HE WALKED AWAY
There will be such gross darkness on the earth like you cannot believe. I believe that there will come a time when demons will appear in churches and say, “You have been serving me all these days, so I’m declaring who I am to you. All that money you were having, who did you think it all came from? Bow to me!’’ There will be all sorts of weird things, and I’m only partially joking. But I’m so serious when I say that the spirit realm will manifest so much in the physical world.
John the Apostle said, “The reason the world doesn’t know us is because it doesn’t know Him.’’ (1 John 3:1). Don’t you think he used to perform signs, wonders, miracles, and other amazing stuff? Don’t you think he had trances, revelations, and visions? Still, they didn’t know him. He said, “The world does not know us. That’s not strange, because we look like our Master so much.”The day the Lord Jesus was arrested, the soldiers couldn’t tell the difference between Him and his disciples, so, Judas had to kiss Him to identify Him. His identification was necessary because Jesus looked like them – He didn’t wear garments that showed that He was the big man, like the Pharisees, who had wide edged ribbons on the edge of their garments, did. The more distinguished they thought they were, the flashier their garments were. Have you noticed that ordinary people don’t dress like money-driven preachers?
I once went to a boutique to buy a suit, and I saw a very shiny blue one. When I saw it, I wondered who would wear such a suit. Casually, the man at the boutique said, “That’s not a problem, a preacher will buy it.” I realized that every strange kind of dressing there was for preachers to wear. He didn’t say it with malice, he just made me know. I had felt the cloth would never be worn by anyone since it had strange colors. It had very non-somber colors.
It’s wrong for those kinds of shiny clothes to be a preacher’s official dressing. Those clothes cannot be worn to the office. Preachers are the ones who wear them. Then I realized, it’s true. When you see preachers, they look like singers. Why, as a preacher, should you look different from the people you’re leading? What are you doing? The Pharisees used to look like that. You can’t tell me that you’re not trying to be different. If not, why don’t you look like everyone else? Why are you striving so hard to be different?
Study the Pharisees, and you’ll see they loved money (Luke 16:14). The Pharisees were very proud, they loved money, honoured their traditions more than the word of God, and they hated anything that was different and did not conform to their style (Matthew 15:1-14, Matthew 23). They had issues, and they would do anything. They did what was politically relevant at the time, and they would tell the truth subjectively. So they asked Jesus “Where did you get your authority from?” and the Lord replied them, “If you’re asking me where I got mine from, where did John get his from?” (Matthew 21:23-27). They consulted, discussed among themselves, and prepared a ‘robust’ answer to give Him. Their answer showed that they are on the side of what is convenient, not on the side of the truth, and they would come out with an answer like, “We don’t know.” They weighed the truth that they wanted to present, and they didn’t fear God.
See the verses people hate: Luke 12:31-33
Verse 31 says instead, pursue His kingdom and *these things* will be given to you as well.
Which things? Food, drink and clothing.
32 and 33 says, Do not be afraid little flock for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom. *ell your possessions and give to the poor…
Now, you might be surprised that Jesus said “sell your possessions and give to the poor,” probably because you have never heard a message on this, where someone took the time to preach it. Jesus caused a lot of trouble.
…Provide yourselves purses that do not wear out, a treasure in heaven that never decreases, where no thief approaches, and no moth destroy.
About selling your possessions, it means that you can have what you have, but be so lightly attached to property that you’re willing to meet needs that are present before you.That’s all. If you carry that mindset, you will have peace. It doesn’t mean that you walk out and sell everything that you have. But if you’re together with others, and there is a need that you can meet, you meet it. An example is Barnabas — there was need for food, and he had a land. So he sold his land, took the money, and gave it, because there was a need. He wasn’t attached to it. Things matter less than people. People matter and will always matter more. This concept is very easy, just know that people matter. Always think of the people. Do not acquire and own things while people around you are hungry. Why do you have golden earrings that cost a hundred thousand Naira (N100,000) when there’s hunger around you? You should have sold it a long long time ago.
If you have never heard of such a thing, it means you have been following blind guides, leaders who can never tell you such a thing because they are covetous.
The Bible shows that when Jesus talked about this matter, the Pharisees scoffed at Him, for they were covetous; they loved money. When He talked about mammon, they mocked and scoffed at Him (Luke 16:14). They could not imagine anyone doing what He was saying. The rich young ruler came to Him and He looked at him, and said, “Go and sell everything you have, because I can see that you are Kingdom material.” But the young ruler walked away because at that time, He could not give his riches up, not at that time. I hope he did later*
— Pastor Ita Udoh
Friday 25th January, 2019.
© God’s Lighthouse 2019
