the flag, our country, and the men and women who lost their lives for the freedoms they have to act they way they do, and they will be held accountable to God Himself. On the other hand, we, who are faithful to Christ and will not bow down to them are walking in the steps of our Saviour, and nothing can remove them, [Psalms 87:2-6 The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah. 4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. 5 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. 6 The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.]

[that this man was born there.] How incredible is it that Jesus puts His name on us, and establishes us forever? When we stand before Jesus, and are granted eternal life with Him, and this is why we have to wait until we die in order to receive it, He does so solely upon the fact that we have carried our faith in Him until our dying breath. Even if we only had one minute to believe and accept Him as our Saviour before we die, that is all it takes to receive eternal life. I will tell you this, I know I have failed many at many tings, the one thing that has never failed is my ministry, I might get weary and take a while to get something done, but it continues and is prosperous. I am so blessed because it is not in my own will that it succeeds, it is God’s. As much as I fail God, He continues to use me for His work, and I find great joy in the fact that He gave me the job I have. We may suffer a lot in our faith, but God never gives us more than we can handle, and joy will always come on the morning, [I Peter 4:13-14 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [Psalms 87:5-6 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. 6 The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.]

Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for giving me life and for the life You have given me. It is the failures in life that led me to Your Son, it is the fact that I learned that I needed Your Son that led me to admit that I am a sinner and only He can save me from the fiery pits of hell. I know that I am not always in Your will, forgive me where I have failed You on that. I do know that not all my failures had to do with it not being in Your will, rather for me to walk the steps Jesus took, to feel pain as He has felt, to suffer, as He has suffered, to endure as He endured, and to find joy and comfort as He did when He endure the cup You gave Him with You and arose the victor. I do not always understand why I suffer or work so hard to fail at what I truly thought would be a success, but I do understand that You are with me, that Your hand is on me, that You are my strength, and I can do nothing without You, and that my joy will come in the morning. I praise You God for all You are and pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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