“I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have,
so that no one may seize your crown.
Revelation 3:11-12 (ESV)
May we heed the warning of God to HIS church:
“…that no one take your crown.”
Revelation 3:12 (KJV)
Crowns – the Reward of Faith
In God, crowns go to the victor, not the mere believer, but those engaged in the fight of faith. Crowns are won and lost during our life here on earth.
In the parable of the talents and pounds, we read that the unfaithful servants of God lost their allotted eternal portion, plus that which WAS theirs is taken from them and given to those He deemed faithful.
“Take therefore the talent from him,
and give it unto him which hath ten talents”
Matthew 25:28
“Take from him the pound,
and give it to him that hath ten pounds”
Luke 19:24
The parable of the talents and the pounds represent two different spiritual commodities given graciously by God to EVERY child of His. The diligent and faithful render to Him a corresponding return on his investment.
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”
Matthew 25:23 (ESV)
It is in the trenches and in the secret places of our hearts where crowns are lost and won. The fight of faith is relentless, and the enemy goes about as a roaring lion seeking those whom he may devour through the deceitfulness of sin and compromise.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith…”
1 Peter 5:8-9
Related Post: The Reward of Discipleship
“Take heed unto thyself…”
1 Timothy 4:16
Brian Troxel
Amen 🙏🤗♥️
And remember what we do with those crowns when we are around His throne? We throw them down at His feet and declare, “You are worthy!” 🤠
Yes, amen. We can have no victories without His Life being the source and the supply! WordPress remains a constant source of perplexities.
Thank you for stopping by. How is your therapy working?
BT
Btw, when I read your blogs through the link, I cannot use the Like button nor comment there. ??? WordPress is full of mysteries.😉
Agree totally….
Perhaps the picture of the crown with the crown of thorns says it best. There is no victory with a trial. God is looking for commited believers who will bear down and knuckle up when it comes to resilient faith. I think it is something that is lacking in the modern church.
Blessings Brian.
The church, at least in the Western world, is sorely steeped in her sordid sense of self-sufficiency instead of sourcing her strength in her Savior and Sanctifier. She leans much more than a little on the arm of flesh rather than as sensibly submitted spiritually, leaning into the support of the Spirit. Thus, the cheapness of her carnality of compromise and confusion is manifest. Foolishly, she falls into forfeiture of purity of devotion and simplicity of service to Christ.
Increasing intimacy in love communion with her Lover God which the Spirit is ever desiring is not that spiritual dynamic or dunamis of heavenward living that empowers her earthly living as salt and light because delinquent she is of cherishing as first and foremost the practice and pleasing of His Presence.
Rev. 2:4 AMP But I have this [charge] against you, that you have left your first love [you have lost the depth of love that you first had for Me].
In many places, such as North Korea, Afghanistan, and Nigeria, where following Jesus costs the most due to extremes of religious persecution, lukewarm Christianity is essentially absent. To survive spiritually/ mentally/emotionally/physically, the sense of self-sufficiency, thereby straying from the saving Shepherd, the sure Sanctifier, is not an option open to these beloved brethren. In these dire straits, faith functioning by loving appreciation is fueled and fortified. Consequently, Christ is recognized more clearly, valued more sincerely, followed more nearly, and shared more dearly, within and beyond His church.
This I see as the crown of the cross, the crown of thorns which you so very aptly mention.
Alleluia that the Spirit of Scripture speaks to us that Christ, our King, the Alpha and the Omega over all creation, time, and eternity, shall through the blood of His cross and in the power of His resurrection have an end-time bride all beautiful and all victorious, His crowning creation, perfectly, endlessly, exuberantly reflecting the effulgence of His excellence.
I direct your attention to a brief word from John Piper, pertaining to the subject of sufficiency here: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/we-can-do-nothing
Brother, thank you kindly, and burning blessings of Jesus’ beauty in your being and intimate blessings of loving affection from His holy heart as Lord of history and King of heaven.
Below is a dream I had in June of 2024 that has do do with running the Race and crowns.
Running the Race
I had a dream 06/13/2024 where I saw a running track with runners on it. I saw the finish line with an individual waiting to crown the victor. Then I saw 3 individuals, although there may have been more, but it is these 3 that were prominent in the dream as they represent 3 hindrances to finishing the race.
The first individual, although physically fit, was greatly struggling to walk let alone run. Then I was shown what looked like a concrete slab, picture a segment of sidewalk, attached to his leg by a chain.
The second individual had in their arms what looked like dolls that were piled above his head thus restricting his sight.
The third individual seemed to be very gaunt and I watched as he was blown by the wind all over the track and therefore was unable to focus on the victor’s crown awaiting him at the finish line.
The interpretation is as follows:
The slab pretty much crippling the first runner was called unforgiveness.
The second runner was hindered by idolatry thus his inability to focus on the goal of finishing the race. Idols are those things in one’s life that can keep an individual from serving the Lord with a whole heart and even take the individual out of the race completely.
The third individual being blown all over the track is described in a Ephesians 4:11-15.
Ephesians 4:11-15 (NKJV) 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
This is an individual not submitted to sound doctrine but rather chasing doctrines that appeal to his fleshly desires
Such a clear picture of much of what we see around us though few will receive its clarity nor its instruction.
“That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand…” There is nothing new under the sun.
The visions you receive are clear, and are easily supported in the scriptures… always a blessing and a confirmation.
BT
1 John 5:4
AMP
For everyone born of God is victorious and overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has conquered and overcome the world—our [continuing, persistent] faith [in Jesus the Son of God].
PHILLIPS
The test of the genuineness of our love for God’s family lies in this question—do we love God himself and do we obey his commands? For loving God means obeying his commands, and these commands of his are not burdensome, for God’s “heredity” within us will always conquer the world outside us. In fact, this faith of ours is the only way in which the world has been conquered. For who could ever be said to conquer the world, in the true sense, except the man who really believes that Jesus is God’s Son?
MSG
Every God-born person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.
Crowns are closely commensurate with our having overcome the world as ones supernaturally, most marvelously born of the superscendent Spirit of God, that is, born again as per John 3:3. What controls the world we have overcome?
Invisible wicked spirit forces of deception and destruction control and consume unregenerate human nature that is profligate and perverse in its disregard of and disdain for the Christ of creation. Such sin-sickness and wanton, wretched waywardness we have both positionally overcome and experientially conquered by the unmerited grace and the undeserved gift of faith, functioning by Love Himself intimately indwelling us, and thus, the crown of life is corporately and individually, irrevocably ours.
Christ is the cherishing communion of our Coronation, the chief, celebratory Crown of crowns, Himself no less, our exceeding and eternal great Reward, in Whom we ought to richly revel and rapturously rejoice, even now, and shall ineffably forevermore. O Alleluia! Alleluia!!!
A contrariwise example of this “some saints’ surprise of victory” is, if we had been alive during the Crusades, most “crownly conquering Christians” would have been certain that they could earn entrance into heaven hereafter by running to fight in the Holy Land. That which sometimes stumbles a soul’s sense is what we simply surmise is true because everyone in our space says so, rather than trumpeting the truth God has made known by His Spirit and shown in His Scripture, to those with eager ears to hear and enthused eyes to see.
Man was never meant by His Maker to be a maverick. Our dire dependence on Deity is our singularly superior, always all-sufficient vindication and victory, Christ our ceaselessly compassionate Conqueror, our richly royal Righteousness, our ravishingly rapturous Reward.
As dependent on His Father and our Father, He, our Master was, we may model in all moments, matters, and movements of our makeup, as our Maker lives in us, manifesting through us, apprehending that for which He has apprehended each one of us, mercifully, magnificently, munificently.
Much more dependent on the Spirit, the Anointing, of Christ, the Anointed One, I unreservedly confess that I, Stephen, much more than a little, need to consistently be to obtain the crowns He, the Crown of crowns, has for me, for His exaltation. Apart from Him, I am and can do nothing whatsoever. All resplendence from and to Christ Jesus, the infinitely worthy Name above every name!
Amen!
Amen!