TRANSFORMED TOPOGRAPHY - PART 2

FRIDAY 18 AUGUST 2023

God is always interested in transforming the topography of all aspects of our lives. Therefore, it doesn't matter the outlook of things in any area of your life, the Spirit of God can rearrange the topography in your favour. However, a new outlook is derived from your association with the Spirit, as you take full advantage of the life of productiveness and fruitfulness always streaming forth from Him. More below!

Reference: Isaiah 32:15 New Living Translation (NLT) "Until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops."

Now watch this: Until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. The outpouring is focused on us, not on the wilderness. Got it? The Scripture didn't say, "Until the Spirit is poured out on the wilderness." So it is our constant association and intimate contact with the Spirit that will always give rise to transformation or result in abundance. So to speak, only then will your wilderness will be turned to fruitfulness under the influence of God's Spirit.

More so, notice that little or nothing is going to change until the Spirit of God takes over. So the word, "Until the Spirit" is highly relevant and important in a wilderness situation. In the context of the passage, it was Prophet Isaiah instructing the women of Jerusalem not to remain complacent because the harvest they were familiar with wasn't going to come as usual - until they did something remarkable or took an unusual step to do what they weren't doing before due to their state of slackness.

At the time of prophesy, as a consequence of their complacency, in a year and some days, they would be troubled, because the vintage would fail, the gathering would not come. In other words, the grape harvest would fail to come as usual and the fruit harvest would not arrive. They were too relaxed due to their luxurious lifestyle. So Isaiah notified them of what was coming.

He said, "Rise up, you women who are at ease, Hear my voice; You complacent daughters, Give ear to my speech. Tremble, you women who are at ease; Be troubled, you complacent ones; Strip yourselves, make yourselves bare, And gird sackcloth on your waists... On the land of my people will come up thorns and briers, Yes, on all the happy homes in the joyous city; Because the palaces will be forsaken, The bustling city will be deserted. The forts and towers will become lairs forever, A joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks—Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, And the fruitful field is counted as a forest" (See Isaiah 32:9-15 NKJV).

Although something would go wrong, they would have to wait on the Lord until the outpouring of the Spirit would come from above. Like I mentioned in part one, the outpouring of the Spirit was the formal inception or inauguration of His dispensation on earth. There were three "outpourings" recorded in the book of acts, meaning that three remarkable times, the holy Spirit was poured out to three different set of people.

The first was to Jews and proselytes in the same Jerusalem (Acts 2). The second was to a group known as Samaritan believers (Acts 8), while the third was to a group known as Gentile believers (Acts 10). Notably - the three events happened in the same manner. After that, a transformed topography resulted in form of church growth and expansion, on account of the great commission. Stay tuned for part 3 as we go deeper. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - John 14:15-17; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:1-5; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; Acts 4:31; Romans 5:5.

Exuberant Declaration: I acknowledge that every aspect of my life is positively influenced and transformed by the Holy Spirit because I yield daily to His guidance through continual fellowship and obedience. Blessed be God!