Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Anamnesis Prayer Meeting - Week 1 Day 2
Date: Wednesday, 9th November 2022
When Jesus was born, He was not the Son of God but the Son of David according to the flesh (Rom. 1:3). God does not birth sons biologically, rather, sons are made. The One who was born in the manger may be regarded as ‘God made flesh’. The first manifestation of the baby outside of the womb is a product of flesh. The inward manifestation of the baby was not yet revealed until He had passed through various processes of formations.
The destiny of the child was not ordinary. He was a child without a natural father but was also a man at the same time. He was God who fully became man and who would fully become God. He was made flesh so that He can go through our process of development.
Through our Lord Jesus, God showed to all men that flesh can become God (Philipp. 2:8; Heb. 1:8). This was not a miracle to God; it was His original idea. God made man for glory; he was supposed to shoot into the world of glory. Man was made to attain what angels could not. The destiny upon man was a very strong one; it is a destiny of the highest. The realm of the highest speaks of the Most High that dwells in the highest (Luke 2:13-14).
“John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was He of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for He was before me.” (John 1:15). Jesus had lived as a Son in the sight of God before His earthly manifestation; even before the coming of John. Jesus had existed before John in thought and in the reality of the realm of God. God is not like man; He already lives with a thing before it manifests. God would have seen a thing, lived and fellowshipped with it before bringing it into manifestation.
There is the known, unknown and the unseen realm. The unknown is higher than the unseen. The unknown is not seen, even by the realm of the spirit.
“Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Cor. 2:8). Speaking in an unknown tongue is higher than the spiritual. The unknown is not a natural language, even though it can be spoken in natural language. The unknown tongue is a mystery in the realm of the spirit and an interpreter is required for that which is a mystery in the spirit (1 Cor. 14:2).
These mysteries are an unknown mystery and an unknown knowledge. 1 Corinthians 13:12 talks about "I shall know even as I am known". No man really knows me (you); it is God who really knows me (you) as I am (you are). It is God who really knows me (you) in the realm of the unknown. What we are praying for is that the unknown will be made known to us.
“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26). Infirmities are impotencies that prevents us from praying for or knowing what we are supposed to pray for. We do not know what we should pray for the way we are expected to.
The words being spoken are in an unknown tongue. The Holy Ghost, Jesus and the Father speak in unknown tongues. When one enters Eternal Life, such a person is given an unknown tongue. Groanings that cannot be uttered in articulate speech are an unknown tongue of the Holy Ghost.
“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” (2 Cor. 5:16). The Apostle Paul had known Christ in the spirit while the apostles knew Him in the flesh. Knowing Jesus in the flesh is a dimension of glory. It is more difficult to follow Him by knowing Him in the flesh.
Christ is a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17) that cannot be known in the flesh. Knowledge is rendered to the world of the spirit or unseen. To know the Son of God, one has to deal with the realm of the unknown. When Jesus was brought forth, He was unknown even to angels but God gave them the opportunity to see Him. When they saw Him, they knew Him.
“And again, when He bringeth in the Firstbegotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him.” (Hebrews 1:6). If they saw Him and did not know Him, they would not have worshipped Him. This means for a while after they saw Him, they read Him. Angels are spirits and could discern Him. When they saw Him, they knew and saw a new purpose that was born; they knew that the agenda of God had been elongated beyond the present. They saw the world to come. This is what the Jews cannot understand, for Jesus reversed the order of obeisance, worship and adoration.
The flesh who became the Son of God dwelt amongst us (John 1:14). Dwelling amongst us means God lived in our midst with a measure of glory. A time is coming when He will still dwell amongst men who have been made like unto Him. Emmanuel will then invite God. Emmanuel first came as flesh and grew into being God in order to intercede for God to come and dwell with man. All of Jesus' time on earth was an intercession for God to dwell with man. Thus, if He could come to be with man, the Father should also be preparing to come and dwell with men also.
“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee…” (John 17:1). When Jesus was on earth, He was manifesting the glory of God. Jesus asked for Eternal Life so He could glorify God. God communicates glory so that we can give Him back the glory He has given to us.
God gives an opportunity to come into a high status or privileged life. The agenda behind such gift and privilege is to give Him a fulfilment for which He gave it. There is an expectation behind the gift. Everlasting life and Eternal Life are glorious. Somebody who has and is operating in everlasting life is giving very high praise to God. By such a person, God is glorified on earth.
Bodiless spirits cannot fully show manifestation. This is why Satan likes to take bodies in order to damn manifestation. This is why holy ones cry to not let their bodies see corruption (Psa. 16:10). They want to come into showing glory. They want to take flesh and use it for God by patterning flesh to the high life that God has in heaven. Thus, They give flesh the opportunity to be heavenly – that is glory. The opportunity to let flesh taste of heaven is possible. We are at the threshold of it. It is a massive voyage, a universe; you need the compass of the Son to lead you. You need to be all believing to translate everlasting life, glory, into natural manifestation.
Everything Jesus did was manifesting the glory of God. It was not about the miracle that men could see; the miracles were speaking. Just as the sign of Moses had voice, the miracle was supposed to speak to Israel in slavery (Exo. 4:1-9). If they did not hear him, the signs would speak to them. The Jews were trained to read signs. The voice says that the first sign is a rod that turns into a serpent and back; while the other sign is the sign of the hand placed into his armpit and came back as snow. If they did not hear the voice of the first, they would hear the voice of the second. Both signs are hand signs (Exo. 4:6). The first is the extension of the hand, while the second is the raw hand that is stronger. The armpit signifies the cleft where God hides those He wants to show Himself to. The hand came as snow: it was not leprosy; it was not a disease; it was a sign.
The voice of the latter sign is greater (Exo. 4:8). Something happened to the rod in the first sign, while something happened to the hand in the latter sign. When put together, they make up a face. The rod is an extension of God’s face in a measure, while the hand is fully God’s face. Moses ought to use that throughout the wilderness. After using the rod for a while, God asked Moses to put down the rod and speak instead; that is the operation of the hand. By not doing so, he did not sanctify God’s name in the midst of the people (Num. 27:14). There was an obstruction in the heart of the people about using an object to perform miracles. By speaking, God wants to remove this and heave up (glorify) His name in their midst. God expected more.
There are three dimensions to the wilderness. The people moved from one dimension to another and these dimensions have names. What Moses had done and acted in the realm of faith, he was not meant to repeat in charity because he had moved higher. By consistent obedience to God, he had used the rod and could now let it go and speak instead.
“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:6-8). Satan gave the beast power over all flesh. This is similar to the power that Jesus was given. God has not yet given Christians that power. We will begin to realise that kind of power when we have everlasting life. The sign of everlasting life is that God will begin to bring all flesh under One. But the power will be fully in expression in Eternal Life. God put all flesh under a Man in order for Him to give them life; but Satan does it to give them death.
“And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. [4] I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.” (John 17:3-4). Glorifying the Father is finishing the work. Jesus had used the glory resource that He was given and had lived it out, thereby doing the work of glory on earth. Thus, He was proclaiming that He had done everlasting life and had finished it. Everlasting life is a work; this first glory is a work. Everlasting life is the glory or life of the Father while Eternal Life is the glory of the only True God.
As a Man, Jesus did not want to be left out of the glory He had when He was God because He had now become a man. He was not satisfied with everlasting life but was asking God for that which He had promised to man before the world began (Titus 1:2).
Eternal Life requires knowing two Beings: the only begotten Son and the Only True God. Glory is a work; to work on earth is to show glory. What Jesus was referring to as ‘finishing the work’ is that which pleases God at that pedigree. What can please God at that level is a man with a glorious mind – one who can press out what God desires. We have to go into glory to know pleasures. We have to go into glory and do glorious works and by doing such works, we glorify God.
“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed…” (1 Peter 5:1). Sufferings cannot be separated from glory. There is the suffering of Christ which are spiritual. Christ suffers in order to be built to suffer as the Son of God. Christ is the first manifestation that is out of flesh. Flesh cannot understand the sufferings of Christ. There are many flesh who are suffering more than the Rock.
Suffering is more than challenges of life, otherwise, men who go through challenges would have become Christ. Men who claim to be suffering because they do not have access to earthly things are not going through real suffering. This is because they do not disengage themselves from carnal things; they instead go through their sufferings with the hope of having natural success. Anyone who is like this is only partaking of a carnal suffering. The sufferings of Christ on the other hand will disengage us from the hope that flesh sees as life to bring us into glory (1 Peter 1:11; 4:13).
Flesh can suffer because of a hope that it sees. The reason people call God faithful is because He provides the natural at the right time. The sufferings and glory of Christ cannot be separated because suffering leads to life. One cannot cease from life (sin) except such has suffered.
“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin…” (1 Peter 4:1). Sin here is not limited to works of the flesh.What God wants to kill is the path of flesh and He does so through suffering; but flesh likes alternatives. So me souls were in the wilderness, witnessing the miracles, but they were not changing.
When a person is attached to the natural, it would be difficult to untrain such a person. Some people could be unstable in their commitment to this word (of righteousness) because Satan puts fear in them and they become afraid.
There is another suffering besides the suffering of Christ – the suffering of the Son of God. It is a highly technical training in a high school of the Spirit. The purpose of this training is to make men perfect. In the school, the hearts and minds are trained. We would be so trained that the heart will master how not to do iniquity. We would go through high disengaging through continuous practice of instructions from the Father of glory, until we would be doing glorious things.
There are things the Father wanted Jesus to do while He was on earth. Jesus was doing the works that pleased God, for that was how He could glorify God. The Father asked Jesus to give Him the opportunity to live in the flesh and that is the work Jesus did.
No one can acquire God at the rate Jesus did. Jesus was very quick with His attainment of God. He was put through pressure. Pressures are responsible for folding mountains under the earth. In like manner, Jesus was being compressed to house the Father. The pressures and temptations were responsible for the formation.
There can never be a formation without those conditions. That is why He was called some geographical names like the Precious Cornerstone and the Sure Foundation. Something was going on underneath His flesh until He became a Sure Foundation. Knowledge is different from fullness. There can never be fullness without pressure. Fullness is formation while knowledge refers to the deposit.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14). There are riches to every glory. Knowledge can be turned to grace but it is not a straightforward process. The grace mentioned in this scripture is not the one that knowledge gives. Rather, it is grace for staying. When we see ffullness, we would see that it cannot be used ordinarily until God breaks it down. When cohesion force is broken, it is accompanied with losses. So, fullness is an embodiment of God.
Fullness is greater than knowledge, but to house fullness, we must pass through experiences. This is because several things need to be mixed for formation to take place. People can know but may not come into the after-effect of knowledge. Knowledge is meant to pass into a measure of fullness. Glory is a work and one who has the glory of God has His fullness.
It is possible for one to have knowledge and not have formation. To conform is different from acquiring knowledge. There are people who often say these things as cliche but end up doing other things.
“Shew me Thy ways, O LORD; Teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: For Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day. Remember, O LORD, Thy tender mercies and Thy lovingkindnesses; For they have been ever of old.” (Psalm 25:4-6). The truth is still part of the way and we cannot be saved unless we are led in the way. The way is a mould for forming beings; it is a way of grace. Mercy and lovingkindness also speak about the way. Jesus, as a merciful and faithful High Priest is able to form and build us; Jesus is the builder of all things called God.
“Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: According to Thy mercy remember Thou me for Thy goodness' sake, O LORD. [10] All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth Unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.” (Psalm 25:7, 10). Goodness is God’s Life; it is the glory of God. Another word for glory is goodness. A man of knowledge does increase strength (Prov. 24:5) but it is not enough. There is a grace embedded in the word that we have known but we still need to be taught the path. These are two things the path represents: mercy and truth which is actually grace and truth. One needs to be led in the way of knowledge to really know the truth. Truth is reality!
One can have knowledge without God dwelling in such a person. Paul prayed for knowledge and later began to pray for dwelling (Col. 1:10-11). For might to be in operation, the spirit of might must lead and guide one to have might. Might is given by challenges; grace capacity is then increased when we are being led and guided. To raise a man is not done by words alone. Our brethren are part and parcel of the things we must pass through to be formed. When we serve our parents, we receive spirit.
Before a person can come around God, God will first put such a person around men. God stretches us and expands us. He gives us grace and might to receive His formation. Formation is fullness and when we have all fullness, it will then be easy to dispense grace.
We see the reason why a person may be able to teach revelation but would find it difficult to do it. Love is not a statement; it is spirit and a path. It is the means through which we acquire everlasting grace, which is the grace of life. That is why couples should not be angry at themselves for a long period. Men get bitter easily when they are not given what they desire but they must learn to forgive.
Satan wants to fault us from the grace of life. The grace of life is glory. God uses circumstances to build grace and capacity in us. God can increase the pressure and heat in some situations just for grace to sit.
God desires to have a son and for a people to be raised. God put the coat of many colours on Joseph to expose jealousy. After acquiring formation, we would have grace to wage against the weight. Later on, it becomes nothing because a house has been formed. It is at this point that we have grace in its fullness.
“And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16 ).Some Christians have knowledge but they are not gracious. God is a display of glory and He is gracious. The way Jesus handled the issue of the adulterous woman was a display of grace (John 8:20). That deliverance came from an epitome of strength. Jesus delivered the woman by words that could remove stones from the hearts of men.
There are people who want to speak on high mysteries like our parents in the Lord, but the truth is that we do not have enough grace to talk about what they say. There is a temptation of taking glory which a minister at this level must always overcome. As such, one who has not been well formed by rocks and pressures would not be able to handle it. It is by this formation that we know those who have things dwelling in them, not just knowledge but forces and entities.
We should acquire power before going into marriage instead of going with empty heads and hearts. Beneath the noise and disagreements of couples, a construction is taking place that will house grace. Some graces can be delayed in order to build grace in us. When God wants to allow pressure to come upon us, it is to raise formation. In this zone, answers to prayers could be delayed.
A hand held Elizabeth’s womb because Israel needed John. God can do anything to get what He wants. At the same time, Zechariah had gained formation. We know this because he was able to encounter Gabriel. When we wait for formation, it will birth miracles. We should wait for formation because we do not know where it is taking us to. There is a written program behind the scene. John was needed and heaven looked upon Zechariah and Elizabeth to bring him forth. May we have might to stay until our blessings appear.
Blessings!
Summary
- Through our Lord Jesus Christ, God showed to all men that flesh can become God (Philipp. 2:8; Heb. 1:8). This was not a miracle to God; it was His original idea. The agenda upon man is that they would end up becoming gods. God made man for glory; he was supposed to shoot into the world of glory. The destiny upon man is a very strong one; it is a destiny of the highest.
-
(John 17:1). When Jesus was on earth, He was manifesting the glory of God. Jesus asked for Eternal Life so He could glorify God. God communicates glory so that we can give Him back the glory He has given to us.
-
God gives an opportunity to come into a high status or privileged life. The agenda behind such gift and privilege is to give Him a fulfilment for which He gave it. There is an expectation behind the gift. Everlasting life and Eternal Life are glorious. Somebody who has and is operating in everlasting life is giving very high praise to God. By such a person, God is glorified on earth.
-
(John 17:3-4). Glorifying the Father is finishing the work. Jesus had used the glory resource that He was given and had lived it out, thereby doing the work of glory on earth. Thus, He was proclaiming that He had done everlasting life and had finished it. Everlasting life is a work; this first glory is a work. Everlasting life is the glory or life of the Father while Eternal Life is the glory of the only True God.
-
Suffering is more than challenges of life, otherwise, men who go through challenges would have become Christ. Men who claim to be suffering because they do not have access to earthly things are not going through real suffering. This is because they do not disengage themselves from carnal things; they instead go through their sufferings with the hope of having natural success.
-
We cannot be saved unless we are led in the way. The way is a mould for forming beings; it is a way of grace. Mercy and lovingkindness are also talking about the way. Jesus, as a merciful and faithful High Priest, is able to form and build us. Jesus is the builder of all things called God.
-
Goodness is God’s life; it is the glory of God. Another word for glory is goodness. One can have knowledge of the paths. A man of knowledge does increase strength (Prov. 24:5) but it is not enough. There is a grace embedded in the word that we have known but we still need to be taught the path. There are two things the path represents; mercy and truth which is actually grace and truth. One needs to be led in the way of knowledge to really know the truth.
-
Some Christians have knowledge but they are not gracious. God being plenteous in mercy is a reality. He is a display of glory and He is gracious. The way Jesus handled the issue of the adulterous woman was a display of grace (John 8:20). That deliverance came from an epitome of strength. Jesus delivered the woman with words that could remove stones from the hearts of men.
-
Love is not a statement; it is spirit and a path. It is the means through which we acquire the everlasting grace called the grace of life. That is why couples should not be angry at themselves for a long period. Men get bitter easily when they are not given what they desire but they must learn to forgive.
-
Satan wants to fault us from the grace of life. The grace of life is glory. God uses circumstances to build grace and capacity in us. God can increase the pressure and heat in some situations for grace to sit.