Season of the Spirit 2026 Day 3
Title: Defining The True Character Of A Prophet
Theme: Prophets of the World to Come
Date: Sunday, 3rd May 2026
Minister: Pastor Ken Eyanohonre
“[13-16] These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. [14] For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. [15] And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. [16] But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” (Hebrews 11:7-16).
Throughout the scriptures, we see how God uniquely dealt with different generations and how they responded to Him. By these dealings, some men were able to capture God’s thoughts for their generation and lived up to the standard that God called righteousness.
Gradually, God’s thoughts became their reality but this was sometimes momentary and without full understanding of such thoughts; they obeyed God’s instructions and it was counted by God as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Therefore, these people did not precisely do the will of God but obeyed a specific instruction that set a standard of righteousness in their days.
There were those who journeyed from place to place, obeying the word of God; there were those who had God’s words, that is, prophecies which were fulfilled but as the prophecies came to pass, the intent of God was lost and the purposes of those prophecies were wasted.
Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin, is a good example of this latter category. God spoke prophetically to him about how he would be empowered as a king and made great (1 Kings 11:28-39). However, because of the inner workings and insecurity of his soul, he undermined a divine order of worship to secure his position of leadership (1 Kings 12:26-33).
God’s challenge with men has been our ability to capture what He wants, hold it, run with it in our lifetime and pass it on to another generation. Thankfully, there are patriarchs that we can learn from.
Noah, for example, condemned the world and was called an heir of righteousness (Hebrews 11:7). He proved the world wrong by capturing a reality of a world he had not seen and held on to it; he followed a conversation that eluded the earth and seemed irrational as rain had not yet been seen. He proved that a life that God had shown him could truly emerge and submerge darkness.
In the Bible, there are other models of how men captured the counsel of God. Abraham, the father of faith, made a specific response to God; he responded progressively to what God promised him by reason of the path of God’s training. This gave him an understanding of what was ahead of him such that he handled his son and the land promised to him differently. He sojourned in the land of promise like a stranger because he was looking for a city (Hebrews 11:8-10).
God, in dealing with His people, always sets them on a journey and we ought to understand the journey. There is always a specific word of God for the journey but how we translate that word so that the purpose of the journey is not lost can be very difficult for man. The reason God took the children of Israel on a journey was to change their taste buds (desires/wants) so that they could come to the realization of a reality in the spirit.
“And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
God wanted to train their taste buds so they can capture the reality that He wanted to give to them. The word that God had communicated to them was supposed to be their righteousness. If they had handled it properly, it would have taken them further into the will of God.
Despite eating the food of angels, that is, manna (Psalm 78:24-25), the children of Israel could not capture the word from God. Some of them, like Caleb and Joshua, however captured it while the rest of Israelites missed their moment (Numbers 14:6-10).
Abraham’s life was a witness to a conversation, that the glories of the promised land can be handled with new taste buds acquired through training and can guarantee that the original intent of God was not lost.
Another example is in the book of Jeremiah in his generation. When the Israelites went into captivity, God permitted them to marry, build houses and have children in the land (Jeremiah 29:5-6). This was to allow the promised land to rest and recover, and for the Israelites to come into a new realization of what God wanted them to come into.
However, some Israelites ended up being overtaken by Babylon and missed the understanding of God’s word to them. This shows the true character of prophets – men who can capture God’s thoughts.
Prophets are those who have the capacity to capture God’s thoughts and hold such thoughts in understanding; they hold the thoughts so well that such thoughts become their reality and can be passed on to the next generation.
Men like Daniel did not settle in their natural estate but connected to an order in the spirit, which is the ultimate reign of God’s righteousness. This implies that true prophets of the age to come have to access and hold on to a training/civilization of God’s kingdom; they are the people who will capture an understanding of the righteousness of God.
God’s kingdom is oftentimes not interpreted well by men. On the other hand, there have been men who have lost connection with the word of God to them because they could not sustain the mind of God when the word was given. Man is supposed to live by the word of God (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3) which plants a hope for his journey.
This hope is to sustain a reality in God and to ultimately establish the will of God. If men truly responded to God in their generation like some patriarchs did, it would not have taken so long for Jesus to come after Adam fell. However, whenever God tried to set up the system of response to Him, some men captured it well while some did not, but some who captured it well did not sustain it.
God’s world is not abstract. He does not shut down our lives because of His promises. We will live in this natural world but with a conversation that is pulling forth something ahead. It should be with a conversation that sets a stage for God’s righteousness and does not afford the world any authority in our lives.
In a previous season in the Church, people experienced the New Birth with the understanding of heaven as the goal and the final location with God. To move away from this extreme, men came into another extreme – the notion of finding one’s purpose. There has also been an extreme focus on what happens after physical death.
Another extreme was believers denying the use of the world for the sake of focusing on Jesus but losing out on the benefits of redemption in the process. Over time, our fathers in the Church have tried to balance these extremes. This is why God wants to give us capacity such that we will not just be living from extremes. Thus, God wants to train us, not momentarily but in an everlasting manner so we can partake of the wisdom of His kingdom.
There is so much of the Kingdom (the world to come) that we will not press into if we are on either extremes. This is because while we are pressing into the Kingdom, God will commit certain resources to ensure that His purposes are not lost in time. God wants to capture people who will walk in the reality of a future world and import that lifestyle here such that it shows in how His resources are handled.
The prophets of the world to come are elites who have the wisdom of God to capture the thoughts of God; they are men who capture and sustain the mind of God as their hope.
With this hope, they would fully administer the resources of God; they would be like a brainbox that can truly harness His resources and distribute it accurately, thereby guaranteeing that His resources are sustained. Such men can handle His resources while carrying out natural activities and can be trusted because their taste buds have been well-trained.
People have failed to harness the essence of the dealings of God because of a lack of commensurate understanding of the dealings. In some other cases, some see their experiences in their dealing as the reward, but this mindset cuts short the purposes of God in sustaining His programme.
We must trust God to truly capture the activities of His Spirit and His resources; we must also trust Him to be able to handle His resources without losing view of the programme of the world to come. This will bring us to a point where God can trust us to manage His kingdom programme because we are true prophets by nature.
We are therefore called to truly desire this gospel of being a prophet of the world to come, which the patriarchs desired and not lose sight of the hope because of momentary success (Hebrews 11:16). We will be capable of being entrusted with the wealth and lives of others, but still be content just like Paul was (Philippians 4:11-12).
Amen.
Message Ends
