By Isaiah-Phillips Akintola

Prophetic perspective into the

Spirit and life of apostolic faith

Introduction

This article is a sequence to a write-up made earlier this year on managing your faith in a season of transition. To fully grasp both the focus and direction of this writing, I will urge you to peruse through the previous articles on managing your faith in season of transition and development.

Life, as describe and prescribed by the glorious revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ is becoming more real as the only structure required for the ecclesia in moving towards the glorious manifestation of the kingdom age. As the humanistic definition of life and its existence continues to cascade into fear, doubt and uncertain, life will become even more unbearable and frustrating to millions who will be desperate for any form of answer.

The general deterioration of leadership, integrity, and the collapse of socioeconomic security across the regions of the world has continued to shape how society, including some part the Christian community sees the future.

The advent of Ukraine’s civil war, the full bloom of anti-God, humanist policy in the American government; the rise of the ISIS Islamic extremist group, BOKO HARAM, EBOLA in West Africa, extreme climate change, and the most recent collapse of the economy of both China and Germany, which are generally assumed to be two of the most stable and strong economies globally are all pointers to what the world should be expecting in the days ahead.

The two streams of global events

It is important we highlight again, these two streams of events taking place concurrently globally. Without putting things in their right perspective, we may be seduced and dragged away by what may seem to be the obvious from the natural human perspective, while we are completely shot away from divine factors, shaping, and determining the direction of things towards the ultimate end.

One of the limitations of the falling unregenerated man is the fact that with all the scientific knowledge and technological advance at his disposal, he still cannot truly make sense of things beyond his sensory faculty. What a shame to find yourself limited to only things your sense can only comprehend. Life is certainly beyond the act of breathing in and out.

If you are still struggling to come to terms with the fact that you are a spiritual being designed to function in a completely spiritual state not bound to time, space or circumstance, even then I am afraid to inform you that you are already a victim of all that is happening or will be taking place in the near future.

And if you have come to a certain awareness of a spiritual state that is not accurately aligned to the prescribed moral, spiritual value standard, am afraid to inform you that you’ve also been lied to, and the enemy will continue to deceive and manipulate you until you make up your mind to reconnect yourself back to Christ Jesus your only hope and redeemer.

My focus in this article is not really to dwell around what is happening from the carnal human viewpoint, while this is highly important and necessary, and should be given the right space it deserves. However, my mission through this article is to try to prophetically convey the mind of the Lord in terms of his present apostolic reformation initiatives across the globe.

The Lord will have us accurately understand the new path-growth requirements for the perfecting of his ecclesia in the 21st century in order to fully function in the spirit of perfected faith. Righteousness, peace, and justice, clothe in the garment of the full revelation of Christ light must lead this new order of priesthood until the very foe of his Church becomes vanquished in the authority of the sword of his mouth.

The further we ascend into the reality of his appearance within us and around us, the more we need to evaluate and thoroughly reexamine not just ourselves, but how we have managed and Steward the [spiritual] things given to us for the readiness and the perfecting of the Saints and the nations in general.

The dawn of this season of the end is ushering into our lives a profounder and richer revelation of Christ life within each of our vessels, such that the footing and the current framework of this kingdom activity is in no doubt bringing the Church and creation closer into harmony with his creator.

As heaven continues to open the doorways, pathways, and highways within our spirit to the new impression and expression of the Lord, you and I now have a lifetime opportunity to totally unclothe our minds from old rigid, humanistic and religious pattern of thinking and behavior. The religious strongholds that have for a long time defined the state and condition of the Church of the Lord must now give way to the current prophetic declaration and proclamation of this new company of people carrying the very DNA of the Spirit of the Lamb.

 The birth of the apostolic reformation move in the late 80s has now reached a new zenith in the Spirit of transformation, which now requires a different template of faith it its prophetic operation and expression.

As Moses, who through his apostolic mandate brought Pharaoh and the entire house of Egypt to a new height of judgment which finally compelled Pharaoh to let God’s people go. The Lord is now bringing the prophetic activity of his ecclesia within the nations to a new dimension of prophetic warfare that requires a renewed sense of governmental authority and power, established in a well-footed postured of the Spirit of a sent one.

 There’s been a solid establishment of an insightful truth within the body of Christ for the past twenty years or more, which says new wine, can only be poured into new wineskin. This truth cannot be more resonant in this hour of redefinition of faith and its required components of its operation.

The lord is certainly pouring new and strange things within the spirit of his apprehended one’s. However, these outpourings can only be understood and applied through a renewed and a well-developed complex human behavioral pattern of lifestyle, established on the firm-footing of a sound biblical concept of faith. This is the day of the new things of the Spirit and a new wineskin {spiritual mentality} is required for you reading or listening to this message.

 

Building the new on old foundation

 

The redefinition of faith to heaven’s divine purpose and perspective is highly crucial to the execution of things of the Lord in this epic season. One of the main reasons why it seems a lot of the initiative and deceleration of the current prophetic apostolic ministry are being refused or rejected, is due to the fact that the spiritual template or the foundation of the people receiving this divine initiative is still defined in the former concept of faith introduced from the past Pentecostalism paradigm.

It is a shame and disheartening to see many who were in the Frontline ministry of the apostolic reformation move back then, now back into the old ritualistic charismatic self-motivated stream.

My heart is sour and truly distress when I see or read what some of these people now promote as the kingdom apostolic message. In the early days of the apostolic reformation move in Nigeria, I saw this issue becoming a major challenge and I tried to rectify it by speaking to some of the Frontline leaders about it, but they refused to listen to the point I was basically sidelined. Today, we are seating with this issue of even some completely in a backsliding state.

Trying to rush into building on a foundation or footing that is not solidified is creating a potential for a major disaster. Building an initiative designed on prophetic lifestyle takes both time and patience to prove that the foundation is ready to carry the weight of whatever is going to be built on it.  The Pentecostal paradigm of faith cannot carry or understand what the Lord is requiring from you and me in this new day.

Pastors and Church leaders are afraid to lose resources and Church members; therefore, they will rather tone down the demands and requirement of the message to keep favor and money flowing in from their (church members) fans. This is one of the primary reasons why people are feeble when it comes to going into the next reality of heavens demand for their generation.

What is Lord is saying for this new season will require you and your entire church team or members to die to what use to work in order to step into the new normal of the Spirit. Faith, as the access key into divine things, is currently being redefined and evaluated across the body of Christ for the work of kingdom harvest to be effective and productive in the 21st century.

This is one of the reasons I strongly believe the Lord will have me write on this issue, at least for the edification and perfection of those who will be accepting the call to follow Christ pathway in this end of time.

As believers who have been on the journey for a while needs to accept the idea of getting accustomed to the continual visitation of foundational truths, especially in areas we might have assumed we are already established, in terms of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the purpose of his Church, and the requirement of kingdom service.

The footing or idea on which we have established divine things are being revisited and shaken to their very foundation by the releasing of the ministry of the sons of God.  Nothing of the wisdom of man, mingled with divine things will be allowed into this next reality of kingdom life.

Certainly, our ignorance or carnal agendas for the things of the Spirit, regardless of how innocent they may look or sound will not be allowed into this next epic season of warfare and kingdom activity.  The purity of heart, motives, and desire in handling the things of the Lord is a high watermark in the spirit of the new day.

 This is the reason the Lord is seriously addressing the whole issue of misrepresentation even among them who see themselves as apostolic reformation preachers.  If there’s one single area where the enemy seems to have continued to take advantage of the ignorance of the people of God, is in the realm of comprehending the true meaning and operation of balanced prescribed biblical faith.

Faith, like many other spiritual tools assigned for personal and corporate church perfection has been mishandled, misinterpreted, therefore, misrepresented on a very large scale most especially in the West, and currently in the continent of Africa where materialistic paradigm has reached a new height.

Apostle Paul strongly warned the Corinthian believers against allowing their faith to stand on the wisdom of men. If you ask me, I believe these same warning needs to be passionately reechoed within the minds of this present generation of believers.

Today, many, even amongst so called word-based faith ministry cannot accurately differentiate between a Christ-centered, Faith and a New Age religious model of faith.  The self-centered message built around faith today is worrisome when you consider the number of people whose faith now depend on a ‘so called gifted man of God’ rather than the God of the man.

 I had the opportunity recently to watch a video of a particular ministry here in South Africa, where the pastor of this denomination told a large number of his congregation to eat grass. This same man was shown recently on one of the prominent local TV stations asking his congregation to drink petroleum he claimed has been miraculously turned into juice.

Now, we may agree that this incident is merely an exception; but the truth is, the whole concept of falsehood and deception is growing very fast in the body of Christ to the point that even those who once knew the truth are forced to join these charlatans.

 My point is, we can no longer ignore this mass misrepresentation of the sacred things of the Lord. As custodians of the message of righteousness and human redemption, we need to sound the alarm, warning every believer to watch out for this deceptive message of misrepresenting the way of the Lord.

Christians across the world must stop depending on these false prophets who claimed to be serving God. The only time in the scripture we see a human being led to feed on grass was a clear reflection of God’s judgment on the King of Babylon which was due to the pride of his heart.

Please note I am not suggesting you stop listening or following the divine instruction given to by your set-man or pastor, like many will prefer to be called.  You as a believer, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, owes yourself and your Heavenly Father the duty and responsibility to read, study and continually meditate on the living word of God in such a way that your spirit is always on alert against whatever that is not in consistency with balanced biblical truth.

 It’s time to sit down, learn and allow the Holy Spirit in you to guide and direct you step into the solid knowledge and revelation of Christ. If you are a true passionate seeker of the way of the Lord, you will be divinely guided to where you will be fed properly and taught the true way of the Spirit based on the current speaking’s of the Lord.

Faith in God and his purposes is crucial to your development and perfection; you cannot afford not to know what the Lord is saying or doing about that which will eventually determine your life, family, and future destination.

The discipline to become a student of the word of God in this new day is highly important for escaping seduction and the deception of religion. The entire letter of Apostle Peter deals with this issue of understanding the principle, power, and life of Christ centered faith. The spirit and doctrine of faith, centered on the revelation of Christ needs to be taught and established within the template of our understanding as we further press into the confluence of a new spiritual plain.

Reading the Epistles again in light of the current emphasis of the Spirit, in my opinion will not only refresh our mind, but further enhance our comprehension of what the Lord is about to do in our time. This is the hour we need to incline our spiritual ears to listen to what the Lord is saying.

The Lord will continue to shed light on this area, and we need to truly open to this faith awakening so we don’t become a casualty of the current speaking and manifestation of the Spirit. It’s should interest you to know that the season of the outpouring of God Spirit is both a type of bliss and great judgment.

To assume that the release of the Spirit only brings blessing and favor, is to be misled. That’s the reason the Lord, in his mercy is sending the prophets and watchman to warn, prepare and train his people before the outbreak of his Spirit in a greater measure.

When the Lord begins to deal with you, especially in the area of your faith commitment, that should not be a time of rebellion or resentment; rather, you should allow his light to penetrate the deep recess of your heart and change to the required wineskin of the Spirit. So, what is this concept of faith we need to rediscover? Let’s journey into some spiritual perception and definition here:

Defining the generic term call faith

Titus 4:1

To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

The word common does not suggest this faith is cheap or common as one will define the word. This word suggests to us its universality and accessibility by all members of the body of Christ. In other words, one of the duties of the ascended ministry gifts is to Crete divine platforms in the culture of kingdom lifestyle where everyone in the church understands their place, identity, and a measure of faith such that there can a proper flow the Spirit of grace and learning without friction. This is basically like what you see in a family, everyone born into a family carries his or her own unique identity, but all share the same surname.

The common faith is that spiritual seed we all carry and share together that enables us to trust, share, defend and interconnect our lives for the fulfillment of heaven’s purpose.  This faith, like Paul suggested here is solidly built on the foundation for a relationship and divine activity.

Paul was able to leave Titus in Crete because of this KOINOS (share of all) faith. When we are yet to build this type of faith in our so-called kingdom community, we still, do not have a proper footing of a lasting service.

When we talk about faith we are not limiting its reference to the ability to release one’s personal {believe system} grace to receive a gift or blessing from the Lord, No.

We are referring to that complex generic term which defines the common identity, culture or even the ideology that both defines and describe our awareness of the things of God, and the operational template of our knowledgeability of the Father and depth of the revelation of Christ the Son; to the extent that this inner awareness and understanding, shapes and impacts to a great deal how you and me relate not just to this things of the Spirit, but also the protocol or ethics code which defines the shared life of the community of Gods people.

When studying the word, I am sure you must have come across various use and application of the term faith. This is because the word faith, as I have previously referred to applies to various spiritual meanings and emphasis.

One needs to first understand the context to which faith is in use for one to precisely grasp or define its meaning and purpose. That is the reason the general theme for faith in the book of Hebrews is absolutely different to the theme of faith in the writings of Apostle Peter, James, Titus or even Jude for that matter.

They all have some unique and common truth and principle to share regarding the mystery of faith, but only in the mystery of the ascended revelation of Christ fullness do we begin to appreciate the life, authority, and the operation of the ascended faith.  Learning and having the various parts of sound balanced biblical faith is one of the noblest things you can do as a believer because it shows the degree of your spiritual awareness of kingdom lifestyle.

 In my opinion, it will be a disservice to merely limit the teaching or revelation of faith to what we have had or learned in our early days of charismatic Pentecostal knowledge and experience.

Faith is an ongoing spiritual journey that those not only bring us into a fresh rediscovery of the divine things, but also carries the divine capacity to lead us further into the next reality of the Father’s demand both on a personal or corporate level.