THE REALITIES OF GOD THAT YOU SEE IN VISIONS WILL ONLY REMAIN VISIONS UNTIL YOU PRAY.
THE ONLY WAY OUT OF PRAYERLESSNESS IS TO PRAY.
-Pastor Isaac Adinoyi at Koinonia on ‘ACTIVATING PRIESTHOOD AND KINGSHIP’
Father, we thank You!
I stand here tonight by the privilege of God’s grace and mercy, to stand in the capacity of our Father, I truly thank God for this rare privilege and honour; I’m eternally grateful.
I bring us the love and greetings and blessings from our Father in the Lord. Within the limit of time that I have, I just want to bring the Word of the Lord and I know that God will bless someone in a very mighty way in the name of Jesus Christ.
John 11:41-44, Acts 4:12
When it has to do with salvation, the new birth experience is the only realty that is exclusive to the office of Christ Himself and this was clearly exemplified in John 11:41. Church Gist. This is a prophetic adumbration of our translation from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of His dear Son or the Kingdom of light. So, as far as that translation is concerned, none other has it been given as an exclusive privilege among the Godhead to save mankind except Christ Himself.
The question I ask is, every single time I read that passage; if Jesus had the power to call forth Lazarus from the dead, then He should also have the power to take off the graveclothes. But Jesus did something very unique here, He assigned certain men called “Them.” Thank God Jesus did not mention a name, if not, some of us will not be standing here. So, whoever “Them” are, you can be enlisted tonight.
When you study Ephesians 4, when Paul began to speak about the construction of the Church, he said the same that descended was the same also that ascended. When He ascended, He gave gifts to men; some evangelists, pastors, teachers, apostle, prophets, for the equipping and empowering of the saints. So, as far as the salvation experience of men are concerned, it’s an experience exclusive to Christ alone. Church Gist. That means, no man can save another man. But before He left, He did not leave us confused; He empowered certain men. So whoever the “Them” are, we do not know but that scripture proves the fact that they did not go on their own accord; they went because they were sent. They have the backing of the Master and capture with the grace they have been empowered with is the ability to take off the graveclothes and limitations that hold us bound.
Transformation, productivity and advancement; God has given us the privilege to serve for quite a while in this house and at this point in my life, I can clearly say that I’ve been able to move from point A to point B because I came under an atmosphere; that grace that makes ordinary men and turns them into signs and wonders.
- Tonight, your life will not be an exception in the name of Jesus!
There’s a grace in the house that makes men; there’s a mantle in the house that makes men, when you come under that anointing, the first thing that happens is that, your mind is changed, my mind is renewed and then for a while, that transformation begins to translate to productivity and productivity then translate to notable advancement. Church Gist. Tonight, the first miracle that will happen to you is that, when you go back home, they will say, “I thought you left as Saul, how come you are prophesying?”
Tonight by the privilege of God’s grace, I want to preach on:
‘ACTIVATING PRIESTHOOD AND KINGSHIP’
By way of introduction, there are many names a believer is called in scripture and throughout the New Testament, the believer is called light, salt, children, Christians and so on and so forth. So, why are believers called certain names in scripture? I just want to give us three reasons very quickly:
1). To reveal our make-up and design spiritually.
2). To reveal our potentials and abilities in Christ. So if a believer is called light, that name alone grants us access to knowing the abilities and graces that have been invested in that individual.
3). To reveal our assignment in Christ and to this world.
You don’t just call yourself light as a religion cliché. At once it informs you with an understanding that, everywhere you step into, darkness should naturally leave. Church Gist. Why? Because I am called light and by reason of that naming and that identity, I know what I have been empowered with; I know what my design is like and I know my abilities. Say with me;
“I am a priest and I am a king.”
1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6, Revelation 5:10
The word royal there connotes kingship, the word priesthood connotes the fact that we have been called priests as believers. We are not at liberty to choose kingship and neglect priesthood, neither do we have the liberty to choose priesthood and neglect kingship. That means, we need both to have dominion on earth and exercise our rulership on earth.
To clearly define why we need both, I want to give us three differences between priesthood and kingship:
1). Priesthood secures our connection with God and the realm of the spirit, while kingship secures our connection and impact on the earth.
So broadly speaking, we have two schools of thought in the Body of Christ. There are those who largely believe that, all you need do is to just secure your connection with God and every other system and structure can go places. Church Gist. You may be relevant spiritually, but you will be beggarly on earth. The Word Kingdom is coined from two words; King and domain. Our domain as believers is not Heaven; our domain as believers is earth. The Bible puts it this; King of kings and Lord of lord, so there can’t be two Kings in heaven.
Luke 2:52
2). Through priesthood, we will (release) our resources spiritually, while kingship creates the platforms through which we exercise these spiritual resources or abilities. That means, if I access divine wisdom through wisdom, kingship creates the platform on earth to exercise that divine wisdom.
3). Through priesthood we secure our relevance spiritually, while through kingship, we are relevant earthly. For instance, with the level of honour you see displayed in this house, it takes the wisdom that comes from kingship, not just priesthood; kingship tells you we need sound system and light because in kingship, you find the operation of wisdom.
Let’s quickly talk about the keys to activating priesthood and kingship:
1). Salvation.
Priesthood largely speaks of being alive unto God or being alive spiritually and the access point to exercising your priesthood and my priesthood in their pecking order is salvation, which is also called, the new birth experience (Romans 6:11).
When you study the book of Genesis chapter 3, which speaks of the fall of man, you’d realize that there were many consequences that came on the account of the fall. Church Gist. As a matter of fact, when you speak of salvation, salvation is largely in threefold; the salvation of the Spirit (justification – the regeneration of our spirit man), the salvation of the soul (sanctification – the renewing of our mind) and then, the salvation of glorification (where mortality will be consumed in immortality). So, the regeneration of our spirit man happens instantaneously, but the transformation of our mind takes a process of time.
John 3:1-5
One of the ways we identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is to be baptized into water. But when you and I are physically baptized into water, the water doesn’t touch your spirit; you feel the impact of the water with your body. So, if you are baptized with water and you have not professed Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour, you are still not saved. Although the baptism with water helps us identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ; we must also experience the indwelling of the Spirit of God that regenerates our spirit man and cause you to be alive unto God.
2). Spiritual illumination through the Word. The reason why it is important to contend for the understanding or illumination that comes from the Word of God is because the realm of the spirit is legalistic; it is governed by laws. It takes spiritual intelligence to engage the realm of the spirit, if not, casualties can come from that.
Humorously and respectfully so, I heard a story that was shared about an Evangelist who went to a certain village to preach the Gospel of Christ. You know, the assignment of the Evangelist is, with the sickle, he reaps and harvests the field, but it is the assignment of the pastor and the teacher to ground and to establish. Church Gist. So, the gentleman got fired up from that crusade because the Evangelist came with a message that fired the gentleman up. After the meeting, he went to confront a shrine and then, there was such a casualty that came from that confrontation. Why? Because that individual is only an infant, he has not been grounded to understand spiritual jurisdiction and legislation.
Job 29:1-3
It is priesthood that causes us to be alive spiritually and alive unto God, it is also important that we are equipped with the light and the information that helps us navigate spiritually (Psalm 119:18). Church Gist. Until your eyes are opened, you cannot access the treasures that in the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 5:5, John 1:1-5). Until we become one with the Word, we cannot translate to becoming light. Darkness is not scared of me or you, darkness is only scared of the light of God’s word that we carry.
3). A life given to prayer and intercession (Luke 18:1).
Why do you think the average believer struggles with prayer?
It is a parable; it takes the eyes that see as you are studying about prayer. This is a personal experience and what God taught me; God taught me three areas of understanding that I must have to be effective in prayer. To be very effective in prayer, you must have three levels of understanding:
a). The art of prayer: This is where you understand all the principles and the laws that govern prayer. If you do not know why you should pray, you may struggle in prayer.
b). The act of prayer: how to get out of prayerlessness is not just to read a book on prayer or the Bible. How to get out of prayerlessness is to pray because after reading those laws and those keys, you will still have to pray. Church Gist. Jesus also acknowledges the fact that, for as long as we are still in this mortal body, we can faint but God has created several platforms of advantages and one is the Spirit of God.
c). The Spirit of prayer:
In acting prayer, where your strength fails you, then the Spirit comes come upon because the Spirit of prayer will not come upon you until you engage Him, so you engage the Spirit of prayer by praying. A gentleman walked up to me and he said, “I can’t explain it, in recent times, my prayer life is going down. Prayer is no longer sweet in my mouth.” This was what I told him; when you are down with malaria and typhoid and the doctor prescribes a drug and you taste the drug on your tongue and you discover it is bitter, do you still swallow it? He said yes. I said, chew prayer until it becomes sweet in your mouth. Pray prayer until it becomes your natural disposition and the Spirit Himself can help our infirmities.
Prayer and intercession is one of the ways we activate priesthood (Daniel 1:21). The realities of God that you see visions will only remain visions until you pray.
Keys to activating Kingship:
a). Divine or supernatural wisdom.
God’s servant, Bishop David teaches this very beautifully. He talks about how that there are four dimensions to the operation of wisdom. We have human wisdom, intellectual wisdom, demonic wisdom or devilish wisdom and then, we have divine or supernatural wisdom.
One of the inevitable keys that we must engage in activating the kingship of the believer is to contend for divine wisdom (Proverbs 24:3-4, Proverbs 8:15-16, Mark 6:1-4). When we talk about the operation of divine wisdom or supernatural wisdom, it is not studied. Church Gist. It is not the kind of wisdom that comes on the account of advancement in age or wisdom we access by going to study in an academic institution. It is the kind of wisdom that God Himself gives. When divine wisdom comes upon you, it breaks family and traditional limitations.
James 1:5
b). Kingdom wealth and prosperity.
Many years ago, when our Father would drum it into our ears; don’t just be anointed alone, contend for Kingdom wealth and prosperity. Then, we didn’t have anybody we were responsible for, we didn’t have anybody’s school fees we were paying or feeding. So, we just casually, and trivialized it, it looks as though we were hearing but our results prove that we were not really hearing. When our Father is praying; take the grace for wealth and abundance, you will open up your heart and receive. My brothers can bear me witness, now our hearts are opened because there are bills. The name of Jesus is heavy, it takes wealth to carry it.
Check throughout the scripture, every single one human being that was called a king interacted with wealth and the same earth they walked in is the same earth we are walking in. So if we want to rule as kings, we must also interact with the wealth they interacted with and wealth don’t go back to Heaven; the wealth that Solomon walked in is still in the earth.
- May God give us the heart that will truly carry end time wealth and abundance!
Haggai 2:8, Isaiah 45:3, Psalm 50:10, Psalm 35:27.
There has to be a cause for God to give us wealth and not just any kind of cause; a righteous cause.
c). Kingdom influence and affluence.
The most accurate teaching on influence was actually done by Jesus Himself (Luke 13:20-21). A little droplet of yeast was dropped into three measures of flour and then after a while, initially when the yeast was introduced into the flour, it was still called flour but eventually, through the influence of that yeast, the Bible says the whole loaf was leavened. Church Gist. So that means, the Church may still yet look insignificant in our world today, we may look like we don’t have anything or carry anything; it is only a matter of time. Usually, for the effect of that yeast to be felt in the dough, you have to subject it to heat. So, that means the economy meltdown we are seeing now is a strategy of God to heat the dough, because how we gain relevance is through pressure and trials. How our influence is activated is through pressure and trials. That means, darkness is not about to end. We must only contend for the light commensurate enough to superimpose darkness. So, when God subject us to that heat of the dealings, our influences are growing.
Praise the Lord!
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