Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Writing The Vision (February Edition)
Date: Saturday, 19th February 2022
Speaker 2: Pastor Thompson Ehima
The ability to see the Son and do His work takes place in measures. We see the Son as we see the works the Father wrought in Him. “For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.” (John 5:20). There are certain works the Father cannot yet show one unless such a person has become His son. Thus, one must have come to some level of stature in the realm of the spirit, being raised to such a height to see what the Father does.
We cannot see the Son unless God shows us mercy. The commandment to love our brethren fervently (1 Pet. 4:8) and open up our bowels of compassion (1 John 3:17) are instrumental in raising us to a capacity that can show mercy and also make us see the Son. We are to keep adding to our spiritual attributes (2 Pet. 1:5-7) and this addition takes place as we keep commandments.
It is good to pray for the enlightenment of our eyes and for the giving of the spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph. 1:17-18), but what is most needful is to obey commandments. When we obey commandments, we are healed of dullness of hearing (Heb. 5:11). In this season, we are admonished to be quick to hear (Jam. 1:19). The essence of faith and the fervent love of the brethren is to bring us to the place where we can become quick in the realm of the spirit.
When we abound in the keeping of the commandments of faith and love, patience is worked out in us (2 Pet. 1:5-7) and it is through faith and patience that we inherit the promise (Heb. 6:12).
“The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” (Ps. 19:8). When one obeys the commandment of faith and love, the eyes become enlightened. Therefore, praying for the quickening of our understanding alone is not sufficient, for we should also obey commandments. In addition to our prayers and fastings, we must be zealous for good works – keeping the commandments of charity.
When we carry out the obedience of faith, slothfulness and dullness that reside in the heart and make it unresponsive to doctrine will be dealt with. Obedience to faith is needful in order to make the heart pure (1 Pet. 1:22). This state of a pure heart is needful to see the next allocation of hope – the blessed hope (Tit. 2:13). One who has come into the blessed hope will see the Son of God (salvation), and will then be able to make further progress into seeing the works the Father has done in the Son.
The Father works in the Son. The Father is a Husbandman (John 15:1) and He cultivates the Son. One who has not been raised to the level of the Son will be cultivated by the seven spirits of God (Isa. 11:2-3). One must have a level of stature before the Father can cultivate him. The seven spirits carry out the first level of the work of ploughing in a man. The seven spirits raise a man to a level such that the Father can take over and work in Him.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. [9] For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9). One who has become Christ and is to be raised into a son of God is the man that the Father can work upon and grow. God will then begin to bring the blessing of thoughts and ways to such a soul. Thoughts are understanding, issues of life or weightier matters (Matt. 23:23).
The Father desires to come, dwell and work but He cannot do these things until He finds an everlasting building. This building is referred to as the temple of the living God (2 Cor. 6:16). Hence, there must first be a raising of Christ in the soul before the temple of the living God can be raised in such a soul.
To be shown the path of life (Ps. 16:11) is to be shown how to walk in the realm of the spirit and generate response to God. We cannot respond to God until He has put things in us that can respond to Him. We respond to the Father by what He has put on our inside and these things are His thoughts and ways. The thoughts and ways of the Father are containers of life.
Thoughts also refer to good things (Jam. 1:17), which Jesus also referred to as treasures (Luke 6:45). The treasures of God do not refer to cars, gold or anything that fades with time. The treasures that God seeks to give man are enduring treasures (Heb. 10:34).
The thoughts of the Father are meant to grow a saint from Christ into a beloved son. It is a beloved son that the Father can dwell and walk in (2 Cor. 6:16). God intends to raise us into a house that can contain His treasures but we must first be raised into the stature of Christ. This is a soul that is at peace with God and His ways (Rom. 5:1). God cannot put His treasures into a soul that is still at conflict with His will and ways.
God’s thoughts and ways are His treasures (Jer. 29:11). God is always thinking, which is why He instructed us not to take thoughts (Matt. 6:25). To take thoughts is to want to assume the role of God. The thoughts of God consist of weightier matters of life and transactions of overcoming. God knows that the seeds the enemy has planted in us cannot be uprooted except we receive His thoughts.
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds…” (2 Cor. 10:4). Strongholds are arrays of thoughts which are set in the souls of men that nothing can break through except one is blessed with the thoughts and ways of the Lord. Thoughts are buildings. A man is raised and built into Christ and a beloved son by thoughts. This is also how Jesus was raised.
Thoughts are building blocks. The Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16) is a fusion of stones (rock) of living thoughts. They are weightier matters of the law and a blessing from God. Some believers think they do not hear from God, but they have the thoughts of God breeding upon the tables of their hearts. Just as Samuel heard the voice of the Lord but supposed it was Eli’s (1 Sam. 3:4-6), the thoughts of the Lord visit us but we do not take notice of it because we have not yet given ourselves to exercise. As we exercise ourselves in hearing the voice of the Lord, we grow in discernment of His voice.
When a man receives the visitation of the blessed thoughts of God and finds grace to obey them, he grows spiritually. A son is built by thoughts. Sometimes, the thoughts of God seem not to make sense to us. This is why obedience is by faith and not by our natural senses. Thus, the dealing of the milk faith (Mark 11:23) is to train us to the point where we do not rely on the visible, but the invisible. Thoughts are invisible and that was the means by which the Son of God was raised. We must also learn to anchor our lives on His thoughts and obey them.
Abraham had two sons, one from Sarah and the other from Hagar, her maid. His wife advised him to drive away Hagar and her son, and God instructed him in that same manner (Gen 21:10-12). This was because there was a thought that God wanted to get rid of in Abraham’s heart. That thought was a training to prepare him for a higher thought, which would be to sacrifice Isaac. These instructions were not about Isaac or Ishmael, but the work the Lord wanted to accomplish in Abraham’s heart.
To see the Son, there needs to be a correction in our hearts and minds. To achieve this, the Lord places some demands on us by giving us His thoughts. God uses His thoughts to convert us. The more we make good use of the thoughts of God that visit us, we will grow into the man that can become the temple of the living God.
“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” (John 14:10). Jesus became a mobile temple of the Lord. He was an arrangement of lively stones, a temple God dwelt in and walked in. Evil spirits knew that God had erected a living temple in the Son of the living God. Jesus was raised into this temple because He was schooled in the way of life (Luke 2:49).
The Lord will give us grace in our hearts to fulfill the obedience that is required in this season. As we are receiving doctrine, we would find grace to do the things required of us and obey the commandments of life, for understanding to break upon us. No one meets the Lord and remains the same, for every meeting with Him brings a new level of help to us.