MOST OF US ARE IN NEED BECAUSE WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE NEED.
WE NEED THE HOLY GHOST MORE THAN WE NEED THINGS BECAUSE WITHOUT A REVELATION OF THE THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO US WE WILL BE IN LACK OF THEM FOREVER.
INSTEAD OF LOOKING FOR THINGS, LOOK FOR ACCESS TO THE THINGS THAT BELONG TO YOU IN CHRIST AND THE HOLY GHOST IS THE ACCESS.
CHASING AFTER THINGS WITHOUT THE HOLY GHOST IS CHASING AFTER THE SHADOWS.
ENDUEMENT WITH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE RIGHT OF EVERY CHILD OF GOD.
DIVINE PRESENCE PROVIDES THE REQUIRED ATMOSPHERE TO OPERATE IN THE SUPERNATURAL.
BOLDNESS IS A REQUIREMENT FOR COMMANDING THE SUPERNATURAL.
OUR COVENANT ACCESS TO DIFFERENT LEVELS OF EMPOWERMENT IS FROM A GENUINE THIRST.
THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS TO GIVE US POWER ACCOMPANIED WITH IMPACT.
WHEN YOU ARE EMPOWERED, GOD EMPOWERS YOUR TONGUE.
YOU NEED TO MOVE FORWARD. THERE MUST BE A CRAVING IN YOUR INSIDE TO MOVE TO THE NEXT LEVEL.
I HAVE COME TO SOME CONCLUSIONS IN MY LIFE: GOD IS ALWAYS RIGHT AND GOD IS NEVER TO BLAME.
WHATEVER GOD CANNOT DO, LET IT REMAIN UNDONE. WHATEVER GOD CANNOT GIVE ME, MAY I NEVER HAVE IT AND WHEREVER GOD CANNOT TAKE ME, MAY I NEVER GET THERE.
RECEIVE THE GRACE TO TAKE THE COVENANT POSITION TO GAIN COMMAND OF THE SUPERNATURAL IN YOUR LIFE.
– Bishop David Oyedepo on OPERATING IN THE SUPERNATURAL 3 at May 2023 Week of Spiritual Emphasis, Day 3 || Canaanland.
Father in the name of Jesus, we thank you tonight for the privilege to be in your presence one more time. We are full of the third day expectation, let no one return disappointed. Church Gist. Grant each one tonight an encounter of a lifetime. Let each one have something to hold on to tonight. Let your rod come forth tonight and let your name be glorified in Jesus’ precious name.
A man was troubled on every side, his name was Joseph. Until the time that his word came and everything turned like a dream of the night. Church Gist. Somebody’s word is coming directly tonight and everything will turn around in such an individual’s life as a dream of the night. So shall it be.
Our prophetic focus for the month as declared on Wednesday is I AM REDEEMED A WONDER TO MY WORLD. John 3:8. So it is everyone, no exemption. Every child of God is born a wonder to his world. No one here will end up a wanderer. Our teaching series which we began on Wednesday is OPERATING IN THE SUPERNATURAL. Church Gist. Isaiah 8:18. The world is waiting for the sons of God to be made manifest to them. The destiny of the world is awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God. Romans 8:19. We are in part 3 of this series today.
First, we want to acknowledge the fact that the Holy Ghost is the mastermind of the supernatural. Joel 2:28-30. ‘I will show signs in the heavens and the earth’. On the day of Pentecost, Peter rose and spoke and we saw wonders from heaven. Cloven tongues of fire came down from heaven, a mighty rushing wind on the earth, the cloven tongues of fire came and sat upon each of their heads and the Holy Spirit came upon each one of them. Church Gist. So it was a raw confirmation of the scriptures and we saw an eruption of signs and wonders. Actually what we call the Acts of the Apostles are the Acts of the Holy Ghost. So we saw the Holy Ghost moving and manifesting in diverse signs and wonders, miracles. He is the mastermind. Acts 2:14-17. In Luke 4:14, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit in Galilee and that was it. In Luke 4:32, His Word was with power. Powered words triggering signs and wonders.
So believers are empowered by the Holy Ghost to operate in the supernatural. That is why it is God’s free gift to every child of God. It is not a special gift, when you are born again it is the free gift of God to empower you and I to live the life we have been redeemed to live. What do I mean? In the house of Cornelius, while Peter spoke, the hearts of these men were turned unto God and he just got them filled with the Holy Ghost on the spot, speaking with new tongues. Acts 10. It was automatic. When we are born again, the Holy Ghost is the auto gift of God. You don’t need any special pre-qualification, it is the one that qualifies you to live a life that pleases God. Most of us are in need because we don’t know what we need. Take for instance: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge’ ‘I have many things to say to you now but you can’t understand them. When the Holy Ghost comes, He will teach you all things.’ What? We need the Holy Ghost more than we need things because without a revelation of the things that pertain to us, we will be in lack of them forever. So instead of looking for things, look for access to the things that belong to you in Christ and the Holy Ghost is that master access. John 16:12-14. Remember you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. He will guide you into all truth. Here we are craving for things without minding the access that will make those things a reality. It is chasing after the wind, it is chasing after the shadows. Church Gist. It doesn’t work. Jesus after teaching them for three and a half years, He said “tarry ye in Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high” ‘I can’t guarantee your going’. You need Him to keep your spiritual understanding alive. You need Him to keep you reminded when you are in the face of danger what the circumstance will not allow you to access, He brings it to your remembrance. John 14:26. We need Him more than we need things and we are dying after things without looking for the one who will give us access to what guarantees us the right to those things.
The Holy Spirit is the one that empowers believers to operate in the realm of the supernatural. As soon as the Holy Ghost came the Apostles just broke loose, all kinds of things. Church Gist. We saw it all in all chapters of Acts. Amazing acts of the Holy Ghost which we call signs and wonders. Acts 5:12-16. Eruption of signs and wonders at the advent of the Holy Ghost.
Interestingly, enduement with the power of the Holy Spirit is the right of every child of God. Acts 2:37-38. Repent and you shall receive the gift. There is no gap, not go and get the experience first. Auto!
Let’s now look at how the Holy Ghost empowers believers to operate in the supernatural.
1. The Holy Ghost empowers our insights into the Word which He confirms into signs and wonders when put to work.
This is where we come in, ‘when put to work’. Why do you call me ‘Lord! Lord!’ Without doing what I tell you to do? He won’t do it for you, He won’t do it for me but the Holy Ghost will reveal to you what it takes to overcome that issue. When you engage with it, God confirms it into signs and wonders when put to work. 1 Corinthians 2:12-13. Church Gist. He is our access. He grants access to great light. 1 Corinthians 2:10-11. He grants us access to the things of God and much more to the deep things of God. The Holy Ghost ignites the Word into fire. Jeremiah 20:9. He ignites the Word into fire that spurs you into action irresistibly. He turns you on. The Holy Ghost ignites the Word into fire that puts you on your feet against all oppositions.
Next, the Holy Ghost empowers the word of our mouth for impact which triggers the supernatural. ‘I give to you a mouth and a wisdom that none of your adversaries can resist nor gainsay’ Luke 21:15. He put the coal of fire on our tongue so that what we say holds water not only in this world but also in that which is to come. Church Gist. Your word engenders impact which God confirms into signs and wonders. Like I mentioned in Luke 4:32, He just returned in the power of the Spirit in Luke 4:14 and in Luke 4:37, His fame went about every place of the country roundabout – Power accompanied with effect and impact, that’s the work of the Holy Spirit Mark 4:11:23.
I had some experiences early in my Christian life, we were out on the Field and then one mad man just came from the blues and held me by the trousers. I said in my heart, ‘If this devil touches me, I will tear my Bible’! I looked at him and said, ‘Take off your hand’! And he cried and fled – One must flee, he is the one to flee. Praise God! Church Gist. Now, we were in a crusade and some fellow was rescued or delivered from insanity and then the evil spirits came on one of them the following day and they were holding him down and he was throwing everybody down, he has muscles a lot. They called me out from where I was staying in the room and I came out and said, ‘Leave him! The angels that left their first estate, you can’t be his habitation! You are preserved till the day of judgment, what are you doing here’? When you are empowered, He empowers your tongue.
-Now in the Name of Jesus, this month will mark a new dawn in your spiritual life. Thank you, Jesus!
When we are etched-in in battle – Most of the times that you are off your balance, it takes Him to stabilize you and bring to your remembrance relevant forces that He has revealed to you before the day of battle – He pulls them out John 14:26. When our last daughter was accosted by the spirit of death, I had this ministry of the Holy Ghost heavily made manifest. Church Gist. There were pungent reminders, they come like arrows and the Scripture just appears, ‘This is what it takes to deal with this’. In the midst of almost no more hope, this is the way out of it. ‘I’m He that was dead, I’m alive! I live forevermore and I have the keys of hell and of death and I am holding that in your favour not in the favour of your enemy’. Praise God! Isaiah 49:26. My God! The reminders came in the midst of the whole locusts.
-Somebody is blessed today!
Everybody needs the Holy Ghost to live a triumphant Christian life, your being in Church forever won’t make a difference. Peter was with Christ all the way through, he denied Jesus blatantly. Church Gist. We need the helper to go through this season.
4. The Holy Ghost makes us supernaturally bold
And boldness is a requirement for commanding the supernatural Acts 4:29-33, Acts 14:3. It is the Holy Ghost that makes you bold beyond you. It emboldens me and you to command the supernatural. It is not just saying something that matters, it is how you say it that matters, ‘Open your mouth wide not ‘halfly’ and I will fill it and if you will be bold to do it, I will turn my hands against your adversaries’. Church Gist. It makes us bold and to wax valiantly in battles, we turn the armies of the aliens to flight – They can’t shift us, we shift them. I said something recently, ‘Whatever you are not afraid of will be afraid of you’. Fire was afraid of those three boys. What? No man has ever spoken this way! Fire advised itself, ‘Stay clear oo, don’t burn anybody here oo’. Daniel went to the den of the lion fearlessly – The lion feared him. Whatever you are not afraid of will be afraid of you! You speak boldly for God to confirm openly. All these milky-milky Christianity won’t take you anywhere Sir. He empowers us to be supernaturally bold against the battles of life.
But our level of empowerment by the Holy Ghost is what defines our level of command of the supernatural as we saw in Christ. He was given the Holy Ghost without measure and the Father has committed all judgment to Him. Praise God! As the Father raiseth the death so He giveth His Son to raise whosoever He wills and then in John 11:41, we saw Him call, ‘Lazarus! Come forth my friend’! And he that was dead came back to life. Church Gist. Our level of empowerment is what defines our level of command of the supernatural. Some people are baptized in the Holy Ghost Sir but it is stale, it has lost viscosity, the engine is about to get grounded. It is not once baptized and that’s all, no! I shall be anointed with fresh oil Psalms 92:10.
This is why we are called to grow in power and we are called to grow in the power of the Holy Ghost. In Ezekiel 47, we had a very great picture of different levels of empowerment, I mean He showed me (Ezekiel) a river and took me through the line, it measured a thousand cubits it was to the ankle, another thousand cubits to the knees another thousand cubits was to the waist and another thousand cubits was a river that cannot be passed over. Church Gist. So we are moving, it’s an adventure so we need to take an adventure in empowerment. We shouldn’t hang on at the same place, you have dwelt long on that mountain Sir, you need to move forward Deuteronomy 2:3. There must be a craving in your inside to move to the next level.
-We will get there!
Now, let me say this, it is very simple and it’s the simplest thing ever: Our covenant access to different levels of empowerment is from a genuine thirst. Everyone that thirsteth should come to the Water John 7:37. It’s a thirst, a yearning to move forward, a yearning to thirst, a panting, a yearning to move forward, a yearning for advancement in the School of Empowerment Psalm 63:1-3. Church Gist. It is a yearning and a longing that ushers us into the next level of empowerment. A longing and a panting! We blame the devil too much for everything, it’s a longing and a panting! This is what enables us to move to the next levels of empowerment Isaiah 41:17-19. Thank you, Jesus!
In Luke 11:13, ‘…How much more will God give the Holy Ghost to them that ask Him’. It’s open! What are we saying tonight? Without the Holy Ghost, we cannot operate effectively and consistently in the supernatural, we shall be grossly limited, we need Him. And everybody has access, it is at the cost of a genuine thirst. People are too reluctant about life, they get lost in the crowd and in activities. We need a personal walk with God that is genuine and strong. Even Jesus, until He returned in the power of the Spirit, He wasn’t different from Jesus, the son of Joseph the Carpenter. When He returned in the power of the Spirit, He stepped into His Messianic ministry openly, irresistibly and unstoppably and yet He was born a ‘sign’ because, ‘The Lord Himself shall give you a sign, a Virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son’… Isaiah 7:14. Church Gist. So He was born a sign but could not manifest that until He returned in the power of the Spirit. We have reduced our lives to the natural realm completely that we are not different from the unbelievers at all, we share the same sorrow, pain and defeat – That’s not it! That’s not our realm!
Secondly, tonight before we shut down, apart from the ministry of the Holy Ghost who is the custodian of the supernatural in the Kingdom, divine Presence provides the required atmosphere to operate in the supernatural- Divine presence! It is the spiritual atmosphere that triggers the supernatural. When Israel came out of Egypt Psalms 114:1-7, the sea saw them and it fled- Where are you going? What’s going on? It said, ‘Tremble thou earth at the Presence of God’. God’s Presence emits the supernatural supernaturally
Jesus came to bring God’s Presence back to mankind. His Name shall be called, ‘Emmanuel’! That means – God with us! Matthew 1:23. So we need the consciousness of God’s ever-abiding Presence to operate in the supernatural, We need that consciousness. ‘For the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. What will happen? He will change your story. Zephaniah 3:17-20. His presence emits the supernatural naturally. Church Gist. In Mark 16 He sent them to go forth and they went and God, also working with them confirming the Word with signs following. We are told about Jesus by Peter in Acts 10:38. He went about doing good, healing all of them that were oppressed by the devil because God was with Him.
Divine presence is sustained by doing the things that please God. Can two walk together except they be agreed? No! Amos 3:3. John 8:29. ‘I do always the things that please Him” That is the responsibility we have. A crave to please God as a lifestyle secures for us His presence. An undying craving to please God, a yearning to please God. A deliberate reaction against things that don’t please God secures for us His presence. We saw Daniel, they could not find anything amiss in his life because he was a faithful man. Daniel 6:4. Daniel 1:8. He enjoyed divine presence. Church Gist. God sent his angels and shut the mouth of the lion so they could do him no harm. Church Gist. You enjoy divine presence with the desperation to live a life that pleases God. You can’t afford to join them in doing what they are doing and seeing what they are seeing. You lose your place before you know it. A commitment to a life that yearns to please God secures for any believer His presence. A life of gratitude, a life of praise secures for us His presence. Psalm 22:3. He inhabits the praises of His people.
I had come to some conclusions in my life. God is always right. God is never to blame. Whatever You cannot do, let it remain undone. Whatever You cannot give me, may I never have it and wherever You cannot take me, may I never get there. Church Gist. You need to come to a point in your life where your yearning is after God and the things that please Him then you enjoy His presence naturally.
When God said we should come into this forest, I used to go through this forest at night. I will leave my people at the gate and walk through. I will tell my wife that I just feel God here. Inside the forest, there was nothing going on. Church Gist. I just feel God here. A life that seeks to please God, to obey God will enjoy His presence, no go come.
So we are leaving here with two things tonight – you need the Holy Ghost, you need to be current in your spiritual walk, you need to jealously guard the divine presence around your life, that is the atmosphere that qualifies a believer to operate in the supernatural naturally. Church Gist. I have had one, two, three occasions in the air where there was turbulence and things looked uncertain. God is here with me for whatever can’t drop God can’t drop me. We need that consciousness of God’s ever-abiding Presence and to jealously guard it by taking Biblical responsibility to secure it. So with the Holy Ghost at work and the consciousness of your well-guarded divine Presence, no devil can stop you from operating in the supernatural
-It is your turn for a change of story.
So instead of begging for miracles around, take a strong covenant position to operate in the realm of the supernatural by yourself under God, it makes all the difference.
—-PRAYER—–
-Receive the grace to take this covenant position to gain command of the supernatural in your life.
Now, let me help those of us who are here and are yet to be baptized in the Holy Ghost Sir. It is the most authentic proof of your salvation, ‘Repent and be converted and a time of refreshing will come’. When your repentance and conversion are genuine, a time of refreshing by the Holy Ghost comes along. So if you are saved, don’t let anything stop you, just have a heart panting after God. Can I tell you this? No one prayed for me to receive the Holy Ghost. Church Gist. I felt negative on the other side that the Holy Ghost is not necessary but one day, I said to myself that there is some emptiness in me, ‘Holy Ghost if you are anywhere, I need you’. A friend of mine just tapped me up from my bed and I just blew up speaking in tongues. He filled me with the Holy Ghost by Himself. A genuine thirst is a covenant qualifier, don’t fake it, don’t use syllabus.
One of my sons got one of my books, ‘The Miracle Seed’ in 1985, he was a Catholic boy. He was moved by the Holy Ghost to the Mountain near the home where they lived. I mean the Holy Ghost is humorous. In Chapter one, he gave his life to Christ by himself and in Chapter three, he got filled with the Holy Ghost by himself, nobody laid hands on him. And God gave him a Ministry which he called, ‘The Miracle Seed Ministries’! Church Gist. God just filled him and you have heard that story, you have never read that book in your life yet you say, ‘I’m waiting on God to fill me with the Holy Ghost’. What you don’t seek, you can’t find. The door that you don’t knock can’t open. Everybody needs the enduement with the Holy Ghost to operate in the supernatural, there is no game about it Sir. It is not the conjunction of Scriptures together, you are not different from a parrot. But when the Holy Ghost gives a Word and you engage with that Word, God confirms it with wonder.
-You are going to see wonders this month and it’s starting tonight in the Name of Jesus Christ.
——ALTAR CALL——-
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