Blessings in the Mighty Name of Yeshua Hamashiach!
Do we want the living Christ manifest, functioning in power in our lives? At the same moment self is being crucified, Christ is being magnified. The cross that crucifies self is the gate through which God's power enters our lives.
Paul wrote, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Phil 3:10-11). Crucifixion precedes resurrection. Why is it more of us cannot break into true spiritual power? Self still rules. God cannot trust us with power, for self will instinctively hijack power to attract the worship and praise of man.
Self must die; Jesus must live. Paul declared, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God" (Gal 2:20). Do we see this? God did not only take my sins to the cross; He took my old self there as well. I died at Calvary. The Almighty does not seek to heal me, He seeks to kill me and, in my place, manifest the perfect life of His Son in me.
The cross means death to selfishness. It is a crucifixion of our insecurities and fears and an abandonment to death of our unending self-pity and woundedness. What must die in us deserves to die! It is the enemy of God and us. Only Jesus deserves to live forever; only that part of me that wants Jesus is capable of living forever.
Yes, beloved, there is a price for destiny. Some who pay it will be teens who want to find their fulfillment in God alone. Some are people approaching retirement and, for the first time in their lives, are about to make a choice to truly follow Jesus Christ. Yet, whomever He chooses, they will be people who proclaim with faith and vision: "Self must die; Jesus must live!" Tomorrow's leaders shall pay God's price today.
Shalom