By Julius Oko

(Sunday 23rd February, 2010)

[For a printable version click here.]

QUOTABLE QUOTES: 

It is necessary for us to ask the Lord to bring down fire (zeal) upon our souls. We have grown cold and this is the word of the Lord to us Re 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. v16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Let us rise from this place and repent, God forbid that we remain in such a state. God is raising the standard, let us decide to go up higher; it must be a decision we make in our hearts. If we make up our minds to go after this God no matter what, God will honour our desire and send us help.

A lukewarm state is a state where a man lacks zeal, there is no push, no desire to move. And in this state whatever the devil throws at them they take it instead of rising to resist it. The Lord will cause the cloven tongues of fire to fall afresh upon us even as we desire it hard enough. The disciples waited in the upper room as THE MASTER instructed, so they waited with great desire and expectation and the Lord was faithful to honour their obedience and the fire came. (Act 1 v 13 & 14, 2 v1 to 3).

Lukewarmness is the brother of backsliding. Let us not allow the external (may be unfavourable or even favourable) experiences draw or keep us back from doing the things the Lord has put in our hands or our hearts to do. When last did you carry the problem of brethren in prayer without their knowledge? Do the troubles or concerns of the brethren bother you as it used to? Let us go back to doing these things. If you are on the house top don’t come down to carry your clothes. (Mat 24 v 17 & 18).

Remain on the house top brethren and push for greater heights in God.

…… BRO IHEKWOABA

WHAT IS THE PLANE

A plain is a level ground, it is usually a fruitful place in terms of crops, and it is usually a place of comfort and ease. We see this clearly in Gen 13 v10. Lot decided to choose the plain when he was given the chance by Abraham to choose between two portions of land when their servants strove with one another. How does this relate to us in the present? Are we referring to a physical plane? Of course not rather the point is; it can be said that most of us have chosen and have settled or are settling in spiritual plains. We need to assess ourselves. Have we like Lot chosen comfort zones?  Have we left off doing those things the Lord has asked us to do? Have I been overtaken by events, do I still wake up at night to pray?

Do I still take up individual fasts or do I only fast when a general fast is called in Church? Do I still pray for my brother or sister? Is the Church (body of Christ) still your concern? Your answer to these question will let you know if you are in a plain or not, it will let you know if you have settled there or if you about to settle there. The things you used to do before if you find your self no longer doing them, beware, you have probably come into a plane experience. The plane experience creeps upon you subtly, some times we enter, it by making deliberate choices, but know this today brethren; THE PLANE EXPERIENCE IS NOT GODS WILL FOR YOU. In the plain, facilities and luxuries abound for your enjoyment but God forbid Brethren that we dwell in the plane. God’s desire is that we remain on the mountain top.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLANE

The plane is usually attractive to the flesh, because it is in the plane that you can easily find alternatives to God’s directives and counsel. These alternatives usually come subtly and you may not even know them. They may look and sound genuine but there are counterfeit. God had an original plan (the mountain) for us but Satan comes with the counterfeit (the plane). Let us examine the activities of the men in the book of Genesis

Gen 11v 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

God’s intention was that man should build with stone hewed out from the mountains, but when these men gathered in the plane instead of using stone to build they used thoroughly burnt brick. No matter how long you burn brick it can not be as good as stone. Under high pressure, brick will break but not so with stone. This is a good illustration of the counterfeit that you find in the plane. When the temple was built in Jerusalem stone was used not burnt brick. It was not that the technology of using burnt brick was not available at that time, but God’s instruction was “use stones”.  That was God’s standard.

Another point worthy of note here is that instead of mortar they used slime. God’s standard was clear but in the plane slime was offered in place of mortar. When you look at the finished product we see clearly that one is built to stand the test of time while the other can not stand under pressure.

REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE PLANE

We also find something contrary as we examine the possible reasons why men prefer the plane. In Genesis, one of their reasons were:

1. To reach heaven through their own means. This is the problem of religion even today, man wants to reach God through his own means, through their own ways.
2. Make a name for themselves, to please themselves and not to glorify God. That which men glory in is     condemned by God. So if we want to glorify God, we must build according to pattern, we must walk in     obedience, we must do it as God says we should do.

DANGER OF THE PLANE

It is a place where men fall easily with a tendency to do things not to glorify God, but to glorify self. It is a place where men use the good that God has given them to feed their lust. It is a place of complacency. It is a place that is susceptible to attack. It is a place where you can easily be overcome. It is a place that will certainly be destroyed. It is a place that is already under God’s judgment. In Gen 14 v 12 we read an account of Lot who suffered many bad experiences because he decided to choose the plane and from his lineage came incest. God for bid that we find ourselves in situations where iniquity is birthed through us.

WHAT ACTION SHOULD WE TAKE WHEN WE FIND OURSELVES IN THE PLANE

Leave the plain immediately. That is the solution. If you find it difficult to do, cry out to God, because if you do not leave, you face the risk of death. God will not lower His standards. As long as you are a child of God, walking in the light of Christ, God will shatter any thing in your life that is not built according to pattern. God has His own standards and yardsticks, so even child of God should build according to God’s standard, avoid the plane

HOW TO AVOID THE PLANE

1. Be watchful and prayerful for these are perilous times.
2. Be constantly on the watch, any time you notice a drop or drift in your spiritual level, cry out to God to      restore you immediately and be in readiness to appraise your self constantly. We need to be in the habit of judging our self so that are may not be judged.
3. Be constantly ready to move forward. We are not of them who draw back but we believe to the saving of our souls. The Lord has no pleasure on them that put their hands to the plough and then draw back.
4. Have faith in God.                                                     

PAYS TO REMEMBER…

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

Ge 11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. v2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east (the presence of God) that they found a plain (a place of comfort, ease) in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. v 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

v 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

v 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

Ge 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

Ge 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.