The way of the Cross leads home, and since it does, we need to stay close to it. Stay in the presence of the Cross. Those who have strayed from the Cross have lost out with the Lord, lost His blessings. Don’t go away from the shadow of the Cross. The Cross is big enough, powerful enough for all to live in its shadow.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son (John 3:16). God so loved us that He gave Jesus; He gave us the Old Rugged Cross. The Cross looked cruel, but because of it came the greatest gift God could ever give man—the Jewel of Heaven. Look at the Cross and see Jesus, see the Son and the love of God. See the greatness, the thoughtfulness, the compassion of God for you in the Cross. The yearning God has for you to walk with Him is found in the Cross. He wants you to live close to Him, to have fellowship with Him on earth and for all eternity.

The way of the Cross is the way of love. Living in the presence of the Cross is living in the presence of God’s love. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us (I John 3:1). What love you find in the presence of the Cross! In the presence of the Cross you have plenty of love to keep and to share. In the presence of the Cross, you want to share that love. When you move away from the Cross, you move away from the influence and power of His love.

Cling to the Cross

As long as you cling to the Cross, as long as you live in the presence of the Cross, nothing can destroy you, no power can defeat you. Jesus said, Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown (Revelation 3:11). Hold fast to His presence.

There is a limit to how close the devil can come to the Cross. It’s a roped-off territory where the children of God are protected, the devout ones who will cling to the Cross. When you begin to cling to people, to self, to your own opinions, you are not clinging to the Cross. Only as long as you cling to the Cross are you resting in the arms of God. As long as you cling to that Cross, you are caressed by God, drawn to His bosom every moment. You have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about.

A Cross of Faith

In the presence of the Cross you live in the pure faith of God, the kind of faith that brought Lazarus out of the grave, the kind of faith that walked the waters, the kind of faith that performed abundant miracles and healings when Christ was here on earth. All the faith of Jesus Christ is in the presence of the Cross.

If you don’t live in the presence of the Cross, your faith wavers. You just get to the Cross once in a while to refuel; the rest of the time you walk mostly by man’s opinions and not by faith. Jesus said, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you (Matthew 17:20).

A Dividing Line

Be conscious always of the Cross; it marks the dividing line between sin and righteousness. There is no common ground shared by the two. When you are in the presence of the Cross, you’re not in sin, not contaminated or influenced with the least bit of it. Sin has no power over you. For you who accept it, the Cross destroys all the power that sin ever had over your life, and takes away weakness, replacing it with the Jesus strength, the strength of Heaven. Look at the Cross and receive strength, for unto us which are saved it is the power of God (I Corinthians 1:18).

The presence of the Cross separates you from the world, takes all the love for the world out of you. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (I John 2:15-17).

If you love the world, the love of the Father is not within you; but if you love not the world, the love of the Father dwells within. Stay in the presence of the Cross and you stay in its power, in its salvation. In the presence of the Cross, you have the mercy of its forgiveness.

You will find great victory in the presence of the Cross, all the victory that Jesus displayed when He was here on earth as the God/man.

Keep ever near the Cross. Don’t step over any borders that would take you out of reach of the presence of the Cross. Keep the Cross in mind, delight in it, cling to it. Embrace all it stands for. Never be ashamed of the Cross. Look at the Cross and take on more abundant life, more love, more faith.

The Cross in Type and Shadow

When types and shadows of the Cross in Old Testament days were used, the devil was always overpowered and God performed miracles. In Numbers we read that the Lord sent fiery serpents because the people had spoken against God and Moses. Many died from the bites of those serpents. But the Lord provided a way of escape through a type of Jesus’ dying on the Cross. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived (Numbers 21:8,9).

After the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, they came to a place where the waters were bitter. Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet (Exodus 15:25). That tree is another type and shadow of the Cross that changes lives from bitter to sweet. Since the type and shadow of the Cross performed miracles, think what power the real thing can have in your life! The Cross is more than just a cross of wood. It’s a Cross of power, a Cross of blood, a Cross of Heaven’s sunshine. The Cross is a Cross of righteousness, of reconciliation, of sanctification, of Holy Ghost power. It’s a Cross of deliverance from everything you need to be delivered from. It’s your Cross; it’s my Cross.

A Crown of Life

Instead of sorrowing over the Cross, think how wonderful that it is your Cross of power and victory, the Cross that will give you a crown of life forever! Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him (James 1:12). Until that day when you trade the Cross in for a crown, be determined to live in the presence of the Cross, in the shadow of the Cross. Never go beyond the shadow of it, never move out of its reach. Always keep in sight of it no matter how cloudy and stormy the weather may be.

When you can reach out and touch that Cross of power, victory is yours. Touching that Cross brings armfuls of love on purpose. You will never come up lacking in anything as long as you stay in the presence of the Cross.

I woke up early one morning and the first thing the Lord said to me was, “Stay in the presence of the Cross.” I went through the house saying, “Stay in the presence of the Cross.” What a wonderful thought! It was my wake-up call from Heaven that day. Every morning when you wake up, tell yourself the same thing: Stay in the presence of the Cross. When the powers of hell are closing in on you, remember to stay in the presence of the Cross. If people mistreat you, stay in the presence of the Cross. The frown of the world won’t matter when you stay in the presence of the Cross.

Threadbare Forgiveness

Some people can’t forgive others because they are not in the presence of the Cross. They may say they forgive, but they don’t really. They have confused man’s forgiveness with God’s forgiveness. Man’s forgiveness is threadbare, shallow; it won’t work. Man’s forgiveness is as unlike God’s forgiveness as a thread is unlike a cable. You wouldn’t stretch a thread across a gulf and expect it to hold your weight; neither can you expect man’s forgiveness to do the work that only God’s can do. Stay in the presence of the Cross because you must have Cross-forgiveness. If you don’t have Cross-forgiveness, you don’t really forgive. When you have Cross-forgiveness for others, you don’t talk about the problem anymore, never again bring up the subject.

How many times have you told people you would forgive them and then mentioned the situation again? It wasn’t true—you hadn’t forgiven. You had hidden the hurt and resentment in your heart all the time, and because of it, you were not blessed, not helped.

The Bride truly forgives. If you expect to be in the bridal company, you must live in the presence of the Cross and forgive the wrongs done to you. You cannot forgive sin; only God can do that, but when you live in the spirit of forgiveness you can forgive the wrongs done to you.

Deceived about Forgiveness

Those who fail to live in the spirit of forgiveness will never make it to God’s Heaven. Many have died and gone to hell because they wouldn’t forgive; yet they expected God to forgive them of everything.

Some people feel they can commit sin whenever they want because they can always ask God to forgive them. But to find true forgiveness, you must be truly sorry. Feeling free to sin because you think you can always repent afterward is deceit. God cannot forgive the heart that holds on to sin.

If you haven’t forgiven others, the Lord won’t forgive you. You can come to the altar, pray a million prayers and still have no forgiveness from Heaven if you haven’t forgiven others. You can’t reach Heaven for yourself until you forgive.

Many are deceived about forgiveness, thinking that being in the right justifies resentment. Are you unforgiving about what another has done to you? You won’t put the incident to rest but keep bringing it up. Going back over the years, you find your memory is sharp concerning the wrongs done to you. Like a dog that knows exactly where his bone is buried, you know just where you have tucked away your hurt. Only you can see the place. You go back to dig it up whenever you want. It’s an ugly bone with no meat or grace, and it carries the frown of God. God despises it. If you had buried the wrong done to you in the blood, you would be all right, but you buried it in self and self gives you the freedom to dig it up whenever the mood strikes you. When you forgive as the Lord teaches forgiveness, you bury the problem in the blood and keep it there.

You are deceiving yourself if you think you are saved but you have not forgiven. You may go to church, pray, fast, read your Bible, yet not live in the presence of the Cross—and there is no salvation outside the Cross. Your only salvation is within the limits of the Cross. If you are still outside when you die, you will be denied entrance to Heaven. To be denied Heaven because you won’t forgive is tragic, indeed.

Consider Your Ways

Check your life as you consider your ways. What kind of forgiveness do you have from God? What kind of forgiveness do you show others? If you haven’t forgiven everyone for what they have done to you, then God hasn’t forgiven you, and you’re in trouble. You can deceive yourself, live in delusions, but when you come to the end of the way with unforgiveness in your heart, you will never get inside the gate of Heaven. It’s forgive or go to hell. Which do you want?

To be reconciled to God you must be reconciled to your brothers and sisters in Christ. If you are not reconciled to God’s people, you are not reconciled to God. Again and again I see people not reconciled to God, but God doesn’t move on me to tell people about their condition if they are not ready to hear. They would not believe me. The Lord has to wait for them to change. Some people think they are waiting upon the Lord, but really the Lord is waiting on them to change, waiting on them to come to Calvary.

I say again, God won’t forgive you unless you forgive others. You are to forgive the way Jesus forgave. Dying on the Cross, Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). You must have Cross-forgiveness to have Cross-salvation. You can’t have Cross-salvation unless you go the way of the Cross. By refusing or neglecting to forgive, you are living outside the boundary lines of the Cross. Don’t deceive yourself; when you bring up with bitterness and resentment what someone has done to you, you have not forgiven. If you have told your mate you forgive and then bring up the matter, God says you haven’t forgiven; your heart is in no condition to reach Him.

The Cross Gate Back into Eden

Your heart must be made Calvary fit in order to meet your Maker. God gave Jesus so you could be forgiven. You must go through the Cross of Jesus, that Cross of blood to get into God’s Heaven.

Man was shut out of Eden when sin was found in him, and judgment stood at the gate, the hate of God against all sin, all disobedience. A cherubim and a flaming sword kept Adam and Eve from going back into the Garden. Thousands of years went by before another gate back into Eden would be made. Man couldn’t make that gate; only Jesus, the second Adam, could make the way back into spiritual Eden through the Cross gate.

You are not in God’s Eden of salvation today unless you have gone through Calvary’s gate formed by the Cross. When you go through that Cross gate, that blood gate, you are in Eden, the Eden of forgiveness, salvation, reconciliation, sanctification, perfect deliverance. In Eden you are feasting; milk and honey are flowing.

The Stench of Unforgiveness

Some people have great difficulty forgiving. If you have trouble forgiving unjust acts done against you, know that those things stink in the nostrils of God. When you don’t forgive, you carry that stink in your heart. Give it all over to the miracle cleansing power of God. Not until you give it all to Him will you be free of it.

Unforgiveness in your heart will curse you, destroy you, eat the very life out of you. When you go to bed you can’t sleep because the injustice done to you keeps rolling around in your mind. You want vengeance. The devil makes it worse than it really is. The devil loves to have you in that awful condition. He loves to have you sleepless, disturbed, robbed of peace of mind. All you can do is sigh and wrestle with the problem all the night through. The next morning you haven’t had much sleep, and you are unprepared to face the day in the overcoming strength of God. That isn’t living in the presence of the Cross.

You wouldn’t have a poisonous snake in your house, but do you have one in your heart? Do you carry a little contaminated poisonous snake of unforgiveness in your bosom? It’s a snake that will keep you out of Eden. A snake is what you are nourishing when you don’t forgive. If the Lord would give you a picture of unforgiveness in your soul, that unforgiveness would be like a snake. When the Lord looks on you, that is what He sees—a snake. He doesn’t see the Holy Spirit; He doesn’t see a clean soul; He doesn’t see a blood-washed heart. He sees you living outside the presence of the Cross.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:19-21). Let the stench be on the person who was unfair. If you carry resentment in your heart, if you don’t forgive, then you smell as bad as the one who wronged you. This is where the deceit comes in. People feel justified in holding resentment, grudges, unforgiveness. The devil robs them; they are not overcomers, not overcoming the world, not overcoming sin.

Crucified with Christ

It’s time to face yourself. People who can’t forgive need Jesus, the forgiving Christ. When Christ comes into your heart, you can forgive no matter what it is. Paul wrote, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). When Christ lives in you, you forgive. When you can’t forgive, self is on the throne of your life; you won’t give up the strongholds of self. If in your own spirit you can’t forgive, why not try Jesus? Try Jesus and live for all eternity.

The Cross has a loud voice, a voice of love and faith. That loud voice cries, Father, forgive! Father, forgive! Instead of waiting for someone to ask you for forgiveness, ask the Father to forgive that person, and then put the matter behind you. Go on your way free of the bondages of resentment and hurt.

Live in the presence of the Cross, in the joy of Heaven. Jesus turned the Old Rugged Cross from despair into the sunshine of complete glory.

At the crucifixion, the disciples were distraught, confused, full of fear. From a distance some watched. Thomas was finished with Jesus. After the resurrection when Jesus came and stood in the midst of the disciples, Thomas was not among them. Then when Thomas was told that the other disciples had seen Jesus, he didn’t believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God (John 20:26-28). Thomas finally realized that the one who had died on the Cross had turned that old ugly Cross into a Cross of glory, a Cross of power.

Paul would say later, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth (Romans 1:16). Paul was not ashamed to say that he was a disciple of Jesus Christ, not ashamed to confess that Jesus had died for him and now lived with him.

Paul Gloried in the Cross

Paul no longer held to the life of self; he gloried in the life of Christ within him. Paul was not ashamed to be identified with Jesus. He loved the Cross, lived in its presence. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14). When troubles came, Paul gloried in the power of the Cross. He gloried in everything about the Cross that Jesus had transformed into eternal life for us, into deliverance and healing. That’s what Jesus did for you and me. Why would anyone ever deny the Cross?

Paul wanted all to know that Jesus was coming again. We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (I Thessalonians 4:15-17).

Reach for Calvary’s Deliverance

You may have been to Calvary, but yet are not living in the presence of the Cross. You have drifted away from Calvary and lost its power, its influence, joy, peace. When you are away from the presence of Calvary, you are in the realm of the night, wallowing in the hate of the world and the struggles of sin. You need none of that. The Lord did not gear you to live in doubt, fear, frustration and despair. These are tools of the devil which will destroy your nervous system and your health. The Lord wants you to be happy in Him, to be healthy.

Live in the presence of the Cross, praising the Lord night and day and enjoy the blessings of Calvary. The Lord said, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint (Isaiah 40:31). Why not reach for Calvary’s strength, power, deliverance and health? Remember, God healed in Old Testament days through a type and shadow of the Cross. How much more should we expect healing through the real Cross today!

Look to the Cross and live. Look to the Cross and have joy, peace. I looked one night and found salvation, old-time salvation that I have treasured down through the years. I looked and found sanctification. I looked and found the baptism in the Holy Ghost. It all came through the Cross. I stepped into the presence of the Cross when I received salvation in my teens, and I am still in that presence today.

Where Are You Today?

Are you out in the cold away from the presence of the Cross? Out of the presence there is no help for you, no rescue, no Holy Ghost to help you find Jesus, no Holy Ghost to use the blood to wash away your sins. You are out of reach of the blood. When you are out of the presence of the Cross, you are out of reach of the power of the blood.

Check yourself, your ways, your spirit. If there ever were a time, saith the Lord, that you must know what’s on the inside of you, it’s now. The hour is too late to not know, too late to not do something about it, too late for you to not put yourself on the mercy seat of God. The Cross is mercy, mercy, mercy, but it’s also a Cross of Calvary’s judgment. Those who turn away from it are judged unfit for Heaven. Those who embrace it are judged redeemed, fit to live with the Lord forever.

The Judgment at Calvary

You who come to the Lord meet the judgment of Calvary and are judged saved, pardoned through Jesus Christ. God for Jesus’ sake pardoned you of all your sins, casting them into the sea of forgetfulness never to remember them against you again. Once you are forgiven, you will never be tried for those sins. But you who have not come to the Lord, you who have even one sin in your life, the Cross still cries Judgment! Judgment! Judgment!

If you do not know Jesus, now is the time to accept Him. Will you be left outside Heaven for all eternity? Will you turn your back to the Cross and meet the final judgment in hell? If you don’t repent of your sins at the Cross of mercy where you can be born again, you will meet the judgment of the Cross of condemnation. That Cross will turn into the most fierce judgment that has ever been, sending out hate that could never be imagined, a Cross of total rejection. God will say on that day to all who have rejected His Son: Depart from me! You represent iniquity. I want nothing to do with you!

Where are you today? Where are you, saith the Lord; where are you? What is on the inside of you? You are foolish to continue with one bit of contamination in your soul, with one thing against your brother or sister in Christ Jesus. You can be pure and clean or you can be deceived and contaminated, claiming you have forgiven all that has been done to you. If you have truly forgiven, you will not bring back the hurt, not talk about it. You don’t talk about something done and over with; you put it so far away that it no longer is within your reach to use.

Today is the day of salvation. Come and meet God. Know if you are living in the presence of the Cross. Do you have one thing against anyone in your heart, in your life? If it’s toward your companion, toward someone else in or out of the church, you must be rid of it. Is there anything in your life unlike the Lord who gave His life on the Cross? What kind of person are you? What is in you? Ask the Lord to let you know. Let the Holy Spirit reveal to you what is there. Present yourself before the Lord. You who are sinners, backsliders: Come to Jesus. You with no joy, no peace: Come and find it. Be free. Live in the presence of the Cross with no condemnation in your heart. Turn people over to the Lord and hold nothing against anyone no matter how they have mistreated you. Leave them in the hands of the Lord, and if they go to hell it won’t be your fault.

Yea, saith the Spirit of the Lord: I am giving you my truths. I am warning you of your ways. I am weighing your spirit and I am warning you of your spirit. I am warning you what you are carrying within, and I will not overlook it. I will not show you the mercy that I have shown you in the past. I will not give you the love that I have been giving to you. I will not only rebuke you, I will push you out of my way and out of my sight. I have worked and worked. The hour is late, and the lost must be brought in. And I have a people, and I have a true people that are going all the way with me. They’re going to win others that will be true to me. They will be living, shining lights for my message. But you are not a shining light. You’re anything but a shining light to my work. You’re a hindrance to my work. Now consider your ways as I told Israel to consider her ways before I cut her off. And I did cut her off. I killed thousands and thousands that man has never been able to number them all. And mankind will be surprised at what I do in this last hour, saith the Lord. Mankind is nigh unto judgment, and the days of grace are limited, saith the Spirit of the Lord unto this people.

If you claim to be a Christian but have sin in your heart, you will be left behind when Jesus comes for His Bride. God will not put up with you. He will rise up in anger; in the very near future He will frown on you who refuse to repent. It’s up to you. But you who want the power in the blood of Christ to change your life right now, pray the sinners’ prayer with me:

Oh, God, I have sinned against you. I am so sorry! I will serve you, Lord, the rest of my life. I do believe the Word of God. I believe Jesus is coming soon and I must be ready. I know there is power in the blood of Jesus, and I believe that the blood of Jesus washes away all of my sins. Come into my heart, Jesus! Come into my heart!

If you meant that prayer, He has come in. Praise Him, seek the Holy Ghost baptism, and stay in the presence of the Cross. The way of the Cross leads home.