As God’s children who are spiritual, our judgement ought to be different from that of those in the world. In bible times, a lot of pandemic came with signs. The Lord is speaking to and through the church in this coronavirus pandemic. God has used the pandemic to bring down many idols especially that of mammon. We have seen in these times the limitations of money. The affluent had no solution to this pandemic, it struck even the buckingham palace. Men realised that expensive raiment and fancy cars meant nothing when people were confined to their homes, the idol of entertainment collapsed, the wisdom of egypt and the knowledge of babylon found in institutions of learning was brought to nought. Parents had to build their homes, become teachers to their children and focus on homes showing what was really important- families. God is interested in families.
Another idol that came crumbling down was temple worship. Men could not gather in any physical place but were confined to worship in the spirit. The true ecclesia is emerging. Whilst we stayed indoors during the quarantine, God was emphasising the importance of seeking His face. Seeking the face of the Lord is more important than our necessary meal. Whilst there is a place for the external such as church buildings, God wants us to prioritize the important thing- the salvation of our souls. Just like coronavirus, there are many deadly viruses in the realm of the spirit and we cannot afford to compromise our spiritual immunity lest we be hurt.
The word “keep” from Numbers 6:24 is derived from a greek word which means to be immunized. We must learn to stay under cover and observe boundaries in the spirit. We must watch the spiritual atmosphere we expose ourselves to. Our spiritual atmosphere is configured by the sort of messages that we open our hearts to, little wonder the Lord said in Luke 8:18 “take heed how you hear”. These are not the days where young people should stroll into any conference, people must take heed what they expose themselves to. You cannot afford to expose yourself to a spiritual atmosphere where Christ is not taught. We also must look out for our relationships. Relationships shape our belief system. Whatever we do consistently shapes our belief system and values. In these times, we must place a premium on the fear of God. When we see the fear of God, we must honour it.
In the realm of the spirit, the nose mask signifies the ability to bridle one’s tongue. We must learn to bridle our tongues if we desire to attain unto a perfect man. One thing that was expected in this period was to enjoy the serenity of the quarantine. One thing that was found was that many people got easily bored because people have not learnt to appreciate quietness. God is drawing our attention to serenity and quietness because it is quietness that the Lord speaks, touches our souls and heals the heart. If the Lord is unable to speak to the recesses of our souls, no healing can take place there. It is in quietness we find rest for our souls (Is 30:15). One other thing we saw in this period was the invasion of the world with the internet. The Lord used this mightily to penetrate places that will never have been possible. In Iraq many people gave their lives to Christ.
The Lord came to my room and showed me His hand and I saw that deep endless hollow in His hands and I knew I was loved. As the Lord stretched the palm of His hands, I heard “stop looking down on yourself, you can count on the hollow of my hand, my mercy will finish the course”. This made me realise that the war will be won by the love of the Lord. Then the Lord moved close to me and I saw the crown of thorns on His head and blood gushed from His head and the Lord said “don’t let go of your brethren, don’t give up on my church, love triumphs over hate, darkness is dispelled by light and righteousness prevails over iniquity, don’t let go of your brethren and don’t give up on my church’. The Lord left an ascended on a cloud of chariots. Then I realised the sight had changed. It appeared as though the Lord was ascending but He was also descending with a company of people on chariots. This experience brought Jude 1:14 to life as I saw legends of Christ that had gone to be with the Lord.
These people constituted the gate and the Lord came through. As the Lord descended, I recognized some of them and I saw the Lord judging my heart because there were some of these men my heart was not right towards. The Lord pointed to my heart that I used the light of my time to judge faithful men of old. It is good to know that if it appears that faithful men of God regardless of the light they uphold appear to make a mistake, the only duty we owe them is to pray for them. We must never Judge ministers of God because of what we think we know to be right. The Lord is the judge of His ministers.
God is elevating the help ministries. The company that the Lord came down with had those who bore the banner and also had the front burners. We need to pray for the ministry of front liners/burners, they are people who have stayed the course whom the Lord has trained from the wilderness. Front burners have visibility to see Christ well. We gain proximity to the Lord by following the front burners. The day of the Lord has come and the tidings of the third day will launch us to the third day.
The Lord wants us to cooperate with Him in the urgency of “the now” because this is what it implies to be sold out. The Lord gave us signs; one of which was when He spoke about the destruction of the temple in Matthew 24:2 , Mark 13:2. In AD 70, Titus came and brought down the temple in search of gold such that not one stone of the temple was left. This speaks to me that every other thing the Lord said concerning His coming should be taken with seriousness. The Lord gives us these signs so that we would be able to discern times and seasons. We are living in the day of the fullness of the Lord which is the third day of the Lord.
The first instruction in Hosea 6 is the word ‘come’, this word is taken from the Hebrew word which means to “summon”. God is summoning us in these times and we must learn to respond to the summoning of God. the discernment to respond to the summoning of the Lord comes from a heart that cherishes the will of the Lord. This same word means to gravitate towards light. God is raising a people who recognize and appreciate the transformative power of the illumination of the Lord.
The word ‘return’ is taken from the word ‘shuwb’ meaning to make heart adjustments. Everytime the word of God comes, it speaks of emphases of God’s day. Everytime the word of God comes, the next thing that should come to our hearts is the need to make adjustments. The first thing should not be mental satisfaction or a boast of intellectual prowess but a brokenness of heart prompting us to make adjustments.
The word ‘torn’ is taken from the hebrew word ‘taraph’ meaning to uproot. The emphasis of God’s day is the salvation of our soul. God is removing tendencies in us that will not allow us to arrive in God’s day. God will not heal except He has torn. The word ‘healing’ is from the word ‘rapha’ meaning wholeness. Wholeness deals with spiritual healing that will lead to mental and then physical healing. God needs to heal us of offence, condemnation and all soulish diseases. Without the salvation of the soul, there is no wholeness.
The word ‘smitten’ is taken from the word ‘nital’ meaning to chastise, strike, slaughter. God chastens us so that we would be partakers of His divine holiness (Heb 12:10). Oftentimes it is not easy for us to let go of the wrong things that we have married which is why the Lord chastens us. The word ‘bind’ is taken from the word means to make us whole. In order for the Lord to complete us, He has to bind us up and He cannot do this if flesh is still dominant within us.
Matthew 16:19. Keys are both to lock and unlock. There are dimension of God we would unlock when we have authority. There are also things we need to unlock. It is only a church built solidly on Christ that can possess the authority to bear these keys. The implication of Christ being formed in us is that we are able to come into alignment with His will . The essence of salvation of the soul and dying to flesh is to enable us to become one with the Lord.
‘After two days will He revive us’ (Hosea 6:2). The word ‘revive’ means to quicken. ‘In the third day He will raise us up (Hosea 6:2). The word ‘raise’ means to carry His government on our shoulders. We must first be quickened to be able to live in the sight of the Lord. it is the church that will terminate the fullness of time. The church that will complete the will of God is the church that is dying to self and being saved. It is the church that is being saved that will experience quickening. We experience quickening as we follow on to know the Lord. to follow on is also to place demand on the will of God.
We must yield to the spirit for the flesh to lose grip over us. The spirit must be revered and at work for the flesh to lose grip over us. To be one of the Lord’s is to allow the spirit of Crist occupy one’s entire humanity. We must first be incorporated into the authority of God to bear the authority of the Lord. if Christ be in you implies that one body will become unresponsive to sin. To get rid of sin, we must be full of Christ. The way we overcome sin is growth. We can not overcome sin except we die to sin.
We have been resurrected with Christ in our spirits but as we yield to the Lord we would experience quickening in our souls. When the quickening spirit is at work in our souls, everything mortal will be reversed. It is only at this point we can become immortal people and mortality will then be judged. The will of God for us all is to become perfect men. The perfect man is a man that is in charge of his temper, swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath (Jam. 1:19). This is also the full measure of maturity and what it means to be a spiritual man. To be God like and Christ like is the priority in the spirit for us. The implication is that the wrath of man must be daily purged from our souls.
The wrath of man is found in the works of the flesh. The wrath of man is taken away as the righteousness of God is revealed in us. The cross is the origin of our lives not that of our past. The Lord has no record of our past, we have been discharged and declared innocent. This means we have rights and admission into the love of God and we have unlimited access to His presence. This gives us the rights to lay claim on certain privileges in Christ. However, the righteous in Christ must be worked out in us and this is proven in our obedience. If we love the Lord we would keep His commandments (John 14:15). We have the responsibility to develop intimacy with the Lord.
The image of righteousness is preceded by purging. We get rid of impurities in our souls when we receive with meekness the engrafted word of God. Our attitude to the word matters, we must take heed how we hear. We must develop listening ears and teachable spirits. When we yield to the Holy Spirit by receiving the word with the right heart attitude, then He can plug the soul to spirit and through the spirit purge the soul.