Within Zion's Walls

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed…he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” [Hebrews 11:9-10]

Here I am, with a cup of hot cocoa in one hand, nothing short of grateful to the precious HolySpirit who is my light and my love. You know what is exceptionally exciting about Him is the fact that I can always depend on Him as my strength [physically, mentally, or spiritually]. On one thought, I really should do a post soon on the person of the HolySpirit; I am sure you’ll be blessed by it. But, until then, let’s talk about Zion – you can call me obsessed, but it’s just that I have seen the TRUTH!!!

In the opening scripture, we see that Canaan was not the Promised Land that God told Abraham about. In Hebrews Chapter 4, we see Paul arguing that, if Joshua had taken the people of Israel into the true Promised Land, there would have been no need for Jesus to come. Though God’s people entered the land God promised them [physically], they had not truly entered His rest. Zion is God’s rest. Hebrews 12:22 lets us know that the new creation [in Christ Jesus] is already in Zion. We are literally born there; we live in it and it is in us. WOW! How do we live in Zion? We live in Zion by doing God’s Word. And, how does Zion live in us? Zion takes its abode in us through our meditation on the truth of God’s Word. That same Hebrews 12 gives us a picture of Zion to be God’s dwelling place; the angels live in Zion together with God’s people. Double WOW!!

Do you realize that Jesus functioned in two worlds at the same time? He realized He was in the Father and the Father was in Him. That consciousness made it possible for Him to live a consistently supernatural life. In case you have not understood me so far, the idea I desire to pass across is that God is calling us to live a life of dominion over the circumstances of this world – economic downturns, failure, sickness, poverty, and all such things. In Isaiah 33:24 the Bible, speaking of Zion, says “the inhabitants shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity”.


Two benefits of life in Zion to note in the reading from Isaiah are:

i.)         Divine health: It is the right of every citizen of Zion to live above any infirmity of the body. Now, if you currently fall sick every now and again, the first step to living in that scripture is accepting it. Believe it and begin to confess it as the present tense of your life. It may take a while to manifest in the physical realm, but because it is already a present-hour spiritual reality, it’ll prevail over your physical circumstance [in little to no time].

ii.)        Access to forgiveness: You never need to beat yourself up over any mistakes. I hope that you get this. You have access to forgiveness by prophecy. It was written way back in Isaiah’s time. God cannot decide that your sin is too big to be forgiven anymore; His word has gone forth, and He does not go back on it. Accept forgiveness and move on, confessing God’s word that says “sin shall not have dominion over you.” [Romans 6:14]

If you haven’t understood much of what I’ve written so far, then you probably need to give your heart to Christ first because understanding of these things is contingent on a life in Christ. For those who do understand, you need to lose taste for this world. Set your eyes on Zion; live in it! I just found something striking in Hebrews 11:14-15; it says “truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had the opportunity to have returned. But now, they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly”.

In order to live in Zion and enjoy the benefits of living within its walls, we need to cease to be mindful of the world. Life in the walls of our glorious city is literally dependent on soaking ourselves in God’s word. There are two groups of people in the earth today – those who live in the world [controlled by its system of failure, sickness, and confusion] and those who live in the Word of God [controlling the system of the world around them with Zion’s principles]. Don’t give yourself an opportunity to return to where you came from, which is the world [connoted with Egypt in the scriptures]. Desire, more than ever before, to live ONLY within the walls of Zion – our heavenly Jerusalem. Be determined to, through God’s word, remove sickness, poverty, failure, and sin from your life.

Enjoy consistent access to God; it is one of the benefits of living in Zion. Relish the ability to improve the economy and security of your earthly nation through prayers of intercession; this is yet another ability exclusive to those who live in Zion. And, finally, learn to worship God with all your heart and watch Him lift you higher and higher in Him; it is the reason for which you were born into Zion!

I’ll be expecting your questions and comments. Until then, enjoy this powerful excerpt from the message - The Beautiful People of the Beloved Country - by Rev. Chris Oyakhilome. God bless YOU!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

As it is said “love is in the air”! That statement is even truer today.

Just before you begin thinking about the thousand-and-one things that could be wrong with Valentine’s Day, think about what could be right with it. As Christians, first of all, we know we do not just love or celebrate love on Valentine’s Day, because love is our nature. But, I encourage you to view this day as an opportunity to let those who you love know how much they mean to you. Just like we don’t celebrate Jesus only on Christmas Day, but we have picked out December 25^th to specially celebrate Him, you can make today a day to specially appreciate those who love you as well as those you love.

It’s time to celebrate our fathers, mothers, siblings, co-workers, friends, and ‘foes’. Think about how they have improved your life. Show them that you care, just in case they are not sure or the idea needs emphasis in their hearts. Remember Jesus asked Peter “do you love me?” three times over [John 21:14-17]. If Jesus needed Peter to declare his love in that way, I am sure those you love would like for you to show it. And, if you have any faulty relationship, there is no better time than now to do something about it.

With that, I’d like to appreciate certain people. I want say “thank you” to my parents – Mr. Emmanuel & Mrs. Beatrice Olubusi – for raising me up in the word of God and providing for me; I love you very much! Also, to my siblings – we’ve been through it all together; I love you all very much! To some of the most special people in my life, the leaders and members of BLW Morgan State, you all know you have salted my life a lot, and I love you! To my Pastors [Rev. Chris, Pastor Aloy, and Bro. Soji], thank you for teaching me God’s word which is the material with which He has changed my life. To all BLW brethren and Christians from other ministries, especially my U.K., Nigeria, South Africa, and North America brethren that I met on Facebook, I sincerely do love you guys.

To all my Morgan State University friends, classmates, and acquaintances, you have made the experience an exquisite one; therefore, I appreciate you as well. To my K.C. besties – the seven; you guys are just too cool. You all are a different breed, and I love you just the way you are! To my primary school friends that I am still in touch with, especially Seun Olalekan, much love!

Very special thanks to you the readers of Burnivine’s Blogoscope. Even though the HolySpirit has been my constant strength and supply, without you all, there would have been no one to write for. So, I appreciate YOU! Many thanks also to the editor of this blog [who was hitherto unknown to readers] – Emeka Obiaka; you have been a great encouragement. And, to my publicist – ThisGokeBoySef Olubusi – you’re super-cool!

Finally, I appreciate my standby, helper, strength, guide, peace, joy, and righteousness – the Spirit of Truth and Grace Himself. Thank you, precious HolyGhost, for your love and faithfulness. I love you very much!!!

Go ahead and celebrate those you love right now! Also, write a shout-out comment!

Peace Within Our Borders: Unity In the Body of Christ

“Praise the Lord…O Zion. For He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates…He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.” [Psalm 147: 12 - 14]

It is of utmost exigency that believers begin to conduct a reassessment of what exactly we are about. The Spirit of God is doing something amongst us, but we need to let Him; we have to allow Him to “gather together the exiles of Israel”, that is those who are Christians but do not live as such.

Before I go further, I need to establish certain premises of why I refer to us as Israel today. First, we know from Hebrews 12:22-23 that “ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God” so that we know that the church [as well as the physical Israel] was being referred to in Psalm 147. Also, we were rightly informed by the Apostle Paul that “they are not all Israel which are of Israel” in Romans 9:6-8 where he explains to us that the true spiritual Israel are the children of the promise. To further bolster his point, he mentioned in Galatians 3:29 that everyone who is in Christ is Abraham’s seed and an heir according to the promise.

The initial premise being established, we now know that Israel in Psalm 147 spoke concerning us as well. But, before I advance to the main point which is unity in the body of Christ, I’d like to dispel any assumptions that everyone reading this blog knows what the body of Christ is. According to Colossians 1:18, “he is the head of the body, the church: who is the first born from the dead; that in all things he may have the preeminence” letting us know that Jesus Christ is the head of the church which the bible refers to as His body.

Knowing this, why do we work against one another? Is there a good enough reason why slandering, malice, hatred, discontentment and other such things should be found in our midst? In my experience as a Christian, I have heard more Christians speak against and condemn ministers of God than unbelievers themselves. How can we function cohesively against the massive attacks from the enemy in these last days, if we are divided over our pre-conceived ideas of what Christianity and moderation should be? Is there a reason why we cannot share stories of challenges and victories in our soul winning exploits with one another?

Consider the Apostle Paul’s confrontation with Peter concerning the issue of eating and communing with Gentiles in Galatians 2:11-14 where Paul says concerning Peter, “I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed”. There was a simple disparity in revelations whereby Paul had a higher revelation that, Jew or Gentile, we are all one new creation in Christ Jesus, but Peter was yet to manifest a complete agreement with the idea mostly because of concern about criticism from Jewish Christians. In spite of that occurrence, the Bible does not record a fight or continued disagreement between them. In fact, the Bible records Peter giving Paul a form of admiration in 2 Peter 3:15 where he says “our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you”.

Another point to consider in evaluating our somewhat childish disagreements is that there are different families in Zion just as Israel had twelve different children all with different traits. Even though we are all children of the same heavenly Father, depending on the family (local church assembly) to which we belong, our characteristics and strengths may differ. Using Israel’s children as a case in point, they all developed into strong nations with different trades and responsibilities, some as kings [Judah], others as priests [Levi] and so on according to the gifting of God [Genesis 49]. Understanding this, we should not be offended or taken aback when other believers don’t meet our outward expectations, as long as they hold to the important foundational principle of Christ. Like Joseph said to his brothers “be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life”, we should walk in love, respecting one another, and giving ourselves a long rope.

Also, it has been my desire to write concerning an issue that has been of great concern to me. One would think that Christians would understand “touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm” [1 Chronicles 16:22] more than anyone else, but sadly, the reverse is the case. We find Christians condemning some and otherwise accepting some men of God. It is not in our place to do such a thing; in fact, it is a manifestation of spiritual childishness to demonstrate such audacity as to speak negatively about a man or woman of God, whether or not you think he or she has gone astray. In Romans 14:4, the Apostle Paul wrote “who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand”. Do you want to condemn a man of God that fell, only for God to restore him afterward? What then becomes of you who has touched the Lord’s anointed? Well, you may say that the anointing left him when he fell. But, think again!

After David had been anointed king and Saul had made attempts to kill David, Saul eventually died having already been rejected by God. After he died, a certain man brought news to David about the death of Saul and even lied that he killed Saul himself. Many of us, if in David’s shoes, would have burst out rejoicing considering that we have already been anointed and this ‘nuisance’ has been taken out of the way. But, David said something striking to the man that brought the news; he said “how wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed”? [2 Samuel 1:11-15, 19-20] Notice that David still referred to Saul as the Lord’s anointed. David ended up mourning for Saul and killing the young man that brought the supposed ‘good news’.

Afterward he forbade his men from letting the Gentiles know about it. Why must unbelievers hear about the fall of a minister of God from the mouth of believers? Why do we talk the most about ourselves in a negative light? This must change for us to be efficient as a body. For a while now, I have developed the mentality that my only business with another Christian’s spiritual life is to pray for them and give thanks to God for their successes. I believe fellow believers should adopt the same mentality, knowing that God deals with His children on an individual basis based on His expectations and no one else’s.

Jesus made it clear how we’ll know our brothers and sisters – by their fruits. He did not leave us in doubt or make it a confusing issue. John expounded on that by letting us know that “every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God” according to 1 John 4:2. Can we believe the word of God and relate with one another as siblings regardless of any other differences in understanding of the word of God?

Finally, in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, which I strongly encourage you to read, Paul explains in-depth the importance of this subject of unity. There needs to be peace within the borders of Zion, and God can only establish it through us. We cannot keep cutting each other down instead of helping to heal each other’s wounds. Refuse to be the stumbling block in the way of the Masters’ work. When you are outside of your Christian family [local church assembly], function from the standpoint of members of one body. Let us love one another, work with one another, pray for one another, and strengthen one another till the day that the Master arrives, so that He will indeed find a “church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without blemish” [Ephesians 5:27].

The church the Apostle refers to in Ephesians 5:27 is not your local assembly, but the body of Christ.

Be concerned about the body!

Peace At Last!!!

Here's a poem I was prompted to write by the HolySpirit. It's dedicated from my heart to all those who have been impacted by natural disasters especially Haitians:


When destruction passes

And the thundering settles

Will there be…peace at last?

Hope restored and faith assured

Peace, peace at last.

Or, will I look in the face of another for…

Peace at last?

Shall I cry out to posterity and humanity for...

Peace, peace at last?

When rationality returns

And still hope is dull

Without father, mother, friend, or foe

Where, the sorrow, shall I lay?

To find…

Peace, peace at last.

Oh! Do I hear a voice?

Does it say “look to Jesus now and live”?

The Only True…

Peace, peace everlasting.