The whole reason why GOD made man, and why GOD went to such great lengths to reconcile man to Himself after man had fallen from grace, is because GOD created man for Himself, to serve His purpose in accordance with His will. By way of recap, last Sunday’s teaching covered the fact that Jesus is the Light of GOD that came to save us and He is the glory that is risen upon us. Now GOD did not reduce and subject Himself to all that He has to save and redeem us, just so we can be ordinary, just so we can focus on being very good church members. Not at all. There is far more work for us to do than just mere church attendance. We were in darkness and Jesus found us, He delivered us, He redeemed us. And when we became born-again of the Spirit, there was a divine assignment placed on you and me as Believers. As we continue ventilating the commands, the prophecy, and the promises in Isaiah 60:1-3, we see another dimension to the prophecy and the promises in the Isaiah 60 verses unfold.
In Scripture, Jesus is named the brightness (radiance) of the glory of GOD, the brightness of GOD’s glory and the express image of His person, the out-raying radiance of the Divine, the Light-being reflecting GOD’s shekinah glory (a divine visitation of the presence or dwelling of the LORD)—Hebrews 1:3 NKJV/AMP/AMPC—Meaning that Jesus is the embodiment of GOD’s magnificence, character and form. According to the Word of the LORD in the prophecy of Isaiah, when we rise, we rise in the glory/light, we rise through the glory/light and we rise by reason of the glory/light. The glory of GOD will not only be risen upon us but it will be seen (visible) upon us as well. It must be seen, it should be seen, and it ought to be seen. And our brightness (our glow, our shine) comes by the Spirit that is upon us, it comes when the Spirit of the LORD rests upon us. The Word in Isaiah 60:1 says ‘shine’, a command couched in the verb (a doing word) calling on us to emit light; And when the Word in Matthew 5:16 says, ‘let your light so shine to the world’, this too is not a suggestion but a command.
Now ask yourself this: If I am commanded to shine my light, how then do I do that? The answer to this question has layers to it, the first of which is the explanation that the Spirit of GOD who dwells within should, at some point at the appointed time, arise over the Believer and manifest Himself without. The Spirit within is the Holy Spirit indwelling, working in man, transforming the inside of man to form the character of Christ inside the person. The Spirit without is the Holy Spirit working and manifesting Himself through, by, and upon man, on the outside of man. The Spirit within (Holy Spirit working in us) and the Spirit without (Holy Spirit working through us) is the two-fold work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Many Believers only focus on the first-fold of the Holy Spirit that brings about the new inner man, but this is not all there is to it. The Spirit working without is the provision or the supply of GOD’s power for the miraculous supernatural Spirit of the LORD to begin working through us, doing things that only GOD can do.
The demonstrated manifestation results in the coming forth of the Holy Spirit, power and glory, for it to be seen and experienced as the result of the working of the Spirit without and the coming of the Spirit of GOD upon us. This is the second-fold part that GOD really wants us to focus on because this is His perfect express will for us. However, so many Believers are so deceived by the devil that we do not even consider it. When we rise, we rise in the glory, we rise through the glory, we rise by reason of the glory. And the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in us, by us, through us, upon us is incumbent on and obligatory for every Believer, every child of GOD, every Christian. It is not optional or a suggestion; It is a command. But we miss this gravy train for lack of knowledge and appreciation of how truly invaluable it is to us. Notice that you and I are neither the vine nor the owner of the vine (the vine-dresser). We are the branches that ought to bear fruit. Yet branches do not bear fruit because they want to, they bear fruit because the owner of the vine and the vine cause them to bear fruit.
Fruit-bearing comes naturally to the branch. This is why Jesus says, ‘If you abide in Me (the vine), and I in you (the branch), you will bear much fruit’.—John 15:5. From this parable we learn that bearing fruit as Christians is a positional thing. It is about where we abide as Believers. It is about being in right standing in the Spirit and this requires that—(i) we be born-again; (ii) we live in the right relationship with Him and with GOD’s Word, and (iii) we be aligned with the Holy Spirit and with the Word. Christianity is a calling for Believers to come into the service of GOD, to get the will of GOD done. We are called out of the world to become born-again by the will and for the will of GOD, to be vessels and instruments for GOD to use us to serve Him in this world. We should thus live according to GOD’s will and not ours. The Scriptures refer to the sighting of the glory and of the Spirit—‘seen’ [Isaiah 60:2]; ‘sees’ [John 14:17]—And as prophesied, Holy Spirit indwelling will happen, Holy Spirit glory will come upon Believers and the glory of GOD will be seen upon Believers.
When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, He will give us the power and ability to tell people everywhere about Christ [Acts 1:8]. This glory of GOD that will come upon us will be seen upon us as the work and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. When we are born-again, the Spirit of GOD dwells in us but nobody sees anything of the indwelling. It is only when the Spirit comes upon us that anyone sees the results of the Holy Spirit in-workings. It is only when the Spirit begins to manifest Himself and His works through us that we will be compelled to do as the Spirit commands. In furtherance of the prophecy of Isaiah, John 14:16-17 and John 15:5 prescribe what man ought to do for the Spirit to be seen upon man, for man to bear the fruit of the Spirit; Acts 1:8 describes when the fruit/works of the Spirit will be seen; And Joel 2:28-29 describe how the fruit of the Spirit will work through man. All these Scriptures show us how determined GOD is for His glory to be shown upon us, and not just for us to be born-gain and be sweet little Christians that do absolutely nothing for His Kingdom.
We are not born-again just to be saved, to keep to ourselves, or to be self-confident that should anything happen we will be going to heaven. This is not the reason why GOD paid the ultimate price with the blood of His Son to save us, and to call us to Him. We are all called for a specific purpose as instruments, vessels, children, and servants of GOD. We are called to always be at the ready to do GOD’s bidding. Sadly this is not the reason why most Christians have come to GOD. Most of us are not in the Church for the will of GOD, we are here for our will, and the will of man is ‘GOD bless me’, ‘GOD give me this and that’, ‘GOD let me do this and that’. We are born of the Spirit for GOD’s will and GOD kept us in this world after we got born again because He has work for us to do. Every born-again Believer is a purchased marked vessel of GOD and for GOD, so how can it be that He cannot use us as He pleases when He pleases?
Believers you need to Arise, Shine, For Your Time Has Come, and your time for procrastination is gone, your time of rationalization and talking yourself out of doing things is gone, your time of excusing yourself is gone, your time of ignorance is gone. This is your time to step into your purpose and cause under GOD’s Kingdom, time for you to live in the purpose that you were born-again for from above. This is the time for you to find out what has the LORD been waiting on you for all this time if you do not already know. Some of us are excelling in (at) things that the LORD has not called us for. Some of us are still holding onto things that the LORD has told us ‘I used you for this, the time has passed, I want to use you for something else’, but we cannot hear Him because we do not want to let go. This is the time for every born-again Believer to be fully submitted vessels and instruments for the LORD to use and when He pleases to do His will. GOD has never stopped wanting to manifest Himself to mankind, through mankind, He only lacks a willing and fully submitted human vessel that He can use.
The moment that GOD comes upon man, He is able to manifest Himself and His Spirit through that vessel. Although the Spirit was already in Jesus as the Son of GOD, GOD still had to put an anointing with Holy Spirit and power on Jesus, smearing Him with oil in the natural form from without for Jesus to—(i) elevate and level up [Acts 10:38]; and (ii) manifest GOD’s glory in performing the miracle in Cana so that His disciples could believe in Him [John 2:11]. Apostle Paul says that, in a Believer’s quest to be Christ-like, the glory of GOD should manifest Himself and the fruit of the Spirit be seen upon every Believer at the appointed divine time of GOD for the benefit (sake) of humanity’s salvation [1 Corinthians 12:7-8]. The Spirit of GOD will be poured on every Believer [Isaiah 44:3] so that GOD can be glorified by His works is us/through us because not everyone will be led to believe by preachings. Some will need to see miracles, signs and wonders from Believers who are closest to them for them to believe the things of GOD, for them to believe in GOD [John 4:46-48].
Jesus talks about His cousin John the Baptist, a man filled with the Holy Spirit from the time he was in his mother’s womb and whom the Spirit within was manifested outwardly, and Jesus recalls how John was a burning and shining lamp [John 5:35]. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit is for every Believer. And every Believer ought to be a burning and shining lamp for others to rejoice in our light, for others to be blessed by us, for other to see and experience the LORD through us, for people to be saved. This is the will of GOD for every one of us, Believers and non-believers alike, is for us to Arise, Shine For Our Time Has Come.
In a Believer’s quest to be Christ-like, the glory of GOD should manifest Himself and the fruit of the Spirit be seen upon every Believer at the appointed divine time of GOD for the sake of humanity’s salvation. Arise, Shine, For Your Time Has Come, the time for you to step into your purpose and cause under GOD’s Kingdom, the time for you to live in the purpose that you were born-again for from above
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