A preparatory footing for the

manifestation of the third-day ecclesia.

By Isaiah-Phillips akintola

Part   7

theme scripture:

 

Romans chapter 5:1-4

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope

2 Corinthians 4:17

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Romans 8:18

I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us.

Job 23:10

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

Continuation.

We are almost toward the end of this explicit series on revelatory concepts required to access, and at the same time function within the accepted standard of the kingdom of God. However, there are still some crucial lessons and principles to glean through the life of the patriarch Job.  Job is a pattern that in the scripture that predates the rule of the Mosaic law and speaks to us of the things yet to be revealed in this season regarding understanding the mystery behind trials, suffering, and tribulation. 

It is important that we differentiate between the coming destruction upon those who outrightly reject the truth in Christ, and the process of tribulation appointed for every member of the body of Christ, ordained to refine and prepare us for the glorious appearance of our bridegroom.

To be that church without spot, wrinkle or blemish, we will surely have to go through the crucible of refinement.  In this part, we shall begin to zero into some highly crucial spiritual understanding as we engage the forces that are set in place to derail us from our ultimate assignment of becoming like Jesus Christ, the pattern Son.  

Part 7

 

A principle that predates the Mosaic law

It is difficult for many today to put themselves in the kind of position Job and his family found themselves, Yet, many of these people are the very ones promoting the whole concept of the return of Christ to earth without truly building and preparing the church to finish its assignment.  

We cannot begin to fathom what Job went through emotionally, spiritually and of course psychologically as he battled with the lack of the understanding of his wife and his highly zealous, religious friends, who are completely clueless of the transaction between the father and Satan to test the faithfulness of Job.

This transaction literally employed the ministry of Satan’s affliction to test and prove the [righteousness] right standing of Job before his maker.  Not even Job’s opinion was consulted before he was assigned this unprecedented tribulation. Job had no reference to what was going on in his life, nor his family, except that he later knew the father had allowed the test to prove the reality of his goodness, faithfulness, and kindness which were all tested to the max. 

The tribulation of Job was pre-law, our tribulation and suffering will be post-law. If we are going to be a triumphant church like that of Job over Satan’s affliction, I am afraid, we must borrow the spiritual pattern from this iconic spiritual portal. Learning to embrace pain, suffering, disappointment, and tribulation for the sake of Christ needs to be taught again as a criterion for spiritual advance.  This is highly necessary due to the nature of the days we have stepped into.   

The virtue of pain received through the ministry of trial and tribulation, equips and positions us in an ascended quality of a spiritual experience that is precise and balanced, enriched, and fulfilling in the spirit of joy that someone who merely depend on some acquired third-party info knowledge of the truth that is yet to be tried and tested through the crucible.

Today, there are so many restored spiritual principles, and values of kingdom truth to the body of Christ, yet, we seldom hear a well-balanced, biblical message on one of the church’s core fundamental pillars in building character stability which is the ministry of suffering and tribulation.

 

Tribulation, our schoolmaster

The word of God informs us that suffering is a type of school master that prepares us for the work of ministry. As the church regains its position and influence within the global community without compromising its stand for truth and justice, we are going to see increase aggression against the values, principles, and model the church stand for from the left. Hence, there is a need to be adequately prepared for what is coming ahead. 

Jesus Christ, the son of Mary was the earthly agent the father chose to house, carry and represent his prophetic agenda for the redemption of the Jews and the entire creation. However, Jesus had to learn a vital spiritual law and principle that prepared him to perfectly function as a true regent in the earth. Hence, the scripture said, he learned obedience by the things he suffered.

Obedience to the will of the Father can only become possible when men will have been brought under the governing leadership of a well-refined character lifestyle. This is totally impossible without submitting and yielding to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, which comes through total submission to the law of righteousness in Christ Jesus.

Only the law [principle] of the Spirit of life in Christ, not outside of Christ can set us free from the law of Sin and death. Sin and death reigns within the unregenerate soul. A soul whose faculties are yet to be given over to the Lord only give the enemy the right opportunity to influence its desire, passion, and will.

We therefore see the Lord, in most cases, put the soul into certain difficult condition or position to cause a rude awakening for us to see things from a different view lens in order to make or accept the right choice, even when the choice may seem to hurt us at the moment but then we know that it will produce the harvest of righteousness. We can pretend to be what we are not without anyone ever finding out, but we cannot lie to God, ourselves and Satan himself. Consequently, our activities, decisions, and agenda must be regarded in the light of these three entities for us to have lasting victory.  

As we press into the new day of the 21st century, we have begun to see a drift and shift in direction and agenda of what formerly constitutes as a norm in the past seasons of the church. Whether the 21st century church community is ready or not for the harshness and the persecution of the new, humanist millennial generation, we are certainly going to be seeing an increase in the ministry of suffering coming which in turns will be one of the most important virtues returned to the church as she gets ready to finally ready to engage Babylon.

Prophetically, the church is in the twilight of the last face of its existence from its former weaken and blind position as the day of the kingdom of heaven presses upon the dwellers of the earth. The closure of one age obviously leads to the reopening of another, which in most cases is usually more strong, glorious and majestic, at least from a kingdom perspective. However, this truth is not consistent with the kingdom of men, which we know rises and fall to become even weaker and more ignoble in all sense as revealed in the book of Daniel.  

Please do note, when I refer to suffering or persecution within the community of saints, I am referring to that painful, required dealings and experience every called, sanctified, a disciple of Christ is duly ordained to face and go through because they have become a true witness of Christ. We are all called to be Christ witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth. This command is far beyond the making of disciples. Being a witness also refers to a position where we bear the pain and assault for the sake of the gospel of Christ.

Make no mistake, some of the seemly unending domestic and family wars and the challenges you are faced with today may just be part of the process of your own tribulation, designed to build character, stability, and understanding in preparation of what you’ve been assigned and called by heaven to represent in the kingdom of God in days not afar.  

The two kinds of suffering

However, it is equally important I make a differentiation between this glorious call of spiritual development through suffering from some so-called ministry of exclusion and piety we see from the roman catholic monks who claim to have given up themselves over to some so-called life of poverty and suffering in serving society.

That’s what the word of God refers to as trying to pay your way through self-righteousness or good works, and this is completely far from what the lord is emphasizing and calling his church to embrace as we press into a day of engagement with Babylon. 

This is a suffering a man called himself into to gain or find some so-called enlightenment. No amount of penitence or self-affliction can be accepted by the father. For our righteousness are like filthy rags before him. further still, I am not referring to a suffering one gets into because one broke a civil law, or engaged in some ungodly, compromising situation that forces the mighty hand of the law, or some punishment on you.

These are self-afflicted sorrow or suffering if you will. However, there’s a challenge, persecution or tribulation that you’re currently in because of the revelation of Christ and passion to ascended to the mountain of the lord. A tribulation that comes due to your desire to know and please the father through your lifestyle.

The persecution that comes because you stand to be a witness for Christ in a society that is increasingly being hostile to Christ and his followers.  The persecution that comes because you will not compromise the standard of truth in your relationship or at your workplace.  A suffering that is increasingly becoming a true reality in many Christian marriages and families alike today.

When one spouse refuses to stand for truth in support of the other and continues to stand in the way of the culture of the kingdom either directly or indirectly in trying to break the spirit of the other.  This is becoming a trendy reality in most western, new age society. Marriage has become a powerful [weapon] tool in the society for the promotion of secularism which of course, is against any value, principle, or culture connected to the reality of kingdom truth.

We live in an Age when men are growingly becoming afraid to be fathers, husband and true men in the workplace according to the natural order, or ordained pattern.  Men are becoming afraid to stand for the values of sound, moral biblical truth because of the fear of reprisals from the government due to the feminist policies set in place.

Suffering for purification

I am referring to the suffering that will lead you to the island of Patmos like apostle John the beloved. I am highlighting the tribulation that befalls you due to your uncompromising passionate love and stands for the reality of the kingdom of the father. if we must see the glory of the father in the days ahead of us, then we need to develop a sense of a lifestyle of love, faith, and hope amid the purifying fire of Babylon.

We need to be like Daniel in the lion’s den with a full assurance of the presence of the father, or like Joseph who was bitrate by his own very brothers, yet learned the heart of forgiveness because he understood that nothing happens without the very approval of the father himself. I discovered that one of the kingdom keys that gave the early church the edge of boldness and authority against the on relentless persecutions, temptations, and trials they faced before the religious and political system of their day was their keen, personal, in-depth revelatory knowledge and experience of the lord.

The eyes of these men and women have been opened into an in-depth life of kingdom reality to the degree that whatever they may be faced in the human realm could not hinder, stop or crippled them from pressing further into the arena of fulfilling their prophetic mandate. They reached a spiritual zenith of knowledge that could not be denied after they each encountered a transforming experience with Christ.

However, this transformation did not start overnight. We do remember that almost all of the disciples who talked and walked with Christ during his earthly ministry at a point could not boldly stand in defense of their allegiance with the lord in his trial before the Sanhedrin, even though they’ve been informed in advance of what was going to happen.

Their knowledge and awareness of how they will deny Christ and be scattered could still not prevent them from compromising when the time came.  We had Peter, who out of zeal proclaimed that he will never deny or leave Christ even though others may. Yet, we now know that Peter did not only denied Christ once, but three times, so to open the eyes of peter to something valuable about the principle of kingdom lifestyle that is deficient in his walk with the Lord.

The truth is, Apostle Peter meant every word he uttered when he said he will not deny Christ. Peter thought that the power of self-determination and assurance was enough to decide in making a consistent kingdom centered life decision. 

Peter learned that following the lord and his divine agenda cannot be merely built on a self-confidence choice, regardless of how seemingly knowledgeable, determined, or persuaded we may think we are. The father will make sure every strength we have that does not completely depend on him will be drained from us. Every resource we depend on in trying to carry out his prophetic mandate is brought to an end.

Whatever kind of religious or philosophical doorway we might have passed through into what we now call Christianity, our spiritual orientation or exposure must process through a standard quality of faith experience (the eye of a needle) for everyone to come out on another side with the same standardized concept of truth, wisdom, and understanding in the lord. 

Many, up until this hour have built their faith walk and knowledge of spiritual things on some form of external frenzy, or popular religious tradition and beliefs that don’t represent the ways and nature of God’s kingdom truth. This kind of spiritual philosophy will not suffice in days to come. We will need more than what makes us feel good and materially confident to step into a season where everything we ever stand for or claim to be the truth will be challenged to its roots.

We must see the wisdom in embracing the rout the Lord has ordained for us to bring us to that place or point of adequate development and maturity for precise representation. While we are highly sighted that what is before may attract temptation, trials, and persecution, yet, we should be certain that all of that is ordained by the father so his light can effectively shine through us.

A new perspective in confronting the future

Therefore, out perception of engaging the future is one of a victor and a conqueror, regardless of what is ahead. Hence, this is a refresher note to awaken and further prepare those who may not be informed of the spiritual challenge and quality of life that is ahead of the body of Christ.

As the ecclesia of the lord further approaches a day of increased, advancement of its prophetic agenda across the nations, we are adequately informed of the increased activities of the powers and forces of darkness in using every available system of the world to try to stop and push back the eternal mandate of heaven.

Whiles, there’s a resounding ascendance call unto the mountain of the lord, the church on the same parallel will be facing an increased birth pang in preparation for this glorious day of the manifestation of the intent of Christ in the earth. In other words, our assignment to occupy the earth until the Lord’s return will be more faced with hostile resistance from the kings and systems of the earth.

Therefore, if we are yet to be trained on how to handle the assault of the enemy, we will abort the process of bringing forth the counsel of heaven by the smallest challenge the enemy throws at us. There’s a critical need to see what the scripture calls, the birth pang as key indicators of what is about to be unleashed through the glorious revelatory ministry of the company called sons of God upon the earth. Yet, if there’s no clear insight with regards to the desired purpose of passing through a season of pain and suffering in the birthing and nurturing of the fruit of sonship discipling within the ecclesia;

am afraid, there will be a relinquishing of the process of this sonship manifestation ministry ordained for representation. It is, therefore, adequately important, we start putting into context the present requirements and challenges the church of the lord will face in days ahead as the confrontation of false. Religious and humanist philosophy becomes a reality within the church.

This is not the time or day to draw back or retire from these seemingly, endless difficulties and intense trials we are facing. We need to rather see these challenges as the divine standard platform required to process, and build the necessary spiritual skill and muscles as we advance further into the next frontier of our prophetic mandate.