Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Writing The Vision Prayer Meeting (WTVPM)
Date: Friday, 18th February, 2022
Minister: Reverend Kayode Oyegoke
“After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” (Gen. 15:1). The shield and exceeding great reward are lives of God. The shield refers to the works of God while the other is His reward. The shield speaks of the everlasting God while the exceedingly great reward speaks of the only true God. When God is unveiled, there is work to be done. God is both the One before and behind, that is why He is God.
“The eternal God is thy refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms: And he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; And shall say, Destroy them" (Deut. 33:27). The eternal God is our refuge and underneath Him are the everlasting arms; these arms are works.
Everlasting life is the work of God. There is only one way that God can be known, and it is by His work. There is something God is always doing that is different from the works of His hands. This is the work that Isaiah mentioned is before Him (Isa. 62:11); the work is His life. If this work can be done in us, we would fulfil God’s eternal intent. The secret of reward is works. Works and reward are inseparable; reward always follows works.
“For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” (Isa. 66:2). God’s word is the tool for doing God’s work. However, a man must tremble for the word to have its effect and not return to God void (Isa. 55:11). God’s word has prospered when it has achieved His work. Physical manifestations are not the proof of God’s word that works life in the soul. The work of God’s word is the building of His house or image in men.
Anyone who possesses the image of the invisible God becomes a son of God. The image is invisible; it means that no one has seen it before but the Godhead. God’s eternal power is His work while the Godhead is His reward (Rom. 1:20). God is invisible but Jesus came to make Him visible to us (John 1:18).
Jesus communicates both the image of God and the Godhead. This means that Jesus will first teach God’s everlasting life before communicating Eternal Life to men. The work of God is the Father; the Father is the invisible image that Jesus became. The Father produces Himself as often as He comes down to work.
Since the fall, Satan gradually scattered every arrangement of God in man so that we will not have a chance receiving the life of God. Satan scattered the arrangement that God designed for man to get everlasting things by distracting man with various mundane things. Satan is a god who is strategically fighting against God. He is also aware of God’s intent to teach us His life and wants to hinder us from learning the life of God.
When Jesus is lifted high by the preaching of the everlasting gospel (Rev. 14:6), He will draw all men to Himself (John 12:32). If Jesus is not lifted, He will not be able to head the Church. As Moses lifted up the serpent (John 3:14), the Son of man must be lifted and He must be taught from a heavenly order and not as an earthly message.
As the Father works, Jesus also works (John 5:17). The Father is the Husbandman (John 15:1), that is, He is a worker and the work the Father does is Himself. The Father wants to produce many sons, thereby, raising many of Himself (Heb. 2:10). This is why He first produced one, that is, the pattern Son. Satan found his way past other works and everlasting patterns that had been wrought. Therefore, the Father came down and raised another kind of work.
The Son of God signifies how God entered into a man. The Father dwelt in Jesus (John 14:10). Jesus was first raised as Christ (the spiritual man) before He could do the work of the Father. The original intent of the Father was to dwell in Jesus. Satan wants to stop the Father from dwelling in man because that will destroy the plans of darkness.
The Father has committed all judgement that is required to come into full image to the Son (John 5:22). Judgment speaks of the sight that is invested in the making of a work. When God is judging a man, He is translating Himself into him -- He is giving everlasting life.
To honour the Son is to see the Son of God as the giver of life (John 5:23). “Honour” here speaks of submitting to the Son and receiving life from Him because it is His honour to give life. Anyone who can honour the Son has arisen from the dead. A man who has not seen the Son cannot give honor to Him because He is not aware of Him. Whosoever honours the Son, honours the Father also (John 5:23) because he is seeing what the Father did.
God first equips a man before sending Him. The Father will first produce Himself in a man and then send Himself by sending that man. God does not send anyone that He has not reproduced Himself in. “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Much fruit here speaks of the fruit of everlasting life. When one has produced that life, others will be reproduced. Without bearing much fruit, one cannot reproduce others.
“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” (1 John 3:14). It is judgment that will lead a man from death into life. This death is separation from God. It means being impotent in the presence of God. A man who is dead may not necessarily be offended at things done to him but may lack capacity in the things of God. Therefore, such a man is separated from God. Such a person is dead and does not know how to participate in the things of His presence.
The things of God are foolishness to a natural man because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor 2:14). One needs to be spiritual to handle discernment. There are many places in God that we are still absent. God is taking us to a place where we will be completely present in Him. This will be possible because we will know how to present ourselves to Him.
Those who are fully present in God are referred to as fellows (Heb. 1:9). When God dispenses light and we engage it in obedience, we participate in life because the purpose of the light is image formation. Thus, the everlasting work is developing inside of us as we yield to it. Everlasting life is in different levels until we come into the fulness of it. Whosoever allows everlasting life has been broken down completely and has allowed the life to become his full resolve. This resolve is a reconciliation. A carnal man will never allow reconciliation take place in him (Romans 8:7).