It may interest you to know that the critical mass of overcoming saints
(Rev. 12:5/14:1) that would ultimate trigger the end of the reign of the devil
and his cohorts from the air (i.e. the realm of authority/heaven of the earth
–Rev. 12:3/Eph. 2:2b/Lk. 19:13d) were described as having two aspects of the
divine nature; that of a man (Rev. 12:5a/1Cor. 14:20d) and that of a
child (Rev. 12:5a/Matt. 18:3/1Cor. 14:20c).
The following transcribed
message is another meat in due season (Ps. 104:27). It’s a clear and present
instruction in righteousness to believers who have been blessed with hearing
ears (Rev. 1:3b/Isa. 50:4c) to hear the speaker of the New Testament Assembly,
Christ Jesus. Such simple truth has eluded not a few generation of zealous believers
till date, but heaven has resolved to show us great mercies in this day when
darkness has become increasingly tangible.
MAY WE FIND GRACE TO STOP
GROWING OLD (HEB. 1:11B), START GROWING YOUNGER (LK. 1:80/2:40) AND ULTIMATELY
BECOME ONE OF THE BABES AND SUCKLINGS THAT WOULD SILENCE OUR
CORPORATE ENEMY (PS. 8:2) THROUGH OUR SECOND BIRTH (JN. 3:5/1PET. 1:23/JAM.
1:21), AMEN.
Graceful reading!
Non-Negotiable
Counsels of God's Kingdom - Part 13
Scriptural
Reading:
Lk 12:32 Do not be afraid oh little
flock for it is the desire of the Father to give you the kingdom.
The kingdom was prepared by the
Father for a company called ‘little flock’, which speaks of those whom heaven has succeeded in
reducing there confidence in self. God’s desire has
been to bring us into
a state where we
are completely emptied
of our confidence
in flesh and this
state takes
great help and
mercy.
John 21:18
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast YOUNG, thou girdedst thyself,
and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be OLD, thou shalt
stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
Youthfulness here speaks
of the time when
the flesh (self) is very much
alive. Our youthfulness
is what makes
us bold and strong
in ourselves, not in the Lord. With
our youthful strength, we confidently go anywhere we want, we make decisions
hastily and take the praise for getting things done, but this same strength is contrary to
that of the little flock that qualifies for entrance into the kingdom.
Prov. 20:29
The glory of young men is their strength
The kingdom of God
is alien to men whose glory is
their strength (Prov. 20:29); it seeks for men who have lost their trust in self and take solace in the leadings of the spirit. The Lord has to bring us to a state of weakness
so he can grace us with his strength. It took quite some time for an Apostle
Paul to realize this great secret (2Cor. 12:10) and apply his heart to it.
Apostle Paul later became a man that
gloried in being weak which remains a true sign of an Apostle. Apostles
are like the Lord
Himself; babies, lambish, childlike, though these virtues are despised by many. Like the Lord, they can of themselves do nothing (Jn. 5:19) because they have no power of their own. James 4:15 declares that we should not
speak of the things we want to do with all
certainty, rather we should say “IF THE LORD WILL, we shall live, and do this
or that”
Jn.
5:19 …
The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do
Such great men whom the world wasn’t worthy of
(Heb. 11:38) had lost the
ability to make decisions and choices for themselves. The world does not
appreciate men like this
and would rather train men
with an earthly
wisdom and intelligence. The
World Brightens The Minds
Of Men And Gets Them Stronger
And Smarter
Than The Timing And Process Of Eternal Life. A man
who is young is strong; he is free to go wherever he wills and as such, he cannot
follow the Lamb withersoever he
goes (Rev. 14:4). A
foreign way has been programmed into his sub-consciousness, so he responds to death without
premeditating and
the enemy did
this while men slept (Matt. 13:25)
When God wants to
help a man, He first expires the strength of that man and makes him a child. Becoming a child is expiring the strength of flesh. A child is weak; and lacks our youthful
strength. He cannot fight back when despised because he lacks the strength to do so. He is
vulnerable and can easily be taken advantage of. He depends on another to make decisions, and such is the
state of one who trusts in the Lord in truth and deed.
When the grassy glory (1Pet.
1:23) of our youthful is traded for the Lord’s, spiritual maturity begins and
we attain maturity as ‘another’
(the Holy Spirit) can now lead us
in our decision making progress. Being ‘old’ according to John 21:18 is a state of
conversion, a
state of one who has become a child.
Lk. 22:32 But I have prayed for thee
(Peter) that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted (i.e. attain
maturity – kingdom childhood), strengthen thy brethren.
To convert a
soul from
youthfulness into kingdom childlikeness, God by his Spirit would have to lead
such a one to
places he
does
not want to go. We begin to enter the kingdom when we are being
made childlike
(Lk. 18:3)
Lk. 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto
you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven.
As He
leads us, He will
begin to train us on how to relinquish
our strength and lay down our life. The process of taking our strength from
us is what is called CONVERSION.
Conversion is
the process of taking away the youthful strength of the soul of and producing a child out of
such a believer. By extracting and expiring our strength, our souls will
gradually become tender, weak and docile in the hands of God.
No one can come into this state except by the knowledge
of truth (1Tim. 2:4), and we begin this journey by believing in the truth
(Eph. 1:13 & 15/2Tim. 2:12). Truth is what God uses to convert a soul into a child because truth is that which is begets (Jam. 1:18). Truth is uncreated and unchangeable. Truth is the very person of
the Father because He is called the true God (Jn. 17:3). The Son also is Truth (Jn.
14:6) and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of truth (Jn. 14:6/1Jn. 5:6). Truth is God’s instrument for converting a man from being youthfully confidently
(according to the flesh) into being a child who can live and trust in the invincible. God Wants Us To Have Confidence In Him Only.
David’s
soul had this kind of frame. Often
times when you open the book of Psalms, he is revealed as a man that had so much trust
and confidence in
the Lord. He kept
on saying, ...for
I am poor (in spirit/meek) and needy (Psalm
70:5/40:17). David
was the king of
Israel. If he desired anything, all he needed to do was just speak forth and it would be
established as a
decree. But there he was, always telling God that he is poor. It’s a metaphor. He was telling God that he had
no strength of his own and
needed help and such is the state of men who is truly depend on the Lord. He
had
no trust in his status, wealth and position in Israel and it takes a revelation of the truth
to train the heart and mind to be like this.
The strength of man is a stature, a building, a formation and fortification, so when such is taken away, the soul would crumble. Separating bones from the flesh of a beast will cause it to fall because that is the very frame that makes it stand. When God breaks our strength, our soul
will come into true humility, lowliness and meekness (Eph. 4:2)
God did exactly that to Moses.
Moses was
once so self-confident and sure that he was the deliverer of
Israel but was
later humbled when God
took him to Jethro, his father-in-law, where he served as a
shepherd. God crumbled and so
humbled him that when God eventually wanted
to send him to the children of Israel, he was reluctant. He gave God
reasons why he was not the best candidate for the job. His strength had been
taken away. He
was not ready to answer the call of God except God showed him a sign and God did so by turning his
rod to a serpent.
This is what it means to be converted into a child. Many believers are
going through custom made dealings that is meant to ensure that our logic which the enemy
preys on are rendered dysfunctional. This is how we will be raised into a state where things we
lust after would lose their valuable, so God can be committed to bring them as additions in fulfillment of
Matt. 6:33
When a man gets to this point, God would show up. He doesn’t show up when the
strength of a soul is still in place. Check our Lord Jesus for example. His body lay lifeless, closed up with a big stone in a tomb. He humbled Himself
into a position where He could not raise Himself up except God showed up. He
entered that tomb knowing that
nothing could happen except His Father appeared in the land of forgetfulness (Ps. 88:12). The Father showed up because it is in such state that the power of resurrection swings into operation.
When we become helpless, God comes to work. He knows that the soul will not resist Him when the chips are down. God can’t work when we are engrossed with the legitimate cares of life. That is why from time to time, He will lead us
to a point where we have no other
choice than to cry, Lord help me out, like Jonah did!
When we first believed the gospel (Eph. 1:13), we thought our souls was converted and
we had given our lives to Christ but it was our human spirit that was
recreated. You were not converted in your soul the day you gave your life to
Christ. Conversion starts
when the Lord begins to deal with your human strength.
When something is converted, it can no longer
be traced it to its former state.
Heaven has resources that are
incorruptible and the soul can only be converted after we receive such in meekness (Jam. 1:21). If the soul is able to endure seasons of chastisement (Heb. 12:5-9) which the Father initiates through the word of truth the soul will be converted. The word of truth (i.e. the
allocation of the gospel that brings about so great salvation – Heb. 2:3) is
pregnant with eternal power to
convert a soul. (Pls see Psalm 19:7/Heb. 10:39b)
When God brings a season of dealings upon a man, his strength will not be lost all at once, so God calibrates His dealings into various
seasons. Each process and and is meant to gradually turns the soul. After seasons of dealings, the soul appreciates into childhood. He may not have fully become a little child, but some
degree of conversion has taken place.
The reason why
it is not easy to
take away the strength of flesh is that flesh is
an old man. Every divine success and input that God is able to achieve in man,
He cherishes it so much because that will provide
a platform for
further work.
Matt. 18:1-4 At
the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and
set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted,
and become as little children, ye shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven.Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven.
From Matt. 18:1-4, we can see that greatness
in the kingdom is measured by how much a soul has been converted. Those who
allow God to fully convert them into little children will be the greatest in
the kingdom.
In verse three, Jesus talked about Little Children but in verse
two, He talked about A Little Child; so they are different because there are levels of
conversion. IN VERSE THREE, JESUS WAS NOT
ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF GREATNESS BUT ENTRANCE WHILE IN VERSE FOUR, HE WAS
ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF HOW TO BECOME THE GREATEST. For you to enter the
kingdom, you must be converted into a little child, but if you want to be the greatest, you
need to go further and humble yourself as a little child (i.e. Christ Jesus). After
you must have entered the kingdom, you need further reduction to be the
greatest in the kingdom.
Psalm. 8:2 Out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings thou has ordained strength because of thine
enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
Babes and suckling here is not referring to carnal Christians that live on the milk of the word (1Cor. 3:1-2a). Rather, it speaks of men who have been
converted to children. They have the two edged sword of the spirit in their mouth. They are men that can started using the word of righteousness (Heb. 5:13-14). Such men have gained entrance and ceased from their works (Heb. 4:10). When you enter the kingdom, you cease from your works because there is another power that works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
We are in
a very sensitive season of the Spirit and it is required of us to be wise. This
is the time to become babes and sucklings. This is not the time where you try to prove and
defend something. No, we do not have time anymore because God is into
serious business
with us (Heb.
4:9). For
Him to be
speaking to us about
entrance means that He has made grace available for entrance into the kingdom.
Our ambition should be that we might
come into greatness and
become the
greatest. If eventually we cannot meet up with being
the greatest, at
least, we should enter the kingdom. We must begin to trust God in this season
to help us and show us mercy, so that our hearts will fully cooperate with what He is
doing. We must not
frustrate the grace of God, rather we should trust God to help us align our hearts in such a way that we can
enter. Amen.
Bless
You!
Pst.
Thompson Ehima
VGC
Lifely Stones Fellowship
11th
May, 2014.
The
Nature and the Stature of the Kingdom (Part 2)
