seeing the age we live in, what we are, and what our goal as believers is

As believers in Christ, we need to have a clear view concerning what age we live in, what is God doing today, what are we, what should we aspire to be, and what is our goal.

We live in the age of grace, the last age, where God is still moving and He is accelerating His move toward the end of the age that He may bring in the age of the kingdom.

If we see this, we will realize that all God does today in His working among the Jews and by the nations is for the building up of the Body of Christ. We need to aspire to be the overcomers, the mighty ones, who will bring the kingdom in.

Our goal today is to enlarge the manifestation of Christ intrinsically, to enlarge God’s kingdom on the earth today! Lord, cause us to really see!

Seeing the age we live in and God’s move

First of all, we need to see what age we live in and what is God up to today. We are living in an age that is the continuation of the preceding ages and in which our God is still moving!

Yes, He is working among the Jews and by the nations, doing so many things outwardly, but all these are for Him to accomplish His economy for the building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:16; Col. 2:19).

If we do not see what age we live in and what is God doing today, we miss the mark. We will be just as many of the Christians today, not having a clear vision of what is really going on.

Everything God is doing today is for the building up of the Body of Christ, the organism of the processed and consummated Triune God. Lord, cause us to see the age we live in and see what You are doing today!

Seeing that we are believers who aspire to be overcomers

What are we today? We are simply believers in Christ, members of the Body of Christ, who aspire to be overcomers to bring the Lord back and return with Him to deal with Antichrist and his armies.

We need to see that we are nothing more than believers, members of the Body of Christ, and as believers, we need to aspire to be the overcomers, the mighty ones (Joel 3:11). It is not enough just to be in the church and members of the Body – we need to be a part of the overcoming bride!

As we see in Revelation 2 and 3, God is calling for overcomers, and we are those in the church life who aspire to be part of the overcoming bride to satisfy Christ. The Lord’s recovery has been raised up to produce the overcomers.

We are not only Christians, but we want to be overcomers to bring the Lord back and even return with Him to deal with Antichrist at the battle of Armageddon and be Christ’s co-kings in the millennium.

Seeing what is our goal as believers

What is our goal as believers in Christ and as members of the Body of Christ?

On the one hand, we aspire, pray, and fervently desire to be overcomers, but on the other hand, we need to see that we have a goal. Our goal is NOT to do a great work outwardly for God but rather our goal is to enlarge the manifestation of Christ intrinsically.

Our goal as believers in Christ and members of the Body is to see the intrinsic enlargement of Christ’s manifestation on the earth in the Spirit and by the life of our Father God. We shouldn’t focus too much on an increase in numbers but on the increase of life and of the intrinsic manifestation of Christ by God’s life.

We do this by simply loving the Lord to the uttermost so that He may manifest Himself through us, and by holding Christ as the Head so that all the Body would grow with the growth of God.

We need Christ as the very God to grow in us day by day, little by little, by staying intimately connected to Him as the Head (Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15).

All things work together for good

If we have God’s view of things, we will see that all things – including the consuming of the locusts – work together for good to those who love God.

If we love God and have the Lord’s fresh manifestation to us, the millions of locusts swarming on earth today are serving us so that we may be here for the manifestation of Christ.

Today because of the locusts we have things such as mobile phones, internet, Facebook, twitter, cheap flights all over the world, Skype, laptops, iPads, and all the other gadgets and modern means of communication and transportation.

These are locusts, consuming our time, money, and energy, but they work for us to help us be Christ’s manifestation on the earth today – if we LOVE the Lord supremely! Hallelujah!

We in the church life today are the beneficiaries of the Jews’ suffering, the judgment on the nations, and all the consuming locusts. They all work together to produce us as God’s overcomers who END THIS AGE!

Lord Jesus, we love You. We really love You. Cause us to love You more that we may have Your manifestation in a fresh way. Manifest Yourself to us and manifest Yourself to others through us. Lord, make us the overcomers that You need. Make us part of Your overcoming bride. We are NOT satisfied to simply be believers in the church – we aspire and desire to be the overcomers who bring You back and return with You to end this age and bring in the kingdom of God!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from Life-study of Joel (msg. 4) as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of the Minor Prophets, week 3 (entitled, The Central Thought of the Book of Joel with Its Controlling Prophecy of Four Kinds of Locusts).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me, / And all things else recede; / My heart be daily nearer Thee, / From sin be daily freed.
  # I long to be unveiled, / In everything made clear, / No more to be deceived / Or to my pride adhere.
  # Raise up some to meet Your need, some Nazarites, / To bring in Your kingdom on earth today, / Taking You as King that You might return / To usher in the end of the age.
• Picture source: glass sky via Stephen Barber (used with permission).