I was contemplating this morning about the scripture of Luke 9:23. As a Christian, I often hear about people who start their day in prayer. I'm told we need to read our bible daily and give ourselves over to God. This verse tells us we need to do these things:

Luk 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.

To me, this verse is saying two things:

1. We must die to ourselves and all our desires, sins, and attitudes. This for the point of allowing Jesus to save us from sin, and then to perfect us into better people until the day He returns (Philippians 1:6).
   
2. When I think of how Jesus carried his cross in ancient days – it was upon his back. The cross was a symbol for death, and is now a symbol of Christ (I know, I need some references for this…). So it's metaphorically saying that we need to lift Jesus and therefore death above ourselves – to put him above anything in our lives. And we need to do this daily. Nowadays we follow Jesus by obeying his words written in the bible.
   

Because Jesus actually said this, I can't stress how important it is. It is the Word of God! Just be obedient to it and see what happens. Start the day with prayer – commit yourself to God and tell him that he's first in your life. Deny yourself and take up Jesus daily J