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WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. AN INVITATION TO YOU: To follow this blog, click here.  If this blog has blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! ______________________________________           Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post:   https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/WWW_Podcast_09142020_Are_You_Walking_the_Narrow_Road_.mp3 _______________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, Novelist and Life Coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, September 14, 2020. Today’s Podcast is Episode #36 in Series 2020 and is titled "Are You Walking the Narrow Road?" _______________________________________________ In the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, verse 13, the Word of God gives a sobering command and warning: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." What is the narrow gate? One Biblical commentator calls the narrow gate "the gate of true conversion" (Benson).  Many pray the sinner's prayer and believe that is all they need to do to be saved. But to pray the sinner's prayer without turning away from sin, without crucifying the flesh, without obey the Lord's commands is pointless--and even dangerous. True conversion means turning away from sin and living a life of holiness. This takes great effort, and few people are willing to put in the effort. It is not easy to say no to the flesh--to greed, to lust, to selfish ambition. Yet, that is precisely what we must do if we want to follow Jesus Christ. There is a huge difference between accepting Christ as our Savior and accepting Him as our Lord. He Himself said that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. Accepting Christ as Savior alone has a selfish aspect to it because it is an act of concern only for one's personal salvation. While this is certainly a good thing, the act cannot stop there. It must go beyond the concern for deliverance from Hell to the love that inspires perfect obedience to the Lord Who saved us. When Jesus called His twelve apostles, He commanded them to FOLLOW Him.  One definition of the word follow means to take orders from. When we choose to follow Jesus, we choose to take our orders from Him and to put aside our own will and desires in order to accomplish His. Christians are often accused of being narrow-minded. Well, we are narrow-minded because our minds are continually focused on staying on the narrow road. It is far too easy to fall off the edge of the narrow road into the ditch of sin precisely because the road is narrow.  So our minds must continually focus on this truth---that the road is narrow and we must walk it carefully and not move off of it. Jesus said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 19: 23). The sign of true conversion is self-denial. The cross we are to carry daily is precisely this self-denial. It is saying no daily to all those desires that are contrary to God's Word and choosing, instead, to obey the Lord's commands as found in His Word. If you have made Jesus your Savior but not your Lord, I urge you to repent and to complete a full conversion. Turn from your sins and begin to obey the Lord's commands. If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and Lord, please do so now by praying this prayer with me: Lord Jesus, I want to make you both Savior and Lord of my life. I accept You now as my Savior and as my Lord. Forgive me of my sin. Cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Give me Your grace to follow you, to deny myself,