Visitation by Apostle Johnson Suleman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Visitation and Encounter

The text for this message is drawn from Judges 6:6-16 and Judges 7:2-7.

Visitations are embellished and colorized by encounters. Anytime God wants to visit a man, He does that through an encounter. Everyone in Scripture who stood out in their time — from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob, from David to Jonah to Noah, from all the kings, the judges, and the prophets — there were men who were visited via encounter. Encounters are colorations of divine visitation.

The Bible tells us in Psalm 8:4 — the question is posed: what is man that God is mindful of him, or the son of man that He visitest him? Two things are triggered by visitation. First, visitation uncovers the mind of God. Second, visitation enters and permeates foundations.

In Psalm 65:9, He said: thou visitest the earth and waterest it. Water is nourishment. Water is strength. Water is embellishment. Anytime God visits a man, He waters that man. So visitation is what waters conviction.

The five senses can fail. There is a level of struggle a man gets to where what he knows will fail, what he thinks will fail, what he feels will fail. The only thing that waters his conviction is the encounter he has had with God. How could God speak to Abraham and say, "Go out of your father's house unto a land that I will show you" and Abraham step out without being shown the land first? Because visitation empowered his conviction.

When God visits a man, it is to solidify his conviction.

You will have an encounter with God. God will meet with you. Heaven will meet with you.

Encounters Are Assets for Greatness

Encounters are assets for greatness. In an encounter, two things are unveiled: you see God, and you see yourself.

Before the angel appeared to Gideon, a prophet came to the people and spoke to them, bringing them to the realization and consciousness of what was wrong. It was that consciousness that opened the spiritual atmosphere. But notice — when the prophet told them what was wrong, things were still the same. When the prophet told them why God was not happy with them, things remained the same. So it is not the day God talks to you that things change.

The fact that nothing is changing doesn't mean God is not speaking. God can be speaking and things remain the same. But it is the speakings of God that open the door for the turnaround of men. The day God starts speaking over your life, get excited — your turnaround is around the corner. Everyone who wants to see a turnaround builds revelation upon revelation, voice upon voice, here a little, there a little.

Whatever has placed a limitation on your life — by this divine visitation, it expires.

The Prophet and the Angel

A prophet came. When he came, an angel also came. Prophets are carriers of angels. To miss the prophet is to be bankrupt of his angel. Whenever a prophetic word is released, an angelic reward goes with it. Whenever you see a prophet, God embodies Himself in men.

The children of Israel had a negative construct of God. All they knew about that God was a God that turned water to blood, released lice and flies and frogs, and killed the firstborn. They saw Him as a God with anger issues, a God who was temperamental. So when God brought them out of Egypt and wanted to talk to them, it came as thunder and they said, "We said it." They begged Moses to interface for them.

When Moses went up to get the tablets of commandment, the people waited. When Moses wasn't coming, they gathered and said: please make us gods that we are used to, because this God seems so far away.

Aaron, who had no direct encounter, bowed to that pressure. Aaron's encounter was premised on Moses' encounter. Men with their own encounters don't bow to pressure. If Aaron had seen the burning bush himself, there is nothing the crowd could have told him.

You are going to wake up in your heart and say, "Lord, I'm not leaving this mountain until I meet with You."

Gideon: The Pattern of a Visited Man

Gideon was hiding. Not only was he hiding, he was also hiding his harvest. It is one thing to hide your money; it is another to hide yourself. Both him and his labor were hidden because of the Midianites.

When the angel appeared to Gideon, the Bible says he spoke and said, "Where are the miracles of God? We were told God did this — where is it?" The height of fruitful deliberation is when you report God to God. Gideon was not reporting his problem. He was reporting God to God.

It is an insult to divinity to come to God and say: look at my sickness, look at my unpaid rent. These are too small. If you want to get God on the scene, bring God to talk to God. Say: the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Lord, You said concerning the work of my hands, "Command ye Me."

When you remind God of what He has said, what He told you, what Scripture says, what He has revealed, what He has uttered, what He has spoken, what He has declared, what He has written, you trigger heaven into manifestation.

Everything God has said about you, your body, your life, your finances, your marriage — I see them manifest.

Greatness Is Configured with Conflict

Every greatness is configured with elements of conflict. When God wants to make you solid, the battles that come your way will be battles that unveil God's intention. Anything built by mere words alone is easily destroyed. But if you want to know the height of any building, it is determined by the depth.

In Mark 15:34-36, as Jesus was on the cross, one ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and offered it to Him. What many did not know is that vinegar stops the flow of blood, treats wounds, and prevents blood clots. The enemy meant it for bitterness and to make Him feel pain on the cross, but they were actually treating His wounds, preserving the blood. What the enemy meant for evil, God was turning it around for good.

God says all things work together for good for those that love God, who are called according to His purpose. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When God says yes, no man can say no.

God Specializes in Uplifting the Despised

Gideon said he was from the tribe of Manasseh, from the least house in that tribe. It was the least of the least. But God came. God specializes in uplifting the despised, the abandoned, the rejected, the neglected.

When you are down and your back is on the ground, it is so that your eyes can be on the Lord. When you are empty, it is so that God can fill you. When there is no help anywhere, it is so that you can look up to the hills — from whence cometh your help. Your help comes from God who made the heavens and the earth.

Heaven will show up in strange ways. God is a lifter of men. He will lift you. God is a maker of men. He will make you. God is the One who enlarges men — if He enlarges you, no one can shrink you.

Encounter Matures Men

When the angel appeared, he looked at a frustrated young man and said, "Thou mighty man of valor." A boy was called a man. Encounter matures men.

Where did Moses learn delegation and leadership that he could lead 2 million people? Encounter. David was 30 years when he sat on the throne — encounter matures men. Where did Joseph learn the science of preservation that he could store food for seven years without decay? Encounter. He was kept in charge of storage and he stored everything — not because he was a scientist, but because encounter inspires, encounter matures.

I serve a God that does not talk down on a man. He met a man hiding and said, "Thou mighty man of valor." When people come and say "the Lord says I should warn you that He is angry" — that is not the God I know. The God I know does not talk down on men.