Meeting: Season of the Spirit (Day 5)
Date: 2 March, 2025
Message: Living In Two Worlds
Minister: Pastor Moses Omokhafe.
A man can play church but yet be below the will of God. If we come to understand our Lord Jesus Christ and the work God did in Him, this gives us a better understanding of our enemy and the wisdom to escape every snare of the enemy. One of the things that God is doing is raising His people; this activity of raising brings a lot of warfare. To raise a people is not a walk in the park. God is very intentional because He is raising us out of a miry clay. The problem is that somewhere we have cut covenants with the things of the enemy in our soul. To bring us out of this place, a lot of resources have to be given.
The problem is not that Satan is too strong for God but because the people God wants to save are people who have already cut a covenant with the enemy which reflects in our way of life and to bring us out of there, God has to bring something greater and higher. Though there are contentions, God is determined and He is succeeding in His desire to raise a people.
We must know that we are pilgrims. To be a pilgrim means to not be dwelling in a permanent abode. To us, it means that we don’t belong here, that is, to this present civilization. We are an alien (Phil. 3:20, 1 Pet. 2:11). This must be the mindset we have if we want to come to the understanding of the True God and Eternal life.
(1 Pet. 2:10-12) – “Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Pilgrims are called out ones or the people of God. They are imperfect men and women that God wants to raise out of fleshly lusts. These fleshly lusts are borne out of our agreement with death which must be disannulled – “Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:” (Isa. 28:15).
Every word and revelation is to disconnect from our agreements, they are resources for us to war against fleshly lusts. The reason we forget what we are being taught is because we have not done anything with the word received, that is, some agreements have not been broken. What Satan did is an everlasting work and that is why some people can die, even as Christians, without no clue about the provisions of God due to the work Satan did in men. We should give God thanks for sending us to a church that gives wholesome words that sets us free.
(Heb. 11:13-14) – “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.”
The story in Hebrews 11 is that of patriarchs (men and women who walked with God) and the victory they came into. In (vs 40), we see that these all died in faith yet didn’t receive the promise and that’s because Jesus had not yet come. The provision to perfect them must be through Jesus and they without us should not be made perfect. But to think about it, these men (men like Abraham, Moses, David etc.) did exploits in their time but still need us to finish well to be made perfect. That is why they are a cloud of witnesses to watch our steps. There is a need for us to ask ourselves, we who are being waited upon, are we doing well? We should know that what is at stake is more than just doing or playing church.
These men had a walk with God and were fully persuaded of the promise but because of us did not receive the promise, making us wonder what manner of persons we ought to be. What these men saw afar off is being brought closer to us in our generation — that’s why we are a blessed generation. We are the finishing generation, the generation for the end and we are standing up on the blood and labour of many pilgrims.
Pilgrims are men that see beyond the present. We must see afar off and not this present. We need to see another city. A pilgrim must have a different mindset concerning the present, if not, we’ll have occasion to be persuaded to return. “To see afar off” is a kind of understanding. Understanding is not being able to preach the message but being able to see what manner of man we ought to be. The goal of the message of the word of righteousness is to make us see afar off and to become a manner of man for the world to come. We must have the capacity right now not later to begin to think of that place – the world to come.
There is a need for mindfulness of the message. It should not only be on Sundays that we are mindful of the message. To be mindful is not to be reading your Bible or praying the whole day only but much more to be mindful of our heart, of our actions, of others. This person who is mindful has more focus of being a man of peace. He always checks his heart. Questions like – Why did I do this? Why am I doing this?. These are questions he is constantly asking himself.
To be able to apologise when the Spirit requires you to show you’re being mindful. It shows that you want to be a better person. To be mindful is to be conscious of your everyday conversation. To live like this is to be a pilgrim. So instead of getting angry at the message when you don’t understand, pray for your heart and for understanding. This is what makes you persuaded of the journey.
There is a need for persuasion of the salvation of our soul that God is intent on, of the hope of the gospel that He is painting to us. We must come to the full assurance of our faith if not we will eventually derail. If we’re not persuaded of this journey (growing up into the head), scoffers will tell you about another gospel and you will believe — because we are at the time and season when scoffers will come. We need persuasion to not derail from the path. To be fully assured is not to be confessing that we are pilgrims but it is more by our conversation/ manner of life.
For example, monks believe that for you to seek perfection, you must be separated from the earth i.e be on the mountain for a long while and do all sorts of works but we can’t become perfect by our strength.
To be made perfect does not warrant being out of the earth or detaching from associating with people. It is being detached from things we use. It is being able to use things and not abuse them. Abuse means abnormal use of things.
God is not asking us to detach from the earth as the monks do. He wants us to get married, run businesses, to use technology, cars, clothes, and the fine things of life as He provides them without abusing it. He wants us to master the two worlds (this present & the world to come which is already being spoken to us). See Jesus for example, He was a carpenter yet He was seeking another country. We need this world to culture the future. For example, if we are not offended here, we will not have any occasion to exercise forgiveness. It’s just like a nursery where little plants are nurtured before being transferred to a plantation. The nursery is not a permanent location for the plants however in the nursery, a lot has to be done: controlling the sunlight, the atmosphere, water and all. The sense behind the nursery is to give them stability for their real destination. It is where plants are prepared to survive for their real destination. The planting of the Lord ought to become trees of righteousness. We are being temporarily planted. Our destination is not this place.
Our purpose for wanting to live long should not be for pursuing vanities. Season of the Spirit brings a lot of resources to disconnect our mind from earthly pursuits for something much higher. May God give us wisdom on how to live there and live here. (John 14:3) – “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” – Our going to where Jesus is is conditional. It is “may”
(Heb. 11:15-16) God is taking us to a place where He will not be ashamed to be called our God. In this community, God is raining down materials for a perfect building but materials don’t build themselves. A builder must build with the materials given. What are we seeing when materials are being given? Our ability to see well will help us build according to the prototype.
Men must gather materials and begin to build. Our ministers will not build for us; they are only distributors of raw materials.
During the course of this meeting, many of us might have had personal encounters and maybe experienced some supernatural occurrences but those are not the actual materials for building. We must build according to the image of the Son that we saw on the mountain. Building must be happening wherever we find ourselves. We must not be an abandoned project. We will not stop just being the people of God but will drop all the sin and weight that easily beset us (Heb. 12:1). We will look up to the author and finisher of our faith, for He is the prototype of what we should build. May there be an ability of the Spirit to conver the words we hear into Spirit & Life (conversations of life). Amen.
THE END