PASTOR’S CORNER
THE PRICE FOR THE PRIZE IN CHRIST:
NO PRICE IS TOO HIGH
REFERENCES: Matthew 16:24-25, Revelation 12:11, Numbers 14:1-9, Proverbs 16:7
Daniel 3:16-30
In the quest for the prize in Christ, you must understand that no price is too high for you to pay.
Christ gave Himself- His life- for us. Therefore, if He is asking for your life, that price is not too high.
Whatever He asks you to do cannot be too grievous or hard. He demands it of you because you have the capacity to do it.
No price is too high for the prize…
Matt 16:24-25
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
The man who will find his life indeed, must be ready to lose it for the sake of Christ. If you try to save your life, you will do so, only to discover that you have lost it.
This applies to every aspect of your life; whether it be your spouse, money, reputation or time. What you try to save will be lost, but what you give up for the sake of Christ will be found.
You will not be able to manage your life, business, marriage…successfully until you release them to Christ. As long as you think that you can handle them, you will experience loss and frustration. They will slip out of your hands, if you do not let them go.
Since He has given you the pattern to follow by giving all for you, nothing stops you from doing the same.
Rev 12:11
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
And they have defeated him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of their testimony. And they were not afraid to die. (NLT)
They overcame by the Blood, by the Word, and by their own lives.
Brethren, fear is your enemy. Whatever makes you afraid of losing what you have for the sake of Christ is a principal enemy of your life.
Men lie because of fear. They fail to give the tithe of their income to God, because they are afraid of not having enough.
Overcomers know better. They are not afraid, not even of death.
So, you pray. You might even boldly call yourself a prayer warrior, who has battled a problem in the place of prayer for a long time. The question though is: have you fought that battle to the point where you were ready, unafraid to die?
Throughout the Scripture, we see the testimonies of men and women, who risked their lives for the sake of their God. Every one of them that chose to die DID NOT die.
Now, let us consider this scenario:
There was a point in the journey of Jesus, where He did not want to die the death appointed for Him.
If He had refused that cup of judgement and not died then, He still would have died, eventually. However, His death would not have been for the purpose of saving us, and He would not have ‘found’ his life again.
Today, He is alive forevermore, and has a name that is above all other names, because He did not love His life unto the death. He made it because He conquered fear.
It is possible that you are at the level you are now, because you have refused to do what God has commanded you to do. Your fear of what you stand to lose has petrified and stopped you from moving up.
It is time for you to be like Esther. If I perish, I perish.
She paid the price and got the prize. She was ready to die; she did not die. Rather, she, and her people were delivered and promoted.
Num 14:1-9
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, would God that we had died in the land of Egypt: or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
These men murmured against God because they wanted to save their lives, as well as the lives of their wives and children. Their fear prompted them to seek out a captain- a leader skilled in the art of leading people back to captivity.
Many have, in the same manner, been led (by evil captains) back to the poverty, powerless-ness, prayerless-ness, failure, that they had already conquered. They now spend their days talking about what they used to have
And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear not them.
If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. (NIV)
Do not rebel against the LORD, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have not protection, but the LORD is with us! Don’t be afraid of the them! (NLT)
Do not walk in rebellion against the LORD because of fear.
Do not be afraid. Do not love your life or your substance to the point of being afraid to lose them.
The land is yours for the taking. The LORD will give you your life, marriage, children, prosperity…if your life pleases Him; and that can only happen by faith, not by fear.
Pro 16:7
When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Do not be afraid of the people.
There are indeed enemies, strangers, in the land. However, when your focus is to please God, He will give you the land, and those enemies will have no choice but to make peace with you.
Dan 3:16-30
Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
The image was set up for the men to bow to; and they had been warned: if they do not bow, they will not make it.
Many Christians have found themselves staring at the image, and some have bowed to it.
I have come to speak to you today.
When that senior colleague seduces you, promising to advance your career if you play along, boldly say ‘No’.
When your boss threatens to ruin your career if you do not join the club of corruption, say ‘No’.
When you are mocked for trusting in the integrity of the Word, and encouraged to seek help at ‘En-dor’, say ‘No’
Let it be known that your God is able to deliver you; and even if He doesn’t, you will not bow.
If you bow to them, you will lose what you seek to gain.
Do not fear for your job, your business, your reputation, your financial stability, your prosperity.
When you are ready to lose them for Christ, you will gain them, and more.
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more that it was wont to be heated…
Bound with their garments, the 3 Hebrew men were thrown into the furnace because they refused to bow.
The urgency of the king’s command, and the extreme hotness of the furnace, caused those who threw them in to die. However, the men who loved not their lives unto death were not affected by the furnace.
These men lost their lives for the sake of Christ, and right there in the furnace, the Lord appeared in their midst.
The king himself testified that the bound men walked freely in the fire, and were not burnt; and that the Son of God walked with them!
When he called them forth, others saw too:
…and the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
They did not even smell of burning!
Today, you shall also come out of every pit of destruction, loss, failure, and frustration that you have been thrown into, in the name of Jesus!
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
Therefore I make a decree, That every people, notion, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.
Brethren, no evil word is significant against the man in whom the LORD delights; not even that of a king. For your sakes, the words of kings will be overturned and what was meant for your destruction shall turn around for your promotion.
Remember, even your enemies shall be at peace with you.
The prize is great; therefore, no price is too high for you to pay. There is nothing in this world that is worth saving at the expense of the prize in Christ.
Destroy the image; Silence and bury the false gods.
You have used the Blood.
You have spoken the Word.
It is time to lose your life for Christ’s sake.
Become an overcomer.
PRAYER POINTS
In the name of Jesus,
- My Father, I yield my life to You; to serve only You.
- Power of God, appear in my life today.
- Agents of darkness, dragging my life backwards; hear the judgement of the LORD. Be wasted by fire.
- Any evil commander, commanding evil against my life; be wasted by fire.
- My life, my glory, I charge you; come out of captivity now.
- Every image of darkness, set against my life and destiny; I crush you by fire now.