“When You Are In The Spirit!”

“When You Are In The Spirit!”(Rev.1:9-18).
For bringing us to the end of the first month, we say Ebenezer!
We see from where we are standing, and our view determines how we describe and interpret what we have seen. Whoever is sitting on a seat of comfort can’t have a full understanding of the context of John’s vision. As long as we have never been exiled, we have never been imprisoned, we are not able to fit into the picture of John in Patmos, the prison letters of Paul, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nelson Mandela, Albert Mukong, etc. Having been free people like us before confinement, they knew what it was like to be free, but we don’t know what it is like to be in chains. It takes one who has been there to know how it feels to be there.
John’s exile on the island of Patmos was God-sent! God gave Christ a revelation, which he showed his servants what must soon take place. John was the chosen servant now testifying to what he saw: the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. The one who reads the words and those who hear and take to heart what is written are both blessed(Rev.1:2-4).
John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day when, in a vision, a voice commanded him to write what he sees and send to the seven churches that existed at the time.
John saw the glory of the Lord and was afraid, so he fell at the feet of the Lord as if he was dead.
Then the Lord laid his right hand on John and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” This was followed by the commission to write to the churches.
The messages are somehow comforting and congratulatory! However, despite being commended, the majority contain calls to make U-turns to the LORD.
Each of the letters ends with: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
We are messengers robbed of all comfort, companions, and suffering yet with patient endurance. But when we are in the Spirit, the Lord reveals his message to us to speak truth to power – wherever that power is!
Where criticism is silenced, vision becomes blurred, and like Peter, we become stumbling blocks, no longer “have in mind the things of God, but the things of man.”
When we are in the Spirit, we can behold the glory of the Son of God. When this happens, we cringe at his feet, but then comes his soothing touch on us and his assuring words: “Do not be afraid!”
Weekend prayer: Lord Jesus Christ in our Patmos give us the fortitude to endure through suffering. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.
31/01/2026.