Isaiah had been serving the Lord and ministering to people before he was considered to be given a new commission with a wider scope. Before he could be given the new assignment, there was a revelation of the presence of the Lord to him. Likewise, in whatever capacity you might have served the Lord in the past, the Lord wants to give you a new commission. But such divine revelations can only be received through prayers, not from the news media.

When Isaiah saw the divine revelation, he saw how unqualified and insufficient he was. In the same vein, when any believer has the perception of the divine presence, he might see his corruption, defilement, shortcomings and insufficiency, but these are not to drive him away from the Lord. That the Lord is holy and the individual is unholy or the Lord so high and the individual so low should not drive the believer away from the Lord. Rather, the more he sees of God’s glory and honour, the more he should come to Him for purification that comes by the fire of His presence. After the purging and purification, then can he, like Isaiah, respond: “Here am I; send me.”

The presence of the Lord leads to purging because it reveals the true spiritual state of the believer and his dire need for true righteousness and holiness. It is when he comes into the divine presence that he can pray sincerely like Job did: “Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.” And like Asa, take courage and put away every sin and go for God’s purging. As he obeys the Lord, the Lord will ‘suddenly come to his temple.’

Whenever any believer is confronted with assignments that make him feel unqualified or insufficient as to ask: “Who am I, that I should” do this or that, he should not be afraid. What he needs is the presence of the Lord. The purpose of the divine presence is to get people out of bondage. This is why the believer should avoid comparing himself with any other person.

God is sending the believer to the people to say what He had told us to say. We are not only to preach, we are also to disciple the converts in every nation. We are to “Disciple A Whole Nation (DAWN)” this year. This year is a new dawn of evangelisation.

Therefore, we must (i) Demonstrate A Watchman’s Nature. (ii) Develop A Witnessing Network. (iii) Detest All Willful Negligence. (iv) Discover A Waiting Neighbourhood. (v) Disregard All Worrisome News. (iv) Double A Written Number. (vii) Declare Apostolic Words Nationwide. And the Lord is always willing to help us.

• Further reading (King James Version): Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-20. Exodus 3:10-12; 4:10-12; Matthew 28:19,20; Ezekiel 3:17; Ephesians 4:11,12; 2 Chronicles 29:10,11; Acts 16:9,10; 21:13,14; 9:31; 2:42; 5:42; 8:4,40; 12:24; 16:4,5; 19:10. Isaiah 6:1-8; Job 42:1-6; 34:31,32; 2 Chronicles 15:1-4,7,8; Malachi 3:1-3.