Luke 9:23 (KJV): “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
Philippians 3:12 (KJV): “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after.”
Well we have made it to Day 5, the final day of Crucify It 3.0. The devotional is ending, but the discipline is not. If God gives you another morning, there will still be another opportunity to surrender, another decision to make, and another moment to choose the Spirit over the flesh. This week we learned to pick up the cross again. We learned that discipline becomes necessary when our feelings do not agree with obedience. We learned not to give old things new permission simply because they try to rise again, and we confronted our will with the prayer of Jesus: “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Now we return to the word that has carried this entire journey, daily.
Jesus did not tell us to take up our cross for five days. He said to take it up daily and follow Him. There is no graduation from surrender while you are following Jesus. As long as God gives you breath, you will need His Grace, His correction, His Word, and His Spirit. Yesterday’s surrender mattered, but today requires its own yes, and if God gives you another tomorrow, you will meet Him there with another one.
Paul’s words in Philippians 3 are powerful because he had already experienced much with God. He had encountered Christ, preached the gospel, planted churches, endured persecution, and witnessed the power of God, yet he refused to speak as though he had reached a place where there was nothing left for God to do in him. Philippians 3:12 says, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after.” Then in verses 13–14, Paul explains that he is forgetting those things which are behind, reaching toward what is before him, and pressing toward the mark.
Paul was still following, and that gives us a healthy picture of spiritual maturity. Maturity is not reaching a place where you no longer need surrender, correction, or growth. You can acknowledge what God has already done while still allowing Him to continue His work. Philippians 1:6 reminds us that “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” God is still working, and we are still following.
Sometimes you want one powerful moment with God to settle everything forever. You want to forgive once and never feel the memory again. You want to surrender control and never feel the urge to take it back. You want to overcome fear and never hear its voice again. But Jesus gave you a word that prepares you for the process, daily. Daily means you continue bringing ourselves under His authority. Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Walking requires continued movement. Some days you will walk well, and on other days the Holy Spirit may show you that our flesh got ahead of you. When that happens, you repent, make whatever correction is necessary, receive God’s Grace, and continue walking.
First John 1:9 reminds you that when you confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse you. Yesterday’s victory should not make you prideful, and today’s mistake should not make you quit. You are not trying to become people who never need God again. you are becoming people who know how quickly to return to Him.
Throughout the Crucify It journeys, we have confronted attitudes, habits, reactions, pride, fear, unforgiveness, control, and our own will. But the goal was never simply to spend the rest of our lives searching for something wrong with ourselves. Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” There is life on the other side of surrender. When pride loses authority, humility has room to grow. When bitterness loses authority, love has room to grow. When fear stops governing every decision, faith has room to grow and when your need for control begins to loosen, trust has room to grow.
Galatians 5:22–23 describes the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. You have not been crucifying the flesh merely to become good at saying no, you are learning to say yes to Jesus, and the more your flesh loses authority, the more your life will reflect Him, so look at Jesus and keep walking, as this the place where you examine yourself in the word, Psalm 139:23 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” You become so focused on what you are trying to crucify that you forget where your eyes ultimately belong.
Hebrews 12:1 tells us to lay aside every weight and the sin that easily besets us, but verse 2 immediately tells us to be “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” We lay something down so we can continue moving. Do not spend the rest of your life standing over what you surrendered to see whether it is still dead. Keep your eyes on Jesus. You confronted offense so bitterness would not continue governing you. You confronted fear so it would stop determining where you were willing to go. You surrendered control so you could trust God with what you cannot manage. You confronted pride so you could remain teachable. The purpose of crucifying the flesh is not lifelong preoccupation with the flesh. The purpose is a life increasingly surrendered to Christ until He calls you home.
Sunshine, give God the day you have. If today requires patience, ask Him for patience. If today requires forgiveness, surrender the offense. If today requires courage, ask Him for courage. If today requires waiting, wait with Him. If today requires an apology, humble yourself and make it right. Lamentations 3:22–23 reminds us that God’s compassions are “new every morning.” Every morning brings new mercy and another opportunity to choose Him. You do not have to promise God that you will never struggle again, you just simply continue coming under His authority.
Romans 12:2 tells us to “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” As God renews your minds, your responses begin changing. Things that once controlled us may no longer have the same authority. Something that once took months to recognize may now take days, hours, or minutes. That is growth. Do not demand perfection from yourself where God is developing maturity, but do not use “I am still growing” as permission to remain where He is calling you to change. So remember until He calls you home, you are to continue surrendering, learning, growing, and following Jesus.
As we close Crucify It 3.0, look back for a moment, not merely at what you surrendered but at what God has done through your surrender. What do you recognize now that you did not recognize before? Where are you responding differently? What no longer controls you the way it once did? Where are you quicker to repent, slower to react, more willing to forgive, more patient in waiting, or more willing to release your own way? Then ask God, “What still needs my continued surrender?” Bring it before Him without shame. But do not stop there. Ask, “Lord, what has grown in me because I finally let that go?” You should have more peace, wisdom, patience, discernment, trust, and self-control. Do not only look at what died. Look at what God has brought to life in you.
Heavenly Father, Thank You, Thank You and Thank You for carrying me through this journey. Thank You for every truth You revealed, every place You corrected me, and every opportunity You gave me to surrender more fully to You. Sometimes I become so focused on how far I still have to go that I forget how far You have already brought me, so today I stop and thank You for Your work in me. Thank You for the prayers You answered and the ones You answered differently than I expected. Thank You for the doors You opened and the doors You would not allow me to force. Thank You for every time Your Spirit checked my mouth, helped me forgive, taught me to wait, gave me courage to apologize, showed me where I needed a boundary, or reminded me to trust You when I did not understand. Forgive me for the times I resisted Your work, tried to pick back up what I surrendered, or wanted Your blessing more than I wanted Your direction. Continue Your work in me. When old things try to rise, help me recognize them sooner. When my feelings pull me away from obedience, strengthen my discipline. When my way competes with Yours, bring me back to the prayer, “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Holy Spirit, continue producing Your fruit in me. Let love become stronger than bitterness, peace stronger than anxiety, patience stronger than impatience, faith stronger than fear, humility stronger than pride, and self-control stronger than impulse. Help me never become so focused on what I am crucifying that I forget to look at Jesus. Father, this devotional is ending, but my surrender is not. If You give me tomorrow, I will need You tomorrow. Until the day You call me home, help me deny myself, take up my cross daily, and follow Jesus. Today I give You another yes, and I thank You for what You have already done, what You are doing now, and what You will continue to do in me. In the Mighty and Matchless Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Nugget: As this devotional series comes to an end remember that you need to continue flowing in discipline. Yesterday’s surrender mattered, but today requires its own yes, and if God gives you tomorrow, tomorrow will bring another opportunity to choose Him. Keep surrendering, keep growing, and keep your eyes on Jesus. Do not only look at what had to die; look at what God has brought to life in you.
We are moving from Crucify It to seeing what you really know! This is going to become your personal declaration.
Before we leave Crucify It, I want you to do something different. Instead of looking inward for one more thing that needs to change, turn around for just a moment and look at where the Lord has brought you. Do not go backward and do not pick anything back up. Just look long enough to recognize His hand. Look at what the Lord has done.
Look at what does not hurt the way it used to. Look at what no longer controls you the way it once did. Look at the prayers He answered, the doors He opened, and even the doors you cried over that you can now thank Him for closing. Look at the things you thought would destroy you but did not. Look at the seasons when you did not know how you were going to make it, yet somehow God kept you. You surrendered, cried, wrestled, repented, forgave, released, and learned to crucify the flesh when your flesh wanted its own way. Yet when you look back, your testimony cannot simply be about what you surrendered. Your testimony must also be about what God did.
That brings us to Job 19:25 (KJV): “For I know that my redeemer liveth.” Job did not say, “I understand everything that has happened to me.” He made a declaration about what he knew in the middle of what he could not understand.
Maybe that is exactly where Crucify It has been bringing us. After everything that you have survived, surrendered, released, forgiven, and trusted God through, there ought to be some things you know now that you did not know before. You know He kept you. You know He carried you. You know His grace was sufficient. You know some closed doors were mercy, some delays developed you, and some endings made room for something different. Most importantly, you know that when everything around you changed, God did not!
So, you are moving from Crucify It into For I Know. You are moving from examining what had to die to declaring what the journey taught you about God. The question is shifting from “What do I still need to crucify?” to “What do I know about God because of what I have lived through?” Now, look at where you started, and then look at where God has brought you. Look at what He healed, what He delivered you from, what He taught you, what He prevented, what He restored, and what He changed in you. You may not understand every chapter, and everything may not have happened the way you planned, but there are some things experience has settled in your spirit. Now your testimony has a voice, and you can say with assurance, look at what the Lord has done in me, For I know that my Redeemer liveth. See you Monday!
Blessings…
Love, Dr. Jean…
Have A Blessed Weekend…
Discover more from Transformed at the WELL Devotional Ministry
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
