WHY WORSHIP?

There is no telling of how much God can do in and through the life of a worshipper. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us something so amazing about this, something we must cling to and see as an opportunity all the days of our lives here on earth. He says: “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Jesus’ discourse with the woman at the well in John 4 reveals so much about what God thinks of worship and what He wants in worship. Jesus tells us that we have come into a new season where there is a redefinition of worship to exactly what the Father has always wanted. There’s a new order. Things would henceforth be done differently. Worship will no longer be just an outward show but an experience that flows from the spirit of man to the outward part of him. The Father is seeking for a new breed of worshippers and these new kind of worshippers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth. These new kind of worshippers are first new creations born of the new covenant! This new order of worship is totally different from that of the old order in the Old Covenant. Praise God! We must pay close attention to this if we must come to the climax of true worship. Worship that the Lord receives is done in spirit and in truth. What does it mean to worship the Father in spirit and in truth? To worship the Father in spirit means to worship from the heart (not the part of you that pumps blood). The heart here means the central part of a man which is his spirit. This is because worship is first a spiritual thing and God is a Spirit and so must be worshipped accordingly, not in the flesh. To worship in truth simply means to worship according to God’s Word, not just as we choose. Remember Jesus’ Words in John 17:17, He prays to the Father: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (NKJV). God’s Word is Truth. And Jesus also adds that this kind of worship is not limited to a particular mountain or location, but can be done anywhere and everywhere. Praise God! I’m always blessed by the words of this song by Michael W. Smith: “When the music fades, and all is stripped away, and I simply come, longing just to bring something that’s of worth, that would bless Your heart. I’d bring You more than a song, for a song in itself is not what You have required. You search much deeper within, through the way things appear, You’re looking into my heart.” Oh! What a song! Before we can know why God wants worship, why this quality of worshippers or even why we worship God; we must first understand what worship really is. Worship is more than a song! It’s so unfortunate that singing is all a lot of Christians know about worship. Personally, I find the best definition of worship in the prayer pattern which the Lord Jesus gave His disciples during His days on earth: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10). He thought His then disciples and us today to pray after this manner for one purpose: for there to be a partnership or a sharing of God’s passion for the earth with men. God had a purpose in this! So worship is coming into partnership with the Father to see His Kingdom come and His will done on earth just as it is in heaven in any way and in every way – but in spirit and in truth! Singing to the Lord is an act of worship but not all there is to worship. Presenting our bodies unto God as a living sacrifice (to do His will only) is an act of worship but not all there is to worship (Romans 12:1, Hebrews 10:5-7). Obedience to God is an act of worship but not all there is to worship (Genesis 22:1-5). Over the years, the Church seems to have placed so much emphasis on the acts of worship as against the art of worship which is priority. It is foolish to keep doing things without even paying attention to whether you’re doing it the right way or not. Worship has a singular purpose but the acts of worship are so vast, multidimensional and unlimited. But one thing is central to all acts of worship – the essence of worship. So, why is worship so important to God? Worship does something to the spirit of a man that enables him take his rightful place in God and in His grand plan or agenda for the world. Worship conditions our spirit to take our rightful position in God. Worship makes us the connector between the natural and the Supernatural. Worship brings a man into a divine synchrony with God’s passion for the earth. His passion becomes our passion. It brings us into a holy oneness with God’s purposes on the earth. Worship brings such a Divine order in the lives of men. Worship gives God His rightful place in our lives. We were created to worship! In absolute worship to God we find our completeness. In worship we give our best – our heart, our entire selves! Once your heart is given you have given your all (2Cor.8:5). The foundation of true worship is that it is coming from the heart and it is according to God’s Word – it must be in spirit and in truth. It is important we understand that whatever act we carry out in the spirit of worship can only be authentic and acceptable when it is coming from the heart and is according to God’s Word – in spirit and in truth. Apostle Paul understood this truth and hence his words: “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son...” (Romans 1:9). Not every service or worship is acceptable, but every service or worship that is done in spirit and in truth is always accepted because that is what the Father wants! The Father has told us what He wants in worship and how He wants it, we must then stop giving Him what He doesn’t want! If it is for Him, let’s just do it His way! Worship is a decision – true worship is never forced! All over the world, people worship all manner of things – physical and spiritual. Permit me to say that whatever you’re living for is truly your object of worship. Where your heart is, what your entire life is more focused on and what you are preoccupied with daily defines who or what you’re actually worshipping. This is the reason Jesus counsels us: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33). Worship brings us into oneness with the object of worship – We eventually look like what we worship (Psalm 115:4-8). The more we worship God the more we get a revelation of who He is. The more of the attributes of God we acknowledge, the more we see how He wants to reveal these attributes through our lives. Worship begins when we acknowledge God for who He is and start relating with Him in that light!

THE SPIRIT OF REVELATION

All over the world, people – saved and unsaved – read the Bible for various reasons. Some read the Bible for the right reasons, some for the wrong reasons, some just to satisfy their quest for knowledge. There are those who even read the Bible to use the principles therein to better their lives or advance their selfish purposes but don’t want the God of the Bible. However, millions of Believers read it daily to draw strength and inspiration for life. Whatever the case may be, the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, was written to reveal to us God’s thoughts, purposes, will and intentions. The Psalmist rightly declares in Psalm 119:130 “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” You see, everyone can read the Bible but not everyone can ‘see’ what is written therein. Why? Because it takes a revelation (an unveiling) that comes by the Holy Spirit – The Author – to understand it. Beyond the letters, there is the spirit of the Word. The Word of God tells us “for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” (2Cor.3:6). Take note that the word ‘spirit’ here doesn’t refer to the Person of the Holy Spirit or to a spirit being but to the activity or ministry of the Holy Spirit in helping us receive the revelation of the Word. It’s just as the Lord Jesus says in John 6:63 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” He wasn’t referring to the Person of the Holy Spirit here, but to His activity or ministry in that regards. You’d also observe from the King James Version that all these verses (Including Eph.1:17 and 2Cor.4:13) have the word ‘spirit’ in small letters. There is what is called ‘the spirit of revelation’! Why is this so important? If we must fully understand the mind of God as revealed through His Word, we must understand the nature and role of the spirit of revelation. It is the Holy Spirit Who imparts the spirit of revelation. This spirit of revelation is given for one purpose – to deliver into our hands what has been written, to take the written Will of God and make it a happening Will of God in your life or that situation! God’s desire for His children is that they not just become readers, hearers or receivers of His Word, but the manifestation of His Word – the manifested Word just like Jesus was the Word made flesh (John 1:14)! From the words of the Lord Jesus in John 6:63 and 2Corinthians 3:6, we can clearly see that the revelation of God’s Word makes the Bible a living thing to us – it is lifeless and dead to the man without a revelation knowledge of it. That’s why when the Word of God is preached, taught or received by revelation, it simply begins to happen! The purpose of revelation is to make the Word of God not just a written text but a happening experience! The purpose of revelation is manifestation! Praise God! You can read the Bible and only get the sense knowledge of it just like you can read any book, magazine or newspaper and learn something. However, it is yet another thing to get revelation knowledge of what has been written in the Bible! Once you receive a revelation of the Word, faith is stirred up automatically to receive the delivery of that Word (Romans 10:17). Just like in creation, whatever God does, He does by His Word. God’s Word is His material for creating anything! The moment you can see it by revelation in the Word, you have it! All you need is to see it! However, we have a role to play to experience the spirit of revelation. It’s not going to happen just like that. There is cooperation with the Holy Spirit on our part. We must go beyond just reading the Bible for reading sake to studying it with a purpose and strong expectation of the manifestation of the spirit of revelation. We’d do this if we are truly hungry for the revelation of God’s Word. If we are really serious about receiving the revelation of the Word, we must learn to NEVER READ OR STUDY THE BIBLE WITHOUT ASKING THE HOLY SPIRIT TO REVEAL IT TO US! The Bible is the only Book that requires the presence of the Author to actually understand its content. Therefore, whenever you have a need, get to the Word! Find out what the Word of God says about that situation (God’s Word has an answer for every single situation!), then stay with that Word until you receive the revelation of it. You’d certainly know when you’ve received the revelation of that Word! Never be in haste or just run off prematurely, the answer to that situation is in the revelation of God’s Word! Once you receive that revelation, you have that need met! This is how God wants us to have all needs met! In Ephesians 3:17-19, we see something amazing! It says: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,” To Paul, this was a prayer, but to the Holy Spirit, this is what He wants to manifest in the life of every saint right now through the spirit of wisdom and revelation! Remember, the sole purpose of revelation is manifestation! You receive the revelation of God’s Word for the purpose of manifesting it! Now, understand that the spirit of wisdom and revelation always work hand-in-hand. While the spirit of revelation shows you what it really is, the spirit of wisdom shows you what to do and how to act or apply it to manifest that Word – all by the activity and ministry of the Holy Spirit! Jesus’ Parable of the Sower gives us great insight into this subject (Study Matthew 13:1-23, Luke 8:4-15, Mark 4:1-20). Jesus says, if we don’t understand this parable, we can’t understand any other (Mark 4:13). The sole reason the devil makes people receive the seed of the Word by the way side, on stony places or among thorns is just for them not to receive it on good ground – the place of revelation and manifestation – so he steals the Word-seed before it can be understood (Mark 4:15)! Every seed has the potential of producing its fruit, when planted! More revelation equals more manifestations. No revelation equals no manifestation, plus a great loss (Matt.13:12). Even the devil understands the value of the Word-seed of God. Treasure the Word of God – it produces what it talks about! Develop a great value for the Word of God – that’s where to begin! When you see it, you automatically have it. It’s time to start manifesting the Word!

THE SPIRIT OF FAITH

The Word of God is voice-activated! This could just be the missing link in the effectiveness of your faith. God’s Words remain potentials in our lives until we speak them out. When you speak His Words, you are coming into agreement (partnership) with God and His Word in your life and the power of the Word can now manifest what it talks about! Amos 3:3 says “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Therefore, for you to work with God, you must come into agreement with Him via His Word. Thank God we can. It really costs nothing to just voice out the Word of God, saying the same thing with God, just making God’s Word your word and it pays off as sure as God’s Word is true. Praise God! “What’s the big deal about speaking God’s Word?” You may ask. “Isn’t God’s Word so potent to work without me having to speak it out with my mouth?”, “Can’t God’s Word work in my life independent of me?” Well, these are great questions and the Word of God has the answers. 2Corinthians 4:13 says “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;” Now, understand that the word ‘spirit’ here isn’t referring to the Holy Spirit or a spirit being, but to an attitude – the attitude of faith – the same the psalmist who Paul quoted had. He believed and spoke out (Psalm 116:10). It’s just like saying: “that’s the spirit of the game.” We need to understand this because it tells us on whom the responsibility is placed. For instance, if you think the word ‘spirit’ is referring to the Holy Spirit, you’d be waiting for the Holy Spirit to do the speaking or even think He has to do ‘something’ before you can say something. Simply put, you’d become irresponsive about your responsibility. Well, if you’ve been on this faith walk a while, you’d have discovered that God wouldn’t play our roles and we can’t play He’s! He has His role and we ours. Therefore, we must take the responsibility of speaking out what we believe in God’s Word. 2Corinthians 4:13 makes it so plain that Bible faith has an attitude, a characteristic. We can see that there is a way Bible faith operates. We can actually identify Bible faith by a definite sign: Bible faith speaks what it believes! That’s the sign of Bible faith – it speaks! Faith is active and not passive. Faith has a voice – our words. Your words is actually your faith speaking. Your words are the first expression of your faith before even your actions. Faith always speaks what it believes! A lot of ignorant people mock this principle of confessing the Word of God to their own hurt. They think it is just blabbing some things, they think it’s just positive speaking or talking oneself out of ‘reality’, unknown to them that this is the very principle by which God does things. Yes, I know there are erroneous teachings on this subject, but we have the Bible to see for ourselves what God says about the matter. God created the heavens and the earth through Words – faith-filled words (Genesis 1). In fact, Hebrews 11:3 tells us “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” You see, words have creative abilities. Words are so powerful! Hebrews 1:3 tells us that the whole world is sustained and kept in order through words – the words of His (Jesus’) power. Can you just imagine that for a moment? God created man in His own image and after His likeness and gave man that creative ability through the privilege of words – no other creature has it. You know, sometimes we make faith look so mysterious. But when you study the Word of God carefully, you’d find that faith is never mysterious, men make a mystery out of it! Without faith it is impossible to please God and so God makes the subject so clear, clear enough for anyone to function in and with it. What is faith? “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1). However, Romans 10:17 tells us how faith comes. It says “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” This is exactly how we receive faith for the first time (salvation) through the Gospel-Word preached to us and this is still how we stay in faith as believers – hearing the Word of God. Every believer ALREADY HAS FAITH (Romans 12:3)! Now then, the more of the Word of God we hear or receive, the stronger and more effective our faith become. Acting on the Word is acting in faith. Your actions tell so much about your faith life. When you do the Word, you’re walking in faith. So you can know whether you’re in faith or not. It is not so much about the size of your faith as it is about WHAT you do with your faith. Even a mustard-seed-size-faith can reposition a mountain, Jesus says in Matthew 17:20. Just use your faith! Every Christian has got faith, otherwise they are not saved (Eph.2:8, Rom.10:9). We use our faith by speaking God’s Word. You can speak words without faith but you can’t operate in faith without speaking words! That’s the attitude of faith! Faith is a force, it causes you to speak! When you’re actively functioning in faith, you just find yourself speaking words! The attitude of faith is to speak what has been spoken, speaking the same thing with God. We must develop the habit of confessing God’s Word daily and in every situation we find ourselves. That’s really how to come out of problems. Simply find out what God has said about what you’re going through and begin to confess or declare it to yourself, instead of confessing what you feel about the situation because that won’t help the situation but gets it complicated and remember you eventually have what you say (Mark 11:23). God said something so that we could say something and have it manifested (Heb.13:5,6). The proof that you are actively in faith is that you are making God’s Words your words – you’re confessing His Words instead of yours. You can create your world through faith-filled words, just like God created the universe (Heb.11:3)! So, what do you want in your world? Oh! I’m so excited that God gave man the opportunity to create his world, to fill it with what he wants. If you speak bad words, that’s what you’d have in your world because your words is your faith speaking! Wisdom demands that you start by creating a salvation-dominated world by confessing with your mouth the Lordship of Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:9). That’s the foundation and then you can make God’s Words your words and just speak those words into your world and create heavenly realities in your world. Praise God! The Lordship of Jesus is the Lordship of His Word!

THE SIGNS OF OUR GENERATION

It’s one thing to have signs follow you because you believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is yet another thing to become a sign to your generation. Looking at the very Words of the Lord Jesus Christ in Mark 16:15-18, we see that the Lord Jesus made it so clear that the signs that follow the believer are the basic indicators and should never be an issue. “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.’” In fact, all the things listed in this portion of Scripture should never be a problem to the believer. In other words, it should be the easiest thing in the world for the Believer to function in the Name of Jesus – to cast out demons, speak with new tongues, take up serpents, be unhurt even if they drink any deadly thing and lay hands on the sick and have them recover. This is simply the lifestyle of the believer – the least expected of anyone who believes. Glory to God! Unfortunately, today, the Church seems to function as though Jesus said “these signs shall follow the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers of the Word who believe.” No! Let’s get it right! Anyone who dares to believer the Gospel of Jesus Christ is qualified to, in the Name of Jesus, function in this realm – it’s the least expected of the believer! The question is: Do you believe the Gospel? Are these signs following you? If you truly believe you’d act! The only proof that you really believe is acting out what you believe. Faith without works is dead just as the body without the spirit is dead. A lot of saints are not seeing these manifestations in their lives simply because they are not acting out the Word. They are too concerned about if it doesn’t work. So unfortunate! Archbishop Benson Idahosa said that he prays for the sick not because he considers himself a healing minister or giant of faith but simply to be obedient to Jesus’ command to do so! That’s a good one there. Zechariah 4:6 says “...Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts.” We must renew our minds on this matter to function in the light of it! Lately, the Lord has been dealing with me on the subject of becoming a sign to my generation. There’s so much the Lord is doing and yet to manifest through this generation. The Lord is so passionate about having a generation of believers that is not only followed by these signs but become signs themselves! That’s right! God wants a generation of sons that become signs to their generation. The Prophet Isaiah, speaking by the Spirit, declares “Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion.” (Isaiah 8:18) What are signs? Signs are indictors, they are pointers showing something. Signs are a part of our everyday life – road signs, doctors look out for signs and symptoms, we use sign languages in our expressions and conversations etc. There are good signs as well as there are the bad ones. The Lord is doing an unprecedented work in the earth in these last days to usher in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is raising up sons who would be signs, indicators of what He’s about to do in order to get people ready to connect with it and not miss out. God has always used men as signs to what was to come. For instance, David was a sign of the New Creation, Abraham was a sign of the faith life, Gideon was a sign of what God’s Super coming upon a man’s natural could accomplish, Daniel was a sign of the Kingdom of God ruling over the kingdoms of this world etc. I can go on and on. When you study the Book of Ezekiel, you’d observe that God instructed Prophet Ezekiel to communicate many things to the apostate Israelites by becoming a sign to them in many ways, same with some other prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Hosea. On the negative side, we have people like Nebuchadnezzar, Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. The Lord Jesus described Jonah as a sign to His death, burial and resurrection (Matt.12:39-40). He also declares thus: “For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.” (Luke 11:30). So, we see clearly that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was a sign to this generation (Isaiah 7:14). Evidently, God must have a grand purpose in all these. However, it might be difficult trying to grasps the entire purpose of God in using men as signs but it’s always been effective. One thing we can easily observe about all the people God used as signs of the great things He was about to do, is that they were men who dared to take God at His Word and ventured the seemly impossible, leaving a legacy for generations to come! They became signs of God’s desired manifestation to an upcoming generation! Now, the Lord Jesus was a sign and a wonder to the world during His earth walk. Acts 10:38 tells us “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” He came to show us the way of the New Creation and tells us that we are meant for even greater works than these (John 14:12). God wants us (believers) to be signs. Signs of what? Signs of the living Jesus (Mark 16:17). The calling of the Christian is a calling to re-present the living Jesus to our world! We are to be an express reflection of the Jesus of the Bible in the same way He expressly reflected the Father during His earthly ministry (Heb.1:1-3). We can then boldly declare that these are still the days of Jesus on earth, as long as the believers are still on earth. We are RE-PRESENTING Jesus to a world desperately in need of the real Jesus. We are to continue the ministry of Jesus! We are not only meant to preach Him but RE-PRESENT Him in character and power before men. This simply means when men meet us they meet Jesus Himself! We are for signs and wonders! Signs, wonders and miracles should be part of our identity everywhere we go in the same way they were for Jesus during His earthly ministry. This would only happen when we awake to this reality, taking up our responsibilities as signs and wonders to our generation!

UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES

What’s happening to our world? With the increasing tragedies all over the world – the missing Malaysian aircraft, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the over 200 missing Nigerian girls, sinking of ship, bombings, terrorism, violence, natural disasters, falsehood, unthinkable immoral policies celebrated all in the name of freedom etc. All these put questions in the mind of every right-thinking individual. Why are all these happening? Would these ever stop or how long are they going to last? People all over the world are searching for answers to these questions and more. Well, it’s so easy for someone to come up with some religious answers like “only God knows...” But as nice-sounding as that might seem, it isn’t true. The Lord Jesus Christ expressly spoke about these events to His disciples in the days leading to His suffering, death and resurrection. We can see much about what He said when we study Matthew 24 and Luke 21:5-36 (Pls, study these Scriptures). We either stick with the Truth of the matter or we try to figure things out ourselves which, indeed, is futile. Jesus asks: “...ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” (Matt.16:1-3). Is God concerned about what is going on in the world today? Of course, He is. He’s more concerned than we could ever know. But we must also understand that God is not surprised, in a panic mode or taken unaware. He’s not sleeping either. But then, He has it all figured out. Remember, He is God and this is His earth and ever would be! So why then is the Lord allowing all these? Deuteronomy 29:29 tells us “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” While there are things which are known to God alone, there are things He has revealed to us through His Word. The Bible is the Book of Answers. The tragic events we are seeing and hearing about today are signs of the end of this age. We are seeing the highest extent of man’s wickedness and perversion fully expressed. This would lead to the Second coming of Jesus Christ to physically rule the earth for 1000 years (the Millennium) in which the devil would be chained and locked up in the bottomless pit for those years, evil would be conquered, etc (see Revelation 20). When you study the Bible you’d discover that there’s nothing happening today that has not been clearly foretold and explained to us. God never wants us to be in the dark about anything. It’s good to know that! We look to the Word of God, not to the media! In the beginning, God gave man a free-will (the freedom to choose). Everything was okay until sin came into the world through Adam’s decision to disobey God. What happened next? From that moment, man started using that free-will against his Creator God, being blinded by the devil who now had total control over him until Jesus came. This is the origin of the wickedness and atrocities in the world today! And that is why until a man freely wills to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, he remains under the control of the devil whose aim is to work against God’s original purpose and plan for the earth. I’ve heard many people say that the world would get better someday. I would have loved to tell you that too. I would have loved to believe so too, but it just isn’t true. The Word of God never said anything like that. These evils we are seeing today are signs leading to something. This whole thing is leading to something prophetic and historic. As long as the devil remains the ‘god’ of this world system or in control of the people of this world, nothing would change for good, it only gets worse and worse until the rapture (See 2Cor.4:4, 2Tim.3:1-5). God’s Word presents the assurance of hope and protection for God’s people, those who have received the Lordship of Jesus Christ – the only escape route! So, is there any hope? Sure, there is! The Good news is: The Believer in Jesus Christ is not hopeless! We are full of hope. Any believer in Jesus who is not hopeful in this season is only ignorant of the future God assures us of. The moment we come to terms with it, nothing in this world matters again. The Bible describes this hope: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Heb. 6:19-20). Hallelujah! The Lord Jesus says “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke 21:28). These are truly amazing days for the believer. These are the days of unprecedented harvest of souls! Days of our greatest opportunity to let the world know about the HOPE we have in Jesus Christ. This is the greatest moment in history where the world would be confronted by the Truth: Jesus Christ – The Way, The Truth and The Life! 1Peter 3:15 says “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;” However, as believers in Jesus Christ, we must understand our roles and responsibilities in this prophetic hour that has come upon us. Yes, there’s going to be great persecutions and trials. It’s part of the Christian life (Phil.1:29). We must be faithful to Jesus even unto death (Rev.2:10). Never allow fear dominate you, stay in faith! Always stay in an attitude of prayer; it enhances sensitivity to the Spirit. Focus on the Lord’s agenda. Actually, these shakings all over the world ought to serve as an awakening for the Church, but as lamented by a woman of God, the Church seems to be less concerned and are still occupied with her selfish interests – the ‘me and mine’ stuff. We must wake up! There’s an urgent need for the Gospel to be preached all over the world. It’s urgent! More urgent than any other thing no matter how urgent they seem. The more we delay, the more souls are dying and being forced into eternal damnation. The world is searching for answers and is looking at the wrong places. We must point them to where the answer really is: JESUS IS THE ANSWER! This is the time to tell the world about the hope we have. Never be afraid, you are covered! “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24,25). Therefore, let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid. Set your eyes on Jesus. Peace to you!

KINGDOM PROSPERITY

Prosperity is the will of God for His children. God wants His children to prosper in every way! Irrespective of any man’s opinion, it is God’s will for His children to walk in all that He has made available to us through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. The finished work of Christ is the foundation for Scriptural prosperity. Those who say they don’t believe in prosperity or who condemn the prosperity message, they’ll do little or nothing for the Lord here on earth. People who think and talk that way are either selfish or myopic (short sighted, lack vision). Prosperity is part of the Gospel! The Sovereign Lord of all the earth says “My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 1:17). Recently, the Lord opened my eyes to something amazing I had never seen along this line. As I read through the above Scripture, the Lord immediately referred me to Matthew 5:14 which says: “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” And He brought my attention to the phrase ‘A city’ and it suddenly dawned on me that the Lord actually called us a city! What does that mean to us in the light of this? When the Lord said “My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad;…” He wasn’t referring to locations, structures or buildings but to His children. This simply means that God is spreading us, His children, all over the world through the provisions He has made available to us through His Son Jesus Christ. This means, the Lord is making us so big to take over nations for Him because we shall serve Him and do big things for Him lacking nothing whatsoever! Then we can answer the question: shall a nation be born at once? (Isaiah 66:8). I don’t know about you, but that’s good news to me! Praise God! Now, to a large extent, I understand why some believers kick against the prosperity message. They do that because it’s been so abused by so many preachers and believers alike. But that doesn’t justify that. The fact that something has been counterfeited doesn’t change the fact that there is the original. It’s so unfortunate that many times the false precede the true. Well, I believe in prosperity because God wants me to prosper and to be big for Him and His cause here on earth! What we need is to have a renewed mind on the subject of prosperity just as in other subjects of the Bible. What is a renewed mind? To have a renewed mind about something is to think like God about that thing. We must then search the Scriptures and see the mind of God about that thing. The Words of God are the thoughts of God! We can know God’s mind concerning anything through the Word. Instead of going by the opinion of the majority, we can choose to find out God’s mind on the matter for ourselves and connect with Him on that. Understand that Kingdom prosperity is not just about money, it is all encompassing – spirit, soul and body. We get into error when we narrow it down to just one thing. I believe this is one thing that marks Kingdom prosperity from what the world calls prosperity. When a man has money but lacks peace of mind he isn’t prosperous. Or when a man has good health but he isn’t saved that’s not prosperity. But you see, only in Christ we can have all together – totally whole spirit, soul and body! The Gospel is all about prosperity – God’s plan to make His man whole and entire once again! God wants us to be complete – nothing missing, nothing broken! That’s His will for us. The word ‘salvation’ is from the Greek: ‘Soteria’ which implies total wellbeing or wholeness in our temporal stay on earth and for eternity. Apostle Paul, speaking by the Spirit, in Romans 1:16 tells us that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation! What’s the Gospel? The Gospel is simply all that God accomplished IN CHRIST for humanity, which works for anyone who believes! There is a reason why God wants His children to prosper. I believe this is one area that the Church has missed it. We have emphasized a prosperity that is void of purpose. When a man thinks of prosperity without focusing on the purpose of it, he becomes selfish, greedy and entangled by materialism. 2Corinthians 9:8 tells us the purpose of Kingdom prosperity: “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” Right there is the purpose of Kingdom prosperity. We must never forget that we have all sufficiency in all things in order to have abundance for every good work. Praise God! However, when it comes to the monetary aspect, Haggai 2:8 declares “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.” Our Father owns the ‘box’. It belongs to Him! We would become good stewards of the money we receive from the Lord when we walk in the consciousness that He owns it all. Money is not the root of all evil but the love of it (1Tim.6:10). Money is a good servant but a cruel master. Money is neutral just like time and decision. It only takes on the character of its owner. For instance a gambler spends his money on gambling and a soul winner on soul winning. Money never defines a man but men define money because it is only a tool, an amplifier! Today, so many worship money because they’ve been made to believe that money answers all things. Unfortunately this error has been sponsored by the Church. When the Bible tells us: “A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.” (Eccl. 10:19), contextually, it was simply telling us that the feast and the wine are the function of money and when you observe carefully from the KJV translation you’d discover that the word ‘things’ is in italics, meaning that that word was not in the original manuscript but was added by the translators to aid understanding. In fact, it is so ridiculous to even think that money answers all things. We’ve seen people with lots of money but so miserable. Some even commit suicide because they’ve been made to believe that once they had the money they had everything, only to discover that there is so much money cannot buy. Yes, money can do a lot in the natural, but it can never buy spiritual things! Money has its limits too. Time is even more precious than money. Well, let’s look to the Father as our Source for everything. Let’s receive all He has made available to us through Jesus Christ and reach out to a dying world!

MANIFESTING CHRIST TO OUR WORLD

The greatest need of the world today, as ever, is to see the living Christ! They have been hearing about Him, some have even been talking about Him and others have been trying to figure out if He is real or if at all He ever existed. Therefore, if the world is not seeing Christ today there’s a problem somewhere and I believe that problem is from the Church. When I say the Church, I’m not referring to physical buildings or auditoriums, but to you and me (the New Creations in Christ)! Our No.1 goal as Believers in Jesus Christ is to manifest Him everywhere we go. This is top priority! We seem to sit indoors claiming to be waiting until we’ve advanced more spiritually before taking action, while we leave out our ultimate responsibility to manifest Christ to a sick and dying world! We stay in our ‘closets’ instead of stepping out to reach a confused world with the Gospel and power of the resurrected and living Jesus! We are so indifferent and still wonder why the world keeps getting deeper and deeper into unthinkable perversions and policies by the day. All through Scriptures, we see God’s earnest desire to manifest Himself to the world through men. He started this out by coming into this world Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to reveal the Father fully to the world (Heb.1:1-3) and before leaving the earth, He transferred that responsibility to the Church! During Jesus’ days on earth, He expressed His desire to afterwards manifest Himself first, to men and then through men. We must understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is not just the Son of God but the Pattern-Son of God! God has Jesus Christ as a pattern for all His sons. He wants to see many JESUSES all over the world. Sure! That’s what God wants. Romans 8:29 tells us “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” This is the ultimate goal of Christianity! Besides all that Jesus Christ came to earth to accomplish on man’s behalf, the Father sent the Lord Jesus Christ to come and exemplify what the life of a man anointed of the Holy Spirit should be like here on earth. This is the reason when any man truly meets Jesus Christ Himself by revelation, he cannot but become a different person. The whole idea of Christianity is manifesting the Christ to the world! The word ‘Christian’ simply means ‘like Christ’. I know the Church has made great efforts in the area of good Christian living and conduct but there’s more. We must understand that there’s more we’re yet to venture into and it is now in urgent demand. As Christians, we are called to manifest Christ both in life style and in power! For so long we seem to have just been content with having just the form of godliness while denying the power thereof. We are so thrilled when we see ‘few’ manifesting the life and power of Jesus Christ, whereas, that’s the mandate from Jesus Christ Himself to every Believer. Jesus said “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” (John 14:12). See, until we awake to the fact that we are meant to manifest Christ fully, we’d remain incomplete ambassadors for Christ! It’s absolutely abnormal for a Christian not to have an appetite for the Supernatural. It’s abnormal for the Christian not to walk in the Supernatural! The New Creation is born Supernatural! The Church of Jesus Christ needs to wake up! We need to wake up to the power of God available to us to help our world. It is not only available to some select few, but to all that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ! In Mark 16:17 Jesus declares “And these signs shall follow them that believe;…” Believing in Jesus is the basic requirement to walking in the miraculous! Wait a minute; Jesus wasn’t referring to some ‘mega’ faith here. He was referring to that same faith that got you saved (See Mark 16:15-17). The moment any man believes and is saved he immediately becomes God’s potential agent for manifesting the miraculous, releasing the Kingdom of which he is now a part of – The Kingdom of God! That is what the Great Commission is! The Great Commission is about manifesting Kingdom Dominion through words AND deeds, not just good behaviour but also power demonstrations (1Cor.4:20). Praise God! During His earthly ministry, Jesus’ ultimate focus was to manifest the Fathers Person, nature, love, character, etc. The Word of God tells us “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38). Today, in that same way, our mandate is to manifest Jesus Christ, the express manifestation of the Father (Heb.1:1-3, John 20:21). That’s our commission. Jesus showed us how to go about it. It all begins with having a personal revelation of the Person of Jesus Christ. It all begins with meeting Him by revelation (John 14:20-23). The question is: Have you met Jesus personally for yourself? Have you encountered Him through the Word? There is something about meeting Jesus for yourself (that is, experiencing Him) that I find so difficult to explain. It’s a deeper place of fellowship. It is my prayer that this would come to you as a revelation, not just as mere words. This is the mind of the Holy Spirit for the Body of Christ. We would never know what God could do through us, that God could use us in a certain degree until we step out in faith. This is a call to action! We can’t keep looking to ourselves and expect to manifest Christ. We must look to Him! Just as Moses saw the glory of God and reflected it, when Jesus manifests Himself to us, only then can we manifest Him to our world (Exo.34:29-35). As we behold Him, we become like Him and manifest Him to the world. We look to Him by paying attention to the Word and the Holy Spirit. The need for more Supernatural labourers after the order of Jesus Christ is so urgent (Matt. 9:37-39). This is about expressing the Christ – the Anointed One and His Anointing – everywhere we go and everywhere we are, whether at work, school, business, market, neighbourhood, etc. That’s the first reason we are there. Manifest Christ!