Just Before You Begin

Someone once expressed his greatest shock to me. He said, "Pastor, you won't believe that despite my ten years of competitive experience in my field, I still don't have a good job".

Of course I would believe. Experience is not a substitute for power. Moses had experienced God in different dimensions, but he could not cross the red sea until he engaged power from God. Many people are stagnated in life, not because they are not experienced, but because they ignorantly use their experience where they should have engaged power.  Many experienced employees have been laid off from their place of work, not because the company no longer cherishes their experience, but because they cannot afford to keep them any longer.  Shockingly, they retain those   who although may not be as experienced, but have some level of spiritual authority.

When you have power plus experience, organizations will keep you for as long as you decide to work with them. Laban was ready to keep Jacob for as long as possible, that's why he compromised in the marriage between Jacob and his second daughter. When it was obvious that Jacob had to go, he still made efforts to keep him back by trying to manipulate his reward. If his plan was successful, Jacob would probably have no choice but to continue serving Laban until he had enough possessions. Honestly, it's a hard thing to let go a person with power and experience, even if it's a personal decision.

David's case was quite peculiar. Even before he faced Goliath, King Saul had employed him. At that time, God had put a disturbing spirit upon Saul and it was recommended that anytime that spirit comes upon him, someone should play an instrument for it to leave. Let's read how David got into the picture from scriptures:

1 Samuel 16:17 And Saul said to his servants, then get me a man who is an expert player, and make him come to me.

18 Then one of the servants in answer said, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Beth-lehemite, who is expert at playing, and a strong man and a man of war; and he is wise in his words, and pleasing in looks, and the Lord is with him.

19 So Saul sent his servants to Jesse and said, send me your son David who is with the sheep.

20 And Jesse took five cakes of bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them to Saul by David.

21 And David came to Saul, waiting before him: and he became very dear to Saul, who made him his servant, giving him the care of his arms.

22 And Saul sent to Jesse saying, Let David be with me, for he is pleasing to me.

Did you notice David's CV? After all the skills that were mentioned, they added that the Lord was with Him. In other words, he had some level of spiritual authority. In verse 21, king Saul loved David because he was truly special, and the next thing we heard was that he sent a message to David’s father asking him to let David remain in the palace with him.

That’s what happens when you have both power and experience. Think of Daniel and Joseph. Daniel was relevant through the reign of several kings, because of power. Joseph became second in command to Pharaoh because of the power he possessed. The reason why people with spiritual authority will always be needed is because when the organization is challenged, they'd be needed to save the day. When Goliath attacked, the same David saved the day.

I have heard testimonies of employees who were promoted even when their employer was trimming workers. That's because a light generator will never be in the list of what should be discarded. Everybody needs light, the economy notwithstanding. A time is coming when experience alone will no longer be a criterion for employment; rather, organizations will be looking out for people with power and experience. And that's because they know that when the chips are down, the same employee will pray to his God. So, after asking you how many years’ experience you have, they'd also ask you about your relationship with God.

No organization would dare to release an employee who has both power and experience. In fact, they'd still retain you if you have small experience but much power. This is why I pity believers who don't develop their faith in the name of work. They'd tell you they've been too busy to pray because of work. If only they know that they need that faith to save both the job and the organization in the times to come.

The bible admonishes that we occupy till Jesus comes.  In other words, occupy everywhere God puts you with the systems of the kingdom. You can't be in an organization yet there's no daily fellowship among the Christians there. You're not obeying the last command, "Occupy till I come". God didn't give you that job just to earn a salary, but also to occupy the organization with the systems of the kingdom.

I've realized that every believer wants to walk in power, but the challenge is that they don't know how. Many of them dabble into guess works, which eventually leads to error. When it comes to the kingdom, we get results by conviction, not guess works. So even if you guessed it correctly, it still won't work because you're not convinced about it.

I've ignorantly quoted many scriptures in the past, and of course they didn't work. I've also ignorantly applied some scriptural doctrines, and I'm pretty sure it's the mercies of God I've just been enjoying, because frankly speaking, if I was operating with a different revelation from what I know now, then I clearly was in error. If I was getting results in error, then that's certainly the mercy of God at work.

Each time we hear the word "power" as Christians, we often begin to think of the level of prayer and fasting that one has to subject himself to.  Well, that’s not the case for this book. My desire in this book is to show you some avenues of power that every believer, young and old, is expected to operate in. Fasting will make you remain yielded to the spirit, which means you'd be more sensitive to spiritual principles and truths; that also means it would be easier to walk in power. But this doesn't mean you cannot walk in power while in a wedding party eating fried rice and a whole chicken. This doesn't mean you cannot walk in power after you just made out with your wife. Fasting gives you an advantage, and that's why I fast often, but don't let the idea of not fasting deprive you from walking in these avenues of power. Whether you're feeling spiritual or not, these avenues of power will work.

Now that we've cleared that, let me show you 3 streams of power that will change your life forever.