Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Lekki Soul Centre (LSC)
Date: Wednesday, 28th September 2022
1 Peter 2:11
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul…”
The journey of laying hold on Eternal Life is a pilgrimage. We are strangers here on earth; we are not settling here. Being pilgrims and strangers, we would need a compass to enable us to navigate through the path to our destination. This compass is the word of God, the revelation of the Son and of God, which is constantly being pressed out to us.
Ephesians 2:3
“among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”
We previously had our lifestyles in the lust of the flesh. Every lifestyle has that which it fulfils. As a result, the lifestyle of the flesh will fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind —the mind that has not been written upon or sprinkled. The effect of this is to become children of wrath by nature. Nature is formed by conversations, lifestyle and practices. Practice cultures us. To be a professional of a thing means you practice it. When God looks at that nature, He sees wrath.
Ephesians 2:4
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us…”
It took the operation of the mercy of God to turn man from his ways of perdition. Without mercy, we all would have gone in the direction of the flesh, in our separate ways. After a man has been regenerated in his spirit, God through mercy begins to supply the materials needed for turning, to the soul. We do not author or finish any way; rather, we all found our various paths by what we practice. The way is already laid and man has gone out of the way (Isa. 53:6). There are many way expressions within this way that seem right to a man (Prov. 16:25). These expressions can accommodate any man. The conversations of flesh were customized for man in all ranges, including high and low-profiled flesh. All flesh is grass (1 Pet. 1:24). Flesh will give birth to the nature of wrath in man because it is a conversation.
Mercy has brought heavenly conversations to us. When we reject conversations, we reject the mercy of God. As believers, our conversation is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). This conversation is not one that flesh can access without God. It took God being rich in mercy to bring down the conversations of heaven to man (John 3:13). There is a relationship between mercy and love. Mercy is love that decided to love despite situations. It is a kind of love that is described in 1 Corinthians 13: one that has a hope. God sees children of wrath but mercy shuts the eyes of wrath and creates a picture of being lovable. Mercy visualises a future and hope that one does not know about, one that can only be painted by the Lord (Jer. 29:11).
1 Corinthians 2:9
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, Neither have entered into the heart of man, The things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”
The love of God is beyond human comprehension. God is love. He decides to love man regardless of whether he merits it or not. This is not the case for men who love with the expectations of reciprocating, and if not reciprocated, which love would wax cold. The mercy that is intertwined with love is one that gives without expecting anything in return. The love of God works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). Left to us, we do not know what is good nor are we willing to do this good. It is a transaction of mercy and love.
Ephesians 2:5-9
“even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved…) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus....”
Being dead in sins and trespasses is not just referring to being dead in our spirit, but that which is in the soul as a result of an accumulated death that has been acquired by conversation. Such a soul has moved in varying degrees of sin and then was quickened together with Christ. This is a conversation that is recorded in heaven.
Ephesians 2:10
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
God had preordained us for a walk, a walk that would bring about a work. The one who has to walk for works to be done is the soul. God cannot work in a soul that is not walking. We cannot be His workmanship if we are not walking. God reveals His word to us so we can engage in the walk needed for work to be done. There is no pilgrimage without revelation. A man who is engaging with revelation is one who is upwardly mobile. For a soul to walk, revelation has to be given (Psa. 43:3). The light and truth of God is the revelation of God and its essence is to bring a man for to engage that light.
John 12:35
“Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.”
Light has seasons. Light is knowledge of God and you are expected to walk with it. We need to engage light so that work can be done. If work is not done, darkness will come upon you. When you walk with the light, you will move further away from the region of darkness. There is a place called the region of darkness where men live (Luke 1:79). When light comes and the person does not engage the light, such a one will not walk out of darkness. The darkness also increases because it is multiplying. God is showing us mercy by giving us light so that we would not be counted among those that sit in darkness. If you sit in darkness long enough, it will turn into the shadow of death.
David prayed for God to send His light and truth (Psa. 43:3). What we have in the church today is need-oriented Christianity, which is a preoccupation of many children of God. We are so occupied with our needs that we do not see that there is work that has to be done in us. The reason for the coming of Christ is for us to have life (John 10:10). Any other reason can be begotten outside Him. If He has come for us to have life, then His coming is the shining of light. When light shines to you, there is a revelation; He has come to you. The resultant effect of this coming is life. Our heart cry should be the sending of light to us, that we walk out of darkness.
God's workshop is in Christ. God does not have any other grounds where He works. When you are in Christ Jesus, God begins a work in you. A person can be in church and not be in Christ Jesus. Such a one has to journey into Christ. This journey is not of the spirit but of the soul. The soul has to journey to come to God's workshop. Many souls run from God's workshop. What He is trying to work out in that workshop is what He has already seen in Himself concerning us.
Ephesians 2:7 shows that in ages to come, when God has finished working on a man – by pouring out all His prudence, wisdom, knowledge and craftsmanship – such a person would become a wonder to principalities and powers. He is using this present age as a preparation for the ages to come. This present age is a time of preparation and not the final age. This age is the age of Christ for us. It is in this age that Christ is preached, crucified, raised up and justified in the spirit. Everything about this age is Christ. So, Christ is a preparation. If the age of Christ is for preparation, the ages to come are ages of glory— glories in everlasting. It is in the ages to come that tears would be wiped away.
Revelation 21:4
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
The season of tears, sorrow and pain are all within the season of preparation. There is no training that is sweet— even the natural training. It is exerting. It takes you through some pain and tears sometimes. How much more things of the Spirit? In that workshop, there are pain expressions. There are sorrows and crying because you do not want to go through it (Isa. 53:3). In addition, there are former things there too. Nothing can make the former things pass away because they are established with the strength of the present. The summation of crying, death, sorrow, pains and other things is the former things. You cannot take away the present without importing something outside the present. This is the reason for the conversation that is in heaven. It seeks to erode the strength of the present. The present still has strength because, men through their souls, hold the present by conversation.
When the heavenly conversation is being brought down, the soul is not comfortable because it is holding something else it had used for a long time. There are certain conversations that have not been witnessed on the earth. Only by importing those conversations can Satan be driven from the Church. For example, it is by the conversation of Christ and the Church in a home that Satan cannot come near that home. When the man’s desire is to love his wife as Christ loves the Church and the woman’s desire is to find the strength to submit to the husband as the Church is submitted to Christ, Satan cannot come near, for there is no loophole.
Sometimes, the devil hangs around the home trying to look for loopholes, maybe by seeking to make each couple bitter against the other – it is a hellish conversation. Once his conversation is in the home, you have given him an open door to come in. If you want to drive Satan away, pray that God shows you how to love your wife the more. When the Church hits the mark of that conversation between Christ and the Church, life flows; the children in the family will have entered a lifestyle they know nothing of. God promises to remember them because of the conversation of the parents. Therefore, you not only own life, you secure life to your generation. Thus, “the seed of the righteous shall be mighty” and “the generation of the righteous is blessed.”
We must migrate from charity to unfeigned or sincere love of the brethren, like the conversation between the sons of the morning. This is what Jesus was saying when He told the disciples to love one another (John 15:12). This is the kind of love that will make us go the extra mile for our brothers and not feel it. We will sacrifice and be ready to sacrifice the more without looking for something in return. It pushes us to the point where we know we exist for brethren. Any iota of selfishness makes the love insincere. God wants this type of conversation to be brought to earth. The Bible says "Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.” (1 Pet. 2:18). We must get to the point where we can declare that “I can endure until I fully obeyed God.”
Romans 12:19
"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."
In every conversation, there is a measure of disobedience that must be erased, judged, or avenged. There is no avenging of disobedience when a conversation of obedience has not been fulfilled. Sometimes, heaven has arranged to bring conversations that will register in our relationships such that some level of disobedience in us or our brother can be avenged. But because we do not like the arrangement, we run away from it and so the disobedience remains. Disobedience remains because they are works that came because of conversations.
In this season, the conversations that are coming are “everlastic”; meaning everlasting and elastic. You will be stretched past the limit of sin and will not break. This is because disobedience and sin are everlasting in their own order, but they are held with the power of the present. To be “everlastic” is to be stretched past them till they break, but you continue. Only then can one be said to have everlasting life. Everlasting life is for one to show forth a life that will last longer in endurance. Just like the long-suffering of God is everlasting nature, we need to be able to suffer long for our brothers. This is an everlasting nature that is to be imported to us.
The heavens will come to us to take care of a brother who troubles us. They want to see if you can allow a conversation through that arrangement that will avenge a disobedience and throw down a spirit. Spirits trouble all of us on all sides because they do not want us to receive the conversation from high. They know how strong that conversation is, but we do not. Jesus said, “I beheld Satan fall as lightning” (Luke 10:18). He fell from heaven. They want us to love our spouse until spirits fall. They want us to submit to authority until a spirit is judged.
The spirit that comes to blackmail authority before us needs to fall. This is because they know that your submission is bringing them down. He comes to accuse you so that your submission might not be full. He knows the day you fulfil that obedience by imbibing the conversation fully, he would fall. It is also the same spirit that comes to lie to you about your spouse. He comes knowing that if he keeps giving you those thoughts, you will have a reason to stay in your darkness. This gives him the victory. However, you must go against it. You must go against how you feel. Be everlasting.
Hebrews 11:5
"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."
Enoch imported a powerful conversation. By faith means by a conversation. By a lifestyle, Enoch was translated. Before his translation, he had a testimony that he pleased God. He engaged a testament. He got it by revelation. Enoch was called the seventh from Adam, the completion of a generation. He knew he needed to import that conversation. There was no way he would have prophesied if there was no revelation (Jude 1:14-15). Those “ten thousand of His saints” are overcomers. He saw a company of overcomers and decided he was going to be part of it. The translation we seek is not just that of the body, there is a translation that the soul needs to partake of. There is a physical translation, but that is for a set time. Before that time, they want to translate us in our soul.
1 Peter 1:14
“As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance”
Obedience translates; disobedience also translates. In other words, it is what the soul engages in that brings translation. Translation also means transformation. Translation is to move from the old to the new. Enoch was translated so that he should not see death, meaning, he passed the limitation of death by translation (Heb. 11:5). This was a barrier that nobody had been able to pass. Enoch was the seventh generation from Adam but Adam died at a point. God used this to show the picture of what can happen to the soul of a believer.
Adam died physically and was unable to hit 1,000 years. Any soul that hits this number of years has escaped. But Satan ensured no one got there, not even Methuselah (Gen. 5:27). The reason Methuselah was able to live that long was because of his father, Enoch. Enoch had imported so much life before he was translated. He had a testimony that he walked with God and was not (Gen. 5:24). Enoch ended and the person who came out of the other side was another Enoch. He was not, because God took him. This is what translation means.
Adam also walked but he died at a point physically. Seth, Abel and other sons of Adam died as well. But Enoch was able to fetch a conversation before his translation. He had a testimony that he pleased God. That is, he walked with a testimony. Enoch was the person who was able to fully engage the testimony of the living soul that Abel’s blood was speaking. Though Abel was dead, his blood was still speaking on earth (Heb. 11:4, 12:24). His blood kept the heavens open for the conversations of a living soul to drop on men, and some of them engaged it but Satan kept on weakening men. By Genesis 6, men could no longer find that conversation because the path had been corrupted (Gen. 6:12). But Enoch found that conversation and was able to engage it.
The testimony of the living soul was powerful. God never really intended for Adam to die but rather, that he walked with the testimony of the living soul till he broke out of the influence of the present. It would have been said concerning Adam that ‘he was not’. He would have given birth to generations that ‘were not’ as well. But Enoch found that secret; it was a conversation. We do not know the power of conversations. Even when we see them, we disdain them because they make us feel cheated. They rob us of what we want to become. They rob us of our death – the death that we love. Man, in all his thinking with his brain, cannot think out of the cap of death.
Jude 1:11
“Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.”
What was prevalent in the days of Enoch was the way of Cain or the conversation of Cain. This conversation was a conversation of independence that the fallen prince wanted from God. He wanted to be on his own. He broke out of heaven and died. He knew he died. He saw Cain, the firstborn of Adam, and he taught him how to be independent (Gen. 4:7).
Genesis 6:1-2
“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.”
Sons of God are those who have found the testimony of the living soul. They were men like Adam, Seth and Enoch. The sense of their sonship was not just about them being created by God. Rather, it was a sense of work and transformation. They had engaged in a walk with God that brought them to a point where they could be called sons of God. But Cain was never called a son of God. He was the one who brought about the daughters of men. He was “of men” not “of God”. There were inventions that made those daughters fair. The sons of God then left their way and were joined to the daughters of men.
Genesis 6:3
“And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”
Daughters of men are flesh; sons of God are spirits. The union of the sons of God with the daughters of men led to a drop in the age of man. The testament of the living soul could no longer be found to walk in. But Enoch walked and was able to fulfil the obedience (testament) of a living soul. His age must have been recorded as a thousand years because he did not see death. With a 300-year walk, He was able to multiply life in his soul to the quantity of a thousand years, and he did not see death physically. His secret was conversation. He brought a conversation that dealt with death in a measure (Heb. 11:5). We are also being given a conversation for the purpose of translation.
1 Peter 1:15
“But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation…”
The conversation we are being given is a holy conversation. We cannot be holy without conversation. There are manners of conversation: husband to wife, brother to brother, master to servant, parents to children, and so on. In these conversations, we must be as holy as He who has called us is. In other words, If God had married, there is a conversation He would have in marriage. We are His bride, so He would not leave us oblivious or ignorant of how He would have done it (Eph. 5:31-32). He will keep showing us how to go and we will have to keep obeying until our obedience is completed. In marriage, we can fulfil obedience. A husband or a wife can be good, but this does not stop Satan from heating up the marriage if allowed. He does this so that there will be several complaints, which will hinder the husband or wife from recording conversations of holiness.
1 Peter 1:16
“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
God will not tell us to do what He does not do. The conversation is, first of all, His. He is telling us how to live so that we can escape the enemy. We should not neglect conversation. As much as we pray, we should not neglect obedience. Prayer without obedience will not bring forth any result. Even in prayers, we should acknowledge our weakness and pray for strength to obey.
If the conversation of everlasting life we are being asked to take is in heaven (Phil. 3:20), then there is a commensurate conversation of death from hell. Death has enlarged its mouth because hell enlarges itself by conversation (Isa. 5:14). Adam did not allow the conversation of hell. He died in his spirit but he never embarked on the conversation of death in his soul. He lacked the strength to finish the conversation of the living soul, but he did not allow the conversation of death to prosper. He quarantined it in his spirit.
It is our souls that give room for the enlargement of hell because our souls are elastic and can take hell. If it is possible for the soul to gain the whole world (Matt. 16:26), then it is also possible for the soul to gain hell. Hell is enlarged because souls have gained the capacity of hell. As the soul is obeying hell, hell gains ground in the soul and on the earth. That is why the world is becoming hellish and has set the earth on fire by one means – the tongue. Hell enlarges itself from the tongue. The tongue is connected to our soul. It gives vent to hell. The tongue itself is a world – a world of iniquity (Jas. 3:6). It can give vent to iniquity; laws of death that will break down the body. When hell is enlarging, it will not stop at its work in the soul, it will also get to the body. And if conversations of hell can get to our bodies, then the conversations of everlasting life also can. This means that our bodies can partake of the powers of the age to come (Eph. 2:7).
1 Peter 3:10
“For He that will love life, And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips that they speak no guile…”
For one to love life, such must first love the conversation of life.
A soul can be here and gather age, such that the body also responds to that age. That was what happened to the sons of God that imbibed the conversation of the living soul. Enoch was translated physically, but before that, something happened to his soul. His body just responded to what had happened to his soul. His soul lived. If the Old Testament could fetch them that, then the New Testament can do much more because it has better promises within it (Heb. 8:6). Bodies are about to touch life everlasting. Though that is not the primary thing we are focusing on, we are going to have witnesses. The Lord will not leave us without witnesses. We will see men with translated bodies even though they are still here. Enoch is a witness to us. Enoch witnessed the Abelic Testament, which is the testament of the living soul. But we will witness the New Testament, that is, the testament of everlasting life.
Ephesians 6:1-3
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”
A conversation between parent and child can make the days of the child long here on earth and in his body. Conversely, we can imbibe some conversations that can quickly break the body down, even though we are born again. Conversations are strong and are not to be joked with. If a conversation can fashion our bodies in disobedience, then, in obeying, our bodies can also be fashioned (1 Pet. 1:14). Our souls will be fashioned first, and then our bodies will follow. We are walking on the right path. We just need to keep on obeying. He that began this good work is able to finish it. He will finish and perfect it in our lives (Phil. 1:6).
Blessings!
Summary
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Every lifestyle has that which it fulfils. As a result, the lifestyle of the flesh will fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind, the mind that has not been written upon or sprinkled. The effect of this is to become children of wrath by nature. Nature is formed by conversations, lifestyle and practices.
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Mercy has brought heavenly conversations to us. When we reject conversations, we reject the mercy of God. As believers, our conversation is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). This conversation is not one that flesh can access without God.
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God sees children of wrath but mercy shuts the eyes of wrath and creates a picture of being lovable. Mercy visualises a future and hope that one does not know about, ; one that can only be painted by the Lord (Jer. 29:11).
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God had preordained us for a walk, a walk that would bring about a work. The one who has to walk for works to be done is the soul. God cannot work in a soul that is not walking. God reveals His word to us so we can engage in the walk needed for work to be done.
-
God's workshop is in Christ. God does not have any other grounds where He works. When you are in Christ Jesus, God begins a work in you. Ephesians 2:7 shows that in ages to come, when God has finished working on a man – by pouring out all His prudence, wisdom, knowledge and craftsmanship – such a person would become a wonder to principalities and powers.
-
You cannot take away the present without importing something outside the present. This is the reason for the conversation that is in heaven. It seeks to erode the strength of the present. The present still has strength because, men through their souls, hold the present by conversation.
-
(Romans 12:19) In every conversation, there is a measure of disobedience that must be erased, judged, or avenged. There is no avenging of disobedience when a conversation of obedience has not been fulfilled. Disobedience remains because they are works that came because of conversations.
-
(1 Peter 1:14) Obedience translates; disobedience also translates. In other words, it is what the soul engages in that brings translation. Enoch was translated so that he should not see death, that is, he passed the limitation of death by translation (Heb. 11:5). God used this to show the picture of what can happen to the soul of a believer.
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We do not know the power of conversations. Even when we see them, we disdain them because they make us feel cheated. They rob us of what we want to become. They rob us of our death – the death that we love.
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(1 Peter 1:16) God will not tell us to do what He does not do. The conversation is, first of all, His. He is telling us how to live so that we can escape the enemy. We should not neglect conversation.
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If it is possible for the soul to gain the whole world (Matt. 16:26), then it is also possible for the soul to gain hell. And if conversations of hell can get to our bodies, then the conversations of everlasting life also can. This means that our bodies can partake of the powers of the age to come (Eph. 2:7).
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A soul can be here and gather age, such that the body also responds to that age. That was what happened to the sons of God that imbibed the conversation of the living soul. If the Old Testament could fetch them that, then the New Testament can do much more, because it has better promises within it (Heb. 8:6). Though that is not the primary thing we are focusing on, we are going to have witnesses.