The world may not be progressing in many things as it is supposed to be progressing right now; but that doesn’t mean everything is at a standstill. God’s Kingdom is never static. The Lord God is always doing amazing things. He will never change His Own nature just because, the world is doing nothing in setting the wheel of prosperity forward.
That’s why it’s very important for us as Christians to get to know what the Lord is doing, so as to get ourselves involved in it also. We do know from the Bible that at the time of creation, when everything was dark and without any movement, God’s Spirit was moving to create new things on the earth (Genesis 1:2).
He has not changed. He is still doing the same things that He did from creation. The lack of visible progress on the earth does not means that the Lord is doing nothing. You will need the eye of faith to see the Lord at work on the earth today.
In fact, He is doing a lot more right now than ever before for you and me. We can only know those things when we are yielding ourselves to search them out, through the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
From the very moment when you accepted Jesus Christ as the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, you had taken a giant step into the world of the supernatural. Everything becomes possible for you from that moment. But if you are not yielding your spirit to be praying by the Holy Spirit, in searching out what is yours from the Lord, you will never be able to discover and take hold of all that are really yours in Christ Jesus.
As Daniel once declared by the Spirit of the Lord many centuries ago:
“Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits.”
Daniel 11:32 NKJV
The enemy is doing everything possible to prevent progress and increase on the earth today. There may be evil and all kinds of corrupt practices everywhere around you. And they will definitely increase more and more. The devil is using these evil practices in the world, to try and weaken the effectiveness of the Body of Christ in stopping his works of evil.
Most especially he is doing everything to hinder the ability of God’s people to gather together for prayer and intercession. He knows how effective your prayer can be, when you are praying in accordance with these words of Jesus in stopping him:
“Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 18:18 NKJV
You surely do have the faith to bind the devil and everything that he is doing around you. All you need to be doing is to release your faith, by issuing the words of command to stop him.
Unfortunately there are those who are buying into his lies and deceptions. They are being deceived through the social changes around them, to increasingly compromise the word of God, to the extent that their faith can’t do anything for them.
But there are those Christians however who are not taking the baits of the enemy, to compromise their faith in the word of the living God. They are the only people who are stopping the enemy with their prayer life.
And the devil himself knows who they are. They are the ones who are keeping faithfully and steadfastly, to their eternal covenant by the blood of Jesus Christ. They don’t compromise to please the world. God’s word is the final authority to them in prayer.
These are the Christians who do understand what Paul meant when he said:
“Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 5:20-21 NKJV
As iniquities abounds more and more around them, they do know that God’s grace is also increasing more and more; causing them to be doing great exploits with their faith for the Kingdom of God. These are the ones who are doing exploits and progressing aggressively in a world that is static around them.
The Lord relies on His people here on the earth to be involved with Him in advancing His Kingdom. This however can only be done through prayer and intercession. This is what God’s people have been called to do, so as to stop the enemy on his track.
Becoming a visionary through prayer and intercession
As Jesus once 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
When you are seeing all kinds of attacks going on everywhere against the Body of Christ, you know for sure that the Kingdom of heaven is suffering violence more than ever before. But God’s grace abounds more and more to empower His people who are doing exploits.
And in the midst of all these we need to acknowledge from the statement made by Jesus above, that it’s only those who have been forcefully advancing God’s Kingdom through prayer and intercession, that are actually going to be making progress on the earth today.
They are praying and interceding to find out what the Lord wants them to do, and they are doing those things. They are making progress and prospering, while some others are regressing and getting more and more spiritually bankrupt.
The lack of prayer and intercession in the life of a Christian will eventually lead to his spiritual bankruptcy. Spiritual bankruptcy comes out of the lack of vision and insight into the understanding, of the time and season that the world is right now.
Everything that we are doing on the earth as Christians is all about, bringing the Kingdom of heaven into manifestation on the earth. Every Christian has a role to play in this.
There is no Christian without a role to play in this. That’s why it’s important for every child of God to be seeking His face, so as to find out their individual roles in this great move of God on the earth.
The mere passing of time during this pandemic will not profit you as a child of God, if you are not spending your time wisely in God’s presence. Any time that passes away can never be regained by anyone easily.
The Apostle Paul said:
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
Ephesians 5:15-17 NKJV
The way to redeem your wasted time is by praying more than ever before in the spirit, so as to get to know the will of God for your life today. You will have to purpose in your heart not to be copying what others are doing. To redeem your time you will need to be single minded with your faith, hope and aspirations on the Lord alone. And as you are discovering the will of God by praying in the spirit, don’t ever hesitate to do whatever He tells you to do. Don’t waste time in obeying the Lord.
When you are praying and quick to obey Him always, your life will see progress and the prosperity of the Lord. Those who are lazy in their prayer lives are getting more and more spiritually bankrupt during this pandemic.
What you are doing with your time during these days of the pandemic, will eventually determine the height that you can get to in Christ Jesus.
Some people are spending their time doing the things, that has nothing to do with their eternal destiny in Christ Jesus.
While those who are interested in being in the perfect will of God are spending more time praying in the Holy Spirit, so has to discover those things that God expects them to be doing. They are not just waiting on the Lord; but they are aggressively seeking the face of the Lord, as they are doing exploits with their faith.
If you are not ready to get spiritually aggressive and violent, then you will never be able to do exploits in the realm of the supernatural. The enemy is out there to ensure that you will never hear from the Lord, so as to know what He has in store for your future.
As the Apostle Paul said again:
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”
Romans 11:33 NKJV
You can never discover “the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God” for your life, if you have not purposed in your heart to search those things in the spirit and by the Spirit, while the time around you is passing away.
The Lord has some assignments for you which you can never find out, until you begin to pray out those things in the spirit and by the Spirit who lives in you. You have a huge role to play in the plan of God on the earth.
It’s the lack of vision and insight that will make a Christian not to be able to identify his or her role in this way. We however must admit that, it is not every Christian who does have the Spirit of the children of “Issachar”, into understanding the time and season that we are living in right now (1 Chronicles 12:32).
Where there is a vision God’s people will always cast off the restraints, restrictions and lockdowns that are holding them bound from advancing the Kingdom of God on the earth.
For:
“Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.”
Proverbs 29:18 NKJV
Your vision in whatever you are doing right now for the Lord, comes out of the revelation of Jesus to you. That doesn’t means you have to continue with what was revealed to you many years ago, which has gotten you spiritually dormant today.
The Lord has certain things waiting for you which can only be searched out, by aggressively praying and interceding in the spirit and by the Spirit for them.
The lack of insight and understanding has made some people spooky with their Christianity. They can’t do anything with their faith in advancing God’s Kingdom on the earth.
This is primarily because they are aligning their faith with the world’s system around them, instead of getting it aligned with God’s written word. Then, they are wondering why are they not making spiritual progress in the crooked and wicked world around them?
God’s word is unrestrained and unhindered by any law on earth
The Apostle Paul advised Timothy in understanding this when he told him:
“But make Jesus, the Anointed One, your focus in life and ministry. For he came to earth as the descendant of David and rose from the dead, according to the revelation of the gospel that God has given me. This is the reason I am persecuted and imprisoned by evildoers, enduring the suffering of these chains—but the Word of God can never be chained!”
2 Timothy 2:8-9 TPT
God’s word was never chained down, restrained or lock downed for Paul. The Lord had told him that he would testify about Him in the court of Caesar. This was what he had received out of the revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It became the passion of his life to make it happen. Paul was focused in his life and ministry, on Jesus and the anointing over his life. And he advised Timothy to be doing the same thing, so that the enemy would not hinder and stop the flow of that anointing in his life.
What are you doing today about what the Lord commanded you to do? You have no excuse for not doing it, because He expects you to be using your faith to get it done at all costs. Don’t be waiting on people before you can begin to do what the Lord told you to do. Just step out by faith and start doing something about it. You see, God will not do anything to help you, until you start doing something with your faith by obeying Him.
The restrictions of men can’t limit God’s word to you from coming to pass. Just step out by faith to do something about it now. You don’t need the help of men when God is on your side.
This was what Paul did to carry the gospel into the court of Caesar. And it does not matter how Christianity became officially recognized by the Romans, and eventually spread to the end of the earth.
The man who was used by the Lord to first bring that message to the Romans, was locked down and restrained in prison, while doing what the Lord told him to do (Acts 28:30-31).
It was not different from what the enemy is doing today also to Christians everywhere with lockdowns and restrictions. You can become the person that the Lord wants to use in bringing the greatest revival to your world, if only you will step out of the world of mediocracy around you. You can be that person who has been ordained by the Lord, to ignite His fire in many lives around you.
And oftentimes such people who changes their world are never recognized for what they are doing. But the Lord who has sent them knows them. Heaven is recording their works of faith in starting the move of God to their accounts before the Lord (Revelation 20:14).
The Apostle Paul was not one of the original twelve Apostles who were appointed by Jesus. He was not even recognized initially for everything that he was doing. But he knew that he had to obey the Lord at all cost, without reliance on the so called recognized leadership of the early Church.
Eventually they had to start paying attention to what he was doing by faith. Paul was never beholden to the Church at Jerusalem. The gentile world was what his calling was to. He did his part (even with chains and imprisonments); to get the gospel of Jesus Christ to the capital of the known gentile world – Rome.
Paul took the gospel to the end of the earth in chains. He was a prisoner but he kept on preaching the gospel and performing miracles. Even with his chains prosperity and all his supplies in preaching the gospel never eluded him (Acts 28:10). The Lord provided for all of his needs. He said while yet facing a restriction on the sea that locked him down for two weeks on the journey to Rome:
“For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ Therefore, take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it had been told me.”
Acts 27:23-25 NKJV
The vision of the angel encouraged Paul, even when it seemed as if he was facing a dead end. He never had to rely on some letters of authority from Jerusalem to Caesar. God’s word to him was all that he needed. His testimony of Jesus was the most effective tool to get Christianity recognized worldwide.
This was what Paul did to reign with Christ Jesus in Rome. He got a revelation through prayer and intercession that opened the door for the gospel to be preached to the whole court of Caesar. Are you praying and interceding enough, so as to know what the Lord wants you to do?
This was how the revelation came to Paul in advising Timothy to be doing the same thing that he did:
“Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
I Timothy 2:1-4 NKJV
If this worked for Paul in taking the gospel to the capital of the known world, to the extent that he became God’s instrument to start the process of making Christianity recognized by Rome. You can be used today also to ignite the fire of God to your world. People may not see it at first, but Heaven has a record of your work of faith.
If your vision is clear to you, then you do have a message to herald to the audience that has been appointed for you by the Lord.
Therefore if you are going to be reigning with Christ Jesus in the midst of a world that is increasingly regressive, you will need to be involved with prayer and intercession more than ever before for your communities. If your community is not progressing as it ought to be, you have a big part to play in turning things around through prayer and intercession.
The devil is angry. He is creating chaos and disorderliness everywhere in his attempt to divert the attention of the Body of Christ from prayer and intercession. He knows that when we are praying things will start progressing.
Therefore:
“Pray without ceasing,”
I Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV
While:
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—”
Ephesians 6:18 NKJV
And:
“ .. beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,”
Jude 1:20 NKJV
You will do greater things for the Lord in 2022, as you set your heart to search out the things of God through prayer and intercession. No new thing from the Lord comes without seeking His face for it. You are on a mission to carry a revival through prayer and intercession. And the Lord will lead and guide you through it all.
