Church, let us be careful not to let comfort and affluence defuse us of our spiritual fervency and earnestness, especially in prayer. Remember that ultimately, our struggle in prayer is not against our mortal needs, it is to banish mortality completely so that we can be clothed with immortality. We are in a state of protest against the very system of mortality, even in its best conditions. Let not our ability to pay our bills interfere with our cry before the throne of grace, but equally, let not our inability to pay our bills interfere with our sight of our apostolic call, to stage a protest before the throne of God against a system of sin and lawlessness, and to call for the eventual end of time. I feel a cry from heaven for a church that carries the proper understanding of this prophetic, eschatological burden. The very creation is crying for the sons of God to manifest, how much more should we, His church, cry before His throne for the finalization of our adoption as sons. Ours is a protest (the Scriptures say we are in a “struggle together” – Phil. 1:27, Eph. 6:12) against a system into which our forefather Adam fell. We have to follow a new lineage of Jesus Christ, the second and Last Adam, whose Spirit cries for the ultimate union with His Bride. Like Joseph, we need to fix “Egypt” (this world) but also have a vision of the exodus. Joseph was dreaming of the exodus in a day of favour and comfort in Egypt. He gave instructions for his bones to be carried out of Egypt at the time of the exodus. Joseph teaches us that there is no level of favour, comfort, privilege or success within the system of this world that must defuse our kingdom mission, to stage a protest against mortality. We want to exit this system of time and fallenness. And like Daniel, we want to be deep within the structures of Babylon (the world) but stretching our hands towards Jerusalem as we cry for a better city – the Kingdom of God. And like Abraham, we want to enjoy mortal riches and wealth but be looking for a city whose builder is God. Mortality is human life in a state of crisis. We were not created for this order of life. We have to be the light in this darkness and do Kingdom works but with a clear vision that like “Egypt” and “Babylon”, this system of the world must and will be judged by our God. Our ultimate prophetic calling is not “to fix the world”, but it is to build an unshakable system of life that brings the standard of the Kingdom in the midst of the nations of the world (like Noah who built the Ark). We have to build systems of personal life, family, community, business and broader administration of human life etc. that facilitate the light of the Kingdom before the world. We are recieving a Kingdom (a system of life) that cannot be shaken. “Let not comfort and affluence defuse you” – these are the words I hear from heaven. Remember the spiritual position and condition from which fervent prayer and earnest faith must be offered – it is captured in the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8). Church is like a “widow” within the system of the world. As a “widow”, Church is positioned deliberately by God as a marginalized global community of faith, that depends solely on God for authority and power. We are the “foolish and weak things” of this world, but we are being used by God to shame the wise and the powerful. When church depends on its “political power” or social status and influence, then it has already prostituted itself and has sold its prophetic birthright for a “bowl of soup”. We have to pray from this “widow position”, understanding that we are truly the wretched of the earth, a people marginalized by a system of lawlessness – a system of anti-Christ. As a “spiritual widow” our cry before God is full of persistence and dependence on Him who can redeem us out of time. Our cry is not simply to fix the world – that would be seeking to fix a system that is rebellious against our Master. Our cry is to deliver into the world a different order of life, the Kingdom of God. Our cry carries a disapproval of World Humanity and the affirmation of Kingdom Humanity.

Robert Ntuli