(tm) There is a price to pay for such glory.

All precious things have a high cost.

The cost of not following the Lord Jesus with a perfect heart is far greater than the cost of obedience. The waters of eternal life are freely given but we have to turn away from Satan in order to receive them. The price of not obeying the Lord Jesus is the loss of our inheritance as a son of God. We ought to consider many times what we are doing before we sell our inheritance as a son of God for the relationships, circumstances, and things of the world.

Do not lightly regard the fact that Christ, the King of Glory, is offering to you the joy and blessing of the Fullness of His Presence, His very throne.

The development of obedience in us must run so deep that our mental and vocal consent are the merest beginning. The Spirit of God assumes the task of developing obedience in us. Then the hammering commences.

The Ark of the Covenant was overlaid with gold, representing the fact that our glorious house from Heaven will "swallow up" our mortal flesh (II Corinthians, Chapter Five).

Also, our deepest inner being is becoming the gold of God’s Substance. We are being created the Mercy Seat, the Lid of Reconciliation, the place of the Presence of the Consuming Fire of Israel, the eternal throne of God, the covenant of God with people.

The Mercy Seat must be hammered into shape, it cannot be cast into shape from a mold. Moment after moment, day after day, month after month, year after year, the hammering on our Christ-filled personality continues. Will it never cease?

Each painstakingly aimed hammer blow touches some nerve, some point of our old nature. The old passes away and the shaped-and-refined new takes its place. It is not a fun-filled game.

With endless patience God taps, taps, taps, taps. We are brought down to the border of discouragement. We come close to despair. God watches carefully for the breaking point to see if we are getting too close to the edge of collapse.

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. (Isaiah 57:15,16)