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This morning, November 11, 2010, I was scouting through my files to see if there was something else I was to place on our web site. My curiosity was piqued by “The Treasure Hunter,” an article sent to us several years ago. After reading the article once more I knew that my job description was that of a treasure hunter. And if that job description fits your calling, please leave your footprints in our guest book.
The Treasure Hunter
As an apostolic generation emerges, we should see in them a people who are driven to recover and release the destiny of others. They will look past obvious weaknesses in those they discover to find priceless treasures.
The apostolic man or woman tirelessly searches through the refuse of the devil to discover those the enemy has abused and entangled in sin, the hidden treasures awaiting him. He possesses the heart and mind of Christ and views people through the eyes of redemption. He is a treasure hunter and he views the world quite differently than most. He does not look for his treasure in the storehouses of palaces, but in those who have been discarded and abandoned by the enemy.
Fields of Treasure
True treasure, in his eyes, is that which is discovered in the forgotten fields, where the unkempt grass has grown and masks the treasures hidden in it. Others, who were more concerned with getting to their destination than helping their brothers, have passed by this forgotten field without giving it a second glance. They have inevitably missed some of the greatest treasures God could have bestowed upon the body of Christ.
Seeking to become the embodiment of Christ, the treasure hunter looks for the great among the lowly and meek. It is the greatness of Christ in him that enables him to recognize the greatness in others. With patience unmatched, he listens to one heart-wrenching story of neglect and abuse after another, each more disparaging than the last. With the precision of a diamond cutter, he dissolves the wounds of the past with the compassion of the cross.
One after another these forgotten treasures are restored, given dignity and a position in the family of God. The treasure hunter's esteem for them, gives them a sense of value that they have not known before. Able now, through the esteem of the treasure hunter, to receive the love and forgiveness of a heavenly Father they had not known, they gladly become loyal servants to the Lamb.
Through his gift of appreciation, the treasure hunter has revealed their value. Now others, who before did not understand them, give way to the estimation of the treasure hunter. They open their hearts and receive the hunter's newly found treasure and welcome them into their trust, as they themselves were once the object of his search.
With his God-given authority, the treasure hunter has raised the value of his brother. This once forgotten treasure can now take up his rightful position in the army of the Lamb.
The Army of the Lamb
A deeper look into the life of the treasure hunter shows us he has surrounded himself with treasures that others have deemed unworthy. Yet, these unworthy, broken people have banded together under the guidance of the hunter to form a powerful army.
What a frightful sight they have suddenly become to the enemy. Those he has beaten and abused - those he has thrown out and treated with contempt - have come back to haunt him. Before him he sees an unstoppable force made up of his discarded refuse.
He thought he had destroyed them, reducing their value through bondage to sin. But now he sees them standing before him, bold and stouthearted, undergirded by the evaluation of the treasure hunter and the love of heaven.
This army is consumed by their goal: to alight upon their enemy and dismantle the kingdoms of darkness, to retrieve those caught in his webs of delusion.
Familiar Faces
This great army is outfitted with weapons made from Satan's own handiwork. Every bondage and bruise he has inflicted on them, every episode of painful rejection and humiliation, has been turned into a powerful weapon aimed at his chest.
The enemy anguishes when he realizes what he has done. He has not reduced this treasure to trash, but he himself, through his evil efforts to rob, kill and destroy, has created his own worst nightmare - redeemed souls bent on his destruction.
One by one he looks at their familiar faces and he sees the broken marriages, the deaths, the lost dreams, the defeats of sexual immorality. The weapons he used to inflict pain on them in an attempt to destroy their destiny have been turned on him (Rom 8:28). These weapons are even more powerful than before, because they have become a part of their destiny and have been enveloped by the mercy of the Lamb.
He knows that these "enemy seeking warriors" are not naive as they once were, but now they know how he operates. They have learned a lot from their failures and he knows they will use that knowledge to destroy him.
These great warriors will not be beguiled by selfish ambition and pride. They have walked through the fire of affliction and shine with the radiance of heaven. Their strength lies not in themselves, but in their love for one another. They esteem their brothers as better than themselves and would surrender their lives for them if necessary.
They are fearless, because they have suffered all that hell has thrown at them, yet they have endured it. Furthermore, they live not for themselves, but for the kingdom of heaven and the Lamb. They are passionately devoted to their King and will give their all to build up His kingdom.
In one glance, Satan has seen that those he had tried to destroy...will destroy him.
He cannot convince them to hate themselves anymore as he once did, because they have received their righteousness through the life-giving blood of the Lamb. He has nothing left to throw at them, because these warriors have become familiar with his ways and will use that knowledge against him...he is terrified.
He recognizes that his time is close - that these whom he has tried to destroy have now been raised up and given a higher level of authority in the spirit, because of the abuse they have endured. By his own enticement he has trained them. With his own destruction and rejection he has armed them.
He knows better than anyone else, as he looks into an endless sea of faces of people he has tried to devour that, as he sought to dethrone the beloved of the Father from their place in His heart - as he sought, with hateful jealousy, the destruction of the apple of God's eye - he has sealed his own fate.
The souls he yearned to destroy have now become unstoppable warriors!
United in Christ
This mighty army of warriors is the united body of Christ. Armored in selfless love for one another, they no longer stumble over each other as they once did - they refuse to "break rank." They esteem the leadership of the treasure hunter and wait for instructions from him. They look to him in anticipation for the command to attack - to be released to fulfill their destiny.
As the treasure hunter leads an army of unwanted, unvalued, yet priceless treasure rescued from the rubble, he lowers his sword and points it directly at the enemy and unleashes what hell has feared. With one word they are dispatched to plunder the kingdoms of darkness.
As they invade the realms of darkness, they retrieve countless souls once deemed as useless and as hopeless as they themselves were once thought to be. They trample the enemy under foot, overwhelming him. He can give little defense.
The enemy of the Lamb crumbles in defeat; the work of his life is stolen in a moment. The kingdom of darkness is raided and more hidden treasure is recovered and sent to the fields of grace...heaven on earth...the church, where newly trained treasure hunters await their arrival.
Having defeated their fallen foe, they stand and look towards heaven and in unison they cry, "FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND THE LAMB!"
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