Scripture:
“If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” – Luke 9:23
Beloved,
The journey of every true disciple begins where self ends. It begins at the altar where our will bows to the Father’s will where ambition, pride, and self-preservation are laid down in exchange for divine purpose.
Jesus showed us this perfect pattern of surrender in Gethsemane, when faced with the agony of the cross, He chose submission over self-preservation. His words, “Not My will, but Yours be done,” were not just spoken in prayer; they defined His entire life and ministry.
To follow Jesus, therefore, is to follow Him into this place of surrender. It is to die to our own desires and plans, and to embrace His. “If anyone would come after Me,” He said, “let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).
A call to do His will is not a comfortable path; it is a continual dying dying to the need for control, for recognition, for comfort, and for self-importance. Paul expressed it well when he said, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31).
The process of dying to self is not meant to destroy us but to align us. Each surrender reshapes us into the image of Christ. Every time we yield, the Holy Spirit chisels away more of self and reveals more of Jesus in us. The more we die, the more we live because the life of Christ can only find full expression in a heart that has yielded its own will.
A true disciple is one whose heart beats in rhythm with the Father’s. Discipleship is not about achievement, but about alignment coming into oneness with God’s purpose and pleasure. It is a call to forsake all that competes with His voice and to follow wherever He leads, even when the way is unclear or costly.
As we align our will with the Father’s, our hearts begin to reflect His nature and one of the greatest evidences of this alignment is intercession. When self dies, love lives; and love always intercedes. Jesus, our perfect example, carried the burdens of others in prayer.
In Luke 9:55–56, when His disciples wanted to call down fire on those who rejected Him, He rebuked them, revealing the true spirit of His mission: “The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”
In John 17, we see Jesus on His knees, praying not for Himself, but for His disciples and for all who would believe through their message. Intercession is the overflow of a surrendered heart, a heart so aligned with the Father that it feels what He feels and prays what He desires.
To become an intercessor is to share in God’s burden for humanity; it is to echo His compassion in prayer until His will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
Therefore, to say “Not my will, but Yours be done” is not just a moment of surrender, it is a lifestyle. It is the daily posture of a disciple who walks in humility, obedience, and love. It is the continual response of a heart that has found its joy not in personal fulfilment but in the Father’s pleasure.
Discipleship and intercession are two sides of the same coin, one is the death of self, the other is the birth of divine compassion. Together, they define what it truly means to live in the centre of God’s will.
Prayer:
Father, I thank You for calling me to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Teach me to daily surrender my will for Yours.
Align my heart with Your desires, and let my life reflect Your obedience and compassion in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
