By Chijioke Nwauche
(18th July, 2010)
[For a printable version click here.]
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
There is a difference between the realm of the Spirit and the realm of the flesh. There is a difference between the ministry of the Spirit (heaven) and the ministry of the flesh (carnality). Whether ministry (the word) or works (actions), if what I am doing is proceeding from the flesh (the mind, will, emotions and desires of man), it profiteth nothing. Ministering to others from the flesh cannot bring a lasting change. That will be death ministering to death, it will be like “singing the Lord’s song in a strange land” and it will amount to nothing. When the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch. Watchman Nee said, “Unless one has met the grace of God, His inward condition remains unchanged”. If it is not God, it cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit. It cannot produce lasting change. God forbid that we begin in the Spirit and end in the flesh (in the place of carnality.)
Let us heed the call to serve the lord if He be God. 1Ki 18:21 and Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
Let us repent from where we have fallen, and turn again to the Lord that we may be on fire again for Him. Let us ask God to remove the wax from our ears. Let him cast away the coldness, the barriers, let every quarter of our being understand and receive strength to move in the direction that God wants.
Feed us as a shepherd Oh God, gently lead and minister to our every need, deliver us from bondage, and desolation. Let our deliverance be complete and total, we pray in Jesus name.
The church is at a cross road between the ministry of the Spirit and the ministry of the flesh. Flesh we know profiteth nothing. The realm of the flesh is the realm of carnality. The realm of carnality is the wrong place to be. God is saying to us this morning that we are in the wrong place, if we are in the realm of the flesh. This is because God has not made provision for those that dwell at the carnal level. God has no provision to deliver those who dwell at this level from perils and dangerous darts that the Devil will certainly throw. We are weak in the things of the Spirit and weary physically, because we walk in the flesh. God is calling us by this message to move from the level of the flesh to the realm of the Spirit because we are at the time of midnight when God is going to judge carnality and I am afraid that we are not ready. Let us not be presumptuous to imagine that this message does not apply to us, rather let every man examine himself, repent from his backslidden state and flee from the judgment that will come to try all that dwell upon the earth ( that operate in the flesh ).
We must examine the lives that we live and begin to change the way we have been doing things, we must reflect upon the things that we preach, the activities we engage in, how we spend our free time, the words we speak, how we speak the words, the choices we make. We must go back and examine these things and make sure that they measure up to the standard God expects from us.
MATHEW 25 V 1- 13
Mathew 25 speaks about Midnight.
WHAT IS MIDNIGHT?
Midnight is a period of time in God’s calendar. The signs in scripture that indicate that we are in the time of midnight are being fulfilled all around us. I can tell you without an iota of doubt that we are at the time of midnight.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN AT MIDNIGHT?
At Midnight two distinct things happen. God’s bride will be made ready (purified, without spot or blemish) and will be joined to Christ. While that is going on, men, will also be joining themselves to the Devil. Midnight is a time of Darkness and a time of Light. The two processes take place simultaneously. It is a time when God allows darkness to reign over the earth. A time that the Devil will have a field day. A time when evil will be everywhere more especially in the church.
Re 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven v 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
What is the implication of this statement? The implication is that at the time of midnight those of us who are not ready will be in trouble. Those who remained carnal, allowing their flesh to control them or putting it another way, those who have not allowed the Holy Spirit to teach them how to control their fleshly lust, will be overcome by the Devil.
You may ask how is it that; the dragon can fight and overcome the saints? The answer is; because the saints are in the wrong place; the saints are carnal, and the realm of the flesh is the devil’s territory
Ro 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. How is it that the power of the devil in our lives is strong? It is because we are feeding and dwelling in the carnal realm.
Point to note:
Mt 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Note that both the wise and the foolish virgins slept until the trumpet sounded …behold the bride groom cometh. The trumpet is sounding loud and clear today; come out of her my people and be ye separate. And where are we expected to come out from? FromBabylon, the place of mixture, the place where the things of God and carnality are mixed together, the place were sin is covered with a cloak of religion.
We comforted ourselves with the fact that the call to come out, was for those who are in the denominations, but we fail to realise that God is speaking to us today. There is a separation going on and men will be marked either with the nature of Christ or the nature of the beast. We are in a backslidden state brethren. Let us repent and turn again to the Lord. We need to ensure that we are being marked by the writer with the ink horn. We must go beyond this realm of the carnal, if we desire to make it.
The sad thing is that there does not seem to be a response of repentance from our hearts. There is a lot of shallowness in our walk with God. This is the reason why when we come together; there is no fire in our midst, we are growing cold! We are distracted from the main issue, which is getting oil into our vessels (soul). We must strive to hit the mark. God has set His standard and will not lower it for us. We may ask, what is the standard? Jesus is the standard.
WHAT WE SHOULD BE FOUND DOING AT MIDNIGHT
Mt 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Mt 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish v3. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: v4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
When the Bible talks of virgins, (woman) we know it is talking about the physical woman in one dimension, the church in another dimension and in the last dimension, it is speaking of the soul. There were 5 foolish and 5 wise. They both had lamps and light, that is they all knew the Lord was coming, and they all went out to meet Him. The difference between the two was that, one group had oil in their vessel and the other did not. What does the oil represent? THE HOLY GHOST. One group had the Holy Ghost in their soul, while the other group did not.
What is the message here? This implies that if we are to qualify to gain entrance like the wise virgins, then we should ensure we are putting oil into our vessels, so their will be enough oil at the time of midnight. It speaks of a need for preparation. We know from this that it is not just enough to say I am a Christian (virgin) and I am going to heaven (meeting the bridegroom). May this message provoke you to determine what level of glory you desire to attain on to. Are you a Christian that wants thirty fold ( just to be born again), are you a Christian that desires sixty fold (born again, baptised in the holy ghost ) or are you one that desires a hundred fold? (Fullness of Christ) For each level there are consequences: the one who is stubborn and wants to remain in the outer court, (the level of the flesh, the level of just being born again) will certainly pay for it. You will have to contend with the rain, wind and any other thing the devil throws your way, because by Gods design; there is no covering for this realm of carnality. Brethren the outer court is not covered. Sorry to say, I believe most of us are still at the outer court level; knowing about the Holy place. This is not sufficient. The issue is have you entered into the realm of the holy place? Not to talk of the Holy of Holies where Christ is the head ( i.e you are fully under the control of the Holy Ghost). Going higher in God is not by compulsion, a man has to make up his mind which level he desires to attain. Jesus said, “If any man will be my disciple”, he did not say “you must be my disciple”.
God forbid that we be of them who answer His name, but wear our own apparel, (i.e. do what we want and go where we want) rather than doing or going where the Lord wants.
Brethren, this is the time to fill our vessels with oil i.e. to allow the Holy Ghost to bring a change in our souls (our will, emotion, desires, and mind). It is a time of separation. A time to atone for the soul (repent and turn away from the sins in the inward part). It is time to work, so that the Spirit of God will cover us. For the oil to get into the vessel; for the life of God to come within us; there has to be a change in our soul nature. It is the time to seek to get a hundred fold anointing, a time to fill our vessels with oil i.e the full ministry of the Holy Ghost within the soul.
We should be seeking the new covenant which addresses the nature of the soul, we should be seeking a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. It is a time to concern ourselves with forgetting our fathers house (our original earthly nature). A time to strive towards the high calling of God; which is submitting our lives completely to God in all things. Ro 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.
We should be crying and seeking God in all our actions, testimonies, songs; speech. In our walk we should be saying, ‘We want to be God’s dwelling place’. We should be travailing and asking that having borne the image of the earthy; we may bear the image of the heavenly. We must turn our focus away from the desire for earthly riches and walk as wise virgins: GETTING OIL IN OUR VESSELS. OVERCOMING THE FLESHLY NATURE MUST BE OUR PREOCCUPATION, IF WE DESIRE TO MAKE IT.
WHAT WE SHOULD NOT BE FOUND DOING AT MIDNIGHT?
We must avoid feeding on the things that the devil is giving, even if it is supposedly the word of God, for if it is not coming from the Spirit of God, it will not be able to change our soul nature. We should be struggling to overcome the beast nature (our soul nature that is not subject to God). We must not stop warring against the flesh. We must slay the beast nature so that the oil can come in. We must get out of the clergy, laity set up; where some sit back, waiting to be fed the word of God, instead of seeking God for themselves. We must ensure we are in a set up where the body of Christ is fully operational i.e. where every joint (individual member) is supplying, ministering life. We must avoid the one man ministry. God’s set up is a church that is run by a plurality of elders. Also we must not allow the beastly nature to reign uncontrolled.
DEALING WITH THE MATTER OF BABYLON
In the beginning God created man and breathed upon him and man became a living soul. A creature which had both an element of heaven (heavenly part) and earth (natural part). In this state, the need was for the soul to move away from the earthy to be completely heavenly. To move away from this fleshly to the Spiritual. Some of us love the fleshly carnal realm so much that we do not desire to move from the fleshly level (the level where food, car, money careers are the main focus etc). There are a people who must come to the realm of the heavens; a place where God has dealt with the beastly nature, that harlot woman (referred to in the book of Revelations), that city that ruleth and reigneth over the cities of the earth. What is this city, what is this harlot that the bible is referring to? It refers to an arrangement through which the devil uses man’s carnal desires to control (cover) the souls of men.
Every soul must be covered, either by God or the Devil. The realm of the flesh, it is a realm that has been given legitimately over to the devil. So a person functioning in this realm cannot rise above the devil’s control. The people that will receive the mark of the beast, I believe are the those Christians that continue to walk in the flesh (dwell in the carnal realm in the earth). The only way to escape the mark is to get out of the realm of the flesh.
1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
The next question will be, how can we get out? To get out we must give up our all (our self life) and submit totally to Jesus Christ. We must be slain. We should pray like John “That I might decrease and Christ increase”. The Holy Ghost has to possess you completely, controlling your mind, will, emotions and desires.
The bible enjoins us: 1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. Self will have to die. We must lose our right to our fleshly pleasure ( food, comfort, marriage, career choice, everything). The only right we should seek is that which the father desires for us. If God says we can have it, then, we seek and keep it. If He says give it up; we do so willingly, and we still serve him with fullness of Joy. We become completely Christ like and do only that which we see the father do. The bible refers to this high calling as being beheaded.
God is looking for a generation of men whose souls are ready for His Spirit to possess, a people who will separate themselves to Him alone, a generation that will serve Him and do His will. This is the whole purpose of the Church. The problem with us is that though we desire this intimate relationship with God our life styles do not measure up. We know in theory but not in practice. So every man has to go to God for Himself and ask, God what I can do to overcome? We should continue to ask until we get our deliverance
QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
Question:
What exactly does the word beheaded mentioned in the message mean and how can I be beheaded?
Answers:
Rev 20 v 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Bro. Nwauche’s contribution:
This scripture says those who will qualify to be part of first resurrection and who will reign with Christ for 1000 years are those who had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands. This is what will qualify one to overcome the beast and all it represents. Now the beastly nature came about when man’s soul was cut off by sin from the ministry it was receiving from the Spirit of God in the Garden of Eden. The soul was no longer submissive to the Spirit of God; it started receiving ministry from the Devil and so became beastly.
When we say a soul has been beheaded it means the nature of the soul is no longer beastly, no longer selfish. The flesh has been put down and the control of man over his soul has been conceded to Christ. Consequently when Christ is not the head of the soul, the devil takes over. This is how it works. Consequently when you become born again the blood of Jesus atones for your sins, your sins are forgiven, and the spirit is renewed but the nature of soul is not changed. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is what enables the Spirit of God to come in and begin to minister to the soul. As the word of God is received daily, the Spirit of God gradually begins to take complete control over the soul and the nature of the soul is changed and the man becomes more and more Christ like. When the soul is completely take over by the Spirit of Christ the soul is said to have been beheaded.
Bro. Sam’s contribution:
In the passage above we see that it is those that are beheaded that will live and reign with Christ. It means that the qualification for reigning with Christ is that we must be beheaded. They that were beheaded were those who had:
- The witness of Christ.
- The word of God.
- Not worshipped the beast.
- Not worshipped his image.
- Not received his mark upon their foreheads.
- Not received the mark in their hands.
From the above we deduce that if we are getting the witness of Christ into your soul, we are being beheaded. The next is that you have the word of God dwelling in you. The next is you must not worship the beast in any form, nor in any image he chooses subtily to present himself. E.g. if you knew that the 25th of Dec. is a day dedicated to the worship of the sun god, it would not be difficult to persuade you not to partake in the modern day celebration of this Christ mass which is Christmas to you. See how the devil subtly Christianised the original form of worship of the son god, Zanus. It is an image he has cleverly presented; to receive worship from men. Not only must we reject the beast in its totality, we must also reject his image or images that are presented to us.
The next point is receiving the mark on our fore heads which is symbolic of our minds. Our minds must be submitted to Christ daily. That is the process of beheading, Christ is the Head to whom we submit, in other words, you no longer reason your own way; your reasoning is according to the reasoning of Christ through his word and the ministration of his Spirit.
When everything you do is motivated by Christ so like Paul you can confidently say “for me to live is Christ”. You have been beheaded and have put on Christ. The next is in the place of ministry (the work of your hands).What is your motive for serving God? Is it to make gain? Is it to be acclaimed by the world, is it for the pride of life, or is it as a result of the word of the Lord you receive daily. Your motive will determine if you have taken the mark of the beast in your hand.
So when we talk of being beheaded, it is that we are allowing God to take control, we are allowing Christ to be the head not ourselves. We are not running the show but Christ is the one dictating the pace and telling us what to do at every moment. May God open our understanding so we may understand fully the dimensions of this matter.
Bro. Opus’ contribution:
To be beheaded you must be SELFLESS. A man that is operating in the realm of self has certain traits: One of which is that he feels he is always right. He is a man that is unable to take corrections. He finds fault in everyone and everything else but himself. This is a very dangerous place to stand, brethren. To reign with Christ YOU MUST DIE TO SELF. You must not think so highly of yourself, your wisdom or your knowledge; rather your reliance should be on the Lord Jesus Christ and the intricate workings of His Spirit in your life and through the ministry of those He divinely sends to you.