Visions, Revelations and Messages
In this vision, the Lord spoke to me and said, “I will use your worship, praise and thanksgivings offering to answer your prayer.”
This vision was given to me just a few days ago. The Lord had been ministering to me about increasing my worship and the time spent with Him in seeking His face. So I obeyed and I spent the whole night in praise, worship and thanksgiving to the Lord. I especially thanked, praised and worshipped Him for His great salvation and the blood of Jesus that saved me and redeemed me. I did this throughout the night but I slept a bit in between my worship and prayer. I also presented my petition to Him but most of the time was spend in worship, praise and thanksgiving as He had commanded me to do.
Towards the early hours of the morning, the Lord spoke to me and told me some things that He would do for me. He also warned me not to abuse any of the blessings that He was about to manifest in my life. I promised Him that I would not and also told Him what to do to me if I abused His grace or blessing. Then later, He showed me a vision of something like smoke or incense rising from my throat as I was thanking, praising and worshipping Him. That was when He told me that He would use my praise, worship and thanksgiving offerings to answer my prayers.
Praise, Worship and Thanksgiving
In my walk with God, He has been very consistent about letting me know that praise, worship and thanksgiving are offerings or sacrifices that I must give to Him. Sometimes He refers to them as His food. He would say to me, “give me my food.” Anytime He says that, I will just go into praise, worship and thanksgiving in obedience to His voice and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Can you now see why it is good to be constantly led by the Holy Spirit? The Bible tells us that those who are led by the Holy Spirit are the sons of God. It is simply very difficult to experience the reality of sonship and growing to the full stature of Christ without the constant leading and direction of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was on earth as the word of God, He did not have any vacuum in His knowledge of the Scriptures because He was filled with wisdom. Yet, Jesus did not walk by the Scripture alone. He also walked in and by the Holy Spirit who authored the Scriptures. Jesus knew the word and the giver, author and father of the word.
Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil and returned in the power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus heard that His friend Lazarus had died, He remained where He was for three days before going to raise Lazarus from the dead. He did that by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Jesus also knew the timing of His ministry by the power and leading of the Holy Spirit.
Without the Holy Spirit, Jesus would not have manifested the great victory that He did and He understood that so well. What baffles me most is why a lot of believers ignore the Holy Spirt and are trying to do what Jesus did not do. They are trying to have victory by the written word of God alone. It is not possible. If Jesus did not attain His great victory by the written word alone, then it is foolish for us to think that we can. Are we greater than Jesus? A spiritual student can never be grater that his teacher.
Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. Acts 18:24
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11
Jesus was filled with the written word and had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. Apollos of Alexandria had a thorough knowledge of Scriptures. The Berean Christians were filled with the knowledge of Scriptures. So, it is possible to have a thorough knowledge of Scriptures. We need to know the Scriptures and the power of God. The Holy Spirit manifests the power of God. It is a big mistake or error not to know the Holy Spirit and rely on the word alone. You need the word and you need the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. Matthew 22:29
Beware of anyone who claims to know the Holy Spirit, yet has limited, little or no knowledge of Scriptures or entertains false doctrines. The person claiming to know the Holy Spirit must have a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures because the Holy Spirit is the giver, author and father of the word of God. Jesus had to first all thoroughly teach the Apostkes and fill them with the Scritures. That was the first cleansing. The word sanctifies and the Holy Spirit sanctifies. The blood of Jesus also sanctifies.
You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. John 15:3
The word of God and truth cleansed the Apostles. Jesus cleansed them with the word then later filled them with the Holy Spirit and power. It is purity before power and sanctification before manifestation. As we walk by the leading of the Holy Spirit daily, He will wash us thoroughly with His truth and ways and enable us to fulfil our callings and destinies.
We need to know both the word of God and the Spirit of God. We cannot sacrifice one for the other. Any of the two extremes will lead to frustration and failure. Beware of any church that ignores the Holy Spirit. There was a Church I was attending when I lived in London and that Church is a Bible Church. A Church which is well known for righteousness and holiness.
That Church was all about Bible but they would conveniently ignore anything that had to do with the Holy Spirit, His gifts and His manifestations. It was not my ideal Church but it was convenient for me because they would pick me up and drop me at home. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “beware of Churches that ignore the Holy Spirit.” Immediately the Holy Spirit said that to me, I stopped attending that Church. At that point in time, I had grown so much in my walk with God and the leading of the Holy Spirit that I knew that failure to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit leads to bad consequences. I obeyed Him.
If you want answered prayers and constant victory in Christ, live by the Spirit and the word and avoid imbalance and a tendency towards single vision and focus. Learn to have multiple visions and focus about the things of God. Learn to open your heart to God for His teaching and leading and learn to obey Him when He gives you an instruction. I am still learning and I will keep learning until the day I get to Heaven. I depend on His grace to help me, keep me and sustain me.
May we learn to walk with and in the Holy Spirit. May we always be led by the Holy Spirit, May we have thorough knowledge of the Scriptures and may we examine the Scriptures like the Barean Christians to know if what our local Church is teaching us is true and in line with the Scriptures. May great grace be upon us in Jesus name and may grace, mercy and peace be ours in full measure.
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