A preparatory footing for the

manifestation of the third-day ecclesia.

 

By Isaiah-Phillips akintola

 

PART TWO

The ministry of the third day

The ministry of the third day is the platform that introduces and ushers the body of Christ into the prophetic scope of both experiencing and manifesting the unfolding realities of the dawning of the kingdom age, which ultimately demands perfected lifestyle character and governmental capability from all of us. The current activity on earth today is being driven by powerful forces that have an in-depth understanding of both the protocol and governing system of the kingdom.

It is becoming clearer that there are only two main agendas defining the present activity of men across the globe even though we’ve always known this. Whatever secret idea or intention of men’s activity in the past maybe, it is now obviously clear that the present events of humans at all spheres are being streamlined to the battlefield of two kingdoms.

From global economic transactions to geopolitical negotiations, to the policies that define our children’s healthcare, education, marriages, and family values, are all now being redesigned and streamlined to serve either of these two agendas; that of the kingdom of darkness, or that of the kingdom of light. Kingdoms, either of darkness or light, operates through powerful principles, systems, values standard, and preferred model of lifestyle that seeks to advance their desired objectives.

The implication of this is, if the church does not swiftly shift from its current weak, operational base, and begin to fully function on a higher premise of God’s kingdom administrative culture, she will certainly remain irrelevant in the current apostolic emerging reality of the kingdom of God. 

The wrong footing and emphasis built by church tradition and denominationalism for decades have made it extremely challenging for many to either comprehend the desired blueprint of what is known as the kingdom life or accept what it entails to process its experience it in its true essence. 

Changing perspective to tribulation

 It is my desire to, therefore, use the few outlined principles and model values shared in this resource material to further demonstrate how the lord, in most cases, uses various mains, but in particular, the ministry of tribulation or suffering to both define, refine, and leverage the understanding of the corporate church in bringing an in-depth prophetic perspective in showing us how we should view and experience tribulation, even as the cultural lifestyle of the kingdom is being formed within us.

I know that as you come across the term suffering, many are already quick to judge or dismiss the rest information yet to be read. I would, however, encourage you to please continue reading so you have a holistic paradigm of what the Spirit is communicating through this passage. There are realms of truth from the eternality of the Spirit that are currently open and restore to the Body of Christ in order to clearly make sense of the present demand of the Spirit, and deal with the growing, complex challenges of the present darkness.

Either we accept or reject the notion of suffering as a divine tool for perfection, it is a deep experiential reality, many of us can speak of extensively. Yet, our perspective of suffering like mine in the past, are usually not in coherence to sound biblical knowledge. Many see and react to their challenges from a defeated, victim mentality even as believers. Yet, we are already told in the word of God that tribulation will come for the word sake. This simply means that if you are a Christian, and you love the word and practice what it says, you will be persecuted. This is one truth many would have so wished is not in the word of God.

The word of God must be seen and understood through a correct, biblical perspective, regardless of how it sounds or seem to us. There are some who today believe that God is not that cruel to allow them to go through certain difficulty. The presumed knowledge or idea we brought into our salvation experience with due correction has done a lot of damage to developing the right spiritual template.

 Eighty-five percent of the entire scripture speaks and deals with the issue of suffering or tribulation as it is called in some cases. Yet, ninety percent of today’s Christians don’t feel comfortable talking about the idea of suffering as a legitimate message of the new testament church.  It is highly critical we have a clear, well defined, balanced biblical perspective with regards to any issue or subject or else we will be making the mistake of presuming the mind of the Lord in terms of his desire and expectation for us.

We want to explore the word of God and the Spirit of truth in order to have a broad base revelatory insight of the demand of the Lord for us, even from the very footing of our first approach to salvation up until the present orientation we have with regards to approaching this next phase of kingdom demand and engagement.  We shall later consider what the Lord has in mind when he allows us to be purified through the furnace of life. For now, let’s deal with some powerful, basic spiritual footing that needs adjustment as we get ready to move on with the lord to the next frontier of the father’s objective.

Readjusting foundational philosophy

In whatever manner, we’ve come to know, accept, or even identify with what we generally term as salvation is not really the issue, but as we make our way into the core reality of what is known as the kingdom life, we are certainly demanded to have the same quality spiritual base, or experience in order to both access and precisely comprehend the nature and cultural life of the kingdom.

Being born of the water and of the spirit is both experiential and symbolic in the sense that they open the pathway which initiates us into a lifetime journey of interacting and understanding the things that emanate from heaven’s domain.

Not even our Lord will be allowed into his assigned earthly ministry without the experience of baptism. His Baptism in Jordan opens up heaven for a release of divine knowledge and approval into realms and dimension that grants and allows him to bring creation back into the culture of spiritual redemption.    

Defining standardization

Dictionary definition of standardization defines it as the practice of the process of implementing and developing technical standards. Standardization can help to maximize compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, or quality. It can also facilitate the commoditization of formerly custom processes.

While some of these words may sound technical to some of us, they, however, help us to have a clearer definition and insightful understanding of the concept of integrated kingdom economy. The power of the shared kingdom culture only kicks into effect when there are a clear knowledge and insight of the driving system of the common faith and value we have in Christ. Kingdom culture is the parallel structure of thinking and existence within the community of Saints. Any other thought pattern, regardless of how ancient or contemporary are subservient to the identity and nature of the new creation reality.

There’s only one doorway

Everyone entering the kingdom of God cannot enter through his or her own personal experience or standard without following the due process and value standard. There’s only one doorway into the glorious life of the kingdom, and as I have explained that access point is the revelation of Christ. The revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is also known as the Ministry of sonship is the universal platform and language by entering and interacting with the reality and demands of the kingdom.

As we know, not everyone has experienced this sound biblical knowledge of Christ due to various reasons. Thus, the Lord uses certain challenges if you will bring his church to a standardized measure that allows everyone to pass through the same doorframe of understanding in experiencing and appreciating the cultural life of the kingdom of God.

We all are granted the same access to the things of the father. But not all of us share the same access point. Our access points are defined by the unique construct of our spiritual orientation and exposure. Why? Well, just as the way we are introduced to life generally differs, the same principle applies to the way and manner we are introduced to the life of God and the things of the spirit. 

Therefore, the manner we’ve been programmed to see, relate and respond to life and its activity both from the natural or spiritual point certainly will differ from each other, and the reason for this can be immediately traced to the value structure of our spiritual foundation and its orientation.

The role of a spiritual environment

The environment of our spiritual development plays a key role in shaping our belief system, operational values, and life expectations. As a natural environment, can enhance or deter the success and productivity of life so is it with a spiritual environment. Who you are today has been greatly influenced by the climatic environment you were born into. As the natural environment continues to affect who we are, so does the spiritual environment.

As individuals, families, and communities can be hindered from accessing certain breakthrough spiritual realities, so equally can an entire city, region or nation can be blocked or blind from accessing the speakings and frequency of the father for a given season due to their spiritual ignorance or location in accessing the speaking of heaven.

Engaging with entities and forces that represent the inflow or outflow of spiritual activity within a city or region is one of the core mandates of a true prophet. The inflow of knowledge and wisdom as spiritual tools for the building of the intention of the father first requires men and women who are living upon the mountain of the lord over their regions of location. 

In my study and observation, I discovered how our Lord engaged with people and entities as he approaches specific regions and locations. In most instances, what takes place within a sphere is not really the issue, but those seated at the gate of representation. This concept of engaging people’s spirit based on their territorial location is an arm of the governmental grace that we need to revisit if we are going to effectively shift regions into a new spiritual environment that will equally empower them to achieve what has been predestined for them.

As natural climate places a huge role in the kind of fruits, crops and vegetables planted and harvested in a geographical region, so it relates to the reality of the spiritual climate. As one moves from place to place, one began to realize how certain people are easily open to the things of the kingdom while on the other side of the divide is a completely different story of rejection and sometimes persecution of those bearing the message of the kingdom of God.

When the truth, we preach or teach is hugely influenced by the reality of our immediate environment, it hinders and limit us from developing a broader governmental prophetic perspective to embrace the greater theme of the message of the kingdom.

The message of the kingdom is the yardstick standard and melting point of all spiritual orientation and standard. In other words, if our concept of discipleship training is centered around what our Lord Jesus Christ calls the gospel of the kingdom or the everlasting gospel as proclaimed in the book of revelation, we will certainly be at the center core of spiritual truth and its present emphasis. 

This is a huge subject that I will love to expand on as we step into the next phase of divine engagement. However, I want to zero on a different side that should give us a bit of opening into this message. One out of several things that differentiate a person’s spiritual experience from another is the weight of the cross they bear, and the scar of suffering acquired on their journey to the mountain of the lord.

Both the value standard and perspective of life within the culture of the kingdom is completely different to that of the one raised within a Christian circle taught only to see life from two prisms, the positive and the negative. The footing of our spiritual orientation is merely designed to cause us to react negatively to what may seem negative and of course, positive to what or a person who sounds positive around us. We may never learn to develop and embrace the right capacity the Lord has planned for our spiritual construction and value system. Seeing life through the eyes of the lord is not an easy thing to do, especially when our faith has been orientated to see and respond from a certain religious or limited perspective.