CONNECTING TO THE POWER OF GOD.
What is that situation that look hopeless around you right now?
(In Genesis 1), (vs3) God said let there be light:… (vs 4) and God saw the light that it was good.
He saw because He believed. So when the bible says have faith in God ( the original one says God’s kind of faith) because it was God’s kind of faith that created all that we see now. The bible says; God said and he saw( everything God said, he saw all) let there be light; he saw it, let there be firmament ,he saw it, man be, he saw it; there was nothing that he said that he didn’t see. “You’re not allow to see, until you say”, you declare and you see.
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, – And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.- And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.- Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD – Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: (Ezekiel37:1-5 KJV).
To prophesy means: To give voice to the plan and mind of God.
A prophet: Is simply a person that his able to see the mind of God and he his able to declare it in verbal form.
So the most important instrument for a prophet is his mouth; to declare what he saw. So what are you seeing? If what you’re seeing now, is not what you saw; what you’re seeing now is temporary, what you saw is permanent; not what you’re seeing now, so you have right to do what God told Ezekiel to do; to say what you saw, so that what you’re seeing can change to what you saw. When God said let there be light, there wasn’t light as at that time; but when he said it, he believed and light came. So when you declare a thing, sometimes the situation may not look like it, like (Ezekiel 37:1-10) When he prophesy; it didn’t happen immediately, the first thing that came up, there wasn’t life in them, and God asked him to prophesy again. So don’t be tired; when Elijah prayed for rain to fall, it didn’t happen immediately; he asked his boy to look if there was any sign, but there was no sign, but he prayed until there was a sign; so don’t let the devil trap you to cancel your prayers with your mouth, because of the challenges around you; but you should keep saying it, until it happens.
Power is the ability to do work and without power; work cannot be done. We started the month looking at the reality of our empowerment, that God didn’t create us to suffer, lobby, cry, groan; but God created us to enjoy power, and last week, we also looked at power (i.e) power as to be relevant, because devil as no respect for any other thing, except power. He has no respect for your age, citizenship, title, geographical location; what matters is the presence of God, the glory of God, being empowered to be able to see the way you said it. God said and he saw it, because he has the power to carry it out, if you don’t have power, you cannot carry out what you say.
If power is necessary, how do we connect with it?, the richest port is not in Nigeria, or where we have oil, or mineral resources; the richest port is in the grave yard. Why is it so? The reason is because, in the grave are buried people who were created by God; with ideas to bring solutions to the world, but they didn’t do anything; until they died. Why is it that those people were not able to carry out what God has created for, and they went to the grave with it; the simple reason is because they lack the power to give expression, ( the English people said, if witches were horses beggars will ride), a beggar wishes; he his the owner of a car going, house built… But he never passes his wishes until he dies, but this is not the plans of God for us; the plan of God for us is to die empty (to die empty means you finished your race, your assignment like Jesus did) Jesus said it is finished; even thou, he died at age 33, he was still able to finish his assignment; they were not able to kill him before he finished, he gave up his life himself. When Jacob was also about to depart, he was sure that he had finished his work, he called his children and released blessing upon them, nobody was able to cut him short before his time. For you to be able to be to fulfill what God created you for, you need to he adequately and relevantly empowered, we cannot fulfill the plans of God without power. It’s impossible!
The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.(Eccl 10:15KJV).
Everybody knows that he needs the ability to carry out is responsibilities, but how do I get access to the ability? How do you possess your possessions? Paul said; there are many doors opened, but there are adversaries. The devil is going up and down, roaring like a lion; looking for whom to devour, he his not interested in seeing you fulfill your purpose; but you have to be adequately empowered. Jesus was hated, right from the day he was given birth to, till he died, but how did he succeed to live in the mist of those devils and still fulfill destiny? It was because he was adequately empowered.
Power as to adequate and relevant; and it as to be there when you need it, because if the power is not available when you need it, then it’s useless; so you must have it at the time needed. Challenges are in levels; there are some challenges that you can just deal with anyhow, but there are some challenges that you have to reinforce to deal with it ; that was what Jesus said in (Matthew 17). It’s not a wise thing to live in pretence, a problem will not get solved when you’re managing it, until you do something against it. (As a student and you have problem with a subject in the class, and you say you will manage it, it won’t get better until you take the right step to conquer that ignorance, nothing will happen will time). So don’t live in religious pretence, you know a thing is not working; do something to it, because whatsoever you don’t confront; you can’t conquer. Any area of your life, were you don’t have infallible proof; that shows that you’re a queen, you have to do something. It shows that the power you have in that area is not adequate or relevant. You do what is required to acquire what you desire. In( Mathew 10:10) Jesus called the disciples and gave them power, so they have power and went out to heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind, they did all manner of glorious things and they were happy, and when the master was no longer with them, somebody brought his son to them to cure the child, and they failed and when they were in the private with the master, they asked the question; why couldn’t we cast the devil out.
Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.- And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. – Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.- And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. – Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? – And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.(Matthew 17:15-20KJV).
Maybe you are also asking yourself; why couldn’t I deal with this challenges of my life, why is that this sickness keep occurring every week, month, year, why is it that my family is passing through all this things; because behind anything there must be a force, until something is done to that challenge it won’t solve itself. You have to do something, the disciples asked Jesus , why they couldn’t cast the devil out in the boy; it was because of their unbelief. Jesus was telling them that; challenges are in levels, that this level requires you building up power to meet up with the challenge ( because if you will draw a trailer, the engine that you need to draw that trailer, is not the same with the one you need to draw a bicycle), they are different levels, and different levels; different devils, in the realms of darkness there are levels; we have the arc angels and we have the ordinary angels, so devils are in levels; so you need power to march, and you need to be able to understand that the power that is needed is available, but we must know how to connect to it. That is why the scripture says; the labour of the foolish wearieth them.
The connection between divinity and humanity is faith. The reason is this , according to the scripture in;
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: – Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, – According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue – Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.- And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;(2peter 1:1-5KJV).
He said grace and peace be multiplied, through what? ” the knowledge of God and his son Jesus Christ“, God as given us all things that pertaineth to life and godliness; including power, and power can only be delivered through the knowledge of God and of his son. So when we are talking of the redemptive benefits, Jesus paid the full price, for those things to be delivered to us.
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.- Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.(Isaiah 12:2-3KJV).
But we have to know what we have been given, in (Genesis 1:28), the bible says; after God created man, he blessed them and empowered them; so Adam didn’t beg for power before he was empowered, God knew he needed power, so he gave it to him. (It will be irresponsible of any employer to give an assignment that he hasn’t empowered you to do). God has given us that power.
Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.(Luke 9:1KJV).
And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.(Exodus 7:1KJV).
The Lord said I have made thee ( it’s in past tense) a god to Pharaoh, Jesus said I have given you authority ( past tense) to tread upon snake and scorpions; so when you’re talking about the power of the Almighty God; it’s something you don’t have to beg for, you don’t have to push God against his reluctancy to give you power, no? He knows you need it and it’s part of the redemptive benefits, and if this power as been given to us, how do we connect to it?
There was a story of a blessed man of blessed memory (T.S Husbon), he was called into the ministry and as a missionary, he went to India to minister with his wife; they decided to dedicate their lives ministering to the people and especially healing the sick, they carried out the assignment, and as they continued the assignment; they tried and tried and they couldn’t see results, so they chose not to pretend ( so they said; we can’t waste our life time on this missionary field When things aren’t working), so they went back to American into their country and when they returned back they didn’t sit down and accept the statoscope (and say we have failed) no, they decided to take up a new assignment, and he locked himself in the underground of his house; and then decided to pray, to seek for power (because when he came back, he saw another minister; ministering and he saw power of God been displayed) so he locked himself, fasting and praying saying; God heal them for me, we want to go back to the mission field; then he heard God; and God said what are you saying;” heal them for who” are you telling me you’re more interested in the healing of this people than me, God told him I have healed them 2000years ago,so don’t beg me to heal them, I have sent my only begotten son and he has paid the price for them to be healed and they are already healed. What you need to do now, is to go back to the field and tell them the goodnews; that Christ has paid the price and when they hear the goodnews and they belief the goodnews,their healing will manifest, so they went back with that instruction and millions of people received their healing.
What was the difference, the bible says ; the labour of the foolish wearieth them, they went in the first place without the adequate power for the healing, but when they discovered the truth on how to do it; the power started manifesting.So don’t pretend when things aren’t working, lock yourself up, the bible says; a man having separated himself, he intermeddle with all wisdom (proverb 18:1) ,any area you desire the testimony of laughter in your life; seek the face of God.