A Call to the Narrow Way and the Crucified Life

By Steve Porter

There is a road few will walk. It is narrow, rugged, and marked with a cross. Yet it is the only road that leads to life.

 

In these pages, Steve Porter issues a burning holy call—a call to leave behind shallow religion, empty applause, and the compromise of the crowd. With the warmth of a spiritual father and the fire of a watchman, he weaves together stories of saints like John Wright Follette, Hattie Hammond, Wade Taylor, and others who lived surrendered, along with the timeless warnings of Samson, Lot, and the unprepared virgins.

 

This is not a book of easy words. It is not for those content with a safe Christianity. It is for the hungry. For the broken. For those who long to know Christ in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.

 

You will discover here:
• Why crucifying the flesh is the only pathway to real authority and joy.
• How grace empowers your "yes" when everything in you wants to shout "no."
• The hidden glory of a life lived far from compromise and close to the Bridegroom's heart.
• The eternal rewards that make every tear and every surrender worth it all.

 

Beloved, the Spirit is calling His Bride to purity, holiness, and fire in these final hours. Not a people who flirt with the edge, but a people who shine with His light. Not perfect people—but forgiven, transformed, yielded vessels.

 

This is your invitation. Step off the broad road. Embrace the narrow way. Die daily. Rise fully. And walk in the burning love of the One who is coming soon for His spotless Bride.

 

Steve Porter is a teacher, author, and founder of Refuge Ministries, Oasis Bible Training Center, and Deeper Life Press. With a heart for revival and the deeper life, Steve has spent over 30 years ministering the love of Jesus through writing, preaching, and prophetic teaching. He is the author of over 50 books and thousands of Spirit-breathed devotions that have touched lives around the world. His devotional writings—often described as tender, Spirit-led, and soul-stirring—have helped many draw closer to Christ. Alongside his wife Diane, Steve makes his home in the Finger Lakes region of New York, where they continue to raise up passionate lovers of Jesus and create a resting place for His glory.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Deeper Life Press
• Release date: Sep 26, 2025
• ISBN: 9798232698324

Steve Porter

Refuge Ministries Steve & Diane Porter are founders of Refuge Ministries. They believe that, through the presence of God, healing takes place. They have a passion for conducting presence-driven intimacy conferences, missions, and restoration ministry. They reside near Rochester, NY   Steve's Bio Steve has written many books and has a special anointing to bring forth the deep truths of the Spirit, with a clarity and simplicity that draws one up into a closer walk and deeper relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. His speaking engagements take him internationally. Steve's passion is reaching people through social media, conference speaking, and writing devotional books that draw the reader into the very presence of God. His latest devotional "He Leads Me Beside Still Waters: 50 Love Letters of Healing and Restoration from our Lord" is a special prophetic devotional where you will find Jesus in the pages of this book. Steve is a regular contributor to many prophetic publications including the Elijah List, Spirit Fuel and the Identity Network.  His writings have been read worldwide by hundreds of thousands of people.  He also has been interviewed by the Trinity Broadcasting Network and a few other TV programs. Steve's books, articles, and videos have touched countless lives around the world. 

Book preview

FOREWORD

Ihave to come to learn that one of the greatest words in the life of an authentic follower of Christ is the word yes . It is not a half-hearted response to the call of Jesus and His Spirit. Neither is it a mild and shallow attempt to follow Christ from a distance. It is the affirmation of those who have devoted themselves to a wholehearted pursuit of knowing Jesus intimately with a full and sincere yes. Make no mistake. It is not an aimless declaration, but a yes to both the cost of following Him and to His transforming process in their lives. It is in the way of embracing His cross. Hence the heartbeat of this book is revealed.

The cross is much more than an emblem. It is abundantly more than some religious relic or icon from the past. It is a present Kingdom reality that Christ, the Anointed One, experienced first by tasting death for the sins of all mankind. It was on that wooden and bloodied cross that Jesus wiped away the debt of our sin paving the way for us to enter into eternal life. Christ, our True Pioneer and Forerunner. And it is from that same cross that He is still raising sons and daughters from one level of glory to another as they yield to His power at work within them. How glorious!

Jesus came to earth in the flesh to identify with our humanity and suffering, now calling us to identify with Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. The Lord said to me recently, You have entered into my sufferings. Take heart people of God. There is a beauty, fragrance, and perfuming of the Lord that comes as we fellowship with the Lord in the place of our suffering. There are treasures in the darkness. We have been summoned by the King of Heaven. He was crucified on His cross to empower us as His people to pick up our cross and experience His transformational resurrection life, power, and glory.

The narrow way and the crucified life is to live in divine union and oneness with Him. It requires the denial of self and everything this world values in exchange for the true riches of Heaven given us by the Lord Jesus and His precious Spirit. The narrow path and crucified life are difficult, but it is His lighted pathway that leads us forward into the deep of His presence, power and eternal weight of glory. His grace, anointing, and divine empowerment are there to carry us every step of the way as we continue to give Him our yes. We may feel weak like Paul but if we will maintain our yes and not give up, be assured Jesus will never give up on you!

For although he was crucified as a weakling," now he lives robed with God’s power. And we also are weak ones in our co-crucifixion with him, but now we live in God’s triumphant power together with him, which is demonstrated on your behalf."

2 Corinthians 13:4

I am both humbled and honored to write the foreword for this tremendous book written by my dearest brother and friend Pastor Steve Porter. Jesus made it very clear, You will know them by their fruits. We have walked closely together for many years, and I am a witness to the precious fruit that has come forth from his life and ministry to the glory of Jesus. He is bearing fruit that will remain and birthing a legacy that will long outlast His earthly tenure. Steve is a chosen and resounding prophetic voice of the Lord to this generation. He has been raised up for such a time as this to present an invitation to a remnant who have ears to hear by the Spirit of God. It is a call to enter into all that Jesus died and paid for. The narrow path. The crucified life. The Deeper Life. There and only there do we find that the deepest longings of our hearts, souls, and beings are satisfied in Him.

Even as I write this, I am gripped by the power of His cross. This book brings a stirring of the Lord so deep within it is unshakeable. I can feel His inworking calling into the depth of my innermost being saying, go deeper still! It is His inner working of death to self, the flesh, and our own wills and ways that birth within us the glorious light of His presence. For those that say yes, He is radically and powerfully transforming them into His living, moving, breathing Holy of Holies. He is the Treasure of Heaven within us. And we are His dwelling place. His holy tabernacles and habitations built to carry the substance of His glory to a generation that needs Him so desperately. We are His bright and beautiful bride. We are His pure and shining ones. His burning heavenly lampstands filled with His oil. Jesus is transfiguring His chosen and sent ones into blossoming gardens where His Spirit Wind blows forth His sacred spices from their lives bringing forth His light, fragrance, aroma, essence and the beauty of His holiness and divine nature into the most darkened places.

"Awake, O north wind! Awake, O south wind! Breathe on my garden with your Spirit-Wind.

Stir up the sweet spice of your life within me. Spare nothing as you make me your fruitful garden.

Hold nothing back until I release your fragrance."

Song of Songs 4:16

The words of Jesus still call out powerfully to a generation He loves and died for, Enter through the narrow gate because the wide gate and broad path is the way that leads to destruction—nearly everyone chooses that crowded road! The narrow gate and the difficult way leads to eternal life—so few even find it! The call of the Lord still stands before each of us today. The path of life or the path of death? The wide path along with the majority or the narrow path amongst the remnant? This book requires a response and the choice is ours. Will we be counted among the