I welcome you to the month of July, our month of Divine Visitation.
“Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!” Lk 7:16. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is a divine visitation to the earth! “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people.” Lk 1:68. God has always visited his people, He is still interested in visiting His people, so by extrapolation he will still visit his people and particularly in the seventh month which is regarded as the number of perfections I believe God will visit you in a great way. When he visited us he brought salvation from sin, deliverance from oppression, redemption from damnation and escape from hell and showed us the way to heaven for those who believe in Him. As our faces, races, graces differ, so does our challenges but God’s visitation always brings solution, maybe in terms of rebuke, correction, intervention, blessings, curses, succor, comfort and meeting our needs in a way that sometimes goes beyond our expectation. My prayer is that this month as God visits and meets your needs, you will be challenged, encouraged and motivated to do more for the kingdom.
July 1st Canada celebrates her birthdate and July 4th America celebrates her birthdate, I wish these giants and prosperous border nations happy birthdate and pray that they will realize it is God that has helped them and they will no longer relegate God to no position but exalt him. For the bible says “Righteousness exalts a nation and sin is a reproach to any people.” Prov 14:34. By the way Praise God or shout out to The United States Supreme Court that has reversed itself by announcing and denouncing the 1973 Roe v Wade decision because it was "egregiously wrong from the start," as stated by Justice Samuel Alito. We are trusting God that same thing will take place in Canada and also that biblical education and principles will be restored to schools ASAP in both countries.
What is divine visitation? Divine visitation is the process of bringing the wisdom, power, favour, correction and blessing of heaven upon our efforts and life.
Divine visitation is the process of bringing heaven down to overrule the powers of the enemy at work in our situation, opening the floodgates of heaven to bring down blessings that money cannot buy, nor human influence guarantee. For example, God visited Saul he became Paul Acts 9.
When God visits though he is mercy driven, the result varies depending on the individuals. It may be unpleasant if you are living a false life. In the case of Adam and Eve they got curses instead of blessings.
Bishop David Oyedepo was quoted as saying “Have you been working night and day by your own power, without any positive result? Have you been depending on your university degree thinking that it is what will give you all you need? Hear this: Just one encounter with God is much more than a lifetime of struggles and efforts. Every day is God’s Day; the day you believe is your day. God has more than enough resources to meet all the desires of every living being (Psalm 145:15-16).”
How do you know when God has visited you? When rain falls you see the evidence, when thunder strikes you hear the sound you cannot experience divine visitation without knowing. Let us look at four ways you can know God has visited you
1. Salvation: The first time God visited the earth it was to save and Adam and Eve from the intrigues and deceits of Satan. (Gen 3:8). When Jesus came the primary aim was to save humanity from sin by dying on the cross. When He is in the midst of people, He saves (Zephaniah 3:17). The first way you experience Jesus’ visitation is that he will save your soul from sin and eternal death. Whereas simultaneously he can perform miracles of healing and deliverance but his primary aim of visiting you is to save you. In this month of divine visitation if you have not made Jesus your Lord and Saviour every other thing, he has done for you is bonus get your salvation package now. I got mine on February 10, 1977. When you experience God’s visitation and encounter your life cannot be the same again. It may be challenging but it will be productive, blessed and glorious.
2. Deliverance: Wherever God is, you find deliverance there (Obadiah 17). What many people have in mind most times when they speak of divine visitation is deliverance from one satanic, challenging or unpleasant situation or the other, and God does it willingly. Many records abound particularly from barrenness. Sarah Gen 21:1-2) Hannah (1 Sam 1.) Elizabeth Lk 1, Mrs. Manoah Judges 1. Mary (Lk 1:39-56) although that of Mary was not because she was previously barren it was to deliver humanity from their sin and as a fulfillment of the promise to Adam in Gen 3:15 to deliver the human race from Satan. Deliverance from sicknesses, diseases, poverty, and many other challenges, particularly when prayers are offered rather than medical or other conventional ways is a proof of divine visitation.
3. Rebuke and correction. Unfortunately, many don’t see rebuke as God’s visitation we think God’s visitation is only about deliverance and being blessed. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” 2 Tim 3:16. A major part of God’s visitation is to correct us. He did it for Adam. He did it for David.” And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man” 2 King 12:7a. God said to David you are the one who has committed adultery and murder. Reader, what is it that God is saying to you this month “Thou art The Man/Woman” Where is God visiting you by correcting you. Are you involved with a wrong company, are you living a life of deceit, hypocrisy, fraud, scamming, sin, corruption, working against the church? Jesus visited Saul on the way to Damascus and corrected him and he changed for the better. Apart from undertaking three missionary trips and planting many churches, he wrote a substantial part of the NT with deep revelations. May God visit you this month and rebuke and correct you in Jesus’ name and enable you
4. Massive blessings. When God visits you expect the unusual and miracles. Moses and the Israelites experienced massive blessing when they were in the wilderness, God provided them with manna. Ex 16. The people requested for meat and Moses thought it was impossible, God visited them with massive blessing of meat. (Numbers 11.)
5. Examples of people God visited and what they did to attract God’s attention.
1. Adam (Gen 3:8-17). We are not sure of the first time God visited man on earth but we are sure of the first recorded time. It was a trying period for humanity. The earth was relatively new and humans didn’t know their proverbial left from their right, especially Eve. She hobnobbed with Satan, a very dangerous thing to do and the result was disobedience to God’s order. As mentioned above God came to correct Adam and also sanctioned them by cursing the man, serpent and the woman Gen 3:8-17.
2. Abraham. Gen 12:1-3 God visited Abraham, made a covenant with him, blessed him, made him a blessing and turned him into a trans-generational blessing (Genesis 12:1-3). Abraham was hospitable to God which orchestrated his visitation. As God visits you today. The struggles of many generations, joblessness of many years, and immigration issues of many years shall come to an end.
3. Isaac (Genesis 26:1-14). That visitation turned him to the envy of the civilized world. God told him to stay in Gera, he obeyed. Do you stay where God wants you to stay? Did you marry the person God wanted you to marry? Do you pay the tithe God wants you to pay? If God says take charge of the Men Fellowship, choir or prayer band will you obey?
4. Jacob. (Gen 32: 24-28) God visited Jacob and turned him into a global celebrity. Jacob recognized he was messing up his destiny, tricking brother today, deceiving father tomorrow- he was tired of being a fraudster, scammer, 419ner and corrupter. Jacob was alone with God, wrestled with God. God visited him and changed his name from Jacob the Supplanter to Israel “God contended”. I am praying that God will visit you today and change that unpleasant, struggling, trickish, sneaky jobless status of yours in Jesus’ name.
5. The man by the Pool of Bethesda John 5: 1-15. God visited this man that has suffered for many years. Sometimes we don’t recognize the presence of God or divine helper. We just focus on our problem, the people we believe can help us and the pattern of life. When Jesus arrived, he was telling stories but Jesus bypassed his rhetoric, complains and excuses. “Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked” John 5: 8-9. As God visits you this month, I pray that delay in your life shall come to an end. Healing will be yours.
6. How to get God to Visit You:
1. Obey God: If you want to experience divine visitation practice obeying God. When Saul failed to obey God the spirit of God departed from him and an evil spirit tormented him. 1 Sam 16:14
2. Word encounter: Something drops from God and then He turns everything inside you around. Every divine visitation is accompanied by divine revelations. It is these revelations that spark off a revolution in your life (I Samuel 3:21; Gen 12:1-3). Every genuine word-encounter puts you on top of life’s situations (John 1:1-5)
3. Great Faith: Violent faith is one of the ways to maximize the power of divine visitation. When the woman with the issue of blood heard that Jesus was passing by, with faith she touched his garment (Matthew 9:20-21). That is violent faith! She touched it, and her violent faith earned her a visitation!
4. Aggressive Prayer: Everything about our inheritance in the New Testament requires the engagement of aggressive or violent prayer (Matthew 11:12). Violent prayer is a covenant requirement for maximizing the blessings of divine visitation.
5. Hospitability: In Gen 18 Abraham experienced divine visitation when he entertained strangers (angels) In 2 Kings 4. The Shunammite woman experienced divine visitation when she provided accommodation for Elisha, she had a miracle child.
6. Praise: Paul and Silas prayed, sang praises, the prisoners heard them and God stepped in (Acts 16:25). Praise and worship is a platform for visitation.
7. By violent sacrifice: Sacrifice is one of the ways we maximize the miracle power of divine visitation (Psalm 50:5). I read the story of William Borden in a book titled The Forgotten Baptism by Kenneth Ulmer and James Davis that shows how you can experience divine visitation. Here is part of the story. “During his first semester at Yale, Borden started something that would transform campus life. One of his friends described how it began: "It was well on in the first term
when Bill and I began to pray together in the morning before breakfast. I cannot say positively whose suggestion it was, but I feel sure it must have originated with Bill. We had been meeting only a short time when a third student joined us and soon after a fourth. The time was spent in prayer after a brief reading of Scripture. Bill's handling of Scripture was helpful. . . . He would read to us from the Bible, show us something that God had promised and then proceed to claim the promise with assurance."
Borden's small Morning Prayer group gave birth to a movement that soon spread across the campus. By the end of his first year, 150 freshmen were meeting weekly for Bible study and prayer. By the time Bill Borden was a senior, one thousands of Yale's 1,300 students were meeting in such groups
Conclusion: When God visits you, a lot of things will change in your spiritual, physical, mental, and financial life or in your relationship with God. A divine visitation is simply a personal encounter with God. - The person so visited by God is deeply rooted in Him. The person will experience a better personal and very intimate relationship with God. - This is one of the greatest and most important benefits of a divine visitation. It strengthens you spiritually. It moves you from the level of being a regular, ordinary Christian to being a friend of God. That was how God described His relationship with Abraham. Abraham was called a friend of God James 2:23. God is always willing to visit His people, but we must be desirous and expectant of His visitation. We must understand all that we need to do to position ourselves and prepare for His visitation in every area of our lives.
Pastor Amos Dada is the Senior Pastor and Zonal Superintendent of Christ Apostolic Church Bethel Toronto. He is the Dean Christ Apostolic Church Bible Institute North America, Chairman CAC Men Association North America, The Convener of International Gathering of Eagles Conferences, President of Eagle Academy and Canadian Institute of Leadership and Development. Subscribe to him on YouTube/Dramosdada and follow him on Facebook and twitter @amos_dada. www.cacbethel.com;www.igoeministry.com
