Loss is Inescapable
No one can escape loss. However, a loss can lead to gain because it is the basis for human existence and function. History makers and impact creators were those that were given to loss. The greater their gain, the greater was their loss.
Loss is a part and parcel of the Christian life. You are either losing God (Light) for the devil (darkness), or the devil for God. Therefore, for a Christian, loss is the path to gaining Christ. No Christian can gain the good purpose of the Lord for him/her without losing some specific things. Check out Apostle Paul’s case below.
Philippians 3:7-14 New International Version (NIV)
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Any form of loss is undesirable. Even Christ did not desire the loss involved in saving mankind (Luke 22:42 and Mark 14:36). In order to experience Christ fully, you must be ready and willing to suffer loss as Abraham did. Matthew 16:24-26 New International Version (NIV) details what Christ said about this matter.
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
The Seven (7) Inescapable Losses
The space between your promise and your present is seven (7) losses. In Genesis 12:1-3 New International Version (NIV), God instructed Abraham to loose his country, his people and his father’s household for what He would lead him to.
The Call of Abram
12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
Your country
Therefore, the first loss has to do with your country. A country represents governance. And according to John 17:14-19 New International Version (NIV), a Christian is of another Kingdom (government).
14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
The Kingdom of God, just like earthly kingdoms, has a currency, a constitution, a leader, one language, among others.
Your family and your people
The second loss concerns your family. It is a representation of your lineage – the history of patterns of blessings and curses. The latter have to be dealt with.
John 1:12-13 New International Version (NIV) 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17 New International Version (NIV) 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Egypt
The third loss is all about your Egypt. Egypt is a representation of the world.
In the world, God will allow shortages to come our way (Genesis 12:10-13). Unfortunately, in a bid to survive the shortage, lies may be used – Abraham had to lie to survive (John 8:44).
Lot
Genesis 13:8-11 New International Version (NIV) 8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” 10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:
Lot is the fourth loss and he is a representation of a Carnal Christian. These are the Christians that live by sight (the plenty of Sodom). Lot’s end was in a cave with his daughters, thus, the genesis of the Moabites.
Carnal Christians always likes to be in the company of genuine Christians who live by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7). This is how they get to become partakers of the blessings of their Christian friends. Sadly though, they’ll keep you from your full blessings (Genesis 13:14-17).
Sodom
Genesis 14:22-24 New International Version (NIV) 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”
Your benefactor is God, not men, be they kings, god-fathers or sponsors. It is God who will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19). It is He who will make you rich – if Abraham was still walking with Lot, more wealth would not have been released to him.
Ishmael
Genesis 16:1-2 New International Version (NIV) 16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
Ishmael, who is the fruit of an Egyptian (the world), is a representation of counterfeit blessings, that is, man-made blessings. That which is birthed by the world cannot be recognized and used by God.
Isaac
In Genesis 22:1-2 New International Version (NIV), Abraham was tested. 22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
Isaac represents God’s blessings with which we are not to be consumed or controlled by.
