A run through Philippians-I don’t feel no different!! Part 2

Near the throne-room a man waited anxiously for his turn. His name was Slim. He had read a passage in Hebrews and delighted at its import. ^Heb.4:16 ….let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. 
He intended to test it out now. The angels loved it. They were used to seeing him here at this particular hour. Their work was made all the more easier when souls such as this one stretched their faith. 
Back on earth, Slim was by his bed-side doing his daily prayer. His knees ached as he prayed but he was determined to bring each of the things on his prayer-list before the Lord. He had no idea of the happenings in heaven-that as he knelt struggling in prayer, his spirit was with the angels angling for a chance to be heard before the King of kings.

Day after day Slim came before the Lord and week after week, the angels were glad to deliver his answers but they were now getting worried.

The Spirit of the Lord had began a new work in Slim. He was illuminating some foul-smelling spots in his soul. The angels had no idea how to help Slim. Neither had they a clue as to the nature of the putrid stuff being brought to light at this point. It looked like the temptation would soon be allowed to test him. ^James1:14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.

Slim was also getting anxious. He did not know why. He felt pressure from within and from without. He was worried about the elections in a few months’ time. There was talk of potential violence. As the D-day came closer he realised that he was spending more time on Facebook, twitter and Instagram. The WhatsApps he received daily had grown dramatically. Most of them were political. He justified the extra time on social media with a conviction that he needed to be constantly updated. There were links to dark you-tube videos about one of the front-runners. Common-sense told him that it was likely the work of propagandists but then he still felt anxious. He tried to avoid the charged political talks at his place of work.

At home however, he would find his family members passionately disparaging the candidate they disliked. He could not help but agree with some of stereotypes they talked about. After all he could see them in his work-place. He read about them in the papers and television pundits said the same of them. Soon his prayer times never ended with a plea to God to help the candidate his people (tribe) saw as their hope. He had long made up his mind who he would vote for. As a matter of fact he did not actually have to make up his mind; it came to him naturally. Surely one could only vote his tribe or at least someone who would stand up for his tribe.

In heaven things were turning murky. As far as the angels could see, Slim had fallen although not completely. The temptation, was well upon him. The angels now understood the foul things in his soul that the Spirit was illuminating. It was a part of his flesh that had stayed alive even as other obvious parts of his character were sanctified by the work of the cross. The cross had done a marvellous work in him for as long as he kept to his daily spiritual disciplines of prayer, scripture study and fellowship. Now his prayer was tinged with earthly bias. Worse, a good chunk of his prayer and bible time was taken up by social media. The Enemy wasted no time and made short work of almost all his prayers before they could reach the third heaven. The angels could hardly withstand the Enemy's constant onslaughts. It was getting harder and harder to get anything done. Slim's condition was being replicated all over the country with alarming speed.

However they took some comfort in the fact that Slim could still be seen bowing before the King of kings. This would keep him safe until the temptation passed. Perhaps the putrid thing could then be expunged from his character.

One day Slim was watching T.V. There were huge rallies being held in different parts of the country by both candidates. Even though things were not looking good, he hoped against hope that his man would win. He now considered the politician, his man. He even loved him. That day as he knelt by his bedside, he found that he could not pray a few sentences without pleading  for his man.  

That very hour things took a dramatic turn in heaven. At one point Slim was supplicating before the King of kings and then he simply vanished from the throne-room. The angels were worried. They dashed out at lightning speed and fanned out to the four corners of the earth to look for their troubled charge. He was nowhere to be found. Worse the Spirit of the Lord was grieving. It turned the whole universe a pale hue. This was not a good sign. What had happened to Slim? Had the Enemy had his way with him at last?

It occurred to one angel to check Slim’s place of prayer. He was not there. He dashed off to Slim’s place of work. There he was hunched over his computer as usual. However on closer inspection, the angel was shocked. Slim boiling with a kind of anger he had never imagined possible of him. His colleagues were heatedly berating people from his community. Slim was not talking but the angel knew that the damage had already been done. As he tore open a spiritual veil to understand what was happening better, a staggering spectacle confronted him.

There was Slim in his usual prayerful pose. However he was no longer supplicating before the King of kings. Instead he was supplicating before a small dirty figurine! The angel moved closer and noted with deep sadness that the figurine was a mere man. It was an image of his preferred political candidate. The Enemy was standing beside him, a smug smile spreading across his wicked face. Some poisonous stuff was dripping ominously from the sides of Slim’s mouth. Slim was not aware that his resentment and fear had metamorphosed into hate but the angel could see it. The slimy stuff was hate and in the spiritual realm, it could indeed kill.  He looked over Slim’s hunched figure and noticed ugly slide-marks descending from heaven and ending where Slim was now kneeling. So this was it. Slim’s carnal impulses had gotten the better of him. In the spirit he had slid unknowingly slid from God's throne-room to his present place. In his sin, he had exalted man above his God. The Enemy was playfully dangling a deadly looking object above his head. It was a curse. The same that afflicted so many of his country-men but one which he had so far, managed to escape. This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.^Jer.17:5

“How could Slim have forgotten what he had read so studiously over the years?” the angel wondered.

1.     Apostle Paul attributed ethnic and sectarian chauvinism to acts of the flesh. As he begins his account of the things he once took pride in he says; “If anyone has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more…”^Phil.3:4

He understood these scriptures to mean that if he was still guided by his tribal or religious pedigree then he was still acting out his carnal inclinations.

2.   At another point he had noted in his journal that Paul counted himself ‘dead’ to such carnal desires. He considered what he once valued, rubbish! Knowing Christ and dwelling in his fellowship had taken the place of these things. Creating an inward culture of inclusivity where he could minister to all without prejudice was his main priority.  ^{Phil3: -7-8} I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. ⁸ Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ…

The foul things in Slim’s soul should have been subjected to the cross immediately. For Yeshua demanded a daily act of self-denial to the things he once practiced. Gradually this self-denial could have led to the destruction of the putrid lusts in his soul. How could Slim have forgotten Yeshua HaMashiach words? ^{Luke 9:23} Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

Meanwhile the Spirit of God was grieving because the unity of His children was broken. It was temporary but it grieved the Spirit to no end. The church was floundering and the Enemy was moving in with amazing strength. With a dark cloud of dissent and disunity hanging ominously over the horizon, great danger lay ahead for the nation. ^Eph.4:3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

Then the Spirit began prophesying what the angels could only have guessed at:

v Until individual Christians truly break from the negative tribal strangleholds binding the majority population, the people of Kenya will never be able to tear down the strongholds draining their country.  Grand theft, greed which I consider idolatry (Eph. 5:5), sacrilegious acts  and eventually murder (which I will not forgive easily); these will be their portion. Rounds of judgement will follow each sin. My children will not be spared!

v They shall never break from national poverty. Instead they will be made to suffer illusion after illusion of growth. For each great step forward they shall take another giant one backward. They will continue to have great innovations like MPESA and great athletes to lift their hearts but they shall also have growing inequality leading to horrendous crimes.

v Godliness makes a nation great, but sin will cause a people to face disgrace wherever they turn. ^Prov.14:34

It all seemed very grim but the angel was determined. Slim had not completely lost the light of Christ. The Enemy could not hold him forever.

After absorbing the prophecy, the angel now understood fully what he must do. He bent low and seemed to suddenly disappear. In reality he had just executed a complex manoeuvre that launched him into what earthlings refer to as hyper-speed. Even as he went forth like a lightning streak and felt his garments painfully burn into his skin (he was not designed for such speeds), he knew he must find Slap. Slap was not yet taken in by this scourge. And he was a friend of Slim. Once he found him, the Spirit would move him to slap Slim out of his shameful stupor.