We are living in the days that the scriptures characterized as “the end of age”. In the book of Revelation chapters 17 and 18, we can see that the fall of the Babylonian system of this world, will be preceded by the fall of the false Church which believes in that system.
Do you trust in the systems of this world, more than you do trust the word of God for your salvation, healing, prosperity and others things? The scriptures gives us God’s blueprint for all these things. So if you are meditating on the promises of God in the scriptures day and night (Joshua 1:8), you will be able to discover your pathway into inheriting everyone of those promises.
The scriptures warned us about these days when it says:
“Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, “Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her.”
Revelation 18:4 NLT
In the context of the whole of Revelation chapter 18 you will discover that, it is the corrupt doctrines which are being propagated by the false Church of this age, that we are being commanded here to get away from. If you are a true believer in Christ Jesus you will be judging the viewpoints of this world, solely upon what the scriptures says concerning those things. You will not be aligning your views with the world’s viewpoints. The world’s viewpoints never aligns with that of God and His word.
The Philosophers and social theorists of this world wants you to believe that, it is the society that determines what is good and evil for you. They want you to believe that God has nothing at all, to do with good things or morality. But the Bible teaches us otherwise. This is very important because we do understand from the scriptures, that one person with God is always in the majority (2 Kings 6:16).
If you have the scriptures to always guide your opinions and point views on life, you will never miss God. The whole world may be going in the wrong direction; but you will know with a surety that God’s word can never fail or lie.
It is your ability as a Christian to personally search out the truth from the scriptures, that will help you not to blindly follow the world in its sinful desires. The false Church today embraces every form of opinions or teachings, that are contrary to the scriptures; but which emanates from within the Babylonian system of this world.
That’s why it’s very important that, what is being preached and declared from the pulpit is always scriptural. The false Church is very much around us today. Watch out for it. The Bible is what we do preach, and not some fancy stuffs that promotes the fleshy desires in men. The gospel is never designed by God to please men. It is meant to be in line with God’s eternal purpose for the salvation of the earth.
Remember the words of Jesus:
“… Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.””
Matthew 15:13-14 NLT
God’s word is Spirit and life
There are Preachers these days who don’t have any scriptural basis for their messages. Watch out for them! They like to talk often in the wisdom of this world, because they are listening to the world, more than they are to God. They don’t speak from their pulpits about what the scriptures teaches. They are not ashamed to speak like the people of the world. Their teachings are very toxic to the spiritual growth of those who are listening to them.
If anyone does not speak in accordance with the scriptures, he or she is not speaking the language of God. That’s why lives are not being changed for God as they preach. You will always know if a Preacher has heard from God or not, because God’s voice to you will be vivid and clear as he or she is preaching.
The Prophet Isaiah once said:
“To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
Isaiah 8:20 NKJV
And Apostle Peter also said:
“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
I Peter 4:11 NKJV
The ability to stay solely on what the scriptures says, as we are preaching; helps us to be in line with God. The world may not like you for it. In fact they will persecute you for preaching and teaching what the Bible says. But remember that your messages and preachings are not meant to please the world, but God alone. And as long as you are scriptural, you are pleasing God.
But then also, you need to be careful not to become a teacher or Preacher of the letter alone. Apostle Paul wrote about this in ministering to the Corinthians. He said:
“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
2 Corinthians 3:6 NIV
And Jesus also said:
“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.”
John 6:63 NIV
There is a connection between the Spirit of God and the scriptural declaration from the pulpit. God’s word from the Preacher is seasoned with grace, and it is Spirit and life. The word of God that’s declared by the Spirit has the power to create and give life. That’s what Preachers do. They don’t just motivate you. They give you the life of God in Christ Jesus!
The Bible says concerning Jesus:
“who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”
Hebrews 1:3 NKJV
Note here the use of the phrase “the word of His power”. Some other translations will describe it as – “His powerful word”, “His mighty word of power” and so on.
Another way to phrase that is to say that, God’s power is released through His word in declaration or proclamation. The Holy Spirit works in manifesting this power, as the word of God is being proclaimed. But as a Preacher, you’ve got to believe what you are proclaiming with the heart. Faith filled words that manifests the power of God, comes from the heart and not from the head.
That’s why Paul told the Corinthians:
“And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.”
II Corinthians 4:13-14 NKJV
It important to remember here that, it is our ability to commune with the Holy Spirit, which signifies the point from where our partnership with God, graduates us to a higher level in our walk with Him. You cannot partner with someone that you rarely communicate with.
You must develop a good and effective way of communicating with the Spirit of God, as you are praying in the spirit. Praising God with thanksgiving, as a way of life opens up your heart to Him. That’s why we need not only to pray in the spirit, but we must practice how to be thankful always and praise God in the spirit also (1 Corinthians 14:16).
For:
“For one who speaks in an [unknown] tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the [Holy] Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things [not obvious to the understanding].”
1 Corinthians 14:2 AMPC
God does not only want to reveal His will to you. He wants to fellowship with you in the Holy Spirit also. He wants to fellowship and partner with you, as you unlock His mysteries through your prayer life and the study of the Bible.
Apostle Paul was once referring to his personal encounter in fellowshipping with God, when he said:
“It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know. God knows – such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man – whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows – how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter…”
2 Corinthians 12:1-4 NIV
The mysteries of God that were revealed to Paul, are still part of what we do base most of the Christian doctrines upon today. Paul was able to communicate what was not lawful for men to hear, into a language that we can understand today. That’s why we need to be eternally grateful to God, for giving such ability to men.
It was not an easy task for him at all, to have written down what were revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. Paul learnt many things through his personal experience with God. He disciplined himself in the study of the Word daily, and his communion with the Holy Spirit. Today, his ministry is a blessing to the body of Christ at large.
Lonely? God has His hand on you.
Being in the ministry can make you spiritually lonely sometimes. It is a lonely call, because God calls you alone to the people, that you have been sent to minister the gospel to. A lot of Ministers of the gospel will often try to get away, from their spiritual loneliness or emptiness by immitating others. They want to be like someone else, instead of being who God has created them to be.
When you are experiencing a situation like this, it’s very important to start developing a singleness of purpose to that calling. It’s not the time to be running around like a man who doesn’t understand what he is doing. God is testing what’s in your heart. Stay focused and to be found faithful by God.
Elijah was in that situation also, as he fled away from Jezebel. In his persecution he could not hear God’s voice clearly, while running around. And that’s what a lonely heart does to you under the pressure of persecution. Persecution can make you experience loneliness. But it’s up to you to learn how to manage it in the Spirit.
During his time of loneliness Elijah was directed to mount Hebron. God wanted to fellowship with him. He was taken away by God into an isolated place, for him to discover another aspect of God, that he never knew before. That was the moment he learnt to recognize God’s voice in a whisper:
“The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””
1 Kings 19:11-13 NIV
God’s voice in fellowshipping with you will come through a whisper into your spirit. It’s important to develop a singleness of purpose at that stage to your calling. It means that you do have a calling, which is unique to your situation alone. It’s not the time to be running everywhere, when in fact you need to be developing a singleness of purpose to your call.
Don’t run away from it. You need the Holy Spirit to teach and guide you along this path. And you will make it, as long as you are following the leadership of the Holy Spirit. That’s the moment God will separate you apart for His purpose. He will uproot everything that are not of His Kingdom from your life, which you are trusting in – friends, critics and all things that comes from the Babylonian system of this world. God alone will take all of the glory in your life and your calling.
But He expects you to take that lonely walk with Him. He is the One making you to experience loneliness at heart, so that you can use the opportunity of the moment, to develop intimacy with Him. He wants to reveal Himself to you, so that you can begin to learn directly from Him, how to fulfill your ministry. He wants to fill up your lonely heart at that moment with His presence. He is longing for fellowship and patnership with you.
There is something in your life that is of great value to God. He wants to tap into it, and use it for His own glory alone. That’s why you must be still in that lonely experience to hear from Him alone, and not from the people around you. Don’t be running up and down seeking the approval of men. You don’t need men’s approval, when you do have God’s approval.
Do you remember what the Apostle Paul said that he did, in the early stages of his ministry? He wrote:
“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.”
Galatians 1:15-17 NKJV
What was he seeking when he refused to confer with flesh and blood? He was seeking a singleness of purpose in the ministry, that the Lord had set him apart for to the gentiles. He knew what loneliness meant, and was trying to satisfy that heart desire by going to Arabia and Damascus, while seeking to satisfy the longings of his lonely heart for God’s presence. He remembered his initial experience in Acts chapter 9 with Jesus, on the road to Damascus; and he was longing to talk face to face with Jesus again. That was why his lonely and empty heart took him back to the place of that encounter again. He was seeking to fill up his empty and lonely heart with God’s presence.
Paul was not seeking the approval of those in Jerusalem, because he knew that his calling was unique and special to God. He was not seeking the opinion or approval of men. He needed to be focused. He needed to be rooted and grounded in that calling and ministry. He knew that he was stepping into a calling, which no one else before him had never been called into.
Develop a singleness of heart to your call
In your partnership with the Holy Spirit, you must be a Minister of the new covenant. Not of the letter; but of the Spirit. For the letter kills; but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).
Moses as we saw last week lived a lifestyle of fellowshipping with God. He talked on a regular basis with God face to face. But those around him soon rebelled against him, and became jealous of his anointing. They rebelled against him because of his singleness of heart. He had a singleness of heart in the calling and purpose of God for him, that would not yield to the voice of the people around him. Moses valued communion with God and His Spirit, more than any other thing on the earth. And he was greatly rewarded by the Lord for it.
It was the same thing that moved Moses to constantly seek God’s face, which pushed Paul not to confer “with flesh and blood”.
He once told the Lord:
“… If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
Exodus 33:15-16 NIV
Moses was seeking communion here with the Lord, just as Paul was doing also by not conferring with flesh and blood. He knew that God’s presence going before him, will distinguish him and the Israelites from the rest of the world. And you will be smart to follow these two scriptural examples, instead of trying to figure out the will of God for you. Get real with God and He will get real with you also.
When you are in partnership with the Holy Spirit, you will face persecutions and oppositions, even from the people you least expect those things from. Moses was hated by others around him (see Numbers 12), but he eventually did excelled in ministry through his relationship with the Holy Spirit. Paul was also persecuted by both the gentiles and the Jewish believers, but he never lost his focus on God.
So stop comparing your calling with others. You do have a unique call from God. Walk that thin line in fulfilling your ministry. Start unlocking the mysteries of God by studying and praying more in the spirit.
