Programme: Anamnesis Prayer Meeting (Week 2_Day 1)
Date: Monday, 13th November 2023
Transcript Summary
1. We are not just preparing for Anamnesis as a program; we are preparing for the coming of the Lord. The Lord wants to come to us, both individually and collectively. This is so that He can upgrade, change and make us a suitable dwelling place for God. "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (2 Corin. 6:16). The intention of God is to dwell and walk in us; this is why the promise of the gospel is for a people to become a habitation for God. To achieve this promise of the gospel, the Holy Ghost has been assigned to stay in babies (after the new birth) because He is the One that can tolerate them. Everything the Holy Ghost is doing is actually the product of the wisdom of the Godhead.
2. The Holy Ghost prepares us with the milk of the word so that when the next allocation (meat of the word) comes, it will be easy. The milk is what the Holy Ghost uses to build confidence in us so that we can make an absolute resolve to follow God. Apart from the teaching of casting out devils that is in the milk of the word (Mark 16:17), there is also the doctrine of repentance from dead works (Heb. 6:1). This means the milk of the word is powerful, so we should not make nonsense of it.
3. Milk causes a lot of lifestyle changes. Habits are broken by milk. A lot of things should be dealt with by milk; many infirmities can be addressed by it. Milk raises men of the Holy Ghost and of honest report (Acts 6:3). The milk of the word comes with a grace to detest worldly atmospheres. The activities of the Holy Ghost in the milk of the word prepare us for the time of the revelation of Christ. Milk prepares the heart for Christ. Inside 'milk', there is the taste of adult food so that a child easily transits into 'meat' (1 Corin. 3:2). A child who takes milk well would desire the food of adults. Someone who has taken enough milk would not reject the revelation of Christ (meat of the word).
4. Some go through milk, but milk does not go through them. There were some unstable brethren even in milk: they only profess the same thing but do not give themselves to the discipline of milk. It is the discipline in the milk of the word that enables us to yield to the revelation of Christ and His righteousness. There is a necessity for obedience to the righteousness in Christ.
5. We must do righteousness until we are made holy. The Lord is coming for holy and separated men. In the time of Christ, we can talk about faith, hope and charity and not deliberately engage in them. The profit of these things is when we engage them. We cannot inherit anything without 'doing'. We can make ourselves busy with other things and unknowingly begin to disobey the laws of coming. There is no way without doing; this is why we cannot joke about doing.
6. The apostles were not servants just because they preached the gospel. A servant is one who serves and does righteousness (2 Pet. 1:1). We cannot call ourselves servants of God if we cannot do what is being revealed. Righteousness is revealed for doing sake (Rom. 1:17). Engaging the righteousness that is in Christ is what separates and sanctifies us. If we preach it but do not do it, we will not be sanctified. The Lord is coming to sanctify the brethren in order to declare the Father’s name to them. The Father’s name is everlasting righteousness, and we cannot come into that allocation if we have not properly engaged the righteousness of Christ. It is one thing to attend school, it is another to engage with what is being taught. The revelation of Christ is meant to make us godly (2 Pet. 1:3).
7. The doing of righteousness is what makes us free from worldliness, which is also a hindrance. Worldliness will not make a person hunger for righteousness; this is because it is a satisfying rest that makes one not to seek for righteousness. We need to engage the things we hear. It is not just about hearing; we have to do them until we become godly.
8. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. [2] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom. 8:1-2). The righteousness that is in Christ is the truth that is in Christ. This is also the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Knowing Christ is knowing the truth that is in Him. We access the truth that is in Jesus by learning it. The Spirit comes to teach and guide us into the truth that is in Jesus. These truths are laws that we must encounter and interact with. Paul had already used this law to be free from sin and death. He had crossed over. He was handling the tangibility of what he heard. We can also come into this. God wants us to handle the tangibility of the revelation of the truth that is in Christ. We can use them until we can say, like Paul, that the law of the Spirit of Christ has made us free from the law of sin and death. If we want to come to that point, there are things we must be particular about. We must never be distracted from doing the things that will get us to that point. As much as Paul was preaching, he was also giving himself wholly to these things.
9. We are to yield our members to righteousness (Rom. 6:19). Everlasting life is also righteousness (at a higher level). This means if we have not mastered the righteousness of Christ, then the righteousness of God cannot be brought to us.
10. "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; [6] And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; [7] And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." (2 Pet. 1:5-7). We must give all diligence to add these things as we grow up spiritually. It is possible that the abundance of revelation makes us forget the fundamental things. Knowledge here is the knowledge of the Person of truth (Christ). Truth is what purifies and sanctifies the soul. Purification comes, not in knowing the truth, but in obeying it. We have to be temperate for us to achieve mastery (1 Cor. 9:25). A soul that has attained patience is one that has received victory. This is not a level gotten to at once; there is a need for consistent and continuous practice. We also see that it is not enough that these things are in us, they must also abound (2 Pet. 1:8). It means we can have knowledge and still be barren. It is in engaging the knowledge that fruit comes (Col. 1:9-10).
11. It is very difficult to be patient towards everyone around us, but this is what makes a man. Ordinary men do not have these things as a possession. Jesus is not coming to a mere man; He is coming to those who have used righteousness. These things come by revelation, teaching, leading, and instruction. We must pay particular attention to these things so that we will not forget them.
12. We prefer to pay attention to many other things except the actual thing. We have to pay attention to life and godliness. We pay by taking heed to those things that pertain to life and godliness – things that are the righteousness of Christ. After hearing them, we must pay attention to them. It is walking and engaging that leads to godliness. The reason we should meditate on them is so that we can have the strength to do them.
13. The things in 2 Peter are meant to work something inside us. They ought to free us from some laws and become our spontaneous expression. Currently, we are spontaneously impatient. Patience also involves waiting for the Lord. At times, we set goals and the Lord is not in it. All He often asks is for us to wait for Him but we find out that we cannot wait for God’s workings. We cannot afford to wait for His orchestration in our lives. Many times when God will tell us to wait, He could even be silent in the period of waiting.
14. God often brings His provision to us with the lesson of patience because we have to wait for Him. He works the virtue of patience in us in different ways. The reason for waiting is to expire our strength. Many of us cannot wait. After waiting for a while, we resolve to follow our own plan. It is with patience that we possess our souls (Luke 21:19). God knows how to wear people out. We have need of patience because the coming of the Lord in itself requires patience (Heb. 6:12). Therefore, they train us with a lot of things, including our needs. It is not because God is wicked, but we are forced to wait upon the Lord for our needs. Waiting for God to sort out our needs is patience. This is why we must add patience to our faith.
15. Many times, we find that we cannot wait for God to correct the things that are wrong with our brothers. When God comes to correct, He does it correctly. When we decide to preempt God in correcting our brethren, that is brotherly wickedness. The correct thing to do is to wait for God’s intervention in patience. God wants to bring out men who have been made free by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2). But to do this, we must give all diligence.
16. "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." (2 Pet. 1:10). There is an emphasis on doing in this verse. We have to pay attention to doing. This is a prayer we must increase in this season. We can be abundant in revelation but not turn it to fruitfulness. The reason for being filled with the knowledge of His will is so that we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing (Col. 1:7-10). Without walking worthy, we cannot be fruitful in every good work. The essence of the revelation is to produce a walk.
17. As revelations are coming to us, the grace to do and abound in doing will come. It is the doing that changes us. God wants to give us the declaration of the nature of the Father. A carnal man cannot receive the declaration because they are foolish to Him. Appearance is not done to a carnal man because it is spiritually discerned. It is to those who have abounded in doing. The Lord will help us and quicken our feet. He will give so much grace. Many of us do not know what we ought to do because we have not been guided into all truth. He will narrow down the things we have learned into what we will do.
18. For every season, there are instructions the Lord sits on because He wants us to perfect and master them. May we master righteousness such that it becomes our spontaneous expression. We all have spontaneous unrighteousness. It simply means we have not erased the laws of sin and death. We have to do righteousness consistently for the laws of sin and death to be erased. The reason they remain is because we have not measured enough work for them to be erased and for another law to be written in us. God wants to erase wrong laws because He wants to come with everlasting righteousness. His coming is the bringing of a higher righteousness than the one we currently have to obey and abound in.
19. Godliness, brotherly kindness, charity are things that must abound in us. God is coming to meet with men at the peak of Zion, which is charity. May God be merciful and gracious to us that our charity may abound in knowledge and judgement (Philip. 1:9). The more understanding we get, the more we are able to abound. The challenge before us is for these things to abound in us. We can weigh the current level of our souls and see what abounds. These things must first be in us by adding. We add by knowledge and by doing till it becomes part of us. May the grace for doing increase upon us, but we must first be persuaded that this is a compulsory demand.
20. If we are unkind in retaliation to another person’s unkindness, we are still guilty. We must remain kind in every situation. Brotherly kindness is so important because our brother can hinder us from the coming of the Lord. What God wants from us is that we become doers of righteousness. Anyone who does unrighteousness is unrighteous. We were ordained to walk in righteousness (Eph. 2:10). We are tools of righteousness, being fabricated and trained to do what is right. The focus is not only on doing, but much more on abounding. There is a need for us to abound.
Blessings!
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