THE TRUE VERSION OF EVENTS; THE RISEN CHRIST, THE LOST AND HIS CHURCH
I was going to write to you on something titled Comparison kills but my Spirit upturned it.
So, here we are. I want to tell you the true version of events. The part that was revealed in the midst of the whole. The whole that we would one day see.
Beloved, let me begin with….. the Despair
It was a Thursday, June the 18th, 2020. I laid on my bed devoid of sleep. I had opened my eyes to the stark reality of being without a father and closed them quickly, wishing I was in a bad dream. I closed them and prayed as I had done since that Tuesday I heard the news of my father’s passing.
“I speak life into my father’s body” I whispered with pain in my throat. My throat felt like a desert and swallowing food was difficult. I was in such deep despair. I had been thrown into a life I had never seen myself living.
I was broken but clinging to hope that God could raise my father to life. So I prayed “I speak life and warmth into my father’s body”….
Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven Gold Lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded the chest with a golden band. His Head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire…
Revelation 1: 12–14 NKJV
But Who is this Son of Man….
I heard the door open….
I saw a man walk into my room. A man clothed in white garment with the brighest smile that melted a billion cells of anxiety. My eyes remained closed but I could see every part of the room. My body laid stricken in awe under the weight of the majesty that had walked in with him.
I watched him as he crawled onto my bed with a smile full of peace. Everyday since then, I think back to how his face looked but I remember only his smile. I was terrifed by the presence but I felt peace. And as he sat with me he pulled me into his arms cradling me like a child. He called my name just the way my father would. I tried to reply but I could only mumble unintelligble words. I could hear love dripping from his voice. It felt as though, if I reached out my hand, I could actually touch it. Then he said “ ESE, WAKE UP” touching my side with fingers that were as human as my fingers.
But who was this Man?
The Road to Emmaus
“Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight”
Luke 24:31
Beloved, you would recall that from my previous post on medium, I did write that it was my father who came to me. It had to be, I thought. It had to be him. But I knew that even though he was familiar he was not my father. It could not possibly be my father’s voice. That voice was indescribable.
For two years, I thought about that encounter. Who was this man who had held me, who had smiled at me and swallowed the need to worry or grief, who sat with me in my mourning and called my name like only love could? Who was this man who seemed so familiar but I did not know him?
My answer came in September 2022. I had just concluded my midnight prayers when the encounter came to me again. I thought hard and long on it. And the Holy Spirit drew me to the passage on Peter’s restoration in John 21:15 . Where Jesus asked “Peter do you love me?”. This question was asked three times and the instruction given to me to wake up was said three times.
Same thing happened in January 2021. I had prayed for God to tell me what he wanted me to do with my life. Shortly after, I was awoken by a man who tapped my forehead three times and said “Gospel, Gospel, Gospel”.
It was as though a veil was taken off my eyes and right there I knew him.
“It was the Lord” I whispered to myself. I understood the words of Jacob more clearly in that moment “Surely, the Lord was in this place and I knew it not”. I remember sitting on my bed in tears, saying to myself over and over. “It was the Lord”
I understood then, that the Lord must first be discerned in Scripture to know him. You must know the Word to perceive him as the Son
You’re probably asking, Who are you and why did he show himself to you?
My friends,
I do not have the status of a first class citizen in my country. Neither am I the Son of a King. I have no rank. Neither do I have an ordination. If there was a word for ordinary, I would occupy the office with a smile. I am not the most beautiful nor am I the most pleasant. I am not the most sought after. I am slightly above my normal weight and I have scars on my body. I am imperfect and I hold no office of great importance. I have been a Sinner. A sinner worthy of what ever punishment could be meted out. I have lied, cheated, been disobedient to parents and authority, rebelled, coveted, walked in ungodliness. I have known the way of unrighteousness and sat in the seat of the scornful. By all definition I am the lowliest of men. I am Zaccheus, a sinner who has found mercy to be named a saint and heir in the household of God. I am a man whom the Lord has said today I will be in your house.
And on the night the veil fell off my eyes, I understood the question Why me?
I heard these words whispered into my Spirit
“The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite Spirit”
Psalms 34:18
Brethren, I do not need to remind you of the conditions of my affliction as earlier stated. I was shattered and bruised in Spirit. I recall that my Aunt had to rock me to sleep because I cried for my Father all night. My sleep hours were short and my appetite hit the lowest low.
My room was not the most extravagant room, nor was my company favourable. But this Man, called Jesus, crawled onto my bed, sat with me and comforted me.
Per adventure an Unbeliever reads this,
I want to tell you that this is who He is. The one who is willing to meet you in the lowest place you can ever be. One who is willing to sit with you and offer his hands. I beseech you to turn away from your sins and come to the only one who can save you. He is God who took on humanity and dwelt among men.
And the Father God loved the world in this way, that he lifted up his son, Jesus just like moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
He was offered as a sacrifice for your redemption. He died, he was placed in a tomb for three days and on the third day he rose so that we may live. And if you turn to him now he can save you and be Lord over your life. For we deserve the Justice of eternal separation from God but God who is rich in mercy gave us his son, the Man Jesus. And if you accept him, he will wash you clean and empower to live a life free of sin by his Spirit.
For my Brothers in Christ, in whom there is neither Jew, Greek or Gentile, nor male or female. Jesus is real. What we heard in Church about him being alive is as real as real can be. I am a witness to his resurrection. Jesus is Alive and so are all the Saints with him. He indeed died, was buried and he rose again. We must believe again for the sake of every Soul in this fallen world. Our faith is not Dead!
An eager appeal to the Church
“ESE, WAKE UP”
I realize now that I was lethargic in Spirit. I was in deep slumber. And this man of whom I speak to you about, woke me up in his mercy. It seems to me that it is not just I that needed to wake up but the whole body of Christ. The church.
For God says;
“Awake you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light”
Ephesians 5:14 NKJV
There is a plague that has fallen upon the church;
One where Fathers have traded their vision for rotten bread and sons have traded their vigour for scraps. We have folded our arms for too long but no more.
The Lord calls us, to WAKE UP. The church of Christ is part the Senate of Mount Zion but many of us are unaware.
For it reads;
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn who are registered in Heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel”
Hebrews 12:22–24 NKJV
There are days when I wonder why we say things like “ If Babalola was here…., if Idahosa was here..” and I want to ask what about now? Is the Holy Spirit not still on earth? Has his power gone dry? Why should a man travel 15 hours for his healing when the Power to heal him is inside of him? If this power that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, what is a disease?
Where is the hunger that was in you the first time you accepted him as your saviour, as your Lord? Why have we let time determine the intensity of our Faith?
What has happened to the fire that burned in you to pray?
Why have we neglected the ministry of the holy Spirit? What is this regimen of 15 mins for prayer, 10 minutes for worship? What is this religiousity? How have we found a way to exist on an operating system that only sprinkles Jesus?
Why are we so bent on being like the world? Why have our spiritual songs been replaced with carnality and why is our rejoicing devoid of agallio (Great Joy)? What does fellowship with God mean to us? God bless me with a car, house and beautiful spouse? God don’t let me die if I don’t make it? Is Jesus no longer enough for us? What has this world got to offer?
Now, this is the problem in Lethargy;
Our children will be bought and sold for Nought. The doctrine we received will be corrupted and the unaduletared gospel of our Lord will stop with us. Our fire will burn out and the reality of our faith which is supernatural and not of this world, will be snuffed out. Men will begin to believe that our Faith is a Myth.
But for Victory, even in these days of apostasy, we are more than conquerors. For Christ is rolling out a new order of revivalists. And so as conquerors we must stand.
We must stay sober and vigilant. For our enemy works tirelessly to devour anyone he finds complacent. We must resist the fiery Darts with our faith. Extinguishing his agendas in each stride.
We must be found praying at all times. For Jesus lived his life in this way. And his life is the example we pattern our lives by.
The church must return to the apostolic order. We must turn back to our first Love.
The Church must walk worthy of the calling she has received. Our days of slumbering must cease now.
We must grow restless and loose the bounds. Enough of allowing unrighteousness take the centre space in our gatherings. We must stay true to the word of truth and gird our loins for the harvest of souls. The power of God must be seen in us for by this we give testimony of the risen Christ. His Fire must burn again like the first time you believed.
I must warn us to remember the words of our Lord to the Laodiceans;
“I know all that you do, and I know that you are neither frozen in apathy nor fervent with passion. How I wish you were either one or the other! But because you are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, I am about to spit you from my mouth.”
Revelation 3:15 – 16 TPT
Finally brethren, I beseech you to guard what has been entrusted to you by God. May the Grace of our Lord Jesus continue to rest with us all. And may we know the koinonia of the Spirit once again. May we stay and may we tarry before his face like Lovers do
If the Lord tarries I will write again.
I remain your Sister,
Adonai’s Poet
