Rudiments for Shining in a Dark World - Apostle Michael Orokpo Ph.D.

I just want to share with us very briefly on the three broad responsibilities we must take in order to manifest light. My focus in this conference is to really help drive in the spiritual principles, the spiritual infrastructures that helps us to shine. And so last night I began by elucidating in a very brief sense the essence of light. And I showed us six things that defines the essence of light. And then I went further to show us what it means or what it meant to manifest light, after which I showed us the infrastructures that must be put in place for us to manifest light.

So as a way of recap very quickly this morning, I'll just run over the things I itemized yesterday. I said number one, the essence of light is God himself. I said light is God and his presence. 1 John chapter 1 verse 5, the Bible says that God is light and it says in him is no darkness at all. In John 1:9, speaking about God, he says that light is the true light that lighted every man that cometh into the world. And so when we speak of people having light, we are talking about being saturated with God. When we say a man carries light, by implication we are saying that man is full of God. And so a man who is not full of God is full of darkness. This is why it is necessary and important for every one of us to contend to carry measures of God.

When we teach you how to press into God, we are not trying to make a religious man out of you. Most people think our attempt to pressing into God is religious and fanatical, and they think it does not have any benefit in existential things. So when you tell them to pray, when you tell them to study, when you tell them to press into God, they feel you are wasting their time. They have business they need to pay attention to. They have other things they need to do. But what they don't understand is that all these things you are doing, you are getting yourself saturated with God. And if you are saturated with God, the one who created the heavens and the earth knows all of the intricate dynamics of your business much more than you do. And so when you are full of God, God becomes the illumination that gives you an advantage in life. You will be a better professor if you know God. You'll be a better businessman if you know God. You'll be a better scientist if you know God. So being full of God is not a waste of time because God is not just an entity that exists in the heavens. God is actually light that if he saturates your life, can gives you give you an advantage in life. Glory to God.

And so we say light is the person of God. Number two, we say light is the truth of God's word. And so when a man has truth and revelation, that man carries light. What that means is that in every circumstance, he knows what to do. What daddy just demonstrated before us this morning is the revelation of God's word. And this is why many get ahead in life because by reason of what they have drawn from the word of God, they know what to do. Imagine the mystery that has been unraveled before us this morning. How to change circumstances through the revelation of the word of God. I can't imagine any other thing that is worse than the picture that was demonstrated this morning. Not just a fragment of of the earth. The whole earth was in chaos. The whole earth was in desolation. The whole earth was in shambles. And God stood there without any raw material as it were. But he knew what to do to change the situation. The first thing that happened was that there was a move of the spirit. And the moment the spirit brooded upon the face of the deep, God began to declare what he wanted to see. And a new earth appeared from desolation and chaos. That's the revelation of the word of God. That is light. When you catch truth, when you catch revelation, you are flooded. Now, with this kind of revelation, anything wrong in your family, you know what to do about it. If there's something wrong in your business, you know what to do about it. Your business is failing. Your staff are rebelling. Things are not working. You know there are two things you require. Let there be a brooding of the Holy Spirit. And so you can go there for two weeks and you pray around the environment. When you see that the place is saturated, you begin to decree what you want to see. And before long, what you want to see begins to manifest. This is not something you pick up in a physics textbook. This is not something you pick up in a sociology textbook. These are only possible and they can only be obtained within the context of the truth of the word of God. And this is why we say when you catch the word of God, you catch light because it reveals to you what eyes have not seen, what ears have not heard, neither what has entered to the hearts of men. The psalmist put it this way in Psalm 119:130. He said, "The entrance of thy word bringeth light and it bringeth understanding to the simple." And so anybody who catches the revelation of the word of God is flooded with light. He knows what to do part time. Such a person can never be confused because the word is light. The Bible said in the beginning, John chapter 1 verse 1, "In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God." In verse 5, he said, "that word is the true light that lighted every man that cometh into the world." So anybody who is saturated with the word is saturated with light because the word is light.

Number three, we went further to say that the word of God is also the force of life. So the degree of light you have is what determines the quality of your life because light is what defines the quality of life. Light is what defines the quality of life. It said in him was life. John 1 verse 4, "and the life was the light of men and the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." And so we say light is the force of life. So anybody who carries light, the quality of his life is it shows you can't hide it. So the essence of light is God. The essence of light is truth and the essence of light is life. So when we are defining light in the spiritual context, we are not just talking illumination like what we are seeing here. Of course, light illuminates. But when we are talking light in the context of spiritual realities, we are talking how much of God is contained. We are talking how much of life a man possesses. We are talking how much of truth a man carries. These are the things that translates to light in the spirit.

And then number four, we also itemized yesterday that light speaks of moral values that a man carries part time. When you find a man who carries light, he is defined by the quality of his morality because light also speaks of moral values. The Bible speaking in Philippians chapter 2:15, it encourages us to walk blameless in this crooked world as a people, sons of God without rebuke, shining as light in a dark world. And so when we manifest purity, we are manifesting light. Is it now goes to mean that the essence of light is purity? And it's important for us to understand these basic definitions so that we can tell if we have it or not. If you don't carry God, you don't carry light. If you are not full of truth, you don't have light. If you don't carry moral values, you don't have light. And if you don't have the life of God, you don't have light. So when you get into circumstances where light is necessary, don't assume light will manifest. Light will only manifest if you have it in the first place. And if you have it, it will show by how much of God you carry. It will show by the life of God in you. It will show by the quality of your morality. These things are too important. They are basics, but they are the foundations. If you have light, you must have these things because these are the things that define life.

Number five, we say light speaks of guidance and direction. When a man has light, he's not confused. And so anywhere there is confusion, there's no light. If light shows up, there is direction because the Bible speaking is he say light is that which makes manifest. And so you cannot be confused and say you have light. This is why we must understand these things so that we contend for it. Because one of the things that destroy people, especially in our generation, is assumptions. And I tell people, assumption is the lowest level of knowledge. Christians just keep assuming everything. If you ask somebody today, he will tell you he has something. When you say demonstrate it, he can't have it. He can't show it. Because we don't press for acute understanding. Many people will say they have light. But when you check their life, you won't find God. You won't find morality. You won't find direction. You check their life, you won't see the life of God in them. And then you are wondering, what do you now call light? Then he now you now realize that he doesn't even know what light is. So it's important for us to know these things. Light speaks of direction. He said, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Psalm 119 verse 105.

And then finally, I say light is power for influence. When a man carries light, he must dominate because the light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehends it not. The moment light shows up, dominion becomes natural. And so when you find people who are struggling, most of the times it is actually an absence of light that is causing that struggle. I tell my people, the Bible said in 2 Peter chapter 1:3, he say, "according as his divine power, he has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that brought us to glory and virtue." And so I tell my people, any area of lack and any area of struggle is an alarm system that ignorance is locking. So the problems we face are really not the problem. The problems are actually alarm signals that we don't have light in this direction, that we don't have light in this location. If you are struggling with having resources, it means you don't have light in that area. If you are struggling with your health, it means you don't have light in that area. If you are struggling with relationships, it means you don't have light in that area. So what you actually call the problem is not the problem. The absence of revelation, the absence of light is the problem. You can meet a Christian and he can rant to you from morning till night how he doesn't have any good relationships. And then you ask him, "What do you know about relationships?" He knows nothing. You can meet a Christian and he can banter you from morning till night how his marriage is not working. And then you ask him, "What do you know about marriage?" He doesn't know anything. You can meet a Christian and he will complain to you from morning till night how he's struggling and nothing is working, and then you ask him the principle of success. He doesn't know anyone. And so he is looking at the wrong thing as the problem. The challenges that are pointing out are not the challenges. The real challenges is ignorance. If you were to go for light, that challenge will disappear. I tell people mountains can either be kicked out or they vanish depending on the revelation you have. If you are driving or if you are going against a mountain, you may need to remove it. But if you are flying, you don't need to remove the mountain. You just go ahead, the mountain will disappear. So revelation is the easiest way of dealing with mountains. But the question is, do we have the light? If we do, these are the indicators that there is light. There must be God visibly manifesting in our lives. The life of God must be manifesting in our lives. Moral values must be clearly seen in our lives. There must be direction and there must be influence. When these things are in place, it means we have light.

And I said it is good to have light. But it's not enough to have light. If you have light, the light must shine. That means light requires intensification because there are many people who have a measure of God. There are many people who have a measure of moral values. There are many people who have a measure of direction. But when there is real chaos, you will now discover that the light they have is not enough. The Bible said in Proverbs 4:18, it said, "The path of the just is as a shining light and it shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day." So yes, light is God. You have God. But what is the degree to which God is magnified in your life? Yes, life speaks of the life of God. You have it. But what is the strength of that life in your spirit? Yes, light speaks of truth. But how much truth do you know? Yes, life speaks of light speaks of purity, moral values. How much of it do you have? Life light speaks of guidance and direction. How much of it do you have? Light speaks of influence and dominion. How much of it do you have? So, it's not enough to say I have it. You must grow in it. You must intensify it. And that's where shining comes in. And so you have light, but you must shine.

And I said for us to really shine, we must understand in one context to shine because light shines when there is darkness. If there's no darkness, you may never see the excellency and the glory of light. The Bible said in John 15, "the light shines in the darkness." And he said, "the darkness comprehends it not." So it's one thing to have light, it's another thing to shine forth. And I said for us to shine, we shine by counteracting darkness. So it is the dimension of darkness that is present that also reveals the dimension of shine that we have. And so very quickly yesterday, I took out time to show us five dimensions of darkness that God expects us to dominate by shining forth our light. And it also means that it's in those areas that intensification is very paramount because if you don't intensify your light in those areas, the darkness will choke it. And so I mentioned number one, ignorance. I say for you to shine, then you must be able to counter ignorance. And the way to counter ignorance is to walk in wisdom. So one aspect of shining is wisdom. What it means is that the God in you must manifest as wisdom. The moral values in you must manifest as wisdom. The truth of God's word in you must manifest as wisdom. Have you seen people before that before you you say hello? They quote 20 scriptures, yet their life goes nowhere. They are confused and they are wasting. In fact, they quote scripture for you in their failure. That means they have truth, a measure of truth, but they are not shining because when they begin to shine, they will be able to put that truth together to build a constructive existence. So it's not enough to have truth. It's not enough to have light. That light must shine. And the first way light must shine is in the likeness of wisdom. And so believers must begin to put themselves together to learn how to manifest wisdom because the light in them must be expressed in the likeness of wisdom because darkness is ignorance. The Bible speaking in Proverbs 4:18 about a people who had their understanding darkened because of the ignorance that is in them. And so when people shine forth light, they uproot ignorance. And the way to uproot ignorance is by walking in wisdom. Take example of a few people who manifested these kinds of wisdom like Daniel in the scripture. Daniel manifested light. And the way he manifested light was not just by saying I have God. The way he manifested light was not just by saying I have truth. No. When there were crisis, these guys knew what to do to bring solution to the table. So they had wisdom. Same thing with Joseph. A nation was about to go into drought and famine, and Joseph showed up and prescribed wisdom to preserve a whole nation. He said there are seven years of abundance and there will be seven years of famine. He said in the seven years of abundance, whatever it is gathered should be stored for the seven years of famine. That was how he saved a whole nation. It was not just that I can quote scripture. He knew what to do with the word of God, the truth of God to salvage the situation of a whole nation. So if you have light, light must shine in the form of wisdom.

Number two, I say if you have light, light must shine in the form of purity. You can't say you have light and you are groping in iniquity. No, that's not light. You must know what to do to avoid iniquity. You must know what to do to live pure in a corrupt generation.

Number three, I say if you have light, you must live above satanic influence. Satan wants to make people sick. Satan wants to destroy people. Satan wants to waste destinies. You must be able to live above it so that your life looks as if Satan does not exist. You exert so much influence that the presence of the devil has no effect or impact in your life. It's a sign that you have light.

And then number four, I say if you are manifesting light, then you must be separated unto God. Because this world is designed to separate you and I from God. But anybody who has light must have a constant intimate fellowship with God. Nothing should be strong enough to detach you from God. Those of us who travel around the world, there are many systems in the world today that makes it impossible for you to even carry your Bible and read. If you go to the western world, you see it. They walk from morning till night and night till morning and they spend the whole money on bills and at the end of the month they can't see it. And then tell them come to church for one hour, it's impossible. Tell them read the Bible, it's impossible because that's the system of the world. The system of the world separates you from God. And separation from God is darkness. So a man who truly has light should be able to navigate through this life sustaining your relationship with God. Come what may. There's no job that can separate you from God. There's no circumstance that should be able to separate you from God. Paul said, "What can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus?" So, he knew what to do to stay acute in his relationship with God. It's a sign that you have light. If circumstances can pull you away from God, there's no light in you. If a job can take you away from God, it means there's no light in you. If anything separates you from God, it has stolen the light of God that is in your spirit. I'm not saying we wouldn't have hectic schedules. I'm not saying we won't have a lot of things that we need to do out there, but I'm saying no matter how you do what you do, God must be at the center and be the circumference of your life. It's a sign that you are functioning by superior light.

And then finally, I say light is the ability to function by faith in every circumstance of your life. Never get to a point where you deteriorate your life to the point where you live by reason and logic. Reason and logic are important, but the Bible said it's not given to a man that walketh toward his step. A point must come where the Holy Ghost will tell you what to do. A point must come where the force of life that is in your spirit must navigate you in the direction that you should go. It's a sign that you manifest light. So there are many who do not have light. They need to receive light. And there are many who have light but they are not shining. They need to shine. We must understand the difference so that we are able to manifest light.

This morning I want to share with us very briefly the three responsibilities that we must undertake if we will shine the light of God. Number one is in Isaiah chapter 60 from verse 1. The Bible said, "Arise, shine, for your light is come and the glory of the Lord is lifted upon you." And so anybody who will shine must arise. The first responsibility for shining is to arise. If you don't arise, you will not shine. The second responsibility for shining is in Ephesians chapter 5:14. He said, "Awake thou that sleepest and Christ will give you light." So if you will shine the light of God, you must awake. And then the third responsibility for shining is in Matthew 5:14, it said, "You are the light of the world, a city set upon a hill that cannot be hid." Verse 16, it say, "Let your light so shine." Let your light so shine that men may see your good works and give glory to your Father which is in heaven. And so anybody who wants to shine must undertake three basic spiritual responsibilities: Arise, awake, and let. If you don't arise, if you don't awake, and if you don't let, you will never shine. Make no mistake about it.

And so this morning very quickly I will show us what it means to arise and then I will show us what it means to awake and then I will show us what it means to let. If you master these three things, believe me, the problems that people will be your platform of shining. I tell people again and again, there's no point fighting for pulpit. Pulpits are not our platforms. This is a place to instruct. Your real platforms are the challenges of life that you defy. No generation celebrates a man for standing behind the pulpit. Generations celebrate men who defy challenges and bring out solutions that become a pathway for others to follow. If you will shine, you must master. If you will shine, you must master these three responsibilities: Awake, arise, and let.

What does it mean to arise? It means to take action. It means to take responsibility. So a man who shines is a man who is active in taking responsibilities. What does it mean to awake? It means to stay on fire. It speaks of revival, to avoid spiritual lukewarmness. And what does it mean to let? It means to be submitted to the Holy Ghost and to have your mind refined. To let speaks of submission and refinement. To awake speaks of revival. And to arise speaks of responsibility. Everything I have listed here today will end up in your note. And it will never make you shine until you apply these three things.

Take for instance, let's look at Isaiah 60 from verse 1 to 3. Light is present, but a man does not shine because light is present. He said, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you." Can you imagine? Light has come. The glory of God is risen upon a man, yet it's not shining. Is that not the situation of many? Do you know that with this massive grace that is in this house here, there are people here who may never shine? This is this is a grace that some travel from different places to receive one encounter and their life changes. But some people will sit here and not shine. Do you know that Judas Iscariot was with Jesus Christ, the light of the world, God who created the heavens and the earth? He didn't just not shine, he became the son of perdition. So our crisis is not absence of light. In fact, our prayer should not be for light to come because even if light comes, if we don't arise, we won't shine. But if we arise, if there's no light, light must... This is why it's important. I have studied the life of the fathers. One thing that is consistent with all of them is acute responsibility. They are given to, they hate anything that has to do with indolence. You find any father of faith or any great man making impact. They are very consistent in service. They are very acute in taking responsibilities. And then you find the lazy man, his bane is his laziness. That's why he's always at the bottom because everything he knows, he never takes action to fulfill. Everything he understands, he never takes action. For instance, I shared with you yesterday on the forces that makes us to shine. And one of the things I mentioned was to walk in the light of the word of God. But do you know that the word of God does not just appear? The Bible says to shine, we must walk in the light of the word. It said, "The entrance of thy word giveth light and giveth understanding to the simple." But the question is, how does the word enter? The word enters when you sit down to read. If you don't sit down to read, the word will never enter. It says, "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, but rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15. It said in 1 Timothy 4:13, "Until I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine." He said in verse 15, "Give thyself wholly to it, so that your profiting is made manifest to all." Do you know somebody can leave this conference and say I know how to shine. "The entrance of thy word giveth light," and he will recite that for 20 years and not shine because he has never a reason to carry the word and study for himself. We said yesterday that to shine, you must manifest wisdom. But do you know that you don't sleep and wisdom enters you? You must arise to possess wisdom. How? The Bible said in James 1:5, it say, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask." So anybody who needs wisdom must put his knee on the altar and keep asking God to have wisdom. So shining is manifesting wisdom. But you need to arise to possess wisdom. How many of us have taken the responsibility to ask for wisdom? Do you know that wisdom, the Bible says, comes because of the fear of the Lord? How many of us have studied to understand the meaning of the fear of the Lord? So the problem with our generation is not lack of resources, it's lack of responsibility. There are most of us here, even in the secular level, we are very intelligent. In fact, when a lecturer is speaking, we know where he's already going before he finishes. Yet we are on third class. We are on second class lower. Not because we are not intelligent, but the responsibility to sit down to read is not there. And when you check, some are studying sociology. The whole lecture note is 10 pages, but they can't read 10 pages in 3 months. 10 pages. The whole lecture note is 10 pages. They can't read it in three months. Yet they are thinking that they will shine and dominate this world. No, you won't. It's not possible. You have not a reason. What it means to arise is to find out what matters in your life and commit yourself to it until you become it. You must find it out. As a preacher, I learned many years ago that number one, I must have the word of God to preach. So, I bought different Bible versions and I bought markers. I will read and mark. You carry my Bible. In fact, it was a pride then for every page of the Bible to be marked. I read and marked, read and mark from Genesis to Revelation. So, we used to heap Bibles that we have cancelled. We kept reading and marking, reading and marking, reading and marking. It's called to arise. I knew many years ago that in this kingdom, if you don't have power, nobody will hear you. Because when people come, they are not looking for a lecturer. They are looking for somebody who will talk, their life will change. They are looking for somebody who will talk and they will be healed. And so I went to check what is the secret of power. And I studied my Bible. I realized there were few secrets to power. Number one, have the revelation of what Jesus did for you. And so I sat with the scriptures. I studied. I listened to sermons. People who preach on new creation realities like E.W. Kenyon, Kenneth E. Hagin, Andrew Wommack, I chewed all their messages. Everything they preach, everything they wrote, I read it because I realized for me to walk in power, I must be acute in knowledge concerning what Jesus did for me. I can sit down now and give you the doctrine of salvation from beginning to end and quote more than 200 scriptures without consulting anything. I had to eat it until it became me. Number two, I realized the secret of power was for you to stir the Holy Spirit in prayer. I used to have a program of 14 days where I read the New Testament and pray 1 hour every 3 hours. And I maintained that routine for a long time until we prayed smoke and prayed fire out of our lives. So that when you go anywhere at any time, you can bring the hand of God down. As a preacher, I realized the secret of spiritual power also had to do with certain virtues like humility. Because God resists the proud, giveth grace to the humble. I put myself under a program of the Holy Ghost chiseling me to help me to come to that point where even while I'm quiet, I don't think high-mindedly so that something can rest upon my life. I realized that when men impart you, they transfer graces to your life. Paul say, "I longed to see you that I may impart unto you spiritual gift in the end that you may be established." Everybody I knew that had power, I chased them. I honored them so that something will rest on me because I knew I needed power. He took responsibility. There were times when we spent money. There were times when we didn't sleep. There were times when we had to study. But we beat our body to make sure we receive these things. A generation must arise. You say you want to be a doctor. How many doctors have you sat down to listen to? What is your commitment to your books? You can't you can't shine. It's not magic. It's not even miracle as it were. You cannot shine. You say you want to be a leader. You have never sat down to listen to leaders, to think, to hear how they talk, to hear how they solve problems, and you want to become great. You are sitting here, you say, "One day I'll be the governor of your state. One day I'll be the governor, the president of Nigeria." Unless you go through corruption. If it is based on value, you will never become. Because for you to shine, you must arise. Many years ago when I realized I had to be a public speaker, I did not just listen to ministers of God. I also listened to presidents of nations. I have videos of men like Winston Churchill. I had videos of men like Martin Luther. I had videos of men, even recent ones like Barack Obama. I will sit down for two hours and I'm listening to them, hearing the things they are saying, listening to how they talk, how they think, how they get their audience to pay attention. So that when you talk, your audience must hear you. So on one side, there is the anointing power that compels men. On another side, there is dexterity of speech that when men hear you, they can't deny that you are saying something. I say now, it's called to arise is responsibility. You must leave this conference, find out what area your life is going and then pick yourself up, take all the responsibility required from studying, from partnership, from receiving impartation until you become what you desire because it's not the platform that will make you. The platform will only showcase you. But if you are not yet made and you stand on the platform, you'll be embarrassed. Arise, shine. A generation has not arisen. A generation has not arisen. Somebody say he will be a global businessman. You have never attended any business summit. You have not read any book on business. You have never been mentored by any business giant. But you think that one day by the workings of the hand of God, you will become a business mogul. The system does not work like that. He say, "Arise, shine." If you will shine, you must arise. It is a place of acute responsibility. And you don't do it when you are old. You do it from now. As a youth copper, I spent all my allowance buying books of my boro. Sat down to understand what the kingdom is and read it back cover to cover, marking it out. Today, all the monies we spent buying books, we receive them in one day. You can sit in your house. People lose their peace. So if you want to shine, you must take responsibility. This one is not doctrine. This one is a wakeup call. Arise, shine. Where are you going? What do you need in that direction? What are you doing about it? Every day of your life should be invested into your future. If you sit on the bed of pleasure today, you will die in the pit of sorrow tomorrow. You must wake up today and take responsibility. This idea of sitting on Instagram, sitting on Facebook, scrolling for 10 hours is a grave. I tell people the grave is not 6 ft below. The grave of the modern era is a handset. Many people are walking with their graves because the hours that should be invested in self-development, they have wasted it with mindless scrolling on things that don't bless them. Arise, shine. I met Reverend Dr. Mai many years ago and he asked me the first question. He said, "How much is your library?" Me that thought I was reading. He told me his library was worth 65 million. And I checked, I scanned my whole library in one minute. I realized I was joking. At this level, you are still studying. He said, "Yes." Meanwhile, you look at Reverend Maqu, you think, "Oh, God has anointed some people." You don't know they walk under. People come out unprepared and they have nothing to say to their generation. If you want to shine, you must arise. And to arise is responsibility.

Number two, if you want to shine, you must be revived. I told you yesterday, John 5:35, "you shine to the degree that you burn." So when Ephesians 5:14-16 says awake, it is a call to revival. Responsibility is one, but being fervent in spirit is another. You must master how to keep the fire burning. Leviticus 6:12 says the fire on the altar must not be put out. He said the priest must put wood on it every morning. You must be fed. Listen, two people can be talking. You can tell the one who has passion. You can tell the one who has fire. You can tell the one who has flame. Responsibility will prepare you. But it is different from intensity. You need passion. Any area of your life where you are traveling, you need to be passionate about it. Let that fire be contagious that when men come around your sphere, they can contact it visibly, palpably. It will touch them. So the second way to to to shine is to take the responsibility to burn. Many can't keep their fire for even one day very quickly because of our time. How do you sustain the fire of God? How do you keep it burning? How do you sustain the intensity of the fire of God that is in your spirit? Number one is by fanning it in prayer. 2 Timothy 1:6, he said, "This commandment I give you, son Timothy, that you fan to flame the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of the hands of the presbyter." Please don't be lukewarm. The Bible say, "Be fervent in spirit serving the Lord." It's one thing to serve. It's another thing to serve with fervency. But for you to serve with fervency, the flames must be found. Now, we have different peculiarities. You must understand your own peculiarity. There are those who are fanned by prayer. There are those who are fanned by fasting. There are those who are fanned by worship. And there are those who are fanned by staying in the company of believers. You must find out what fans the fire of God in you. And if you know it, build your tent there because it's one of the secrets of burning. There are people, if they sit down and read for three hours, the fire in their spirit can literally burn their clothes. There are people that if they sit with believers and hear their testimonies, they leave that place to take mountains. There are people that if they shut the door and kneel down for 3 hours and pray, when they come out, it almost looks as if smoke is coming out of their head, and you are wondering, what is this? That's the secret of the problem with believers is that some has not have not even known how to fan because they don't know if they even have flame. But if you have found how to fan your flame, stay there. If it is worship that fans you, every day carry an earpiece at least for two hours. Let the songs be rolling and you are singing and praising God. Stay up. Stay on fire. Those who raised us told us flies perch on cold food. So if you don't want Satan to lock around your life, keep the fire burning. And when you master what makes your fire burn, you fan it on a daily basis. Those who know me understand there are three things that set me on fire. Number one is worship. Number two is prayer. Number three is fasting. So I fast on a weekly basis. Every day of my life, a song is playing. I wake up with songs. I sleep with songs. And prayer for me is like breathing. I'm walking in the car talking to God. I'm alone in the room because I need to stay on fire. I don't know when the demands of destiny with someone. Sometimes you sit down, they call you from a strange quarter and tell you, "Come, you are needed here." You won't have one week to prepare. You need to be volatile. If you are not volatile, the things that should make your promotion will make your disgrace. You can sit down. I was to travel to Pakistan for a conference. They called me and said, "Please, next week we want you to preach for Daddy GO in Benin." I said, "Hope he won't be around." They said, "No, he'll be there." When it sees what will I say? You have to be volatile. These are some of the biggest opportunities of your life. But if you are not flaming, those opportunities will end up disgracing you. They call you to different locations at different times. Where is the fire? The first thing that keeps the fire burning is the act of fanning. And you must master how to fan your flames. I will not fan it for you. Me. I know what fans my flame. Fasting fans me. Worship fans me. Prayer fans me. You discover what fans your flame and give yourself to it. Number two, how do you keep the fire burning is by maintaining service. Serving God is not something you should be motivated to do. It's your life. Romans 12:11 say, "Be fervent in spirit serving the Lord." If you lose service, you lose fervency. Because every time you come here and sweep the floor, lead the prayer, lead the choir, you may think you are doing the church a favor until you stop or until you are removed. Then you will now be shocked that the burden that comes to your heart when you want to lead worship, that leads you to prayer, that burden will no longer be there because the responsibility is no more. And after 3 weeks, after one month, you discover that flesh will begin to resurrect because flesh was mortified. If you don't keep it mortified, it will resurrect. And then you who have destroyed lust for 2 years, lust wakes up again and your thoughts become darkened, and you are wondering, where did this lust come from? That's when you will realize that when you were serving God, you were doing yourself a favor. You will discover that the fear that left you 6 years ago suddenly comes back, and you are wondering, how did this fear return? It returned because you died your service stopped because while you were serving God, there was a burden service put on your spirit to stay hot because you know that if you are singing here and it's not hot, people will know. You know if you are giving a charge here and you are not hot, they will know. You know that you can't do the biddings of God if you are not on fire for God. So that service compelled you to sustain intensity. Now that there's no more service, you'll discover that fire begins to go down. I preached here last night. I went home. I had to pray because I'm coming to preach in the morning. Now, if I was not to preach here this morning, maybe I would have slept in the morning and say, "Let me rest today." But no, I wouldn't. But because I have to come and serve, even if I didn't feel like praying, I must talk to God for God to talk to me. So service in a way helps you to keep the fire. Number three, how do you keep the fire? I'm talking about awake. Now, arise is responsibility. Awake is revival. How do you keep the fire? Number three, by maintaining fellowship with the brethren. In Hebrews 10:24, the Bible says to spur ourselves unto good works. To spur ourselves. So when we fellowship together, I trigger you, you trigger me. Iron sharpens iron, as a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. You keep your fire by maintaining fellowship. Number four, you keep your fire by living sacrificially. You study the Old Testament, the moment the sacrifice is put on the altar, the fire descends. Leviticus 9:22-24, you can't put a sacrifice on the altar and the fire doesn't come down. And in the New Testament, we're not asked to bring goats here. He say, "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God." He said, "This is your reasonable offering." So when a man begins to live sacrificially, the fire is sustained. The fire is maintained. No selfish person is on fire. You can go and do your research. It takes sacrifice or sacrificial living to be on fire. People that you want them to do, they can't do anything for anybody until you pay them. They don't know anything about fire. Pick paper from ground, 10,000. I'm not saying church won't have staff. No, church will have staff that we pay. It's only right we do so. But if everything you have to do, there is a bill tied to it, you don't know God. Today, tell people, "Go and own the generator." They say, "How much?" I'm trekking there. It will take energy to earn it. No sacrifice. Oh, let's go out for evangelism. "Can I? I'm tired. Saturday is my rest." And that's how they have rested to the grave. I rest what? Paul said, "I beat my body. I bring it under subjection." It takes sacrifice to be on fire, and that sacrifice is first of all time, second energy, and third resources. Find people who are on fire, they give their time. They give their energy, they give their resources. And finally, to sustain the fire is purity. The day sin enters, fire dies. There are no two ways about it. This is what it means to arise. The Bible say awake. Arise. It says awake. If you want to burn and shine, you must awake. Too many Christians are lukewarm. You want to test it, use two things. Let's pray. If we say pray, let's pray. Now, if we cross 10 minutes, you'll be shocked the number of people who will be dozing. They will start yawning all of a sudden, as if they were injected with a drug. If we push it to 15 minutes, some people will go out. They are not doing anything. They just want to go and see the sun and come back. The color of the sun today is blue, is yellow. They will come back. If we push it for 30 minutes, some will carry their phone and walk like this. You know what they will do? Go and stand at the edge of the forest there. Hi. Now, wow. It's no easy. Okay. What do we do now? They will look around. Look around. They are still praying. They will look for they are dead inside. If you want to check how much fire, tell us. Let's gather here on Saturday for evangelism. That's why you will know the true size of it.

Tell my people the true size of every congregation is not on Sunday morning. It's during the video and during the evangelism campaign. That's when you know those who are sons and those are the ones who carry fire because they are the ones who have submitted themselves to the way of the cross. They understand the power of sacrifice. Arise.

How much responsibility are you undertaking for your destiny? Please note this thing today. If you don't shine tomorrow, don't blame anybody. If you will shine tomorrow, you must arise today. Note these things down. If you are not awoken today and you don't shine tomorrow, don't blame anybody because it takes you to arise and to awake to shine.

My prayer for you as a man of God ministering to you this morning is that the grace required to both arise and awake will rest upon you now. Because it's not by power, it's not by might. It's by the I said the grace to both arise and awake. Let it rest [Music] upon and to shine.

The Bible say let your light. Let your light. Let your light. If you have arisen, if you have awoken, what is left is to let your light. And how do you let your light? By yielding to the Holy Spirit. You see, as many as are led by the spirit, Romans 8:14, they are the sons of God.

Because if you are not yielded to the Holy Spirit, you will not have good works. Good works are actually a products of the leadership of the Holy Spirit and the revelation of the world. He's the one who tells you give this there lay hands on this person go there and preach. That results in the good works that men see. So the good works is actually not what you let is your yieldedness, submission of your will to the Holy Spirit.

Anybody who will shine must come to that point where he's able to surrender to the Holy Spirit and say, "Holy Ghost, from today you are the governor of my life. My opinion ceases to lead my my steps." Anything you desire is what I will do. Whether it makes sense or not. When you get to that level, you see that you begin to shine.

Jesus, the Bible said that the spirit drove him to the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Matthew 4:1. And then in verse 14, when he had yielded to the spirit, he said, "The land of Zebulun, the land of Napali, that it might be fulfilled that which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, the land of Zebulun, the land of Napali, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentile." He said the people that sat in darkness have seen a great light. He said they that dwell in the shackles of death a great light is sprung forth. So you don't manifest great light unless you have yielded to the Holy Spirit.

Some of us are still struggling with our lives with the Holy Spirit. Go there. No, I won't go. I won't go. Okay, I will go tomorrow. I will go later. You will never shine. If you will shine, you must let your light. And the way you let it is by yielding to the Holy Spirit.

Number two, the way you let it is by refining your mind. Because most of us carry so much, but our crudeness, permit me to use that word, I don't mean to be insultive, but our crudess has obscured our light. And so kings can't come when they look at you. They can't deny that there's a result in what you are doing. But they imagine the way this auditorium is. This is refinement. It takes mental transformation to have a system like this. That's why you can come here and sit down and you sit down, you are relaxed, taking instruction because when you look around, you like what you see. You said this person can tell me what to do.

Imagine if you came here and everything was in chaos. Man of God is on stage. He say leave there. Why? Why are you not? Where is Peter? Why didn't Peter? You'll be like, "Uh, what's happening? Did they know there will be a service this morning?" No. Imagine if you you you came here is when you sat down, they are rushing to sweep the the rug. Sweep sweep it quickly. You'll be like, "What's happening here?" But before you came, everything was in order because there's excellence at work. And so when you come, you can appreciate the light of God. This is not about money. There mustn't be a rug. But if there's order, if there's excellence, it shows the quality of the mind. And so light does not just shine. It shines through the quality of your mind.

This is why if you will shine, you must let your light. And the way to let is to be refined, is to be transformed and transfigured in your mind. Some of us carry so many great things, but we can't express them. Even in the natural world, it's true. Some of the things we buy are not expensive. It's the logo that is expensive because they have used many years for branding. So they carry a bag. You see two bags identical. One has a logo. The other one doesn't because this one has a logo. The difference is $10,000 apart. And then you are saying what's the difference? The logo is the difference. They have spent time to refine and to brand. So what they are selling is not the bag, it's the branding. This is how light shines. This is how light illuminates. It illuminates when you let it.

This morning is my prayer that whatever it will take for you to yield to the Holy Spirit for him to have authority over your life, it will rest upon you this morning. And this morning, whatever you need to see, whatever you need to hear, and wherever you need to go for refinement to come into your life, it will rest upon in the name of Jesus Christ.

Arise, shine. Your light is coming. Your light is not coming. Your light is already come. Whether you will shine or not is your responsibility. It's your choice. Will you arise? Arise. Shine. He say awake thou that sleepst. Christ will give you light. Will you sustain your fire? Then you will shine. And he say let your light so shine. The light has come. Have you arisen? Have you awoken? Then let it. And if you let it, you will shine.

Anybody who has participated in this conference, I make bold to declare to you that your generation will celebrate you. I make bold to declare to you that you will function as the head and not the tail. I make bold to declare to you this morning that everything that swallowed up your parents, you have risen.