THE BEAUTY OF NOT KNOWING 'WHAT NEXT?' - PART 1

Dearly Beloved,

Our ability to figure out what next on most occasions has always been an exciting sensation, especially in men who’ll rather call the shots like Moses once did as a prince in Egypt. But when we know not what next in a given season of life; our feelings get invaded with a sense of frustration and imprisonment and the true temperature of our souls gets exposed! Rather than fall back on our cerebral strength - our carnal minds which remains at enmity with God (Rom. 8:7); we are at the mercy of acknowledging that God is up to something unplanned, which should lead to the renewal of our minds. (Rom. 12:2/Eph. 4:23)

Job. 23:9-10 On the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Isa. 13:12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

During Moses first forty years wilderness-making experience where he served his father in-law, he hardly ever knew what next, but that was the secret of his ultimate greatness before God. While we have many alternatives to the faith revealed in Christ for the true church, Moses had none; so God could carefully culture him to bear his authority.

Old faithful like Father Abraham, Joseph and Elisha, all attained their strength of character through seasons when they had no clear interpretation of the end of their protracted custom-made trials! But unlike many today, they found grace to respond accurately. Among other virtues, they added patience to their faith and repossessed their souls (2Pet. 1:5-6/Jam. 1:3-4/Lk. 21:19). They all died to their reputation! But today, believers would rather HUSTLE like unbelievers do and justify their actions with the letters of the scriptures (2Cor. 3:6d/Jn. 6:63b), than LEARN OF THE WAYS OF GOD in such season. (Ps. 103:7/Isa. 55:8)

Our generation is inexcusable! Old faithful, without a complete “bible”, without an advocate like Jesus Christ, without the Holy Spirit resident on earth; kept faith with their future – God! THEY SAW AND SUBMITTED TO THE DEALING THAT WOULD REDEEM THEIR SOULS FROM BEING EARTHLY MINDED (Job 19:25/Ruth 4/Eph. 1:14/1Cor. 1:13/Eph. 4:30/ Rev. 14:3e). Through their lives, we can clearly see that “one of the most potent seasons when faith actually flourishes is when we don’t know what next”.

Like the early apostles, we must be courageous and receptive to new opportunities coming our way. Prospects whereby heaven will hedge us in (Job 3:23/Lam. 3:7), and deal a good blow to our carnal minds, so we can truly gain righteousness while counting what the natural mind would call losses. (Phil. 3:7-8).

When we REACT to seasons of the unknown rather than RESPOND from within, we simply LOSE MEASUREMENTS OF GOD’S LIFE WE PREVIOUSLY GATHERED!

-          Such are the vital seasons where the enemy steals life from us (Jn. 10:10/1Pet. 5:8).

-          Such are the seasons when we ought to lose our ways and our thoughts (Isa. 55:7-8) that remain untouched by our new birth experience, by many bible studies and by many meetings of the Spirit (programmes/conventions).

This is how believing believers can appreciate in the true riches of righteousness and be made rich towards God. This is how we can have our have our minds stayed on God and begin to do things perhaps 80% differently! (Isa. 26:3)

Fresh streams of grace are kissing the earth like never before! The intensity of the preaching/unveiling of Christ by chosen vessels is heightening. Saints are being empowered to renounce the hidden things of dishonestly like self-confidence and the fear of tomorrow. We must not be left out.

Blessings!

Nothing that happens AROUND US should be compared with what should be happening WITHIN US!

Things FROM God & Things OF God - Part 10

Dearly Beloved,

It may interest you to note that in the Old Testament, prophets were called ‘sons of men’ (Ezek 2:1) and when Jesus came, He grew in wisdom and stature until he employed this same Adamic title, because he was a king. Even though He was a man, He had no sin nature in him. He was born with that pure Adamic nature. Jesus was born king!

At birth, the wise men who went heralding Him called Him ‘king’, because they could see His star. Real kings are stars. They may be physically present on earth, but they carry a heavenly presence. They occupy the realm of the living soul called ‘air’ or ‘the heaven of the earth’ (Lk. 19:13/Jn 3:13/1Thess 4:17/Eph 2:2). The air is the invisible realm of the earth; an abode made by God for man, a sphere where man was meant to rule the earth from. This is the place Satan stole from Adam! So Satan was not the original prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2); Adam was.

After Jesus had grown into that Adamic nature of rule and government, He was called the last Adam (1Cor 15:46), and He expressly demonstrated that nature. For instance, He was in the wilderness for forty days with wild animals, but he remained harmed. He walked upon the sea, He commanded the storm to be still, He exercised authority over Satan and unclean spirits. He had access to the powers of the earth and therefore exercised authority over the earthly elements. These are all evidences of kingship. The cosmos knew Him and submitted to Him.

But all these wasn’t the essence of His coming! He was to demonstrate another kind of kingship that would be after the order of an endless life. He was to win a victory over the reign of sin and death. He was to fulfil God’s original intention, which would enable man to cross from Being A Creature into Being Begotten! He had the glory of the living soul (Heb. 2:9), but He needed to proceed into the very Glory of God – AN ETERNAL GLORY! 

 

Jesus was schooled from being a living soul into being a quickening Spirit (1Cor. 15:45), from having the faith of the living soul to having the faith of God, and through this tutelage, He learnt obedience to the Father through the things which He suffered (Heb. 5:8). As he kept doing so, the Father kept revealing His secrets to him; even the very secrets of life and immortality. Jesus kept seeing His Father’s secrets; his works –Jn. 5:17/14:11, and He aligned Himself in submission to God. The Father couldn’t but declare after seasons of uninterrupted obedience, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased...’ (Matt. 3:17/12:18/17:5). JESUS ENDED UP PLEASING THE FATHER FULLY; LIKE  NO MAN HAD EVER DONE!

First, He was God (Jn. 1:1/Phil. 2:6), and he then became flesh (Jn. 1:14). He left his estate of Glory as God and took up the image of Adam. While wearing the glory of Adam, He pleased God fully until the time came for Him to be translated from Jesus the beloved Son of God to Jesus Christ, the begotten Son (Heb. 1:5). He was to cross from ADAMIC GLORY into the ETERNAL GLORY of God (Jn 17:4-5). Facing the cross demanded that He gave up the Adamic glory, and become gloryless; and He did just that! He stripped himself of His glory so that He might be clothed with sin (Jn. 10:18/Rom/ 8:3). That was why in Jn 17:4-5, He asked the Father for the highest order of glory; Eternal Glory. Hallelujah!

After he was stripped of His glory and honour, He became obedient to death and then suffered for the sin for three days, after which the glory of the Father raised Him in hell; not just to life, but also to immortality. (Phil. 2:8/2Tim. 2:10)

By reason of His complete obedience to the course of faith, He became a king after the order of God’s Righteousness; the ‘Prince of the kings of the earth’. That means He is the Prince of all those who will not only have God’s Righteousness imputed to them at new birth but more importantly those who’ll start by learning the Righteousness OF God and end up Loving the Righteousness OF God. (Heb 1:8-9/Rev 19:8).

Praise God!

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