“But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭26‬:‭16‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Main Reading: Acts 26:16, Lk 9:51-56, 2 Cor 12:7

Truly what the angel said to Elijah still applies today “the journey is too much for you” 1 ki 19:7. We need the right inputs regularly if we are to make a success out of it.

Character Anointing & Revelation are the 3 areas our of lives that is regularly tuned by God in our journeying with Him. Just as every car daily driven on roads has the tendency to “drift” and needs be periodically taken in for ‘re-alignment’, So also our C.A.R requires regular tuning by the Lord in our pilgrims journey will be fruitful.

In terms of scale of importance: Character = 70%, Anointing = 15% , Revelation = 15%.

Character : Embodiment of the Divine nature.

“But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose”

  • Character is of utmost importance as it is the clearest indicator of spiritual maturity and the only element that will cross with us into eternity. Its 70% weighting speaks to the truth that “God is more interested in your character than in your destination”. 3 John 1:2
  • God’s main target is to conform us to the image of Christ. As He works in us, with us, and through us in the way, we grow in our ‘partaking of the divine nature’ we have in Christ.
  • Peter teaches us that christian character is something that is ‘built up’. 1 Pe 2:5 2 Pe 1: 5-8 The building blocks of which are: faith; goodness; knowledge; self-control; perseverance; godliness; brotherly love; love.
  • We have this assurance that as long as we obediently and diligently walk with God, He will through His dealings help us abound [rise and stand upon our feet] in these traits. Our problems arise when we refuse to yield to His dealings and try to go our own way, we will end up unfruitful. Prov 14:12 It is not just about going with God – but going with God His way.
  • ‭‭No matter how much anointing and revelation we are graced with, any flaws in our character which we refuse to yield to Him has the potential to not only derail us, but to derail 000’s even millions of souls we might be exposed to along the way. Gal 2:11-12

Anointing : Enablement ‘To Act’

‘to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen’
  • The Kingdom is not about us. There is a heavenly vision in which we have the great privilege to be ministers and witnesses of.
  • Testifying of our kingdom experience to the world is not just a matter of talk but must be ‘demonstrated’ through the Power of the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor 2:4
  • Demonstration of the Power of the Spirit is both intangible & tangible and its key channels are the gifts of the Holy Spirit 1 Cor 12:7-12’ 1 Cor 14:1
  • The book of ACTs exists because the disciples ‘ACTed’. Every christian is empowered to ACT Matt 28:19-20 and must ACT: [preach the gospel | heal the sick | deliver the captives | baptise new converts | disciple others ].
  • There is no such thing as an “ordinary christian” it is an aberration! You must refuse to be powerless! Yet power is not foolishness! Where character fails, men abuse the anointing & misrepresent Christ!
  • The anointing is for our time here on earth. As wonderful & intoxicating as the anointing is, It should not stand at variance with the Character of Christ. Jesus had to rebuke James & John for attempting to consume the Samaritans with fire in the spirit of Elijah lk 9:51-56 “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them”.
  • If we are not properly walking in Love, our operation of the Gifts of the Spirit will tear down and mislead instead of building up and directing them to Christ.

Revelation: The Appearing of Jesus

‘and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee’
  • Jesus has promised to show himself to us as we love Him and walk in obedience to Him John 14:21
  • The revelation of Jesus Christ is the highest form of revelation we should desire: for He is the centre and reason for it all. Heb 2:9 Rev 1:1
  • Revelation too has its place in our journey. Through revelation; light is shone on our way; we receive direction; we have our hope renewed; we are empowered to persevere; we are empowered to live the supernatural life; we are able to impact others heaven-ward;
  • Because revelation is spiritual empowerment and comes from above, like a lightning rod it needs proper grounding in Character [humility/meekness] otherwise what was meant to bless will bring about destruction.
  • When the dimensions of revelation became exceeding in Paul, God felt it necessary to saddle him with a ‘thorn in the flesh’.
    ‘And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to [a]buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure’ 2 Cor 12:7

CONCLUSION

The journey is indeed long – but it can be extremely fulfilling and impactful when our CAR Character Anointing and Revelation is well built, reliable and closely aligned with the will of God in Christ for us. Paul finished well. So can we, but not without regular alignment.

  • How is your character? how much of the divine nature are you imaging?
  • What’s the condition of the anointing upon your life?
  • How clear is your revelation of Jesus Christ at the moment?

Grace and Peace.