“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:14-16, NKJV).
The Lord Jesus comes on the scene and He releases fresh identity to a generation of burning ones about their true identity in Him. They could not comprehend what He was saying in their natural minds. But what He spoke began to awaken something that has been lying dormant in their spiritual DNA.
They would not truly understand His words until after His resurrection and after the unprecedented, fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit with languages of fire. Jesus was the prototype of the prophecies He declared over them. He called them lights, cities and lampstands. They are lights that penetrated the darkness of the entire cosmos and were able to provide direction, clarity and life to those that are trapped, entangled with and held bondage to darkness, chaos, confusion and death. They are cities seated in the ascended place of the heavenlies with Christ, living secret place lives with their Father that is rewarded in public for all to see. They are lampstands that burn with His fire in their spirits and do not allow the wickedness and perverseness of society to cause them to compromise and dim out the inner light that has been kindled by the Holy Spirit. A fire that many won’t be able to comprehend: yet they will perceive that it is something unique, supernatural and attractive about what they are witnessing.
Jesus described to them the lifestyle of a true witness for Him: a lifestyle of passionate, burning love for and loyalty to Him that all can see, that all can be witness to. When we burn with a fiery passion for Him, demonstrate the supernatural and put His power on display, Jesus calls this a lifestyle of good works.
Jesus told them that this type of living would glorify our Father in heaven. What does that mean? Glorify means to reveal the true nature and character of something. Therefore by displaying good works as new creation sons, we are revealing the true nature and character of our Father (who is invisible to the natural realm) to people that can witness His nature and character and acknowledge His true goodness. Many people do not genuinely know the Father’s authentic nature and character because His sons have misrepresented Him for such a long time. But the Lord has a remnant of new creation sons that continually choose to represent Him well in the earth. No matter how they are treated, rejected or persecuted, they will always have a burning love for Him and a burning love for people to respond with the heart of their Father.
True sons are genetic replicas of their Father. They can’t help but be reflective images of the model their Father has patterned for them in heaven. The more we reveal the image of our heavenly Father, who lives in a dimension that people can’t see, the more people will “see” His true essence and realize that He truly exists. Burning ones have to understand that it is not prideful to shine; it is actually inherent in their DNA to shine. They were designed to shine. It’s illegal for us to not function as a light. Many times we operate in false humility, thinking that humility means for us to be passive, reserved and restrained so as not to offend anyone in society. But that is wrong.
Burning ones are designed to impact the territories, jurisdictions and spheres of influence that the Lord has assigned for them to be lights in. This means that we don’t just exercise good works when we are assembled with the rest of the saints but we display good works in every arena of society. In the marketplaces, at the workplaces, at shopping malls, grocery stores, in schools, in front of our families, on the streets, in restaurants, at the gym and the list goes on and on. The fiery Light of God in you should never be hidden nor should it be something that we try to keep secret. Anything that we have a passion for, we must learn to give it away. We should desire everyone to possess what has possessed us.
For more of this type of teaching, join me on my podcast, Increasing the Flame with Brandon Cornelius. {eoa}
Brandon Cornelius Sr. is a husband, father, leader, traveling speaker and lover of Jesus. He was born and reared in Jackson, Mississippi. He is senior leader along with his wife, Dr. Denise Cornelius, over an amazing congregation of Burning Ones at Glory Revival Center in Madison, Mississippi. His only true passion is to burn for Jesus and make His name famous in the earth. Brandon loves to see people transformed by the supernatural power of God because He understands that the Lord’s transformation is the only pure and lasting transformation that exists. You can connect with Brandon Cornelius Sr via Facebook or through the church website, gloryrevivalcenter.com. You can hear more of his teachings on the Glory Revival Center YouTube channel, youtube.com/channel/UC5dwmDvKAZnFc5ce_2M8GwQ.