The Apostle John once said about the purpose of the coming of Jesus to the earth that:
“He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
I John 3:8 NKJV
The very purpose of Jesus for coming to the earth was to destroy the works of the devil. It’s for this very same purpose that every Christian is on the earth today – to destroy the works of the devil.
God never created this world for the devil and his crowd. It was created for His children to enjoy, as they develop a closer relationship with Him daily in preparation for eternity with Him.
We live as Christians on this earth with the very purpose of destroying the works of the devil everywhere we see them. He is the one who is standing in our pathway of enjoying the goodness of the Lord on this earth.
And if you are not going to be assertive in this purpose upon him with spiritual violence, you will never be able to enjoy anything that belongs to you in Christ Jesus. That’s why Jesus said:
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”
Matthew 11:12 NKJV
The devil does not want you to walk in your calling and purpose on the earth, and he has designed the ongoing pandemic to distract your attention away from walking in it. Your ability to exercise spiritual violence against him, makes you dangerous to him in all ways.
The Lord is looking at His eternal purpose for me and you when He created the heavens and the earth. In eternity with God we won’t have to worry about the devil at all, because he will be in his own place together with his crowd.
The life of Jesus on the earth from the beginning to the end was full of opposition from the devil. That was to be expected because of the fullness of God’s presence in Him. Even though He was both the Son of Man and of God who was full of power and might on this earth, He still had to face the same opposition that, you are facing with the devil in fulfilling your call and purpose.
But Jesus defeated the devil once and for all men and women, who will dare to believe in His name. He did this so that they won’t have to be going through what He went through ever again. And because He had defeated the devil, every believer in His name has the same access to the victory.
This was why the Holy Spirit was upon Him without measure (John 3:34-35). Jesus was full of power and might on the earth. And the same Spirit that was on Him is now in you and me.
Every child of God on the earth today is not different from Jesus. That’s exactly how the devil sees you – like Jesus; most especially if you had been baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is full of power and might in you. You can do the same works that Jesus did on the earth today (John 14:12), and even more.
Our ability to walk in His power and might is however dependent on our understanding, of the purpose and mission that we do have on this earth with the fullness of His Spirit in us.
There are many Christians who don’t understand the purpose and mission of Christ in their calling on this earth. Some even think that they don’t have any purpose or calling at all. They are just waiting and sitting in the pews for the “rapture” to take place, so that they can leave this world and go straight to heaven.
That’s why they are often struggling to break away from their past lives, so as to embrace the reality of who they are in Christ Jesus. And if anyone doesn’t understand the purpose of God’s salvation to him or her, then that person can’t walk in the realities of the new creation in Christ Jesus. That’s why many Christians are living a defeated lifestyle on this earth, instead of walking victoriously.
Some other people are just walking in their purpose and mission on the earth, so as to satisfy the world and their own personal agendas in the flesh. And that’s where they are being deceived by the devil, who has held them as captives to the works of their flesh. They are saved, but their Christian lives has nothing to show for it. They can’t witness to others about Jesus. They can’t pray for people to get healed. But when it comes to the pleasures of their flesh, you will see them fully ready to do those things.
The moment you got born again your personal agendas and plans dies, so that the purpose and mission of Christ can come alive in you. The transformation process into your new creation image in Christ Jesus, makes you just like Him on this earth.
Are you dead to your personal agendas in the ministry? Do you know the reason why Jesus saved you from this world of evil and sin? Or are you just a Christian, because they are nice to you?
Let Jesus set the mission for you to follow
Jesus after being filled with the Holy Spirit and power went straight into the Synagogue, to declare His mission statement to His world. Until you begin to declare the purpose and mission of God’s calling to you, the Lord can’t do much to help you to walk in them. It has to be coming out of your mouth always, if you want to be established in them.
Whatever you are declaring is what you will eventually become in life. When you are making those declarations as Jesus did, you are actually making the devil know that you know who you are. The devil hears you, heavens hears you and the world recognises you, for being who you are saying that you are.
That was why Jesus had to declare His mission statement in the synagogue. It was the best place from where Heaven, hell and the earth could easily hear Him. Those who believed in Him heard Him, and the devil heard Him also as He made the declaration.
And if you are not yet aware of it, the devil goes to church more than many Christians often do today. The synagogue was the most appropriate place for Jesus to make His mission statement known for every one to hear Him. The heavens heard Him, hades heard Him and His world heard Him as well.
Jesus picked His mission statement from the book of the Prophet Isaiah which says:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Luke 4:18-19 NKJV
This was the mission statement of Jesus. Everything that He taught and preached about were in line with His purpose and mission on the earth. He never tried to please the religious people and the people of His world during His time on the earth.
The world in which Jesus lived was afflicted by the devil with sicknesses and diseases. Jesus was not fighting the religious people. He knew that they were doing everything that they were doing against Him out of ignorance.
Don’t make yourself look like the religious people, as you are doing the work of God’s Kingdom. They like the attention from the world more than anything else. There are many who are filled in the Holy Spirit today, but who are allowing the flesh to become a hindrance to them, in their purpose and mission to their world.
Jesus went everywhere destroying the works of the devil, by healing the broken-hearted, proclaiming deliverance to the captives and opening the eyes of the blind. This was how He walked by being focused on His purpose and mission on the earth. And every Christian has been called to do the same thing also just like Him (see Mark 16:15-18).
Jesus knew that the devil was behind every opposition that He faced, while following this purpose and His mission. He did not allow the crowd that was following Him to determine, how He was to follow that purpose and mission on the earth.
Jesus absolutely relied on the Father to lead Him and guide Him, in everything that He accomplished on the earth. You are not different from Jesus on the earth today. You must be looking up to Him alone to teach you everything, that you need to do in fulfilling your purpose and mission on the earth.
God’s glory will be revealed in you
Jesus of course accomplished His purpose and mission on the earth, because God’s Spirit was upon Him without measure. That was why He said while praying in the garden of Gethsemane:
“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
John 17:5 NKJV
Jesus had God’s glory in Him from the foundation of the earth (Revelation 13:8). He had to relinquish all of it, by humbling Himself to become a Man, just like you and me (Philippians 2:5-11). That’s why He couldn’t do anything on the earth until the Spirit had prepared Him, for the task ahead of Him, as a Man like you and me on this earth.
There are many Christians today who are struggling to humble themselves before the Lord in their purpose and mission to their world. They see humility as a sign of weakness, instead of strength. If you want God’s glory to be manifested in your Christian life, you will have to do as Jesus said:
“The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”
John 12:23-26 NKJV
Jesus had to wait for the perfect timing of the Father, before manifesting Himself to the world. In His waiting time as a Man, He humbly lived by engaging Himself in the carpentry profession, like Joseph (His earthly father) did. He lived the normal life that many people today are living, so as to take care of their personal and family needs. He was not different from you and me.
Yes, in fact He was often referred to in Nazareth as the Jesus the Carpenter (Mark 6:3), before He was manifested as the Son of God. They never knew Him to be the Rabbi or Prophet, not to even mention that He was the Messiah whom they had all been waiting for. He was in their midst as a Man who lived like them, but they could not recognize Him as their Savior.
God’s glory was in the midst of men, but they failed to acknowledge Him, because they were too familiar with Him. And in our world today familiarity will often breed a contemptuous view of the anointing over your life, within the community where the Lord has placed you.
The very same people who saw you growing up, who had gone to school with you, and who had often played games with you as a child; will be the first to underestimate God’s glory in power and might upon your life. That was what Jesus had to go through in Nazareth. And if they did it to Jesus they will do it to you also.
That was why they were so repulsive in accepting His ministry to them. They rejected Him as the Son of God because, they had been so accustomed to identifying Him with Carpentry.
Even as a Carpenter God’s Spirit was upon Him without measure. Jesus had to continually stir up the Spirit in Him, until the fullness of time for His manifestation to Israel came.
Are you a business person or a working class person? There is nothing stopping you from stirring up the gifts of the Holy Spirit in your life, while doing what you are doing daily. You have no excuse for not daily stirring up the gifts of the Holy Spirit in your life, by praying in the Holy Spirit.
God wants to pour Himself through you into your world, just as He did with Jesus on the earth. He wants to reveal His glory to the world that has no knowledge of Him through you.
That’s why you can’t do anything without first of all preparing yourself for Him to be able to use you. This is how you will increase more and more in the grace of God, until your fullness of time comes to be revealed to the world around you (Luke 2:52 and Galatians 4:4). And when that fullness of time comes, they will know that you had been with Jesus.
Don’t let the devil push you into it, until you are fully prepared. Remember that Jesus lived the first thirty years of His life on the earth as a Carpenter. He was being prepared during those years by the Father for the purpose and mission to save the world.
And that’s something which you ought to be doing during this pandemic also. God does not expect you to come out of it in the same manner as you went into it. Use your time wisely in His presence by stirring up yourself in the Spirit daily.
If Jesus did it, you can do it also. The result of this in the life of Jesus was described by Luke in this way:
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”
Luke 2:52 NKJV
Any increase in wisdom and stature will bring an increase in the anointing over your life, just as it was with Jesus. It will cause you to increase in the grace of God and in His favor. And when you have favor with God, people will favor you. This was what Jesus did. And you can do the same thing also.
The manifestation of God’s favor will cause you to grow in the power and might of God. That’s why Paul told Timothy:
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
II Timothy 1:6 NKJV
And the Apostle Peter also said:
“Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,”
II Peter 3:1-2 NKJV
If Jesus had to stir up the Spirit in Him until the fullness of time came for His manifestation to Israel, there is nothing strange for you to be doing the same thing during this pandemic. It’s the moment of time that you are learning to wait on the Lord, so as to walk with Him for greater and higher things.
God does not want you to come out of this pandemic in the same way that you were when it began. If you are not increasing in your faith to transform your ministry to glorify Him, then you obviously are running through the same routine in the ministry, that the devil had been using to make you stagnant and unproductive in your purpose and mission.
There is no one who is a hundred percent of the time in the spirit. We are all human beings who had been transformed through our encounters with Jesus. That’s what makes you and me super human beings to the world and the devil – our encounter with Jesus.
But spiritual things comes to us as we make the concise efforts to tarry in His presence daily. Praying always in the spirit as you are being led by the Spirit will get you there. Taking time out to put His written word in between your eyes and your heart, will cause you to start walking in those things that the Bible says.
If you are not ready to be making sacrifices for spiritual things in your life, you are definitely not expecting anything to come to you from God. This is because everything from the Lord is first of all spiritual before it becomes physical.
There is an abundance of God’s presence that is about to be poured out on those, who have learnt to wait upon the Lord during this pandemic. They are going to be different from the person that they were when it all began.
Spend more of your time in His presence
No one can spend time in the presence of the Lord without being transformed. And your transformation begins in the presence of the Lord.
Your life and your ministry is about to be lifted up in His presence for the manifestation of the purpose and mission of Jesus on the earth through you.
Jesus said again to the Father:
“All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.”
John 17:10 NIV
You are the one who will manifest the Father’s glory to the world. Jesus works through you as you are humbling yourself before Him.
And the Passion Translation explicitly mentioned how the glory of Jesus is revealed in our lives as His children:
“For all who belong to me now belong to you. And all who belong to you now belong to me as well, and my glory is revealed through their surrendered lives.”
John 17:10 TPT
A surrendered life is a completely yielded life. It is the life of the seed of wheat that is dead in the soil, until it receives the new life from that environment. A life that is totally committed to Jesus in total surrender, will experience the fullness of His presence.
How you are spending your time daily during this pandemic speaks volume about your devotion in the things of God. Do you want to go higher with Him? Or are you satisfied with who you are right now in Christ Jesus?
There are a lot of Christians these days in the middle of this pandemic, who are trying to figure out the will of God for their lives. They are running from one Christian gathering to another, so as to discover God’s will for them in the midst of the ongoing pandemic. They will move from one church program to another, because they are not sure about the purpose and mission of Jesus to them.
God’s will for everyone of His children in all situations and for all times, are enshrined in the very purpose and mission statement of Jesus on the earth. When we are living and walking in the will of God, His presence is with us. Whatsoever you do in accordance with His purpose and mission brings His glory into your life.
Cornelius and his household were doing this as they were listening to Peter, while he was explaining the gospel to them; when all of a sudden the Holy Spirit fell upon them all who were listening.
The Bible says:
“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.”
Acts 10:44-46 NKJV
The first gentile church was born in the most unusual way. God is still in the business of doing unusual things in the lives of those who are stirring up the gifts of the Spirit in their lives.
Cornelius and his household had adequately prepared themselves for God’s glory to be revealed. The Bible says:
“There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, Lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.”
Acts 10:1-4 NKJV
Cornelius and his household prepared themselves to be in the purpose and mission of God to the gentile world. When the moment came for the glory to be revealed, Cornelius was not trying to figure out if the vision of the angel was real or of the devil. He knew that he was doing the right things before God. That was how he had prepared himself and his household to be blessed of the Lord.
He had positioned himself for the glory. We don’t try to figure things out with God. The flesh will take you out of the will of God for trying to figure things out. We don’t figure out God’s glory. It’s always there with you, as long as you are doing the right things before Him.
The Bible says concerning the early Apostles as they walked in their God’s given authority in that purpose and mission:
“And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”
Acts 4:33 NKJV
The glory of God filled them with power to witness about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus in the face of opposition. The grace of God increased and multiplied upon them, as they released their faith to start walking in the purpose and mission of the Lord to them.
Their witnessing shook the religious center of the Jewish world. The Bible says:
“Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”
Acts 4:1-2 NKJV
Their teachings and preaching disturbed the religious leaders. They had never seen it like this before. But in reality the disciples never arrived there overnight. They had been with Jesus for three and a half years. And after the ascension of Jesus, they had also spent some time to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit (Acts of the Apostles 1:4-8).
Yes, they did so much to get the results that they got. This ongoing pandemic is an opportunity for you also to do something about that purpose and mission of the Lord for you.
Whatever you are doing on a daily basis during this pandemic, speaks volume about your destiny and future in the Lord. When the wind of the pandemic will finally die down, whatever you had been doing during it will be revealed, through the fruit of the Spirit and life that are being produced in you during these years.
And His glory won’t ever manifest through your feelings or emotions. You will have to release your faith by activating it into the glory itself.
We live in the will, purpose and mission of God to Jesus daily, as long as you we are doing what Jesus had commanded us to be doing.
If you truly love Jesus you will be living in His purpose and mission on the earth every day. You won’t have to wait until things becomes normal to start living in it. It will be what wakes you up daily to get out and do what Jesus says.
There is no time for playing the silly and dirty games of the devil, with what is going on with C19. Get out and preach the gospel. Save those who are lost, heal the sick and deliver the captives.
The flesh must be crucified in your humility, for Christ to be lifted up in you. What are you going to say to Jesus if He were to appear today before you?
Remember these words of Jesus:
“So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.””
John 20:21 NKJV
The very same authority with which Jesus accomplished His purpose and mission on the earth is the same authority that’s in you and me. As the Father had sent Him to the earth with that glory and authority, Jesus had sent you out also. He said:
“ ..; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”
Matthew 28:20b NKJV
Now step out into your purpose and mission. The world is waiting on you for the glory to be revealed.
