Confront To Conquer Part 3 by Apostle Johnson Suleman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Components of Gathering in God's House

From the recap: this series runs on components that matter for a quality life. Components covered so far — patterns, imagination, rest, and addiction to God's house.

Luke 4:16 — Jesus entered the temple as His custom was. He was a committed church member.

Hebrews 10:25 — Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is.

Hebrews 12:22-24 — When believers gather, they come to:

• Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem — meaning your peace is endorsed and established every time you gather
• An innumerable company of angels — you can count the people in the room, but the angels present cannot be counted
• The general assembly and church of the firstborn written in heaven
• God the Judge — so when you gather, matters are judged, justice is enforced
• The spirits of just men made perfect
• Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant
• The blood of sprinkling that speaks

Isaiah 33:22 — Only God occupies all three arms of government: legislator (makes laws), judiciary (interprets laws), executive (executes). When we sit under the word, we make laws. When we come before God in worship, we interpret them. When we stand to pray, we execute.

Being born again enlists you into authority — but authority is ineffective without power. Coming together triggers power. A police officer has the uniform (authority) and the gun (power). There are powers that will resist your authority — that is when fire is needed. Do not stay at home.

Point 5 — Your Relationship with the Holy Spirit

The wife in 2 Kings 4 said of her husband: "Thy servant feared the Lord." The text reveals a tripartite connectivity — prophet, husband, God. There are those who know scriptures but lack connection.

God will tell you things not literally written in scripture, but He will never tell you anything outside of scripture. "Arise and go to the United Kingdom" — the United Kingdom is not in the Bible; but intimacy fills the gap between the letter and the living word.

The Holy Ghost is the last personality of the Godhead to be revealed — not lower in potency, simply the last to be disclosed. Intimacy means enter into me — proximity, alignment, synergy, union.

Acts 19:2 — Paul asked, "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" They said they did not know whether there was a Holy Ghost.

Jesus, having taught the disciples for three and a half years, said: "Carry ye in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high." Knowledge without the Holy Ghost is incomplete.

The Holy Spirit is a personality — not merely a power:

• He has emotions — Ephesians 4:30: Grieve not the Spirit
• He has a will — 1 Corinthians 12:11: the Spirit gives gifts as He wills
• He has a mind — Romans 8:27: Who knows the mind of the Spirit?

The Holy Spirit comes with gifts (plural — you can have one without another) and fruit (singular — you cannot have love without kindness; you cannot have temperance without longsuffering — it is one fruit).

2 Corinthians 13:14 — The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost. Grace saves us. Love keeps us in God. But both are powered by communion with the Holy Ghost. You want to see grace at work? You want to see love in full display? Then you must have communion with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Ghost gives strategy. Strategy is stronger than energy. God can teach you strategy on how to relate with people, how to run a business, how to keep your home. "When your husband is yelling and the Holy Ghost says don't say a word" — that is strategy. As you walk with Him, you become better. He brings out the glory of your walk with God.

The Story of Kathryn Kuhlman

Pastor Benny Hinn shared that Kathryn Kuhlman had been deeply in love with someone who broke her heart and did much damage. She was crying, in pain — when the Holy Spirit said to her: "If you can love Me like this, try loving Me like this — and see." She gave herself to the Holy Spirit. But the difference was, she also had to ask the same Holy Spirit to help her love Him. And the rest is history.

Knowing the Holy Spirit intimately controls you. It tells you what to do, what to say. When you know the Holy Spirit intimately, you can say of another person's alleged claims: "My wife cannot say that" — because by reason of intimacy, you know the character.

Testimony — The Daughter Who Fasted

One of the minister's daughters, Divine, was growing thinner. At five, six, seven, eight years old — she was always fasting, hiding food and locking the door. After summoning her and firmly warning her, the Holy Ghost came and said: "You have become so bold that you are ordering people when to stop fasting. No problem — she is free to eat for six months. But you will fast for six months starting now." He immediately called her back, embraced her, and apologised. That moment — the anointing and mantle fell on her. Now when she speaks, the minister marvels: "Is this my child?" — and the very thing the Holy Ghost tells her in the morning is the same thing He had told her father, word for word.

Your intimacy with the Holy Spirit is your greatest weapon.

Revelation 1:10 — To hear His voice, you must be in the Spirit.

The Direction of God

Fire came — God was not in the fire. Earthquake came — God was not in the earthquake. There came a still small voice. The summation of God's totality is His voice. Fire can be faked. Earthquake can be manipulated. But His voice — that is the summation of divinity expressed in direction.

The secret joker of champions is direction. Lord, what are You saying?

There is a way to live your life in this kingdom and be sorrow-free and trouble-free — every day coming before His presence and depending on His leading.

The Holy Ghost will introduce Himself to you. Times will change. Seasons will change. I make declarations: you become a kingdom high-flier. I decree over your life.

Point 6 — The Concept of Prayer

The woman in 2 Kings 4 shut the door — this is the concept of prayer.

Refusing to pray is not a decision — it is an attack. Being too weak to pray is not a decision. Psalm 79:6 — Pour out Your fury on the nations that call not on Your name. There is a judgment on the prayerless.

Luke 18:1 — He spake a parable to this end, that men ought always to pray. Prayer is for the matured — those who are men. Luke 11:1 — "Teach us to pray." Prayer is the only subject you learn by doing it.

Prayer is not a monologue — it is a dialogue. It is incomplete if you are always the petitioner and never wait for a response.

Prayer breaks down into two components:

1. Picture — Mark 11:24: whatsoever things you desire when you pray. Prayer begins with desire. You cannot speak victory while you see defeat. Correct your picture. Before going to pray for the sick, see everyone healed. Before going for an interview, see yourself already working there. Call forth those things that be not as though they were.
2. Utterance — Daniel 10:12: thy words were heard. Utterance is substance in the realm of the spirit. Don't say what you feel — say what you see. Don't confess the symptoms; confess the scriptures. Job 6:25 — How forcible are right words. Proverbs 25:11 — A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

Testimony — The Boy with Polio

A woman screamed at the entrance carrying a boy of about nine or ten who had never walked, diagnosed with polio. Rather than pray, the minister said: "This boy does not have polio." He placed him down — and the boy started walking. No formal prayer was spoken. The mother passed out. It was because the minister refused to say what was seen naturally and instead spoke what the word of God showed as picture.

Testimony — The Amputated Hand

During a service, a lady in the gallery had an amputated hand. While ministering, she screamed and raised a restored hand. When a friend later asked why the minister had not paused dramatically, the response was: "Maybe the problem I have is that I expected it." When you become too dramatic over a manifestation, something is wrong — most great manifestations are spontaneous.

Correct your picture. You are not a failure. You do not have cancer. You do not have a tumour. What you call what you see becomes what you get.

Luke 21:15 — I will give you a mouth and wisdom that your adversaries cannot gainsay.

Speak over the call of God on your life. Speak over your health, your investment, your office, your ministry. Speak expansion. Speak grace and glory. Speak what He has said in His word concerning you.

I decree wealth transfer. What was hard becomes easy. Doors that were closed are declared open in the name of Jesus. That what came in annually will now come in quarterly — it happens to you in the name of Jesus. Wherever help is, we provoke it to come to you. Wherever expansion is, we provoke it to come to you.