Obtaining Your Crown of Glory

"They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb . . . and they loved not their lives unto the death" (Rev. 12:11).


When James and John came to Christ with their mother, asking Him to give them the best place in the kingdom, He did not refuse their request, but told them it would be given to them if they could do His work, drink His cup, and be baptized with His baptism.

Do we want the competition? The greatest things are always hedged about by the hardest things, and we, too, shall find mountains and forests and chariots of iron. Hardship is the price of coronation. Triumphal arches are not woven out of rose blossoms and silken cords, but of hard blows and bloody scars. The very hardships that you are enduring in your life today are given by the Master for the explicit purpose of enabling you to win your crown.

Do not wait for some ideal situation, some romantic difficulty, some far-away emergency; but rise to meet the actual conditions which the Providence of God has placed around you today. Your crown of glory lies embedded in the very heart of these things--those hardships and trials that are pressing you this very hour, week and month of your life. The hardest things are not those that the world knows of. Down in your secret soul unseen and unknown by any but Jesus, there is a little trial that you would not dare to mention that is harder for you to bear than martyrdom.

There, beloved, lies your crown. God help you to overcome, and sometime wear it. --Selected

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It is funny how believers so often look to circumvent life's struggles. It is amazing how we tend to search for and anticipate progression outside of resistance. We want to apprehend God's promises without enduring his processes. We claim to be his followers, yet there is no evidence of our bearing a cross.

We say that we are followers of Christ, but all we seem to be seeking is self. We desire a life of ease but full of reward. We have failed to realize that our greatest gain comes through difficulty as God shapes us and develops character within us. Even in our perceived failures, those moments in which we seemed to have totally missed the mark, God is working to develop humility and perseverance.

When the vicissitudes of life roll into your paradise, it is not the end, but the beginning. It is at this moment that God begins to move in the undercurrents of your struggle. God functions through your obedience and commitment to His will. It is not God's purpose to appease you, but to prepare you. It not His desire to grant your wish list, but to empower your destiny. It is not is greatest concern to tend to your comfort, but to facilitate your character.

Dr. Rick Wallace

We continue to meander through the maze of mediocrity because our perception of greatness is marred by secular paradigms that place the emphasis on us instead of God. We struggle through bouts of misery and depression because we have been convinced that this life is about us, so we become disenfranchised every time something does not go our way.

We have yet to apprehend one immutable truth: No cross; no crown.

Yes, you were designed for greatness, because God does not deal in mediocrity. However, this greatness only comes through the fulfillment of your design, not the apprehension of personal aspirations. Seek first the Kingdom of God is the command. Are you committed to kingdom work, or you striving to achieve the American dream? Are you sold out to Christ or engrossed in filling your wish list.

Some of your greatest challenges are actually assignments. Things you have a proclivity to avoid are actually the source of your work and the conduit for God's greatest blessings for you. These challenges are your opportunity to take up your cross. God is looking to build a powerful testimony in your life, but it begins with your obedience and willingness to see the assignment through. It begins with taking up your cross. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace