What is the Way of the Cross

"Some of you have been struggling, notknowing what God has for you. Youhave been through a season in which the Lord has revealed your need ofHim in very dramatic ways. jesus Himself has been near to you, however His closeness was no merely in the way of external blessings, but inthe way of His cross. Yet, you have delighted in this, for the way ofthe cross has increasinly become the way of your life," excerpt from Francis Frangipane book 'Christlikeness.'

1. What does "the way of the cross" mean?

The Way = to me its obvious there is a way we should walk in it. There is a way that seems right to men but its end is death. But there is a way that is right before God the Father and its not through the empty traditions of me. There is direction.

The Cross is like a Compass, it has East and West, North and South. + On the Cross He forgets your sins as far as the east is from the west, so that in you everyday or horizontal, human to human, relationships you can walk in openness, forgiveness and transparency, you can be in a sense "naked and unashamed."

What the first Adam lost in the intial Replenishment of the earth when God said "be fruitful and replenish the earth," God gave Adam dominion over the earth and a commission to start godly families, that was the first command of God to start families, and two shall become "echad" one, as Jesus said "I am the Father are One (Echad), so may he make you one with each other," God wants us to walk in the way, not just anyway.

The steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord, His eye will guide you in the path you should walk in. If you become like Jesus in Gathesemene and say "not as I will but your will be done." Or as John the Baptist say, "I must decrease and He must increase."

Sanctification is the way that you become more like Christ, putting OFF the OLD nature and putting on the NEW MAN, being transformed and having the mind of Christ. Its the putting to DEATH the WORKS OF THE FLESH or CARNAL GENIUS.

Grace is the supernatural enablement to make right decisions, is the spirit of SELF CONTROL, its the ability to choose and to listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The grace of God teaches all men by being merciful and giving you time to work out the word God has given you. Because you have become one with the sinful nature, it takes time to unwind or undue the imprint or image that satan has tried to put on you. Mercy is the time to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Grace comes from the Greek word used in the New Testament Charis which is the root for Charis-mata or Charis/Spiritual-Mata/Gifts. Many have mistaken the Charis for the Mata. Charis is a supernatural enablement. Mata is a gift. Grace is a gift but its not just a gift, its given as a gift but it cost Jesus everything to give us this gift. He had to give up the Holy Ghost and be seperated from the Father so we could recieve the Holy Ghost and become part of the family of God and be brothers and joint heirs with Christ according to Hebrews 2.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (King James Version)8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

It is THE GIFT of God. Grace is THE GIFT of God, not just A gift, its THE GIFT OF GOD. The power to overcome sin in your domain, to rule and reign with Christ in the heavenlies or the 2nd heavens, the spiritual realm that surrounds us. That is why it says, call those things that are not as though they are, to bind that which needs to be bound or to cast down and take captive, thoughts and vain imaginations and arguments that exalt themselves about Christ, and to loose or forgive those who have sinned against. To enter into true intercession, releasing others by forgiving them when you stand praying, repenting for your sins, the sins or your nation, the sins of your fathers and the sins for others. This is the call of a true intercessor to stand in the gap and mediate between God and man, to keep the wrath of God back that Jesus fulfilled and keep God from judging the sinning soul that is condemned to judgment but if that soul repents, the person if forgiven and washed clean and made white as snow, releasing them to healing and forgiveness. Its hard to do, but we have the power to forgive or to not forgive, and when we don't forgive another their sins are retained against them, that is the binding or putting another person in bondage, that is the words of Jesus, but when you forgive, they are forgiven, that is the loosing them from the bondage others or themselves put on themselves. The bondage would be the grave clothes that was wrapped around Lazarus, to be unbound is to have the grave clothes taken off, to be bound is to have them put on. That is what binding and loosing is.

Everyone loves verse 8 and completely miss verse 10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." We were created to do good works, good works isn't a choice its about your heart attitude. God created you to do something, there is a good, an acceptable and a perfect will of God. Which are you in.

In pure ignorance many miss one of the greatest truths of the gospel, that Jeremiah said "I will right the new covenant on their hearts," that the Grace of God is His kindness LEADING you to repentance from dead works and giving you the instruction and the power to excercise your dominion, and dominate satan and the flesh in your life. You have dominion when you walk in a SPIRIT OF SELF CONTROL enable by the GRACE of GOD and KEPT HOLY by you humble and repentive walk before Christ.

Jesus said this to his disciples and I believe this is the true way of the Cross, "go and learn what this means. 'I desire obedience not sacrifice,'" God wants you to walk in obedience. The word says if you walk in the spirit you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh and those who are in the spirit are no longer under the law, but the soul that sins shall surely die.

Here is a key.

He desires obedience. Obedience to what and why, the Torah or the Instruction of God, the Torah is Gods instruction. Fear brings a sense of dread and fear of punishment. The Torah is Instruction in righteous living, its the manual for life and living to keep us from burning our hands in a pot of boiling water. Its for our benefit. Obedience means you give your life up and live a life as a bond servant to Christ, bound to him because your indebted for your life. A bond servant is a willfull servant who in many cases was saved by a person from imminent death or from a wicked master and wilfully chooses to follow and serve the one who freed him because he feels indebted to him. We should be indentured servants of Christ. Fully submitted to him.

The second key is this.

Sacrifice in the old testament had to be done everytime you sinned by bringing a bull, goat or some other offering based on the sin. It had to be shameful to have to go to town to by the goat, to take it to the synagogue and have the priest slaughter it. Everyone knew you sin by what offering you brought, so your sins where laid bare before everyone. And it was a daily thing. In the NT Jesus died once for all sins, so how does sacrifice apply in the NT, you have to apply the blood to the door post of your heart, when you sin, you have to repent and sacrifice or repent of, confess and renounce your sins so that God can wash you of your sins. That is the sacrifice Jesus is talking about. God would rather you obey His word and live right and safe then you do what you want, live wrong and get bad fruit and have to repent and beg for good fruit.

We in the NT miss that the Law of Grace doesn't give you a license a sin, it give you power to overcome sin, teaching to help you know why not to sin, the conviction of the spirit to not sin or to repent once you have and the mercy, the amount of time to work it out and get the sin issue dealt with. But we must be holy to see God. Many don't focus on living holy, they focus on living the plush life, nice cars, nice house, nice job and nice friends, attend church, look good, be in a small group and do something in your community. But we have sins that God is dealing with us all the time. Thats not a life of being on the Cross thats a life of busy work in the community. A Christian or not Christian can do that. Thats not the way of the Cross.

Of The = is a statement ownership, the right way, is owned by something, it of the Cross. The Cross owns the right way. Jesus said He is the door none get through without looking to the cross, as the Israelites had to look at the snake on a stick. Jesus became that snake / sin on the cross so that we can be free. He took the nature of sin on himself without ever sinning to die and make a way that we wouldn't have to sin if we rely on the Charis or Grace of God.
Gathsemene, is the valley between, the life lived on your own and the life lived on the cross. Gathesemene is the point where you own your cross, he who seeks to save his life through works that I listed above and others will loose it, he who gives up his life will win their life. We must be like Jesus and say "Not my will but your will be done" and be able to say to others, "I only do what I see the Father do" and "I must be about my fathers business."

Gathesemene is the part that you count the cost of a true disciple and choose to take the Fathers love and accept the discipline and chastising of the Lord, to allow the Lord to rebuke you. As Isaiah said in the year Uziah died, that he saw the Lord high and lifted up, he saw the angels cry "holy holy holy is the Lord" and the temple was filled with the glory of God and shook, and Isaiah feel and said "I am a man of unclean lips amongst a people of unclean lips" and the angel took the coal and cleansed his lips. Gathesemene is where you see the Glory of God and frailty of man and cry out for your sins and the sins of others and ask God to give you the grace to get to the cross, because your not their yet.

The Cross = is a primitive torture device, anyone hung upon it was shameful, it was shameful to be hung on a tree to die. The Cross is the painful death of the Sin Nature that entered creation when ADAM ate the fruit. As father and head of the home, according to the Torah Adam could have broken the vow Eve made and said no and sin would not have entered the human race. Its says "when he took of the fruit and ate" that sin entered the world. It wasn't Eve, Eve was decieved, Adam the man who named all the animals was not. He was wise and was told by God not to but he was weak and let his wife make a bond a covenant with another man or creation that was unholy and he joined in that covenant and that is when sin entered the world through Adam. Adam is the reason the world is like it is not Eve. The way of the Cross is picking up your CROSS daily and putting to death the dead works of the flesh and following Christ. Its the baptism of fire.

The Baptism of Fire

Matthew 3:11-12 (King James Version) 11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
12Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

A winnowing fan was used to purge the chaff from the wheat, the chaff was part of the wheat, the chaff protected the wheat as it grew up from the ravages of rain, wind, storm, etc. Put at harvest time was no longer useful, so they would go to the threshing floor and seperate the wheat from the chaff. See a weed is a wicked plant but chaff is part of a righteous plant that is no longer good. Chaff is part of the wheat not a weed. So this is part of the Christian. The baptism of fire is the process of sanctification, the putting off of the carnal or sin nature and putting on the mind and the nature of Christ. Its repentance from dead works and faith toward God, (Heb 6:1-2).

"Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it shall bear no fruit." We must die to our selfish carnal nature to live in Christ. The way of the Cross is the way of dominion over sin, how to possess your land till he comes, how to take back what the devil stole in Adam.

Salvation is the Exousia = Authority / Badge / Right To Own / You recieve the seal of the king, the badge of honor, the ring of promise, the ensignia of the king. To rule and reign.

The Holy Spirit is the Dunamis = Power / Overwhelming Force. When you recieve the baptism in the Holy Ghost, you recieve the gifts of the holy spirit, you recieve the power, to speak in unknown tongues and edify yourself, to walk in the 12 gifts listed in 1 Cor 12:4-6, which are for the edifying of the body, discerning of spirits, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, prophecy, etc... The Gifts are for believers to edify and build up other believers. Not some bless me club, but lets bless each other.

The baptism of fire is the process of sanctification that a bad dirty, or unclean pot, can be reforged and turned into a vessel of honor in the Fathers house.

2. How has it increasingly become the way of your life?

In my life, I have felt the purging fire of the cross burning up the dross and sin and I have seen a desire to see the glory of God and obey God in all things and to return to one hundred percent biblical practice and Christianity, not just the traditions of men or a watered down version of Catholicism. I want to walk in obedience no sacrifice. I have seen God burn my heart with the love and compassion for others so much and continues to birth a word for this generation. God is getting ready to do something big, explosive, dynamic.

To summarize
1) The Cross was a painful tool of torture used to kill the flesh of men, so that their souls would die and their body expire from painful exhaustion.
a) the way of the Cross is painful
2) The way of the Cross in essence is
The Way = Gods way of doing things
Of The = owned by
Cross = the destruction of fleshly and carnal nature and evil genius