Programme: School of the Spirit (SOS)
Date: Thursday, 8th June, 2023
Transcript Excerpt
Our access into a weighty Christian life begins with our hearts asking questions. Jesus had to go through the levels of life beginning as a baby so that we would be without excuses. He went through it to show us that even a baby born has potential. The intention of the Father is for that baby to grow to the point where it can begin to confront darkness in all its institutions, and Jesus went through all those raisings.
At one point, Jesus began asking questions. He asked the Pharisees some questions and he also answered some others. The conversation showed that the young Jesus already knew some things and He desired to know more things that should not be of interest to Him at that age. When we begin to be interested in the hope of His calling, we are asking what the hope is all about. The asking is a life, not just a prayer, and Jesus assured us that it would be given to us if we ask. The answer to our asking is a giving. When a person is asking for something, he is looking for the comprehension of something previously unknown, even the hope of His calling.
After asking, there is seeking. Seeking is higher than asking because, in seeking, we know what we are looking for. A seeker is higher than an asker because a seeker knows what he is looking for, and would not stop until he gets it. The provision in this can be used for every level of our walk with God but we should also be aware that not all seeking is pure. Some seekings are determined by our value system as we would only seek things that are important to us. This was why we saw Jesus Christ confront some people who sought him for the wrong reason (John 6:26).
Isaiah 58:1-2
“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.”
John 6:26-27
“Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.”
There were a lot of things that were lacking with their seeking in John 6:26. In the process of seeking we enter into labour because we know what ought to be added to us. The reason we come to meetings is because we are seeking something. We know that there is everlasting life and Eternal Life in view and we keep listening because of it.
According to Matthew 7:7, we would first be given the things we have asked for. Then the seeking phase comes next, which is where we gain mastery in labour. Here, our value system is purified because we know what should be sought after.
The soul is naturally a seeker. One of the energies that darkness has used against man is the seeking ability of the soul. Once something is painted as valuable to a soul, it can expend all its strength and sacrifice anything to get it. So, one of the reasons our seeking will be purified is because we have known the right thing to ask for. When we know what to ask for, we would eventually know what to seek; else we would seek what the Gentiles seek despite our being born again. The darkness in our souls was not expunged at the New Birth. Therefore, all our preferences and value systems are still intact. The only difference is that we begin to use the name of Jesus to get them. Clearly, such a person’s seeking is not yet purified.
Every soul would naturally labour for the meat that perishes because that is what we have been taught to do. The handprint of darkness is to make everyone labour for the meat that perishes. If we are labouring for meat that perishes, it is already an impurity because it shows we do not understand true value. True value is the change in our value system.
There is a seeking that is impure as a result of our eyes not being fully opened in the season of asking. A person with such a seeking did not get the complete eyes to see the hope in the realm of asking. We have to be contented with the provision that comes as a result of the eyes of our understanding being enlightened because there is something that it would cause us to see. We need these eyes to see the hope of His calling. Therefore, one who does not value the hope of His calling will taint his seeking.
After the season of seeking is the season of knocking, which is where we currently are, according to our fathers. In asking, we do not know what we are looking for but we would be given. In seeking, we know what we are looking for but we do not know where it is. However, when we begin knocking, we know where it is. Knocking can be upon us as a company and as a season, but it takes might to knock. For us to knock, we need to come to the door of entrance. It is only a man who has been weaved in understanding that can know the door and stand before it to knock.
When we knock, we know that someone is listening to us and we are assured that we would be given permission to enter. A man would only be given access if his life permits entrance. Such a man ought to have an awareness, a high understanding. This is what the realm of glory is all about.
John 17:5 KJV
“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”
This verse shows that Jesus got to the point of knocking. He did not have this thought when He was a child because that was the season of asking and seeking. However, He knew that if He did not get this glory, then the Father was not done blessing Him.
We could get something in the realms of asking and seeking and think that is the fullness of God’s blessings. The reason we would think so is because of the kind of eyes we have. Jesus did not stop at seeking because He knew there was something more. He was searching for something He called glory despite already being a charity man (who is also a glorious man in a lesser way). The disciples were not looking for such but Jesus got entrance into that kind of thinking because He was given the eyes for glory.
Our most prized possession and most valuable assets are our thoughts of God. Jesus did not come to the thought of glory Himself. God gave Him those thoughts because He knew Jesus could take them. A desire for glory thoughts was worked in Him and He was fashioned as one who could seek glory. He was not born with the thoughts of glory. It took over thirty years of preaching the Father for Jesus to know that He came from God and that He had glory somewhere before the world began. If Jesus ever fell short of that thought, He would have never been able to ask for this level of glory, which was the final door that God had for Him to enter.
To ask for glory is not just a congregational prayer; it is the panting of the heart. Not everyone is currently panting for this glory and God knows it. That is why we must all be given eyes. The highest reward of humanity was what Jesus was trusting God for. Jesus is the pattern of what man will look like at the end of the day and that should define our panting. But the only way we can get there is through asking, then seeking, and then we get to the door to start knocking.
Now the people that knock are charity beings. This means that anyone who is not a charity man is not yet knocking. When we have been able to download the heavenly conversation of charity into our lives, then it means our souls have begun to knock at the doors of glory. This is the promise that God made to us all. The life of Jesus spells out all that we are supposed to come into from the beginning to the end. When He came to the end of His sojourn on earth, He began to ask for glory.
Glory is not a prevalent thing among humanity, not even among believers. This is because there are some things we consider to be more valuable than glory. For some, it is anointing; for others, it is a large-crowd ministry. This only happened because there is a wrong interpretation of what glory is. There is also the misconception that glory and manifestation are the same. Truly, God did not manifest Jesus until He was glorified but glory and manifestation are two different things.
Romans 8:19 KJV
“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”
Now, these sons of God are sons that have been brought into glory. We would not be manifested except you are brought into glory, that is, there should be glorification before manifestation. When we think of glory, one thing that comes to our mind is shining and it is reinforced by our interpretation of Hebrews 1:2, which associated glory with brightness. Glory is not first of all shining. Glory is, first of all, a sense of reign that sets one head and shoulders above creation.
The creatures referred to in Romans 8:19 are not animals or living things. Creatures in this context are the first creation of God; it is the invisible side of creation. Even on the invisible side of things, the idea of creation was also a creation. When it was just the Godhead, there was no creation. Once that concept of creation was borne, it became the wisdom from which everything came.
Proverbs 8:1, 20-27 KJV
“Doth not wisdom cry? And understanding put forth her voice? [20] I lead in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of judgment: [21] That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; And I will fill their treasures. [22] The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, Before his works of old. [23] I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, Or ever the earth was. [24] When there were no depths, I was brought forth; When there were no fountains abounding with water. [25] Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills was I brought forth: [26] While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, Nor the highest part of the dust of the world. [27] When he prepared the heavens, I was there: When he set a compass upon the face of the depth:”
The first thing God brought forth was a wisdom and that is the creature that is awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God. However, before the manifestation, there would have to be a receiving of glory. God is going to glorify us by giving us an awareness of the things of the beginning. God has been saying the same thing to us in pieces but they are now coming together. God is about to glorify men on the earth. People may never see it but once we break into that kind of thinking, people’s lack of sight would no longer be a concern to us. When Jesus rose from the dead, He was not interested in making Himself known to everybody. He was overtaken with thoughts of glory.
The thoughts that keep us earthly are thoughts that are against glory. These are thoughts that would prevent us from looking up and make us spend our lives for nothing. All our time and labour on earth are minute compared to our whole existence because we will exist for all eternity. Nobody who has ever been created will cease to exist. The goal of the preaching of darkness is to emphasise and prioritise our existence in time over our existence in eternity. It is glory sense that will make a person realise that our general existence is beyond how long we would live. This is what is called reigning.
To reign is to no longer be confined by the thoughts that keep men bound. People who reign are called sojourners, which means “temporary dwellers”. They know they are only on this earth temporarily. In other words, they know their lives do not end here. Every labour of darkness is to make us have relevance in time only. Even the relevance of the man of sin is a time-bound relevance.
Iniquity, though everlasting in nature, has a beginning. God wants to give us thoughts that existed before iniquity but Satan has held people bound with the glories that are here. These were the glories Satan showed Jesus in a flash while he tempted Him (Matt. 4:8-9). The influencer craze on social media is a kind of glory painted by Satan. Every evil spirit know Jesus and they tremble at His name. If we seek the kind of glory He represents, then our value systems need to change. We must be willing to sacrifice relevance on the earth for eternal glory with gladness. The worst Satan would do is to threaten us with this earth. He can never threaten us with our seat on the Throne.
The sense of glory that Satan gave to everyone is one that has people tied to it. That is why he is an idol. An idol is a god that needs human beings for it to be propped up. The only reason they stay relevant is because they are parasites that live off human energy. God, on the other hand, does not live off anyone’s energy; He is Energy. Even the energy that is being used to tempt us was stolen from Him, as we know that Satan did not create anything. He only took of God’s energy and reinvested it as temptation.
The whole essence of Satan’s concept of painting glory is to give us a sense of glory that would not last outside of time. That is his only weapon. His curriculum is this world, his teachers are evil spirits and the evil spirits only teach people things pertaining to this world. But when we begin to break into glory thoughts, we would know what reign truly is. This is why Jesus’ method of reigning is strange to carnal people and evil spirits. There is a reign we still do not have but, when we do, there would be great deliverance from our enemy. Satan was able to hoodwink us with other types of reign through the glories he painted. However, Jesus is bringing many sons to glory and those are the sons that God Himself will manifest.
If there is no glorification, there is no manifestation. What God had in mind when He started the concept of creation was a habitation for Himself, comprising many sons in glory. He saw it, and because He saw it, it will definitely come to pass. Satan is too little to stop it; in fact, he will be used to achieve it. We do not need much energy to deal with Satan. It is as we overcome that we would deal with him because there are many other things to deal with. There are knowledges and trainings that we would still partake of after we overcome. Satan is not the end of the learning of God. We will keep learning for eternity.
Glory is not about shining. It is the comprehension of the things that existed before the problem. The problem is finite, so it has a beginning and an end. But God wants to bring us to a realm without a beginning and an end, and that is Eternal life. However, we need the comprehension of things everlasting before we can get there.
To see the beginning of a thing is to see the make of it. Iniquity was made of everlasting components that were corrupted. So, to understand everlasting life is to see the skeleton of iniquity. Once we see it, comprehension has come to us. Where iniquity still has us is where we do not see its expression. For example, we never knew that ambition has an iniquitous stain to it. There are many things that iniquity is and fornication is not even part of it. Man had to fall to an extent before fornication became an issue. Before fornication, man was already trafficking so many iniquitous thoughts such that God decided to wipe out man. Cain did not have that low entrance into fornication. He was even higher than the demon that brought fornication.
The manifestation in Romans 8:19 is a product of glorification. We would first be called, then justified and then glorified before any manifestation. Jesus also followed this curriculum of glory. Therefore, anyone who is not towing this line of glory should forget about manifestation. Jesus towed the line of manifestation through the route of glory in its actual state as against the deception that has covered all men.
A man that is qualified for glory is one who has prospered in charity because charity is the end of the justification life. We know that the just shall live by faith (Rom. 1:18). We have also been taught that faith, hope and charity spell out the life of faith. The holiest of all of the life of faith is charity. It is the most holy of the Christ life. It is a person who has prospered in this that qualifies to begin trapping certain realms of glory. Our lack of understanding is tied to our lack of charity. This means that when we are not walking in love or charity is not our ethos, we risk eyes to see.
One reason one would not comprehend doctrine is that such has not done the works of Christ well. It is only a Christ that is given the blessing to comprehend thoughts of glory. Glory is not about shining, for if it was, Jesus would have been brighter than the sun after resurrecting. But we know He was not, and we also know that He was glorified by God. However, He is still waiting for a kind of manifestation. The reason He is waiting is because He chose to not be manifested without His Church. He is waiting for a glorious Church that would qualify for manifestation. However, this Church must be one that comprehends what glory is.
We trust the Lord for mercy to grow to the point where we also can begin to knock. The door we want to knock is high and we are not meant to knock at the bottom. There’s a kind of sound of knocking that shows that a person has grown to the point where he can knock. If we knock at the door illegally, it would not open. We need to grow to the point where we can knock. That is the painstaking development that Jesus is taking us through.
We need to be contented with godliness. There are some things in our hearts that we are trusting God to do and if he does not do them, it colours our pursuit. We need to trust God and be satisfied with godliness because godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Tim. 6:6). The reason contentment was included is because one of the temptations of a godly man is to not have contentment. When godliness is worked in us, one thing that must not be missing is the hope of glory. This means that one of the things that would happen to a charity man or a fully developed Christ is that glory would be explained to him so that he can have the appetite for it.
No matter what Jesus saw on the earth during his earthly tenure, he got to the point where He was not satisfied with anything outside of glory. He was willing to receive a bad name so that he could receive glory. We saw examples of Him listening to the Father against the pull of humanity. When we seek to be spiritual, carnality would misunderstand us; when we seek glory, spiritual people would misunderstand us if they are still stuck with their spirituality.
Man can be classified based on the kind of life in him. He can be spiritual, divine or eternal. A divine man is higher than a spiritual man. A man can be stuck in being spiritual and not press to become divine. If he is not pressing towards being divine, he would insult those that are pressing toward divinity. Jesus was willing to be misunderstood because He knew He stood as the One who would be the answer to all of humanity. Therefore, He ignored people’s opinions about Him so that He would not derail the program of humanity. These are the judgements that come from a heart of flesh. As we become more divine, we would talk less because our judgements would be strange.
Many of us are still seeking the wrong things in the name of glory. Some people want their faces to shine like Moses, not knowing that phase is gone. The actual glory of God is the sense to outthink evil spirits. We would be able to think what Satan cannot. The way we ought to think has nothing to do with our outward frames. Concerning our outward, God has said it and we just need to believe it. However, the priority is that we comprehend and think everlasting life.
A glory man can be seated unknown to us. It is only evil spirits and God that know what is going on in that man. The only way we can know such a man is by probing his choices and decisions. That is how we would be able to see that the person has seen something.
Blessings!