CHRISTIANS IN NAME ONLY
‘Muyiwa Omole

And in that day seven women shall
Take hold of one man saying
“We will eat our own food and
Wear our own apparel; 
Only let us be called by your name.
To take away our reproach.”
Isaiah 4:1

This happens to be one of the most controversial verses of the Scriptures. Many interpret this verse literally and erroneously believe that it a scriptural reference to support polygamy as a result of surge in women population over that of men” in the last day. “

Contrary to this, the verse is a prophetic picture of the Church today.  Christ is the “Man” and we are the “women.”
Marriage is about commitment, intimacy, companionship and fruitfulness. So why would any woman want to bear a man’s name without wanting to be committed to the union? No intimacy. No commitment.
This is the state of some “believers” today. They want to be seen as “born-again” but they don’t want to change their old ways. They want to bear Joseph, Simon, Rebecca, Mary but they still want to hold on to old habits. They want people to see them carrying big Bibles, speak in tongues but the still want to belong to the world. I am a Christian but I don’t pay tithe. I am a Christian but I don’t believe there is anything wrong with premarital sex. These are people who want to live according to their own rules but just want to be called by the name of the Lord.

We Will Eat Our Own Food

They are not ready to change their appetite for lust, pride and self-glory. They still want to eat their own food and never crave for the Bread of Life. Normally, when a woman gets married, she tries to find out her husband’s favourite meal; to know how to prepare it to the taste of the husband and even learn to eat it. That is part of the demands of marriage. But it is not so with this set of believers. They do not desire any appetite for heavenly manna; they are not prepared to change their diet of self-centredness and immorality.

Wear Our Own Apparel

One of the ways a responsible married woman could be identified is through her dressing, especially newly-weds. But this set of believers doesn’t want to change the old dresses. They want to be counted as brides but not ready to put on the garment of righteousness. They deny the righteousness of God and insist on their filthy garment of self-righteousness. They don’t want to sing the song of the bride:

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord
My soul shall be joyful in God
For He has clothed me with the garment of salvation
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness
As a bridegroom adorns himself with ornaments
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels
Isaiah 61:10

This is the song of a genuine bride. A genuine bride desires more than the name. She wants to be covered with the new robe the groom provides.
Let’s read also from Revelation 19:7,8:

Let us be glad and rejoice and give
Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb
Has come, and His wife has made herself ready
And to her it was granted to be
Arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright,
For the fine linen is the righteous act of the saints.

What a glorious scripture. The apparel must be “clean and bright.” This is a unique feature of the bride. It is an aberration for a bride to dress casual or to be dressed in her own old apparel. Note here that the fine linen mentioned here did not belong to the bride. Permission was granted for her to be arrayed in it.”
Righteousness is a gift. The Bible says we have been “made the righteousness of God” in Christ (II Corinthians 5:21). For any Christians to insist on putting on his/her “own apparel” is self-righteousness. And no matter how righteous we think we are, the bible says all is like a filthy rag (Isaiah 64:6).
There are so many Christians today who want to remain casual, secular and nominal. They want to be seen as churchgoers, they want to be seen as contributing to church projects but they don’t want to change their old ways. The Bible refers to them as “having a form of godliness but denying its power.” (II Timothy 3:5).
I believe we are in the era that church attendance is rising but numbers of real disciples dwindling. We are in the era that we see no much difference between unbelievers and believers in terms of appearance, speech and lifestyle. We are in the era that worldliness has crept into the church and we believe “it doesn’t really matter." I believe Christ was referring to this generation of Christians when He quoted Prophet Isaiah:

These people draw near to me with their mouth,

And honor me with their lips

But their heart is far from me…

Matthew 15:8

Marriage is about adjustment. As Christians, our old ways must give way to the new life in Christ. We must remove our old garment of sin and embrace His garment of salvation. Our lifestyle, habits and activities must change as we come in contact with the bridegroom.
We are brides of Christ and marriage demands commitment and adjustment. It is a personal decision. Decide today to crave for intimacy and fellowship with Christ. It is not just in bearing the name “Christian.” it is not just in bearing the name. It is in your lifestyle.

WHERE DID IT FALL? 

Muyiwa Omole 

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In Genesis 12 we read about how God called Abraham and how he obeyed God by faith.

Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken to him…

(verse 4)

Abraham obeyed God and he began to advance forward towards the Promised Land. Abraham went from the plains to the mountains in obedience to God’s instruction. He kept going forward, advancing in his journey and he got to a place called Bethel and built an altar to the Lord. (verse 7)

But there was a negative turn in verse 10:

Now there was a famine in the land

And Abraham “went down” to Egypt

to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.

(Emphasis mine)

Abraham departed from the will of God by going down to Egypt.

Note:     verse 5 – “…they went forth”

                Verse 8 – moved…to the mountains”

                Verse 9 – going on still forward

Here, the movement was forward and upward, but the moment he departed form the will of God he “went down.” The moment he departed, he started living in fear; fear of being killed by the Egyptians (verse 12). He even had to lie to preserve himself, losing faith in the ability of God to protect him. Anytime any man leaves where God has placed him, fear sets in. In Adam’s case he had to “hide” from God. God saw that Adam was no longer where He had placed him so he called, “Where are you?” Adam responded “I heard your voice and I was afraid…”

Back to Abraham: he was afraid because he was out of the will of God.

Let’s move on to Chapter 13

“Then Abram went up from Egypt…” (verse 1)

Praise God. Abraham came back to the track.

Vs. 1      Then Abraham went up from Egypt,

He and his wife and all that he had,

And Lot with him to the South.

Vs. 2      Abram was very rich in livestock in silver and in gold

Vs. 3      And he went on his journey, from the south as far as Bethel,

to the place where his tent had been at the beginning.

Which he had made there at first

And there Abraham called the name of the Lord.

Note that verse 2 indicates that Abraham had become richer than he was before he left for Egypt. Despite that Abraham was richer in material things, he was spiritually bankrupt. He was rich in cattle, silver and gold but spiritually poor and empty. He had to go back to where he last encountered God.

He retraced his steps to the place where he met with God last:

And he went on his journey, from the south as far as Bethel,

to the place where his tent had been at the beginning.

Which he had made there at first

And there Abraham called the name of the Lord.

                                                                                                                                                (Verse 3).

This is a powerful truth we should learn as believers.

In II Kings chapter 6, when one of the sons of prophets lost the borrowed axe-head into the water, he cried out to Elisha for help. Elisha asked him a question that we must all answer if we want revival and restoration in our lives:

Where did it fall?

 (II Kings 6:6)

Where did your passion for the things of God fall? Where did your obedience fall? Our ability to trace our steps back to where our passion fell out, or where we lost burden for the call of God is the beginning of restoration.

Please note that the anointing was available to bring out the axe-head and Elisha was willing but it was the responsibility of that son of the prophet to identify and pinpoint where it fell. Until you are able to answer this question you will not be able to move forward in your spiritual journey.

You must commit yourself to revisit the last revelation God gave you. You must commit yourself to obey the last instruction God gave you. Abraham was able to trace his steps back to the last altar he raised to the Lord. That is how revival, restoration and season of refreshing come to us.

This is also the prescription that Jesus gave to the Church in Ephesus.

…remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works

Revelations 2:5

Are you in Egypt? Have you returned to bondage of sin? Are you trying to get hold of the grace of God once again? Have you lost your passion and burden for the things of God? It is time to return.

Now return to your first love. Return to where you have fallen. Trace your steps back to “Bethel”…the house of God. Find out where the axe-head of prayer, fasting, studying, giving and witnessing fell off and go back there. That is your point of revival.

Go back to the last altar you built and you will see that God has been waiting for you all this while.  When you get there, call on the name of the Lord and you shall be saved (Joel 2:32) and be sure that God will never cast you away.

Remember that the son of the prophet had to show Elisha where this took place.  We must be completely honest with The Lord and show him where we lost our effectiveness and our experience of His power in our life.  Have you failed The Lord?  Have you lost your head and flown off the handle?  If so, where did it fall?  Find the place.  Tell The Lord.  You will never recover your axe head until you tell Him where (and how) you lost it.

It doesn’t end there.  The man had to put out his hand and recover the axe head as it swam to the surface.  Likewise, we must reach out in faith and accept what God is recovering in our own lives.

I see your axe-head floating and I see you grabbing it and advancing in the kingdom. I see you picking up the baton once again and running your race with grace.

Shalom.