23 Jesus also told everyone:“If you want to be my follower, deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me!
24 For whoever tries to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
25 What does it profit you to gain the whole world but lose or forfeit yourself?
24 For whoever tries to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
25 What does it profit you to gain the whole world but lose or forfeit yourself?
---- my own,
The cross is the sign of salvation and redemption for the whole world; I bore its entire weight. It crushed Me in every way. I embraced the entirety of the suffering of the whole human race. I drew it all to Myself from the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane until I cried out to My Father and surrendered My Spirit to Him. There is not the slightest part of the human experience that I have not experienced as well. By this, I mean all the loneliness, the struggles, the spiritual and mental anguish, the physical suffering, I suffered it all: poverty, exile, mockery, disdain, murderous hate. until I was condemned to death. Though innocent, I suffered the maniacal barbarity of those who hated Me because of their jealousy and envy, as well as the maniacal desire to impose cruel torture for no reason other than a lascivious delight. So when I invite you to pick up the little crosses that come your way every day because you live in the world where suffering and sorrow are a part of this earthly life, it is to allow you to not only participate in My suffering so you can appreciate what I suffered for you, but also for your own purification through suffering. ---- Mine, there is no other way to enter the Kingdom of God except by way of the cross and Calvary. If you run away from it, it will follow you. The further you try to escape, the larger and heavier it will become until you can run no longer, and its weight, when it does catch up with you, will crush you. So consider this today, there is no escaping the cross. Resolve that you will receive it from Me obediently and promptly and carry it with joy, knowing that I will be yoked to you. I will accompany you every step of the Way until you stand at the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven, and I will throw it wide open for you to enter. I will take your hand, and I will lead you to My Father's House and your Father's House.
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