Apparently God has a secret to tell us. And it’s the best secret imaginable. If we lean in close to Him through Bible study and prayer, we’ll hear Him whispering the confidential mystery into our hearts. Be still and listen: “The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant” (Psalm 25:14). Did you catch that? The secret of the Lord is “His covenant.” That’s the thing He’s so eager to “show” us. But what is it? Does Scripture wrap language around the idea so we can grasp what it’s all about? Yes, it does.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God defines His covenant like this: “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, My faithful love promised to David” (Isaiah 55:3, NIV). So the essence of God’s “everlasting covenant” is His “faithful love.” This is the thing—the big thing—God wants you and me to know most deeply, most clearly, most intelligently. This is the secret He’s constantly whispering for any and all to hear. He is eager for us to understand His love, and something particularly special about it: specifically, that His love is “faithful”—constant, reliable, unstoppable, trustworthy.
He is filled with a quality of love for us that nothing can change or repress. But where’s the proof? How can we know God’s love is, in fact, faithful? One word: Jesus! God’s covenantal love took on flesh in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. “I will . . . give You as a covenant to the people” (Isaiah 42:6), the Father said to His Son before the incarnation. Jesus is God’s covenant personified. Paul explains how God’s faithful love played out in Christ when he said, “He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death” (Hebrews 9:15). Jesus proved that God’s love is faithful “by means of death.” By the supreme act of self-sacrifice! His death is the embodiment of God’s covenant because it demonstrates beyond any questionable doubt that God’s love is so faithful that He will stop at nothing to save us.
The mind opens or closes to God’s whisper in accordance with what we believe about Him. One more question: why is God’s faithful love called a “secret”? Certainly it’s not because He’s deliberately keeping it from us. Rather, it’s because we don’t tend to get it. The wall is in us, not in Him. God’s love is only unknown to us to the degree that we believe things about Him that block our perception. As long as we believe ill of Him our hearts can’t see what He is so eager to show us. Insightfully, Ellen White wrote: “The whole spiritual life is molded by our conception of Him, and if we cherish erroneous views of His character, our souls will sustain injury!” (Review and Herald, January 14, 1890). The mind opens or closes to God’s whisper in accordance with what we believe about Him. David indicates that only those who are in a particular posture of heart can know the secret of God’s covenantal love: it is only discernable by those who “fear Him”—that is, those who know God with reverential adoration. Those who are awestruck at the beauty of God’s character will be prepared to hear and understand His secret. Are you listening for the secret of the Lord?
At the first day of the three days Men/Women on Assignment Empowerment Conference powered by the Apostolic Prophetic Renaissance & Dimensions Fellowship ongoing at Holy Ghost Cantonment Exceeding Glory Temple, #195 NTA Road, Mgbuoba, Port Harcourt Nigeria the Chief Host and Speaker, Apostle Ezekiel Duke moved by the awesome power of God that was provoked by worship praise unto God led by the highly esteemed Amazon, lady prophetic minstrel Mama Winner Duke, the Commanding Prophet himself reviewing the series under “Anointing for Uncommon Open Doors” Season 6 spoke on the topic: “Open Doors into God’s Secrets”. Taking Scripture reading from Deut. 29:29, Ps.25:14 and Matt. 6:4, 16-18 explained thus: *When you know God’s secrets you will not walk in error. *God is not comfortable with gossips. * God respects secret request and desires. *Whatever God’s reveals to you as a secret is meant for intercession. * There are things you obtain through secret prayers, not every prayers should be publicized (Mt. 6:4, 16, 18, Job 11:6, 15:8, 29:4).
Continuing, Apostle Duke with unction of the Holy Spirit as never before said, having an access to God’s secret has no age barrier citing Isaiah 49:19, 49:16. For whatever secret that is revealed is no longer a secret (Ps. 27:5). Said he, “the kind of cloud over your head determine the type of rain that come over your life”. There are things done in secret that earn public reward. On what is secret, he said, it means to be hidden, closed, something revealed to you alone, a method, a confidential matter. Something not related or enclosed to anyone. Unfolding example of secret as pertaining the destiny of Esau and Jacob. He cited how Jacob outwits Esau to obtain the secret to get blessed by their father Isaac. Quoting Gen. 27:1-4, “1And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 2And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: 3Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; 4And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die”.
How do you access God’s secret? This is too loaded that the Prophet to all Nations, Apostle Duke defer till tomorrow, the second day of the Conference. Reason if you miss the first you must not mi8ss next day Conference meeting. Do you know the secret to open door? Have you ever wondered why people are indifferent to the gospel of Jesus Christ? Scripture says that the gospel is a mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations (Colossians 1:26-27). The Apostle Paul understood that the gospel is a mystery and confirms this in Ephesians 6:19, “and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (emphasis mine).
The American Heritage Dictionary gives one definition of “mystery” as follows: A religious truth that is incomprehensible to reason and knowable only through divine revelation. Therefore, the gospel of Jesus Christ is knowable only through divine revelation, not through reason. In Matthew 16:15-17 Simon Peter recognized that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. But Peter did not come to that realization through his own reason. God the Father revealed it to him by divine revelation. Jesus confirms this in John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
Evangelism Founded in Prayer: The result is that roughly ninety-five percent of all Christians in Nigeria have never led anyone to accept Jesus Christ as their savior. Our approach is too often man-centered and based on reason. We need God-centered evangelism. This first and foremost includes prayer. Psalm 126:5 says, “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.” If we passionately cry out to God for the lost, we shall see many come to Christ. It is well documented that every great revival or awakening has been birthed out of prayer. In 1 John 5:14-15 we find that “if we ask anything according to his will…we have the petitions that we have asked of him.”
God will give us what we ask if our prayer is according to his will. The following two scripture passages clearly tell us God’s will for the unsaved: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4). Since God is not willing that any should perish, and God answers prayers that are according to his will, we simply need to pray fervently for the lost. John 16:24 says, “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
Paul was one of the greatest evangelists of all time. He had many open doors to share the gospel: “Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27, emphasis mine). “But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great and effective door has opened to me” (1 Corinthians 16:8-9). “Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord ” (2 Corinthians 2:12-13). Many people came to know Jesus Christ through these open doors. When God opens a door, people come to Christ. Why did Paul have so many open doors for the gospel of Jesus Christ? We can trace these open doors directly to Paul’s prayer life as exemplified in Colossians 4:2-6: “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” This passage clearly shows us the importance of prayer in evangelism. Verses two and three tell us to be earnest and vigilant in prayer. If the Bible tells us to pray a certain way, then we are praying according to God’s will and we can expect God to hear and answer our prayers. This is evident in 1 John 5:14-15. Verse three tells us one of the things for which to pray: “that God would open to us a door for the word.” This is why Paul had so many open doors for the gospel. God simply answered his prayer. If you and I pray this way, we too will have open doors for sharing the gospel with unbelievers.
Prayer is the secret to an open door. Prayer is the essential ingredient in watching God open doors to share the gospel to others. Come to the October 2013 edition of Men/Women on Assignment Empowerment Conference being organized by the Apostolic Prophetic Renaissance & Dimensions Fellowship at the instance of Apostle Ezekiel Emmanuel Duke is scheduled to hold on 28 – 30 October 2013 at Holy Ghost Cantonment Exceeding Glory Temple #195 NTA Road Mgbuoba, Port Harcourt, Nigeria from 8.00am to 12noon daily tagged: “Anointing for uncommon open doors” season 6 (1 Cor. 16:9). Prepare to attend and experience unusual open doors.
Written By Dr. Lewis Akpogena
akpogena@yahoo.com
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