If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

Luke 14:26

The way of discipleship is the way to follow the cross.  The requirement of discipleship is to never look back.

Jesus said that the Kingdom was like a precious pearl, that, when found, a man sold all he had and bought it.  There is something about finding something that is worth it.  If you can see it, if you can recognize what you see, and correctly appraise it, it is not a hard choice to lose everything else to obtain the best.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Mark 8:35

If you want to save your earthly life, you will lose it, both your natural and your heavenly life.  If, however, you lose everything to do with your earthly life, not only will you gain your heavenly one, but you will, when all is said and done, live this earthly one to the full as well.

The aim of the Kingdom is never worldly wealth.  To use spiritual truths, spiritual principles, and spiritual anointing with a primary emphasis and goal to be that of procuring physical ends, is both perverted and worldly.  Material things do come (Luke 18:30), but is it our focus?  Is it not rather something by which we can continue to do what we have been doing, only on a greater scale, namely seeking first His Kingdom and His Righteousness? (Matthew 6:33).

The TRUE END we are looking for MUST be Faith, Hope, and Love (1 Corinthians 13:13), which are Eternal.  If you seek for anything else, you WILL find it.

The weight of ministry alone, the weight of the anointing and the pressures of life will themselves guarantee your decision will be forced to the full.  At one point, push will come to shove, pressures will mount, and choices will be made, one way or another.

Jesus said you would hate one or love the other.  If you fall down, get back up again, but the choice is always right there.

I believe Jesus came and gave us the easiest, lightest yoke, burden, and way of living in His Presence and in His anointing.  The issues of the prophetic, gifted life range and vary, but they all include the basic pressures of provision (Matthew 6:33), stress (Matthew 6:34), anger (Matthew 5:22), sin (Matthew 5:19), obedience (Matthew 7:24), and the like.

Unless you lose you life, unless you are willing to separate yourself from everything, it will have a pull on you.  You might be able to handle that stress for a year or two, and suppress and manage the anxiety that comes simply with good decision making skills, but there will come a day, an evil day, when all of your strength will be required.  That is, if you’re fixing to go anywhere notable in the Spirit.

Half-hearted attempts are a dime a dozen.  If you’re just looking to have a few goosebumps and see a couple people with a headache get healed, enjoy that, but don’t step out to see the Kingdom advance by force until you are willing to come in line with the cost (Luke 14:28).  If you begin and are unable to finish, you will face ridicule, and you will probably suffer loss and shame.

The cost, of course, is extremely high.  Actually, it costs everything, every day, all the time.  The wonderful thing about this cost is, anyone can pay it.  Any one at all.  But, the problem is, few do.  Perhaps it takes a level of revelation to even get started, but after that, the instructions were clear from the beginning.

Whatever portion of the Kingdom you find, whatever facet, whatever gift, or whatever truth, in order to champion it, in order to redeem and restore it, you must die to everything else.  You must lose every other focus.  You keep the main thing the main thing, being Christ and Him crucified, but name what prophetic minister, attempting to restore the prophetic to the body, who did not lose quite a bit of reputation, pride, and self along the way.  Name one true, notable revivalist who wasn’t called demon-possessed?  It’s easy to go half-way, but are you willing to give it all for the King?

But considering the focus, with the eyes of faith, however, the choice is made.  It is made the moment we catch a glimpse of it.  The eyes of faith know the Eternality of the Kingdom.  The eyes of the heart know it’s worth.  The only motivation to stay where you are is fear.  The only thing that you can do to stay where you are, once your spirit has captured a glimpse of something, is to draw back, run and hide, and chicken out.  The faith itself, the very love of God and His Kingdom, for the born again, spirit-filled believer, compels them, governs them, dictates to them, to pursue (2 Corinthians 5:14).

When we catch a glimpse of what is there, and it fills the fullness of the gaze of our eyes, knowing both the worth and the cost, you’ll never be happy until you pursue.  Many can (and will) attempt to dissuade you from it, only keep your eyes of faith firmly fixed on your target, keep it securely set on the Eternal realm of the heavens, keep that feeling of what it means to you, and don’t ever, ever, ever, ever give up.