Tag Archive for: lightning

Powers of Christ Death and Resurrection

Christ’s death has spiritual significance as well as physical significance. Christ’s death and resurrection is being celebrated across the world, especially in Christendom, in the name of Easter, but very few really understood the meaning of His death and resurrection, and it physical and spiritual impart.
Let’s really look at it, is it not absurd to tell a man ‘Christ died for you’, Christ who died by crucifixion more than two thousand years ago and the man probably his lineage has never been born by then. Pray, tell, how do you think it sound? Ridiculous, I suppose!

True, Christ death is for all human beings, living by then and by now, being born into the world by then and by now, and yet to be born. It was not just death on the cross, great power of God was released at his death, powers that completely put to destruction ‘special forces of Satan that were holding them world against God; serving as barriers between Him and man, subjecting the world into occult, sin and death. The Bible said, “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land … And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people,” (27:45-53, NIV).

Closely observe this passage, “…he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.” If the death of Christ wrought such physical events, then think of what transpired in the spiritual realm at His death. Each of these has meaning, for people with understanding mind to comprehend. At His death, or the power of God that was released at his death, wrought great destruction to the powers of darkness in the celestial realms. Special forces (demons and evil spirits) of Satan the devil that enslaved the world (even though the world was ignorant of this, for this transcended far beyond the physical and natural world), serving as barriers between God Almighty and human being living by then and being born into the world by then, fell to destructive power of Christ death; as the barriers were broken. The temple curtain torn, a spiritual significant that the door to God Almighty is now open widely for every human being to come to Him with no barrier (except barriers made by humans themselves who loves sin and its vain pleasure than God and Christ). Hades and Death (the most dreadful and one of the most powerful plane in the kingdom of forces of darkness on earth and in heavenly places) lost their overwhelming powers as Christ death freed the dead that has fallen to their powers (few saints actually, with spiritual significant that death has no more hold on the saints of God, those redeemed by Christ through their willingness to come to God through Christ the only True Way). From the time of Christ death onward to our presence days and far into the future, every human beings living in the world and being born in the world is no longer under the powers of these ‘special evil forces’ (except through human-created medium through sins and evil practices) – this is part of the source of the saying that ‘Christ died for you and I’ even after more than two thousand years his crucifixion took place.

Christ Himself did not remained dead for ever, he resurrected from the dead. The scripture accounted that, “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me,” Matthew 28:1-10. Glory be to God in the Highest, Christ Himself, whose death freed the dead saints from the powers of Hades and Death, did not remained dead for ever – He broke the power of death over him!

His resurrection completed the total defeat of Satan and his forces of darkness, now there is no other name than that of Jesus Christ that one can be saved from the wrath of God Almighty coming furiously upon the sinful world. Christ Jesus is the True Way, a burden bearer and a friend of all sinners who is ever ready to share in our sorrows, problems, pains and affliction. May God the Father be praised forever for giving His only Son Jesus Christ, who has redeemed mankind back to Him; reconciling the gap sin and its powers had wrought between Him and humankind.

Samuel Akinola

Back to Authority

I hear many believers asking and diligently seeking after their calling. Today I am going to tell you what your calling in life is. “Really? You know what’s my calling? Wow, did God give you a word for me?” Yes, he did, he gave me a word from his word.

I was amazed when I read in the story of the creation of man that God didn't say let’s make man in our image to express our love, peace, joy or wisdom although I believe all these wonderful divine attributes were embedded in Adam before his fall to display it but God said let’s make man in our image after our likeness to take DOMINION! God’s first and last calling for man is to rule and reign with him. You were created by God to rule, reign and take dominion! When the enemy tempted Eve to disobey God it wasn’t really in his mind to make Eve enjoy a delicious meal of a fresh fruit salad, he was after her authority. Why would the devil go after this authority if he has one? The answer is he didn’t. He lost his authority when he fell from heaven as Adam lost it when he fell from the Garden of Eden. Man has authority because he was under the authority of God because he obeyed God but he became under the authority of the devil when he obeyed the devil. You are under the authority of whom you obey! From that moment this authority belonged to the devil and he is still operating in it in our world today. The devil is a liar and will remain but if he spoke the raw truth for once it was in his encounter with Jesus: “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'” (Luke 4:5-8). The Lord knows this and he came to restore to us the authority, how? By kneeling to the devil? Not at all, but by kneeling to the heavenly Father whom all authorities come from.

Jesus the second Adam is flawless, sinless and full of authority. But same old same old, the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness to make him sin to disarm him from his authority and what he came for, but he failed! The first Adam was tempted in the garden in a perfect place; the second Adam was tempted in the wilderness among the beasts.  The devil will tempt you both in pleasure and in pressure for one thing: your authority! Those who are in Christ are translated from the authority and the kingdom of darkness to the authority and the kingdom of light. In Christ you have authority over the devil again in your personal life, in your realms of influence and in the things of God when it comes to minister to others and release the kingdom (Acts 10:38). What gave Adam this divine authority? He was after the likeness of God. The more you are Christ like the more you are established in authority. You can’t cast the devil if you are acting like a devil, Jesus said: “I will not talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no claim on Me. [He has nothing in common with me; there is nothing in me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me.] (John 14:30)

I've always thought that since the devil took our authority the Lord definitely came to take it back from him and give it back to us. The authority that Jesus gave us as a church and individuals through his redemptive work on the cross and his resurrection isn’t from the devil but from God. “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:8-11).

In this illustration you will understand more how authority is greater than power. It takes a policeman just to raise his hand to stop a long queue of crazy beeping cars, motorcycles and camions. This is authority! This same policeman has also power (gun, physical force, backup) that he can use secondly in case his authority was disobeyed. However the devil is totally and always submissive to the name of Jesus released by faith. Jesus replied: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:18-20). Lightning is so fast, so quick and could be missed if you blink; it also speaks of instantaneous breakthroughs. Do you believe that the devil is cast in a glimpse of an eye when you subdue him in the name of Jesus? Let it be according to your faith!

Glory to God
Tony Francis

Revival Is Coming

By Patricia King

A mighty wave of the Spirit is coming to the earth soon! It is going to be amazing and will have greater influence and spread faster than any other move of the Spirit in the history of the church. This move will sweep over the nations like lightning, with a level of grace (God’s favor and divine influence) that is unprecedented, manifesting the fruit of holiness, conviction, and a great harvest of souls.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.” Titus 2:11-12 NASB

The younger generation will be transformed by this move and many miracles, signs and wonders will mark the wave. Resurrections and creative miracles will be witnessed on a regular basis, and the presence of the grace of the Lord will fall upon gatherings of believers like a cloud filled with the dew of heaven.

How do we prepare for such a move? Biblical and church history reveals an important key. Having prophetic insight into what is coming is not enough. For example, Elijah heard “the sound of the roar of a heavy shower” (1 Kings 18:41) and immediately went to the top of Mount Carmel to give birth to the vision through watching and praying (see 1 Kings 18:42-45). Birthing revival through intercession is a key. He saw the cloud manifest firsthand and experienced the heavy rain and the accompanying power of God as he outran Ahab’s chariot.

Jesus prophesied to His disciples that they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5). The disciples responded to that word by birthing it in prayer and intercession in the upper room. Like Elijah, they became partakers of the first fruit when the Spirit was poured out and three thousand were added to the church in the first day.

Prior to the Welsh revival, a strong focus of prayer prevailed. Evan Roberts, a pivotal individual in the birthing of the revival, committed himself to prayer and to gaining a more intimate relationship with God for a period of 13 years before the revival in Wales broke out. He went to prayer meetings almost every night of the week to intercede for a mighty visitation of God’s Spirit. The prayer birthed a season of personal visitation from the Lord for him and soon after the revival was launched. Even in the midst of the revival there was tremendous continued grace on prayer.

People were praying everywhere. Small prayer groups grew into large corporate gatherings of intercession at any time during the day or night. As a result of the prayer the revival spread like wildfire. Prayer meetings often lasted till the early hours of the morning and people hesitated to leave lest they miss out on a special move from the Lord.

Similar prayer focus is found prior to other outbreaks of the Spirit throughout revival history. Let’s birth revival. Let’s birth the next outpouring of the Spirit. We have the prophetic word and now we need the intercession. Let’s receive grace to come boldly before the throne and cry out to God to help us in time of need. Let’s humble ourselves before Him and ask Him to manifest His great mercy and power in this hour.

If we posture ourselves in prayer, we will see the glory of God. Revival is on its way.