God puts an end to your former carnal and satanic life in order to give you true Life through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. And this is a resurrection. At each stage of my life, I did not ascend—I descended. The secret to elevation is to die.

At every stage, something has left my life. You lose something, you rise. You refuse to part with it, you stagnate. You take back what you had given to God, you fall back. Indeed, “If I rebuild what I have destroyed, then I prove myself to be a transgressor“ (Galatians 2:18).

A German-American preacher, whom God used powerfully in evangelistic and healing ministries, expressed this truth well. Every time she had to step onto the pulpit, she had to die to herself: “A thousand sermons, a thousand deaths. I have died a thousand times to preach a thousand times.”

We want glory, power, and the fulfillment of our destiny, but we do not like death. We want to experience glory, yet we refuse to step down from our horses and become blind so that Ananias may lead us and lay hands on us.

When God has finished dealing with sin in your life, He begins to take away things that are, at first glance, legitimate. Not because they are bad, but because they do not align with His will. He may even take away friends—friends who remain in the valley while you have ascended the mountain. These will leave your life. For who can be a friend to Samuel?

Especially since the condition is to accept paying the price, as revivalist Catherine Booth forcefully stated: “We are called to carry our cross and walk in the footsteps of the One whose entire life was spent for others.“

• Greatness Has a Price

There is a high price to pay for greatness. It is the cost of accessing a dedicated future life. Many are unwilling to pay it because they love the comfort of their present life. “This man will suffer for me,“ God warned about Paul (Acts 9:16). If the prophecies revealed to you about your future do not speak of your times of suffering, those prophecies are not from God. Jesus clearly said, “You will receive a hundred times as much… along with persecutions“ (Mark 10:29-30). Persecution is necessary to keep the Christian alert so that he does not mistake the earth for Paradise before its time.

People who have not been prepared in the Secret Place do not expect suffering, slander, rejection, imprisonment, or persecution! On this earth, suffering is part of the Christian life. Failing to prepare for it means exposing oneself to a surprise that may destroy them.

The Secret Place prepares our hearts for suffering. It arms us with the mindset of enduring hardship so that when suffering comes, our hearts will not be caught off guard. A person who has died to themselves does not fear suffering. Like Paul, they even consider it a privilege to suffer for Jesus (Galatians 2:19-20).

This text is an excerpt from the book “THE SECRET OF THE SECRET PLACE“ written by Marcello Jérémie Tunasi.

We invite you to read the following article: “GOD MAKES YOU STEP BACK TO MOVE FORWARD.“

DYING TO ONESELF. DYING TO ONESELF. DYING TO ONESELF.