MEMORY VERSE
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
– Matthew 16:24
To deny yourself means to refuse, decline, or oppose the desires of your flesh. If you are hungry, and you fast, you are denying yourself food.
This same principle applies to sin. When our flesh has a desire to sin, such as lust, greed, coveting, pride, or other such things, and we deny ourselves, we are refusing to feed our flesh what it wants.
Denying yourself is not something we naturally want to do. It’s difficult and takes discipline and determination to be successful at denying yourself.
The more you practice saying “no” to yourself, the better you will be at it. We need to make it a regular practice of denying our flesh, saying no to our desires, and disciplining ourselves. This is a requirement for anyone who wants to be a disciple of Yeshua.
Are you saying “no” to your flesh on a daily basis?
