I’d like to backtrack a
little bit before the Retreat;
When we were preparing for this year’s Retreat
and God kept saying I will do bigger things than I’ve done before and then I
looked back to our previous Retreat testimonies, I kept asking God, what do you
want to do that will top these things we’ve seen before? How will they happen?
I tried to think of it but my mind could not
just come up with anything. So instead, I focused on the words we kept getting.
Readying myself for a surprise “as usual”. As
usual, because there’s never been a Retreat that God doesn’t surprise me. My
mouth literally opens and stays like that,
in awe every Retreat.
But then we got to the Retreat and even I who was expecting to be
surprised was taken aback by how God moved.
To say that God surprised me is an
understatement. I still
don’t have the right word for what we experienced.
I have seen visions of God before o!
But I saw God at that Retreat in a way I’ve
never.
We literally hosted God for hours. At some
point, it felt like time had stopped on earth. I saw a move of the spirit I had
never seen before.
I was telling a friend that we didn’t raise any
prayer point at the retreat, we didn’t bring out our prayer requests at all.
Who goes to a mountain and forgets to
ask/pray? Only a man who met with God directly instead!
The testimonies that have come from a Retreat where we didn’t even pray prayer
points have been mind-blowing, and they are
still flowing.
But most importantly, something shifted in us
last week. I can boldly say that no man left the same way they came. I’ve had a
lot of people reach out to me that they keep singing Heaven’s “Hallelujah song”
since we got back.
There’s really not been a night I slept without
hearing the song, finding myself at the Retreat or in Heaven, and it’s been the same for most
people I’ve spoken to since the Retreat.
The question now has been “How do we maintain
these things?”
How do we stay here?
What do we do after encounters like this?
“Oh
PRemz, I danced with God and angels and it keeps coming back. I don’t know what
to do”
“I
keep feeling fire all around me whenever I close my eyes”
“I
can’t stop singing and praying”
After
Heavenly Encounters, WHAT NEXT?
1.
Never Forget
I think this is one of the major things the
enemy uses. He banks
on our ability to get busy and forget. But you
see, we can’t have that kind of experience with God and forget it.
I think about the Retreat every day because somehow I am still living
it.
My room has literally felt strange since we got
back.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all
his benefits:” Psalm 103:2
You may say that “I can never forget what God
did for me”. I know you truly do not want to forget but you will forget if you
are not intentional with it. Study shows that your memory of an event is your
last memory of it, and your
last memory of any event can be influenced by the surrounding factor of the
current timeframe of that memory.
Let me break it down.
If something happened to you in 2008, the memory
you have of it now is not exactly as it happened in 2008. It is as you
remembered it the last time before now. So if you thought about it last in
2010, your brain picks up the archive from 2010 and not 2008. The less
often you think about an event/the less often your memory of an event is, the higher your chances of having
a watered-down memory of that event. Your brain automatically begins to lose
tiny bits of information gradually.
So if you were wearing a blue dress with
earrings and red shoes to an event in 2008
and you gave a speech, you will most likely remember the speech word for word after
the event, plus what you wore.
But if you totally forget or don’t think/talk
about it until 2012, you are
likely to have forgotten certain details. You
may forget that you wore earrings and red shoes. You may also rephrase your speech when talking about it.
What then happens is, it is this version of the
event that you remember in 2012 that now becomes your new version of what
happened.
It becomes your new memory of it but not a
completely true memory because certain details have been left out. Your brain has taken in new
information and distorted that old one since it’s not been in use.
For some people, they even start questioning
what happened and how it happened
“Did I really look beautiful?”
“Was my earring fine?”
Why? Because they dared to forget. After
experiences like this, you must make it a point of duty not to forget.
So how do we move from here?
Write down your experiences. Don’t leave out any
detail. Write it down like you are gisting somebody.
If you want to take it a notch higher, do a
video recording telling yourself what happened at the retreat.
Detail everything you saw.
And read those things often. For every time you
go back to read, your memory of that event is updated exactly as it is.
Meaning, you can’t forget. And with that kind of experience, when it stays in
your memory fresh, it has the ability to birth itself
Life situations do not easily distract you from
it.
So first things first, write down your retreat
experience so the devil doesn’t come to tell you tomorrow that what you
experienced is not true.
“Did God really say?”
“Did God really do?”
“Maybe I’m over imagining”
See I’ve been here before and I am telling you
that documentation is a key to not forgetting.
If you’ve not started, start now. What happened to me at the Retreat? What
were the changes I felt in my life immediately after and during? What has been
the impact of it?
Write it down and remind yourself often.
2. There is no normal to return to
Now that you’ve noted down your experiences, I need you to know
that you have no normal to return to. It is why everything around you feels
strange. It is why your cravings during this period are like you should go back
to the retreat.
When we experience things like this, don’t see it as a one-off
experience and then wait till the next retreat next year. Your body is already
telling you that it experienced something better and it loves it.
It is why your sleep and daytime are littered
with thoughts of these encounters. Your routine will change, and this has to be
deliberate.
Don’t try to force your old routine back, accept that something truly
changed and you truly have no normal to return
to.
There
is a new normal for you.
Explore your options and do life inside this new
normal.
The reason most people have encounters and slip
back is that they do not embrace the change these encounters bring. It is
disruption o. You may not 100% enjoy or understand it at first but It is your
key to sustaining what you received.
So, look at your old normal. Does it truly fit
into what you experienced? Be honest with yourself.
So allow God to create a new normal for you,
first by being willing to let go of your old routine.
It’s a new season for you, things will change.
Embrace
it all.
3. Stay Connected to your community
All the believers devoted themselves to the
apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the
Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. Acts of the Apostles 2:42
Every believer was faithfully devoted to following the teachings
of the apostles. Their hearts were mutually linked to one another, sharing
communion and coming. They devoted themselves to fellowship. They
were mutually linked to one another!
On the day Pentecost was being fulfilled, all
the disciples were gathered in one place. Acts 2:1 TPT
All together in one place.
When God is about to pour out His fire on a generation, one
pattern you notice is that people begin to gather together. The disciples gathered
first and then people joined them.
The Azusa street revival broke out in a gathering. In fact, people
gathered non-stop for 3 years. Day and night!
Nehemiah 8:1 all the people assembled with a
unified purpose at the square just inside the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the
scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the lord had given for
Israel to obey.
Nehemiah 8:2 So on October 8 Ezra the priest
brought the Book of the Law before the assembly, which included the men and
women and all the children old enough to understand.
Nehemiah 8:3 He faced the square just inside the
Water Gate from early morning until noon and read aloud to everyone who could
understand. All the people listened closely to the Book of the Law.
Nehemiah 8:4 Ezra the scribe stood on a high
wooden platform that had been made for the occasion. To his right stood
Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah. To his left stood
Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.
Nehemiah 8:5 Ezra stood on the platform in full
view of all the people. When they saw him open the book, they all rose to their
feet.
Nehemiah 8:6 Then Ezra praised the lord, the
great God, and all the people chanted, “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted their hands.
Then they bowed down and worshiped the lord with their faces to the ground.
Nehemiah 8:7 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani,
Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah,
Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—then instructed the people in the Law while
everyone remained in their places.
Nehemiah 8:8 They read from the Book of the Law
of God and clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the
people understand each passage.
“So all the Israelites met together in the
seventh month of the year. They were united and in complete agreement. They all
met together in the open place in front of the Water Gate. All the people asked
Ezra the teacher to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had
given to the Israelites.” Nehemiah 8:1 ERV
Even in the Old Testament, as the children of Isreal were turned
from their old life of captivity, they understood that something has changed.
A new life has begun
And what was their response?
They began to gather in Unity, they demanded that Ezra teach
them.
They were not coming to gloss over their old
life or look back, they
demanded for the word and told Ezra to bring
out the book of the law, and then the Levites
began to break it down to everyone.
They did this in togetherness.
Same as the New Testament, everyone stayed glued to the
community.
I need us to know that we live in an environment
that is hostile to these experiences we had. To keep in the flow of what you
received, stay connected to the people you received it with. Live life together
with them.
See, there are some things that happened at the
retreat that people who didn’t attend can not grasp except by the spirit.
The disciples did not stop, none of them despised the
community.
God doesn’t want you isolated
Stay connected!
In
that breath, start marking your calendars for our first physical meeting after
the Retreat. Date is November 11.
Divine encounters bring a desire for corporate
gatherings. How many of us have missed our new friends at the Retreat?
4. Press in; Have a Spiritual meal plan and
stick to it righteously
What is released by the Spirit can only be sustained by the
Spirit.
Apart from corporate gatherings, you MUST fan the flames
personally. It is non-negotiable.
What is your devotional life like?
For those that don’t know what A Spiritual Meal Plan is,
When you are trying to add weight, you start eating certain food.
You create a timetable so you can meet up with the calories needed.
It’s the same as adding weight spiritually.
Let me tell you this: If
you don’t eat, you will die eventually.
You will first start losing weight, looking malnourished.
Then kwashiorkor sets in and before you know it the person
dries up.
Their body is not working as it should, then one day, they just die.
Nobody can survive without food forever.
It’s the same as you.
You must eat spiritually.
Apart from corporate prayers, you must have time to pray
alone.
You don’t have to start big,
if it is 15 minutes you can do, start from there.
Fix a permanent time to it daily.
You know the way we build timetables in secondary school?
Write it out in that manner, and paste it all around you.
Set your alarms;
First period (morning)
30 minutes in the worship and prayer
Second period (Afternoon)
Stay in the word
Third period (night)
Prayers
Put specific time o. Don’t just put morning and
night. Be specific. And fix the time permanently.
Study has it that when you do something
consistently for 14 to 21 days at the same time, your body automatically
adjusts to it. If I wake up every day at exactly 6:30am with an alarm and I
don’t miss it.
After the 21st day, I will automatically wake up even if my alarm
doesn’t ring.
Why? My body adjusts to it
So when fixing your prayer time, fix at a time you won’t miss. Be
strict. No gisting at that time.
No Netflix.
Do it until your body knows that a new sheriff is in town and
behaves accordingly.
Word Alive has a study plan for weekdays. We also recommend books
and devotionals from time to time.
If you don’t know where to start in terms of study, this is perfect.
Follow the daily Bible readings.
We are currently doing by books in the Bible.
Study and share
Don’t wait for people to come and share.
This part is a secret
If you are learning something, start teaching it from the little
you know. It increases your knowledge.
So don’t say you don’t know. Don’t be shy.
As you study, share with others. Talk about the Bible with others.
I love discussing scriptures a lot.
There are days I call my friends in excitement. You will think I
won the lottery but it’s that the Holy Spirit just showed me something in
scripture.
Let the word of God excite you. Let prayer as communion excite
you!
5. Spiritual Diet
It’s the same way that you need meal plan to add weight that some
of us need to lose weight spiritually.
If you are carrying baggage, you can’t move fast, Identify the baggage you need to
let go off.
Cut down on everything that is adding unhealthy weight and baggage
to your life.
Add fasting to it. You can do it once a week.
It doesn’t even have to be food.
For some of us, it is phones we need to fast; reduce our social media time
and channel it to God.
Reduce your movie and gist time.
Identify your excesses and unhealthy weight, then cut them off by dieting
spiritually.
Anything you have an unhealthy attachment to. They don’t even have
to be bad. If you are too attached to them than God, cut them off.
Reduce it.
Sometimes what you are even attached to is work for God.
Ministry, activities,
etc.
Identify and adjust where necessary
Are we good on this?
Peter preached to them and warned them with
these words: “Be rescued from the wayward and perverse culture of this
world!” Acts 2:40 TPT
Detach from the culture of the world!
In verse 37, the people had asked Peter after experiencing such a
heavy downpour, What
Shall we do?
Peter responded that they be saved but it didn’t stop there. For
the encounters they experienced to continue, they need to detach from the
values and culture of the world. They had to log out.
Stop going to places the Holy Spirit will not
go. This is a fresh start
for you
Declutter.
God will not do this part for you.
He will help you o, but you must take that first step. The places
they will see you before?
Make a commitment to start staying away. You have a new normal.
7. Finally, Walk in the spirit
“So I tell you, live the way the Spirit leads
you. Then you will not do the evil things your sinful self wants.” Galatians 5:16 ERV
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:16 NKJV
“But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the
[Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you
will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human
nature without God).” Galatians
5:16 AMPC
Be responsive
Be controlled
Be guided by the Spirit
Allow yourself be led
Obey when He speaks
We cannot say this is the move of the Spirit and
then move outside Him. What the Spirit starts, only the Spirit can sustain
Allow Him!
I will stop here tonight.
If you have questions or comments, please feel
free to share. I believe we’ve been blessed.
Let us pray
Our Father we thank You for Your word,
Thank you for what you have started in and with
us.
Help us to continue in these things, help us to not lose sight of you.
We put these things you’ve taught us tonight to
use.
Our lives are better for it
Help us Holy Spirit
Thank you, Lord
In the name of Jesus, we pray these things
Amen.
