And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so, but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. [Luke 1:59-64]


Verse. 59

On the day of your calling or divine ordination, lots of people who are myopic, whom all they see is what your fathers have produced, they will come to call you by the name of your father. Even though God is not interested in repeating your father or replicating your father in you, as far as God is concerned, He gave your father a great name, but He wants to do something new. So His call unto you is a different call, and not after the name of your father. Several people may raise eyebrows and say, "what are you doing?, is this how your fathers did it?, why are you deviating from age-long traditions?...", they will compel you to succumb to the traditions of the land. As far as they are concerned, ‘as it has been, so shall it always be’. They forget that even your father whom they use as your pointer never followed the traditions of his own father, but simply listened to the voice of the Spirit in order to spell and declare what his own name was.

Even though Zacharias is a good and godly name, the fact remains that the new thing that God wants to do, Zacharias in all his glory cannot enter into it. It's not that Zacharias is too small for it, it's just that his assignment is different. It will take a John to enter into what only John has been prepared for. God is not looking for another Priest, Zacharias was a priest. God has many priests already that He has made, and He could make His selection out of the many available ones if He needed a Priest. But today, God is looking instead for A voice, crying in the wilderness, a forerunner of Christ, and it will take a prepared John to fill that post.


Verse. 60

Sometimes, it will take you to understand deeply what your specific assignment in God is. If not, many people will drag you into readymade ministry and wear upon you another man's old garment that has finished its duty. It will take strong determination, conviction and focus to declare unto men older than you in 'religion' that “NOT SO, but he shall be called John”


Verse. 61

The yardstick that many use today is "if it has never been done, then it can never be done". They believe in copycat, and never look up to receive from the Holy Ghost. People will come to you and call you names and discourage you, they will give you old manuals to tele-guide your ministry. You may be lured to begin to follow an old Moses because he was great, whereas God is saying unto His Joshua, "Moses my servant is dead, now you therefore, arise and do what I shall tell you".

Men may tell you, “there is none of your kindred called by this name”, but it must be clear in my mind that this is the very reason why God is calling me. If any of your kindred was called by this name, then God didn't need you to repeat their calling, He simply would have grabbed one of them to do what they had been prepared and groomed to do. If God needed a Zacharias, He didn't need to create another one, He would have just stretched His hand to pick one of those old Zacharias and do what He wanted through him. But when God needs a John, He simply created a new one because there is nobody bearing that name, calling, title or ministry yet.

The reason why God is picking you and giving you a new name is because He wants to do something new. You may have fathers you can learn from, but you are NOT to copy them. You may watch them, admire them and listen to them, but they are NOT your director or guide, you need your ears to be sharp and well tuned to the divine heavenly channel and frequency, because, no man has ever towed this part, only He who has called you (God Himself) has the blueprint for your calling, hence, LISTEN TO HIM AND TAKE YOUR INSTRUCTIONS FROM HIM.


Verse. 62

Am I a father to a John that is just coming up?, I must be very careful never to label him what my wishes demand. I must be dead enough to release him from under my firm grip and allow God to work His work in and through him, just as He did in me. I must be attentive to what the Spirit of God is saying, "he shall be called John".
How many fathers have truncated the divine calling of their so called children in The Lord, and out of greed and selfishness, have guided them with selfish hands into what they want them to be, and NOT what God has designed them to be. They make them a perfect copy of themselves and erase out of them the divine writing concerning them. These children, of course may be able to go some distance with the regalia clothing that their father cast on them, but this cloth soon wears out because it has spent its days and has expired, whereas, the young man of God still as many days to spend. The cloth that God designed for him that ought to carry him through his years without wearing off has been discarded. He, out of loyalty to a man and dishonour to God, has taken up the cloth that is almost outdated. The cloth soon tears off, and the man of God begins to walk naked.


Verse. 64

This is wonderful. I notice that God has designed that some glorious vessels of His will be formed under our spiritual hands (or under the hands of older men who have gone before). God has designed that the man whom He will use in some distant future, will pass through our moulding hands today. We are to prune and mould these lives in order to fit the perfect picture that the Master desires, and not just to fit them to our own image.
It was after Zacharias has written what God intended concerning the life of this young vessel, John, that he himself received his tongue back.

Could it be that the reason why our messages are no more clear and convicting, and our tongues have been held is because there are men under us that we have carefully and cunningly cornered to ourselves and called by our names because of their brilliance that we coveted? Men whom The Lord chose for some great works but allowed them to pass through our moulding hands, but we have hijacked them for our selfish uses? Why has utterance suddenly finished from our lips?, why do we talk and speak and shout over the lives of men, yet there is no breakthrough, no conviction? Hearts are getting more hardened and our sermons and works are becoming mere noise making. Could it be that we have taken over the 'making' of men from the Holy Spirit and we are now the ones dictating the future of men without recourse to God? Is it not because we have put ourselves in men's paths and have become lords over God's heritage, therefore God Himself has withdrawn the divine force from our lips and we have lost the utterance?

For our mouths to be opened immediately and our tongues loosed, so that utterance and anointing will flow again, we must begin to get back to God's design and discard our seemingly brilliant ideas. All the brain works, all the human ideas of running ministry, all the self exaltation and usurping, being lords over God's heritage, demands for respect and obedience, commandeering and placing men under compulsory submission, leading men our ways without express instructions from the Holy Spirit, lumping men together without clarity of individual divine functions received from God, all these and many more 'rulership' skills that we picked from the world rather than the approved Biblical kind of leadership must be taken out of the way.