____MATTHEW 13:44-46____
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A man found treasure concealed somewhere, and he had all his possessions sold off just to acquire that treasure.
That simply means that the treasure he found is of far greater worth and value than the one he gave up.
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That Treasure is IN CHRIST!
In Him all the FULNESS of God reside -Col.1:16-20.
Having Christ means having access to God's Treasure Chest; GROWING in Him means this Treasure gaining the greater expression in and through us.
To the degree we dig into this Treasure, to same degree would we express and manifest It. The more of Him we know, the more of Him we would manifest -Acts 20:32.
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The treasures that are ours in Christ are far beyond what the world has ever known and would ever get to know. The mind of man can never even begin to fathom it -1Cor.2:9-10.
That's exactly why Christ said that the least of the believers is greater than the greatest of the prophets in the Old Testament.
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Take a look these: Luke 10:23-24 and 1Peter 1:10-12.
The treasures we are talking about here, many PROPHETS and KINGS of Old yearned to just SEE them; their desires were not granted. Abraham, as great as he was, only had a glimpse of just the Day of Christ and was excited -John 8:56.
John the Baptist became the greatest of all the prophets of the Old Testament just for the privilege he had to forerun the manifestation of Jesus to Israel. But as believers, WE HAVE CHRIST DWELLING RIGHT IN US -what an awesome HONOUR!
Even Adam before the Fall never had such.
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The angels greatly wonder at the rubbish and garbage they see Christians passionately pursue after. They envy us so much for WHO WE ARE 'IN CHRIST' AND WHAT WE HAVE, which we sadly neither recognize, value nor even pay attention to.
Angels do not enjoy the unusual and awesome privileges we have in Christ -they are SERVANTS, but we are SONS -Heb.1:5-8; Gal.4:1-7.
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It is rather shameful, that of all the awesome, amazing and glorious dimensions of treasures made available to us in Christ, we get ourselves overly concerned with the very LEAST of them: Materialism.
All our prayer, fasting and quest seem to revolve around vanity.
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This very thing we're so indifferent about, is actually where every attention of satan is.
satan understands the true worth of spirituality, so he distracts us with the physical and mundane, and then robs us of the Substance; and we are satisfied having mere shadows.
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It is appalling, disgusting, pathetic and totally shameful, to say the least, for the Christians who have been redeemed from the fallen, broken and degraded world and called to rather save it, to now turn around, abandon their high and glorious calling and begin pursuing materialism and carnality with such reckless abandon.
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We very truly do not know who we really are in Christ.
If we fully comprehend the meaning and implication of carrying Christ within us, our perspective and approach towards life would be greatly altered.
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At the Beautiful gate, Peter knew that the least thing that crippled man needed was silver and gold. Peter wasn't broke financially. He superintended over the Church and could have easily raised any amount for the man.
He knew the man needed the higher level of Blessing (Christ) to bring him to wholeness.
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In Luke 16:19-26, the rich man discovered, quite late though, that material blessings are not at the same level with spiritual blessings, as all the earthly treasures he had amassed couldn't afford him even a single drop of the Living Water.
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ALL THE TREASURES OF THE EARTH PUT TOGETHER CAN NOT MEASURE UP TO THE LEAST OF THE HEAVENLY TREASURE.
The former is a mere fleeting, fading SHADOW and a MIRAGE, while the latter is the SUBSTANCE and PERMANENT -2Cor. 4:18.
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Even man in his fallen state is worth much more than the earth itself, not to even mention the REDEEMED.
We are told that human resources far outweigh natural resources. Why is that so? Because man is an eternal being. God put eternity in the heart of man.
Simply put, man is DEEPER than the earth. God created man to pursue after DEEP things, just as God is DEEP. That is why no shallow thing (earthly things) can satisfy man -Psalm 42:7; Eph.3:16-19.
Your soul is costlier than the whole earth, my friend!
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TO EXPERIENCE THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD, WE MUST FIRST LEAVE THE SHALLOW THINGS BEHIND!
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Ever asked why satan will willingly and gladly give you just ANYTHING in exchange for your soul? He understands TRUE VALUE; yes, he does.
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It is utmost folly and degrading, rating yourself by your earthly accomplishments.
You can't quantify man with physical things, never! -2Corinth. 4:7.
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WHEN WE LOSE TOUCH WITH TRUE REALITY, WE WILL BEGIN MEASURING OURSELVES WITH THE COUNTERFEIT.
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God measures you by the quality of Him and His Word that dwell within you. He remains the only satisfaction of the soul of man.
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Our problem as believers is that of colossal, gross ignorance -we greatly underestimate the gravity and magnitude of the POWER indwelling us -Col. 2:2-3.
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The revelation of God's Word is just the beginning of the understanding and knowledge of Who He really Is. The revelation and knowledge of Him is just ALL that we need.
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According to Ephesians 1:3, every believer is already FULLY LOADED UP with all forms of blessings far beyond imagination, but we need revelation to access every one of them.
IN LIFE, YOU MOVE ONLY AS FAR AS YOU CAN SEE.
You walk only in the liberty of the truth that has so captured and overwhelmed you -1Peter 1:13; 2Peter 1:3.
All our spiritual exercises: praying, fasting, studying of His Word etc, should lead us to this ONE thing.
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WE ARE AS STRONG AS WE KNOW HIM.
The ONLY thing satan dreads so much in us, is the REVELATION OF CHRIST available in our spirit. satan is not your worst enemy; ignorance is. satan only exploits your ignorance.
The greatest prayer you can pray, is that of Revelation: “That I may know You...”
You eventually become what you constantly see -2Cor.3:18.
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Don't just merely know 'about' Christ; KNOW HIM!
Knowing about Him is unproductive; knowing Him is where fruitfulness in spirituality is -an ACTIVE knowledge, not a PASSIVE one.
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If your Christianity costs you NOTHING, it will reward you NOTHING.
We give up physicality to gain spirituality. Physicality is the cost, price for spirituality. You can NEVER grow in the both at the same time -you lose one to gain the other -John 12:22-26.
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Paul, prior to his encounter with Christ, had accumulated all sorts of earthly treasures, but when he beheld the glory of Christ, he transacted all he had for it -Philippians 3:4-9.
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WE DISCOVER TRUE, REAL TREASURES WHEN WE FOCUS ON GOD'S WORD.
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Finally, on that Great Day, the Day Of Reckoning, those believers who have built with INFERIOR materials will eventually have nothing to boast of before the Father -1Cor.3:11-15.
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It's time we began asking ourselves salient questions, whether the things we are living for are actually worth our soul.
It's time we had our Christian lives reviewed and evaluated!
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The time spent in God's Presence is the BEST time ever -Psalm 84:10.
Do it joyfully, not grudgingly or out of compulsion and you'll be greatly blessed, both in this life and in the life to come!
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God bless you!
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-ROCK.