“God intends that we treat our hearts as the treasures of the kingdom, ransomed at tremendous cost, as if they really do matter, and matter deeply.” -John Eldridge (Waking the Dead)
Oh the profound truth behind this thought…our hearts are the treasures of the kingdom! TREASURES! They were ransomed by our God at such a cost, and for such a time as this! If our hearts are such treasures, then our hearts must be worth fighting for. What treasure out there isn’t worth the fight, worth fiercely guarding, and eventually worth putting on display?
Our hearts have been long fought after by our warrior God. He's spent our whole lives reaching into the depths of darkness to rescue our precious hearts from the pits of despair and destruction. He's pursued the redemption of our hearts for years after the crushing suffocation from chains and strongholds that have long held it captive. He has diligently and passionately fought for the freedom of the hearts that He ransomed for Himself at Calvary; the very moment where He paid the highest price just to reconcile the treasured hearts of His beloved bride to Himself again.
Our hearts are of utmost value and worth in the kingdom. Our hearts are good, because our savior has cleansed them from the corrupted stains of evil. They are now the greatest treasure in heaven and on earth, because they are the very dwelling of the Glory of our radiant King!
“Your King and dearest friend calls you forth. Awake, come fully alive, your good heart set free and blazing for Him and for those yet to be rescued. You have a glory that is needed. You are given a quest, a mission that will take you deep into the heart of the kingdom of darkness, to break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron so that your people might be set free from their bleak prisons. He asks that you heal them. Of course, you will face many dangers; you will be hunted.” -John Eldridge
You will be hunted.
You're a treasure, of course your going to be hunted. Evil knows far greater than we even do the effect of our ransomed hearts for the kingdom of God. The enemy knows that we are a treasure; it is no surprise to him that as soon as we allow our ransomed hearts to come fully alive with the glory of the Lord that we will come against the kingdom of darkness. And we will prevail because we storm the gates of hell with a glory so radiant it “breaks down the gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron”. So we come against the powers of darkness with such brilliant light, such radiant freedom, such alluring beauty that overflows out of the heart fully alive in the Glory of our Lord.
Our glory will be hunted. But that should not detour us in the slightest from rising from the ashes into that glorious freedom that our hearts were ransomed for in the first place. We have nothing to fear, for we are the greatest treasures in the Kingdom! Our God who paid such a price to ransom ourselves to Him sends His angels to encamp around us. For He has placed His glory upon us for such a time as this; our God goes before and He will fight for His glory to be on display in us, His bride.
So “come out and be separate!” The Lord has sown a glory into all of our stories that is not meant to be hidden away for safe keeping. This glory was never created just to be on display, to radiate light and purity and holiness. That is part of His awesome glory, yes, but there’s so much more that His glory in us was created to do! His glory bestowed upon us comes to the culmination of the purpose of its anointing in Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.”
Rise up saints! Arise and shine for the glory of the Lord is upon you! Come alive church…the time for reaping has come! We have been anointed with the glory of the Lord so that in His name we can proclaim the good news to all who so desperately need something to hope for in this life of despair. We have been anointed to take His glory to all those whose treasured hearts have been so assaulted by the enemy that they lay in pieces, crushed and bleeding, instead of in a place of honor ready to be put on display for the Lord. Our hearts have been ransomed to our maker and have been set free from the clutches of darkness in order that we may take the glory of freedom and charge with it into the deepest prisons of the soul. So that by the power of Jesus, we may unlock prison doors and the captives may come barging out by the thousands with a glory all their own to carry forth with a vengeance against their captor.
Our hearts have been ransomed from the ashes, so that like the Phoenix out of the ashes we may rise, and radiate a glory so beautiful that all who see will praise God that such beauty could come out of such utter destruction and desolation. The glory of the Lord bestowed upon us gives us such a fresh anointing of the oil of joy that we change atmospheres with the joy of the Lord bursting forth from our ransomed hearts. The joy of the Lord will cause our treasured hearts to throb and swell so much with His glory that it can no longer be contained but it must be put on display for all to see and glorify our God!
We were created to be oaks of righteousness. The enemy has tried to cut us down from the beginning of time because he knows how majestic we were created to be. He knows the glory that comes with such a majestic standing in the Lords righteousness and he has tried everything to dismember the branches of our oaks.
Rise up church! Enough is enough! No longer shall we allow the enemy to steal, kill and destroy the glory that was breathed into us from the very moment of creation! Your glory is to be on display for the splendor of the Lord! Arise out of the ashes, claim the anointing the Lord so desperately desires to place on you. Glory is at stake! Put your ransomed heart on display, as the sought after treasure that it is, because that treasure was meant for more than just you. It was meant to radiate the Lord's glory. Allow the Lord His time of Harvest that is long overdo.
He's been sowing glory into our stories for far too long. Its time for a reaping. The harvest is so very ripe! So bow your treasured heart to the one who ransomed it. Let Him call forth His glory that has grown within us from simple seeds to mighty oaks! The time has come beloved! Let Heaven meet earth in the mighty clash of glory returning to glory!
Its time for a reaping!
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us…and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” -Nelson Mandela
