This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. [Ps. 24:6].
I write primarily to the young Christians of this generation and also to those who are young at heart and to everyone that believe this is for you. You can call this anything but I believe this is a wake up call. This is to reignite the hearts of those (I speak also to myself) out there who are meant to be the burning ones but have died out. This is a call to the torchbearers of Christ who are to be an epitome of His life and truth to our generation, Arise! God is waging His war against the systems of the world which is evil and even we the children, the young Christians are a part of this war. A close look at the Scriptures and you will see that Babylon is what was often used to depict the system of this world. Babylon refers to the way the Church operates outside the will of Christ in this system of the world. Babylon, more emphatically typifies many things, all of which are still models of the system of the world. It typifies, man made religious system, killing of the saints, confusion and religious disorder, denominationalism, religion of gain (self-centered gospel) and many more which all still come down to a wrongly Church. It is quite painful how much of the world is entered the Church today. We this generation have lost complete sight of the true God and His ways. It really hurts to see the Church has lost focus of its head, Christ, and the Holy Spirit is now a backstage person. The fire of the burning ones is being fanned out as the Holy Spirit is being taken off scene and the torchbearers are now few! Many have chosen the way of the world and have conformed their Christian lives to fit their comfort and all they do is mere religion! I must say, I just can’t find words to pour out these burdens in my heart. O how much more the burdens of the Lord’s heart. The Lord us grieved at the way His bride, the Church, is taking and He is calling out to as many hearts that will hear this. Like I said, this is a wake up call and it goes out particularly to the young Christians especially out there from the Lord.
This is crucial and of very much importance. Please no matter how long this looks, give time to read and digest. Writing this is like trying to immerse many truths into one write up or if you want to call it a sermon or an admonition. It is a very trying and great task that is set before me, writing to my generation. I must say that I am going through a lot of doubts, depression, fear, uncertainty and some more problems enough to stop me from writing this but by the grace God is giving me, I am strengthened to write this to you all. I recall countless attacks by the enemy both physical and spiritual that affected and are affecting me but through it all, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ [Phil. 4:13]. The problems of engaging the Ups and Downs of the world day after dayand at the same time a feeling of worthlessness and unworthiness to write which will not triumph over me in Christ are the greatest problems I yet face. But as Christ has said, I will build my Church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [Matt. 16:18b].
Do you think you too young to hear and answer to this call. God is calling all His young ones out there and the young at heart to hear this His cry. I pray this generation will hear the voice of its maker. Do not let society and the enemy deceive you. You can carry that great life of Christ as young as you are! In this wicked generation I believe God is raising sons and daughters to shine His light to the rest. As it is written in Phil. 2:14-16a, Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life… We must understand by the Spirit the depth of this Scripture. I tremble at the sight of this Scripture because of the gravity and importance of the commission laid on us at a time like this. God is already calling out those who would reflect to the rest, His nature and glory because this the light so much that when the world see us, the glory of God is written all over us. This is where God is leading us; to a point people no longer see children but they see God in us and through us. Another Scripture I would like drop in your mind is Jer. 51:11, make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the king of Medes: for His device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His temple. From the Scripture above I would like to lay out some things. God is prepared to destroy Babylon in His Church. He is ready to purify His bride of the wickedness and way of the world which has crept into her. And he has requested for His arrows to do this work. Now turn to Ps. 127:4, Like arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior, so are children of ones youth.
Now we can see and understand fully that arrow typify children in the Bible. He is set to cleanse the Church of her own man made ways and He is calling out the young Christians out there to begin to arise. So if you have always thought you are too young to bear the cause of Christ, think again. You are never too young to carry the glory of God. Moreover almost all the Christians who served God to a very great extent started out from their very young days. It is a very great privilege to able to serve the Lord from a young age. It is one of the greatest things that could happen to a heart willing to follow and serve the Lord. Like the Bible says, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. [Eccl. 12:1]. So to you who the Lord is nudging as you are reading this, arise and seek the Lord with the strength of your youth that you may shine out as the burning ones! One thing that scares the devil in any generation is when he sees the young ones serving Christ with all that they have and are.
Now I want to shed light on something I like to call ‘The world, the Church and the hope.’ Before I start, I pray we don’t grow weary or dull of hearing. What I am about to expound on shows so much problems and darkness in the times we are in that have covered the earth and almost swallowed up the hope we have but as a friend of mine rightly said, ‘It is an honour to be born in this generation, where much evil is being perpetrated, to serve Christ because even as at now when darkness is at its peak, the Light will shine brightest.’ So we have this hope as an anchor for our soul, that as God has promised, the end will be greater than the beginning.
17And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants, and on my hand-maidens I will, in those days, pour out of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come. 21 And it shall come to pass, that whoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved. [Acts. 2:17-21].
Permit me to first say this, time is running out and we have such a short window of time. God is set to purify to Himself a bride which would be in similitude to Him for His coming. Time is something we must be redeeming now as the scripture says, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. [Eph. 5:15-16]. The coming of the Lord is no longer far and we must be wise. And let me say we young ones are part of His bride He is building up. The Lord is set to bring out a remnant and gather unto Himself a bride blameless, spotless and holy. And I John saw a holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me saying, come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. [Rev. 21: 2,9]. God is preparing a people but there is a great anguish and burden in His heart. The world has come into the Church and defiled His bride. Babylon has mixed with His bride and spotted her. Yet God is building on and at a very fast pace and we must pursue and meet up. I for one must confess, the world is very wicked and evil now. There has mot been any other generation in which the world has been this terrible. I speak out of experience myself some of which I will mention later on. The world has crept into the Jerusalem both in our hearts and the Church. I am most times baffled at how the world could be so wicked. When I say wicked I mean acts in which the Lord and His ways are not considered (natures outside the natures of God) [Ps. 10:4]. Whenever I read the book of Genesis 6 before now, during Noah’s time, I always concluded the world then must has been very wicked but of lately I have come to see that the wickedness of this generation has outgrown theirs. This is shown in Romans 1:18-32,
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. 19 Because that which may be known of God, is manifest in them; for God hath shown it to them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools: 23 And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping animals. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up to vile affections. For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one towards another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventers of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they who commit such things are worthy of death; not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Hmm! Packed Scripture! As I scribbled down this Scripture, I saw a template that reflects the world. It was like looking at the world through a mirror. The Bible is complete, you know! This verses show truly how wicked and terrible the world has grown. Do you want to talk of LGBT (Lesbianism, Gay and Bisexual Transgender) rights? Take a look at verses 26-27. Or do you want to talk about the way this generation is acting up toward the things of God? Check verse 28. You know someone once asked what I thought was wrong with this generation because it has lost the manifest presence of the Lord and His Spirit. I didn’t know then but now I do. Take a look at verse 28b and you will see why, for a generation that has refused to know and accept God as its Lord, He gave such over to a reprobate (debased) mind to work inconvenient (abominable) things. Take a look at the world and then ponder on this Scripture, you will see what I mean. The wickedness in the hearts of many is multiplying day by day and this is evident in the young ones of this age especially. Let me state here a reason why things are turning out the way they are. There is a void in the hearts of as many that are not walking with the Lord because we are made for Him. Those who don’t walk with Him turn to the evil one to fill this void. This is why so many things are idolized today other than Christ. Yet people fail to recognize that only the Lord can truly occupy that vacuum. How can a people be righteous when all they see is evil! When all they turn is not according to the will of God. This is a great mistake of this age. How can the coming generations know good when evil is covering most hearts? But God be thanked that He will always keep His remnant. I also want to lay emphasis on the last verse which is rampant among many young ones. Why should the heart choose evil even when righteousness is present? That verse makes it clear that they know right and the punishment of wrong doing but willingly choose to go on the unrighteous path. Not only that but they also have full pleasure in living this way. How can a people be this confused! Well I will tell you how which many are spiritual blind to…’THE GOD OF THIS AGE.’
3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose mind the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. [2Cor. 4:3-4].
As Christians on of the greatest gift to have, if not the greatest is discernment. It is one thing to fight a battle against the enemy with understanding and it is another thing to fight ignorantly and blindly. I speak the following words out of personal experiences and spiritual insights. The god of this age has blinded this generation. He has crept in slowly and devoured many. The god of this age is terrible and vicious. If you are a Christian who wants to serve God and you are still with the mind of a toddler, it is time to awake. A very crucial battle is ongoing. Let me break it down incase you don’t still get me. Do you ever wonder why sins sprout everyday? This is the job of the god of this age. The devil no longer uses compulsorily evident sins to draw away the heart of man from God. If murder, adultery, fornication, drunkenness and others evident sins are what your heart convicts you of then there is a big problem because with little things like not speaking according to the Lord’s will, driving recklessly, sitting in front of your television at every given opportunity, songs that don’t edify spiritually and many other things we don’t usually count as sin, the devil is hindering many. You may still be serving and following hard after God but these things hinder spiritual growth. This is the power of the god of this age. The devil is no longer looking to draw you out of the Christian way completely he just seeks to neutralize you and make complacency set in. So while many think they are heading the way the Lord wants them to they fail to understand they are under oppressions limit them from the expected end Christ has in His mind. This is why the little foxes must be taken away as Song of S. 2:15 says, Take for us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. If we do not understand this concept, we can’t journey far with the Lord. Also from the verse 3 we see that he blinded the hearts of men from deciphering the truth of the gospel. A heart that is not opened up to receive the truth of Christ that it may have life. This is something we must be open to the Holy Spirit to keep revealing to us the areas in our lives we have opened up the door to this god. Not only these though, he, the god of this age, has also made some sins norms and acceptable among many all in the name of Western Culture. This has crept from the so called advanced nation, the US especially, to the other nations of the earth. People, old and young, now do wrong and abominable things conveniently and say it is civilization. A wave of new culture is sweeping through the earth which the god of this age has sent out through vessels and mediums available to him. We have now fallen victim in this generation of what the prophet Isaiah described in Isaiah 5:20, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! This is an hindrance to many knowing Christ in this generation. I remember having classmates who justified cheating in an exam by saying they didn’t want to fail and a load of other excuse. Some of them even said that it was the norm of society to cheat and anyone who exposed them to authority was wicked and wanted to their failure. But you see they were fallen victim of this god in that they didn’t find anything wrong with cheating because the Bible didn’t clearly say, ‘thou shalt not cheat’ or because the society had conformed to a terrible things and they were blind to see this fact. I can recollect that after this series of events and the exams were finished, some went ahead to give thanks to God for seeing them through and then and there they did two things which are complete opposites. God can never hear such thanks! I can also recall my years when I chose to sit at the front of the television set most times and give my conscience excuses that I was right doing that even though I knew there was a better way. It was a terrible veil over my heart and my spirit man so much so that it affected my way of life until the Lord took me to the point where I would despise doing so and find pleasure in only one thing, Him. I wish I could begin to narrate fully the terrible effect the media is having on the minds and our perception of the things of life. O, only if God will open the eyes of every young heart to see that our hearts are tender and are still in their formative years and it takes just a little drop of information, be it visual, audio or even audio-visual, to change one’s view on an issue or the world at large. Wake up burning one and stop giving your hearts to the false gods of this world. The god of this age not only functions alone but patterns with demons and other principalities to bend the hearts of men. Let’s take for example strife. Strife is a demonic spirit which is very evident to many mostly through disobedience to authority and rebellion. But when the god of this age steps in perspective about this same strife changes. A parents might call his or her child and the child acts up by frowning or just grumbling, at that moment in time, strife has set in and sown a seed which will keep growing if it remains unnoticed. So many other sins like this the god of the age blinds many from seeing till it comes in its full manifestation after weeks or months or even years. The way the god of this age operates varies from generation to generation. He adapts to the enlightenment of a particular generation and feeds them with a modified version of evil he fed their fathers.
This is why Jesus came, He did tell the people that murder was when you killed your neighbor and lust is when you commit adultery or fornication but He told them also that when you conceive thoughts of these things in your mind it is also sin. He came warning them of how the god of the age was ruling in their lives in ways different from the ones they had known by the law of the old testament. The little things we do count. It is very important that we don’t try to check our lives by ourselves because on the Holy Spirit can reveal where the power of the god of the age is at work in our lives. This is what I like to call ‘the thin veil of flesh.’ The burning ones must set their hearts to overcome all these wiles of the devil because only then can we shine the light of Christ to other, showing them the true path. I recall a brother’s vision of the youths where he saw they were tied upside down on a tree on the outskirts of a city. In the scripture when people are bent upside down it typifies they are been fed the knowledge of the Grecians and it is evident that when the youths of any nation or city are captured, then there is no hope for a future. It is also clear that being bent upside down, they won’t have a clear vision of things. As I sat to ponder on this revelation the understanding was given clearly. Whenever people are bent upside down in the Scripture it typifies they are being fed the knowledge of Greece (carnal knowledge) being taught by virtue of education and society (not that earthly knowledge is not good but there must be a continually submission of everything learnt at the feet of Christ which most don’t do). This vision is just an evidence of how the evil one has captured the minds of the young one and has blurred our perspective on things. The carnal knowledge acquired has also affected the way we judge things and most no longer depend on spiritual discernment. Many now have answer for everything and have opinion for every issue which most times are not of God and all these are barriers unknown to our generation that the enemy has set as covering casts. This is a time to really be sensitive to Holy Spirit to what we let into our minds and heart. Intellect can really be a great hindrance to following God. And from all this has sprouted a religious everywhere. Most believe they serve God, even when do not serve him according to His will, and they tell you with all confidence they are serving God. If we begin to ask the Lord to try our hearts and many will see they have been serving themselves; they will see that what they had built up and they thought it was gold was just hay and stubble. It is time to ask ourselves hard questions. Spiritual blindness is the least most recognized problem that comes upon a person. It takes a very great measure of humility to overcome because it requires you being ready to submit for people with true spiritual insight to guide you. Please let us be open to the right relationship that can keep us from all these blindness. It truly takes two to tango in this case also. We must lay our lives open to those the Lord sends as spiritual guides over us. It is very important to have someone in the spiritual realm that can give account over you and keep you. On of the greatest mistake John Alexander Dowie made in his life that cost him a lot in his walk with God was his unwillingness to key in to a relationship God had made way for. He refused to create a relationship with Marie Etherwood which affected to a very great extent even to his ministry. So please this is a time and a season to be open to the Holy Spirit for directions on all the issues of life even on our friendships. No part or aspect should be big for us to lay at His feet. Let not this blindness continue to destroy and limit us even in this moment as the truth is being revealed. As it is written, 7 Wherefore (as the Holy Spirit saith, To-day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: [Heb. 3: 7-8]. Really it is time for the Lord’s true servants to rise up and take their place no matter the cost. The cost cannot be compared to the cause and glory. Really we must be different. We must defy all odds, all expectations. We must defy the logic of human beings, the so called civilization and culture of men, the norms till the whole world sees that we carry something different. The world must come to the realization that what we carry, Christ, is the true substance and the only way to life. We must get to the point where Zech. 8:23 which says, Thus saith the LORD of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men out of all languages of the nations, shall take hold, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you, becomes or own testimony. Where the nations of the earth will come to seek God from us. This is the life of the true burning ones and this is the hope we have. This is the hope for the Church even amidst this terrible wickedness; that God has left a people who will carry His great light in darkness and continue to shine forth His life and nature; that won’t compromise; that irrespective of what others say or what society tells them they will only choose the way of Christ be it in their schools or place of work or any of the spheres of life. This is a kind of remnant the Lord is raising, people who will be willing to carry His end time glory and at the same time be willing to pay the price. And the price is very great because the glory is very great also; God’s end time glory is the greatest yet to be seen but He is looking for the open vessels who not only long for the glory but are ready to take up their cross and follow Him. Brethren, it is not a time to just be religious and a church goer. It is time to ask yourself if you will be willing to be amongst the burning ones and torchbearers. It is time to arise and do what we were called to do because is building a people.
And if we go back in history to really study the Church it is then we would know the kind of people God is building. Knowledge acquired by the guidance of the Holy Spirit is not something to lack at this point in time. Two Scriptures to show this are Hos. 4:6, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children and Mal. 2:7, For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. The Church from time past has always been an epitome of Christ. From the time of the apostles till now all know that Christ is her head and this is made manifest by the presence of the Holy Spirit and His guidance. The Holy Spirit guided the Apostles and the early Church in such a way that after Christ left they began to reflect the natures people had seen Christ exhibit so much so that they we called ‘Christians’. What the world saw in them was that they didn’t carry mere words but the words became the life they lived and they commanded great spiritual authority and power. Not only during the early Church though but at different points in time people have called on the name of the Lord and brought down the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit till all men saw the hand of God in the affairs of men. People who began to carry the power of God through the Holy Spirit and command realms and make known to the world that truly God is the King over all. Not this alone but when you entered the meetings of people like Kathryn Kulman, Smith Wigglesworth, Charles G. Finney and many more you just saw that the Spirit of God hovered over everywhere and all confessed God was present. I must say that God has mightily wrought wonders in the earth beyond our imagination that if we don’t read or keep knowledge we would believe it is still that measure He wants to bring down upon the earth now when He has prepared a greater one. But for this amount of power to be present they all paid the price. The Apostles paid prices even to their lives while others in the Church ages have paid on other forms through sufferings and many more. But now it’s line we are in a relay and this is anchor man’s time to run the race but he is running at a capacity that can’t end the race as expected and this is what happened to the Church today. The Church in general still believes in the capacity of what has been done and has hung around a spot for a long time. We are not running the race those in time past left for us to finish well. The Church has been watered down and what we see almost everywhere are the inventions of man and flesh and God wants to change that at this time. Men have pushed the Holy Spirit into backstage which is terrible because Christ can’t act where the Sprit is not give preeminence. People now do their own things so to say and no one longer cares what the Holy Spirit thinks and this was what gave the Church life from the beginning. This, we have to return to. Life is beyond silver and gold, it is beyond personal desires and ambitions, it is not about you or me, it is all about the Lord and if we keep failing in understanding this basic principles, we can’t rise over the darkness that engulfs the hearts of most people. I pray the Lord grants us the strength to stand above the many waters of life and just as the bible says that He would, Make us glad according to the days in which he hast afflicted us, and the years in which we have seen evil. [Ps. 90:15]. The burning ones are out there I believe, some are still lost in the world, others are gathering themselves up from the dust and the rest God has sharpened and lit to build the others. It is my earnest cry that this generation won’t fail its maker. The burning one are mostly young Christians whom God is raising. They may lack experience but the Lord is making it up with wisdom all they lack. They are the ones that have broken through the fear and doubt of this generation. They are ever available to carry the presence of God because this is the flame of the torch they are. They are those who walk closer and closer to the Lord day after day. This is their daily journey and in every movement God has started and will want to start He find them. They are more powerful in numbers because a single torch can light a room but many torches brought together will light cities, nations and the world. They are the burning ones who will set nations on their course and will turn back the hearts of many to the one true God. They are the ones whose lives shine out the glory of the Lord and stand as lights to their generations. Unity is key to everyone who wants to be a torchbearer. But in it all it is about not letting the light of Christ die out in the hearts of others because you have seen the beauty of it in your own life. I do pray we understand all the little truths shared in this short article as they are matters of life and death. After the verse 6 of Ps. 24 the next verses are verses of warfare wagging war against ancient barriers set in place. Let this battle set before us be fought with understanding not only of the present but of the past and the future. The times are here for the burning ones to shine forth. And I end with the lyrics of a song which goes thus;
We are Your burning ones,
We are consumed by You,
We set our lives apart,
We are consumed by You;
So let this love be like a fire,
Let our lives be like a flame,
Come fill our souls with Your desires,
Let our passion bring You fame.
I pray all these word do not just stop as words but they become the lives we live. A life set apart to the Lord. It is only at this we can show forth His holiness. Let this word or article go forth to those who you believe are faithful men as Paul described.
This write up is not for everyone or to be broadcasted for pleasure but let it take its place and be rooted in you and then commit the same to faithful men.
