"And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem"

We too, when God's appointed time comes, must stedfastly set our face to go to Jerusalem-  knowing full well our death awaits us there. But to live in the new Jerusalem we must die with Christ in the old one.

When we first come to the Lord as new-borns, we are filled with such joy and a profound sense of his love for us, but as we grow and mature, we slowly come to realize he wants to kill us. We are truly "killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter". 

At first, this is extremely painful-  as long as any part of our old man is still alive in us, God will seek to kill him and that part of us he's trying to kill will feel pain but when and if we give ourselves up to him to "die daily", when all our flesh, soul and spirit become "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God" then the pain turns into extreme joy. We rejoice with Christ over our own demise! 

Paul testified "I take pleasure in infirmities, in persecutions,  in distresses for Christ's sake". Every bit of suffering we endure "for Christ's sake" keeps our old man where he belongs -  dead and buried in Christ, so our new man may live daily in the power of his ressurection. How marvelous that when we allow him to kill us this opens the door for him to ressurect us, in newness of life, life far more abundant than the old life we so desperately cling to. Letvit go!

Say,

"I DECLARE HERE AND NOW, I CAN AND WILL TAKE MY PROMISED LAND, THIS FLESH GOD HAS GIVEN ME. I WILL CONQUER AND CAST OUT ALL GIANTS IN IT - LUST, FEAR, UNBELIEF, WHOEVER THEY ARE, THEY WILL DIE, NOT I. I WILL SERVE THE LORD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING -  I WILL SERVE HIM IN THIS FLESH. AS I SEEK TO FEED MY BRETHREN THE FOODVMY FATHER HAS GIVEN ME FOR THEM, I WILL SLAY MY OWN PERSONAL GOLIATH, AND LIFT HIS HEAD IN TRIUMPH, CUT OFF WITH HIS OWN SWORD". 

"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh"

We cannot bypass his death and expect to receive his life. It can't be done.