Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Matthew 11:11

Somewhere, we have picked up some really heinous ideas and called them wisdom.  Take John…  He lived in the wilderness his whole life, fasting and praying, and preparing for Messiah.  He was to be the messenger, and he was to prepare the way for Jesus, so through him, all the world might be saved.  This was his mission, his job, and he knew it.  He knew it so well, that when Jesus’ “ministry” started to outshine his own, he didn’t even care.

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Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.

Matthew 13:52 (portion)

The product of knowing about the Kingdom is to bring forth treasures.  These treasures are New, created now.  We refer back to the word.

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It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

God wants us free.  He wants you free, He wants me free.  He wants me to point you to His freedom, and you to point me there.  He wants each of us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).

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What if you had your eyes focused on just one thing?  What would it be like if you could just run after the Lord with total abandon, and seek Him with all that you are, continually?

What if you could live with your eyes fixed on the heavenly realm, and live out of the substance of faith?  What would that look like?  Where would you end up?

Brushing aside fantasy, take a step deeper…  What is it that distracts?  What is it that pulls you away?

There are two thing absolutely for certain, God will ask more of you than you want to give, AND, He can never ask you for more than you have.  So long as we keep in mind that it only, apparently, takes two loves, five fishes, and a mustard seed of faith to feed a multitude, He will never ask you to do more than what you have, when you consider everything.

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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. Read more…

Daniel 9:24

Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

Daniel had learned from the book of Jeremiah that Israel was to have gone into captivity for seventy years (Jeremiah 25:1-11; Jeremiah 29:10).  Having understood the time in which he was, he prayed to the Lord, petitioning for the servitude to be done.  As Daniel prayed and confessed (Daniel 9:4), he asked for mercy.

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Seek first the Kingdom of God, and his Righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

Matthew 6:33

The Kingdom is invisible, in the heavens (John 3:3).  It is the unseen dominion, greater and more sufficient than the natural, which, from its excess, overflows into what we can see.

What we can see, feel, and experience is not the Spirit.  What we can see is not the Kingdom.  What we touch with the soul and body is but our response to God.

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I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

John 10:10 (portion)

The only pure life is the life yielded to the Spirit.

If we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

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If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

John 14:15

If you’re in it, you will live a certain way.

Most Happy are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 5:3

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Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Faith in God is a real, active, and living thing.  God is alive, and powerful.  Faith sees Him, and the word of His power overcomes what cannot be otherwise overcome, and carries a person with it through otherwise impossible situations.

It was by faith in God that David conquered the giant, and it was by faith in God that Jonathan, his friend, along with his armor bearer, single-handedly took on an entire Philistine garrison.  It was by faith that overcame their weaknesses and came to be firmly established in the land.

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