The thoughts of the recent meetings we have had have been so complex; and one might be wondering why. Some of the things that have been coming, are things that place demands on the faculty of our understanding. In most cases, God had been showing mercy in bringing understanding, by depending on our strength. He wants to raise us to understand what our daddy, Reverend Kayode Oyegoke is saying. Though the thoughts might look too complex, he understands what he is teaching.
1 Peter 1:10-11
"Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow."
Everything written in the Old Testament by the prophets was meant to communicate some degree of understanding. If one did not find mercy at a very high level, such a person will not understand the things that the law and the prophets explained. God had to raise apostles in different grades for us to understand the things written in the law and the prophets. Jesus said the law and the prophets spoke concerning Him (Luke 24:44). In another place, He said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." (John 5:39).
The things our daddy, Reverend Kayode Oyegoke, teaches may look wearisome to a carnal mind, but they don't look that way to a spiritual mind. The things the law and the prophets spoke of are things that pertains to eternal life, everlasting life and life. The law, which is from Genesis down to Deuteronomy, and the prophets, which is from Psalms to Malachi, speak of Christ. If the law and the prophets are speaking of a Person, and later in the scriptures the Lord authorized certain people (Apostles) to understand them, it means that the law and the prophets are holding understanding. They are written in different dispensation according to the expression of the Spirit. They hold certain knowledge that a person who is not spiritual cannot understand.
Saul of Tarsus at some point did not understand some of the things we are currently finding difficult to understand. There was a time he did not understand the things he eventually wrote about in his epistles. This is because those things are written with certain minds, aided by the Spirit of Christ, the Father, and of God. This Spirit was upon those who wrote the scriptures from Genesis to Malachi.
The things the prophets wrote were meant to be understood by certain people. Though they received it, they did not come into the true blessings of those scriptures (Heb. 11:13, 39). All those who wrote scriptures are enlightened men but lacked the true blessings. We are meant to come into the true blessings. But for us to come into it, we must first come into all of its dealings or seasons in the spirit. Prophets like Daniel, Joel, Ezekiel are prophets who prophesied about the most holy things. John the Baptist was mighty in the scriptures of the law and the prophets - proclaiming the coming of Jesus by them. Daniel had a soul stature that many present believers do not have. If it would take us thirty years to get into God, it might not take Daniel that long because his soul is not ignorant of the ordinances of ascension - he has a sound knowledge of the ordinances of priesthood.
The recent teaching of everlasting life coming to us needs to be understood. The desire of the Lord is that we as His people will prosper in understanding at these times. What separates one who would be a participator and a holder of the everlasting life is understanding. One thing that anyone who will prosper with Christ light must possess is understanding. What a person understands determines where he will stand.
What the Lord is dispensing is an everlasting understanding. However, we must prosper in the understanding of Christ in order to comprehend things that are being spoken. Our understanding determines our movements in the spirit. Everlasting things are things of the Father: they are things that are incorruptible; things that endure; things of strength. When you hear, "the Lord strong and mighty" (Psa. 24:8), it is not referring to His physical strength but something within Him. Christ is strong; He is power! This is not miraculous power but the power that can stop other types of power. A believer can be anointed with the nine gifts of the Spirit and not have this power that Christ possesses. When we became born again in our spirits, we did not automatically have this power in our souls. It is what our souls are meant to inherit.
Acts 26:18
"To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."
New birth is not the opening of the eyes of understanding. The commission of Paul in Acts 26:18 is not to just get people born again in their spirits, but also in their souls. In opening their eyes, they are turned from what is dark to what is light. This process is a deliverance from the power of Satan unto God.
Psalm 103:3
"Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases."
Soul diseases are very obvious in the realm of the spirit. The first deliverance every believer should experience is what is stated in Acts 26:18. The new birth is a guaranteed work, but the work in Acts 26:18 is conditional, "that they may receive forgiveness of sins...". Real power on the negative side put sin in us. Sin is power. One who is powerful on the negative side is one who has the strength to make a person have sin. Another word for power on the negative side is darkness, sin or inheritance. Everyone born of a man and woman has an inheritance of sin and death and hell. All these came with humanity from the beginning, in form of a seed. So, the reason for the gospel is to break us free from power of sin, death and hell. Without God's power, we will not be free.
John 8:32
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
At the preaching of Christ, power is being built in us. The gospel is a powerhouse. When Jesus rose from the dead, He said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18). All power here is not referring to miraculous power or angelic power. The next verse further explains the essence of the power which is to teach all nations (Matthew. 28:19). All power is what the gospel is made up of and they are meant to be taught. The first power that should be taught is Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:24
"But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."
We must first come in contact with Christ as wisdom, before we can come into His power. This is the power that makes one wise. How we come in contact with this power is by hearing. You cannot receive the power of God on the day you get born again because you need to be taught.
One thing about each power in every realm of God's power storage, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, is that it is not first of all a doing but first a knowledge. Any holiness done without the revelation of power is not true holiness (2 Timothy 3:5). Any power that cannot delete sin is void of wisdom. The reason the eyes of our understanding need to be enlightened is because death entered into man through the eyes.
Genesis 3:3
"But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”
Genesis 3:6
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."
Sin, death and hell that started from the beginning entered through our eyes. When the gospel was first preached to us, our eyes could not be enlightened. But we believed with our hearts, which led to the regeneration of our spirits.
Ephesians 1:15-18
"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."
The word "may" indicates that it is conditional. You must have used healthy milk well in order to receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Paul knew that these people had come far, having used milk well; and that was when he began to pray for them. What is holding us captive is a negative wisdom. This negative wisdom is a power machine; it determines how we live. This wisdom is what is responsible for many occupations and positions we hold. When the power of Christ comes to us, what it begins dealing with is our eyes.
When we come into the holy place, our hopes are tampered with. Here, there is another hope by which we will enter within the veil, where the Forerunner had entered (Heb. 6:19-20). This means everything about us will be adjusted. Whatever hope we had, no matter how godly they appear (like passion for ministry work) will be yanked off us.
No man alive today is without a hope, because our hopes are the deepest secrets of our being. If you want to deal with a man, tamper with his hope. The reason people commit suicide is because they have no reason to live again - their hopes have been punctured and they have become totally hopeless.
The way God kills us is by tampering with our hopes. Satan has given many hopes to the nations of the earth. He has made nations to be keepers of hopes. The way to tamper with these hopes is by bringing the Gospel of Christ. Otherwise, the best man will get is religion. It takes growth at different stages for us to see the things that are wrong inside of us. The preaching of Christ at the level of hope will begin to tamper with the reason we are Christians.
Ephesians 1:18
“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…”
When we got born again, we were awoken in our spirits and brought into a call. Today, if a Christian is asked why he is born again, his response will be full of hopes. But as he keeps hearing and hearing the Gospel, he increases in faith until his faith is full. Then he comes to the realm of hope where he begins to understand life.
The hope of His calling cannot be understood if the eyes of our understanding are not enlightened. The spirit of wisdom and revelation, as it comes, begin to tamper with wrong hopes. When the eyes of our understanding are being enlightened, wrong hopes begin to look weak. At that level, people begin to live differently; they begin to give certain affirmations.
When hope is full, it begins to command certain lifestyles that is charitable. Hope is very deep. This is why parents need to be careful in raising their children. All kinds of things could be avenues for hope. When hope is full, a commensurate lifestyle is commanded. When hope is being tampered with, how one lives is also being tampered with.
1 Corinthians 13:1-2
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”
When you see someone whose charity is strong, the hope is strong in him. When the hope is clear, you will begin to live by commandments. When God looks at a soul that does not have charity, He sees nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:3
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”
The reason for faith is a profiting to inherit the nature of Christ. That inheritance comes when sins have been deleted (Acts 26:18). The lifestyle that comes from faith, hope and charity is an inheritance.
1 Corinthians 13:4
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.”
A person to whom hope has been painted can suffer long. What makes us forebear in the path of Christ is the hope. You will suffer long and at the same time, you will be kind. Kindness is a greater lesson than suffering. As we keep hearing the Gospel, we make progress in charity and start doing it. We will not envy neither will we vaunt ourselves, for charity envies not and does not vaunt itself. We will esteem others above ourselves. When we see others better than ourselves, hope is becoming clearer.
Charity does not puff up itself. To be puffed up is to see ourselves more than what we really are. When we begin to consider what people say about us and we desire to be seen in a manner, maybe because of our functionality in the church, we are puffed up. What makes us puffed up is knowledge.
1 Corinthians 13:5
”Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;”
Charity is wise; it has some kind of discretion. One who has charity knows when to talk and when not to; because charity has judgment that comes out of humility. Charity, when hope is strong, seeks not her own. It is not easily provoked. These are natures of charity. High charity that is close to the holiest thinks no evil.
1 Corinthians 13:6-7
“Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”
Charity rejoices not in iniquity. Then, charity bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:8-13
“Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
We need to trust God to succeed in these things so we can prosper in what is coming. The things that are coming can only be understood by a man of charity. All these things are strength and they begin with the eyes being opened.
Isaiah 40:28
“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding.”
When we become full “charity men”, we will have strength and God can then come to us.