Celestial Mandate
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The Celestial Mandate and Spiritual Warfare

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Spiritual works in Celestial Church of Christ cannot be academically explained the way we would love/want it to. I will only briefly focus on this, making examples and instances where necessary.
We have various spiritual injunctions and privileges which work out perfectly when they are approached as directed by the Spirit of God.

Some battles would never be conquered except the Celestial Church of Christ approach to worship is adopted. The liturgical worship in C.C.C is incomprehensible except one is divinely inspired by God to understand it. A lot of battles have been won by members and non-members in the course of our liturgical worship.

There are ‘Patterns and Principles’ which go with our worship in C.C.C. The patterns demonstrate the adequate spiritual formation of the worship. God told Moses to make all things according to the pattern that He showed him (Ex. 25:9), while the principle is the spiritual mechanism producing the desired result of the worship.
If you follow the pattern, the person of Jesus is formed in you and if you follow the principle, you will be blessed on earth (Luke 6:38).
[The person of Jesus will give you eternal life, but the principle of Jesus will give you blessing].
C.C.C Hymn 538 in Yoruba reads; ‘Mo ro mo ewu nla ti Jesu… k’emi ba le r’iwosan, k’emi ba le ri ibukun, k’emi ba le ri igbala, k’emi b’ale ri iye.’

In the pattern and principle, one thing is paramount, and that is your respect for God. The pattern of our worship begins from Jerih moh yah mah to Sermon and this is the first stage of our worship in which you speak to God, and in the next stage which is the principle of worship, God speaks to you.
The principle starts from Collections, and if one fails in principle there is no alternative route or sacrifice to inherit the blessing. There are people like Lazarus who have the spirit of God but failed to use it for gain (Luke 16: 20-21).
C.C.C. Hymn 62 says, ‘I will worship thee until the end, I will now take home thy blessings.’

Zeal

Zeal in prayer must be motivated by the Spirit. Quite a number of people put in the zeal to prayer whereas it is not necessary for the least. Your zeal to prayer must conform with what the spirit directs, and anything short of this is purely carnal.
The modern church is adopting many strange practices today in the name of prayer. Many borrowed cultures and traditions have been introduced as packages to make prayer sound ‘tantalizing’ and ‘en vogue’, whereas all these have nothing to do with God.
The reasons the use of zeal has led so many who call themselves believers into doing things that are not worth the while has also led many members of the church into practices that are not ordained by God for us.
Battles would be categorized into types and a thorough breakdown of the types would be highlighted. I would like to briefly cover worship which is key to any successful battle as mentioned previously.
It should be noted that many people worship God but have not had an encounter with him. An ‘encounter’ is the meaningful thing that is derived from worship and not legalisms, and that encounter is what translates to experience.
In the course of our worship, we experience three things, these are:
i.Reformation ii.Transformation iii.Translation
The three experiences mentioned above are achieved in worship, provided the worshipper is connected in the course of worship. Interestingly, virtually every aspect of our lives is catered for in the course of our worship, finances, emotions, health, etc.
When the devil succeeds in taking a believer from the presence of God, such a believer has been shortchanged.
The Psalmist says; ‘…in thy presence is the fullness of joy; at thy right hand, there are pleasures for evermore’ (Ps.16:11).
The grace we experience in His presence has soaked us with the confidence and assurance that is needed to subdue all the powers of the enemy, and nothing evil shall hurt us (Luke 10:19). C.C.C Hymn- ‘… ema beru awon olufidan, eyin omo emi e m’okan giri’.

Three categories of Spiritual warfare include:

  1. The Battle of the Anointed against the anointed (Battle between Kings).
  2. The Battle of the Circumcised against the Circumcised.
  3. The Battle of the Uncircumcised against the Circumcised.

These categories of battle will be analysed one and then the other. It should be noted that they are battles we confront in our walk of faith on a daily basis, but if not well understood, we may end up beating around the bush.

The Battle of the anointed against the anointed (battle between kings)

What conspired between David and Saul is a perfect example of the battle of the anointed. It takes Godly wisdom to surmount and win such battles. For David to have succeeded without getting it wrong, he handled the battle with great wisdom. The consciousness he had all through was, ‘Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm’ (Ps.105:15).
David had all the avenue to kill Saul, even on a platter of Gold but he did not. It was a great battle indeed because Saul had to live the conveniences of the palace for caves so that he could get David, yet David was merciful unto him because he was endowed with wisdom.
David said to Saul: ‘Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but my eyes spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is the LORD’S anointed’ (1 Sam. 24:10).
The battle of the anointed requires God Himself to take charge because He does not overlook His oil on the anointed however little. Though Saul was wrong, God would expect David to apply wisdom in totality because if the blood of an anointed drops, the wrath of God would come upon those that are involved and their posterity would bear the consequence as well.

The battle of the circumcised against the circumcised

This is very common today amongst the children of God. They wage war against themselves unreasonably on grounds of pride, envy, egocentrism, selfish motives, vaulting ambitions, etc.
Rather than concentrate on bringing the devil’s kingdom down, they being distracted wage war against themselves depopulating the church and adding to the membership in hell. I must state explicitly here that any congregation of the saints that majors in controversies, dissensions, and fight is a dead church and has been terribly robbed by the devil.
Many churches that are meant to be delivering people from the latches of the devil today have been closed down as a result of carelessness on their path and the kingdom of satan is rejoicing over them.
All believers should be mindful of those they introduce to God in their calling. It was Moses that introduced Aaron to God in his calling. At the point that God called him, the first thing he observed in himself was his weakness. Many church leaders today have handed their altars to those that have no pedigree before God.
They see their inabilities like Moses did and hence lose their place before God. Some say they are not educated and therefore open their ‘spiritual arsenal’ to the so called ‘educated’ or the ‘elitist class’ who do not understand spiritual things in the least, and the church bears the punishment in the long run. People should take a cue from Rev. S.B.J Oshoffa who would stand his ground on situations and would say to the educated, ‘I have not been so sent’.

The battle of the uncircumcised against the circumcised

This is a strange battle against the children of God. Unlike the other two battles, it requires making pronouncements and judgment.
David’s story can be used as a case study because the battle between the Army of Israel and the Philistine Army is that of the Circumcised and the Uncircumcised. Many people waver from the battle of the Uncircumcised rather than speak into it.
Goliath would wake up every morning defying the army of Israel and they were so complacent that they gave in to those insults. It was so bad that they had camped there, eating like they had gone for a picnic, which is what many who call themselves believers do today. They are so comfortable with abuse from their foes and waste a lot of time while such battles and warfare incubate.

When David saw the scenario on the field, he became so uncomfortable and spoke to the situation. Let me state here that as at the time of Goliath, there were five lords in charge of the five kingdoms in Philistine and David would not do less than to pick five stones, each representing a lord of the Philistine.
He ran towards Goliath after his pronouncement /judgment and said: ‘Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied’ (1 Sam.17:45).

King Saul who was the King of Israel even tried to assist young David with his armor, but the LORD of Hosts is more than thousands of armor. All he wants is a man who would be confident in Him.
‘Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright’ (Psalm 20:7-8).
Many battles have taken too much time in the lives of believers all because they see such battles as beyond them. A similar thing transpired between Moses and Pharoah. All these battles require trust in God.
‘But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits’ (Dan.11:32).
The way to victory is not by the brain but by who you make your Source. It is your Source that will tell you the type of warfare you are engaged in and the approach to such a battle. Your Source must be Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION: Prayer does not change God, it appropriates us with the plans of God. It should be noted that Battle is the seed for territory expansion. Whoever is not ready for battles and warfare is not ready for elevation, expansion, and blessing. After a test is passed, the next thing is a promotion.
May the truth of God that brings revelation, unveil the scheming of the devil in our lives for a groundbreaking uplift.

AMEN

Author: Evang. Olukorede Ogunmola

Blogger and Contributor for Celestialweekly.com
Celestial Church of Christ
Apata-Iye Circuit Hqtrs., NNPC Pipeline Rd.,
Apata, Ibadan. Oyo State.

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