The second speaker for the school of the Spirit session was Pastor Cyril Yerifor. He took us on an enlightening spiritual journey with his sermon which he titled The Hearing of Faith.
Mark 11:22-24
Pastor Cyril began this teaching by asking what could have brought about the statement Jesus made to his disciples in the above text and what led Him in the first place to the fig tree on that particular day. In his opinion Jesus went to the tree on that day because he was hungry, but it does not end there. The fact that Jesus hungered goes to show that He walked upon this earth as a man, but the story still doesn’t end there.
In verse 14 we see that Jesus’ response to the absence of fruits is contrary to what the natural man would have done. If the natural man possessed the power Jesus had at that time, he would have used it in satisfying his hunger and abundantly too. What this reveals is that the spirit of the message of the Gospel is not self-serving or self-seeking but it seeks to attend to the will of God and not the will of man.
The pronouncement Jesus made to the fig tree was a prophetic action which led to several other events that led to the emergence of the New Covenant. Jesus’ hunger at that moment did not blind Him to what the Father was saying or doing, instead He used that scenario to teach us to have faith in God. In the same vein, faith in God begins with God and what God says.
When Jesus said “have faith in God” He meant have faith in God and not yourself! At times we fail to exercise faith because we expect that when God speaks the directions must be tough because the directions God gives may be ‘too simple’. This often makes people think that what they’re hearing is their own voices. However, it is possible to know when it is self-will or God’s will in action. The law of sin and death operates by a law. Sin and death has no power but only responds to a law.
Galatians 3:1-5, Mark 11:22-24, 11:12-14, 20, James 1:12-15, John 5:19, Romans 8:2, John 15:1-7
People’s desires are at the root of the law of sin and death; this means that desires trigger the law into motion. John 15:1-7 tells us that the only time our wills can be safe in prayer and the exercise of faith is when we abide in God, this is when the Father’s will becomes ours.
Revelation precedes the doing of God’s will. We need to hear and see what He’s doing in order to manifest the supernatural. James 4:1-7 shows that a lot of conflicts arise as a result of our desires and the things we want. This is the pitfall we must all avoid, namely, trying to be in line with God while still a friend of the world.
Anyone who has a covenant with God and wants to still be friends with the world is in adultery. Do not be conformed to the world and all its appetites. You can only activate what Jesus said in Mark 11:22-24 by desiring only the will of God, and what He shows and continues to show you. Love the Lord and desire Him alone!