“I have to suffer the loss of it all, because in my pattern it was not only the consent of my will to do, but God took me at my word and He said, Paul, I am very pleased with the consent you have given, that you are willing to suffer the loss of all things to obtain this. I see that, but in your pattern, because I am going to use you, because of the things which demand it, you will have to pay the price of it and let it cost, let it cost.”
He did it with me. He has done it with many people. With others, He doesn’t do it. He asks for the consent of the will, and Paul says, “Where there is the consent of the will to the Spirit, (if there be first that willing mind and surrender of the will) God accepts that.” In some lives He may not want the very thing that He is asking, but He wants your consent. He wants your willingness. He wants your obedience to it. He wants you to say, “Yes Lord.”
Well then, He says to one, “I have your ‘Yes,’ with you, that’s all I want, because I have something else for you. Go on with that.” To another He says, “You said ‘Yes.’ Well, with you I want the ‘Yes.’ Give it to me.”
“Do you say ‘Yes?'”
“Yes, Lord.”
“Fine, that’s all I want of you.”
“Do you say ‘Yes?'”
“Yes Lord.”
“I’ll take you at your word, I want that.”
Well, why does He do things like that? Because every type demands it—every life demands it. To have what God wanted in the life of Paul, He had to take it. So Paul says, “I was not only willing to count it, but God took me at my word and I have suffered the loss of all things, that I may win Christ.”
Now we won’t go on with that because we touched it before. First, “Count.” Second, “I suffered the loss of all things.” But there is a third thing that he speaks of here: