If it is true that God has no favorites as the Bible says in Acts 10:34 (MSG), then why are some believers successful and others are not, and why is it that people in the world have recorded more noteworthy success and achieved greater outcomes than most Christians? The answer is not farfetched, it all lies in our willingness and ability to pay the sacrifice required to succeed. Sacrifice is the difference we pay to go higher in the spirit. Nothing great comes easy in this kingdom. There is nothing of value without a corresponding cost. You can determine the worth of a thing by the sacrifice a person made to get it. The prophet Elisha for example valued the anointing he got from his master Elijah because it cost him his business, time and effort.
“So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah.” 1 Kings 19:19-20
You can measure a man’s desire for success by his willingness to pay the sacrifice attached to what he desires. Elisha left his oxen and followed Elijah, because he understood what the anointing from the major prophet Elijah will do for him in one day that twelve years of hard labor could not do.
And because of the price Elisha paid, the Bible tells us that after Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire, he gave Elisha a double portion of his power and he was accepted as the leader of the sons of the prophets. Elisha then went on to perform twice as many miracles as Elijah. What was Elisha’s secret? Sacrifice!
Going back to our opening scripture once again, the Bible says Gideon and his soldiers were “bone-tired but still pressing the pursuit;” which means they kept on sacrificing. If you read the preceding verses, we are told that there were times they had no food or water to drink, but that did not hinder them, then they got to a point where even their bones were tired, but they still continued in their pursuit. Sacrifice is your ability to keep pressing towards your goal even when you are bone tired. And as you pursue your purpose, remember this: “Behind every Glory is a story of sacrifice.”
The birth of anything great will always show in the sacrifice paid to achieve it. You will never achieve anything significant by just wishing it, you must pay the full price for it. And anything you’re not ready to sacrifice for, will eventually be the sacrifice you make. The world we live in will never know us anymore than our sacrifice.
PRAYER
Father God, I thank You for showing me the way to greatness - sacrifice. I embrace this teaching on sacrifice, and I lay down my life first on Your altar as a living sacrifice to bring glory to You in the name of Jesus.
Amen!