WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF THE HEALING POWER OF JESUS SET ME FREE FROM TUBERCULOSIS IN 1969. I’M STILL FREE TODAY.
AS REDEEMED CHILDREN OF GOD, WE ARE NOT PERMITTED TO BE LIMITED BY NATURAL LIMITATIONS.
EVERY NATURAL LIMITATION SHALL BE OVER IN OUR LIVES.
OUR PATH IS ORDAINED TO BE SHINING BRIGHTER AND BRIGHTER UNTIL JESUS COMES.
WHEN WE FOCUS OUR EYES ON JESUS, DARKNESS CAN NOT TORMENT OUR LIVES.
I PRAYED ONE WHOLE NIGHT FOR GOD TO DISCONNECT ME FROM EVERYONE GOING BACKWARD.
ONE OF THE GREATEST DEFILEMENTS IN MINISTRY IS MONEY AND LUST.
IF AT THE END OF ALL THESE BREAKTHROUGHS, ANOINTINGS AND GIFTS, ANYONE MISSES HEAVEN, HE HAS MISSED EVERYTHING.
WE CAN’T MAKE HEAVEN WITHOUT SANCTIFICATION.
SAMSON WAS REDUCED TO A TOY IN THE HANDS OF HIS ENEMIES BECAUSE HE CONTINUED IN INIQUITY.
SOME RELATIONSHIPS WILL DESTROY YOUR DESTINY. DISCONNECT FROM THEM!
WITHOUT THE FEAR OF GOD, OUR COMMAND OF THE SUPERNATURAL WILL BE UTTERLY LIMITED.
THE SUPERNATURAL IS A FOREMOST ASSET OF REDEMPTION AND IT DELIVERS AT A COST.
THERE IS NO PERMANENT DEALING IN OUR WALK WITH GOD.
IT TAKES SANCTIFICATION TO COMMAND MANIFESTATIONS.
– Bishop David Oyedepo on ‘KEYS TO COMMANDING THE SUPERNATURAL’ || Church of God Mission International Pastors’ Conference, 2024 || CGMI, Benin City ||
We are all in a school, all of us. All of us are in a school. Paul said ‘Not that I’ve attained’. So, we are all learning to move forward. No one has arrived here. We are learning better ways of doing it, we’re learning brighter ways of doing it. Proverbs 9:9. Proverbs 1:5. So, we are all learning and we keep learning until we arrive there. Church Gist. Our path is ordained to be shining brighter and brighter unto the perfect day, the day Jesus returns. So, don’t be tired of learning. Where learning stops is where triumph stops. Where learning stops is where progress stops. We should never be tired of learning. Life is a lifelong school and ministry is a lifelong school. One is either going up or coming down. You throw a stone up, wherever it stops, it starts coming down.
– No one among us will come down in the name of Jesus Christ.
We want to thank God for how He has helped us till now in this Church. Church Gist. We want to thank God for how He has helped in moving and advancing this Church forward. To Him alone be all the glory.
The theme of this Conference I’m told is ‘Focus On Christ For The Supernatural’. I’d like to pick on the word ‘Focus’ for the time we have tonight before we say one or two other things. Jesus said, ‘If your eye be single, your whole body will be full of light’. Church Gist. If we focus our eyes on Jesus, we can’t miss our steps. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the Light of the World. So, when we focus our eyes on Him, darkness can not torment our lives. Focusing our eyes on Jesus empowers us to walk in the supernatural naturally. When Jesus becomes the anchor of a man’s life, he becomes a living wonder to the World.
The Lord said to me at a time from Psalm 34:5 and He said to me on that glorious day, it was in a fast. He said ‘My son, you have two eyes’. I said ‘Yes’. ‘Can you make one to look up and one to look down?’. I tried, it didn’t work. ‘Anytime you are looking unto men, never claim to be looking unto me. Church Gist. But if you focus your eyes on me, you will never be ashamed’ September 6th 1983. It was an awesome encounter. Matthew 6:33. That came my way September 12th 1976. It’s awesome to walk with Jesus by walking in the light of His Word. It’s awesome.
We must have been told we are redeemed to operate in the realm of the supernatural. That our redemption is to reposition us to operate in the supernatural. John 3:8. Every born again child of God is redeemed to operate in the supernatural. Every one of us. Isaiah 8:18. There were no children of God in the Old Testament, it was prophetic. It was a redemptive prophecy. Church Gist. That is, when the sons of God appear, they shall be signs and wonders on the Earth. Therefore, we are not permitted to be limited by natural limitations, no! Redemption has repositioned us to operate in the supernatural naturally. Now, that means, therefore, pastors are to be leading vessels in operating in the supernatural. We should get that right.
– From after this Conference in the name of Jesus, every natural limitation shall be over in our lives.
– Every natural limitation shall be taken off in our ministries.
– No one shall drop off the plan in the name of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 7:14. John 20:21. If He came down as a sign, then we’re redeemed to be a sign to the World. A sign means ‘What is this? What manner of man is this?’ That’s a sign. Church Gist. ‘What’s this? Is this a human being or a spirit?’ That’s the exclamation the World should have concerning us.
– and from after this Conference, that shall be our experience.
Now, everyone called to preach the Gospel is also called to command the supernatural after the order of Christ. Everyone is sent out. He gave them power to heal, to deliver, to set free. Matthew 10:1. Mark 6:7,12,13. Church Gist. So, the preaching of the Gospel, the call to preaching the Gospel is what qualifies us to command the supernatural. Mark 16:17,18. So, we are to command signs while we are on this assignment God has given us.
– and I pray that from now that shall be our experience.
Luke 9:1. We are not empowered for show, we are empowered to serve. We are empowered to serve and service the needs of humanity around us. Luke 9:6.
– In the precious name of Jesus, every of our Church locations around the World will start manifesting signs and wonders after this order.
John 14:12. The days of greater works are here.
– May no one among us miss it.
– The days of greater works than He did are here. Church Gist. May no one among us miss it in the precious name of Jesus.
But it is by the Word that we receive, believe and preach that we command the supernatural. Mark 16:20. They believed what He sent them. Church Gist. They received it and they believed it and they went out to preach it and God began to confirm it.
– There shall be diverse humbling confirmations in our lives upon departure from here in the name of Jesus Christ.
It is the Word we receive and believe that puts us in command of the supernatural. It’s so real. There is nothing God shows us in His Word that will not show in our lives. Church Gist. There is nothing God shows you and me from His Word that will not show in our lives if we truly follow what He says to do.
This evening, I’ll just touch on a few things which I call ‘KEYS TO COMMANDING THE SUPERNATURAL’. We live in a Kingdom that operates on keys. When Peter confessed Christ as Lord and Saviour, He said ‘Neither flesh nor blood has revealed this to you but my Father which is in Heaven and I will give unto you the keys of the Kingdom’. What does that mean? Luke 11:52. Church Gist. So, we command whatever God provides for us by having a working knowledge. Not just knowledge, working knowledge. Someone has gone into the university with a master’s in Auto Mechanic, that’s okay but he has not acquired the working knowledge for that trade. So, he is limited. I’m talking here about the working knowledge of the truth on any subject matter including commanding the supernatural. We need a working knowledge of it.
I was told somewhere on one of our campuses in the Country. Their generator had a problem and they called the Engineering department to come and look at it. They worked and worked and nothing worked. They called the roadside mechanic. He came in, looked at it, started it. He said ‘Wait’. Put one or two things together, the machine started working. Church Gist. That’s the difference between working knowledge and theoretical knowledge. That’s the clean difference. That there are many B.Sc in Business Administration does not qualify you to succeed in business. You now need to have a working knowledge of the area you are going into. A clean working knowledge.
I was blessed to gain access to the supernatural very early in my Christian life. 3 months after I was born again I had finished reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. I was drunk with the truth contained in it. I was born with tuberculosis. One night, I was under that attack and when I woke up I found out that all the students had moved their beds away from me. Church Gist. I appeared like a leper. So, I came out of the room and I said ‘Jesus, if all that I read that you did from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is true, heal me now’. Sir, He set me free, 1969, I’m still free today. Working knowledge. It’s true, yes. It’s working, yes. It’s working till now, yes. Working knowledge!
One of my cousins came on here before New Year. Now, he was accosted with the spirit of insanity, 1983. So, we were home for a family meeting and they mentioned to me, ‘Oh, your son is sick’ and I said ‘Okay, when we finish family meeting I’ll get there’. I was trading John 1:5. So, I got in there. Church Gist. He knew me as I entered. He never knew the mother anymore or anybody else. He stood up under that siege of satanic way of helping them up and greeted me. They said ‘You know him?’ He said ‘I know him’. I said ‘Dress him up. Put him in my car. Let me see the devil that will enter my car with me’. He came to me and said ’40 years ago sir, you came to that room when I was in bondage and brought me out’ Put him in the car, drove to my place. Before we got home he had slept. Church Gist. Woke up, never again. No trace forever, no medication, no nothing. Now, that’s how the working knowledge of the Word works. That’s what makes the Word work. So, open up. Without the key, access to a door is an uphill task. We need the key to gain access to the treasure in a room. We need the key.
Now, keys to command the supernatural.
1. The fear of God must become our lifestyle. Uprightness must become our watchword and sustainably so. Church Gist. Nothing of value is free. The supernatural is an asset, a foremost asset of redemption and it delivers at a cost.
We heard the story of a young man named Gehazi. We had this situation when the Shunammite woman’s son died and Elisha gave him the rod to go and lay on the face of the child. He came back, he said “he waketh not.” Church Gist. It didn’t work in his hand and we saw the reason in 2 Kings 5:20-27. When Naaman came and Elisha said “no, I am not taking anything from you.” He (Gehazi) said “he has spared the Syrian, I will run after him and get something.”
Without the fear of God, our command of the supernatural will be utterly limited. The fear of God – integrity as a lifestyle! Well, get back to the Old Testament and see a man like Joseph, he was a living wonder. As a slave, he prospered. Church Gist. As a prisoner, he prospered and prospered from that misfortune into the palace and his testimony “but I fear God.” Genesis 42:18.
We cannot command the supernatural beyond our level of the fear of God sir. We cannot! It will be short-lived. It will be for a while. One of the greatest defilements in this area is money in ministry. Money! Money and lust! You know why it is so difficult? “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him” and it is the secret of God we trade to command the supernatural. Psalm 25:14…What to do to make things to happen, He will show them His covenant and so, He said concerning Joseph “inasmuch that God hath shewed you these things, there is no one as wise and discreet as you.” Church Gist. So He shows us to make us a show to the World and it takes the fear of God for God to show us His secrets. He is not a man that He should lie, He is no respecter of persons. James 2:11. God is no respecter of persons. So, it takes the fear of God to gain command of the supernatural anyday, anytime, anywhere. People who live anyhow can’t have it. They may have had it sometime perhaps but they won’t have it anymore.
There is no permanent dealing in our walk with God. The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 2 Chronicles 15:2. So we need to get ourselves together. ‘Does this inheritance received, precious in my sight?’ I better do what it takes to preserve it. No games, people who play games here don’t last. Church Gist. No, they don’t last in it. They see it once and then, “yes, I used to have. I used to know.” It takes the fear of God to make the most of this treasure. Amen!
Now, Paul one of the greatest commanders of the supernatural said, “you are witnesses and God also, how holily and unjustly and unblameably we behaved ourselves.” 1 Thessalonians 2:10. They called them, they said “gods in the likeness of men.” He was a mystery but the fear of God guided his life. 2 Corinthians 4:1-2…now that is the man. So he could command things to happen. They stoned him to death, he came back. He was lost in sea overnight and came out of it without going to the hospital. Church Gist. He was a living wonder. “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul so that handkerchiefs and aprons were taken from his body to them that were sick. Diseases were healed and the devils got out of their lives.” But at the root of it, is the fear of God.
Let me draw a line on that. 2 Timothy 2:19-21. We need to face sanctification to command manifestations. We need to face it. If the foundation be destroyed, the righteous can do nothing. The foundation has to be secured and it is to depart from evil. Everybody needs it. Paul said “I have not attained.” Church Gist. Everybody needs to keep guarding himself against defilement that can make us unqualified to be a treasure in the hand of God. So important!
If you are too big to have your showers, you will be smelling on the street. Don’t glide over what you miss, cry out to God in repentance to reposition yourself. You can’t outgrow brushing your teeth, so get out of everything that is blocking your access. See them as enemies, they are not friends. Church Gist. Suddenly, Samson rose as at before not knowing that the Spirit of God had left him. He was reduced to a toy in the hands of his enemies. ‘The one (man) army, ever winning Captain of Israel’, he was reduced to a toy. His two eyes were plucked out because he continued in iniquity. He said “he will break the hairy scarp of whosoever continues in iniquity.” It’s time to put a stop to whatever wants to stop our way.
Most importantly, we can’t make Heaven without it. We can’t make Heaven without sanctification. We can’t make Heaven…and where are we going? Heaven! How many want to make Heaven here? Church Gist. At the end of all these breakthroughs, all these anointings, all these gifts, if anyone misses it, he has missed everything, he has lost everything.
– In the name of Jesus, we will make it great here and we will make it great to Heaven!
Abraham made it great on earth and made it great to Heaven. He still had a throne in Heaven.
– In the precious name of Jesus, everyone hearing me this afternoon, we shall make it there together!
So people keep adjusting themselves to remain fit. (Talking to Bishop Feb Idahosa) “When you get home now next time you come, the office at home has been cancelled.” No! It’s undue access for those that should not come there. “He that keepeth himself, the wicked one toucheth him not.” Church Gist. You open your house to everybody that comes in, they will carry them away. Everybody is adjusting everyday. Everyday! It’s time to adjust to fit God’s plan and purpose for your life. It’s time to adjust our timing, our programming, the people we work with – it’s time to adjust. You sit with someone and your spirit runs down, get out of his life. You gang up together and every year, you are talking against somebody and you are bringing somebody down. Get out of that life. So help you Lord.
I prayed one whole night “God disconnect me from everyone going backward” – 1982, 31st of December to 1st (January) 1983. I just Psalm 1:1. I said “I don’t have a spare life, I want to make the most of my life. So, disconnect me from everyone going backward, connect with only those who are going forward so as to preserve my destiny. Church Gist. It’s time to readjust. Some relationships will destroy your destiny. It’s time to readjust.
– We are going somewhere. As the Lord lives, this Church will keep being on fire for God!
– No one here shall be an instrument in the hand of the devil!
– You shall be precious treasures in the hand of God in the name of Jesus Christ.
That is fundamental.
2. Exodus 4:17. Now, what is this rod? Isaiah 11:1-2…and Jesus is the carrier of the seven Spirits of God. So the Rod is Jesus in a figure and Jesus is the living Word. “Thou shall take this Word in thine hand wherewith thou shall do signs.” We command signs by the Word. ‘Thus saith the Lord’ gave Moses his command in Egypt and ‘thus saith the Lord’ is in a book today called the Bible. So access to the ‘thus saith the Lord’ in the Book puts a believer in the command of the supernatural. Access! Mark 16:20, Acts 14:3. Church Gist. So it’s vital for us to place high premium on the Word. Without the Word in your hand, you are rodless. Without the Rod, you are not in command. What gave Moses command in Egypt was the rod. The Rod of God, the Word of God!
There was something I saw when our Church began in those days in Kaduna. It was crawling and I said “Jesus, this can’t be. This is not how to be a full time minister.” I said “if it’s growing at this pace, when I am 100 years old, it will be about 1,000.” I projected. “No, why is this Church not growing?” So I was in a fast with two others of my co-workers and on the third day, the Lord said “stand up and follow me” and we got to a point, He said “turn back here.” Church Gist. Now this is physical, afternoon time – 12:30 and He opened my eyes and then I saw a layer of thick darkness spread over the roof of the Church. He said “that is the blindfolding weapon the enemy uses to blindfold the people from what He Jesus was doing in that Church. He now said “now deal with it.” I said “you fowl spirit of darkness, there is a light that shines in darkness, darkness cannot handle it. Get off that roof” and I saw it rolled off like a carpet – live! Then He gave me 3 instructions on how to keep the Church growing without end. 3 instructions!
He said “now get out and tell the World to come and see what Christ is doing in this Church. So, we began to do ‘Come and See Outreaches’ – 1984, March. We are still in it now.
“And keep sowing the seed” number 2, He said “and as the grass grows, the sheep will come for it.” Church Gist. I said “what is the seed?” He said “in the Parable of the sower, the Seed is the Word of God.”
Keep teaching life applicable Word. The impact of it will start drawing people to Church.
3. Keep the grass green and the sheep will lie down there.
So, Church Growth requires 1.) prayer and fasting to break the gates of hell from stopping it. 2). It requires the preaching of the Word of life. Life applicable Word! 3.) It requires going out. He said “Even when I came to the world, someone had to tell someone to come and see. Get out on the streets and tell them to come and see what I, Jesus is doing in this Church.” Church Gist. We began it, we are in it and we are forever in it. The Word keeps you in command. Today, in Church we have an average of a thousand people that register as new members every Sunday. The Word keeps us in command.
In 1982, I caught the Word on the covenant of prosperity. It was so bright. He said “My son, David, my prosperity plan is not a promise, so it doesn’t answer to prayers and has no respect for fasting. My prosperity plan is a covenant, until your part is played, I am not committed.” Church Gist. Life! Unedited! I have been saying it since then. I gained command of supernatural supply from then. I have never begged yet I have never lacked. It is by the Word we gain command.
Pastors, listen to me: I asked the Lord “Who pays me now that you have called me into full-time ministry?” To beg, I am ashamed, it is not part of my nature. To live on people, I am ashamed. Who pays me Jesus? Then He showed me after two weeks of research. People need to stay on the Word till you receive what you are looking for. Don’t only hear the Word. 1 John 1:1. So let’s move from hearing to seeing, they call it revelation. From seeing to handling, they call it illumination. Church Gist. You move from revelation to illumination where the Word becomes handleable in your hand. You know you found it. I screamed “Ye! I can never be poor!” I have said that here several times. It was provoked by revelation that graduated to illumination. It was too strong to be doubted.
Who pays me? He said, “You are in my employment.” Luke 10:1. You may not have a physical letter but it is an appointment. A call to ministry is an appointment of Christ into the vineyard. He said “I am responsible. Just stay on duty.” Luke 10:7. Not the leader is worthy of his hire, the labourer. I am on the streets witnessing Jesus with delight, the labourer! I don’t send them to pray, I am in there. The labourer! God does not pay callings, He pays servants. God does not reward titles, He rewards inputs. So I saw myself holding an appointment letter, I saw myself working in the highest office in the universe – The Office of The Most High God. I saw myself generously paid as I stayed on duty. When you are working in the White House there is a pay pack different from any other house in the same country, in the same city. Church Gist. Working in the office of the Most High God is a fortune. So I held my appointment letter in my hand in 1982. He appointed me, my only responsibility is to stay on duty doing what He has appointed me to do. 1 Timothy 5:17. We labour in the Word and secondly we labour in prayer. Galatians 4:19. And then, we labour in reaching out to the lost. It is all labour and which culminates in favour. Psalm 102:13-15. Fearful favour is the outcome of fruitful labour in the vineyard.
Get excited, God is not a man that He should lie. So, we are leaving here to take responsibility on how to remain in command of the supernatural. It is part and parcel of our calling. Everyone Jesus called to preach the gospel, he gave them power and authority to command the supernatural, we shall miss it in Jesus’ name. Church Gist. So, to command the supernatural we need the rod in our hands. The Word of God! It is everyone’s turn here. Many years ago, the Lord showed me Deuteronomy 7:14. He said to me, when you see any goat giving birth on the streets, it means you have children inside you. So a woman came in, 18 years barren and I said “Do you know how to read?” She said “Yes!” I said, “Okay, then read.” She read it and her eyes glowed with faith. She was a Baptist woman. I told her “Right now, because you have it inside you go and give birth.” She brought forth a bouncing baby boy at the command of the Word.
It is the Word that puts us in command. Guesswork hardly works in the Kingdom. Lay hold on the Word to work what you deserve to see work. For anyone called barren among us, today because He said “Your cattle shall not be barren” and we are the seed of Abraham, I curse the siege of barrenness in the lives of anyone among us and any of our members in their various places. This year shall be a year of a bountiful harvest of miracle babies because we are the seed of Abraham. He was talking to the seed of Abraham in Deuteronomy 7:14. Church Gist. We are seeds of Abraham and heirs according to the promise. Every seed of Abraham deserves to have their own children who desire to. Therefore, for anyone who has been held down against having their own children by the wickedness of the wicked, that stronghold is broken today.
There is nothing like going out of a meeting knowing what to do. After Peter preached that fearful message, they said “Men and brethren, what shall we do? Your message is powerful but what shall we do? You have told us everything but you have not told us what to do. It won’t profit us without knowing what to do.” Pastor, please make sure people leave every service knowing what to do. Church Gist. Not just clapping and shouting, they must know what to do. If I must be free from sin, what must I do? If I must prosper, what must I do? If I must flourish in hard times what do I do now? You have said so much but what must I do now? The hearts of men are crying for what to do now. We are in the covenant days in the Body of Christ, that shows us our part so as to commit us to do our part.
Receive grace to do what you have been shown to do from the Word of God. The supernatural answers to only knowing what to do and doing it. Church Gist. We have no wine. Okay, fill the waterpots with water. They did it and the water was turned into wine.
The Lord spoke to me, down this morning. He said “Every prophetic word is at the mercy of an individual’s faith for delivery. The prophet is not to blame if what he says does not come to pass in your life, you should ask yourself what He says to do that you have not done. God’s word is the surest bank of prophecies, they call it the “most sure Word of prophecy.” Why are they not coming to pass in our lives? You have to do what He says to do, to make them come to pass. Church Gist. Don’t wait for prophecies to fulfil themselves. Take steps to do what is contained therein and then you have committed God to confirm it. Go to the pool called Siloam, don’t go somewhere else. Water is not water, you will only receive your sight going to Siloam and nowhere else.
Everybody is responsible for which Word comes to pass in their lives. Everybody is responsible, our reason notwithstanding. We give all kinds of reasons against the truth. It won’t fly, it never flies. Whatever reason you have for not going to Church, you get weaker and weaker until you are out. They go from strength to strength those who appear in Zion before the Lord. Church Gist. Whatever reason you have, without giving you can’t prosper. If you don’t study the Word of God, you are getting ready for shame. You are confronted and you don’t have a defence. Every Word concerning this year must come to pass in your life.
– For every faithful servant in this Church, the year is declared your year of rewards.
– For everyone who is repositioning for faithfulness, this year is declared your year of rewards.
– For those who have been faithful over the years, this year is declared your year of rewards.
– For everyone who has been standing by our Archbishop, Mama Idahosa, you won’t lose heaven’s backing in your life, in your own family, in your own endeavours.
– What we look forward to seeing this year in this Church, we shall all see it and His name shall be glorified in the name of Jesus.
So shall it be.
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