If greatness was sold at the market, how much do you think it would cost?

Anyone who is great understands that, there is always a price to be paid to be great. When I say paying the price, I mean sacrificing. Sacrificing the fleshy pleasures so that the Spirit can live. Paying the price is so important because it gives God the room to make you. In Genesis 12:2, after God had told Abram the price to pay, God said, “I will make you a great nation,..” To be great and effective as a child of God is not cheap or automatic, it comes with a price.

Throughout the Bible, the Fathers of our faith all paid the price.

Look at Abraham in Genesis 12:1 – “the LORD said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.” When we speak of Abraham, we look at how great he was and how He got so close to the Lord forgetting that he paid a price.

It runs throughout the Bible, Jacob got his hip bone disconnected. Isaac had to dig wells. David was promised a kingdom and for 17 years, he was just running and hiding and battling. Daniel had to reject the king’s food. Jesus who happened to be the son of God, publicly announced by John, I thought He would go and stand on the pulpit and preach like how some of us will do. But the SPIRIT led Him into the wilderness to be tempted (see Matthew 4:1-2 – then JESUS was led up by the SPIRIT into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was hungry.

Even God paid the price for many sons, John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten SON… How would you feel as a parent when you lose your only son?

Hebrews 11:35 – others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they may obtain a better resurrection. That was the price the early church paid for us to be saved. Missionaries came to Africa and died so that some of us could get saved. Now it’s our turn to also pay the price for generations behind us to benefit.

Let look at some three prices everyone can pay;

•THE PRICE OF INTIMACY WITH THE LORD

Jesus had to sacrifice sleep in Mark 1:35 to pray, waking up early in the morning. In Luke 6:12, Jesus prayed all night. The secret is what is said in Isaiah 55:6 – seek the Lord while He may be found. There are particular kairos moments that You can have a deeper relationship with the Lord

•PAY THE PRICE FOR SEPARATION

Again in Mark 1:35, He didn’t just wake up early, He went to a solitary place to pray. That’s why we fast, to get to that solitary place. It might not necessarily be physical, but a place in the Spirit so that God can download things into your spirit.

•PAY THE PRICE FOR KNOWLEDGE

Sacrifice your time to study. Daniel 9:2 – In the first year of his reign, I Daniel understanding by the books… a man who transcended four kingdoms and was relevant in each and his secret was His addiction to reading. You increase understanding by increasing information.

I pray that you will be effective, as said by TD JAKES, fame is a side effect of being effective, God bless you.

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