Text: Exodus 15:1; 22-25
When I bought my first car, it was a second-hand Rodger Dodger. As the elderly man I was buying it from was handing over the car’s key to me, he said, “young man, keep an eye on the fuel gauge, otherwise you may be stranded by the road side”. He added, “before, you had no car, you took taxi, you took bus and it was not your business whether there was petrol in the tank. Now, you own your own car, keep an eye on the fuel gauge. Before it reaches reserved, branch into the nearest petrol station and refuel”.
He didn’t know he was not just talking about the car, that I learnt a lesson that day. So, before you run out of steam, refuel.
Why Must We Refuel?
The Bible says your fire must not go out – Leviticus 6:12. The fire on your altar, your own personal altar, must be burning forever; it must not go out, it must be burning morning, afternoon and night, burning all the time. Why? One major reason is in the text that I read to you that after one victory, you will need a fire again to confront the next battle. The children of Israel had just crossed the Red Sea, God had done marvellous things for them and they refuelled.
Moses did get them to sing, praise God and thank Him for what He has done. So, when they came to Marah shortly after the great victory, they met another problem. This one is not the host of Egypt; this one is an enemy that is a sure killer. They came to a river they wanted to drink and it was bitter but because they had praised God for what He did in the past, He came to their aid again.
When I listened to the testimonies of this evening, when I saw that child lifted up, the child that the doctors put a lot of pressure on the mother to terminate her pregnancy, I said God thank you that they didn’t terminate my pregnancy. Aren’t you grateful that your pregnancy was not terminated? Let me hear you shout Halleluyah!
When I heard the testimony of the one that the doctor said, ‘listen you are already too old’ and my God who knows all things said alright, they said you are too old, I subtract 5 years from your age.
After every victory, get ready for another battle; that is the way the world is made. Remember David in 1 Samuel 17:34-51? First, it was a lion he defeated, then the bear; he defeated the bear, then Goliath; he defeated Goliath, then the father-in-law; one battle after another. Like I told you, life is a series but every victory comes after a fight. You know we pray that God will give you testimonies. Do you know what that means? It means that the next battle that is ahead God will fight and give you victory.
Consider Samson in Judges 15:14-15; he was untouchable when the fire was there, but when the fire went out in Judges 16:18-21, that mighty man of valour became what ordinary human beings were toying with; plucking out his eyes. You know that when the stove is burning, anybody who touches the stove will get burnt, but when the light has been out for a long time and the stove has become cold, flies and cockroaches can move around the stove.
Why Your Fire Must Not Go Out
In the story of the 10 virgins, the fire in the lamps of 5 virgins went out and they had no oil to refuel. Before they came back from buying, the Bridegroom had come and the door was shut. There are certain doors that will not remain open forever, I have a rough idea of what I’m talking about. The reason your fire must keep burning is that life is in degrees.
John 10:10 says, if a thief comes, that’s the devil, and he finds out that your fire is out, he will first of all start by stealing and then proceed to killing and then proceed to destroying. On the other hand, Jesus said I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
1 Kings 17:8-16 tells the story of the widow of Zarephath; every day she had food but what kind of food? Bread, because there was oil and there was flour so she made bread. What kind of life is that? Bread in the morning and evening, bread today, bread tomorrow, like that for more than 2 years. She was living but then there is abundant life which means you have sufficiency.
2 Kings 4:1-7 tells the story of the widow of one of the sons of the prophet who was in debt and God intervened. The Bible says she paid off the debt and had enough to live on for herself and her sons for the rest of their lives.
There is abundant life with a ‘but’. In 2 Kings 4:8-17, there was the Shunamite woman; she had abundance of everything except a child. 2 kings 5:1-14 tells us that Naaman was great, rich, successful and popular but he was a leper. That is abundant life with a ‘but’.
And then there is more abundant life that is full of everything without a ‘but’. I pray, before this month ends, you will know the meaning of more abundant in Jesus’ name.
There is life that is in degrees. Greatness is in degrees.
The Lord asked me to tell someone that He is about to turn your night to day.
In Genesis 24:34-35, the Bible tells us that Abraham was great. Genesis 26:12-16 says Isaac was very great. Genesis 30:25-43 says Jacob was exceedingly great. Genesis 41:1-44, Joseph was practically the man who became the controller of the whole world because he became the prime minister of Egypt and Egypt was controlling the world. So, greatness is in degrees.
How come Isaac was so great? It is because he kept on refuelling. The first year he sowed, he had 100 full returns, so when he was going to sow the following year, he sowed a 100-fold seed and he had another 100-fold returns. So, by the second year, he moved from one seed to a harvest of 10,000; then the third year, again he sowed 10,000 seeds and each time he kept on sowing higher seeds, he kept on refuelling.
I told you the story why I pray for people, those my friends who give me gifts. When I bless them, I say, “next time will be more”.
I told you the story of a young man who attended one of my teachings, very small boy compared to the people who were there in Ikoyi. When I finished the preaching, he came to me and said, “Sir, I have never heard this kind of sermon before”, and he gave me a gift of $10,000. I looked at him and I said, “thank you very much sir; next time it will be more”. He left my presence full of anger, saying, “what kind of greedy man of God is this? I gave him $10,000; he said next time will be more”. He thought I was saying that was too small but the next year when he came, he said, “I didn’t understand your prayer.” He said the previous year he had 11 petrol stations but by the following year, he had 110. So, he brought another gift; this time not $10,000; and I prayed the same prayer for him, “next time will be more”. By the following year when he came, he told me, “now, we have a depot”. Because his tankers were so many, he said instead of going to queue anywhere, he has his own, and he sowed again and I prayed the same prayer. By the following year, he was already selling petrol in the United Kingdom.
Promotion can be in degrees. In 1 Samuel 16:1-13, David was anointed king among his brethren; he was a king within the family. In 1 Samuel 22:1-2, he was captain of about 400 men. Those people that they thought were ruffians, vagabonds, became mighty men of David. In 2 Samuel 2:3-4, he became king over Judah; going up. In 2 Samuel 5:1-3, he became king over the whole of Israel; he didn’t stop there. By Mark 10:46-52, he had become the father of Jesus. Bartimaeus said, “thou son of David”, while in Luke 1:26-33 when the angel came to visit Mary, he told Mary, “The son you are going to give birth to, God will give him the throne of his father David”. As he kept growing, growing higher, he kept on sowing.
Hotness can also be in degrees. No matter how hot you are now, you can be hotter.
The Lord said, there is someone here today, almost all doors have been shut against you; he asked me to tell you, before the end of this month, they will begin to open rapidly.
In Daniel 3:1-6, there is what is called furnace. If you want to know what a furnace is, go to any of this steel industries. In Daniel 3:14-17, Nebuchadnezzar said that they should make the furnace 7 times hotter. But in Daniel 3:20-27, there is someone called the Son of God, so hot that He swallowed all the heat of the furnace, so that those who were His children were just walking about with things and were discussing. The king said, what am I seeing? We threw in three people but they are four and the four have no hurt. In 1 Kings 18:38, there was a fire, so hot that it drinks water, water that should put off fire but there is the fire of God that when He comes down, He can even drink water. In 2 Kings 1:9-12, Elijah was hot. Some soldiers came to arrest him, they said man of God come down, you are under arrest. He said really, you know I’m a man of God and you want to arrest me? He said roast and immediately they became ashes. I like Elijah.
The Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said before the help you are expecting from human being arrives, His own will arrive.
When we came to this camp ground in 1983, the highway was being tormented by highway robbers and this very camp ground happens to be their headquarters. Our carpenters were basically people who were living here. Then a car broke down on the expressway and the people there ran to the camp because this was the only place where there was light, it was a jungle. And when some policemen were patrolling, they saw the car that broke down and they thought the robbers had been operating. So, they hid in the bush waiting for the robbers to come and rob the car, they didn’t know the occupants had already come to the camp. So, the carpenter followed them to help them bring whatever luggage they have in the car but the police were hiding so when they saw my carpenters coming towards the car, they taught here comes the robbers and their leader gave an order to fire. My people heard the word fire, they didn’t know what was that, but nothing happened and again the officer said fire, nothing happened, also the third time nothing happened until my children got to them and explained that they were innocent people.
The Lord asked me to tell someone, He said those hands that are trying to attack you, ‘I will freeze them’.
Elijah was hot, but Elisha was much hotter.
A king knew that Elijah was hot, when he was going to arrest him, he sent 50 soldiers and a captain; when another king wanted to arrest Elisha, he knew that this one is very, very hot so he sent a whole army; that’s how hot Elisha was. So, hotness can be in degrees. Some of you are hot now, but as you refuel your fire constantly, you can get hotter and hotter.
There are categories of flames, there is red flame produced by firewood; it can burn because it’s a flame but it will leave behind ashes and smoke. Then, there is a blue flame, that’s the flame produced by your gas cooker and that one burns faster, burns without much noise, without ashes and smoke. But there is a white flame, there is a flame that can cut through iron.
When you are talking about fire, certain things come to your mind like light, because where there is fire, there will be light and you can shine brighter.
Brightness Is In Degrees
1 Corinthians 15:41 tells us that glories are in degrees. There is a glory of the moon, the glory of the sun and the glory of the stars; even among stars, there are categories of glories. When somebody is shining, we call him a star, e.g., football star, a star artist, a TV star; shinning. Do you know it is possible to outshine all your mates?
When your heat increases, your brightness increases. Proverb 4:18 says the path of the just is as the shining light that shines more and more unto the perfect day.
When they discovered that Apostle Peter was a star, he shone among them, Acts 5:14-16. But when it comes to Peter, his own case was different; his shadow was healing the sick. Then, as bright as Peter shown, there was still somebody who shown brighter, so much so that it is said in Acts 19:11-12, God performed special miracles by the hand of Paul. I have told you before that a miracle is a special intervention of God in the affairs of men, so much that his handkerchief was used to heal the sick, demons would see his handkerchief and they would run.
How Do We Refuel?
Like I told you in the case of Isaac, you must keep sowing. You can never trade with God and lose; it’s not possible. You must not just sow but sow progressively.
In 2 Kings 4:8-17, the Shunamite woman started by giving Elisha food once in a while, but she said I can do more than this and she decided to build him an apartment. She kept on sowing progressively and when the time came, God rewarded her with something that money cannot buy.
Learn to praise God; this is probably one of the greatest ways you can refuel your fire.
I used to think that the greatest problem of Samson was his eyes; he couldn’t keep his eyes in the right direction and that is true. That was why when the enemy caught him, the first thing they did was to pluck out his eyes. But I again discovered that his greatest problem was ingratitude. He didn’t know how to say thank you, he never said thank you to God all his life. A lion came out, roared at him, the Spirit of God came upon him and he just took the lion, tore it into two and went his way; he didn’t say thank you Lord. Deliverance upon deliverance, he never said thank you Lord. Maybe that’s why the spirit of the Lord departed from him. He tried to go as before and found out that ordinary human being can bind him and take him into prison.
His fire went out because he never knew how to say thank you. Even when he wanted to say his final prayer; because God is merciful, as soon as Delilah cut off his hair, God was already looking down on him with mercy. The Bible says his hair began to grow again. When he wanted to say his final prayer, he didn’t say, “God strengthen me one more time, let me take vengeance on these people for treating your servant so that your name will be glorified”. No, he said, “I want to avenge my eyes”; himself; himself all the time.
David became a king because he knew how to praise God. In Psalm 34:1-3, Psalm 108:1-3, 2 Samuel 6:1-end, when he was coming out to town with the Ark of the Covenant of God, he danced so mightily.
Before I became General Overseer, I had become a born-again Christian in 1973. I was so glad that God saved my soul, I decided that at least once a year I will sing and praise God, that was when I started composing ‘Ewi’ Eulogy several years ago. My first ‘Ewi’ that has been evergreen is Eba mi yin Jesu Ologo… The second one that remains evergreen also is Olorun Dara, e o Dara… I was expressing my gratitude to the one who saved my soul since then every year. Then, I became General Overseer, and someone came to me and said, you are now the father of all of us, let these children sing while you sit down, you are the king now. I said thank you, I will never stop praising Him. I will praise Him until I see Him in glory.
A lion came, David fought and won and sang a song. A bear came, David fought and won and he sang another song. Goliath came, he defeated him and he sang another song; he just kept on singing. The whole world knew him for praising God. That was why when King Saul was tormented by demons and somebody said you need a musician to relieve you, and somebody said I know someone; he was known for praising God.
Praising God is known with me that the first book somebody wrote about me was titled, “Let Somebody Shout Halleluyah”.
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