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Everlasting November 13, 2025 Devotional

by David Joynt on November 13, 2025


MARK 8:34-35 | 34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, 'If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.'

When the disciples joined Jesus they were not simply registering for a class in theology. They were accepting the authority of a teacher, they were becoming servants of a Master. They called Him Lord. This meant a “dying to self,” a deliberate submission of their wills to His will. When their desires conflicted with His, it meant sacrificing their own wishes and being obedient to Him.

 

Jesus is not meant to be a consultant for a spiritual journey which you and I lead and determine. He is to be our Sovereign Lord.

 

Are you “dying to self”?

 

 

Gracious God,

Not my will but Yours. Help me distinguish my own desires from Your directions. Let me die to self.

Amen.

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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