“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it”( Mark 8:35).

There is much to be gained in loosing. This statement sounds foolish to anyone who is thinking from a worldly mindset. The world & society has placed high value on self-promotion & recognition. Even in the religious circle people have left the Church because they felt that leadership did not recognize them appropriately. I do believe in honor especially to those who have given their lives to the ministry of the Word ( I Timothy. 5:17). The scriptures clearly celebrates achievements of those who God chooses to promote & honor. I believe it is God’s heart to bless His people with all the Blessings of Deuteronomy 28. But many have not learned to just love the Lord with all their hearts in the secret places. In Mark 8:35 the Lord is revealing to us the way to live a life of significance is by loving God & dying to self. Jesus said, If you come to me to find true life, then it can only be experienced by living a crucified life (Gal. 2:20). This is a heavenly perspective that cannot be understood by natural means. One of my favorite Christian worship leaders is Misty Edwards. There is one particular song she has written called “Servant Of All”. Read the lyrics of this song; “I want to be Your lover. So show me how to go lower. For in the depths I will find You, where you're serving my brother. I want to be with You where You are. You're the Servant of all.  I'm in love with a King who became a Slave and I'm love with a God who is humble. And you got to go down if you want to go up and you've got to go lower if you want to go higher and higher. And you've got to hide and do it in secret if you want to be seen by God. Cause it's the inside, outside, upside down kingdom, where you lose to gain and you die to live”

How do you perceive the words to this song? Is it a song for your spirit to ascend to God’s Throne Room or is it nonsense based on philosophical reasoning? You be the judge. The Lord has designed us to know & hear Him by the Spirit. Jesus said the Words that I speak are “Spirit & Life” (John.6:63). So when we read the Word of God it is spiritual life being revealed to our born again spirit. I believe most Christians are sincere about living a life that is pleasing to God. They also believe the Word of God is inspired by God. But when trials & temptations of life come & they are squeezed real hard, what comes out?  Usually it is their carnal nature. In Romans chapter 8, the Apostle Paul addressed carnality. He says, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:5-8 . Here is the most important area of our lives that must be addressed. It is living life by the Spirit. Flesh is what separates us from a loving God. Here is what Galatians 5:19-21 describes as the works of the flesh, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The Lord has made a way for us to enjoy His presence. It is by recognizing that we have the Holy Spirit, who has set up residence in our inner man. We must allow Him His rightful place. When we do, He reveals the Love of God to our spirit man & then we are able to say, “Not my will but Yours my Lord & King”.

We have untapped potential in us waiting to be developed. A greater purpose awaits our complete surrender. Our Lord prophesied in John 14:12, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father”.  Greater works than  what Jesus  did? Yes! There are more of us that are filled with the Holy Spirit & represent Him as “Temples of God” (1 Cor. 3:16). Our Lord commanded us to, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8).  This  is a supernatural life. We need to be living life to our full capacity & anointing. Jesus Christ our Savior sees so much potential in each one of us. Oh, how grieved He must be to see us living way below the glorious life He purchased for us ! He desires for us to experience a life of relentless abandonment of self. We limit the true life of God, because of our dwarfed, yet elevated opinion of ourselves. We have to become a servant to all in order for us to experience the “Supernatural Divine Kingdom Life”. The Apostle Paul pointed to Jesus as the ultimate example of servant hood & selflessness. Jesus deliberately stripped Himself of everything, His Divinity. He then did the un-imaginable, by crossing the chasm to offer Himself as a Lamb to be slain for the sins of man. He went from sinless to become sin for you & me (2 Cor. 5:21). He knowingly embraced a life of giving, serving, loosing & dying. Christians often say “Lord here I am use me” & God say’s, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). Most stumble & fall at this, never getting back up. We are called to pattern our lives after Christ. “As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John. 4:17). God views humility, as strength, not weakness. What steps can you take toward greater humility? How can you become significant, & expand your service to others? Are you embracing God to die to yourself so that The Glory of God can be manifested in and through you? Are you willing to become a person of no reputation? Are you at a place where you are saying, “Not my will Lord but yours ?” “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but  made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  Philippians 2:5-7

The Shiloh Ministry Team