What does “deny yourself” really mean?
You hear it often in the church, “It’s time to deny yourself, and pick up your cross….daily!” Rightfully so because Jesus did say it often in His teachings.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25
I have started to notice a trend in Estonia at our new ministry site, The Living Room cafe. A place for students to hang out after school, learn English, and play games designed to foster building relationships. Through this ministry we meet students wherever they are spiritually and love them unconditionally. We have heard comments like this often, “This place is like a second home, of course I am going to come back!” And it’s true, they come every time we open and sometimes even brings new friend!
Flash back to opening night for the cafe, Friday March 7th. That night we had a great kick off event with about 12 people showing up. A couple of the guys that came invited Logan and myself to a Latvian rock concert on Saturday night and we would head over at 10pm. We agreed to go to the concert and an interesting fun bonding time took place. Typically on Sundays we go to two different church services; one at 10am in Torva, Estonia then another at The Living Room cafe at 2pm. When we finally drug ourselves home at 2:30 am, the lovely women of Zealous Love left an awesome note roughly saying, “We will go to the Torva service, rest up for the 2pm service. Thanks for serving!” I know, I get the pleasure of serving alongside some amazing Godly women!
The Living Room 2 pm service went awesome! Come closing time (3pm-ish), a group of our friends stopped by ready to hang out even though we didn’t re-open until 6pm on Sunday night for our hangout/jam session time. It was down to Logan and I to make the decision to “close” so we could partake in those wonderful Sunday afternoon naps or to just stay open. Once we DENIED ourselves not only in our physical desire to take a nap but in our hearts too, is when Jesus BLESSED our time. He opened doors, paved the way for His name to be glorified. One of the people that we ended up talking too intently was a women we met the night before at the Latvian rock concert. During this conversation our testimonies were shared, and the truth of what it means to be a follower of Christ was shared! It was awesome, you could see her desire for more as she hung on every word and joy washed over her! We continued to pour into her until she left recently to the United Kingdom for college; and a woman on our team had the opportunity to pray over her before she left!
Then this past week we had some long nights at the cafe. Typically we close at 9 pm but willing to stay longer if people are still longing to hang out. Coming back up to the apartment around 10 pm I was ready to pass out. All I wanted to do was to brush my teeth and fall into bed. But once in the apartment someone mentioned to let’s do team time. Everyone was like “yay, let’s do it.” I was thinking, “y’all are crazy. me sleep.” Needless to say team time went on and we broke into small groups to have intentional one on one time. I was in the “odd” group of 3. So our group time started and internally I was withdrawn, longing to fulfill my desire of sleep and the quickest way I saw to accomplish that was by giving short shallow answers. My teammates kept prying and conversing until I really started to participate. Once I DENIED my desire in my heart; the floodgates opened and again Jesus BLESSED our time ten-fold! It was an incredible conversation of glorifing God and going deeper! It turned into a conversation that not only found the root of an issue; but we could speak into each other at this level. Everyone bringing what God has taught them, and all of us gaining a new perspective. This conversation ended up going on for several hours! I felt alive and energized for more!
The trend I am seeing, is once I put my desires on hold is when God will pour out His BLESSING. Once we empty ourselves of what we want, it creates room for what God desires. It creates room for Him to fill us up with exactly what we NEED, fills us up with what we desperately are longing for.
Denying yourself has thousands of examples, and looks different for everyone. I encourage you to press into what God is asking you to deny, so He can be glorified!
Be Bold in changing your desires, you align yourself with His desires.
Be Intentional in being present!
This week, we are extending the cafe hours during the week from 3 pm to 9pm, to Noon – Midnight! It is Spring Break here, so we are opening up an extra 6 hours a day!!! Excited to see how God is going to BLESS this time! Prayer for His presence, His strength, and His wisdom! To lead us in ways that will glorify Him in every conversation, in every action!
