A Call to Unity and the Pursuit of Truth 4

This is an edited excerpt from my upcoming book. It explains what is necessary for us to be carriers of the glory of the Lord to every place He has called us to influence and help in the transformation of the world around us as a united Church for His glory alone. The glory of God is the only means of transformation for our society and for the satisfying of our longing to experience what we were created to do—to be objects of worship, but the glory of God helps us get back to what should be the sole object of that worship: the Lord Most High through His son Jesus. That is why everything that is in the way of our worship of Him is removed when He takes over with His glorious presence in our lives.

Let me now direct you to what every believer should do in order to obtain a continual transformation within us that will help us get hold of the character of Christ we need to fulfill our destinies in Him as carriers of His glory that remain relevant to the moves of His Spirit.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

⁹And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. ¹⁰And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. KJV

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

⁹Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” ¹⁰And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. NKJV

Reading these two versions of this passage would have caused me to go on a search hunt for the right words Jabez actually said, so I would have the “right” meaning of the context. But for now I will forgo doing that because I find it interesting that one version says that Jabez fervently prayed that God would keep him from evil, that it may not grieve him! But the second version says that the prayer was pretty much the same except that towards the end he prayed that if he was kept from evil, he would not cause pain!

This tells me that Jabez was indeed a man that gave himself to prayer and intercession. A very important key in our walk with God, also called ministering to the Lord. These two versions of the passage show that prayer should keep us both asking to be protected from the wiles of the evil one against us, and also that God would do a work of continual transformation in us, so we do not become snared by the world and its system and compromise and accept sin in our lives (Exodus 34:12-17), nor anything else that would exhibit a low level of our love walk and devotion to our God. We must pray fervently that the Lord would help us maintain in us a humble, obedient, and contrite heart that trembles at His word. In other words, our walk as citizens of heaven must demonstrate that we worship the Lord our God with ALL our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength, and that as we learn to receive the love of the Father for us that causes us to love ourselves, we can then extend that same love, mercy, and grace to others around us (Mark 12:30-31).

By the same token, being able to pray at the direction of the Holy Spirit against the schemes of the enemy involves that we are mindful of our love walk and devotion to God. Only then will we be free to be the vessels God uses to extend judgment against the enemy at every level and dimension He takes us in our process toward our destiny in Him and be effective at fulfilling every plan and purpose He has for our lives as we till the ground and build into our future through prayer, intercession, and worship.

Psalm 24:3-5 explains that in order for us to receive the victory of the battle against the enemy, we must have clean hands and a pure heart, and not raise any idols to worship in the place of our God, neither give ourselves to live in deception. This means that we should always pursue the truth of who God is and of the ways of His kingdom. It describes,

³ Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
⁵ He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation. NKJV

This will enable us to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). To worship the Father in Spirit and in truth means that it is very important to spend time seeking the presence of the Lord, not only in prayer, but in worship, fasting, consecration, reading His word, and seeking every word that comes out of His mouth as we learn to listen to the voice of His Spirit within us. The object of it is to seek continual decontamination from the pollution we obtained from the world and its system in our upbringings, our cultures, our generational background, or through any defiling means like traumatic events that caused us to receive the fear that leads to manipulation and control which is contrary to God's will for us and His nature in us, or sex outside of marriage—one of the biggest sources of defiling and contamination in us. We need to repeatedly come to the Father asking Him to have His way in us, so He can have His way through us by removing the things that hinder our obedience to Him and to His word, and that the fruit we bear is fruit produced by clinging to the vine because we are the branches and apart from Him can do absolutely nothing (John 15:5).

This will turn us into righteous believers that can be used of God to bring down the government of heaven to be established in our lives and in every situation we encounter, for we cannot come against the things that still influence us. They have to be overcome first. Prayer and seeking the presence of God continually put a stumping boot against those things in our lives as Jabez prayed so fervently for God to remove from him. The first part of verse nine of the above passage says that Jabez was found to be more honorable than his brothers. 1 Samuel 2:30 says that those who honor the Lord, He will also honor, and He despises those who think lightly of him.

Going to God persistently in prayer and seeking His glorious presence to be transformed by Him puts us on the side of those who honor God because we are showing Him by this that our relationship with Him is of chief importance in our lives and that we are willing to pay the price to obtain the great reward of the crown given to those who overcome the enemy at every level and dimension of our walk as citizens of heaven and in partnership with Him because many times that enemy “self”. That crown signifies that we increasingly become carriers of His glory and His Spirit can rest in us, so we can be conduits that manifest the atmosphere of heaven wherever we go in order to leave a lasting mark that changes not only the environment around us, but those we encounter, so they too can taste and see that the Lord is good and those who take refuge in Him can walk with joy (Psalm 34:8).

This is something that should put us on the path of going after our spiritual maturity that cannot be achieved without allowing God to turn every stone in our hearts in order to deal with the proclivities of our flesh and the traumas, pains, disappointments, hurts, and all other things that get in the way of our emotional maturity. Prayer, worship, and all other strategies like fasting that He will ask us to do, will help us reach this emotional maturity so we will prosper even as our souls prosper (3 John:2).

According to Ephesians 6:18-19, we must pray always with all manner of prayer and supplication. We must also pray in the spirit, and be watchful with perseverance and supplication for all saints. This is meant to explain that as we pray in the spirit and start following the flow of the Holy Spirit, He will show us people or situations to pray for. Sometimes we will be shown the root of a situation for us to pray for the uprooting of the cause of what is shown, and that way the manifestation that is seen on the surface will also disappear. Moreover, the Scripture also mentions to pray for all saints. This includes all leaders. 1 Timothy 2:1-4 says,

¹ Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, ² for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. ³ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

As mentioned above and as verse 4 confirms, it is the pursuit of the truth of who God is and of the ways of His Kingdom that we are required to cry out to God for because pursuing lies and wrong doctrines, following our own selfish ambitions, and refusing to turn from our wickedness can turn us into objects of judgment according to Romans 2:8-9 which says, ⁸But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. ⁹ There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. NLT

Hosea 4:6 says that people perish for lack of knowledge and receive rejection. Therefore if we find our prayers being rejected by God, it could mean that we are violating the laws that govern prayer and are asking amiss according to James 4:3 which say, You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. NKJV

Some laws that govern prayer that will ensure God will hear us are:

1. We pray to God the Father in the name of His Son, Jesus (John 14:13-14). We also pray the Word of God about the situation. This means that we have taken the time to ask Him for a word about it, waited for His answer, and listened to what He has to say about it.

2. Then we must meditate on and confess that word to get it on the inside of us, so that our faith level to see the fulfillment of that word rises as we pray (Joshua 1:8) and we purposely take every step of faith God directs us to take towards its fulfillment; and after we have done all, then we can stand on that word believing that He will bring it to pass.

3. We need to make sure we have forgiven all trespasses and offenses done against us (Mark 11:25).

4. Also, because we are to be submitted and understand authority, we must all be submitted to God’s authority with reverential fear and awe like the centurion did when he said to Jesus to just send the word and his servant will be healed (Matthew 8:5-13). We also must understand authority, so we can be submitted the right way. We need to recognize all authority figures God has placed in our lives and honor and respect them and their position of authority over us. These are parental authorities, civil authorities, and spiritual authorities, teachers, coaches, guardians, etc. There are serious penalties for not obeying and honoring our authorities including prayers that go unanswered.

Honoring our parental figures of authority will ensure we live a long life on the earth. Obeying our civil authorities will also ensure that we do not pay the penalties established for the rebellious in the land (Romans 13:1-3). Furthermore, the Bible says not to touch God's anointed and to do His prophets no harm (1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalm 105:15). This disobedience will cause God to rise up and fight against those who touch God's anointed people He has placed in our lives.

5. Another part of the laws that govern prayer is the law of perseverance stated in Luke 18:1-8 which relates the parable of the widow who went repeatedly to the judge to ask him to avenge her of her enemy. Initially, the judge did not respond to her in the way she wanted, but her perseverance finally moved his hand speedily. In addition, Matthew 7:7-11 confers about asking, knocking, and seeking. These three are a progressive state by which one perseveres in prayer in a way that turns us into those that take the Kingdom by force (Matthew 11:12). This is because we have used steadfast endurance in our prayers until their fulfillment without fainting, and allowing the Holy Spirit to flow in us in all His fullness, according to His seven facets stated in Isaiah 11:2-5 which says,

² And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
³ He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
nor make a decision based on hearsay.
⁴ He will give justice to the poor
and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
⁵ He will wear righteousness like a belt
and truth like an undergarment. NLT

All of these are done at different levels and dimensions as we journey in the process God takes us on the way to our destinies in Him and even after. As citizens of heaven, we are to always aim for more knowledge of God and of His ways, and as verse 5 of the passage states, always pursuing righteousness and truth with the acknowledgement that to whom much is given much is required. Luke 12:48 tells us,

But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. NKJV

In order for us to become agents of unity and carriers of His glorious presence as we continue to be transformed into His image and likeness, the pursuing of the fullness of who God is (the vine dresser) who engrafted us and made us partake of the vine as branches adopted in order to bear fruit that remains, we need to come and drink of the wine of the vine, and come back for more again and again. This is to become our lifestyle until He has His way in us and through us to His own satisfaction that only He can determine until every “no” we have said to Him turns into a “yes” to His will and His plan and purpose for us. We must complete this pattern at every level we reach in our walk towards our destiny and after because it will ensure we will remain relevant to everything God wants to do in us and through us as we partake of the moves of His Spirit. This is an important key to seeing the supernatural ways of God manifested in our lives. It is not by works that we can produce fruit that remains, but by drinking from the vine as many times as we need to (Esther 1:7-8).

Works of our flesh without drinking from the vine continually can wear us out and still we will see no fruit or at the maximum a small portion of it compared to what can be accomplished when God is greatly involved in our lives. This is the difference between King Saul and King David, and that is why, as mentioned in the last post, the women of the land sang about the thousands Saul could kill, but David was able to kill tens of thousands. James 4:8 admonishes us, Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. NLT

In other words, the Scripture is saying to many in the Church that they have one foot in the Kingdom and the other one in the world. But God is a jealous God who will not allow His name to be tarnished by giving His glory to anyone else (no one else will get the credit for what He does to rescue us for His name's sake), neither will He share His praise with any idols we may have raised in any area of our lives to replace Him (Isaiah 42:8; 48:11). Therefore, drawing near to God so He can draw near to us continually will help us produce more fruit in less time than if we did it by works. Our striving and struggling to make things happen ahead, behind or apart from Him is also something that God intends to remove from us as we come to Him again and again to be filled with more of Him so that among other things, He can expose and remove the idols we have raised. To Him alone be all the glory.© 2014.

A Call to Unity and the Pursuit of Truth 3

                                 Romans 3:21-23

21 But God has a way to make people right with Himself without the law. And God has now shown us that way which the law and the prophets told us about. 22 God makes people right with Himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all are the same. 23 All people have sinned and are not good enough for God's glory. ERV

Continuing with the last two posts from this series, we have observed that as believers we are to aim in a determined way at being carriers of the glory of God (the atmosphere of God in heaven that brings the supernatural to the earth) for that is the reward of every believer that chooses to follow Jesus Christ all the way until we obtain this goal so can take it to the spheres of influence God has given us. This is because the glory of God is what transforms our lives and makes us examples of what living a life of abundance in every area looks like with God’s supernatural help to a dying world that is desperate for something new and better than the chaos they know. That is why judging one another and becoming stumbling blocks to others only keeps us from demonstrating the light and the glory of God to the dark world.

Nothing else can transform us apart from seeking the presence of God that brings His glory into our lives and restores us more and more to His image and likeness. Man power won't do it, greed won't do it, our own strength won't do it, good intentions won’t do it, or presumption won’t do it either. For this reason, our focus on becoming the vessels that will carry this glory to the places of our assignments while accepting the process God chooses for us in order to remove the influence of what falls short of this glory in our lives should be our main objective. We must yield to His commanded process for us because it demolishes strongholds and breaks everything that is in the way of God having His way in our lives for His glory alone.

Seeking after our own ways gives us mediocre results, but seeking after the glory of God brings His signs, wonders, and miracles that cause us to accomplish things in a supernatural way because only by being dependent on His help can we do these things. That is why King Saul was jealous of David after he (David) killed Goliath the giant. The women in the area started singing and dancing, saying that Saul could kill thousands, but David could kill tens of thousands. 1 Samuel 18:7-8 says,

⁷ So the women sang as they danced, and said,

 “Saul has slain his thousands

And David his ten thousands.”

⁸ Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” NKJV

Notice that the jealousy King Saul had towards David also made the king suspicious of him—but he was innocent and only wanted to be a servant to the king and to God. The fear that led to anger and jealousy brought Saul to want to do something that was unnecessary and in the end caused him more because King Saul soon began to be tormented by an evil spirit and only David had the spiritual authority to drive it out through his worship. Saul was willing to not only be a stumbling block to David’s purpose, but he also wanted, under the influence of a spirit of sedition, to completely remove David. A spirit of sedition causes a person to undermine the established authority by dishonoring it and by applying his or her own agenda with the plan to overthrow the authority set by God. Some times this established authority can come from outside as a prophetic voice that God has sent to bring by his or her anointing the order necessary for Him to move in a given situation.

Unfortunately, this scenario has repeated itself many times over in the body of Christ where there have been church splits, and new churches or denominations that were started at the expense of another person or group’s misfortune or fall. Another example of the manifestation of the spirit of sedition is when perhaps it was time for a ministry to go to a higher level in God, but the way God chose for them to enter a new portal in His supernatural ways was well beyond the comprehension of the leaders and because of that they persecuted the sent one of God that was chosen as the door by which they could enter this new portal, and as a result they allowed this spirit to enter the house of God due to ignorance of His higher ways (Isaiah 55:8). This is also seen in the marketplace.

There are instances in which someone’s anointing can break a demonic hindrance that is keeping others from moving forward, but there are other times when what is keeping us from advancing is our own sinful nature or works of the flesh. For that, the flesh needs to be put under the ruling of the Holy Spirit and crucified, and that requires at times that we go through a trial designed and allowed by God to bring the flesh into submission and ruling. In addition, when we continue to choose what is familiar and have grown accustomed to instead of accepting what may be new and far above what we can ask, think, or imagine because that is how God chooses to answer our prayers, we are hindered by those levels of revelation that have become obsolete. God is constantly moving and we move with Him at the speed of the revelations we receive that cause us to reach higher levels in the knowledge of Him and of His ways. For that reason, we cannot assume we have all the answers and think we can solve every situation in the same way we did before. Doing things this way will drive us to not be able to tap into His glory realm to bring down the answers to our situations in a way that only God can do out of the riches of His glory because we are offering sacrifices instead of obedience to His commands. As mentioned before, that attracts the wrong spirit into our lives since that is considered to be witchcraft and rebellion.

The spirit of sedition is accompanied by the spirits of strife and division, and betrayals like that of Absalom, David’s son who wanted to take his throne from him, or like Korah, who led the children of Israel to rise against Moses’ authority and leadership will follow us and cause division everywhere we go. The ones to suffer the consequences in a ministry, business, family or community and even a nation are not only those in leadership, but all who are under the leaders who operate from the influence of the spirit of sedition. There is chaos and not order which keeps us from having God’s power flow freely in our midst to demonstrate the riches of His glorious presence during the services or in our lives. This becomes a chain reaction to the detriment of all involved directly or indirectly and can affect every area of our lives.

This spirit ought to be cast out from among us first through repentance. Other actions may be rendered necessary such as removing the person or persons that constantly bring about the manifestation of that spirit from our presence (including the leadership). No progress can be made while there is sedition among us. The casting out and renouncing of that spirit are a necessary component of our deliverance, so we do not find ourselves in other situations that can hinder the advancement of the Kingdom of God through our lives because we have forfeited our authority and freedom in Christ through having something new that was the product of the downfall of other people, especially if they were innocent parties and victims of our wrong motives.

Another reason already highlighted in this post, but that I will expand more on is ignorance. Satan’s number one weapon against us is to keep us ignorant. Ignorance gives birth to fear, and this fear is the type that leads us to want to control and manipulate our way out of the things we do not understand, or that God is allowing to shake the wrong foundations and worldly mindsets, so He can replace them with the foundation of the Kingdom of God which is reverential fear of Him which leads us to want to pursue His wisdom and right standing with Him. But many leaders have led their people astray through their lack of knowledge of God which has led to idolatry because they first refused to seek or accept a higher level in the knowledge of Him because they became stagnant at the level of revelation they're fighting to keep which has turned them into idolaters of those levels of revelation and God is moving at higher levels than that, making their level of knowledge obsolete or just basic. Hosea 4:6-7 says,

⁶ My people are being destroyed

      because they don’t know me.

   Since you priests refuse to know me,

     I refuse to recognize you as my priests.

   Since you have forgotten the laws of your God,

     I will forget to bless your children.

⁷ The more priests there are

     the more they sin against me.

   They have exchanged the glory of God

     For the shame of idols. NLT    

That is why the Lord of Heaven's Armies is coming to His house to remove everything that is hindering His glorious presence among His people, what brings dishonor and sedition in the church, and setting things in order so that His bride can be made spot and wrinkle free and can be made ready for the coming of the Lord in unity. Malachi 3:1-5 explains how He will do this. 

1 "Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the LORD you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 

2 "But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. 3 He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they once again may offer acceptable sacrifices to the LORD. 4 Then once more the LORD will accept the offerings brought to him by the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as he did in the past.

5"At that time I will put you on trial. I am eager to witness against all sorcerers, and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me." Says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 

Sadly, what is described in verse 5 is seen in the church and He is bringing the reverential fear of Him back into His house first. The Bible says that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and it brings knowledge and understanding of the Holy One to us. It also spearheads us to walk in humility that eventually will bring us to a place of honor (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; 15:33). So in essence, God Almighty is calling us to examine our ways and as He sheds His light on every wrong turn we have made that caused us to fall short of His glory, we can come boldly to His throne of grace and mercy. As we lay at the altar, let’s allow Him to have His way in us and through us so we can be set free to pursue the truth of His Gospel as well as the unity of the saints that transcends denominational boundaries.

Thus, His bride can be made without spot and wrinkle and become like the New Jerusalem which is illuminated by the light of His glorious presence and no shameful idolatry, dishonesty, or anything evil that could cause us to die spiritually can enter the gates of our lives, ministries or businesses (Revelation 22:23, 27). It is important to find out if we have experienced spiritual death since it is a subtle state that can happen without our realization and is demonstrated by our lack of hearing and discerning how the Spirit of the Lord is currently moving and struggles that are difficult to overcome get even worse. In other words. There is a deceleration and decrease in our walk with God and in our lives. Spiritually dead people also are influenced by the anti-Christ spirit which causes them to twist everything they see or discern, and in a legalistic way, they make themselves the standard by which they judge everyone else. They also are greedy.

Furthermore, spiritually dead people seem to appear submissive and are flattering, but rebel against authority. Also, the things of the world become more attractive to them even if they claim to be walking with God, read the Bible and pray for their hearts have become hard and even stubborn. Lack of a walk love towards God and those around us can lead to spiritual death and failure to pay attention to this realization can lead to a second death that can be manifested anywhere from losing our positions and offices to physical death because we are no longer fulfilling God's purpose for our lives (Revelation 21:6-8). Let's be a body that takes heed in this hour.To Him alone be all the glory. ■