“Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.”
Luke 5:13
“And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.””
Luke 5:14
“However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.”
Luke 5:15
“So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”
Luke 5:16

DaFruits of Withdrawing From The world, and Understanding Prayer.

So Jesus Himself often withdrew into the wilderness to pray.
It is very important, in fact it is vital that every believer follows this same trend.
To withdraw from the world is needed for ever believer in order to be refilled, empowered, and strengthened with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus withdrew from the crowds, and from His followers in order to pray.
This scripture does not particularly say anything about Jesus seeking permission first from anybody, or informing them first.
Jesus just simply withdrew from the crowds.
It is not every day that you need to explain yourself to others, sometimes just keep quiet and pray.
Simple.

Protect your destiny with silence.
Allow your destiny to speak at its opportune time, do not reveal its secrets.
Keep your destiny between you and God, you best believe the enemy is out to steal and destroy it.
Watch, and pray.
It’s very important that you know that you are only answerable to God.
Respect those in authority, but do not allow them to control you.
It’s very important that you know that you are only answerable to God.
Respect those in authority, but do not allow them to control you.
The role of a Christian on this earth is to be about their Father’s business.

Brethren, as we are approaching the new year I encourage you to take moments to WITHDRAW in order to PRAY.
It is very necessary that Christians withdraw in order to hear God clearly.
So go on a retreat, turn of your phones when you can, take breaks from social media, set apart a time that is just for you and God.

Most importantly, FAST and PRAY.

It is very important to set time to have an all night prayer with the Holy Spirit.
The benefits of having all night prayer with the Holy Spirit is that the vision becomes clearer.
Another benefit of having all night prayer with the Holy Spirit is that you are sure to have a divine revelation.

“Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.”
Luke 6:12

Again here we see the importance of withdrawing in order to seek the face of the Lord.
We cannot hear God clearly if we do not understand the importance of withdrawing from the world, and retreating into His divine presence.

“And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:”
Luke 6:13

Divine encounters bring forth divine revelations.
Jesus performed many miracles, signs, and wonders, but after He had done all of that He withdrew, and went into a time of prayer.

“And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:”
Luke 6:13

The Meaning of True Friendship

It is good to have friends but as christians we should be very discerning in the company that we keep, and when I say discerning I mean wise, and Holy Spirit led. In life there are three types of friends that you should have people that should know off you, people that should know you, and there are people that should know you intimately. Jesus had twelve disciples He had twelve friends but He also had an inner circle those that knew Him intimately, and those disciples were John, Peter, and James.(See Matthew 17, Mark 9, Mark 14, Luke 9).

Every believer should have an inner circle those that will stand with you, intercede on your behalf, agree in fasting and prayer with you, encourage you, rebuke you(not being afraid to tell you the truth, being honest, no sugarcoating, no deceiving), there should always be understanding, fellowship, forgiveness and love, these things are what makes a successful inner circle. If you truly know Jesus then you will truly understand the meaning of friendship because Jesus is the most best friend one could ever have and there really is no friend out there that can be as reliable, loving, trustworthy, comforting, forgiving, gentle, kind, truthful, I mean every good thing you could think of no friend can match up to Jesus.

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

Jesus chose twelve disciples not spontaneously but he chose them first through prayer, and he prayed ALONE. Being alone is not always necessarily a bad thing especially when you are rooted in Christ Jesus, because the truth of the matter is when you have Jesus Christ you can never be lonely. Jesus had the God The Father, and The Holy Spirit in whom is the Comforter, so aren’t we privileged as believers to have these three supreme friends whom are always on our side, and its because we have God that we have the divine wisdom to make destiny changing decisions, and choose our friends wisely. Jesus had negative and positive friends, and even his positive friends were not positive all the time, Thomas doubted, Peter denied Him. Brethren we need different friends for different seasons some may stay throughout your every changing seasons, and some may leave and thats ok but it is important that if we are to let go of certain friends that we let go of them at God’s appointed time, and not prematurely otherwise we may unintentionally abort or avert God’s perfect plan.

We all have a divine purpose to fulfil and to fulfil our destinies we all have destiny helpers. The disciples all played a major role in the leading to Jesus completing His destiny on earth, but there is one who we would generally identify as least of them all and that was Judas. Judas evidently fulfilled scripture as foreseen as far back in the prophetic book of Isaiah a betrayer was needed in order for Jesus to make it to that old rugged cross it does not make sense but our Lord works in mysterious ways. Friends can betray you and be forgiven. There  is love in friendship and there is unity because if we separate friend from the ship your friend is basically on the same ship as you like the disciples were when they sailed away with Jesus on stormy seas yet they never sunk for the simple fact that Jesus was there, He was their peace, He was their calm, and He was their stillness, and that is the type of friend that you need.

Before you make any friends make sure that you are first friends with Jesus Christ else you will always be friends with the devil.

Withdrawing is what you need if you really desire to make an impact. Jesus healed and performed miracles then he withdrew into the bosom of His Father, His Source, He prayed and He continued going about His father’s business, and this brethren is the way to pray its the secret that most believers do not know. The secret place is where we should always withdraw to as believers for it is in that place that we shall find power, and that power resides in God.

So we understand that we are made disciples of Christ once we become His friend, but what is required of a believer who decides to become a friend of God? Exodus is a good place to  start to understand the true meaning of friendship between God and man. There is however one major fact that when we decide to become a friend of God we choose to ourselves a living sacrifice holy and acceptable by dying to self daily.

The message preached at church on Sunday 4th December 2016 reminded me of a message I shared two years ago called DaFruits of Sacrificial Service.❤.
‘You can be as close to God as you personally are determined to be.
There are ‘christians’, and there are Christians if you want to be apart of God’s inner circle like the disciples and the apostles were then there are certain things that you cannot do.
If you want to be apart of God’s inner circle then there is a price that you must pay, but the problem within Christianity today is that there is a lack of SACRIFICE. When serving God you cannot put the approval of others before Him because that is vanity.
Ministerial success is not determined by how many things you have but by how many lives you have led to SALVATION.
The problem we have initiated into the Kingdom of God today is that we always want to receive and we often forget that as Christians it is our duty to give.
Hold a three day crusade on the anointing to prosper, and you will see an auditorium that is filled to the brim, but hold a three day crusade on salvation, the cross, or how to make it to heaven and you will not see as many numbers. Sad.
The truth of the matter is this, that
There Is Nothing Like Living For God Without Paying A Price.’
That is why there is a fruit of long suffering which we often ignore, but Jesus did not reject the cup of suffering rather he accepted the will of God, and he drank from it.
Are you really willing to do the work of God, and do you really know what it takes?

So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.”
Isaiah 6:5

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.
Isaiah 6:6

And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”
Isaiah 6:7

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Isaiah 6:8

It’s that raw fire of God that you need in order for you to stand and fulfil the perfect will of The Father, and its with that fire that the enemy will not even dare to touch.

As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. I Chronicles 28:9

Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it.” I Chronicles 28:10

“All this, ” said David, “the Lord made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, all the works of these plans.” I Chronicles 28:19

And David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God— will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. I Chronicles 28:20

After salvation, after we have discovered who we are in Christ, we must deny ourselves, which isn’t easy but is always worth it because it means that somebody else will be saved.
The cross was NOT easy but was worth it because you and I are saved, praise God!
The pain that Christ endured, the cup of long suffering was NOT easy but was worth it.

As Christians we often forget that long suffering is a reality of life, and that God uses it to shape us.’ In order to overcome the devil one must exercise complete holiness and walk in purity. May God almighty help us, as He helped Paul to put his flesh under subjection allowing him to die to self daily(1 Corinthians 9:26-27), and Peter to overcome the spirit of fear, carry his cross, and fulfil his divine purpose. (See DaFruits of the Cup of Suffering.❤ for more on long-suffering).

But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. See
1 John 2:5
By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
1 John 2:6
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1 John 2:15
For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father but is of the world.
1 John 2:16
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:17

‘The Son of God invested the vast majority of His time with twelve, not twelve hundred.’