An encouraging word for the Church of the last day

By Isaiah-Phillips Akintola

Making sense of the current shift in season

There is certainly no doubt in regards to the urgent need of a well rooted, balanced and mature prophetic grace in helping to make good sense of the current state of the earth as it affects both believers and none believers. Every time a generation witnesses a shift in season or other forms of sociocultural transition there is always the issue of unforeseen friction that impact core values, standards and believe system of the people, such that if things are not properly managed, many tend to be plunged into a state of fear, confusion and uncertainty regarding their future.

it is part of the fallen human nature to be worried, insecure and afraid when he seem to be losing control over what he beliefs he has power and authority to curtail. There is a shift in the earth’s foundation that is shaken everything built on it. Unfortunately, believers whose identity are not found and secured in Christ are also losing their balance as the false religious foundation they built on continues to collapse.

Human system and ideologies are once again been put under immersed pressure to see the type of stuff they are made of. The Lord is making his strength known in every dimension of life as his kingdom manifest through the pathway of this ongoing tremor. This transition is exposing the strength and weakness of both the Church and the world at large. However, those who have decided to humble themselves in the body of Christ will once again be given the opportunity to receive clarity, stability, and direction.

The prophetic in navigating seasons

The church, through the Age has being well favored and position through the ministry of the prophetic to navigate seasons of darkness, tribulation and uncertainty as she depends on the eye of the the savant of God, the prophets.  The condition of the prophet’s spiritual sight plays a huge role in the development and transition of Gods people from one level of dealings to the next until there an arrival to their ordained destination. The current events across the globe are indicators indeed, pointing us prophetically to move into a more accurate position of what could be define as the finishing faith. When I say finish, I am referring to the ability to step into a position of spiritual emphasis after exiting that reality of faith that has become obsolete. The development of your spiritual activity is hinged on the movement of your faith in obedience to the voice of the Lord. My point is, when we do a thorough examination of both the components and value standard which generally defines both the concept and practice of today’s Church definition of faith, i find highly challenging and difficult to reconcile such faith with the same spiritual template, our Lord and other Icons of faith such a Abraham discovered and practiced in the word of God.

A broader understanding of faith

There are new spiritual emphasis heaven is releasing that will further mature our faith knowledge and vision in terms of pleasing The Father, and achieving Christ  ultimate vision of unifining the corporate faith of his body under the lordship of his Father. While it is true that we can exercise our faith in claiming prosperity, healing and deliverance, it is however important we continue to stress that correct biblical faith and its vast objectives is given to develop and mature the corporate spiritual man, thereby, enhancing his ability and capacity to journey further into the full reality of his or her restored image and identity in Christ. 

Coming into the revelational knowledge of Christ and his kingdom in our existence is one of the main reasons for faith. If we must please God here on earth we certainly need to practice faith the way he prescribed it. We must never substitute the core mission of faith for self-gratification. The truth is, ninety percent of what we have or have achieved is not a direct result of our faith. No, they came as a result of The Father’s eternal love, mercy and favor. We need to redirect ourselves back to the right footing of accurate spiritual lifestyle, which include how to see and exercise our faith most especially in times of transition.

Accurate faith requires more than ability to believe for things; rather, it is one of the keys of the kingdom given to enhance the capacity and longevity of the spirit man as he presses further in the construction of the Father’s desire in the earth. Moving towards this reality is what quickens the vision that drives our faith into that realm of maturity and perfection regardless of the hindrance or pervading darkness.

What Abraham discovered about faith

Abraham initiated several concept and value system in his faith journey that introduces us to how to effectively live and navigate through some of the most difficult terrains that may prove contradictory to the direction of The Lord’s voice and leading. One of the first things we saw in Abraham’s respond to the call of God was his ability to completely abandon his dependency on his sensory faculty to a life of faith. Faith lives in the spiritual realm which is opposite anything the unregenerated human sense can comprehend. Relationship with anything connected to heavens agenda should be based on what I call factual faith. The operation of apostolic faith is not abstract nor is it arbitrary in character.

Faith and spiritual faculty

Living a life of faith emanate from a deep sense of connection and relationship with both doctrinal and revelational truth. it is important for any believer to understand that spiritual things are real in a sense that they can be related to through a transformed spiritual faculty. Developing your spiritual faculties to fully comprehend the demand of The Lord for your time are core areas of emphasis in this ongoing transition.

Whilst the enemy through deep rooted religious belief keeps blurring the line of truth, your position is to keep your motivation and determination alive until every dead spiritual cell comes to life in response to the ministry of the truth. Those, who through the use (exercise) their spiritual sense is able to discern what is true from that which is false, Sound bible base spiritual exercise awakens the mind to know and identify things by the spirit.

Therefore, the spiritual facts that substantiate our faith should be more real and authentic than the present darkness that may seem to blur or contradict what we believe and are persuaded of. According to the definition of faith in Hebrews chapter 11, we see faith as the (tangible) substance of things hoped for, the very evidence of things not seen. This clear definition helps make sense of things that may look uncertain or impossible. When there is shift from sensory thinking to a faith built on the inherent promise of God within our minds, we start seeing things with the eye of faith, which then gives us the opportunity to believe and act on God’s word. Faith is solidly built on the foundation of God total counsel.

Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Esther, Deborah, David and the rest of the patriarch who responded to the call of the Father saw something far beyond the natural that gave them confidence, courage and assurance to obey this invisible God without delay. The scripture said, Moses saw HIM who WAS INVISIBLE. How do you see the invisible one? Answer, when you are born into God’s kingdom, like any other kingdom culture, you automatically inherit both the life and culture of such kingdom. In the kingdom of God, faith is the starting point of a whole range of moral values system designed to perfect of the ministry of the truth. This is why Peter admonishes to add these virtues to faith.

“For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence), And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety), And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love. For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). (2 Peter 1:5-8 AMP)”

Faith works by sight

I cannot over emphasize the need for a well-informed, matured and balanced spiritual sight as a key factor to journey further into the reality of a sound apostolic faith, poise to unavailing the power and character of God’s true representatives in this last days; Therefore, the need to have sight to follow the voice of The Lord is crucial to successful faith life. Enhanced prophetic vision sees through whatever challenge or contradiction we may seem to be facing at the moment. Faith does not live in the realm of mere good condition; it breaks through fear, contradiction and unbelief until what God says becomes a reality regardless of the time span.

As we look and examine the spiritual structure that formed the footing of faith of Abraham we find icons and plugins that not only introduces us to various levels of relational faith but also the revelational wisdom, capacity and other important concepts Abraham discovered in Christ.

 

What your faith and vision need for breakthrough

The required quality of faith to breakthrough this season of uncertainty requires a reformed mind and emotion, a strong and a well-managed spirit-man that enhances accurate prophetic ability in seeing through the pervading darkness. Faith secured in Christ Spirit respond to a vision secured in Christ. Precise response to both the internal and external struggles of our time comes from a well-balanced vision of humanity and the condition of life in the last days.

As I have indicated, the earth and its governing system right now are under immersed pressure, and this trend will certainly continue for a while until the kings of the earth finally bow their knees to the Lordship of Christ and his kingdom. Having said this, what is happening is not unique to unbelievers; every professed child of God will certainly have their own fair share of these challenges. Those who have learn to completely trust the providence of The Lord will have nothing to fear or worry. Faith transition allows us to learn firsthand how to completely depend on The Lord’s provision because you hardly have the luxury of self-provision.

 

Transition, the school of faith development

As you yield to the spirit of transition, moving from one location of faith reality to the next, you are synch to the corporate life divine provision. Meaning, you depend on God through others to provide for your needs. The kingdom of God functions through an interdependent lifestyle. The synergy of corporate faith and grace accelerates the intended purposes of The Lord for the corporate whole. The church is not united, and will not enter perfection until we learn be heart to start practicing what is meant by having all things in common.

The principle of corporate faith

The starting point of the unity of the faith starts with understanding the corporate life of the kingdom. The Lord divinely interconnects the spirituality of each member of his Body. You do not have the full right of rest until your brother comes receives their own inheritance. This was the principle Moses shared with the twelve tribes of Israel. Though, the Rubenites have come into their inheritance, they are however not permitted to rest until they cross with their brothers to fight in their battle of possessing their own inheritance. Please do understand that this is more than given money, or some clothes or food to your brother or sister.

Learning to share your inheritance and spirituality with other tribes is Gods ultimate plan for perfecting the Body. The kingdom of God is a culture that functions through synergy. The spiritual energy given to us is best utilize when it’s use to fulfill the need of the father or his kingdom in the lives of others. This is one area the church is still lacking due to our refusal to migrate according to divine injunction; we live in a state of false security. The abundance of what we think we have in our fixed location, we soon realize how insufficient they are as we begin to advance to the required place in Christ. The desire of The Lord is that every movement we make should be depending on his vision, direction and provision. At this point, the pride of self-security and independence is complete dealt with.   Sell what you possess and give donations to the poor; provide yourselves with purses and handbags that do not grow old, an unfailing and inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. [Luke 12:33 NKJV]

Learning to trust and depend of Gods provision

Abraham discover through the school of the Spirit that the proper response to the voice of God when he comes calling, especially when such voice makes no reasonable sense requires a type of faith response with the capacity to journey on blindly. When you have done everything necessary to keep yourself and family secure in your spiritual nest and The Lord comes to stir up such a nest, you need to immediately shift your faith focus and step out in obedience to the sovereign plan of The Lord.

It is amazing that when The Lord start stirring the spirit regarding something highly important to our perfection that seems to be the time the enemy also rises within the mind in trying to contradict what the Spirit of The Lord is saying. Building a wall of high praise, worship and intercession is still one of the most effective ways to silence negative thoughts.

We must never underestimate the combinative power of these three; PRAISE, WORSHIP AND WARFARE! We are in a crucial moment in our journey to the full statue of Christ; we should therefore not allow the negativity in any form to blind our vision of a glorious future. Our salvation is nearer than when we first believe! Fear and faith does not coexist. The word of God informs us that God has not given to us the Spirit of fear but that of LOVE, POWER and SOUNDNESS OF MIND. The condition of our inner man in terms of trusting and resting in the redemptive agenda of The Lord should consume hearts beyond the obvious darkness eclipsing the earth.  This certainly does not suggest that we should live in denial of the facts and reality on ground, but that we should reach a zenith in the Spirit that we are able through the eye of the spirit see through the current darkness. As we see, we are able to identify where, what and why we are where we are now. The spiritual realm, which defines and direct what takes place in the natural, should be the default realm of our existence.

The journey of faith

In our spiritual journey there is what we refer to as the beginner’s faith and the finishing faith. In the beginner’s faith, you hardly need to wait on your request before heaven respond with abundance of provision. It’s a good place to be if you don’t desire to spiritually develop. The moment you receive strong foundational truth through the milk of God’s word, you are then set on a journey through the established relationship you have with the Father to start discovering the various dimensions, values, cultures and philosophy of the kingdom you’ve been assimilated into. It’s a journey of moving from the outer reality of faith to its inner reality, which can take a lifetime of learning, depending on how you quickly respond to your training of faith and obedience.

 

Looking ahead with great optimism

The month of April marks the beginning of the second quarter of the year 2014. So much has happened in the past three months enough to destabilize, discourage and put to hold, a journey of faith not clearly understood nor anchored on the unchanging, revelation knowledge of The Father’s sovereignty. Whatever we have learnt in regards to theologically or eschatological knowledge must be in synch with a clear trust in the supremacy of The Lord. There will be difficult questions asked that we may not have a nice immediate biblical answer; however, as we choose to trust and follower the leading of The Lord, he shows us what is happening so we can find rest for our soul. Just before the end of 2013, I was prophetically shown the image of ship anchor. I could immediately relate the image to stability, security and safety of a ship especially when the ocean is highly troubled. I understood The Lord was speaking to me regarding the coming year 2014.

As days and weeks go by, the more it becomes clearer what The Lord was conveying through this image. Indeed, requires the church and the world at large to reconsider what their philosophy is anchored on because the days ahead are going to be a storming ride. The guiding ideology or philosophy of your foundation is going to be playing a major role in the type of decision and choices you will be making. We are currently facing complex issues defying everything we thought we’ve perfected in helping to us secure a prosperous future. Now we have to go back to the drawing board and start redesigning that which carries the capacity to interface with the yet unseen future. The current infrastructures even in the well advance countries are collapsing under the emergence of the 21st century socioeconomic challenges,

Global reality

Moving humans, goods and services today has proven to be one of the most challenging services, due to the risk it involves. The world is currently witnessing the mystery of the disappearing of the Malaysian airline. It is said that close to 26 countries are involved in the search for the massive aircraft including the United State of America. The best of human technology in terms of raider and satellite surveillance have so far proven to be weak. Could God be speaking to us through this multifaceted challenge? if he is speaking, are we hearing and obeying his voice.

Anchoring our lives, which to me is the ship that is moving from one point to the next destination requires that we secure in the divine agenda of The Lord. The fact is, we will all go through seasons where all that we know, trust and depend on will come to an end for us to clearly see and embrace the redemptive purpose of The Lord.  Our faith view regarding life on the current state of our individual lives and global affairs must be drastically adjusted to heaven’s divine perspective; list we become highly disorientated which usually leads to wrong conclusion. This is a trying moment for earth dwellers, including the Church. The vision of a future, secured in the hope to see the kingdom of God manifest in every sector of life can only become a reality when we see through the prism of faith established on the revelation of complete trust, rest and hope in the Fathers prophetic program.

The need for calibrating your faith and vision

More than ever before, we need to regularly return to the workshop of the Spirit for checkup. Calibration is the key word regarding the current spiritual state of Christians across the earth. The act of calibrating is designed to check standards and the precise functionality of an instrument. Aircrafts and ships are regularly calibrated for their engines and GPS system to maintain accuracy in the act of location and movement.

As believers in living the reality of this ongoing prophetic season, we need to constantly update and upgrade our prophetic spirit in other to maintain direction and remain synchronize with heavens divine plan. So much is happening in the spirit realm right now that is shifting and altering vision, perceptions and the very foundational understanding of even those who claimed to have gained certain degree of spiritual wisdom and insight.

 

Don’t focus on the obvious

If you are one of those who have been following global trend from the beginning of the year 2014, there certainly enough evidence to come to certain negative conclusion but if you choose to look at what The Lord is saying your hope will be rekindled to forge ahead. The greatest challenge now is how to stop the unregenerated soul from interfering with what the Spirit is trying to communicate. Let those who have the ears to hear listen to what the Spirit of The Lord is saying. We live in days of high level prophetic activity and you have been ordained by divine providence to play a role regardless of the state of affairs. Everyone living in this season has got a connection to The Lords prophetic program hanging over their lives which must be fulfill. Ignorance or unpreparedness is no longer an excuse of not engaging yourself.

It is becoming clear that the Body of Christ corporately and individually have exhausted his season of seating at ease in Zion. We are waking up to the reality that our city is surrounded and invaded by foreign armies and we are been enlisted to fight in defense of the city. The dream of a utopia we nourished is fast becoming a mirage; the reality of what we have been destined for is emerging with clarity. What are day upon us!

Pressing into the future with courage

The future is no longer predictable as some use to think. What we have been taught to believe in our lower class of spiritual truth no longer fit into the complex sociocultural battle before us. There is a need to be update and upgrade our spiritual template to the current prophetic season so as to have the proper vision and footing to advance in the midst of this tribulation. If you are one of whose eschatological philosophy is seen as escaping the tribulation; well, you may need to reconsider that because the scripture says we can only enter the kingdom through much tribulation.

Handling tribulation

Tribulation is design to test our trust, obedience and faithfulness to the one true God who sent his Son to die for the redemption of all humanity. While pain is real, however, how we manage the intensity of our emotion will speaks in regards to the state and condition of our soul. My point is, the intensity of the current groaning of the spirit is setting the stage for the emergence of Gods kingdom value upon the affairs of all human activity, which is currently placing the seal of redemption upon nations and individuals who have chosen to take a stand for the truth. The battle of identifying what the truth his is becoming more blurring and complex since the foundation most individual and churches are built on do not represent correct biblical standard.

The need to guard your heart carefully in regards to what you see and pay attention to is extremely crucial to maintain a quality, consistent and strategic thinking. You cannot expose your mind to gossip either through your social media network or other entertainment platforms, and think you will not be negatively influence. What you expose your life to will becloud your mind, and ultimately determine your perception and judgment. The pain of accepting that we have to first pull down that which has been built in accurately has continue to push many to turn a blind eye to divine requirement. Living below divine standard can only last for a season before the reality of famine sets in. while we still have this window of opportunity to turn and adjust our life to God’s required standard, we should accept it and see the Lord lead us in season of glorious possibilities. Remember, the Lord is already waiting for you in the future you seem to be currently uncertain about. The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever!