What Self Denial Is Is Not What They Call It

What is Self? What is it that we must deny? This must first be defined. If we don't know what it is that we deny we fall into error of afflicting our self unnecessarily, for self denial should not in anyway be so narrowed down. The Human Self is the center of the man, situated in the soul. The Self is the governor of the whole being, it is all that man is, his personality, character, habits, methods, mentality, desires, personal culture, natural ability, and perception. The Self has forever been the problem in every Christian walk, not sin, for most Christians have conquered sin by faith. If the Self of man is denied for the life of Christ, man will act, walk and live like Jesus. The Self of man decides whether man will obey God in all things or not, it decides what comes into the man and what goes out, it is the vehicle of the man and determines the destiny of man. Men who are governed by this Self tends to uphold their views above other's and will never submit to the truth for their view is perfect according to them, they would rather cater for their personal needs before thinking someone somewhere is almost dead for lack, their person is the center of everything they do, they are extremely self-centered. The seat of man's government is situated at the Self-Center for the unregenerate and believers who have not yielded or surrendered absolutely to the Lord alike, but for true disciples of Jesus Christ the seat of government has been moved into the spirit, heart where the Spirit of God dwells. Hence, true followers of Jesus are never looking to be served, but they would rather serve because they are governed by the spirit.

The command that we must deny our Self cuts directly into the core of our being, for this Self is who or what we are. This is the same with telling us to deny who we really are to have the life of Christ. If any man will be useful for God such must deny himself and let Christ reign in and through him. This Self disrupts or totally blocks off the flow of life to and through us believers, take for instance when the Spirit of God desires to use us to heal a brother through admonition or comfort, because we have had our preconceived ideas, culture, mentality, perception and methods determined or reigning, we block off the ideas and words coming from the Spirit, for these words of life coming from the Spirit holds in itself the healing power to be administered but we shun it altogether because we think our Self to have something better, which is actually ineffective. Most Christians become very useless to God in this regard and many other ways, for men who are dead to Self will receive from the Spirit and deliver that which will save the brother. Let us be aware that denying the Self in us is harder to do than abstaining from sin, this will mark the difference between us and the majority babe Christians out there. If our Self is taken out of the way the life of Christ dominates. If our Self is crucified, the life of Christ flows to the soul and all our departments, and we shall be totally free. This is our only ticket to walking in full spiritual maturity believers. The old man must be put down through denial and the new man put on by faith and obedience. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Matthews 16:24).

The Self of man has hindered God's work more than the devil over the ages, for the Self blocks the life of God and imprisons it in the spirit, the Self now becomes the source of life for man instead of the spirit, having in mind that the soul of man is capable of counterfeiting the works of the spirit, soul life could also counterfeit spirit's life for the human soul is made in form of a spirit. The man full of Self will distort God's message when he tries to explain or preach it, he will call black white, he will totally turn it upside down, he would preach the gospel either to glorify himself, seek wealth or feed his ego. Sometimes preachers of God's word mixes their Self or soul life with the word of God, what a defilement of the holy! We must return to the cross and seek that the Lord wrought a deeper work of holiness in us! Some believers who are filled with Self hardly gives and if they would give they would do so only to save their Self from guilty conscience. The soulish or selfish man would sell the planet to preserve his sweet feelings, kill to keep his high emotions. Self-ish believers get very sad if unable to give or help the poor, they would do anything to make their Self feel good. Their Self is the center of their lives, not God. If they are not praised or referred to in a gathering they might get a little bit angry within, for they love to be the topic of discussion, or come to spotlight. They hardly weep for the passion of Jesus or they overreact altogether. They always think the whole world revolves around them and everything is for them. They would boast about their strength and ability but when it is time to take action, they melt out. The man of soul has an unstable emotion, he gets disturbed now, few minutes later he is very happy, then few moments after he is sad again. They always think about their Self, not God, not scripture, not anyone but their Self. They hardly forgive because they think every one is obliged to treat them specially. They often speak about their Self, in fact they would go off topic to bring their Self into conversation. They esteem their knowledge above all else's and hardly take correction for everybody else is lagging in knowledge apart from them, they sit at the front in churches that everyone could see them or they rather hide from plain sight due to shyness, they cannot express Christ in attitude or words, they hardly change their mind even when ignorantly falling into a ditch, they hate to serve at church or home for they would rather be served, and they are absolutely useless to God. Every little thing they do is because of their Self. If the Lord shall be merciful to us we shall receive revelation that our Self is more filthy and wicked than sin. Brethren, if our Self is not dealt with by God how can He take us to places? For we shall continue to defile His work with our unclean Self!

What is the cross? God's instrument for dealing with my Self and bringing glory to Himself! The cross is that gentle affliction or simple hardship in the life of a believer which cannot be removed by human hands or power, but by God alone. That's the cross! Every believer has one, big or small, but most fail to maximize it using the opportunity to grow spiritually, and if it has not fulfill its purpose God would never remove it. Some flee from God, others pray that God might get rid of it, not realizing the fact that it was meant to prepare them for God's use and glory. Who will God use? A broken man! A man dead to himself and completely lost in God! Is there a man who desires to be useful for God? Let him deny himself! Self-denial will position him for God's use. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. {16:26} For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthews 16:25-26). This is more urgent than how most take it. If we try to keep this soul life we shall lose it, and if we let this soul life go we shall keep it unto life eternal. This is the Self life brother Paul spoke about when he said, "my life is hid with Christ in God." For for any man to be useful for God, this life must be denied and hid in Christ that the life of Christ might reign in and through us. For this very purpose has God provided the cross for us believers. Let's get this, brethren! The cross of Christ has two phases; firstly, we are crucified with Christ, in that our flesh and sin has been dealt with on the cross. We are to enter into this reality by faith, believing we are dead to sin and flesh, baptized into the death of Christ. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him,] that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6). Secondly, believing the reality of our death with Christ does not automatically make us be, talk, act and walk like Jesus, we must be crucified daily by the cross through Self denial to get the imprisoned life of Christ out of us, to break the hard shell of Self. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Matthews 16:24). The first cross has crucified us, the second cross is crucifying us.

Self denial, the denial of my ideas! The man whose mind is renewed no longer distorts the message of the bible nor argues with God, for God's yes is his yes and God's no is his no. His mind is renewed, he has the mind of Christ, he understands every little part of the scripture, he cannot be deceived by lying or prosperity preachers, he is fully convinced of the doctrine of God and can never be misled. He no longer upholds his views but relies on God for wisdom in all things. But how did he arrive at such success? He denied himself! God is so powerful in that the most intelligent of this world are most foolish and ignorant when it comes to the things of God. Graduated from topnotch institutions with great grades did they but subject them to explaining scripture and one would be amazed at how bewildered they would appear to be. Why is this so? For they love their brain so much! They love their knowledge and wisdom, they would never deny this, they are convinced of their ideas, upholds their mentality, cherishes their eloquence, brilliance, perception, knowledge, wisdom, understanding and views, all which are absolute foolishness before God. Men who became apostates over the years were brilliant men who would rather use their brain to understand God's word rather than wait for revelation. If there be a man who desires his mind be renewed let him return himself to basics and deny these things as if he never had them. That a man is eloquent in speech and brilliant in the use scripture does not in any way makes him useful for God, in fact, he is a stumbling block for the spread of the gospel if he ever desires to preach it, for no man can preach the gospel by natural human abilities but by revelation. A man may be of dull memory and zero eloquence, if he has revelation he is more useful to God than the most brilliant man on the planet. If we will glean tightly to our ideas, how shall we then receive God's idea or revelation? Can any man hold two contrary faiths at once? Let the believer deny all these worldly things which belongs to Adam, let him prayerfully pick up his bible and study afresh in all simplicity of mind, let him deny his ideas as if he knew nothing. As he remains in position of denial of his wisdom and interpretation and knowledge and understanding, he shall find that as he moves forward in studying scripture, the Spirit of God shall begin to illuminate his mind and teach him, then he shall wonder at how easy and obvious those things which once appeared extremely obscured are, and he shall very soon find himself teaching others. He shall no longer be confused on decision making, he shall no longer think himself wiser than others for his wisdom comes from Another, he shall think as Christ would in all situations and always carry out the better good. He will never again be confused whether to go right or left for his renewed mind would interpret every message God drops into his spirit, and he will be led by the spirit without much stress.

Self denial, denial of my emotions! Joy of the Spirit is the believer's state of normalcy of emotion. If anyone wander out of this state of joy he is abnormal. This is not the kind of joke some call joy, that makes them laugh uncontrollably like fools, roll on the floor and do all sorts of insane things. What most believers call joy today is mere happiness which lasts only for but a short time, and it slowly wears away. This joy flows from the Spirit as one of its fruit unceasingly, it's always there to be tapped into. It is steady, calm and gives strength, David testified about the joy of the Lord being his strength. Men full of power of the Holy Ghost are often first filled with this heavenly joy. Believers must be aware that the Lord might stir their spirit up sometimes, as Paul was stirred towards against the demon in the little girl, but that doesn't break the flow of joy. (Acts 1:16:18). The flow of this joy is often hindered by the believer when he picks up substitutes such as various worldly entertainments and cares of this world. The flow of this joy is blocked because something else already fills the man. Let us get rid of these things, for they hinder our usefulness for God. If we desire to operate in the joy of the Lord let us deny these things such as extreme happiness or laughter, sadness, intense anger, strife, hatred, bitterness, envy, over sensitivity, and walk in normalcy of mind and spirit. How can we deny these? By cutting our heart and mind off of the affection for things of this present world. If our spirit is out of normalcy it is stirred by the activities of the mind, and already out of fellowship with God. We must keep our spirit in normalcy by avoiding these things that could stir our mind unnecessarily, for the state of our mind reflects the state of our spirit. Entertainment as the world calls it is the devil's substitute for joy of the Spirit, for Satan has a counterfeit for everything that belongs to God. The more joy we have in the Lord the less worldly entertainment we crave. If there be a man who desires to walk in the joy of the Lord he must first deny the happiness of the world, one must be sacrificed for the other. Only if we deny our Self of these satanic pleasures do we have the constant, reliable, free steady flow of the Spirit's joy. When a man is delivered and has joy flowing through his soul from the spirit, such is no longer bound by the ups and downs of emotions, that which caused him or her to be very happy now extremely sad a few minutes later has been crushed, he will no more uncontrollably and often get angry, he will no longer work to suit his feelings or crave for things that will make him happy for the happiness of this world through entertainment and worldly possessions is foolishness unto him, he will be joyous in every circumstances with the assurance that God loves him, he will serve God joyfully not for what he could get from God or to make himself happy but out of a joyful and grateful heart will he love God.

Self denial, denial of my will! The hard willed man changes not his heart after making a decision. He has many plans that he must accomplish. He hardly forgives though he calls himself a Christian. He does not care about what God thinks about his current actions or situation, for God does not matter that much to him. He goes wherever he likes whenever he likes, he studies the bible and prays whenever he wills, he give when he likes, he attends the Christian gathering only when convenient, and he lives his life as he wills. But a will surrendered to and governed by the Spirit of God will be bendable to obey God's will, such will will hardly go astray. Until a man can boldly declare, "I want not my will, let the will of God alone to be done!" He has not denied his will. Men make plans, leaving God out of it, when their plan backfires then they remember God and run to Him to cure the crisis He knew not when it started. Brethren, let us not be like this or walk out of God's will. Let us ask, "Lord, what is your will for me concerning this and that, it is your will alone I want for my life," then the Lord shall lead us safely. If we surrender our will to God, we shall be safe, in fact He would take it upon Himself to work it all out for our good. God seeks to bend many of His children's wills today to will His desire so that He could bless them but most are very boneheaded, hence useless. God has plans for his children but we all want our ways and desires fulfilled, because we will to have cars, houses, wealth, health, fame, good wife or husband, God's glorious purpose for most of our lives have been sacrificed for these things that does not last due to our shortsightedness. Hence, we have many Esau's even this day who would transact the spiritual for the carnal! Let us have in mind that no one is saved until such escapes the corruption that is in the world through lust. (1 Peter 1:4). The glory we would have used in and for the body of Christ sacrificed for mere earthly materials which shall fade away and disappear like the smoke. Brethren, if we desire not to, like Esau, sacrifice our glory in the kingdom of God for foolish things, let us submit to God's will, let Him direct us to the path He has purposed for our lives. For God is perfect, and a loving Father, He will never lead His children into destruction, but to the rivers of living water. If we do not deny these things we cannot be Christ's disciples. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Matthews 16:24).