“Jesus replied that the time had come for him to return to his glory in heaven, and that ‘I must fall and die like a kernel of wheat that falls into the furrows of the earth. Unless I die I will be alone—a single seed. But my death will produce many new wheat kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.'”
John 12:23-24 (TLB)
Jesus left heaven to be our living example here on earth. He came to show us how to truly live our best life by loving God and loving people, baptizing them and teaching them to obey His commandments. The cost? Dying to ourselves. To die to ourselves is an act of total surrender that produces an extraordinary harvest of new lives, starting with us, as His first fruit.
John 15 reveals that when a branch is pruned (cut away, reduced, trimmed, eliminated, get rid of unwanted parts), it will bear more fruit. If you’ve ever seen a pruned tree, it looks bare and dead; however, from that bare state the tree will begin to sprout new branches that will flourish (grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way) and produce more fruit than it did before.
God is calling us to surrender our lives and the bad fruit of our past, failures, fears, lust, pride, torment, oppression, shame, addictions, emotions, mindsets, strongholds, unforgiveness, broken hearts and minds, traditions and every word that was spoken over us opposing the Word of God. When we choose to surrender and die to ourselves, God fills us and transforms us to become the women we need to be for our families, disciples, communities and nation.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
It was back in April 16, 1995, that I was invited to an Easter service at Word of Life Christian Center. The friend who invited me shared very little about what to expect on that Sunday evening in Kaka’ako. I was totally unprepared to see the hundreds and hundreds of people and cars everywhere I looked. On one hand, I was curious to see what all the excitement was about, and on the other hand I wanted to stop looking for a parking stall and get away the crowd. Just as I was about to make my escape, a stall miraculously opened up for me. As I made my way through the crowds, I never found my friend, nor did I see anyone that I knew. I ended up sitting alone.
The production was powerful and ministered about the death and resurrection of Jesus so eloquently. My heart was pierced by this message of hope and I knew that without a doubt I would be changed forever! I returned the following Wednesday and Sunday because I wanted more, more of the worship that moved me to tears, more of the Word of God that spoke directly to me and more of the love of God that flowed out of the people who called Word of Life their home. In hindsight, I know now that God orchestrated my visit to Word of Life and called me to be planted in this House so that I could flourish and grow as a disciplined follower of Christ under the leadership of my spiritual parents, Pastors Art and Kuna. Today, 24 years later and counting, I am honored and blessed to be engaged in the heavenly vision alongside an army, warriors of faith, who choose daily to die to themselves and live crucified for the cause of Christ! (Julie Nurre)
TODAY’S DECLARATION
“My old identity has been co-crucified with the Messiah and no longer lives; for the nails of his cross crucified me with him. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, and dispenses his life into mine!” (Galatians 2:20 TPT)
TODAY’S BIBLE READING
Our Bible Reading Plan gives 25 daily readings per month. There is no scheduled reading for today. You can use this time to catch up on any readings you may have missed, or read through previous passages again.
