Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to another morning's with The Masters where we

devote ourselves to the Lord daily with you. Good morning, you guys. Good morning, indeed.

We're picking up with day two of our, what does it mean to follow Jesus devotional? In the

Bible app, there's a link to that in the description. If you guys want to follow along with

us, and as always, I'm going to read the scripture than Tories can I pick up with the devote?

Let's do it. The scripture is John chapter three, verse 30, and it says this,

he must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

The devotional is titled more of him, less of me, and it starts with a quote by Elizabeth Elliott.

If my life is surrendered to God all as well, let me not grab it back as though it were in peril

in his hand, but would be safer in mine. Oh, surrender. It's a word that many see in a negative

light. A surrender occurs when a person or group has been overpowered. While that's a true

definition of it, there is more to it. To surrender also means to give up completely or agree to

forego, especially in favor of another. When we surrender to Jesus, we have the ability to agree

to forego in favor of his purpose. We get to choose to be a part of his eternal game plan. Jeremiah 29

11 says that his plans are not harmful, but are good, bring hope in a bright future. But we often

hold on to our agenda as we attempt to follow Jesus. We don't want a surrender because we are

convinced that our limited vision and wisdom exceeds God's boundless and foolproof strategy.

Our full surrender to Jesus usually boils down to one question. How much will be required of me?

And the answer is simple. Everything. In Mark 8, 34-35, we read that if we want to be Jesus' disciples

and follow him, we have to deny ourselves and take up our cross. The Greek word for deny

in Mark 8 is a par neomy, and it means to forget oneself and lose sight of one's interest.

These two verses are summed up in this way. Deny self and die to self.

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