STAGES (The Dying Stage)

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”  Galatians 2:20 (KJV)

Hi, I trust you are doing well by God’s grace, it’s been a week and as I said in my last edition today we will take a look at the second stage called the “The Dying Stage”. This is the most difficult of all the stages, at this moment most people are unable to survive because of the fierceness of the battles that are waged. The goal of Satan at this stage is to ensure that the seeds you and I have sown never amount to anything. This is the point where every garbage is thrown at us just to ensure that we do not amount to anything relative to the assignment. 

Let’s go to our key scripture and look at it carefully - John 12:24(KJV) “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” The scripture says that it falls to the ground (sowing stage) “and die, it abideth alone; but if it die,” the middle part of our key scripture says “it abideth alone; but if it die”; as I established in my previous edition in this series, Jesus Christ was figuratively talking about the crucifixion of his body on the cross; his intercession in the garden of gethsemane prior to his arrest highlighted a simple truth, that one can never attain the fullness of what his created to be until he or she  totally dies to self. 

This messianic act by Jesus conveys one truth to me; that is the greatest anti-Christ in our lives is the flesh; the flesh is the greatest barrier to our fruitfulness and until you and I deal with the flesh and its tendencies we will not be able to come into fruitfulness. Apostle Paul having noticed this truth made this deep statement in Romans 7:18 (KJV) “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” 

The flesh is the germ or the bacteria that kills the greatness of the seed in us. But look at the process a seed goes through when it is sown into the ground - when a seed is sown in the ground, first of all, it will have to decompose and mix up with the soil that holds it, besides this it is also interesting to note that the germ that is embedded in the seed must also die; in fact all the members of the grain of seed must die before it stands any chance of coming alive. After dying the decomposed seed forms an embryo and begins to depend on the surrounding soil for its nourishment and growth. 

Christ made sure that every member of his flesh died on the cross, so as to go to the grave and redeem us from the slave market. As orchestrated prophetically, the soldiers who were standing by Christ on the cross actually pierced him to be sure that he was really dead. John 19:34 – 37 (KJV) “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.  And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.”

This process is not just about us becoming born again, but about us becoming Christ-like and fruitful. It is at this point that the greatest enemy to our greatness, the flesh is dealt with mercilessly; a moment where the flesh and it’s accompany tendencies are brought into subjection to the power of Christ. It is a period where you and I need to collaborate with the Holy Spirit to survive, but unfortunately most of us are unable to because of the pain associated with the pummeling of the flesh. I will not at any point say that this is an easy stage, like I said in my introduction in this series, this is the most difficult, and it is the stage that can make or break us and the only triumphant card is the dependence on the Holy Spirit.  

Jesus Christ our pattern, did not have it easy himself, when he was almost approaching this stage, listen to what he said and I quote “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.” John 12: 27 (KJV) and in Mathew 26:42   “ He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done” (KJV). You will notice from his plea, although he wanted God to wave this stage, he still sought God’s will in the matte. 

How our master Jesus Christ handled this situation should be instructive to us; at this stage we might have to drink from the cup of serving and never be noticed, a cup of being used, a cup of being betrayed, a cup of being offended and attacked without any faults of yours, a cup of being hated because of the seed of God in you, a cup of knowing you are good at something and yet never giving the chance to use it, a cup of being criticized unfairly, a cup of people planning evil against you among others. 

All these things is allowed by God to deal with the self, which is the flesh. God has wired you and I for greatness, but the greatest hindrance to our greatness is our flesh and this path is designed to totally annihilate the flesh and it’s accompanying ramification. God wants to deal with the pride in us, he wants to destroy the seed of hypocrisy in us, he wants us to do away with filthy talk, he wants us to be able to control our tongue. God wants us to do away with the ways of adultery, uncleanness, lasciviousness, witchcraft, hatred, variance wrath, strife, seditions, and heresies. He wants us to have these things crucified. 

It is only when these things are suppressed that we can unleash our true  potentials. Sometimes we may say to ourselves “ if only I can control my temper, I will do well in life”, or if only I can control my desire to fornicate, I will be used by God. I want you to know that God is equally interested in you overcoming these defect that are hindering you.

I remember some incidents that happened to me some years back when I was on the university campus –I was part of a group that was working on a project; being enthusiastic about the project I quickly researched and gathered data on the project at my own cost, I actually did most part of data gathering. So when the group met I presented my findings to the group, but I was taking aback by the rude gesture by one of the group members, this lady was a matured student and she was way older than all of us in the group, she just rubbished my effort. 

I felt hurt and offended by her actions so being human I reacted by telling her my peace of mind, and what even annoyed me was the fact that she did not put in any effort as far as the project was concerned. So that evening as usual, I went to the prayer grounds to pray and shockingly the scripture the Holy Spirit brought to mind was Mathew 5:23-24 (KJV) “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. “

Being Human can you guess my reaction was? My reaction was “But she was the one who offended me” the but as I observed the scripture carefully I noticed verse 23 “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee” in other words you the person offended must forgive and ensure that peace prevails. I felt God was being unfair, at this points my male ego was had been bruised “how can you go and apologize and make peace with a lady for disrespecting and humiliating you” But the truth is God was not interested in my ego or pride he wanted me to behave in a way that will bring glory to him. 

So I eventually left the prayer ground and went back to the hall of residence. In my bid to painfully comply with God’s instruction, I looked for the lady the next day at the lecture hall and apologized to her.  And you know what happened? She was surprised by my action and also apologized for how she treated me, but the interesting thing about this obedience is that, the lady became my friend. 

You see God was not interested in my ego or my comfort, all He wanted is for me to become like His son Jesus Christ in that particular situation. God will take us through His ordained processes so as to bring the best out of us, we need to die to ourselves. Apostle Paul said that “Gal 2:20 (KJV) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” 

Our flesh is the only barrier to our greatness, therefore you and I need to it crucified just like the way Apostle Paul did. But the saddest truth is that most people get offended at this stage and are unable to forgive and move on, thereby truncating their growth as believers. Our ability to forgive each other and move is a sign that our flesh is really dominating us.

God bless you for coming along with me on this journey. If you have any questions or comments you can leave it below, or you can also send me an email via- wisafawubo@gmail.com or send me a whatsup message on +233233868205. But watch out for the next edition entitled “The Fruitful Stage”. See you in my next edition.