There was a time when…

• Jesus was the center of the message of the Church…
• People were in ministry for the love of Jesus..
• Preachers preached not for money, but burden and passion..
• Musicians worshipped and lead the church into his presence not for pay..
• Prayer partners would meet to pray and not to castigate the weakness of another..
• People gave to The Lord and fellow mankind for love and not for what is expected in return…
• The Church met in fellowship to celebrate Jesus the king and not men..
• Ministers of the gospel presented none other than Jesus in their sermons…
• Programs were attended because people knew Jesus would be there…
• The Church was built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ and not the personality of the preacher…
• Men hungered and craved for his presence and got the mantle like Elisha did…
• Mantle was everything and not title…
• Preachers would pray, “if your presence does not go with us, we don’t wanna leave this place..,” and not carry along with them foreign fires and strange god’s…
• Humility was the garment of the minister of the gospel and not arrogance…
• The Pulpit was a place to pull men away from their pits and not a show of eloquence and display of charisma
• The mouths of the priests kept the secrets of people they had counselled, like other professional carriers: doctors, lawyers, journalist and even bankers…
• Ministers would meet in a conference to bless the general body of believers and do this with utmost humility and not for showmanship and self ‘dignification.’
• Jesus was the meeting point between the law and the prophets…
• Men would literately bow prostrate before the glory of The Lord…
• We complimented each others grace and not compete with each other…
• Ministers would rally round a fellow minister growing weak in his faith…
• Ssalvation of souls was our driving force and not membership…
• Real miracles happened and not lying wonders and lying miracles…
• When the gift of discernment and prophecy were so accurate that scammers dared not dare the church with their scamming…
• People feared and reverenced God and not tool his grace for granted…
• We sang the song, “To hear from you, Lord we need a word from you and if we don’t hear from you what will we do…”
• The Church were so there for a brother or sister in need that we popularly sang, “your brother is hungry and came to you but you prayed with him and sent him away.. Where is the love of God in your heart”

I saw those times. I did not just hear of such times, I witnessed them… I have seen these times.. As I stand in between these two generations I can not help but weep how we have so fallen… Brothers, it’s not worth the comparison…

Where are those days? Just where are they? How did we get to this point where we find ourselves today..? How did we fall into a deep sleep in only an eclipse of the sun and not at night time…? How did we ever come to this?

Every day my eyes are wet with tears that my cheeks has almost gotten a freeway marked by the tears of my daily lamentations and intercessions for a return to those days where God owned the church completely… My eyes are sullen and heart heavy that I can hardly help not speak out of those days when holding the microphone behind the place we use to pull men out of their pits..!

Do not think me insane, crazy, mad, old fashioned and an outdated relic…

I hear in my spirit every day a word of hope from The Lord that, “a revival looms and is around the corner,” we are pressing on to the times of the laymen revivals.. The next revival will not be by men of the collar but the laymen in the church who contacted the fire. They will be the foxes that will set the world ablaze and touch it with the torch of their tails!

Jesus remains the center of the ministry and not the apostles and prophets or pastors or teachers or evangelists..! A word of advice to the minister cycle… “can you for once drop all those additional titles you attach to your position..? I mean titles like ‘commander, commanding commander, the Elijah of our time and the likes.

Hear the word of Lord… “these are times of the laymen revivals that will affect the pulpit and spread to the city and nations.. These are the times of the unlikelies says the spirit of The Lord”

~ by Mark Cyril

Author, teacher, motivational and conference speaker, Pastor Mark Cyril is the international President of CYRIL MARK WORLD EVANGELISM – an independent ministry taking the message of the cross across the Nations turning many in their numbers to salvation through Jesus Christ. He is also the Senior Pastor of Revelation Apostolic Community; an apostolic and Prophetic Word based ministry in Abuja the capital city of Nigeria – West Africa.