Kept Through Faith 3

[Speaker 1] Despite the prevailing situation across the globe of the COVID-19, we thank God that the church of God is marching on, and the gates of hell cannot prevail. We thank God again for this opportunity to fellowship together. And as you link up with us again from wherever you are, we trust the Lord that He will meet with us all. The Bible says Paul plants, Apollos waters, but it is God that gives increase. We trust the Lord this evening to give increase to our gathering, to our meeting, to this fellowship in the name of Jesus. Let's have a word of prayer. Let us pray. Almighty God, we are grateful unto You. We bless Your holy name. We give You praise and glory. We give You honor. We give You adoration. We bless Your name for Your mercies. We thank You for Your goodness. We come before You again, O Lord, and we are asking that You will grant that there will be seed for the sower and there will be bread for the eaters in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we look up unto You. Meet with us again today. Attend to us in Your mercies in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Last week, we were looking at, we concluded looking at the story of Elisha when the Syrian soldiers came to arrest him. When they came to arrest him, we saw what happened. And I said we will be picking the matter from there today. For the past few weeks, about a couple of weeks now, we have been considering "Kept by the Power of God through Faith." Faith being that which keeps the people of God. We saw that the power of God becomes available, the power of God becomes functional, the power of God becomes operational where faith is expressed, where faith is expressed in the word of God. And last week, we were looking at "A Shelter in the Time of Storm." We saw in Psalm 46 that our God, our God is a refuge, a very present help in the time of trouble. So, even if the earth is removed and the mountain taken into the sea, we will not fear. We have nothing to fear. We saw that, and we were wondering last week that why is it that people fear? Why is it that even today, believers fear? Jesus warned, Jesus encouraged. We read Matthew 24 last week. We saw that one of the admonitions of the Lord Jesus is that, "Let not your heart be troubled." Let not your heart be troubled. All these things need be, but your heart should not be troubled. Why is it today that the heart of believers, there is so much trouble, there is so much fear, trepidation, upheavals in the heart? Men are not rested. Men could not trust in the Lord. And that was what took us to look at the story of Elisha. And we will be going to that story today, and we will be raising issues. Particularly, our focus of today is for us to know how we can grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. Particularly, what can build our faith? How do we build faith? How do we come to a point when we are not shaken, when we are not disturbed? How do we get to the path that these fathers got to? How do we enter into this same operation that they were in? How do we increase capacity? Particularly knowing that there is nothing anybody can do to stop the earth from sinking. The earth has been designed, it has been designed to sink, and it will keep sinking. It will keep failing, going down, down, down. Such that if your confidence is in anything that is seen, that is visible, something material, then definitely your faith will sink. But there is an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure, that cannot sink when the billows roll. And that is what we want to discuss today. That is what we want to look at today. Let's go to the book of 2 Kings 6 where we have the story of Elisha and the army of Syria. [Speaker 2] I read from verse 8. "Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, 'My camp will be in such and such a place.' And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, 'Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.' Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice. Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, 'Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?' And one of his servants said, 'None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.' So he said, 'Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.' And it was told him, saying, 'Surely he is in Dothan.' Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, 'Alas, my master! What shall we do?' So he answered, 'Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.' And Elisha prayed, and said, 'Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.' Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, 'Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.' And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha." (2 Kings 6:8-18, NKJV) [Speaker 3] That was the story we were considering last week and we stopped. Now, I did mention last week that when you look at this episode, we noticed that Elisha, in the face of this impending danger, this great confrontation, Elisha was not perturbed at all. He wasn't. He was not perturbed in any way. Elisha was bold, strong, courageous. He was not perturbed. But we noticed that the servant was very disturbed. And I did mention last week that the average Christian, the average Christian of today, the average believer, operates at the level of that servant. In the face of trouble, in the face of adversity, in the face of challenges, in the face of great difficulties, in the face of persecution, in the face of confrontation, the average believer of today is like that servant. "Alas, master! Alas, master! Alas, master! Alas, master! Alas, alas, alas," fear. The average believer could hardly operate at the level of Elisha. See, my concern is this. My concern is that the dispensation of Elisha is actually nothing compared to the dispensation that we are under, or that we are in right now. Elisha operated under a covenant that when the scripture was describing it in 2 Corinthians 3, the Bible says the glory of that covenant could be described as fading away when compared with the glory of the New Testament. When compared with the New Testament, what is available to the believer of the New Testament, what is available to men of God, those of us that are ready to walk with God, the faithful in the land, what is available to us today, the covenant under which we are operating far surpasses what the covenant that Elisha operated under. So, if we can get a man that could operate at this frequency with God, then under our dispensation of grace, there should be a higher operation than this. But what is common today, what you find many times today, is the situation of operating at the level of that servant. Once there is a little persecution, a little confrontation, trouble, you see believers compromising. Men running here and there. They cannot stand for the Lord. They cannot declare His counsel in the face of fear, in the face of death. There is fear in the eye, there is trepidation, upheavals in the heart. People cannot stand boldly and declare Jesus in the face of fear. That is why today you find Christians who are civil servants, who are public servants, in the organized private sector, lecturers, medical doctors, engineers, businessmen, artisans, traders, just call them, mention them. You find believers at all these levels compromising. They cannot properly represent God where they are. Why is it like this? That is our concern today. Why can't people operate? Why can't men operate in power? Why can't there be an operation of boldness? Why can't there be an operation of courage? And that's our concern. Now, I want you to look intently at that scripture that we read. You would notice that Elisha prayed. He said, "Lord, I pray, open the eyes, open his eyes." And I said something last week. I said it follows that Elisha, since he wasn't praying for himself to see something, it means Elisha was seeing what the servant could not see. Elisha was seeing the invincible. And so he was not afraid because he could see that they that be with him are far more than the Syrians that came against him. He was so certain about that. He was not afraid because he could see. And I said it takes men who can see the invincible to do the impossible. The seemingly physical impossible could be done by men who can see the invincible. And I said we must go to see the invincible. And today, I want to properly amplify what I mean by that. So that we can properly understand how this thing holds in the New Testament, under grace. Now, the issue of seeing, the issue of Elisha being able to see, the seeing that we are talking about, it is important to understand it in relation to the New Testament. Now, let me give a good example of what I'm trying to say. Now, when you look at the episode of the children of Israel in Numbers 21, you will find a similar thing, a similar episode. Moses prayed to the Lord. The people sinned against God and fiery serpent was biting them, which were sent actually by the Lord. They went to God to pray, and Moses prayed on their behalf. We saw that in that episode, Numbers 21, God told Moses that he should make a bronze serpent. He should place that bronze serpent on a pole. It will come to pass that anyone that look at the bronze serpent will live. Anybody that look at that serpent will live. When Jesus was making reference to that story in John 3, from verse 14 through 16, He said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whosoever believe will not perish. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believe..." So, we are seeing something here. They were to look at the serpent in the Old Testament. Elisha saw the heavenly army in the Old Testament. When Jesus was speaking about seeing and looking, He said "he who believe." He who believe. So that in the New Testament, believing and seeing becomes synonymous. Elisha could see. The believer should believe. Now, this matter of believing is so important in looking at it alongside seeing, so that we can understand how we can grow to this point that these people operate. I told you that today I'm concerned with what can make us grow. How do we grow to a point where we can stand before challenges, before our fear, before persecution, before difficult situations, before pressures, and we are not pressurized by pressure? We don't shatter. We don't collapse under pressure. Rather, we remain victorious. Because if you look at scripture in the New Testament, the Bible says, "Whosoever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith." So, the victory is in faith. Now, quickly, I want us to look at some scriptures together. Look at Hebrews about Moses. Hebrews 11. Look at what the Bible said about Moses. I read verse 23. It says, "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's command." They saw he was a beautiful child. They were not afraid of the king's command. Something made them not to be afraid. That was faith. So, they did not fear the king's command. Talking about Moses, said, "By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible." I'm showing this matter of faith and seeing. You will see that in explaining the faith of Moses, the Bible says Moses was as seeing. That that made Moses to stand, that made him to be uncompromising, that made him to withstand the test of that affliction, that made him not to fear the danger that is involved, that kept Moses going was his faith. But in relating that faith, the Bible says it was as seeing the invincible. So, it means actually faith has eyes. Faith can see. Faith can see. And to illustrate that very well, I want you to see Ephesians chapter 1. The prayer of Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1, I read from verse 15. I will read through 20. Ephesians chapter 1. This was the prayer of Apostle Paul for the church in Ephesus. "Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and your love for all the saints, did not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." You see the next thing there, verse 18, "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know..." The eyes. So, faith, faith has eyes. These eyes when enlightened, and we talk about understanding. We talk about understanding. Says "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know." Faith is a knowing. You know something. Jesus said, "I believe it." He said it, "I knew or I know that the Lord has said this." And so when the eyes of understanding is enlightened, we are talking about a strengthened faith, a renewed faith. We are talking about great faith. I will illustrate it for you again with the episode of the centurion that wanted Jesus to heal his servant. You will notice that when Jesus was approaching, the centurion said, "I'm not worthy to have you in my house. You don't need to come under my roof. You are a man of authority. Just speak the word and my servant will be well. For I too am a man under authority. I say to one go, he goes, another come, and he comes. So just speak the word." You notice that when Jesus was to talk about this man, in making His remark, the Lord said that He has not seen such a great faith in Israel. What was faith? What was Jesus calling faith in this man? The man had a clear understanding. The man there is a clear understanding in this man. He understood that just as he is a commander and he can command one army to go and he goes, another to come and he comes, the same way this man was able to understand that Jesus is a commander of everything. He can just give a command and the sickness will be gone. He understood. That is the faith. There is an understanding. If your eyes of understanding are not enlightened, faith cannot be strengthened. Faith will remain weak. Faith will be dormant. Faith will experience heaviness. Faith will not come into operation. For faith to come into operation, there is something about, something must happen to the eye that faith has. The eyes of faith are called the eyes of your understanding. Eyes of your understanding. For many believers today, their eyes of understanding are not yet enlightened. It has not received light. Those eyes have not received light. They have not received light. Until those eyes receive light, faith cannot operate. For faith to be renewed, for faith to be strengthened, for faith to march on in the face of death, for faith to stand resolute, unshaken, not swerving, not wavering, standing constant in the face of affliction, in the face of death, in the face of tribulation, in the face of war, something must happen to the eyes that faith has. The eyes of faith, those eyes must receive light. And I pray for you like Paul prayed for these people. May your eyes of understanding receive light. There must be light. And in telling you about this process, about the process of how you can grow, how we can come to the point of stability, because that's our focus today. But I'm just trying to explain the matter of faith. But of course, when I come to that, I'll show you that one thing you must do for you to grow is that you must understand the place of praying according to God's will, praying the word of God, crying unto God for your eyes of understanding, that eyes of faith, there's these eyes, this eye of faith to be opened, to be enlightened for you to receive understanding. But I'm still trying to explain relationship between Elisha seeing and faith in the New Testament. And I'm now trying to say that faith is not blind. Faith is not blindness. Faith is not foolishness. What makes faith look to some people as foolish is because the person who is operating faith is seeing something by understanding that the person who does not understand, who have not received such understanding, could not see, or cannot see. And so when he's walking in that understanding, he's stepping in that faith, he'll be looking to the man who cannot see that who cannot see what he's seeing, he'll be looking to that person as foolish, as stupid. So, you can see that in the New Testament, when we are talking about seeing the invincible, we are talking about your eyes of understanding being enlightened. Something must happen to those eyes of understanding. And because something must happen to these eyes, that was why you see Paul praying for this church. Said "after I heard about your faith, I've not ceased to pray. I've not ceased to pray for you." And I kept on praying, I kept on praying, and I'm praying. Paul did not cease to pray for this church, and that prayer, that apostolic prayer, is that their eyes of understanding be enlightened. Now, faith and seeing, as we saw in Elisha. I want you to know that this operation in the New Testament is not completely a New Testament operation. The spirit of Christ, if you look at when the Bible was talking about Moses here, he said, "choosing rather to suffer the reproach of Christ." The spirit of Christ was in these men. The spirit of Christ was in these men and operating in them. So the spirit of Christ was operating in these people. There was a reality. That is why the Bible was saying faith, that they were moving by faith not by sight. It was by faith that these things were done. But what you can see is that they were seeing. Their eyes of understanding had been enlightened. Moses, he said "has seen the invincible." So the eyes of, it's not as if there was something physical that Moses was looking at, but it's the eyes of his understanding. That is the eyes of faith. Those eyes had been opened. For you to know that it's not about something physical, I'll take you to the episode in Daniel about the three Hebrew boys. I believe you are familiar with the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The incident of the fiery furnace. If you look at that episode, the king said at the sound of music, everybody should bow down to the image, but these three boys did not. So they were brought before the king. They were brought before the king. When they were brought before the king, the king, because these three boys were his officers, he felt he should give them another opportunity. He said, "Okay, the three boys, this is what I heard, but maybe I should not take that story. I want to give you an opportunity. I would, they are going to play the music again so that you can bow. Because nobody can deliver you out of my hand." If you look at the answer of those three boys, they said, "O king, we have nothing to answer you in this matter. For we know that our God is able to deliver us. And even if He does not deliver them, deliver us, we are not ready to bow." Now, I want you to look at that episode very well. What was at stake with these three boys was not their job. Believers are compromising today even when their job is at stake. For these three boys, it wasn't their job. The king did not say, "If you refuse to bow, we will throw you out of this employment. You will no more be an employee of the king." The king said they are going to be thrown into the furnace of fire. So what was at stake was not their job. Many people today what makes them compromise is not their life. It could be the issue of a business contract. They don't want to miss a business, a contract. They don't want to miss a job opportunity. They don't want to miss a promotion opportunity, an appointment opportunity. "Ah, do this, just do this for us. We will make you, then we will make you the acting director, or the next director, or you become the next governor, or you become the next vice chancellor, or you become the next member of board of trustees, or secretary to this." And you see people compromising truth, compromising their faith to do it. They don't want to lose opportunities. What is at stake for these boys was not opportunity. What was at stake for them was their life. If the king had said, "Look, if you refuse to bow, I will sack you today," we might say, "Okay, that's why they were bold because what was at stake was just their job." But what was at stake was their life. And the king said, "If you don't do it, I want you to know that nobody can deliver. I'm going to throw you into this fire." And the fire, what was visible was the fire. But do you see that these three boys were bold? This episode is not like the episode of Elisha who could see and he prayed for the servant to see. There was a physical seeing in that of Elisha. Here there was no physical seeing. But these boys, their eyes, the eyes, the eyes of faith had been enlightened. They were seeing the invincible. The eyes of faith had been enlightened. They were seeing the invincible. They were seeing the invincible. There was a strong understanding. They were confessing their understanding. They were confessing what they understood. And they said, "Look, our God is able to deliver us." They couldn't see that God physically, but they could see the deliverance, the ability, the greatness, the power of God by understanding. They understood that. That is the faith. There is an understanding. If your eyes of understanding are not enlightened, faith cannot be strengthened. And so they were courageous. And you notice when the king gave the command, "Okay, go and heat the furnace seven times." You notice that God did not intervene immediately. And they came, they were tying the boys. As the army, the soldiers came and they were tying them, tying them to take them into the fire. You'll be thinking that maybe they will change their mind. And I see God also watching the situation. God did not come in at that point. He was just watching them. God was looking at them. Many times it's the same way God is watching us today. In our offices, in the hostel, in the marketplace, everywhere you are, in your own corner, heaven is watching you. Heaven was watching these three boys. I want you to know that these three boys were not acting a drama script. You know in a drama script, you know what will happen at the end. You know you will not actually die. These three boys, it was the reality of their life. They were not acting drama. And heaven was watching. And as they were tying them, heaven did not do anything. They carried them, heaven did not do anything. Wanting to see to what extent these boys would be able to stand. And you can see that their faith stood until they were thrown into the fire, then God showed up in the fire. As at when they were going into that fire, the boys will have concluded that that is the end of the story because they said their God can deliver them, and if He does not. So they were not actually looking towards the deliverance. But there was a clear understanding by faith. And they stood by faith. And they got into the fire, they saw the other side of God. God showed up. What I'm trying to make you see was that these boys too have family network. They have social network. They have friends. They have responsibility. All of that did not matter again. What mattered to them was God and His kingdom. Why? Their eyes of understanding had been enlightened. That's the point I'm trying to make you see. There is the ability to see the invincible by faith when our eyes of faith, which we call the eyes of understanding. You are shaking today, you are afraid today, you cannot stand today, you cannot face adversity today, you are compromising here and there today because your eyes of understanding have not received light. You need light. You need light. If light don't come, there is nothing you will be able to do. Look at John chapter 1, verse 1 to 4. The Bible says, "In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, the Word was God." Says, "Through Him were all things made. Without Him was nothing made that was made." It says, "In Him was light and the light, in Him was light, and the light is the light of men. The light shines into darkness and the darkness could not possibly withstand the light." There is a light that is in the word. There is a light. That light relates to the matter of your mind. It relates to the matter of understanding, a renewed mind, a changed mentality, working at a frequency with a mindset that is the mind of Christ. The Bible says we have the mind of Christ. It's about a changed mind. I will show you another example of that in Luke chapter 24. It is about a changed mind. This matter of the eyes of faith, I'm showing it again like it's about a changed mind, a transformation in the mind, a renewed mind. Look at Luke chapter 24. Luke 24, let's get there quickly. Luke 24, I'm going to show you some very, very important things about this matter. Luke 24, I want you to look at it from around verse 36. Now, these were the disciples after the death of Jesus and His resurrection, though they were not aware that He had resurrected. They were still living in fear. They were afraid. They locked up themselves. And let's see what happened here from verse 36. "Now, as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, 'Peace to you.' But they were terrified and frightened and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, 'Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?'" (Luke 24:36-38, NKJV) Are you seeing something? Jesus Himself was asking them, "Why are you troubled?" And I'm asking you today, I'm saying this is the same question the Lord is asking you. Why are you troubled about what is going on in the nation? Why are you troubled about your finances? Why are you troubled about the everything coming to an end? Why are you troubled about COVID-19? Why are you troubled about present situation? The economic press, so much pressure, marital pressure, spiritual pressure, financial pressure. So many pressures today all around us in this nation, all around us in the globe. All kinds of pressure and people are collapsing under this pressure. Jesus said, "Why are you troubled?" And you'll be wondering, shouldn't they be troubled? The Master is gone. The Defender is gone. Their spokesman, their leader, their captain is gone. How would they stand before the Pharisees? How would they be able to do all of those things? Why would they not be troubled when everything is like this? But Jesus was asking them, "Why are you troubled?" That means they ought not to be troubled. They ought not to be troubled. And I want to tell you this truth. You know the Bible says, "If you faint in the day of adversity," what did the Bible say? The Bible says, "Your strength is small." So the problem is not with the adversity, the problem is with your strength. If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Some other versions say, "If you fall, it is because there is nothing about you in the first place." Let me illustrate to you like this. If you take an ankle, if you take one, a dry handkerchief and then you begin to squeeze it and then you squeeze it and you squeeze, at what point will the handkerchief bring out water? At what point? Of course, at no point. Why? Because it is because the handkerchief is not wet in the first place. It's not wet. But if the handkerchief is wet and you begin to squeeze it and you are squeezing it, at a particular point it will bring out water. Why? Because it was wet in the first place. You know what I'm trying to make you see? When we are squeezed and squeezed and squeezed and squeezed by different pressures, by the host of Syrian like we find with Elisha, by the fiery furnace like we find with the three Hebrew boys, by the wrath of Pharaoh like we find with Moses. So when we have to look at it today, by the wrath of economic pressure, the wrath of financial pressure, so many things today pressing us here and there. When they begin to squeeze us and they begin to squeeze us and press on us, what eventually happens with your life is a product of what was about you before. If water was inside you before, water will come out. If water is not there, water will not come out. So when we see fear, when we see you compromising, it because in the first place faith is not inside you. There is something about what is inside you. Your mindset have not been translated. It has not been renewed. In other words, pressure don't make us what we are not. It only brings out what is in us. It brings out that cowardice inside you. You may be shouting and shouting. It brings out your true state of life. It makes the world to see that this is a man whose eyes of understanding have not been enlightened. It makes us to see that this is a man that is spiritually blind. It only brings out what is in you. That's why the Bible says, "If you faint in the day of adversity, then something is wrong with your strength. Your strength is small." What makes your strength to be small? What makes faith to be small? What makes faith not to operate? What makes faith not to be great? What makes faith not to be powerful? Is that the eyes of faith have not been enlightened, have not received light. Those eyes have not received light. They have not received light. Until those eyes receive light, faith cannot operate. For faith to be renewed, for faith to be strengthened, for faith to march on in the face of death, for faith to stand resolute, unshaken, not swerving, not wavering, standing constant in the face of affliction, in the face of death, in the face of tribulation, in the face of war, something must happen to the eyes that faith has. The eyes of faith, those eyes must receive light. And I pray for you like Paul prayed for these people. May your eyes of understanding receive light. There must be light. And in telling you about this process, about the process of how you can grow, how we can come to the point of stability, because that's our focus today. But I'm just trying to explain the matter of faith. But of course, when I come to that, I'll show you that one thing you must do for you to grow is that you must understand the place of praying according to God's will, praying the word of God, crying unto God for your eyes of understanding, that eyes of faith, there's these eyes, this eye of faith to be opened, to be enlightened for you to receive understanding. But I'm still trying to explain relationship between Elisha seeing and faith in the New Testament. And I'm now trying to say that faith is not blind. Faith is not blindness. Faith is not foolishness. What makes faith look to some people as foolish is because the person who is operating faith is seeing something by understanding that the person who does not understand, who have not received such understanding, could not see, or cannot see. And so when he's walking in that understanding, he's stepping in that faith, he'll be looking to the man who cannot see that who cannot see what he's seeing, he'll be looking to that person as foolish, as stupid. So, you can see that in the New Testament, when we are talking about seeing the invincible, we are talking about your eyes of understanding being enlightened. Something must happen to those eyes of understanding. And because something must happen to these eyes, that was why you see Paul praying for this church. Said "after I heard about your faith, I've not ceased to pray. I've not ceased to pray for you." And I kept on praying, I kept on praying, and I'm praying. Paul did not cease to pray for this church, and that prayer, that apostolic prayer, is that their eyes of understanding be enlightened. Now, faith and seeing, as we saw in Elisha. I want you to know that this operation in the New Testament is not completely a New Testament operation. The spirit of Christ, if you look at when the Bible was talking about Moses here, he said, "choosing rather to suffer the reproach of Christ." The spirit of Christ was in these men. The spirit of Christ was in these men and operating in them. So the spirit of Christ was operating in these people. There was a reality. That is why the Bible was saying faith, that they were moving by faith not by sight. It was by faith that these things were done. But what you can see is that they were seeing. Their eyes of understanding had been enlightened. Moses, he said "has seen the invincible." So the eyes of, it's not as if there was something physical that Moses was looking at, but it's the eyes of his understanding. That is the eyes of faith. Those eyes had been opened. They were closed. They had not been open. So, what I'm trying to say is this. No matter the extent to which you speak the word of God to a man, speak and speak and speak, God is with you, Jesus will deliver us, God is coming, God said all these things will happen, we don't need to be afraid, that man will still be shaking like leaf. He will still be troubled. That will be in his heart except this thing happen to him. What is that that must happen? The eyes of faith must be opened. If that don't happen, that person cannot operate in the frequency of God. He cannot operate. It's about the eyes of faith. It's about a renewed mind. If you notice what the Bible says here, the Bible says then he opened their understanding. It is their understanding. It's about a mindset. It's about a renewed mind. That's why the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10 from verse 3, says "though we walk in the world yet we do not work according to the world. For the weapons of our warfare they are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." Says we cast down imagination and thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. Says we take thoughts captive until we cast down imagination, fixed imagination, religious imagination, vain imagination that is in our heart today and our eyes of understanding are open, then we can operate at the frequency of God. We cannot operate faith. Imaginations that are contrary to God must be cast down. Vain thoughts, vain way of thinking, vain imagination, vain way of reasoning, vain way of seeing life, vain way of seeing things. You can't look at the three Hebrew boys. They said, "Look, our God is able to deliver us." They were not vain men. They were men who can think straight. They were men whose mind had been renewed. They were men who could see the invincible. And they said, "Our God is able to deliver us. And even if He does not, we are not going to bow," because they could see beyond life. They could see beyond death. They could see eternal life. The spirit of Christ that was in them, that same spirit is what is in us. It's the same spirit of Christ. It was the spirit of Christ that was in Moses, all of these prophets. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1. He said the spirit of Christ in them. It's the same spirit of Christ. And as at that time, there was the manifestation of Christ was not at the fullest. It was just mercy drop. It was after the death and the resurrection of Jesus that there was a fullness of Jesus. So we should operate at a higher frequency, at a greater level than these men. But we cannot do that except what happened to disciples here also happen to you. Your mind, your mind must be opened. Your mind must be opened. And what am I trying to say? What is that which you must do, which you must beg God, which you must plead God? Then you must tell the Lord that, Lord, I am not a spiritual bastard. If You did this for the disciples, then Lord You need to do it for me. Lord, open the eyes of my mind. Lord, You opened it, You did this for the disciples, then Lord do it for me. I am not a bastard. Because the Bible says if others were disciplined and you are not disciplined then you are a bastard. So if the eyes of others were open and yours is not open, if their mind was renewed and your own is not renewed, then you are a bastard. So if you know you are not a bastard, you stand before the Lord and say, "Lord, I am not a bastard. I am a child of God. Lord, open my mind like You did for the disciples." I'm talking about how we can operate at a frequency that is greater than what Elisha operates in. The spirit of Christ was in Elisha as mercy drop. The spirit of Christ was in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in mercy drop. The spirit of Christ was in Moses as mercy drop. But the spirit of Christ, the Bible says that by His death and by His resurrection, what happened? He says that veil, that veil that was standing before where men cannot have access to God, the Bible says the veil of the temple tore. It's torn into two for a new and living way where men can access God, where we can come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. The veil, the veil has been torn into two for access to where God is. These men don't have full access. Look at how they operated. Elisha did not have full access. The Hebrew boys did not have full access. Moses did not. But we, we have. So you must arise. You must get up. You must wake up. And tell yourself, "Lord, I am not a bastard. O Lord, deal with my mind. Lord, do something about my mindset. O Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, cause my mind to be opened." The test, I'm showing you how we can grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord, how we can stand tall like these men. The next thing I will show you, because my focus is how we can do it. I've shown you the first one: a cry to God. A cry for it. And the scripture that supports that is in Proverbs. scripture that supports what I've just said, you find out in Proverbs. Look at the book of Proverbs chapter 2. Read it from verse 1. You see where the Bible support that we cry, we must cry out for something. Like Paul prayed for them, cry out for it. He says, "My son, if you receive my word, and treasure my command within you, so that you incline your ears to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding; yes," look at verse 3, "yes, if you cry out for discernment," you must cry out for discernment, "and lift up your voice for understanding." (Proverbs 2:1-3, NKJV) These are things you must do. Stop crying for gold and silver. Cry for things that can sustain you beyond gold and silver. Understanding will bring gold and silver. And yet gold and silver will never bring understanding to you. That's why the Bible says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you." You think by compromising God to get a good job, you will be able to have money and riches? It's not possible. But when you can stand for God anywhere and you choose poverty instead of riches because you are standing for God, you will see how riches will follow you. Cry out for understanding. Cry out for understanding. Look at what the Bible says. I'm saying that deliberately because those things they are in the scripture there. Look at the next verse. Look at what it says. It says, "If you seek her as silver," the way you are seeking money today, the way you are looking for money. Many of you will be saying, "Oh, I'm so tired today. I can't really pray. I'm so tired. I can't do that. I'm so tired. I could not even read my Bible. I'm so tired. I could not read this. I'm so tired." So many things about that and that and that. But when you are looking for money, you see people having headache saying, "No, ah, I don't want to lose my job. I need to be in the office. I will just manage to go." Say, "Madam, why not rest?" Say, "Ah, let me manage to go. Let me manage to go. Let me manage to go." You see people all under all kind of situation seeking for gold and silver. You see students, even when sometimes they are under terrible sickness, and we will be telling such students, "Please, why not go to the health center? You will write this exam next semester." They will say, "No, no, sir. No, sir. I will manage to write this. I will still try to write something." Look at how, why? They are doing that just for a certificate. Yes, sometimes you will say, "You see, I'm too tired. I could not pray. I'm too tired. I could not read the Bible." You don't understand what we are talking about. He said, "you seek her," you want understanding, you want an enlightened mind, you want to see, you want to see into the scripture, you want your mind of understanding to be opened. Then look at what the Bible is telling us. See, it says, the Bible says, "Yes, if you cry out for discernment, if you lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and you will find the knowledge of God." Cry out for it. Seek it like silver. Go for it like hidden treasure. Shout to God! Cry to God! Follow after it. You would get it! For the Bible says if He spared not His only Son, but freely gave Him for us, how will He not with Him also give us all things? You can have the mind of Christ, my brother. You can have the mind of Christ, my sister. Cry after it and you will get it. Don't begin to think, oh, this is for for some big men of God. It is for some generals. It is for some so-so kind of men. It is for this priest or for that. No, no, no. It is beyond that. And let me tell you, the truth is that God is not trying to raise just one champion among the people of God. Like you have the Philistine style. The Philistine style where there's just one Goliath. Once you defeat that Goliath, everybody, everybody takes their leave. God is raising a people of God, a mighty army. We don't just want champions. Just one, one champion. No. It is a people of God, a kingdom of priests and kings. The people of God should be able to stand, all of them as champions. So cry! Cry, cry after it! Cry after it! Another thing I will show you here is the test of obedience. The test of obedience. I'm talking about how we can operate at this frequency. I'm trying to make you see why we could not operate. Why we could not. The things that are limiting us. I'm showing you how we can get into it. How we can get into. Look at the second one. It's the test of obedience. And that's a very popular scripture. John chapter 14:15 and John chapter 14:21. I want you to check those two scriptures. In John 14:15, He says, "If you love Me, keep My command." In John 14:21, the Bible says, "He that has My word and put them into practice is the one that loves Me. He that loves Me shall be loved by My Father. I too will love him, and I will reveal Myself to him." I'm showing you the test of obedience. Do you want, do you want, do you want to have encounter? You want to see Him? You want to see Him who is invincible? You want to see Christ? You want to encounter Him? You want, you want Him to reveal Himself to you? Look at the test of obedience. That's the second text. He said, "He that has My word and put them into practice." Putting the word of God into practice. James said the hearers of the word are not justified but the doers thereof are blessed. When you deliberately, consciously, committedly, unrepentantly decide to put the word of God into practice, and don't tell me that you cannot. Do you know why I can why I made that statement? The Bible says, "For sin shall not have dominion over us, for we are not under the law, we are under grace." In other words, the Bible says just as sin reigned in us in Adam, the Bible says they that receive Christ, they have also received the free gift of righteousness and abundant grace. We have received grace in Christ to be able to say no. Titus 1:11 says, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared unto all men." And He's teaching us to say no to worldly lusts. To deny it and say no. To live soberly, godly in this present world. So don't tell me I cannot. You can. It is because your mentality, your mentality is wrong. I pray this evening, may the Lord cast down every wrong imagination in your heart in the name of Jesus. You can. We are not under the law. We are under grace. We can obey the word of God. You need to believe that. You need to know that. You need to understand that. You need to look at Calvary. Because if you don't put the word of God into practice, it's another test of this growth in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. You must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. Jesus said, "He who put my work into practice is the one who loves Me. My Father too will love him. I too, I will, my Father will love him. I too will love him, and I will reveal Myself." It means if you don't put the word of God into practice, you may not be able to have a deep understanding. You may not grow in the knowledge of the Lord. It will become impossible. I show you another test and with that we will close for today. Things, I'm telling you how can we operate? Talk about, talk about the need for our eyes to be opened. The cry for our eyes to be opened. The need for our eyes to be opened, the eyes of faith. It's not seeking sign here and there. Secondly, the cry for our eyes to be opened. Thirdly, the test of faith, the test of obedience. The test of obedience. There's something again I will show you in Psalm 1. In Psalm 1. Another important test there. Things that we need to do to grow. Things that we need to do to grow. He says, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does, he prospers. The ungodly are not so, but they are like chaff who the wind, which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish." (Psalm 1:1-6, NKJV) So you can see that the ungodly cannot stand the test of time. The ungodly cannot stand the test of time. The righteous can. But look at how the Bible describe this righteous. Say, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful." I'm showing you the test of consecration to the word of God. The test of consecration to the word of God. Or you can say the test of meditation, the test of consecration, the test of consecration to the word of God. Says, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path, in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful." The man separates himself from distraction, from the world, from the counsel, ungodly counsel, from the path of sinners, from vanity, from vainness. He separates himself from mocking, from mockery, from, you know, from making light of spiritual things. He's not a profane person like Esau. Some people today trivialize the word of God. They trivialize the message of the cross. They trivialize the Bible. And instead of seeing the word of God as instruction for life, you see Christian standing before food and then they will say, "O mountain before Zerubbabel, you become a plain." And then they will start eating the food, that this mountain become plain. Trivializing spiritual things. Trivializing commandment. Trivializing the treasure, the treasure of our life. Trivializing great truth. Trivializing things that was kept by the blood of the martyrs. People died, men were killed to keep to keep the word of God, to preserve it for us. And you will see you see people trivializing, mockers trivializing the word of God. You see, you start seeing comedians with the Bible. Comedians making comedy out of the Bible, making fun, making joke-jokes out of scripture. Scripture! Oh, the Bible says the word of God, the word of God is power. The word of God, the sword of the spirit. The word of God! I'll be talking about that next week. Why we must stay on meditation. Why we must come to the word of God. That's our focus next week. But I'll be discussing that much more the more. What I'm trying to show you today is the discipline of meditation. Discipline of meditation. Turn yourself from the counsel of the ungodly. Instead of ungodly counsel, some people their mind is so vain, so empty. The only way to think is to think like carnal men, is to think, is to think like sinners. You see Christians even at the point of making choice in marriage, say, "Ah, I can't marry that brother. He does not have money." At this one, what kind of mind do they have? These are ungodly counsel, thinking like sinners, thinking like vain men. Believers that are so empty. So much emptiness today, artificiality, superficiality, surface Christianity, lacking depth and substance. I'm showing you something. "Blessed is the man who will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly." Who will not stand in the, in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of this scornful. Get yourself out of those paths. Get yourself out of the way of such men. You see believers who can spend, virtually the whole day on Facebooking and WhatsApping. Please understand me. These are good social media that can also change our life and help us and bless us. I'm only talking about our use of time and I'm talking about excess and abuse. So that you don't go from this place and say, "Ah, the man of God said anybody who is on Facebook is a sinner." I didn't say that. I'm talking about abuse. Some, some of us, you are so delighted in reading, in reading what is on the status of your friends than to read what God has to say for that day, than to stay in quiet time before the Lord. You wake up early in the morning, you want to hear God first before you hear anybody. Once you once you are getting out of bed, "Oh, let me, what is on the status today? Let me see." That's what I'm trying to talk about. Your delight is not in the law of God. You delight in so many other things. Your delight some of you, your delight is in sex, your delight is in money, your delight is in riches, your delight is in, is in phone, chatting, WhatsApping, Facebooking. That is where your delight is. I'm showing you a discipline, I'm showing you a pathway, a commitment, a resolution, a consecration you must do. You must be consecrated to meditation. Meditation on the word of God. "His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in the law he meditates day and night." You see that? Day and night. When I was growing up as a Christian, when I saw this matter, day and night, you know what I did? I just took it as literal as it was, as it is here. I took it literally as it is here. So you know what I do? In the morning, I will meditate. In the night, I will meditate. In the morning, I will meditate. In the night, I will meditate. But as I began to grow in grace and the understanding of the Lord, I got to know it means as often as possible. And so when I got to understand that later in life, I became somebody. In the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, any free time. When I travel between interstate, I remember my life as a student, when travel interstate, all through the journey I am meditating on scripture. And several times life-changing revelation, life-changing understanding they occur in the process of these journeys. But today, what does our use delight in? One picks, someone can pick just one fashion on Facebook and for the next three hours, maybe traveling from Lagos to Akure or Akure to Lagos, is on Facebook watching fashion, looking at style, looking at this, looking at that. I'm not, I'm not saying these things are completely bad. I'm only talking of look, you need to reorder your life into the things that matters. Some things matter than some things. So those things that matter you will make them a priority where we put most of our time, where we put the treasure, the best of our time into. Check your life and rearrange your life or else you will die a vain person. For you to become mighty, to work, to operate in a, in a realm that is higher, in a realm when you can see the invincible, then you must be a man of the scripture. You must be a man who delight in the law of the Lord, who meditate day and night. And when you do that, look at what happens to your life. The consequence is in verse 3. He says, "He shall be like a tree," automatically. You become a tree by rivers of water. You see it? A tree by that discipline. You become a tree by rivers of water. A tree by abundance of revelation. A tree by abundance of inspiration. A tree by abundance from the word of God insight into the word of God, discernment. You become a tree by abundance of water. A tree that will bring forth its fruit in its season because you will discern your season. You will know your timing. You will understand God. You'll be able to follow Him. That's what happened with Gehazi. Elisha said, "Is it the time to collect, to collect things from from someone? Is it the time to collect gift?" He collected gift. Gift collection is not a wrong thing because if you go to the prophet you go with a gift. But for that time it was a wrong timing. Gift should not be collected at that time. Gehazi collected it and what happened to him? He inherited the leprosy of Naaman. Timing, timing. Say he will bring forth his fruit in his season. His leaf will not wither. They can't wither. Bring them before storm, bring them before rain, bring them before fire, bring them before soldiers, bring them before kings, take them anywhere, they cannot wither. They can't wither. They are ever fresh, full of life, full of grace, full of power, full of substance. The Bible says may our sons grow up as plants that is full of sap. And I pray for you this evening, may you grow up as a plant full of life in the name of Jesus. We will sit together next week. I'll be showing you the secret and the power of this meditation, the power of the word of God, how Jesus Himself handle the word of God. I will show you the life of Jesus and the word of God so that you can understand why you must bury your life into this discipline of meditation. Make up your mind today. I must see the invincible so that I can do the impossible. I must see the invincible so that I can do the impossible. Make up your mind today. Make up your mind today. And I pray that as we as we meet again next week, you know, to look forward further into this matter, I trust that the Lord will keep you, will keep me, beyond next week. See you next week by the grace of God. Let's have a word of prayer. Our Father and our God, we thank You for this evening. We bless Your holy name. We give You praise, we give You glory, we give You honor. We appreciate You for Your love and mercies. Lord our God, I just pray this evening, O Lord, Elisha, the three Hebrew boys, Moses, the spirit of Christ that was in them was just mercy drop. When You died and resurrected, what we have is the fullness of Christ. We are now the temple, and You dwell in us. O Lord God, I pray everything holding us, holding the church, holding Your people, holding believers from operating at the frequency of the seemingly impossible, operating at this frequency of power, of authority, of grace, everything holding us back, Lord I pray, may there be a deliverance from them all in the name of Jesus. May there be a release for Your church, a release for Your people, a release for our lives that we may operate in the fullness of Christ in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, that Your work on earth may be done in the name of Jesus. That the world may look at the church and run to the church the way men run to Jesus, and run to believers the way men run to Jesus, that we may become exactly as Jesus was. The Bible says how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. He went about doing good, in order to oppress of the devil for God was with him. May we operate like our Master. For when a servant is made perfect, he should be like his Master. May we operate like our Master and may we do greater works, because He said, "Greater works shall you do because I go and the Holy Ghost is coming." May we do greater works in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus’ name we pray. Praise the Lord. We thank God for this evening. This message is coming to us from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the life of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship through family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our activities are scheduled as follows: We have discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 to 6:30 PM. Adolescent and singles club every first Saturday of the month, 10:00 AM. Marriage forum holds every second Saturday of the month, 10:00 AM. We also have family life seminars twice yearly, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. You can reach us or meet with us personally at our location, Life Camp, by first bridge, Ilere community, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also contact us on our email address: familytentministry01@gmail.com, familytentministry@yahoo.co.uk, and our website is www.familytentministry.org. God bless you all.