After the Israelites left the bondage of Egypt, they were headed to Canaan, a land overflowing with all they needed to make a new life. I [God] will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt…unto a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:17).

Because of Jesus’ great sacrifice, children of God can live in a spiritual Canaan right here on Earth. Jesus said, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10). When you live in that Canaan paradise, you will be victorious no matter what comes your way or how many demons you have to fight. What price are you willing to pay to live in that spiritual Canaan?

When Jesus lived on Earth, He said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it (Matthew 13:45,46). In Jesus’ time, pearls were considered to be among the most precious gems; so Jesus was referring to something of the greatest value. What are you willing to pay for that Pearl of great price?

Depend on the Lord

You must be willing to give all and deny self to follow the Lord and live in His spiritual Canaan. You have to deny family and friends to put God first. It doesn’t matter what you say; it is what you do that matters. Words are worthless without action.

Jesus said, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me (Matthew 16:24). Are you willing to deny yourself? Some of you have not done that, and that’s why you have so many unnecessary trials and cause trouble wherever you go.

God needs to work through people who will be plugged into Him all the time, those who will seek God before they speak and depend on Him in every situation. You have to be so careful with what you say and do because just one wrong word or action can hinder, hurt or even destroy another person. That’s why the Bible says, If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain (James 1:26).

When you really deny self, you will lean on the Lord and walk in pure truth, pure love and pure faith without one particle of deceit. You will humble yourself before the Lord every hour of every day. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up (James 4:10). You have to put self down to have the love and humility of Jesus. There is no selfishness in Him.

Use Godly Self-control

So many Christians are deceived about their walk with God. They think they are walking close to Him, but they have never been close enough to Him that they have given their whole self to the Lord. They don’t know what it means to have true self-control, even though it is one of the fruits of the Spirit that has been made available to us. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance [self-control]: against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22,23).

Self-control gives you serenity in stormy times. Daniel had self-control, and it enabled him to face the lions’ den without fear. The three Hebrew boys had self-control, and it enabled them to face the fiery furnace without compromise.

The Bride will have self-control and be ready for whatever comes her way in this last hour. That’s why she will be such a holy terror to the devil. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners (Song of Solomon 6:10)?

The devil knows what he went through when Jesus walked the Earth; and now, thousands of the members of the Bride of Christ are walking on Earth. They are in step with Jesus, and they bring great fear to the devil and his demons.

If you intend to be a member of His bridal company in this last hour, you must deny yourself and your opinions and take the truths of God. Deny your self-made paths and take God’s paths of righteousness. Stop looking back, and look ahead to what God has in store for you. Lean completely on the Lord and follow His ways. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved (Song of Solomon 8:5)? It is the Bride of Christ. She has her eyes on Jesus, and she is going forth to take Him to the world.

Who Controls You?

Gossip, anger, disobedience, pouting and so many other characteristics that are unlike God are all of self. Are you willing to get rid of those things and really crucify self once and for all? You must live in the Word, so you will have the strength and power to keep self under subjection to the Holy Spirit. Then the devil will have no control over you, and he won’t be able to make you say or do anything.

Unfortunately, the devil still works through many so-called Christians because they don’t really have self under subjection. They think they have it made with God when they are really just going around in circles with self and the devil. The Holy Spirit can’t work through flesh and self.

God brought the Israelites out of 400 years of Egyptian bondage; yet when things got a little tough, they wanted to go back. The actions of many people today prove that they have the same attitude. They don’t really want to put self down and follow hard after the Lord because they are satisfied being slaves to self and the devil, and they are reaping the negative consequences of that choice.

Jesus said, Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). When you are free, you are no longer in bondage. Then you can say, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me (Philippians 4:13).

When you crucify self, you will yield completely to the Holy Spirit and let Him lead you at all times. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth (John 16:13). Stop looking to self, and look to the Lord and His Spirit to show you the way.

Never Go Back

When you cast self down, you will have an obedient heart; but after leaving Egypt, the Israelites had disobedient hearts and lived in the self-spirit most of the time. They didn’t listen to God, so Moses had a very hard time with them. When they realized the Egyptian army was after them, they began running for their lives; but when they got to the Red Sea, they had the wrong thoughts. Instead of looking to God and thanking Him for finally giving them freedom, they wanted to go back to their lives of slavery in Egypt.

Many people are just like that today. When God gives them freedom from the bondage of sin, they go right back to it. Paul said, Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Romans 6:13). The reason people go back is because they never really crucify self and become servants of righteousness unto God.

When self is on the throne, you have the wrong thoughts; and wrong thoughts bring wrong results. Thoughts of self and the devil bring defeat, so feed your mind thoughts of God. Then you will have divine strength, joy, peace, deliverance and victory.

God or Possessions?

When the Israelites were slaves to Pharaoh, they didn’t dare grumble against him; but they grumbled against God all the time, and He was the one who gave them freedom. People are the same way today. They don’t grumble against the devil, but they definitely grumble against God. They don’t bother to look into the fact that the devil is the one who puts them in bondage, and the Lord is the one who brings them out into liberty and freedom.

As the Israelites were finally leaving Egypt, God provided them with everything they needed and more. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians (Exodus 12:35,36). Did they thank God for those beautiful things? No. Instead, they melted down all those jewels and made an idol god out of them. How selfish!

The Israelites loved their possessions more than they loved God, and many people today are the same way. They don’t treasure God, His love or His mercy because they love the things of the world more.

Don’t Live in the Flesh

When self is not crucified, one or more of the seventeen works of the flesh will be found in your life. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).

Are any of those works worth missing Heaven for? If you don’t put enough value on Heaven to separate from the seventeen works of the flesh, you’re not going there. The Bible also says we are to abstain from all appearance of evil (I Thessalonians 5:22). Notice that it says not just evil but the very appearance of it.

Are you one who sees how close to the world you can walk without completely joining in? That’s an extremely dangerous and selfish walk, and it does not lead to Heaven. Only the pure and holy will enter the gates of Glory. You can’t play with God. Either you’re going to crucify self and follow Him or you’re not.

Live by Faith

When you crucify self you will stop giving over to your feelings and live by faith. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him (Hebrews 10:38). God’s faith will never get you into trouble, but your feelings will.

Read Hebrews chapter 11, and you will see what faith in action did in the lives of the people mentioned there. What love, what goodness, what yielding and denying of self you will find in that chapter. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous (Hebrews 11:4). The Bride has received Christ’s sacrifice and is offering up an excellent sacrifice to Him—a pure, clean, holy life.

Some of you are confused when it comes to feelings. You may think the devil put you in a bad situation when your own feelings were at fault. Walking in your feelings will cause you to stumble and fall again and again no matter how much you pray and fast.

God’s faith is holiness and righteousness. It is pure truth not mixed with feelings, opinions or human ideas. You can’t examine your walk with the Lord by comparing yourself to others. You have to compare yourself with Jesus when He was on Earth. If your ways are not in harmony with His ways, you’re walking by your feelings.

When you live in your feelings, you think the wrong things, say the wrong things and have the wrong actions. When you live in the faith of God, you talk like Jesus, act like Jesus and have the same Spirit of Him.

When Jesus came to Earth as a man, He showed us how to conquer self and the flesh with divine power from On High. He showed us how divinity can keep the human spirit holy and obedient, but it is your choice whether you want self or divinity to be in control; and you can’t go back and forth between the two. You can’t go into self to tell someone off, hurt them or cut them down and then assume you can jump right back into the Spirit because it doesn’t work that way.

What Do You Hear?

Every time you disobey God, the voice of the Spirit gets dimmer and dimmer. Then you become so deceived that you think you are all right when you no longer hear Him or sense Him trying to direct you in the right way. But the truth is you no longer hear the voice of the Spirit because you’re all wrong.

There are some of you who go to church and listen to messages of truth, but you don’t really hear them. You have ears of self, so you only hear what is pleasing to self. Then you fork over the rest to others. You are full of self-glorification and self-righteousness; but the Bible says, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our [self] righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isaiah 64:6).

When you crucify self, you won’t be walking around in filthy rags. You will be dressed in robes of white. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints (Revelation 19:8). To have that kind of righteousness, you have to accept the whole Jesus and not just the characteristics and traits you want to. You can’t have any rebellion or a spirit of “nobody is going to tell me what to do.”

Jesus didn’t have any selfishness or spare Himself in any way when He gave His life on the Cross. You can’t spare yourself either. You have to whole-heartedly give yourself to the Lord’s Spirit, the Lord’s work, the Lord’s way and the Lord’s desires. You have to be willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to do His will.

Please God First

Crucifying self means not grieving the Holy Spirit. You can’t ignore His still, small voice while you go on to do things you should not be doing. If you continue to make Him cry, He will leave you. You can’t contaminate your temple with anything unlike God, or the Spirit won’t stay. To be in step with the Holy Spirit, you must put self down and walk in divine love, peace and humility.

The Bible tells you, Neither give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27). When you are disobedient and living in the wrong spirit, you are giving place to the devil; and he will fill you with ego, anger, bitterness and strife. If you continue giving place to him, he will sweep you right into his arms of destruction.

This is an hour to walk with God just as Enoch did. He put great value on his fellowship with God, and he put God above everything and everyone. God was so pleased with Enoch that He took him to Heaven alive. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God (Hebrews 11:5).

You too have to deny self and please God. You have to put more value on Him than you do on family, friends, money, properties, clothes or anything else in this world. When you long for His fellowship and His presence, He will be pleased. He will fill you with His greatness and strengthen you with all the might of His power.

When you please the Lord, He won’t want to be away from you for even a moment. He will love your fellowship, your thoughts and your words. He will love your spirit because it matches His. You will be in one mind and one accord with Him without any grumbling or complaining. You won’t argue with others or try to even the score with them. Anything unlike God will look foolish when you are full of the Spirit.

Noah Followed God’s Plan

Noah and his family had to crucify self completely to be able to build the ark God had instructed them to. Imagine God speaking to Noah’s mind saying, I was going to destroy everybody, but I heard your voice of love and faith; and I just had to come down and fellowship with you.

I have given you my plan to save you and your household; what value will you put on it? It will take over a hundred years to build the ark, and you will have to deny yourself completely. You will also have to deny the fellowship of most of your family and friends because they are ungodly. Your spirit won’t mix with the spirit that is in them, and you will be contaminated if you stay around them.

What price will you be willing to pay? Will you separate yourself unto me completely and consecrate yourself one hundred percent? You will have many lonely hours and lonely days. Will you still please me?

The Word says, Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you (II Corinthians 6:17). God doesn’t receive many people today because they mix and mingle with the wrong kinds of spirits, and spirits are contagious. Noah didn’t mix with the wrong people. He was willing to follow God all the way saying, “Lord, I will put self down completely. I will put all possessions, friends and loved ones on the line for you. I will put everything behind, and I will put you in front.” Noah had crucified self completely, and he and his family were saved from the great Flood.

Be a Soul Winner

The Lord wanted to use Abraham in a great way; but first, the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing (Genesis 12:1,2).

Abraham had to separate from his kin before God could bless him and use him. Are you willing to give up family and friends for God? How close to God are you, and what are you doing for Him? What kinds of thoughts and what kind of mind do you have? How much are others influencing you? How much spiritual sickness have they brought upon you, and how much joy and peace have they robbed you of?

God told Abraham that he would be a blessing. Will you let God make you a blessing? Are you willing to deny yourself and make any sacrifice for souls to come into the Kingdom? While you’re overwhelmed with the cares of life, bickering with others and living in the wrong spirit, souls are slipping into eternity.

Jesus said, For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul (Matthew 16:26)? Souls are worth more than all the wealth of the world. Are you willing to give all to lead others into the Kingdom? Will you take on the righteousness of God and walk His holy, humble paths so others can know Him? At the end of life’s journey, the only things that will matter are what you have done for the Lord.

Reach Out

As a child of God, you must never want to hear a lost soul say to you, “You never mentioned the Lord to me. You didn’t shine His light on my way. You crossed my path again and again, but you never took time to help me.” What a sad encounter that would be.

You must always reach out to others and never hinder them. When you are frustrated or your temper is rising up, ask yourself before you say or do anything, “Will my words or actions hinder anyone? Will they prevent me from being the soul winner the Lord wants me to be?” Like Jesus, you must consider souls to be more valuable than anything or anyone else in the world.

When the Lord saved you, He gave you His first love. You got up from that altar loving everybody, and you wanted each person to find what you had found. Will you forget yourself and work to make that happen?

Never Provoke God

Take another look at the Israelites. They were so selfish, and all they thought about was themselves. There were times when God killed them by the thousands because of their constant disobedience toward Him. So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men (I Chronicles 21:14). And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died (Numbers 21:6).

You may say, “That was in Old Testament days. God won’t kill today because we are living under grace.” But you would be badly mistaken. In the beginning of the Church, God killed Ananias and Sapphira for lying. But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?…thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost (Acts 5:1-5).

About three hours later, Sapphira went before Peter and told the same lie. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost (Acts 5:10).

Will God have to wipe you out so you won’t hinder His mission to win the lost? If you are hindering the works of the Holy Spirit among His people, He could get rid of you.

Put Jesus Above Self

It is time for you to crucify self once and for all. It’s time for you to yield to God and decide to follow Him or go your own way. Begin by asking yourself what you are worth to God’s Kingdom right now. How strong are you in Him? Are you possessed more by obedience or disobedience? Are you directed by the spirit of this old world or the Holy Spirit of God? Are you walking in your feelings or by faith? Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other (Galatians 5:16,17).

What kind of person are you in your thinking and conversation? If God were to put you on His spiritual operating table, would He find anything of value in you; or would the Holy Spirit sadly announce that self and the devil are in control?

God’s message of love has gone out to you today to show you that you must crucify self if you want to be on Rapture ground when Jesus comes, and it all begins with accepting Jesus into your heart. Pray this prayer with me now and say, Oh, God, I am so sorry that I have sinned against you. I have denied your love so many times but never again. Forgive me, Lord. I confess that Jesus is Lord, and He died for me. I confess there is power in His blood to wash away all of my sins. Come into my heart, Jesus! Come on in! If you meant that prayer, Jesus has come; and He is yours.

Deliverance Is Yours

With Jesus inside, you are now ready for whatever miracle you need from the Lord. He has healed thousands who, through faith, have believed His promises of healing. With his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up (James 5:15). Jesus is the healer, and I am a believer in His divine, miracle power.

If you are sick and afflicted today, lift your hands and believe as I pray. Lord, I bring the sick and afflicted to you. I know there is power in the blood of Jesus to heal each and every one of cancer, paralysis, diabetes, heart trouble or whatever is afflicting their bodies. I also know you can deliver them from any bondage they may have. Heal! Heal! in the holy, all-powerful name of Jesus. Amen.

The healing power is flowing to you now. If you will be obedient and believe the Lord, His power will linger in your body until you are made whole. Watch for every sign of improvement and give Him the glory for what He is doing for you.

God bless you today. Keep self crucified, and you can enjoy victory in every situation from now until Jesus returns for His Bride. I pray that you will abide in the blood of Jesus and use all the benefits of the blood every day.