- Apostle Joshua Selman on “The Mystery Of Prevailing Prayer 2” at Koinonia Abuja.
Genesis 28:10-15
*God is not only a lamb, He is a lion.
*You don't play with a lion, you can play with a lamb.
* God is both, depending on who you are.
* Never miss the reverence part.
* Never allow your reverence for God to erode no matter how close you get to God or greatness.
The word of God is very powerful. The reason is because God invested his power in his word. The word of God is beyond just a letter of scripture. The word of God is not just a manual produced by Zondervan or Whitaker house or any other publishing company. It is more than that. Church Gist. The word of God represents the spirit and the life of God. That means if the word of God is communicated to you, you should receive more than education, you should receive more than enlightenment. Habakkuk 3:3-4. When the word of God comes, it doesn't just come to enlighten alone. The word of God has several assignments in the life of a believer:
The Bible says the word of God is able to build up that means it is responsible for maturity. Maturity through enlightenment. 1 Corinthians 14. In this kingdom, we grow on the strength of the light of God’s word. The word of God provides growth through enlightenment.
The word of God takes away ignorance from the life of a believer. Ephesians 4:18. The assignment of the god of this world is to blind eyes of people So that people can continue to walk around Shadowboxing in complete ignorance.
The word of God is his conveyor of his intents to men. God's thoughts are captured in his words. Jeremiah 29:11. When you find the word of God, you are able to find the thoughts of God. It does not just tell you the principles of the kingdom, it cultures your thought process. Philippians 2:5. There was a mindset that Jesus had that made the Holy Ghost comfortable on Jesus, that made him finish his ministry in 3 and ½ years. The word of God cultures our thinking. If the only thing you receive is information, it is not enough for transformation. Your mindset, your viewpoint, your plane of judgment must be altered by God's word. Dominion and authority in this kingdom is light dependent. It is not just an impartation.
It gives us wisdom, God's perspective on all matters. It is able to make you wise unto salvation, the Bible says. So anytime that you submit yourself to the atmosphere of God's word, it is important that you have definite expectations. At the instance of God’s word, I expect my Ignorance to diminish. If it does not happen, it was not the word of God I encountered. At the instance of God’s word, there should be transformation and excelling in light through knowledge. It is on the strength of this that God impacts grace upon people. Ephesians 3:9. There is a grace that can veto the limitations of men and still bring comprehension of truth. Why? because the bible is more than a lecture manual. The matters of the Spirit are not just educational affairs. When it has to do with the things of the spirit, both the enlightened and the unenlightened would have to depend upon the Holy Spirit. Any territory is at the mercy of the spiritual information that is supplied in that territory. You cannot transform a territory by just having a church. Church Gist. You transform a territory to the degree to which you supply superior spiritual information. When the devil wants to destroy a territory it's very easy. He focuses on the major models, the men or women who are the communicators, the shapers of the spiritual convictions of that territory. He would either derail them to be in error or completely bring them out of relevance. If it does that, all kinds of activity can continue but I assure you there will not be growth. The real destiny of a territory is not just in the hands of members of parliament, it takes more than politics to change a territory. Africa is a very religious continent. On average, the average believer on this continent submits himself - an average of every day - if he is a serious christian to someone who is shaping his spiritual conviction and it matters what information we are receiving. One wrong ideology can cause a territory to pay the price for over a decade.The Christianity that cannot translate into principles that change society is not profitable. Every revival, if you study church You will see that the spiritual convictions of the people found a way to improve the standard of living of people in a territory. That way even an unbelievable will no longer see God as a nuisance. There is the gospel as a message that saves. But there is the gospel as an ideology that transforms. The message that saves is a personal thing, the ideology that transforms is a territorial reality. It is a body of information. Words are powerful, territories were defeated through words. When you study through history, Not just church history, Dictators and leaders used the power of ideologies to turn people from very well meaning convictions to destructive convictions. Territories were shaped through the power of words. What you are hearing now, is not just a sermon. You are submitting your destiny to a body of knowledge. God will judge me if I lie to you and I deceive you, because on the strength of the information you are receiving, You will take decisions and there are destinies connected to the decisions you are taking. Please my dear co-laborers let us pay the price and be serious with what we do every week. It's more than just bringing a message, you are contributing to shaping the convictions of a territory. You can measure the spiritual health of a territory by calling the believers at random and having an interview - What about the kingdom do you know? And what about the kingdom do you not know? The assessment from an average believer tells the quality of the spiritual voices in that territory. There is blind fanaticism that produces no result. They worshipped someone in the epistles - it was written to the “unknown” God and there are several people still doing it today. Zeal to a God that they do not know. God is not just the God of christians. God is the God of all flesh. There must be a dimension in our spiritual communication where muslims and unbelievers can still find relevance in what we are doing. Listen to be transformed, don't just listen for enlightenment alone. It is not one word from the Lord that changes people. You hear people say “only one word from God,” I understand what they are trying to say, but the truth, it is not one word from God that changes you, One word that is communicated with intelligence, explained properly, received by the believer and applied accordingly, that is the word that transforms.
🎶 I will search for you and I will find you🎶
Just lift your voice in one minute and pray to God, grant me knowledge, grant me knowledge of God even tonight.
🎶 Oh, Lord! You are my God and I will ever praise you🎶
There is the way God makes men. Your assignment is to trust enough, come under the influence of my leadership he says — My assignment is to make you. It's not only the heavens and the earth he makes, he can make men. You are in the presence of the one who can make men. Everybody you see that you admire was made. Matthew 4:19. Follow me he says, and I will make you. Notice he never said follow me and I will send you. When you follow him, he makes first. Out of the abundance of the making, he sends you. In the school of the Spirit, any lecture you miss, you pay for it in the future.
The body of spiritual truths that is allocated for the saints, the Bible generically, calls them mysteries. Matthew 13:11. Dominion is the resultant effect of your comprehending the mysteries of the kingdom. The mysteries of the kingdom are not infinite. It is a finite body of mysteries you can hold, one of them is the mysteries of prayer. Prayer is powerful. Believers pray, there is so much dissipation of energy but then there is very little result. Matthew 6:5-9
Your motive should never be to use spirituality to try and attract some sort of respect. The moment it is time for prayer, let nothing around you distract you. Let your focus be on God. When we approach the father to pray, we should not use vain repetitions as the heathen does.
Why do you have to pray:
It is because God gave man a will.
Pattern for prayers:
Consciousness of the Fatherhood of God as your source, sustainer and defender (Matthew 6:9) : Everytime you are about to pray, the first consciousness in your heart should be about the fatherhood of God. It is important for you to know that God is interested in you. Matthew 7:11. When you approach God, realize like a child, you are coming to a responsible father. The real proof of fatherhood is the ease to give you, your ease to release. Do you know how many things we would have truly received in our lives, if only we had the grace to ask? When you call him “Abba,” you verbalise your total dependence on him. Romans 8:15. When you approach God in prayer let him be your source, your everything. Not plan B.
Faith (Matthew 6:8) : Hebrews 11:6. He is in heaven, yet he is with you. You will require faith all the time, without faith there are things you cannot believe, without faith you cannot receive. Mark 1:24. You can never have what you have not received. Receiving is a spiritual thing.
The Spirit of Reverence: Even though you approach him with confidence, you must approach him from a standpoint of reverence. 1 Samuel 2:30. You must approach God with honour. There is a weakness in men, everytime great men are too available, the temptation for dishonour is around the corner. It is a combination of lion and lamb. God is not only a lamb, He is a lion. You don't play with a lion, you can play with a lamb because you see, a lamb that later becomes a sheep, does not have horns. It can’t hurt you. It will only depend on the safety of the shepherd but a lion will tear you to pieces. God is both. He is both, depending on who you are. Let me tell you this there are sides of God that are very fearful. Never miss the reverence part. Never allow your reverence for God to erode no matter how close you get to God or greatness. Never be ashamed of going down on your knees, never be ashamed of rolling before him he deserves it. Hebrews 4:16
Prioritize the Kingdom (Matthew 6:10) : If the will of God is done in your life you may not have a prayer request again. The reason why you still have prayer requests is because the kingdom has not truly come and his will is not yet done.Church Gist. If the will of God is allowed to be enforced, you may not have any prayer request again. So more than the prayer request that seems to multiply by the day, pray that his influence through his will find an expression in your life. If the kingdom comes, your life will be a replica of heaven. All that happens in heaven is worship, do you know why? because the kingdom has found expression. Heaven is what happens when the will of God is not resisted.
Daily provisions: My God is Father and Father is giver. There are things only God can do. Do you believe that God is a giver? Do you believe he can bless you daily? Luke 6:38, Exodus 3:21. Anytime you wake up in the morning and you see that there are still men, rejoice. Men is how God gives, he uses men. Favour is true riches. It is the capital that buys money. The 2nd of the true riches is called relationships.
Communicate Forgiveness (Matthew 6:12): There are many revelations, about this sensitive aspect of prayer, and if we do not learn this we may not be able to excel in our prayer lives.
All men are human, they fail, and they grow weary
Live with the consciousness that all men are human. Let the propensity for forgiveness be ever there in your heart, ready to communicate it because you will find many men. Living a life of unforgiveness is living a life of sorrow, eventually you will find out that you are the only one standing. The chances that everybody around your life will offend you one day is 100 per cent. The chances that you will offend everyone around you is 100 per cent, regardless of your spiritual growth. Forgiveness is giving. Forgiveness is a profound proof of spiritual maturity.
Divine direction through guidance and leadership of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 6:13, Isaiah 30:21): Its easy to resist temptation when you don’t have a need. Satan is not foolish, he will wait till you have a need, and the need presses you to your neck, then he comes with an offer. 1 John 5:19. The whole world lieth in wickedness. 2 Peter 2:9 God is a deliverer.
Prayer:
Father change my perspective as far as the ministry of prayer is concerned. I am a king and a priest. I want to begin to pray the kind of prayer that produces result.
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