Stephanie Ike Okafor - Spiritual Maturity It's Time to Grow Up

Christians still get sick, but the Bible says by His stripes we are healed. So if I'm healed by His stripes, why am I getting sick? Because in the sickness I can command a word. In the sickness, I have an authority in God to speak against it. But we're going to get into the word of God. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you because your presence is in the room. We cast off shame over your people right now. Every lie of the enemy, every intimidation of the enemy. There is even what will cause people to feel as though they cannot move in the house. We break it off your people right now in the name of Jesus. And we ask for you to do only that which you can do to glorify Jesus in this place. In Jesus's mighty name, we pray. Amen. Amen, you may be seated. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you Lord. Have you away. God. You see I'm gonna be I know we've been here for some time, but just trust what the Lord is doing. I'm going to be speaking from a message that the Lord had given me to share in this house. And this message, if you're taking notes, you can just title it It's time to grow up. I love the theme of reawakening because even when I looked up that theme, the meaning of reawakening it refers to the process of becoming aware or conscious of something again after a period of dormancy, inactivity, or forgetfulness. The word that stood out to me is to become conscious again. You see, we are in a time where where many of us, even as I was addressed in terror card readings, do you know how the enemy can deceive you in such a manner that as a believer you will go to a terror card reading that as a believer, you will go to a psychic Because we are so driven by our desires when we get into the House of God, we want to hear messages that tell us you can do it. But you know where they do that as well. Ted talks a good movie would inspire you. But the House of God is to build you into His likeness and his image. But we get so consumed by messages that are so self focused that when something does not happen for us, we begin to question God, are you even real? We begin to question God, do you even exist? And in the opening of that emotional vulnerable the enemy can bring forth many lives and you begin to agree with it. I have seen where many Christians will go to mediums while they miss a loved one who passed and they're trying to just get a word from the person. Not realize it. These are demonic spirits pretending to be your loved one. And what the enemy is actually after is access. What he's looking for is legality. Because you see, Jesus loves you. That is that is not a I mean, that is just a fact of the matter. He died for you on the cross. That is a fact. But yet as Christians, we still deal with things that we need to intercede for and we need him to step in. But you see an area where it's not as though you know, God is all powerful and God cannot step into every situation. But an area where you the hands of God becomes tied is when you have given Satan legal grounds. Because something I've learned about Satan, he has not crossed any boundary. When angels cross the boundary, they're chained up in hell. You can read about it in the Bible. When the angels of God began to sleep with the daughters of men and God says no, no, no, this is not what I called you to do. Those angels, we would read in the scriptures that literally their judgment came upon them and they are bound in hell. Yet Satan is still walking free. The babe not only walking free, he is roaming the earth looking for who he will devour. Why does he have so much freedom? But then because the same Bible will say that it is not the will of God for any man to perish. But then it also says Satan is looking for who he can devour. Why because if you give him legal rights, just because you say you're a Christian does not stop his access. You see, there are some things that we deal with in the next generation that we had no clue that it came from our parents or grandparents. Why is that because you see, when the enemy gets access, he doesn't always show his cards. There's a gestation period to what he wants to do, and sometimes that gestation period is in the life of your the next generation. This is why, even when you come into the Lord, you begin to separate yourself even from blood lines. That Lord, if there is anything in my bloodline that I have no knowledge of, I am under the blood of Jesus. And the issue that we are seeing in our generation today is that many people are giving their lives not to Jesus Christ of the Bible, but to what Jesus that is presented by a church that may not even know the Lord. That is why the Bible was saying that they testify of Me with their words, but they deny me by their actions. Why is this important? Now? I love this house, but many of you came here and you are not connected to this house, and you might be connected to a church that just believes that hey, just come to the Lord and just do life as however you want to do it. Why is it that many people today are walking away from the faith because they never met Jesus of the Bible. They made a Jesus that was preached, but that he doesn't even know that person. Because it did not require from your holiness, It did not require from you to consecrate yourself. It did not require for you to have a personal intimate relationship with him where he can bring conviction to your soul. All it required was for you to tell him what you want and believe he will do it by never meeting him. So today, just recently, I saw a gospel singer who said he is no longer a Christian, he no longer believes in the Bible. Yet he was singing songs about Jesus. But we are talking about the times that we're in right now. We have to see God properly. When we talk about reawakening, it is about your consciousness being conscious again of a thing. And it's so beautiful because what the Lord began to show me is spiritual consciousness. Because many of us are living in this realm of physical consciousness, self consciousness, all the things we desire for ourselves, self love, self defense. It's a good thing you need from Karoti, right, But it's all focused on us. That sometimes, even when we worship God, we're not really worshiping him. We're talking about what we want Him to do for us, and we're losing sight of a spiritual world. You see, what is so interesting about the world that we're living in is that the physical realm is like a mirror. The spiritual realm is really where everything is happening, and the physical realm is only reflecting what is already agreed upon in the spiritual realm. That is why even when Elijah would receive a word from God that it would rain. What does he do? He goes to pray because he recognizes that in order for this world to come forth, even though it came from God, there needs to be agreed the because your agreement is what opens heaven to say, now as it is in heaven, let it be on earth. If he just shut up his mouth and was just doing things casually, then it has not changed there yet. Because Lord, the Lord is always looking for someone who would be in agreement, in an alignment with his plan that he will partner with. Why, because your flesh gives you legal access and rights to operate on this dimension. The fact that you have flesh when you die, it's not that you're dead. That's why the Lord calls it sleep. He calls it sleep because you're only losing consciousness of this realm. But your flesh gives you a legal right on the earth to function. But the same thing we talked about with the enemy, the enemy is always looking for legalities in your life. He's always looking for where would you give him access? Would you give him an opening. People will tell you how they watched the movie and next thing, weird things started happening in their lives. Why because they were watching that movie without the consciousness of the spirit realm. They just thought they were being entertained. So even when the Holy Spirit begins to prompt on you turn it off. You're like, no, but this is funny. Oh no, but I want to know how it ends. But you don't understand that these are portals. So we need to get back to coming from a place where we are spiritually conscious of our environment. Because when you're spiritually conscious, this is what awakens your spiritual senses. You see, I have a daughter, and I remember when we would go to like you know, do all the scans and everything and look at her in the womb, and you see that the baby is fully formed in the womb, nose, eyes, ears, everything. But it's so interesting because they have a nose in the womb, but yet they're not using their nose to breathe. In the womb, they're receiving oxygen from through the placenta and the umbilical cord. They're not breathing oxygen through their nose. But the moment they're born and they become aware of their physical environment, they need to breathe. Kicks in. So there is an organ that they have that is fully formed. But until there is a physical consciousness, they cannot activate that organ. So until she is conscious of her physical environment, now she needs to take in oxygen through what the Lord always ordained for it to be. In the same manner, you have spiritual senses hearing from the Lord. There is not always a gift. It is just an activation of your senses. Seeing things in the spirit room is not always about the gift. The first the first field that it operates on is your natural is your not not sorry, not natural? Is your spiritual senses being awakened. And your spiritual senses are only awakened when you have a spiritual consciousness of life. When you step into a place, you don't get easily. That's why the Bible says that you know we are we should be temperate in all things. You don't get easily excited or easily just you know, your desires take over because you lose discernment when there's something God wants to speak to you in a room, but you're too excited about the people you're seeing in the room, not realizing there is some spiritual activity taking place, spiritual consciousness. It's time for us to grow up as believers. We cannot stay in the place where we're only looking for what speaks to our flesh. You see, I was in a certain country and I was called to men in that place, in a church in this country. And then before I go anywhere, I always ask the Lord, are you sending me? Because I'm not just I'm not trying to be a professional preacher. I want to be sent by you. And so the Lord shows me, no, I'm sending you there. There are things I want you to see. But as I was arriving in this country, he says, my daughter, not everything is as it seems. And I couldn't understand that, say, not everything is as it seems. I get to the church. They love Jesus, they're praising, they're worshiping everybody. You know, it's a beautiful church. They study the Bible. It's a Bible based church. But yet the word of God was still ringing in my ear. Not everything is as it seems. And I remember I had to minister for several days. The first day I ministered, I could feel the Holy Spirit being greed and there were things that the Holy Spirit would I knew what God wanted to do, but I wasn't allowed to do it in the room, and I was so confused. I'm like, God, you're showing me what to do, but yet you're not. You're restricting me from doing it, or you'll showing me what you desire to be done in the room, but there is a restriction. And it reminded me about Jesus when he would go to his hometown and the Bible says he could not heal many because of their own belief. But I am so confused because if you see, the people there are on fire for God. But yet the Holy Spirit is grieved. And so there was something I could not put my finger on, and I'm like, God, what is happening in this church? What is it? And I begin to pray, Lord, you have to show me cause a conversation to happen something the appearance is beautiful, but something in the water is not. D So another day and by you that the first day, I mean the spirit of the Lord broke out in such a powerful way. Yet I was grieved. The next day there was a conversation that was had and come to find out the leadership because you see, sometimes just because there is false of a thing should not make you lose sight on the purity and the truth, the true version of it. Just because they are false prophets does not mean that they are not true prophets. Just because there's false prophetic movement does not mean that God does not move through prophetics, that you move through prophetic houses. But this was a church I didn't know it that didn't believe in the prophetic. And not only that, I come to find out they're not really a praying church. And I said, whoa, Because how do you have a church this big and you're not a church of prayer? So what is drawing the people? What spirit is behind the people being drawn? So there are things that I began to ponder. I'm like, God, what is happening? And the Lord began to open my eyes to show me many activities that were happening in this church. And then again another day comes and they begin to tell me how. I don't want to go too much in detail, but basically they confirmed what the Lord was saying. Then another day I said, God, you need to make this plain to me. And I'm laying down and I have an encounter with the principality that reigns over that church, and when I tell you, this is a principality that was literally standing at door waiting for blood. And I said, wait, So at first I thought I was seeing something to prayer. I guess I woke up. I started rebuking, started praying and shouting, and the Lord says, just just be quiet. This is not that type of show. Since I'm going to show you something. He says, this is what is reigning over this church because they don't step in. They just they preach the world, which is great, but they're not seeking prophetic direction. They're not seeking prophetic inside. Everything they do is out of their own creativity. And because of that, witches have come amongst them. There were witches in the staff. I saw them. But they have legal rights to be there because from the leadership. Nobody was speaking against it. And the Lord says, no, they have legality here. And I was like, wait, what is happening? I wake up. First of all, we're in a very high floor in the hotel. A fly shows up out of nowhere. Now, I grew up in Nigeria, so I'm very familiar with flies and mosquitoes, the difference between a fly and a mosquito. And let me just focus on a fly. They don't carry, they don't have blood like red blood. A fly has a yellowish substance. When you kill it, what you see is this yellowish substance. After this encounter, when the Lord opens my eye to see this principality, I wake up and there is a fly in the road. There is no way possible for that flight to show up. But if you're not spiritually conscious, if you're not living in a realm where you understand that this is first spiritual before natural, you will see the fly and just desire to kill it and just be gone about your day, or you know what, the fly is not bothering me whatever. When I saw that fly said no, this is not an ordinary fly. Something sent you here. So we were about to step out, so we said, you know what. At first we're like, you know what, let's open the window. Fly be gone before it's war. Just find your exit fly. When you open the window and you turn off all the lights, naturally, the fly will gravitate to the window because the lights are outside. We come back, guess who's in there? Miss the fly? Then we said all right, and then I prayed, I said, fly, I commandin you show up and die. Then my husband lays hand on my daughter and he says, anything that has touched you that is not of the Lord, I cut it off. I walked to the bathroom. The fly, a fly, first of all, has wings. The fly is on the floor by itself and it could not move. And I told my husband. I said, oh, I am about to kill this fly right here. Normally, even when something is coming, it should do a little dance. Something arrested the fly. And when I killed the fly, there was blood. Now again I'm Nigerian, so we know the difference between flies and mosquitoes. This was a fly. Mosquitoes you could see blood because they suck your blood. Okay, when I saw blood, I said, no, whatever sent you, whatever you transformed into, I cut off your spirit from your body and let this be a warning. A few weeks later, someone sends me a video. It's an ex witch who was talking about when they want to monitor a person who has stepped into their territory to cause havoc. You know what, They sent flies or ants as a monitoring spirit. Why am I sharing this with you? This is a spiritual world first, and if you are not operating from a spiritual consciousness. You allow life to happen to you rather than you being the one who declares and decrease as Heaven speaks. Your relationship with God is beyond what you need in your day to day life. It's beyond you needing a man. It's beyond you needing a promotion. You need a relationship with God for you to be a king on this earth. The Bible says He has made us kings and priests. Kings have authority, they have a domain. There is a territory that's allocated for them to reign in. Do you know the territory God has put you over? Is it your family? Is it your workplace? Is it an industry? Are you a watchman over those areas? Or do you just allow life to happen? And then you know what we do as Christians. We just make up stuff to make it feel like you know what God is just. God was all in it. No some things. God had no parts. It was our ignorance that gave it access. That's what the Bible says. My people perish for lack of knowledge, not the world. My people are perishing. So something will happen to us. And we say, you know what, God God was what is the what is the famous saying? You know, if it's if it's mine or something. If it's for me, it's for me. If it's for you, the Bible says that you take it by force. There's so many things hanging over your life right now because you're not stepping into a place of spiritual consciousness. You're like, whoa, that's the one. What will be will be? This is a story for movies, not your personal life. It's time for us to grow up. You see. You cannot look at things like casting out demons as weird. It's the mandate of your Christianity. Jesus actually said it. Not even sometimes you want to argue and say, well, that was the disciple or an apostle who said it. No, this came from Jesus's mouth. Part of your mandate is to cast out demons. Why because you cannot have authority in a territory until you confront what has been reigning in that territory. You see, sometimes when you came to the Lord, it did not mean that all your problems in your family went away, but you stepped into an authority to now confront whatever has been plague in your family. Whenever you see patterns in a family, there is something engineering that pattern patterns are not coincidence. When something happened to your mother, your grandmother, your great grandmother, or your father, your grandfather, your great grandfather, there is a demonic engineering and it wants to find the expression through your life. He's looking for legal grounds through your life. But when you come to know Jesus there is a spiritual authority. You have to confront it. But if you don't have a spiritual consciousness of life, you will never do so. You will just say, I am the righteousness of Christ Jesus. But what have you done with that righteousness? Christians still gets sick. But the Bible says by his stripes we are healed. So if I'm healed by His stripes, why am I getting sick? Because in the sickness I can command a word. In the sickness, I have an authority in God to speak against it. What do you come down from? We're gonna pray about this after Okay, just said, okay, there are two things I'm looking for. What in your sickness you command a word? You see, there's a deception in the age to make you feel as though just by being a believer means all things just you know, everything is golden. No, there's an authority you have so you can confront what the enemy has formed. There are things you need to confront in your bloodline. There are things you need to confront in your workplace. When you step into a new territory, When you buy a new property, you just don't move into the property. What happened on the grounds? You said? There are things we don't pay attention to. There are things we experience in life and we're wondering, why is this happening to me? Not knowing I took ownership of some and not realizing it wasn't just what I signed on paper that I took ownership of. You buy a new house and you sign the document and now you're the owner of the land. But spiritually, what did you also take possession of? A spiritual consciousness causes us to exercise our spiritual senses that when you step into a new land, you begin to scan it in the spirit. You begin to ask the Holy Spirit, show me what is happening here. There's things that before you take ownership of, you begin to pray with intentionality so that you can stand with the authority that Jesus has given you to speak against anything that is not of Him before you walk in it spiritual consciousness. You see, this is what the Bible says in Hebrews five, from verse twelve to thirteen. It says, for though by this time you ought to be teachers, by this time there is a season in your life that requires maturity. And in the times that we are living in, it is by this time because the world as we know it is going to change very soon. You see, we're experiencing g glitches all around from your banks to the plains, and we're not even really scanning in the spirit God, what is this referring to. We're coming to times that the world as you know is not going to look the same, And so by this time there is a maturity required from your life. So it says, by this time you ought to be teachers. By now there is an understanding of the world of God that will cause you to be raising disciples that you can actually not only read the Word for yourself, you can teach it in your family. You can teach it to your colleague, you can teach it to your friends. That people should know you and have an encounter with God, because by this time you ought to be disciples. You see, the disciples of Jesus only had three years with him. How long have you been a Christian? It is sovereign because it awakens us to the fact, have I been walking with Jesus or my idea of him? It took them three years to be used to literally expand the kingdom all around the world. Many of us have been walking with the Lord for ten, fifteen, twenty years, and a little thing happens. We started to question our salvation. By this time you ought to be teachers. You need shea sis for though by this time you ought to be teachers. You need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. And you have come to need milk and not solid food. You see, needing milk is not a bad thing, but it's not good when it is time to transition. Even children, even babies, they will tell you, hey, you know what I know for the man in here. You have a mother, you have a sister, So this word ship not frighten you. I breasted my baby right and ideally they're like, stop at twelve months, But then twelve months you can still get away with it. But then there are some doctors. There's a certain age there. They're like, hey, look, by this time, they should not be having any milk that comes from you. They need to eat only solid food. Having milk is not bad, but in its season, there is a season where you need solid food. So it says again you need to the first principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. And it says for everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the world of righteousness, for he is a babe. You know something, with babies, they sleep a lot, not just in the physical, but when the Bible is spiritually calling you a babe, you are asleep to the spiritual realm. Because when you're a babe in Christ, this is no knock. We all started off as babes. When you're a babe in Christ, what you need is the love of the Father. You need to understand that Jesus loves you. When I first encountered the Lord, I didn't even act acknowledge him as savior. I only called him Dad because I needed a father, not a savior. I had many questions about him being the Savior. I thought that God was a little bit. I didn't have the language for it like they do now. But I thought he was narcissistic, say you just do things randomly. But what I needed was love. I needed to know that God loves me, God sees me. God is for me. A babe needs love. They don't need deep things of the world. They need love. They need to rest in His love. But as they're resting their asleep, they're asleep to the spiritual realm. So by this time when you ought to be mature, you are still asleep. By the time that you ought to be awake to your environment, you're still asleep. It says, but solid food belongs to those who are a full age, that is, those who, by the reason of youth, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. I love that when it says the reason of use, because what is that speaking to is the applicability of what you know. By this time, you should have been studying the Word in your personal life, not for what you can get from God, but to know him. And when you have a revelation of Him, you begin to apply that revelation in your life. You see, there are certain circumstances that you encounter because the Bible literally says when tribulation comes on account of the world. There's some tribulations and trials that you experience in life, not because you did something wrong, but there is a revelation of God you stepped into. And what matures you is your application of the word. So there are times that you experience a sickness, not because the sickness is supposed to take you out, but because you're supposed to exercise the word of God, because it's in you applying what you know that you're mature, because then when you encounter it and someone else, you can apply what worked for you. You see, there are some things we find ourselves experiencing over and over again because we went in as a babe and the experience was supposed to produce a mature version of us, but we came out as a babe because through the whole experience all we did was complain and fuss. We never took authority. We know how to tell other people to take authority, but when it came to our situation, all we did was complain. All we did was tell God we want to quit all we did was just you know, just moan about it, not realizing that there was a revelation of God you stepped into before you encountered that. And the encounter is to bring you into a place maturity because you applied what you know about God. And it's when you apply the world that now you have a testimony, and that testimony God begins to use in the lives of other people. I don't know what you may be experiencing right now, but you need to see it properly. What revelation did you have of God or desire of God before it happened. You See, I'm someone that is so intrigued by healing and then I experienced something that I said, God, come on now, not me. We have those moments where we feel like God, I'm so faithful, why would I go through this? Because you're faithful? You see, God wants to trust you with burdens. God wants to trust you with issues so that you can be an expression to the world around you how we handle it. When the world encounters what you encounter, you should not look like them. So there are things you begin to experience because how else would God reveal his glory if you express it the same way the world does. How else would he reveal that he is all powerful. He trusts you with those pains. He trusts you with certain circumstances because of how you would respond, Because when he gave it to you, he understood the weight you carry. He says, Oh, this is one who is marked by the blood. They have authority over it, so I can give it to them. But it is for you to see it as what you have authority over. And when you begin to exercise that authority, maturity takes place. You See, there is something where the Bible talks about how we have all received an unction from the Holy Spirit. Some translations will call it an anointing. But I love the word unction because it's when the Holy Spirit is teaching you about the anointing. See, there are times that you are praying and your hand gets hot because he's teaching you about the healing anointing. There are times that you're praying and it's almost like your whole body feels on fire. The Lord wants to invite you to go deeper. There are times that you're praying and you begin to feel wind. It's not for you to stop and say, oh, hallelujah, God, you're here, amen. No, there is an invitation to go in a little further. There is the outer court, study, the Tabernacle, the Inner Court, and the Holy of Holies. And sometimes when we start praying, we're in the outer court and the Lord says, no, you need to draw in. There's something you are seeking me. But now I'm calling you in. He's teaching you how the anointing works. There are times that you will be in a crowd full of people and all of a sudden, your hand begins to fill on fire. There is someone he wants you to pray for with heli spiritual consciousness. Then there is the promptings of the Holy Spirit. You see as a believer. There's someone in the Bible called Nicodemus. Nicodemus comes and he's wondering, how can I be saved? And Jesus says, unless a man be born again, than he will see the Kingdom of heaven. But the Lord uses such an interesting language. He will perceive it that when you being born again is connected to something being spiritually awakened. So when you gave your life to Jesus, all of a sudden, their promptings of the Holy Spirit. The problem is that we silence it because it's not something we want to do. It's not comfortable. There are promptings where the Lord will tell you, hey, calling you to a fast, but you just thought about that poof that dinner plan, you have that birthday around the corner, and you're like, God, really, really you are in a fast. Thanksgiving is next week. Really you are in a fast. But you don't realize that your obedience to the Holy Spirit is what gives him governance over you. It's what gives him authority over you. And until the Holy Spirit has authority over you, you're not fully his. So yes, in your spirit, you're say, But in your flesh are you surrendered? And there are things that the Lord cannot release to you until you release yourself fully to him. So their promptings of the Holy Spirit, and what we don't realize is that when we silence his voice, this is what causes a spiritual famine in our lives. And then when you need it for something, you start searching it out and it feels like God is not speaking to you, and then you complain, But why don't you instead of asking God to speak to you about the matter you desire, why don't you just seek him for his leading. Lord, open my eyes, open my ears, make me sensitive to your presence. Once again, there is a reawakening for us to get back to the place of spiritual consciousness over self consciousness. You see, when the Holy Spirit wants to start doing business with you, when he wants to partner with you for real, when he wants you to start moving and revealing His nature and his power. Their promptings he gives you. It's not promptings that you will open Genesis five and six to find. It goes beyond just the obedience to the way of God, the principles of God. No, he goes after specific things. He tells you, Hey, at three thirty three, am I want you to meet me in prayer? What is he looking for to have to be have authority over you, because that is the place of your safety. But then you're like, but God, I still pray that twelve. That's not what he asked. He said three thirty three. It's your obedience to the world. It's your obedience to that prompting that opens you up even more. He begins to show you things to come. He can trust you with the weight of his words. You're someone who you're like, you know what, the Lord just tells you, Hey, for one year, I don't want you to eat me. It has nothing to do with veganism being the way, has nothing about that. You see, the problem is that we have a personal word and we try to make the theology. No, it's for you. It is specific to you because the Lord knows your appetite and he knows the area that the enemy can say, well, if I just need to shift or to the left or to the right, I know where to hit. So then he's trying to get you to come under his government. So there are things he's after. Sometimes it doesn't even sound that holy. The Lord will tell you, hey, I want you to start working out. It doesn't even sound like wow. This is what is he after his government over you. Because the Lord knows that you just don't want to work out. You know how to pray heaven down, but you are unhealthy. And the Lord is like, no, I want you to prosper in all things, in your soul, in your spirit, in your body. So he will give you a unique instruction. Why he doesn't want the flesh to reign over your life. He wants to have government over you. And when we begin to listen to these promptents, we are more surrendered and more available for God to minister to us. This is what this is by the reason of use. Lord, I hear you, I obey and apply what you said to me. I apply your word over my life, your written word and your spoken word. The promptings that you give me. How I respond to trials and tribulations reveals if I'm a babe or if I'm mature. But in this season, you have to grow up. I'm speaking to myself as well. This is a season for maturity, and what is marked. One of the things that marks your maturity as a believer is your ability to discern good and evil. I want to read a scripture. We're gonna pray very soon, and everybody can go take a nap. But let's jump to Ads sixteen, verse sixteen to eighteen. This is about the Apostle Paul. When the Apostle Paul and he was with Silas and they go to a certain place for ministry, and it says, now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl, this girl was already bound, but on top of her being bound as a slave girl. She's bound spiritually possessed with a spirit of divination, met us who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and Us and cried out, saying, look at what the girl with the spirit of diffist nation is saying. These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaimed to us the way of salvation. This spirit is not trying to be saved. And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her and he and he came out that very hour. You see. First of all, I want you to pay attention to this because this is when we talk about discernment, and discernment can only come from the Holy Spirit. But it comes from the Holy Spirit when you begin to exercise your spiritual senses, when you pay attention to the unction of the of the anointing, when you pay attention to the prompts of the Holy Spirit. Discernment doesn't come just because you desire it. It comes because your life is set apart to God. So there is a knowing youth begin to step into. And I am telling you for the times to come, you are going to need discernment. Even look at the elections coming up. There is so much war between the candidates. But then we forget that in the eyes of God, he doesn't always raise up someone who is most righteous. There are times that he raises up a leader for judgments. So the question is not who is most righteous, because the reality is that you cannot vote the totality of your faith. Something in someone's belief is going to come against it. Now, God, what are you after? Because there are times that you raise people up for a purpose that is good for the people. There are times you raise people up for judgments. And even in judgment is the love of God, because it's only when the name can be judged they come to repentance. But we find ourselves in foolish arguments. Spiritual consciousness, you have to look at things and say, God, show me God, I don't want to be caught up in the noise. This is a season where there's gonna be so much noise and there's gonna be lying spirits going forth, where what you're gonna have two ministers you listen to, they will be against each other. Then it's like who is real who's false? But your discernment cannot come from them, It has to come from the Holy Spirit. Look at this girl. She is following the apostles. What she's declaring is not a curse. She is saying, these are men of God who have come to show us the way of salvation. And she did it for many days. I love about this is that she did this for many days. But Paul was not quick to react. He was not quick to agree or disagree. There was a silence he had in his spirit because he was searching it out. Who sent you? Who are you? You see, we're in a time where on YouTube everybody is a prophet and there is a sickness in the body where we crave to see people fall. So the moment somebody says I had a dream and they tell you this pastor this prophet, this person, and I saw God judging them, You're like, oh, when is it gonna happen? When is it gonna happen? You don't understand that you're what you're hearing. You think that you're just hearing about somebody being judged. What the enemy is after is your love, because right now I've seen so many Christians having a desire to see people perish. That is not even the heart of God. So now you're addicted to hearing prophecies about people falling. It doesn't look evil, but you don't realize that the enemy is after the contamination of your heart. Because in our kingdom, in the Kingdom of Heaven, God looks at the heart. He doesn't look at the older. He looks at the heart. The Bible says, guard your heart with all diligence, for all of it flows the issues of life. That what issues mean, boundaries. The purity of your heart determines what God can allocate to you. But yet everybody is a prophet. Be careful who you endorse, be careful who you share with people. Search it in the spirit. Who is this voice? This lady is falling in Paul, and he says nothing. For many days he doesn't respond because sometimes the sermon is not immediate. The Bible says, it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to search it out. Could it be as this girl was following Paul. Paul is searching out the matter, And Paul realizes this is not even the girl who is speaking. This is a spirit who is speaking. Then you have to ask yourself, why would the spirit be saying what Paul should naturally agree with. What was it true agenda? Could it be that the spirit was seeking validation from Paul in public, so that not only would it deceive the people who are far from God, but it can also draw the people who are close to God. That there would be a testimony that did you hear that? The apostle Paul turned to that girl and said, you are right, and it got what it wanted. The apostle Paul validated our minister. The apostle Paul turned at this girl and he affirmed and was in agreements with something she said. Then surely her fortune telling must be from God. So when Paul casted out the spirit, it wasn't just about the girl being free. It was judgment to the spirit. You see, Paul never had a conversation with the girl. The Bible says Paul was this is in verse eighteen. But he was greatly annoyed and turned did not say to the girl, said to the spirit. What annoyed him the revelation of what was happening. Oh, so this is why you're following. Oh, because the truth is a spirit of divination is under the already of Satan. Satan is not looking for salvation. So although what the spirit was saying was factual, it was alive because he says, oh, he has come to show us the way of salvation. You're not included in that because it was not the girl speaking. It was the spirit speaking. But on the surface you will not see it. On the surface, somebody is saying what Paul and Silace have come to do, and then we so easily agree, like, oh, yeah, that's right. Oh you are in the spirit? Which spirit? You don't know the agenda? How does this look like in our lives? Be have a God over your heart, have a guard over your intimacy. People will come and hype you up. You don't you see the problem we have is we don't see ourselves the way God sees us. You step into a territory and knows your name more than you may know your own name, because there is a purity in your life that God could so easily work through. Be careful when strangers just all of a sudden want to be your best friends. Who sends you? Be careful when all of a sudden there's something you're working on and someone is so adamant to be a part of it. I'm not saying that God cannot send your people, because when God wants to change your life, he sends a person. But when the enemy wants to contaminate your life, he sends a person. So what I'm saying spiritual consciousness, have an awareness and the spirit. Don't get too excited, don't get you know, too depressed, be tempered, have a balance in your emotions so you can see truth. Be so moved and people hype you up. Something I prayed for a ministry, I say, God, may I never see myself how people see me. I want to only see myself how you see me. Why because I don't want to move because of the sound of the crowd. So whether you're applaud or you don't, I'm not moved by it because I don't even hear it. We have to have a balance in God so we're not easily swayed to the left or to the right. When someone wants to partner with you want something, don't just be excited because this has been your dream since you were two years old. Search it out in the spirit. Is this the right person? Is this the one we should do this with? Because you see what the enemy is after is the weakness of your flesh. You love God, that is true, But did you know that in your heart you desired fame in a way that is unhealthy. And so when the enemy knows that he could trap you, he says, oh, let me bring this to you to divert your purpose and ministry. You see, I will be honest with you, and we're gonna pray. Even in my life, there was something I didn't know. It was a strong goold in my life, and it was finances. And that was because I grew up with a single mother. And my mom is my superhero. She I mean, I have never met a woman who is more fearless than her. But I saw what she had to confront to build a life for her children, and as a kid, I was like, you know what, finances will never be a problem because I saw I saw everything in my mom, well, not everything the things she allowed me to see. I saw what had cost her. I felt the tide, the tears that she would cry because she chose integrity, and it was I didn't know how we crerept up as a strong in my life. And when you recognize what is your stronghold, you have to keep it at the altar. So when I got into ministry, this is my I'm sharing with you my personal conviction. When I got into ministry, the Lord says, never look at ministry as a source of income. So the first thing he started to deal with me on I would receive. You know, a ministry don't give you an honorarium. I would receive an honorarium. He will tell me show it back into the church. What was the Lord after he was killing that thing that was hidden in my heart? Even before ministry, I was doing well in business. You know what he said, give it up, give everything up. My obedience to that is what begins to put you under the government of God. That even now in ministry. And I'll put all my business out there, but I believe it's gonna help you. Because even now you see, as ministers, we don't There is something called the honorarium, right, you get it whatever the Church decides, you receive it. Beautiful. But there is something that happens within church culture where you know what you're like, Hey, you want to know ahead of time what is the honoraror right here, so it might inspire you or discourage you. And the Lord recently even told me because even though for me in my heart, I don't believe that moves me, because again I'm like, God, are you sending me or not? But the Lord says, even a door that enemy could find, I want to shut that door. He tells me, remove it from don't even ask about it, because you see, when people want to hear you, when people want to invite you, then't fill out a form. The Lord says, remove that from the form. Don't even expect it, because this is not your source of income. This is the place of you to represent me. Do not corrupt it. So now when people and someone was shocked, they feel out the form. It was a friend of mine, it was someone I know in ministry and they were like, hey, we didn't see where to put an honorarium budget. I said, I don't have it anymore. If the Lord places something on your heart to give me, give me. If he doesn't, don't do it. That's fine with me because it's not about that. I need to my guarding, my purity is more important than being swayed by the enemy. Because why am I sharing this with you. It's not every altar that is pure. There are places that want you to come to their ministry to corrupt you. So if I'm moved by finances, then the wrong number will send me to a place that God did not call me to go. So the Lord says, no, every door that could be a door I was shutting, and what is my job? Obey and he kills it. You have to know, because you have a flesh. There is something in your flesh. The Bible says the desires of the flesh is against the spirit. You are not too holy that there is not a desire in your flesh that is not against your spirit. And when you decipher what that desire is, you kill it at the cross. How do you kill it? Obedience? When the Lord tells you to do something that is contrary to what you will normally do, you do it. Why because you want to be surrendered in the spirit. And when you do it, God begins to open other doors. Know what is the desire in your flesh, so that it doesn't corrupt your discernment. Know it so you can kill it. You cannot kill the enemy you don't know. Stand with me we're gonna pray. You see, this is a time for consecration. This is a time where we have to seek the Lord in prayer, in fasting, in obedience to the strange requirements of the Holy Spirit, not for the things we want, but for Him. Because God wants to reawaken you. The theme of this conference is so prophetic to the times that we're in. He wants to reawaken you. He wants your consciousness, your spiritual consciousness, to be awakened again that you don't just lose sight of who you are. There's so many stories I wish I could tell you. If you don't know that, you see, your obedience is a snare to the enemy. Whatever your purpose in God is not just so that you can be living in your purpose, because we have this obsession with purpose and it's self focus. It's so that we can say I'm in my purpose. Your purpose with God is so that whatever He has called you to do is that it would be on earth as it is in heaven. It is kingdom focused. It's for the Kingdom to come in that in that sphere of influence. If your purpose is in fashion, if it's in music, if it's intact if it's in education, it is for the kingdom to be manifested in that sphere of influence. It's not about you. When you make it about you, you compromise and then give glory to God. Why does that work When it's about the kingdom. There are things you must say no to, and when it's about the kingdom, it is a snare to the enemy. He knows that your purpose is a way that darkness is cast out. So what does he do. He's looking for how he can join you, how he can corrupt what God says about you. That's why you must guard your heart and you must have not only an awareness of your weakness, but a spiritual awareness of what is happening around you. I remember there was a ministry that literally was like, hey, you can first of all, who has a conference that is scheduled to set their speakers? And then when we review it, the dates don't even work. So I'm like, if the dates don't work, I don't this is not something I need to be interceding for, actually interceed about things that should have lied. And then they said, you know what, any date in the year would work, and just pick one. I said, for the same conference, or something else the same conference. And if I tell you what, and they came there like you know, we just when they start coming, you know, approaching you like we want to bless you with this, and what they were trying to bless with it's wow, something very wild. When I saw the Lord, he said, I don't know that house. That is a demonic house. What they do is not by my spirit nor my power. And if you go stand on that altar, you will fall victim to what that house is. Surrendered to spiritual consciousness. If you're only conscious of self, you know what. You will see a platform and you will make it holy. You say, oh, let me go declare the gospel where even the Holy Spirit would restrict the disciples from preaching in certain place, then why can't he have that same government over you. You are never going to be too smart for the Lord. Surrender. You cannot outsmart the ways of the Spirit. Surrender your good ideas and good and values will never outsmart legalities. Surrender, Surrender to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Surrender to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It's not everywhere you go, it's not everyone you welcome in. Who sent you? Why are you in my life. You search it out. Are you here to corrupt my heart? Or did God send you? When you know who you are, you begin to have a tailored appetite about your environment. The reason we're so open, it's because of ignorance. We don't know. Just we get frustrated with a place. We said, you know what, I'm moving. I met a young lady and she was like, she was going to move from one city to the other. And I was like why, And she said, well, you know, her friends told her that that's the city where people get married. I said, but did God sends you? Have you brought this decision to the Lord? Have you asked the Holy Spirit? Are you with me? Because you see, there was a story in the Bible of a prophet who was given clear instruction of where he should go and how he should return. Somebody else comes and tells him another way, and when he followed that way, a lion was there waiting to devour him. Before you just start making moves, Is God with me? Even Moses knew that God, if your presence does not go with us, we are not going anywhere. Because if your presence is not with me, I am vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. If I had more time with you, I will tell you about how the Bible will tell us that the Earth is the Lord and the fullness of it. But yet it calls Satan the prince of this world. Then which one is it? Earth is a location, the world is a system. When you fall victim to the system, he reigns over your life. And what is that system driven on self? He reigns over that system. And New York. New York is a place for self. I think hustling. You know what. I was gonna say this, but you you don't like it, put it up with the Lord. One of the places I was so excited about coming to New York was to see the Bronx. The sound of rebellion for all these people. Wow, this is serious. But my point is this, Okay, before you lose your sensitivity into the Holy Spirit, my point is this. I remember always hearing about the Bronx. Right. Maybe it's because I mean not go where I wanted to say when I was a kid, before I knew the power of sound. When I was a babe, you know, there was that song about somebody from the Bronx. Right, Babe, Babe, if you know what you caught it. But what I'm saying is that there was always this culture about New York, whether it's Brooklyn, whether it's the Bronx, whether it's wherever you're from in New York. About this also mentality go after it, go get it, the see it that never sleeps while because we're just getting it, getting it, get At some point you should have got it. True, but it's driven on self, self ambition, self motive. Everything is on self, and self is the system of the world. God doesn't reign over that, Sayan will always be prince over that, because he's the one who created that civilization. Come out of that and surrender. Lift up your hands. We're gonna pray. You see, for many of you, your deliverance is in your agreement to surrender. What has taken captive over your life is because you're not even though you profess Jesus, not under his kingdom. You're not under his system. You're under a system of self. It drives you, It makes the decisions for you. The Bible says those that are led by the spirit are called the sons of God. You see what qualifies you to be a son? It's not about gender, it's about inheritance. What qualifies you is that you are led by the spirit. If what is leading your life is the flesh, you're not a son. You're under his kingdom. That's why Jesus will look at people and say, you who belong to your father the devil? Why would he say that? Was he trying to be me? No, he was being truthful. He could only speak truth. What he discerned was not what they could see. He could see that. You see whatever you submit yourself to. You have given your all to whatever you surrender. The leadership of your life too, is what is your master. So even though you may come to church on Sunday Monday, your praying in your room, but then what drives your life itself? And who is the prince over that satan? If you want to experience true freedom, then you have to put your life on the cross. You have to let yourself go, surrender to his leading. Recognize that you will not put on this earth just to have a good experience and a good time. Your life is so that God will have the glory through your life. And He cannot have the glory through your life if you're so self focused and self centered. After this world will pass away. You're going to stand before your father for eternity. And what would he say when he sees you well done? Or he will show you the life that should have led to well done. Whatever would have your worship that is not God, it is not worth it, surrender it, Heavenly Father, we worship you. Even as we come into the midnight hour, Lord, I pray that there would be a new season over your people, a season that they step into maturity, a season that they hunger and they thirst after you, the blesser, not the blessings. Yes, Lord, you desire to bless us. Yes, Lord, there are things that we need that you know that we have need of them. They're not evil, they're not wrong. But if they ever take the place of our worship, there is a problem. So Lord, I pray that we would always see you in your rightful place, and I pray that you would always that even for many who feel like they have lost that leading of the Holy Spirit, I pray that there will be a reawakening in this room, that we will become spiritually conscious once again, that we will be sensitive to the leading of your Holy Spirit of God and not easily sway to the left or to the right, just because we desire the thing. But we will see you as a holy God, who is worthy of our worship, who is worthy of our lives. Have your way in and through us. And Lord, I thank you. I thank you for this house. I thank you for the pastors who would make room for you in such a way. And I thank you that it would be by your spirit that you will continue to entrust to them the City of God, to stand in the gap for your people for an encounter with you, to be free and delivered. Oh God of things that are unseen in this world. I think you, Old God, that this would always be unaltered that declares truth. I think you, o Lord, that wherever the enemy seeks to bring corruption, it will not find them. Have your way in and through this house. In Jesus' mighty name, we pray. Amen. Amen,