PEOPLE DON’T LOSE OUT IN THE JOURNEY OF DESTINY BECAUSE THE devil IS STRONG BUT BECAUSE THEIR STRENGTH IS SMALL
THE SPIRIT OF MIGHT ENERGISES US, ENABLES OUR CAPACITY TO WITHSTAND THE RESISTANCE OF THE ENEMY
THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE SPIRIT OF MIGHT IS TO STRENGTHEN US WITH MIGHT IN THE INNER MAN
THE HOLY SPIRIT OFFERS HELP FOR YOU TO REALIZE THE FULLNESS OF YOUR GLORIOUS DESTINY BY HIS DIVERSITIES OF OPERATIONS, ADMINISTRATIONS AND MANIFESTATIONS
WITHOUT THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OUR GLORIOUS DESTINIES CANNOT BE FULFILLED
IT IS THE SPIRIT OF MIGHT THAT WE SEE WORKING IN THE LIFE OF OUR FATHER, BISHOP DAVID OYEDEPO.
YOU HEAR HIM SAY “WHEN PEOPLE ARE INSULTING ME I GET MORE EXCITED.” NOTHING TO DISCOURAGE HIM.
HE SAID PEOPLE ASKED HIM “ARE THERE NO CHALLENGES?” HE SAID, “MAYBE THEY CAME AND I DIDN’T KNOW.”
WHEN HE SAT DOWN TO KEEP A RECORD, HE SAID THERE IS AN ENTIRE CHAPTER OF HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY THAT IS SIMPLY CALLED ‘MY SHARE OF CHALLENGES’.
IT IS NOT THAT THERE ARE NO CHALLENGES BUT THERE IS AN ENERGY THAT IS BEYOND THE CHALLENGES.
WHEN IT IS NOT THERE MEN GET CAST DOWN VERY EASILY.
NO WEAK MAN OR WOMAN CAN COMMAND GREAT FEATS.
FOR ANYONE TO COMMAND GREAT HAPPENINGS, THERE IS A NEED FOR GREAT STRENGTH.
– Pastor David Oyedepo Jnr on “ENGAGING THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 4” at Midweek Communion Service || LFC Canaanland || 11th October 2023
Praise the Lord I am finally on the Covenant Highways of life!
Congratulations
Our line of teaching for our Midweek Services which we began last week is captioned, “Engaging the help of the Holy Spirit.” Church Gist. Remember that the prophetic focus of the month is, “I will not leave you helpless.” None of us shall be helpless again in the name of Jesus Christ.
We discovered from Scriptures last week in our week of Emphasis that the word, ‘Comforter’ in Scriptures literally means, helper and we see that word, comforter, attributed to the Holy Spirit in John 14:16-18 and 26. We are told in 2 different parts of this Scripture that the Comforter is the Holy Ghost and we said the word, Comforter, means helper. Church Gist. So according to Scripture it means that when it said, “I will not leave you without a Comforter or I will not leave you comfortless,” it is saying, I will not leave you helpless.
– I pray for somebody hearing my voice tonight, by the encounter you’re having upon this mountain you shall never be helpless again!
We have seen from Scriptures that the helper is the Holy Spirit and we discovered that his avenue of help is what the Bible refers to as the manifestations, the operations and the administrations of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:4-7. So according to Scriptures there are diversities of operations, administrations and manifestations and all of these are given for the profit of the Saints. What that means is that, it is via these channels that the Holy Spirit offers help for you and I to realize the fullness of our glorious destiny. According to Scriptures, every child of God has a glorious destiny. Church Gist. Say with me, “I have a glorious destiny.” Romans 8:29-30. But our golden or glorious destiny cannot be fulfilled without the facilitation of the Holy Spirit. It will take the help of the Holy Spirit for anyone of us to fulfill our glorious destiny. Zechariah 4:1-6. In other words, our golden or glorious destiny cannot be fulfilled without the help of the Holy Spirit. It takes the help of the Holy Spirit in order for any one of us to fulfill our glorious destiny and what we have been looking at all through in our Midweek Services is, How does he help? What are these operations, manifestations, administrations of the Spirit that he offers us in order to give help to us? Last week we saw quite a number of things that showed us some of the areas of his operation that empower you and I to begin to enjoy the help of the Holy Spirit in various areas. Church Gist. Tonight, we are going to go further as we look at these operations of the Holy Spirit and it is what we refer to as, “The Spirit of Might.”
In Isaiah 11:2, the Bible gives us there a list of the 7 spirits of God – 7 manifestations of the Spirit of God. So of these 7 spirits there is what the Bible refers to as the Spirit of Might. It’s important for us to understand that the Spirit of Might is an absolute necessity in the adventure of destiny. Ephesians 3:16. The question we ask ourselves tonight is, what does the Spirit of Might do? The answer is in that Scripture, Ephesians 3:16 – so it strengthens us with might in the inner man. Church Gist. That is the assignment of the Spirit of Might. If you look through Scripture you will discover that might or strength is one of the provisions of redemption. Revelation 5:12. But the channel through which we are strengthened is the Spirit of Might. So it is the Spirit of Might that strengthens us in the adventure of destiny. Colossians 1:11. So there is a strengthening that you and I have access to and it is empowered by the Spirit of God. So it takes the Spirit of God for you and I to be strengthened in the inner man.
The question we want to address tonight is, What is the effect of this strength? …Because if we are told that we need to be strengthened, we need to see the effect. Church Gist. What is the effect of this strength? Two things I want us to look at tonight:
1. This strength gives us capacity to withstand the enemy. Proverbs 24:10. So according to Scriptures, people don’t lose out in the journey of destiny because the devil is strong, they lose out because their strength is small. So according to Scriptures therefore, it will take the Spirit of strength to energise us to the point of victory. From Scripture it is clear that inner strength is a vital requirement to subdue the enemy. Daniel 7:25. Church Gist. It said, he will want to wear out the saints, he will want to get them to be weary but the Spirit of Might is the one that energises us, that enables our capacity to withstand the resistance of the enemy. Ephesians 6:12-13. It takes strength to stand and that is part of what the Spirit of Might does. He makes the believer live beyond discouragement.
That talks about the capacity never to give up, to be energized from within, beyond the realm of discouragement, beyond the realm of weakness, beyond the realm of frustration and beyond the realm of giving up. That is what the Spirit of might among other things energizes us for. Church Gist. I pray tonight that via the encounter we are having upon this mountain, the Spirit of Might will strengthen each one of us afresh.
2 Corinthians 4:6-10. That is what the power does, it energizes you beyond distress, beyond being perplexed, beyond being frustrated and beyond being cast down. By the power of the Spirit of God, no more distress in your life again. Church Gist. He energizes us, He enables us, He equips us to subdue and withstand the enemy.
That is what we see working in our father, when you hear him say “When people are insulting me I get more excited.” Nothing to discourage, nothing to distress, nothing to dissuade, nothing to perplex. He said people asked him “Are there no challenges?” He said, “Maybe they came and I didn’t know.” But when he sat down to keep record, he said there is an entire chapter of his autobiography that is simply called ‘My Share of Challenges’. It is not that there are no challenges but there is an energy that is beyond the challenges. There is an enablement that is beyond the challenges. That is what you call the Spirit of Might. When it is not there men get cast down very easily. They get distressed very easily, they get perplexed very easily. Church Gist. Situations of life just begin to throw them here and there but when you find a man or a woman that is enabled with the Spirit of might, things are happening but they are not shaking. Things are going on but they are not trembling. Anywhere you find them, you can’t find on their faces the things that the enemy is trying to do against them. That is the Spirit of might at work. Tonight I see that Spirit coming to work in our lives.
2. This Spirit gives capacity to command exploits.
Exploits require might. Daniel 11:32b. Exploits demand might. What that means is that no weak man can command great feats. No weak man or woman can command great feats. For anyone to command great happenings, there is a need for great strength. That strength is what the Spirit of Might offers to you and me. God selected 300 men out of about 33,000 that came in Judges 7. Judges 8:4. They were faint yet pursuing. That language looks like a contradiction. I don’t know if you have seen somebody who has fainted before. When a person faints, nothing is moving. I have seen quite a few faintings and there is nobody I saw that fainted and is still moving. When a person faints, the first thing you do is look for water because he doesn’t even know where he is. You pour water on him for him to come back. Church Gist. The Bible said concerning these men they faint, yet pursuing. That is when the fainting could have taken place their legs couldn’t stop pursuing. There was something energizing them from within. That is what it takes to command exploits. If you look at one of the mighty men of David, the Bible says that he was using his sword and it got to a point that the sword stuck to the hand. That is when the hand could not hold the sword, the sword began to hold the hand. Something was operating in him, it is called the Spirit of Might. It is that Spirit that gives you capacity to press on until you deliver what God has packaged for your destiny. That is the Spirit of might.
Without the Spirit of Might, you may faint while not yet fulfilling what God has called you for. You may faint while not yet actualizing what God placed you on the earth for. When the Spirit of Might is there, there is capacity to match destiny. No matter how much potential a man has, if the potential is not matched with strength, the potential will be frustrated. I have seen many dangerously intelligent students but they fall sick every exam and they fail those exams. Church Gist. Not because they lack potential but they lack the energy to match that potential. When potential is not matched with strength, the potential is frustrated. There is no doubt that God has given every child of God a glorious destiny but that destiny must be matched with strength in order to get it fulfilled. Tonight by the Spirit of Might, I see the strength required for you to match your destiny being released for you.
This strength is in every area, physical, emotional and spiritual. Church Gist. That is what the Spirit of might comes to do, He energizes us physically, He energizes us emotionally and He energizes us spiritually. So when the Spirit of might is at work, there is physical energy to run your race. Shout halleluyah! Physical energy to match your adventure on the Earth. There is emotional stability to pursue your race. Church Gist. Not that any little thing you just get discouraged. You see, there are so many people on the Earth today, the way they conduct themselves, they behave as if satan left everybody to face their case.
I remember sometime ago, a person came into my office and he explained his challenge to me, he was so impressed with the problem he had. He explained it to me in details and after he finished, he looked at me and smiled and said, “Pastor, have you heard something like that before?” Church Gist. That is, this issue is so serious o don’t think you can hear. I said, “My Friend, last week somebody came – the same problem; earlier this week – somebody came; your problem is very common.” He was so impressed with his problem. Don’t specialize your issue, it is common. But you see, when there is no might everything looks like, this matter nobody has ever seen it before, nobody has ever faced it before.” Hear me: no matter what you face somebody else has conquered it before. So there are things that people are sitting and crying that others are moving with and smiling – the same issue but there is an inner energy that brings about emotional stability.
– For somebody hearing my voice, whatever it is that has been destabilising you before now, the energy, might required to subdue it receive tonight!
So what it does is that it energises us. So it is physical, emotional and spiritual. So spiritually there is enough energy to match destiny. Church Gist. Let’s look at some examples from Scriptures of individuals who enjoyed the operation of the Spirit of Might. We look at it in the lives of certain individuals from the Old Testament all the way to the New Testament.
1. Abraham: Abraham operated in an unusual dimension of might. In fact we can almost say that Abraham had mortality swallowed up by life because the things that Abraham was doing at his age, there was none that was normal. The Bible tells us that God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 22:1-5 and Abraham went on a journey, he trekked for 3 days just to find the mountain. Church Gist. Now let’s remember that Abraham had Isaac at 100 years old. Now the Isaac he was taking to that mountain was the one that will carry the firewood and the load on his head – so he was not a toddler. So we imagine that Isaac should have been may be around 14. So Abraham was around 114 years old and he was trekking for 3 days. There are some of us that even the staircase that enters into this place (Youth Chapel Canaanland), when you climb it you say, I tried. Abraham was 114 and for 3 solid days he was trekking looking for where God will show him. To show you the level of strength, God did not only send him for a 3- day trek, when he finished the 3 days trekking it was now on a mountain that he needed to climb. After 3 days – can you imagine? A man of 114 years trekking for 3 days and then concluding the 3 days with a mountain climb and when you climb the mountain it’s not that you are going there to go and sleep. As he arrived on the mountain he has to build an altar, put wood on the altar and then look at the boy very fast to ensure that the boy doesn’t understand what is happening before he catches the boy, ties the boy, puts the boy on the table – at a 114 years. Church Gist. You know, 14 year old boy you have to be smart and the boy has asked a question before they got there so you know that the guy is smart. So he has climbed to the place carrying the firewood, put it down and you can imagine that Isaac must have been looking, “I can’t see it, I can’t see it,” 1, 2, piam, the father has to catch him, tie him and put him on that altar – at a 114!
The question I want you to ask yourself which I need to ask myself is, “How old am I and how old are you?” Say with me, Lord I need the Spirit of Might.
2. Moses: Moses took on what you can almost call a suicidal task to rescue the children of Israel at the age of 80. It was a suicidal task on many levels.
Level 1: he was asked to go back to Egypt where he had left as a fugitive – that requires emotional strength. You and I both know that when people get much older you are careful with even how you share bad news with them because of emotional stability. Church Gist. You want to manage what gets to them. Now God came down by himself and said, Moses, I have seen the afflictions of my people – Moses agreed – the affliction is bad; I’ve seen their tears – he said, yes sir, they have been crying for long. Now, I’m sending you to go back to where you ran away when you were young. What you were afraid of when you were young, go and face it now that you’re old. God had to energise him emotionally. Moses turned back and went to Egypt and from Egypt, brought out the children of Israel. So he took so much strength internally to even go in there, it took strength physically to go there,
Level 2: now when they were coming out, they were all going to trek out of one nation to another. Church Gist. So they were trekking from Egypt all the way towards the Promised Land. Now Moses was 80 years old by the time he was going back to the land of Egypt.
Level 3: look at how the people Moses went to go and deliver… It’s one thing to go and deliver somebody, it’s another thing to know the kind of person you are also going to go and deliver. Moses went to deliver the children of Israel – the most unstable group of people. Church Gist. They will do praise and worship, from praise and worship they enter complain, from complain they enter rebellion, from rebellion they enter repentance, from repentance they enter Praise and worship, from praise and worship back to complain, from complain back to rebellion… and Moses was enduring that for 40 solid years until he was 120 and the Bible gives us this picture of Moses – Deuteronomy 34:7. There was no diminishing return. That was the operation of the Spirit of Might.
3. Samson: Samson was a man that was physically energised by the Spirit of Might. You see, many times that we see the picture of Samson you see big big muscles, big big legs – that was not Samson. Samson was an ordinary looking man. It is when the Spirit came upon him that he began to do extraordinary things. Church Gist. That kind of energy of Samson is not the kind you can gather by lifting weight. It was the operation of the Spirit of Might. So Samson took the throne of Israel for 20 years on the basis of the operation of the Spirit of Might. Judges 15:20.
How about Elijah, Elijah was another man that operated on the Spirit of Might. Energy from on high. God gave him one time and the food he ate, he walked in for 40 days. Elijah after calling down fire, you know that was not the end of the matter. Church Gist. He said they should catch all the false prophets of Baal, Elijah personally killed 450 people. After all those prophets were massacred, Elijah still outran the chariots of Ahab to the gate of Jezreel. That was not normal energy. It was empowered by the Spirit of God.
We have all these examples all through scripture. We will just conclude with the example of Paul. He was a man of unusual vigour and strength. Paul was able to sacrifice a lot without breaking down. Philippians 1:21. All you need is to read the scripture and see the resume of Paul, see the different things that Paul went through, every one of them was dangerous. He was struck 39 times five times, he was stoned to death, dragged out of the city and woke up from there while they were planning his funeral. Church Gist. All manner of things happened to Paul. It is the same Paul that was bitten by a venomous snake and he just shook it off into the fire. I know that they tell you that when a snake bites you, you quickly use a cloth to tie the place. Paul was still cooking. The people were waiting for him to swell up and fall down and die but he continued cooking. When they saw that he didn’t die, they said this man must be a god. Because there was something energizing him from within. From today, no more weakness in your life.
When we look through the scripture we look at all of these examples of men, we see individuals that were energized beyond the physical. Church Gist. It was something that had a fountain from the Spirit that gave them what it took to match and fulfil their destiny.
The question we are looking at tonight is ‘Why do we need the Spirit of might?’
1. The Latter Day Church cannot reign without the required strength.
Psalm 110:1-3. It takes strength to rule in the midst of our enemies. Physical, emotional and spiritual. We are in a world that is full of enemies. What that means is that when there is strength, your enemy is not an excuse for lack of rulership. When you are strengthened with might, you rule in spite of your enemies. Oh God, all my enemies must die so I can go up. Church Gist. No! They must watch me while I go up. They must be angry and gnash their teeth because there is an energy that comes from above that makes them helpless in spite of my rise. God’s servant has told us over the years “Do you think everybody likes me? Do you think everybody is happy? I have many enemies”. The truth is that the higher you rise the more the enemies. So if you want to keep on rising you need to keep on being strengthened. This strength is in dimensions, when it comes upon the life of a person it is a difference maker. You become a complete ‘Touch Not’ entity when you are properly energized.
I love the testimony of one of us, he said he was going for Shiloh and he ran into armed robbers. They gave him a dirty slap and his Bible fell from his hand and Shiloh flier fell out of his bible. They asked him where he was going. He said Faith Tabernacle for Shiloh. Church Gist. They picked up his Bible and put his flier back inside, then put it in his hand and said he should return the slap. If that is where you are going I know that there is a strong person there, this slap that I gave you was a mistake so return it so we can be balanced. Strength is in levels. Our reign in the midst of our enemies is determined by the Spirit of might.
2. We cannot do what Christ did without possessing what He possessed.
Christ possessed the Spirit of Might. You look at Jesus and you discover that strength in every area was available. Spiritual strength unquestionable! The Bible said He was given the Spirit without measure. Physical strength – undeniable, the Bible makes us understand that He said a body has He prepared for me. Emotional strength – unshakable, only Jesus can look at a cross and see joy behind it. Hebrews 12:2. Physically, spiritually and emotionally, He was energized and He said as the Father sent me, so send I you. John 20:21. Church Gist. If Jesus needed strength, you and I need strength. That is why the Spirit of Might is a non-negotiable factor in the adventure of destiny. From this night onwards, no more weakness.
The question we ask ourselves is what is required to get it?
1. Be born again, there is no provision of the Spirit that is available without salvation. Acts 2:38.
Ensure that you are born again.
2. Engage in a desperate cry.
Desperation is the anchor requirement outside of salvation for the outpouring of any provision of the Spirit. Isaiah 44:3. Church Gist. John 7:37-39. I see each one of us taking a new dimension of the Spirit of might upon our lives.
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