Our mandate as believers is to take the Word to everyone, everywhere, anytime, in everything that we do and say. That office at work, that room at campus residence, that Tik-Tok account where you post all sorts of things, that mobile device in the hands of a child of GOD, that is your pulpit! You do not need to stand in front of a church congregation to minister. You can reach thousands by just using your cellphone to minister. The Kingdom of GOD is not just about old men in suits standing at the pulpit. As children of GOD, born-again of the Holy Spirit to do the will of GOD, wherever we find ourselves, that is the pulpit. And whether you know it or not, the glory of GOD is upon you, the light that it carries is upon you, YOU ARE A MINISTRY. We are called out of our slumber and comfort zones, to arise and bring the glory and the light that GOD has placed in us to every space, situation, and time we are placed into and divinely assigned unto.
In Isaiah 60:1-3, the Prophet Isaiah, chosen by GOD Himself to speak GOD’s Words, writes of a time when darkness covers the earth, a time when deep thick darkness covers the people on the earth, and in that time you and I will be called (are called) to arise, to ascend and to shine because— (i) the LORD rises in us; (ii) the glory of the LORD appears over us; (iii) the light of GOD shines in us; and (iv) people and leaders of the world will be drawn to the light in us. In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus takes Isaiah’s prophesy further when He says you and I are— (i) the light of the world; (ii) like a city built on a hill, we cannot be hidden; (iii) like a lamp that is lit and placed on a lampstand, we are meant to give light to everyone; (iv) we must let our light, good deeds and good morals shine openly, in front of others, so that others will praise GOD. The significant effect of being born-again, which is revealed by Isaiah and Jesus, is that— We cannot be believers in secret; There is no hiding that glorious holy light that is of GOD in us; There is no playing small. Believers are the light of the world, The Called Of The LORD, Called To Arise!
Looking at the times that we live in — the atrocities that happen in our communities and the dominions of darkness rampantly institutionalized in its various forms in particular — it is infinitely evident that we are living in the times spoken of by Prophet Isaiah, times of deep darkness covering the earth and people. According to Scripture, as the glorious light of GOD in the world, our presence is enough to completely disperse any darkness that seeks to dominate wherever we are, but only if we arise and shine, only if we rise up, take our place in the world and make the darkness give way to the light. Now is the time to be unapologetically bold about our faith as born-again believers, despite the worldly criticism, mockery, and scorn of our forthright expressions of the faith. Do not let the enemy fool you or shame you into thinking that our faith is repugnant. The truth of the matter is that the light within you attracts people to you, believers and non-believers alike; People are drawn to you find out what it is about you that makes them want to know you, and this is when you will minister to them. This is how souls will get saved.
When GOD called Isaiah into prophetic ministry, GOD appeared to Isaiah seated on a throne, the train of His robe filled the temple, seraphim (angels) were flying above Him singing praises to Him, the voices of the angels made the temple doorposts and thresholds shake, and the temple filled with smoke. Isaiah, realizing that he was looking at and was in the presence of the LORD, cried out that he was doomed as a sinful man, who has tainted words, who lives amongst people who speak tainted words. But one of the angels flew to Isaiah holding a burning coal. The angel placed the hot coal against Isaiah’s lips saying, ‘See this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for and forgiven’. —Isaiah 6:1-7 NKJV/TPT/AMP. And very much like Isaiah, all our iniquity, sin, wickedness, injustices, wrongdoing, and guilt is taken away, atoned for, and forgiven by the blood of Jesus the minute we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
Once called and chosen by GOD Isaiah never hesitated to raise his hand and offer himself up to do GOD’s bidding when GOD asked, ‘Whom shall I send?’—Isaiah 6:8. Believers are soldiers in the army of GOD, who should never shy away from raising their hand for GOD to send into the world. GOD will send us to places, situations, and people proudly cloaked in thick darkness. The darkness will mock and ridicule you, and make you question if you are even qualified to take it on in the first place; And the darkness is never what, who, or where we imagine it would be. Not only that, when we think about people who should be sent or who have the calling of GOD, we always have an image in mind of what this person looks like and how he/she sounds, and we never think it is us, when in fact it is us. We believe in Christ, we go to church, we pray, we worship but when GOD says, ‘whom shall I send?’, do we go forth? are we sent?
Last week in Luke 18:22 we read Jesus saying, ‘Follow Me’, but ‘follow Him where?’, He does not say. When you give your life over to Christ and choose to follow Him, nobody prepares you for the fact that at some point you may need to go into the darkness for Him, with Him. Nobody asks you if you would want to go into the darkness for Him, with Him. And in all honesty, this never comes up because, for as long as you are in true fellowship with Christ (which is the whole point of being born-again), the existence of darkness is of no consequence to you for you are the light of the world and you were called to be the light in the darkness! Everything, wilderness, hardship, violation, situation, and darkness that GOD allows us to go through is never about us, but it is our ministry. When we are in Christ, following Christ, GOD will use our experiences to minister to others. Your testimony could one day save someone and lead them to salvation; And this will be how your light overcomes darkness. This is the ministry.
When we were called it ceased to be about us; We need to make it through that hard-lived experience for the benefit of someone else out there. Someone is watching you go through that painful, humiliating experience, and it is ministering to them. It is never about us. This is the ministry. This is the Church. Right here, right now, your life and walk of faith as a child of GOD is the ministry. The Bible is full of men and women of GOD who did incredible things for the Kingdom and for GOD in the midst of deep darkness, and today we look at some of the works of Nehemiah, Elijah, and Jehu. Nehemiah was a Judean in exile and in the service of King Artaxerxes (the Persian King) as a cupbearer. Elijah was the prophet in Israel during the time of King Ahab and Jezebel. Jehu was anointed as king to rule Israel after Ahab and it was also prophesied that Jehu would be one of those who bring an end to the house of Ahab and Baal worship in Israel.
While in exile, serving as a cupbearer for the Persian King, Nehemiah found out that Jerusalem had been pillaged, its walls torn down and its gates destroyed by fire, and he was deeply saddened; He went into mourning, weeping, fasting, and praying to GOD for many days; [Nehemiah 1:1-4]. Before asking the king for permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls, Nehemiah prayed to GOD and GOD granted his request; GOD’s favor went ahead and Nehemiah found favor with the king; The king gave Nehemiah permission to return to Jerusalem, noting that Nehemiah expressly asked to be sent to Jerusalem to rebuild it; [Nehemiah 2:1-5]. As The Called Of GOD, we are called to pray and fast against the deep thick darkness taking over our communities. Know this—whenever you are sent by GOD, GOD has found favor in you and has armed you with the grace of light to overcome the darkness. So arise saints. Stand in prayer and supplication. Intercede. Release from the clutches of darkness and rebuild in the light.
Now King Ahab was married to Jezebel and together they perverted Israel with the idolatrous worship of Baal; They killed all the prophets of GOD except for Prophet Elijah. Ahab did more to provoke GOD to anger and courted the wrath of GOD, more than any other king of Israel ever did before him. Darkness ruled the land because satan had his couple on the throne. But the light of GOD walked the land dispelling the darkness because GOD had Elijah in the field, working miracles and leading revival for those repenting from Baal-worship. Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal at Mt Carmel and had them killed [1 Kings 18:16-40]. In 1 Kings 19:15-17 we read how GOD gives a Word to Elijah, telling him to anoint Jehu as king of Israel, Hazael as king of Syria, and Elisha as prophet in Elija’s place, then GOD says that these three men will annihilate Baal worship. The prophetic Word told in 1 Kings 19:17, read with 1 Kings 21:19, 21, 23-24 and 2 Kings 9:7-8, 10, is clear that retribution would be served on those who worshipped Baal, including the house of Ahab, one way or another.
Before his reign as king, Jehu was a commander in the army of King Ahab. In 2 Kings 9:4-10, we read how Jehu is anointed as king of Israel and given his first orders of business; Jehu was to erase the house of Ahab from the face of the earth, cut off all males born of Ahab from Israel, and kill Jezebel. The Word of GOD as told in Scripture was final, there was nothing to unpack. Prophet Elisha’s servant did not stand around and answer questions about the what’s, when’s and how’s of it all; He anointed, said the Word, and left. The Word was now left with Jehu to fulfill. Jehu springs into action; Jehu was anointed and appointed for the tasks at hand, and he rose to the occasion. It was neither his own power nor his own authority that would achieve the impossible, it would be GOD. Jehu knew this and thus had no qualms and wasted no time showing up for the task. So even when we are heading into or going through our deep thick darkness, we must remember that we are anointed and appointed for it, it is part of the journey, it is part of the purpose.
We see the prophetic Word of GOD fulfilled through Nehemiah, Elijah, and Jehu. GOD is raising a generation, and every generation that comes needs to do better than the previous one. If the previous generation laid a foundation, this generation is raised up to build on that foundation and succeed where the previous one did not succeed. When Jehu came along, Elijah had already started dismantling Baal worship in Israel; Jehu stepped onto the scene and took things to the next level. If we get no other take away from 2 Kings 10:30, let us see that like Jehu, we are called to rise up and conquer certain battles so that our descendants do not have to fight them. However, when you are called to rise up and you do not arise, you best believe, GOD will raise up others to fulfill His Word. Joshua and Caleb were sent, they looked at the land and the facts of the situation, and still saw only GOD’s promises fulfilled; They paid no mind to the darkness they would need to cross to possess the promises because they were sent into the situation by GOD and could only see GOD conquering the situation;[ —Numbers 14:6-9, 20].
Like Joshua and Caleb, we too should rejoice in excitement and not fear the darkness because where there is GOD there is light, and where there is light, the darkness flees. When you can see GOD in whatever situation you are facing, know that you have the spirit of GOD in you, you are truly sent by GOD into it, and GOD will conquer it. We are sent, anointed, and appointed by GOD to do His will, to fulfill His Word, and it is written that ‘creation is waiting for a revealing’ [—Romans 8:9]. So wherever you are, be revealed. Be revealed at those family functions, in the workplace, at school, in those boardrooms, on your social media platforms. Wherever you set foot, that is your pulpit. We have been called into this battle, which is not about you or me but is about the salvation of nations. So— Arise saints! Shine saints!
The significant effect of being born-again, which is revealed by Isaiah and Jesus, is that— We cannot be believers in secret; There is no hiding that glorious holy light that is of GOD in us; There is no playing small. Believers are the light of the world, The Called Of The LORD, Called To Arise!
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