Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Revelation Hour (RH)
Date: Saturday, 29th January 2022
Minister: Pastor Kenneth Eyanohonre
"Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear…" (Heb. 12:28). Grace can mean a whole lot of activities that can set up new workings or an activation energy that can set you up to meet a demand. But the grace in the verse above is a grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. It does not necessarily mean doing any activity. As such, this grace will not be external but will be a culturing that will put some level of training and weights in our souls. The essence of this is so that we can respond to God accurately.
Grace has different faces by which it manifests. Soberness, gravity, and patience are all expressions of grace. Grace does not just refer to the energetic aspect, whereby you are engaged in activities. It is also that which can put you in a position where you can respond accurately to God; even by serving Him acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
As God is amplifying the expectations for this season (the season of everlasting life), we need to have grace, so that we can serve Him this way. We should also get to a point where we will not just exhibit these traits occasionally, when God allows us go through trials. We should rather desire that they will become a character that is built in us, such that we will be in a state of readiness to always serve God acceptably.
“Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: [6] That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 15:5-6). There is a unison and consistency that God wants us to come into as a people, such that with one mind and mouth, we would be able to glorify God. To glorify God in the above verse means to serve Him. God wants us to serve Him acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, and also with one mind and mouth. Our consistency in our ability to respond to God is very important. God does not however want just one person but a company of people to serve or respond to Him.
We are in a very strategic season of transition; God wants us to move from a realm that is very natural to us but is undermining His purposes for us. He is bringing us to a place where He is speaking to all of us, not just to the pastors and leaders. He is careful to hold us at this point to make sure we all have a hold on His commandment. God has to train and culture us with the commandment that will enable us make that transition; we have to learn its life and conversation.
When we reach certain junctures, God will take time to reenact and say one thing to us. This saying will then become a commandment that we all need to hold unto. This is because it will galvanize all of us to be able to come to a point where we can make that transition. This is the posture that God is demanding from us by saying that we should have grace to serve Him acceptably.
There is always a process by which God sanctifies. Sanctification is not necessarily what we do but how God rearranges our thoughts and hearts, and gives us a posture by which we can relate with the new experience He is bringing our way. There are uncertainties around this way because we have not passed through it before. We also need to be cultured to be used to instructions and commandments. The commandments that God is communicating are for everyone and not just for one person because all of us must make that transition.
The words being spoken to us now have been spoken by God before and we have responded in some ways. When God puts emphasis on some words at a particular point in time, it is possible to easily come into the euphoria and energy to pursue the things He is saying. But beyond that, God wants us to come to a place where our hearts can understand, and by understanding, come into the place of patience, strength and ability. Then, we will with one mind and heart glorify God.
Transitions are always very important for a people who are journeying to God. God’s climate is not necessarily that of activities, abilities or what we can deploy ourselves to. Much more, it is how much we can respond to the sequences of His thoughts. Learning God's life involves different pulsations and rhythms. It takes a whole lot of wisdom and stature for a man to walk with God. Men who are going to walk with God will learn Him and have all the abilities and energies that He will deposit in them. This will be real and manifest in ways like being sober, grave, and weak. Some people have to carry these various expressions, so that we can accurately respond to God and His seasons over us.
We are going to use this life and manifest it as some form of strength. The first strength that we have to be used to is the strength that will come via obedience. As you respond to God in obedience, your will is trained. The people who are going to follow God are not people who are weak. They are those who have strength because strong are they who do God’s will (Joel 2:11). The strength comes via obedience. The process of obeying God when it does not make sense hurts your ego in different ways. When you go through this, you are not only being trained in your heart and mind but also acquiring strength, which you will use to serve God.
The strength that is generated from within is built through usage and not because of our charismatic abilities. Every definite usage that comes by obedience raises in us a people of great strength. Then, we will live our daily lives and walk through the face of the earth manifesting this strength because our wills would have been trimmed. In the process of learning God, our minds, consciousness and whole being aligns with Him, having acquired discernment. We will then be able to relate with God’s thoughts and process them. We will also have the ability to respond to the instructions of God.
We should not lose track of any of the dealings of God over us because they are all going to add up. There is a life that they are all pointing to. The intelligence of that life is such that all of the resources of faith, hope and charity are all relevant to live it.
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” (Rom. 15:4). As we go through this journey at different junctures, it might seem as though nothing is happening, but God still expects us to develop the strength of hope to hold on. This is because we would be living by a different reality and our ability to hold on to that reality will require hope. Our hearts are strategic in handling the undulating and pulsations of God. This is because God cannot be easily figured out by the mind.
This learning is a critical one and our hearts must be right before we go through it. Our hearts must go through a lot of tempering of God. As God tempers our hearts, we learn and take lessons because we have not gone through this path before. We do not yet have the full understanding of this path. Therefore, God is training our hearts to have that posture of reverence because Satan is very dubious and crooked. He uses flesh to move against anything God is set to do.
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh...” (Rom. 8:3). Flesh is a frame; it is a way or an intelligence that Satan knows how to tap because it will respond to him. The law was supposed to be a schoolmaster to make men respond to and prepare us for grace. But Satan used flesh to undermine the law, so that the purpose for which it was given was never realized. The Jews were so bound by the law that even when salvation (The Son of Man) came, He was rejected. They even used the same law to kill Him.
God wants to raise us as a people who will learn, understand and be trained in His ways. He will keep speaking to our hearts because Satan is lurking around. Satan has hijacked some previous moves of God and made men lose their true essence. To defeat Satan and also respond to God in the various shades by which He wants to raise us, we must be helped. Therefore, God will need to work on our hearts so that we can have the right heart postures.
God wants to fulfil His great purposes for us as a people in whom He wants to make a major transition into His life. We must therefore learn God well; in strength, weakness, inactivity, passiveness, and so on.
“Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. [7] In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, [8] Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.” (Titus 1:6-8). The Amplified Version of the Bible describes gravity as the "strictest regard for truth and purity of motive". A man who is grave is not just serious-minded but is under the plumbline of truth, where motives are being checked. As we run, God will begin to look at our hearts. The heart is a central system, like the way a vehicle’s brain-box works. It distributes the power to different parts which are controlled centrally by it. When our hearts are not well positioned, they will send wrong signals to the rest of our members.
Jesus was raised as a man devoid of His own glory. God used that as a platform or foundation to give judgement to His heart. Our hearts need to be able to interpret the dealings of God accurately. Our heart’s posture is very important. If God trains our hearts rightly, we will be able to take on the very life that He is providing.
Gravity refers to steadfastness in being able to endure. It means one can stand up to and hold on to that which is the demand of God, without anything being at stake for one’s personal good. Such activities will require a whole lot of work and learning.
“Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.” (Rom. 12:8). Being merciful is part of the attributes of this life. At times, when we show mercy, we do not do it with cheerfulness. This is because it is not natural to us. When we show mercy with cheerfulness, there are times it could be done in pain.
God demands that when we show mercy, we show it with cheerfulness. That the Bible says that “blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” is not a straight rule because one can be merciful but may come short because his mercifulness lacks cheerfulness. This is to make us see how God raises His standard. He wants to help us have the right posture, so that we can maximize His dealings over our lives.
We have to renounce hidden things of dishonesty, ensuring that our consciences are pure. We have to be cultured continually. We should be such that even when we go through our confusions or moments when we cannot relate with the dealings of God, our hearts will always be towards Zion and on pilgrimage. We need to have a heart that will follow Him, no matter what we face. If we have that right posture, we will be able to respond to God even when it does not make sense. Then, we will be sure that we will not follow God in just a certain strict sense, but that we will achieve that malleable state where we can retain God’s laws in our hearts.
Retaining God’s laws in our hearts is important for us to make the transitions of this season.We do not know how to execute the transition that God is speaking to us. However, our hearts must be in reverence of God. We must learn patience, mercy, discretion, wisdom and discernment. Discernment will come by a lot of learning and acquisition of God’s wisdom. This will make us come into a state where we will know that what is important, critical and the guiding line is truth.
A wise man is one who will put a lot of priority on truth. To handle truth, your heart will take different shades at different times. At times, it will be energetic but at other times, it will be so weak because it is in the process of waiting and being careful.
“Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence…” (Eph. 1:8). Prudence is a show of care with a lot of effort. It is possible to show so much care and yet be afraid or not fully give oneself to it. But God has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence. There is a place where we will meet with God and receive and learn His life and prudence. We will learn to care and not be laid back, overwhelmed, or discouraged. We will learn to be patient and yet, put our all into it. We will be sober and yet, so full of the energy of God’s life.
Sobriety is the discipline of being able to come under instructions and learning. One can be sober because he has been beaten into a state of hopelessness. Such a man is not driven by the energy of hope. One can be sober and yet full of the energy of God’s life. It is a complex mix of personalities or natures that only God can culture us to acquire.
Trainings are workings of God or the building up of our inner man to look up to God, learn him, be more conscious and aware of the life above, be more sincere and be more circumspect, even when it comes to what we say. We are going to come into zones where God will check our hearts in different ways.
God wants to trim our hearts. He wants us to keep looking inward and putting our hearts before Him. At times, our hearts have some valleys of low esteem, fear, unbelief, and lack of understanding. Sometimes, it has the mountains of ego, where we think we are making our boast in the Lord but it is really just a display of self. As such, we need to be careful about how we respond in this season because heaven is going to watch our actions and the things we say.
We should have reverence for God and His people in this zone we are in. Not everyone will understand this reality of God’s life that is being taught (everlasting life) but we are not against them. God will be working in our midst and listening to our heart postures and conversations. We, therefore, need to be circumspect and wise.
We should learn the wisdom to serve and journey with Him, but not hurt His people. It is not just about what we can say to reestablish and make a point for ourselves. We need the meekness of wisdom. We need to allow God to temper our hearts as seasons change and movements occur. We need to trust God to temper our hearts so that we do not run riot. We should pray not to offend God in this season.