SERVING GOD WILL COST YOU.

The heart of the giver determines the value and acceptability of  the gift.

A sacrifice will cost you something, and our love is shown in what we’re  willing to pay. God asked Abraham to offer up  his son Isaac and Jesus asked the rich young  ruler to sell all that he had.

In 2 Sam. 24, David went to the home of  Araunah the Jebusite to build an altar and make a sacrifice unto the Lord. All that was needed was offered to him freely, but David said, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing” v.24.

Jesus said in Luke 14:33, “whoever of  you does not forsake all that he has, cannot be My disciple.” What does the Master ask of you? Everything! Great glory is attached to great sacrifice, and you won’t know how much you love God until it costs you something. Every person God has used in a substantial was has sacrificed heavily. Faith people don’t tell you about their sacrifices, because they do it cheerfully and with a glad heart, and would do it  again without hesitation.

Most believers are only interested in what  God can do for them and not what they can do for Him. They’ll go to all the seminars that teach  them how to prosper and be healed and set free from all their burdens. But when they’re called upon to do something for God, they’re nowhere to be found, because it will cost them something  to do it. If God is going to use you more than somebody else, He has to have a fair and just reason for doing so. It’s because you were  willing to sacrifice and obey when others would not.

In Luke14:27-30 Jesus said, “And  whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it - lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’”

It will cost you everything to follow Christ like you’re supposed to. If you would count the cost before He asks you, you won’t struggle so much when He does.

As the bearing of His own cross was rapidly approaching, the Lord’s appeal to all who desired to follow Him to bear their own cross took on a deeper significance. He said in Matt.10:37-39, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Take on your cross today and follow Jesus. True ministry will cost you Everything! Great glory is attached to great sacrifice, and you won’t know how much you love God until it costs you something. Every person God has used in a substantial was has sacrificed heavily. Faith people don’t tell you about their sacrifices, because they do it cheerfully and with a glad heart, and would do it  again without hesitation.