THE PROPHETIC CHURCH 2

*Until the word in season comes, the weariness continues*. 

CHARACTERISTIC OF A PROPHETIC CHURCH

We have previously seen that the prophetic church is:

1) Intimate with God 

2) Consecrated to the Lord, (Holy) 

3) Orderly not rigid or lawless.  That is, functioning according to the principles of scriptures but in subjection to the dealings of the Holy Ghost. 

4) Spirit ruled /governed 

5) Mission minded, has a sent mentality, apostolic in nature. 

Now let's see one more characteristic.

6) The prophetic church is born out of prophecy to fulfill prophecy. It is not born out of human needs, feelings or ideas. The prophetic church is not an avenue for giftings to find expression but born out of the word of God to fulfill prophecy.

 Eph. 2:17-22, 2 Peter 3:1- 2.

The prophetic church is apostolic in nature but birth by prophecy. The foundation has to be God Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, on “thus saith the Lord ". The prophetic and holiness go hand in hand. 

EXAMPLES OF ISRAEL AND THE EARLY CHURCH. 

Israel as the first church was actually born out of prophecy. The nation of Israel stemmed from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The take-off point for these people was God; it was not the idea of any man. The whole process that brought them out of Egypt was by the will of God, prophetic instructions. They were a prophetic church but refused to be intimate with God. They were simply interested in using God to meet their needs and not interested in knowing His ways or becoming intimate with Him.  

Exodus 40:34-38-  In the prophetic church, it is about Him, not I. Our greatest challenge is that we are not open to change. Most of the issues in marriages is a fight against change. Not willing to let go of ‘self’. There is no place for self in the prophetic church.

The Israelites had an ordered pattern by which they moved. It was God who determined their movements. For as long as the cloud moved, they followed, if the cloud stopped, they did same, if it went up, they followed. There was order in this prophetic church and it was enforced. They were on a journey and God provided manna daily for them.  

Life is a journey and if the journey will be hitch-free, we must go with the cloud (the Spirit) and not by our feelings or events. We need to depend on him daily.  Every time they moved out of the cloud, they became exposed and whatever befell them was due to their negligence and disobedience. Under the cloud, they were kept, preserved and sustained.

Moses was the leader of Israel (a type of Christ, represented as a prophet and also as a Pastor) Exodus 25:40-Moses didn’t just do what he liked, he did as he was commanded.  The conflicts he encountered with the people was because the people refused to be intimate with the Lord,  so sometimes they went against the instructions that the Lord gave to Moses. As believers in our day, we are still acting like the Israelites. 

Now, we have the Holy Spirit living in us, but we still have structures. God is the God of structure. It is for the sake of structure that He instituted the five-fold ministry for the perfecting of the saints and for the work of ministry, to lead the people. Yes, as individuals, we must be connected to the source (God), but to fulfill all of His purposes and come into perfection, we must also be connected with the leaders and structure God has put in place. 

As God has placed apostles and prophets in the church,  we should also have them in the market place, charting new paths, enforcing kingdom values and standards in the market place. 

How you respond to the structure set is a reflection of what you believe and in whom you believe- Ex.39:21, 26, 32, 42-43. Every instruction Moses gave was as the Lord commanded him.  Every time they resisted/rejected Moses, it was actually the Lord they were resisting/rejecting because Moses was under the Lord, following the command of the Lord.

Much later, in the promised land, when they asked for a king, Samuel was angry but the Lord said they had rejected Him and not Samuel. (1st Samuel 8:7)

How you take the owner of the message will show in the way you respond to the messenger. Your response to the message/messenger is actually your response to the one who sent the messenger. We have to learn to respond to the commands of God, through His servants (structure and order). Let’s learn to respond to Spirit-inspired instructions, spirit promptings, etc, so that the glory will be revealed. 

THE EARLY CHURCH. 

The early church was Spirit ruled and governed.  All their response was from the Spirit and they followed the teachings of the apostles and prophets, and they always sought the Lord to know what to do per time. They were empowered and envisioned by the Holy Ghost. Acts 1:1-2,8. 

They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. They had all things common. (Acts 2: 42). At a point, they lost their sense of mission and stayed back in Jerusalem.  But the persecution caused them to be scattered and this reawakened their sense of mission, and they went everywhere preaching the gospel. The early church experienced victory because they followed through with what the Lord commanded. 

This season has come to fulfill certain scriptures.  There is a shaking going on so that only that which cannot be shaken will remain. (Hebrews 12: 26-29 )

Prayer

Lord, I receive grace to serve You acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Hebrews 12:28

THE PROPHETIC CHURCH

This is a follow up to the message, ACTIVATING THE PROPHETIC.

- Only a prophetic church will be able to activate the prophetic.

- Only a prophetic church can put to work what has been activated.

A brief recap on activating the prophetic;

- The greatest need in this season is “Thus saith the Lord”-Hosea 12:13. When men try to speak without the Holy Ghost, they speculate, but with the Holy Ghost, they prophesy.

- You cannot say “Thus saith the Lord” if you have not been with the Lord. One of the essences of this season is to reawaken and rebuild our intimacy with God. If we miss this,  we have missed it. 

The church has been like an army full of civilians,  but God wants an army full of trained soldiers. 

- Our relevance to God and men is tied to our personal intimate walk with the Lord.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROPHETIC CHURCH

1) Intimacy with God. One of the things that have been wrongly defined in our day is the prophetic. The prophetic church is intimate with the Lord. They know His mind, His agenda, and they understand the times in line with His agenda. The prophetic church is God-centred and jealous for God. 

2) They are consecrated to the Lord. Not everything goes. The prophetic church is sold out to the will of God; they are holy, totally set apart for God. It is a church that fears the Lord. (You cannot walk holy if you do not fear God). They are people totally yielded to God. They are not known for what they have ( magnificent buildings, money, status in the society etc ). All they reveal is God. Everything about them expresses God. It is God-centred, not man-centred. Any gospel that plays down on sin and holiness is from the pit of hell. We were saved by grace, and grace empowers and enables us to live above sin. In short,  grace makes us inexcusable. The prophetic church lives to obey Him. The prophet will not go where he has not to be told to go, nor say what he has not been told. The  Old Testament, men "trembled" when they saw a prophet because they knew he represented God and must have a word from the Lord. 

3) The prophetic church is an orderly church, it is not rigid and it is not lawless. Orderliness does not mean being rigid. To be orderly means one is functioning according to the principles of scriptures but in subjection to the dealings of the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor. 14:40, The word of God is the final and supreme authority in the prophetic church. Our guiding principles are all pulled out of the word. It is not cultural, ethnical, or professional.  In rigid churches, their rules and regulations are not flexible. Some in a bid to continue in lawlessness describe bringing order as been legalistic. Both extremes are not found in a prophetic church. In the prophetic church,  encounters/experiences are not put above the word of God. Peter, James and John had an outstanding encounter on the mount of transfiguration. Yet, Peter declares the word of God is a more sure word of prophecy. 2nd Peter 1: 14-21. 

4) The prophetic church is a Spirit-filled church. That is, it is Spirit ruled, Spirit governed, it is open and flexible to the dictates of the Spirit. For the church to be effective, it must come under the influence of the Holy Ghost. Acts 1:8. The church in Acts was a Spirit-filled church. Every time they got refilled with the Holy Ghost, they went on to do great exploits and made progress.  This season is meant for our refilling and refuelling We have tried different methods and gimmicks, it hasn’t helped us. We must come under the influence of the Holy Spirit in order not to be spectators in this season. To see beyond the physical into the plans of God we need to walk with the Holy Ghost.

In this dispensation, our partnering with the Holy Spirit is crucial, to bring to pass God's counsel upon the earth.

5) The prophetic church is a church with a sense of mission. It operates with eternity in view. Anything we are doing that does not reckon with eternity is vanity. It is a church on a journey and it is conscious of it by its lifestyle, attitude, decision etc. The prophetic church has a sent mentality- they are Apostolic in nature. When a prophet shows up,  he fulfills his mission and moves on. He does not sit down and get involved in frivolities. The prophetic church is not frivolous in nature or involved in carnal pursuits. It is focused. 

Examples

Israel- The church in the wilderness, ( Acts 7:38). The first church.  It portrayed a shadow of what was to come. It was meant to be a prophetic church,  but they did not key in. 

#  They were a church on a journey and on a mission. They were on a journey into the Promised Land but they were not conscious of their destination.  If we do not know where we are coming from and where we are going, we will run into untold hardships and crisis. Of all the adults that left Egypt, only two people .made it to the Promised Land.

# They were not intimate with God. 

They were not interested in knowing God but just using Him.  They knew his acts, not His ways. If everyone truly knows God, we would have less crisis. It is those that know their God that will be strong and do exploits. Dan 11: 32

# God fed them daily manna. Exodus 16. 

It is a daily dependence on God. You must live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We cannot fulfill the mandate of God if we do not have a sent mentality. Settling the future is not about putting up structures or saving money. It's living with eternity in view. The daily manna they were fed with was so they would depend on Him daily for everything, it was also because their confidence had to be in God and on nothing else- Deut. 8:3.

To be continued…

Prayer

Lord, I have ears and I hear

THE END IS AT HAND

“Though he were a Son, yet learnt he obedience by the things which he suffered”. Hebrews 5: 8. Jesus is our role model, our pattern man, our perfect example. His time of crisis/ suffering produced obedience out of Him, it could also have produce disobedience out of Him, it was a choice He had to make.

The question before us is what will this season produce out of you? Some are praying and hoping that things will go back to normal (as things were before) but the truth is, things can never go back to normal. Anyone telling you that things will go back to normal is giving you false hope. If you are also waiting for things to return back to normal you are in an abnormal state. 

 -This period can produce murmurers and grumblers out of one and can also produce people full of gratitude. 

- This period is producing vistas in the Spirit for some and also producing idleness, laziness. etc in some others.

- It is making some wiser and others foolish. 

 What are you learning?  

- Are you learning to be more submissive to the Lord or hardened against Him? 

- Are you idle or becoming more purposeful?

- Are you craving to know the voice of the Lord more or you are listening to other voices?

What is the season making out of you? 

-This crisis season can make out of you a carnal believer or a more spiritual one. 

-A fearful person or a person of faith. 

Some have become avid users of the internet-some for good, others for bad. It is your choice to indulge in and learn the right things. What is this crisis moment making out of you? God is staining the pride of men in this season. He has been calling for attention; it is time to give Him all the attention He deserves. One of the greatest lessons everyone should have learnt now is that we cannot do without God. 

  Covid-19 has come to give us an anti-kingdom culture such as social distancing; we are made to believe in this season that the unreal world (internet) is more real than the real world. When a plague struck the people of Israel, they were delivered by “Thus saith the Lord”. The social distancing we are instructed to put in place, isolation, quarantine etc, are simply public health injunctions, not scriptural standards. Yes, quarantine was prescribed in the Old Testament but many sicknesses, diseases and plagues were healed by a prophetic word and prayers. So we shouldn’t give it an interpretation that it's not. That churches are closed down and mass gatherings prohibited are for public health reasons not persecution against the church. Yes, satan can usurp such a crisis to his advantage but that is not the case we are experiencing now. 

The disciples/apostles did not shirk from their responsibilities towards others during times of crisis/plagues. Ideally, men should have been running to the church/believers for help in this season. Where we are now is simply a product of the kind of lifestyle we have been living hitherto. We are coming under the same rules as everyone else, because of how we have been living. As the church, our attitude should be to regroup and start thinking and realigning our hearts to the ways of God. We need to build intimacy with the Lord and really get to know Him so we can walk in His power and glory as we ought. 

- What you do in times of crisis will determine the outcome you will have.

- Crisis moments demands adjustments 

- Both internal and external Adjustments. Adjustments in your appetite, prayer pattern, lifestyle etc. What you are learning now is what will position you for tomorrow.  Hard and harsh times are coming. 

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil…”  Ephesians 5:15-16. In this season, we have to learn to walk more accurately in the spirit.  The days are indeed evil and we have to be more accurate in our walk. What becomes of you after this season will be dependent on what you did/gave yourself to. 

-You cannot redeem the times if you do not know the will of God. If you do not know the spiritual interpretation of these times, you are at a disadvantaged position.

-To know the will of God, you must be full of the Spirit. You do not get full of the Spirit by accident. 

- To be full, you have to deliberately take time to stay with Him, in fellowship, praying, reading/studying your bible, meditating on the scriptures, confessing the word etc.

Two manifestations of knowing Him:

-Power of his resurrection 

-Fellowship of His suffering

Remember, it is he that endures to the end...it means there will be things to endure as we draw closer to the end. Note: one of the goals of the enemy in this season is to wear us out. Stop setting/making goals for yourself that God did not give to you. Abandon yourself in the Lord. Refuse to be worn out. Stay strong and stay up. Every seeming delay should meet us prepared now and in the future.

In Matthew 24:1-8 the word sorrow in verse 8, means labour, - ie birth pangs in the spirit - all of the events of these times should drive us to the place of intercession to birth our future in God, to birth God's agenda for the kingdom. The ultimate solution to these times is the return of our Lord Jesus.  But before He comes, His desire is that all should be saved. There is no permanent vaccine to stop this plague without its attendant side effects. What this season should birth in us is a passion to labour in prayers more than ever before. We must be able to interpret these times as God is seeing it- souls are perishing, the atmosphere is open to the spirit of death, besides Covid -19. People are dying. We should have the same mindset of God that souls be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus went through all the stages of His life right.  He laboured in prayers.  Towards the end of His life and ministry, He laboured more earnestly in prayers at Gethsemane. 

1 Peter 4:7-11- “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober,  and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves for charity shall cover a multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging..." If you are not alert, disciplined in reading/studying your bible, in the usage of your time, you cannot give yourself to prayer. If you pray more, you will act wiser, talk wiser etc. These times should see us PRAYING MORE.

This season will naturally want to make us be self-preservative, self-centred as against what the scriptures say. You must do everything to sustain your love for God and the brethren. Let brotherly love continue. We must not tamper with it but grow in it. Have fervent love, practice hospitality. Use your gift to be a blessing.

If there is any time to showcase the power of God it’s now. Whatever we are doing now should be unto the Lord in love and in the humility of heart.

As we see the day approaching;

-Let us give ourselves to prayer. 

- Love walk 

- The leadership of the Holy Ghost, awake to the dictates of the spirit. 

 A man of the spirit can never be stranded, he will stay relevant in every season.

Prayer

Lord, I have ears and I hear what the Spirit is saying.

ACTIVATING THE PROPHETIC

“And by a prophet, the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved”. Hosea 12:13

There were a series of events that the Children of Israel passed through before they were finally delivered from bondage.  But all that was by a Prophet. 

Today, the average believer has no proper understanding of the prophetic. Often, before the real, satan brings the fake to disrupt/ distract us from what God wants to do-Ishmael before Isaac.

 If it was by the prophetic the children of Israel came out of Egypt and they were preserved by a prophet, actually, the greatest need for the now is the PROPHETIC. That’s why satan wants to make a mess of the prophetic, and distort it so that we cannot apply our hearts to it for what God wants to do. Without the prophet and the prophetic, the Israelites would have remained in bondage. 

The greatest need, for now, is “THUS SAITH THE LORD” 

You can’t stand before Pharaoh if you didn’t go there by the word of the Lord. Moses couldn’t have stood the test of time or succeeded if he was not sent. 

Come to think of it, no one living at that time in Egypt had ever experienced the plague that happened. But none of this was a surprise to Moses because he was in the know of everything. Before they happened God had already told Moses. God gave Moses specific instructions with specific timings. 

God has not changed. We have to begin to ask ourselves genuine questions because we are all just speculating. Nobody seems to be in charge.  The prophecy was that they will stay in Egypt for four hundred years but they stayed for four hundred and thirty years. This shows that how long this plague will last is not just tied to God but us.  

See Daniel 9:2-3, Exodus 2:23-24, Matthew 24:1-8, Luke 2:25-26,36-37

Daniel in his days had an understanding of the times because he gave attention to the books of the prophets. We will remain spectators and speculators at this time if we do not give attention to God's word and intercession. 

This lockdown is giving us the opportunity to reconnect back to God in the word and prayers.

The bondage of the children of Israel pushed them into strong groaning. Covid-19 is a pestilence, and all of these events are pushing us to the point where we come to the end of ourselves and completely turn to the Lord. 

People like Simeon and Anna gave themselves to the life mission of birthing the coming of the Messiah in fasting and prayers.

IF THIS TIME WILL BE SHORTENED THERE MUST BE MEN WHO WILL GIVE THEMSELVES TO THE LORD.

Things will not just change by guessing or by speculations but by the PROPHETIC. Moses was not an accident. The groaning of the children of Israel made God bring Moses to the scene. (Exodus 3:1-4) 

YOU CANNOT SAY, “THUS SAITH THE LORD” IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN WITH THE LORD.

You cannot speak the mind of God if there has not been that personal, one on one contact with the Lord.  We are being distracted, and activity conscious.  Until we come to the end of ourselves and completely turn to the Lord, we can’t see the prophetic that will push us to that point of liberation.

But there is a mark of separation that is going on, and no man can take the mark for another. (Ezekiel 9:5-6). What qualifies anyone for the mark are those who have signed up themselves to sigh and groan for their day and generation.  If we will give birth to what we need to usher us out of this season then we must be men who will give themselves to God in intense intercessions.

What this season is saying to us is that: 

1. Your greatest asset is your personal, intimate fellowship with God.

2. If you are going to be a part of this, you must sign in with those who believe in this army.  

As we individually wait on the Lord and respond to His promptings then we can create an environment conducive for the prophetic and a definite word from the Lord.

REMEMBER YOUR RELEVANCE TO GOD AND MEN IS TIED TO YOUR PERSONAL FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LORD.

KEEP YOURSELF IN THE LOVE OF GOD

“And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; all their brethren were at their commandment”. (1Chronicles 12:32) We must be able to interpret this season correctly. What we are currently facing is not the end but the beginning: the book of Matthew 24 tells us this, Verse 12 says; “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold”. What this time has come to attack is our love walk: both our love for God and for one another. 

The only way we can be differentiated is by our love walk. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if you have love one for another”.  (John 13: 35)

Right now what we are facing is pushing us to self-preservation and self-centeredness because we tend to think more of ourselves. And any time this happens we go down. Any time we think like this and act like this satan is excited because that is his goal, but we must keep ourselves in the love of God. 

Romans 8:18-35: all of the distress, peril,  tribulation...  etc is to keep us from the love of God.   

When we say we are more than conquerors we must be able to interpret it based on God’s love. 

At the slightest provocation, when things are not working well, God suffers for it. 

When we are living in fear, doubt, and unbelief we are questioning the love of God. When we give ourselves to discouragement, we are questioning the love of God and losing grounds. 

Jude 3: 20-21. The summary of what Jude wrote is that we are to contend for the faith. With just that letter Jude was able to capture different events. When we hear, “contend for the Faith” we are looking for big things, but the core is our love work.  Our love being attacked is our faith being attacked. What we need now is the mercy of God, and if we are going to have God’s mercy then we must keep ourselves in the love of God. 

But ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith. praying in the Holy Ghost

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life- Jude 20- 21

Not giving God attention is a sign that you are waning and losing grounds in your love walk. 

The proof of our love for God is that we give Him attention. If we are going to contend for the faith and not be found wanting when he comes, we must keep ourselves in the love God. 

There is nowhere in scriptures where people were levied. Where there is love there will be no need for levy. It is at a time such as this that love should compel the strong to support the weak. We are not all blessed at the same level. Giving to one another right now should be our natural response if we are truly walking in love. Reaching out in prayers and in giving should be the right attitude now. What it means to be a blessing is that you are a distributor of God’s resources but the time is pushing us into self-preservation. But let us keep ourselves in the love of God. 

When we love God we will keep his commandment. We are to abide by the instructions of the constituted authority under God. A genuine Christian should not be a lawbreaker. God cannot bless illegality or fraudulence. We must stay within the confines of the law rather than mortgaging our soul. There should be no illegal transaction or dealing at these times. This is part of the demonstration of love for God-He says, if you love me,  you will keep my commandments (John 14:15).

YOU CAN NEVER LOSE TAKING A STAND FOR LOVE, FOR GOD IS LOVE.

An atmosphere of love is an atmosphere of faith because faith worketh by love. Giving is more than money, and we must not forget that what the enemy wants to attack is our LOVE walk. 

- This is a  time for supernatural living.

- This means walking in the Spirit.  Staying full and built up in the Holy Ghost.

- We need God's mercy and as such, more than ever before,  we must keep ourselves in the love of God. 

PESTILENCE

CORONAVIRUS is more than a medical or environmental problem.  It is a pestilence. It’s a spiritual matter and as such requires a spiritual response. The word pestilence also means plague in the scriptures. CORONAVIRUS IS A PESTILENCE.

Pestilence is an epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious and devastating.  It also spreads quickly killing large numbers of people. The word plague showed up first in Genesis but the word pestilence showed up first in Ex 5:1- 3, “… And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword”. In other words, they were saying if they do not go to serve God the way they ought, God could send pestilence among them. We have to ask ourselves if we are to infer from the above scripture if we have been serving God the way we ought.  

WE MUST SERVE GOD ACCORDING TO HIS EXPECTED STANDARD, ACCEPTABLY WITH REVERENCE AND GODLY FEAR (Heb.12:28- 30).

This call to serve God is not a call of convenience but one of sacrifice. Pharaoh kept negotiating with them but they held their stand in God lest pestilence fell on them. Num. 14:11 says, “And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will these people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them…” Unbelief and lack of faith in God can attract pestilence. In Ex. 9:14-15, here, God says He would strike the Egyptians with pestilence.

Please know assuredly that God sends plagues and pestilences. God can get angry, He can discipline and punish. A lot of people still have the mindset that a plague or pestilence, or anything unpleasant and bad can never come from God. In 2 Chron. 7:13, God says, “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people”. This scripture and others we have seen clearly show God sends pestilence. 

It is important to note, that pestilence is also a sign of the end times. The truth is COVID-19 is not the end. Pestilences are part of what God said would be part of the signs of the end times, and when we see these signs showing up on the earth, we should be glad because our redemption is near. Our question however, should be, how should we respond, how can we close up the gap?

In Matthew 24:3-6, Jesus’ disciples came up to Him and asked Him a threefold question, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

Interestingly, His first response was, “take heed that no man deceive you”. We are in the days of high-level deception. Most of the deception will not come from native doctors, unbelievers, magicians etc, but supposed believers and ministers of the gospel.  A lot will come in the form of false and erroneous doctrines and teachings. There are all kinds of doctrines going about right now. This deception will not come from outside the confines of the church but from within. There will be wars and rumours of wars but we are not to be troubled.

 We are called to reveal Christ, not partner with the antichrist to prepare for his coming.  Let us stop trying to decode who the antichrist is.

The present happenings give us a clue that the end is near. It tells us that it is a fulfillment of prophecies. COVID-19 will end, but it is tied to the rate at which we learn our lesson. How fast or slow God will be given room to do His will.

WHAT SHOULD BE OUR RESPONSE?

- REPENTANCE  

2 Chron. 7:13-14-when there’s pestilence in the land, the solution is not the government nor the medical world but God alone. This is not the time to shift blame or responsibility but a time of total surrender to seek God. It is time to humble ourselves, to inquire from God where we are missing it.  It is time to offer prayers of genuine repentance and turn to the Lord. Every pestilence has a message.  As long as we do not know why we cannot solve it.

 It takes God to show us. Wickedness, good and bad is not defined by our own standards, but by God's standard.

In Ezekiel 14: 19-20, God was saying that if He sends pestilence, these righteousness men  - Noah, Daniel, or Job can only deliver their own souls and not the people. The people will need to repent and cry out to God themselves. This is the season where we must not take advantage of anyone. What we need to be asking for now is mercy.

- WE SHOULD PRAY- In Num. 14:12-21- Moses’ response to God’s thought of wanting to send pestilence among His people, was prayers, prayers for mercy and God changed His mind from carrying out His plan. In Matthew 24:7-8, the word sorrow in verse 8 of this scripture means birth pangs. In other words, when we begin to see these signs of the end, it should result in a burden in the life of those who understand the season and have given themselves to God-Men and women whom the Holy Spirit will impregnate, causing them to give birth in the place of high-level intercession. They will birth the will of God on the earth.

 This dimension of prayer will not be the conventional one. Only those totally sold out to God can labour in these kinds of intercessory prayers to give birth to God's will on the earth. Romans 8:18-28. These are not to times to be moving about aimlessly. We must have direction and guidance before we do anything- The Holy Ghost does all these and more for us when we partner with Him and enquire from Him to know the mind of the Father. Our praying must be by the Spirit and of the Spirit. As we give ourselves to the Holy Ghost, He will strengthen us and enable us to pray as we ought (See also Phil 1:19). Times like these should bring an awakening to every genuine believer. It should not be business as usual. IT IS A WAKE-UP CALL. This season should not leave us the same. 

If we don’t respond correctly in these times, we will become victims. The issue is not just surviving COVID -19 but what are the lessons we have learnt? 

Let’s see some lessons from;

Psalm 91:1-16 - Prayer is an expression of faith, what you believe in, you run to.  In times like these, your trust in God must be absolute because He alone can deliver. This pestilence thrives in an arena of fear. Fear draws it closer and magnifies it.  In order to deal with fear, your trust must be in God totally. Trust comes through knowing, staying with God and obeying Him.

REDEEM THE TIME- Ephesians 5:14-20. This is not the time to be unconcerned, lukewarm, indifferent, unrepentant or complacent.

For you not to be a victim in these evil days, you must redeem the time. What you are doing with your time matters in these times. You must know the spiritual meaning of these times. Don’t be full of the information all around but be full of the Spirit. In times like these, we should give ourselves to the Holy Ghost and as He begins to groan through us, we will be receiving instructions on how to give birth to the burdens in God’s heart.

Our priestly role of offering spiritual sacrifices such as obedience, praise, thanksgiving, worship, intercession, acts of mercy etc. must be fully functional to create the right atmosphere for the prophetic to be activated to receive direction and instruction. We are in the times of prompt response to God’s instructions and dealings.