For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Matthew 7:8

You cannot have the Kingdom without a laid down life.  How many have heard this testimony, or had it themselves.  At the end of your rope, when you can’t take it anymore, maybe things were very grim, and God showed up in awesome ways.  The break-through of insight and revelation comes, the out-pouring of necessary power comes in like a flood, and He demonstrates Himself as the Lord of the Breakthrough (2 Samuel 5:20).  How many have had this experience of God showing up as their deliverer, only to wonder where He is the next moment?  To be overwhelmed with His goodness, only to be found back at the point of desparation, or worse, gross error or compromise from not realizing you had continued on without Him and missed a turn.

Or, perhaps a little more rare in this generation, how about standing up for what is right, and feeling the pressure, only to have the Father demonstrate His ability to deliver in the midst of persectuion?  Realizing that not everyone appears to come through such tests–having God deliver them with such power.  Whether visible or not quite so dramatic, do we know the experience where He shows up so that His Kingdom is vindicated?  Yet, the next day, to be in the same predicament as the day before?

The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are poor in spirit and those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.  Yet, in the moment of triumph, it is His triumph, and His Kingdom.  How many people have felt the deliverance of God in their lives, only to turn and then assume that everything we do is right?  The biggest hindrance to today’s breakthrough is yesterday’s success.

The greatest giver in the Bible was not the one that gave the greatest amount, but the one who gave all (Luke 21:3-4).  Of all the givers of the Bible, only a few mentioned gave a full tithe of everything they possessed.  Abraham did to Melchizadech.  The widow of Zarephath gave approximately ten percent of her entire life to Elijah when he asked her for a small cake to eat before she used the rest for herself.  Seeing that her entire life consisted only of what remained in the jar of meal, to give a small cake would have been a tithe of her entire life.  A few others are recorded as giving a tithe of their life.  But, like Jesus, this widow gave her all.

Do you think this widow was forgotten after this?  Do you think God missed this fact after she was mentioned in the Bible?  Scripture does not record her end.  She may have still conditions that might have seemed like lack to many.  But, never forget, God is never mocked, we will reap what we sow.  We do not know her end, but we can be sure of this: God never missed those two little coins.

As Jesus gave His entire life for ours, we are called give up our entire life so that it can grow and bear fruit.  It seems to me that in the parable of the four soils, that the less there was in the way, the more and more productive the Word called seed did.  And, once everything else was removed, it was fruitful.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Matthew 5:6

God said He would answer the cry for more of Himself.  When we seek Him with all of our heart, we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13).

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah?
For your loyalty is like a morning cloud and like the dew which goes away early.

Hosea 6:4

It is easy to be faithful for while.  But, if like the dew in the morning, it burns off when it gets hot out, when the sun comes out, what good does that do?  It is like the seed on stony ground.  But, it takes His faithfulness within, His faith in our heart, to stand when the hardships come.

The Kingdom is not ours, and does not simply follow us because we want it to come.  Unless one pays the price God demands, a simple heart, complete forgiveness, and a life given, we shouldn’t be surprised if the fullness of the Kingdom does not always support us.

God is near the broken-hearted, because He loves everyone–even the wicked!  He is a defender of His own righteousness and those who stand up for it.  His vindication proves His own Kingdom, not ours.  The moment we are out of these conditions, whether God continues to defend you depends upon something else.  What is it that He wants?  A heart that is after His; a life that does only what it is seen that the Father does.  A life laid down.

But you may ask, what is the way forward?  What is the way to be faithful and please Him?  Jesus said, ask, seek, and knock.  Keep laying your life on the line.  Keep surrendering.  Keep asking for more.  Keep seeking His heart.  Keep knocking on the door.

Jesus said it would come.  If you simply keep asking, it will come.

Just because you’re a friend of God, it might not, but if you’re persistent, it will.  Being obnoxious in prayer may weary an earthly friend, but it never wearies God.  The  things that weary God are calling evil good and good evil (Malachi 2:17) and sins (Isaiah 43:24).

Jesus said, Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.

Mark 10:29-31

We may not get what we want today, or in the timing we want.  But, just as everything sown in the flesh is reaped, for good or evil, if we wait for it, it will come.  And, rest assured, if you have to wait for it, it will be better, as the last must be first, and the first last.  If it came quickly, it would most likely, practically, historically, and scripturaly, not be worth it nor last.  But, though it tarries, wait for it.  If what you believe you’ll see is really there, and it is really the level you are looking for, you may be more towards the end than at the beginning.

Though it takes years, remember this, that Abraham, our Father of faith, waited some twenty-five years from the promise to its fulfillment.  He even though he’d helped the promise along half-way through.  But, in the fullness of time, the door came.  Not in his own strength, lest he could boast, but when his body was as good as dead, so that God could get the glory.  One could almost say, the quicker you’re dead, the sooner God can give it to you!

But, as the psalmist wrote, “til I entered the sanctuary of God” (Psalm 73:17).  He had nearly spoken ill concerning his frustration over the promotion and apparent success of the wicked.  But, when he entered the place of the altar, his vision was cleared, and he saw rightly again.  The destiny of evil was seen, and God, who is all that matters, was enthroned in his vision again.

He is our shield and our exceedingly great reward (Genesis 15:1).  And, He is the greatest reward.