How To Seek And Find God 24072024- Apostle Peterson Onoja Abu

The speaker welcomes everyone to the midweek service and emphasizes its importance. They discuss the importance of seeking and finding God and address common complaints about not hearing from God despite prayer and fasting. They highlight the need to seek God with the whole heart and offer assurance that it is possible to find Him. They also mention the importance of seeking God's guidance in various aspects of life. Halelujah. I welcome every one of us to this wonderful moment of the world. I'm so happy to have us in our midweek service. I want to tell you that as many of us who are always coming for the midweek service, you are more blessed than those just coming only on Sundays. Our Sunday service are powerful, but our Bible study, our Word study service, our services or the service we do every Wednesday to me is more powerful. So this evening we have gathered together to hear from God again and it has been my prayer that the teaching tonight would answer your heart's desire, would answer questions going on in your heart and if you observe very well for the past few weeks we have been talking about important teachings that are also questions in the heart of many believers and we are living in a generation whereby if you are not able to answer their questions they may not be comfortable serving the same God that you profess to know. So many of us here we might we might be going through some emotional breakdown due to questions we have in our hearts, but it appears as if there is no answer to those questions. There are no answers to our questions. Let us bear with that for prayers. Use this opportunity to ask God to communicate to you this evening that the Word of God will be a blessing to your heart, that everything that the Lord will be teaching us will be a teaching that will come to bless our hearts, will come to transform us and to cause a total transformation in our lives. Open your mouth and talk to the Lord. Ask the Lord to minister to you the Word of eternal life. Ask the Lord to speak to you and ask God to make sure to make the meeting impactful to you. There won't be distractions from our children, there won't be distractions from the people around you to the person sitting by your side. Ask God that what you want you to learn to hear and to learn tonight that should help you to be able to do that. For in Jesus' mighty name we pray. Father we have come again this day as our time of appointment with you. We have come to learn at your feet. We are asking you Holy Spirit that you open the door of our heart and insert knowledge and wisdom into our heart in the name of Jesus. Make it a blessing even this evening and prosper your Word in our heart. Thank you Father because we are faithful. For in Jesus' mighty name we pray. Let us go quickly to the book of Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 13. Jeremiah chapter 29. I read verse 13. I want you all to open your Bibles. Jeremiah 29 verse 13. Jeremiah 29. Then we go to verse 13. The Bible says in verse 13. And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with the whole of your heart. Ye that shall seek me and find me when you shall seek for me with the whole of your heart. Now where we read in the Bible God has given us assurance that there is possibility of finding him if we can seek him. But there is a conditional statement there when it is done with the whole of your heart. As we read further as we go to the message tonight this evening we are going to read other Bible passages. I'll be discussing how to seek and find God. How to seek and find God. The confusion and pain of many believers is not that Jesus is Lord. They believe that Jesus is Lord. But their confusion and their pain is that they often seek God without finding him. They often seek him but not finding him. And many believers are having issues with this. Most especially we pastors when they come to us for counseling we tell them to go and seek the face of God. Sometimes that may be the end of that discussion. Because the moment you ask them to go and seek the face of God they would never return back and say this is what they had from God. They would never return back to tell you that this is what they received from God when they went to seek the face of God. So most times as pastors whenever we ask our members or leaders in the church to go and seek the face of God it always looks as though we are telling them that this is the end of the conversations. And this is not because they are not wanting to seek the face of God. But they are having a problem of often seeking the face of God but not receiving from God. Often seeking the face of God but not finding God. Wherever we read in our text it says you shall seek me and find me when you seek for me with the whole of your heart. When you're seeking me it is with the whole of your heart. And if you read the book of Matthew chapter 7 verse 7 it says he harks and he shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find. Isaiah chapter 55 verse 6 seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. So the scripture across the scriptures we have seen God assuring us and we are showing us of the possibility of seeking him and finding him. But you see some of the common complaints among believers among pastors I have pastors who have come to me for counseling and when I ask them to go and seek the face of God concerning a particular decision they're about to make concerning their ministry or concerning their families or their lives I never hear from them again. There are many Christian sisters sincere Christians brothers and sisters who came to me about life partners whom they should get married to in life. And when I ask them to go and seek the face of God about that particular suitor or about his sister you would never hear from them again. And after a few months later you will hear them coming back to complain the initial complaints they have given to you. So most times this is this practice of seeking the face of God looks like what I call the mirage or the mirage it's as though it is not real but it's just a Christian language of which we put an end to discussion. But I want to let you know that that is not true. You can actually seek the face of God and you can find God. I'm a living testimony of that and that is why I can teach you how you can seek and find God. Now let us look at some of the common complaints among Christians when it comes to the issue or the practice of seeking the face of God. Number one is why is God not speaking back to me? Why is God not speaking back to me? So you will see some believers asking questions like that. I've gone to seek the face of God. I've gone to place of prayer. I've been talking to God about this for the past one week, two weeks, three weeks, for the past few months. Why is God not speaking back to me? Now this is one of the questions that comes from troubled souls, troubled believers. Those that are getting tired about this practice of seeking the face of God. In fact, have you observed that people often say that when it comes to seeking the face of God it's always a long process. So most times believers tend to carry out plans without involving God because they say when you involve God now it's going to take a long time before God speaks and it shouldn't be like that. God is not a wicked God and that is why I'm trying to correct the perspective about seeking the face of God and not finding from God. Seeking the face of God concerning life, life partners, concerning ministry, concerning business and yet you are not hearing from God. 90% of believers today don't seek the face of God. 90% of believers do things without first consulting God. 90% of believers carry out plans and visions and carry out business goals or business visions without consulting God, without involving God. 90% of believers go into marriages without involving God. 90% of believers have removed the perspective of always seeking the face of God before doing anything. This is not because they don't want to seek the face of God but because they have tried several times and it appears as if they are not receiving any response from God and they told themselves that next time they are going to do it by faith without necessarily hearing from God. So one of the major complaints among Christians is that why is God not speaking back to me? Number two major complaint among Christians is I fast and pray and I still didn't receive direction from God. I fast and I pray and I still didn't receive direction from God. This is another complaint coming from Christians. Mind you, these are not hypocrites. These are sincere believers. They are truly serving God but they are having issues with the opinion of seeking God and not finding Him. And let me say this to you that this is not just common among young Christians. It even happens among pastors, among we pastors. There are times we carry out programs. There are times we do some things in the ministry because we have sought the face of God and we didn't hear from God and we felt like okay we should just you know use our own wisdom to do it. There are times so this what we're talking about is not peculiar to just the members or the leaders in the church. Even founders of churches, even pastors, resident pastors, even overseers, even you know leaders in the body of Christ will face this. Fathers of faith, most of them are going through this. So this is a common challenge among believers. I have prayed. I have fasted. Why am I not receiving direction from God? Maybe in the place of direction and what you are praying about they needed you to be in that place next week. You needed to be there next week Monday and this is just uh let me say next week Monday and this is just Friday and you needed to get a message from God before Monday and then when you pray Friday, Saturday, Sunday you're not hearing from God and yes Monday you cannot turn it down. So you see that many of them will just go like that and many have ended up their life because there was no direction from God. There was no instruction from God. They took some journey that they shouldn't have take and they got crashed in it. So this is a very crucial topic we are talking about. The number three complaint among believers is why is there no changes despite my prayers, my fasting and my visions? Why is there no changes? Why is there is there no changes despite my prayers, my fasting and my vision? Maybe you want God to intervene in a situation in your life, a situation your family is going through, a situation your business is going through, a situation your ministry is going through. You prayed, you fasted and there is never a change in your working place, in the company where you are working, the organization where you are working in and you have prayed, you have fasted, you have done vigils. Pastor asked you to go on vigils, seven days vigils and you did seven days vigils talking to the Lord and there is still no changes or possibly maybe you have issues with your health. You are sick in your health, you have fasted, you have prayed, you have done everything that they asked you to do. Why is there no changes? This is another frustrating question coming from the believers. Then the last of it all which I put here is, why haven't I received a message from God or anyone despite my seeking God? Why haven't I received message from God or anyone despite my seeking the face of God? You may think that what we're talking about this evening is not important until you start meeting believers who are frustrated, believers who are giving up on Christianity, believers who are giving up going to church, believers who are taking decisions never to associate with anything that is of Christ because of how disappointed they have been seeking the face of God about situations in marriage, seeking the face of God about the things that pertain to their lives and God appears to be silent. So the question is that, is God really silent about everything? Is God a wicked God? No, God is not a wicked God. God is not a wicked God. But you see we don't know, many of us don't know how to seek God. You just hear about seeking God but you don't know how. Let me use for example between husband and wife. Between the husband and wife, if the wife, if the husband doesn't know how to please the wife, he will be doing so many things outside how? Yes, he's doing many things but the many things he's doing is outside how? So the question comes, how should this man please his wife? For us to be able to find out how this man can please his wife, we must first consult the wife and ask the wife, how do you want him to please you? It is not what you assumed, it is what God wants that you follow. It is the process of seeking God that God has revealed that we must follow. You cannot seek God anyhow and get results. No. In James chapter 4, if you read from verse 1, James chapter 4, can we just go there? I want to show you something in the Bible. James chapter 4. James chapter 4. I read from verse 1. You see for when it comes wars and fighting among you, come they not as even of your loss that war in your members. Ye lost and have not, ye lost and have not, ye killed and desire to have and cannot obtain, ye fight and war, yet ye have not because ye ask not, ye ask and receive not because ye ask amidst, that ye may consume it upon your loss. Now this is the situation of the believers here. If you talk about prayer, they are afraid. They have done many things to make sure they receive from God, but it never came. And what was the revelation of God there? You see they ask amidst. You can seek amidst. You can ask amidst. You don't just seek God anyhow. God is not anyhow God. God is a God of procedure. He is a God of principles. He is not anyhow God. So this is why I am bringing to you to tell you, if you can follow what I will be giving to you in this message, anywhere you seek God, you will find God. In your bedroom, in the church, on the mountain, if you can follow this principle, if you can follow this teaching this evening, there is nowhere you will seek the face of God and you will not find God. Hallelujah. So seeking God without finding God sometimes looks frustrating, which is true, looks discouraging, but the Lord has assured us that if we truly seek Him, we will find Him. God stated it in the scripture, if we truly seek Him, we will find Him. One thing I believe is that God cannot lie. So if I'm seeking God, I'm not finding God, it is possibly I am seeking God the wrong way, because I know my God cannot lie. God cannot lie. It is my own conviction. That is my personal conviction. I don't know about you sitting down here, but that's my personal conviction. God cannot lie. So if I seek the face of God and I'm not receiving from God, either I am seeking God wrongly or I'm not seeking God according to stated principles. So we are going to follow, to check the principles now. So before we go to checking how to seek the face of God, let us talk about what does it mean to seek God. Because in seeking God, many of you do not understand, some people do not understand what it actually means to seek the face of God. I put here two meanings. Number one, seeking the face of God means to go to the Lord in prayers in attempt to receive instructions or directions from Him. So when we talk about seeking the face of God in this perspective, number one is to go to the Lord in prayers in attempt for you to receive instructions or directions from Him. So when we are using the word seeking the face of God, we're talking about you approaching the Lord, approaching God in prayers with the expectation that He's going to talk back to you, giving you instruction and giving you directions for your life or for your businesses or for your families or your ministries. Are you getting me now? So we call that seeking the face of God. Seeking the face of God. It involves you going to the Lord in prayers and then in attempt for you to get instructions and directions for your life. Number two, when we talk about seeking the face of God or seeking God, we're talking about it means to wait upon the Lord in prayer and fasting in an attempt to hear from Him and to receive divine intervention. So it means that you wait upon the Lord in prayers you know and fasting in attempt to hear from Him and to receive divine intervention. So when you are being told to wait upon the Lord or to seek the face of God, we are saying go to the place of prayer and fasting and so that you can be able to receive God's divine intervention. So why why is it that despite all we have been told to do, despite all we have been we have been asked to do, sometimes we do not receive answer after seeking the face of God. I believe that almost every one of us, besides the children, I believe that almost every one of us here have one time or the other been asked to fast and pray. If you have not been told, possibly your parents have been told and they came back home and they asked every one of you to fast and pray. So one way or the other you have or maybe your husband said today we are fasting in this home or maybe your wives ask you to fast or ask the family to fast. So one way or the other we have been assigned to seek God and at the end of it sometimes we do not even remember we sought God about it again because we waited for answers and there was no answers. If you check very well, go and check your prayer points, you will see that some of the prayer points you are praying and you prayed it last year, you prayed it last two years, some of the things you are going to mountain now, you are going for a personal retreat for. If you check very well you have gone for those things last two years, last three years, last five years. Why is it that when we seek God we do not find God? So why we don't find God after seeking God? I put here 10 reasons why we don't find God after seeking God. I believe you can all hear me clearly. Number one, we will not find God after seeking God when sin lies in our bosom and when we are unrepentant, when sins lies in our bosom. Prove after the 28th verse 13, he that covets his sins shall not prosper, but whosoever confesses and forsakes shall obtain mercy. He that covets his sins shall not prosper. So if we are seeking God in sin, we will never receive from God sin of any kind. So the first thing that is expected is that to check your life, is there any sin you are currently indulging into? If you are seeking God in sin, you will never get an answer if you are seeking God in sin. So when you are seeking God in sin, you will never find God. You are deceiving yourself. There are some of you, some persons, some sisters who are seeking God while they are having sexual, sexual immoral relationship with their sin partners. And they come to God that they need us man. Well after you put them on fasting and prayer, or you ask them to go and seek God, they will turn back to committing fornication and they still won't go to answer that prayer. You cannot seek God in sin. No, if you seek God in sin, he will not answer you. Number two, when you are double-minded, you will never find God when you are double-minded. James chapter 1 from verse 5 to verse 8, a double-minded man is unstable in all his way. And let that man, the Bible says, let not that man think that he shall receive from the Lord. Now, you may not understand how dangerous being double-minded may be until you are becoming frustrated in all his praying, fasting, seeking God, but God is silent about it. Because God does not trust you. A double-minded person is someone that can appear to be serious now. In the next moment, he will change his decision. He is not straightforward. He is not focused. He can be here and be here. He is double-minded. He can be seeking God about this thing, and after a few hours later, he will change his mind about that thing, and be seeking God about another thing different again. So, he is not focused. He is not focused. So, a double-minded person is not serious, number one. He is not focused, and he is not sincere, despite his request. He is not serious. He is not focused. He is not sincere. So, God does not do business with double-minded people. There are people that come to seek God about something. They are double-minded, maybe in the place of relationship. They are coming to ask God if brother, so-and-so, or sister, so-and-so is the will of God for them. Inside the midst of that prayer, their minds are not even concentrating. They are double-minded. Within themselves, they have even denied that person, but they are only coming to God so that God will just put an approval. Within themselves, they have accepted that person, but they are just trying to play religious and say, God, I just want you to just tell me so that, although within me, I like this person. Double-minded. So, a double-minded person is not stable in all these ways. An unstable person can never receive anything from God. An unstable person can never receive anything from God. Can never receive anything from God. So, your heart must be fixed when you are seeking the face of God. The Psalmist says, My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed. A double-minded person's heart is not fixed. So, when you are double-minded, you are serious. You are seeking God is vain. Go and read James chapter 1 verse 5 to verse 8 or verse 9. So, a double-minded person can never receive from the Lord. Then, number three is, if you are not patient enough, why seeking God? You are not patient enough, why seeking God? Maybe you want to seek God for ten days and after the fifth day, you are giving up. You say, I've never received anything from God and you give up. After the third day, you give up. After the eighth day, you give up. After the ninth day, you even give up. You are not patient in seeking God. I'm going to pray about this until I receive answer prayers. You pray the first day, you pray the one week, two weeks. Before the third week, you give up. So, I'm not talking about it again. If God doesn't want to give to me, no problem. No, you will never receive from the Lord. So, if you are not patient enough, why seeking the face of God? You will never receive from God. Number four, when you have idols already in your heart, you are just playing religion. You know, when you are coming to the secret place, when you are coming to the presence of God, when you are coming to the place of prayer, you don't come with your already made decisions. If you are coming to seek God, make sure you are coming with a neutral mind, a neutral heart. There are some persons that will come to you and when they come to you, they will, they have already made their decision about that person they want to marry or they have already made their decision about that business they want to do. They have already made their decision about that travelling. But they will just come to go with religious, just for religious purpose. So, and when God sees their heart, go and read the book of Jeremiah chapter 14. Jeremiah chapter 14, God told Jeremiah to answer the people according to the idols of their heart. Yes, God can allow you to deceive yourself. It will give you the desire of your heart that want to destroy you. Not his will, not his desire, but your own desire. The Bible says in the book of Psalm, Psalm 105 or thereabout, Psalm 106, that he gave them the desire of their heart, the people of Israel, while they were in the wilderness, but he sent leanness, he sent leanness to their soul. He gave them the kind of food they requested for, but he sent leanness to them. He sent judgment to accompany that answered, answered for us. So, when you have idol already in your heart, just like a sister saying, I want to get married to a brother, and the kind of man she has, the kind of man that she wants to marry is already in her heart, a very tall man, or a very short man, or a very slim man, or a very huge man, a very, you know, a wealthy man, you know, this and that, or a brother is, you know, a brother has already gotten an idol in his automatic system. A very tall sister, straight legs, you know, having hip, and all of those things, and this kind of people are coming to God every day. God, give me my wife. How would God give you the wife that is already in your heart? You have it already, it's with you, it's in you, it's inside your heart. So, sometimes these people become frustrated and they say, I seek the face of God. I sought God. I never answered me. You sought Him with idol in your heart. There are pastors like that who want to do ministry in their own way. The moment you bring God's own way, we say, ah, this is an old fashion. This is not in the contemporary. This is not a new method. This is not a new modern world. This is not modernism. God's own way doesn't look attractive to them. It's their own way, and they come to God every time. They say, God, how do you want this ministry to go? And God keeps quiet. Before even God speaks, they have already gone out of the place. Going to do and execute their own will in ministry. And you see, one of the dangers about that for those pastors is that they may see crowd, but they will not see the cloud. Yes, they may see the crowd, but they may not see the cloud. You know, there are many places that there are crowds, but the cloud is not there. The cloud is not there. So, some persons, they seek the face of God with idols already in their heart. Let me be fast. Number five, when you seek God in unbelief and doubt. When you seek God in unbelief and doubt. You are seeking God in unbelief and in doubt. In doubt. You are seeking God because they ask you to seek God, but you don't have faith that God can answer you. You know that there's something I used to do many years ago, and I think I still do it. If I want to fast, let me use for example, I want to seek the face of God for three days, maybe fasting or without fasting. I always believe that God can speak to me that very day. If he doesn't speak to me, I will fast for the three days. But I always have a strong belief. I don't know, it has worked for me several times. I always have a strong belief that he can speak to me that very day, or he can speak to me the next day. And I tell you the truth, without any exaggeration, that many times I intend to fast for three days. After fasting for the fourth day, I get my answer prayers. That does not mean that sometimes I do not fast. Even sometimes after prayers, I may still fast to the third day, or to the seventh day, or to the fortieth day. But you see, when you are coming to God, he that believes it, he that comes to God must believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, that diligently seek him. That is the book of Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6. Number six, why do we seek God without finding God? Number six, when we seek him outside his will. When we seek him outside his will. If the will of God is not for you to go to UK, and you are seeking God, should I should I go to UK? Lord, should I relocate to UK? He will not speak to you, he will not answer you. And sometimes the silence of God may mean no, or it may even mean that you should wait patiently. So when you are seeking the face of God outside his will, he will not speak to you. Imagine you want to marry an unbeliever, and God has seen that this will cause a catastrophe to your life, and to your destiny. And God is not wanting to speak to you about it. When you are seeking God outside his will, it is not the will of God for a believer to marry an unbeliever. Do not unequally yoke together with an unbeliever. You cannot change that in the Bible. It is written, it is written. And you come to God, should I marry this person? He is not born again. You, you are born again. You love God. You love the things of God. You love prayer. You love evangelism. You love fasting. And the person you are talking about loves drinking, loves womanizing, loves going to clubs, loves cheating. And God is not responding to you. And you start crying that God does not want to talk to you. No, God does not answer prayers that are outside his will. So we are seeking God outside the will of God. You won't get anything from God. I believe you are all learning. Number seven, when you don't submit to the Lordship of Christ, you will not, you, God will not find, you will not find God while seeking him. When you are not submitting to the Lordship of Christ. When your life has not come under the Lordship of Christ. What is the Lordship of Christ? It is anything he wants me to do, that is what I will do. That is the Lordship of Christ. Anything he wants me to do, that I will do. That is the Lordship of Christ. Go and get my message about it. I think, who is your Lord? Something like that. Go and get that message. So, anything, if Christ is not your Lord, or if Christ is not the Lord of all in your life, he is not the Lord at all in your life. Number eight, we seek God without finding God when we are not submissive to spiritual leaders he has placed us, he has placed over us. You see, some of us don't know the spirituality of having a spiritual leader. You don't know the spirituality of having a spiritual leader. One of the importance of having a spiritual leader is that, most times God may use them to speak to you. Sometimes God may use them for you to find God. You will need to go through them sometimes. There are many times I prayed to God many years ago, that it is when my pastor talked to me, I get the answer for you. I was seeking God, during the course of my seeking God, my answer for you, or my finding God was gotten from my encounter with my pastor. And when he starts speaking to me, to my pastor he is just speaking, but to me who have been seeking God about that, I know that it is God speaking to me. So, when you are not submitting to the leader that God has placed over you, you know some of us we know more than our leader, we argue with our leaders. You know more than them, you argue with them, you correct them when they try to correct you, in fact you even want your will to supersede their decisions. And you say God should speak to you through that same verse, so you are joking, you are joking, you are joking. So, when you are not submitting to the spiritual leaders that God has placed over you, you may seek God in vain. You may seek God in vain. You cannot seek God in disobedience to your leaders, disobedience to your pastors, and find God. It is not possible. The number nine, when it decides, and let me talk about that number eight. Because when people will come to me for counseling, I am not their pastor. Maybe they got my number from WhatsApp or other contact, or maybe my books, and they shut me up. When you listen to the things they are saying, you will cry for them. Most of them do not have pastors over them. And they say they are receiving calling from God. There is no calling that God will give to you, and the man over you, he will not minister to them. You know there are people that are coming to their pastor and tell their pastor that, I will be leaving very soon because God is telling me to leave. Deceiving themselves. How about you read the Bible? If you read the Bible, you will never see any pattern you are following like that. Before Joshua even received his calling, Moses was aware. It is Moses that will come to tell you that you should do it. Not that you are the one giving your pastor time and tell him, I am leaving next week. The Lord asked me to go and start my own ministry. And that is what is happening. That is what is happening today. So they will come to us online to discuss some things with us, so that they can receive our approval to go and do some disobedient work, and their original pastors are not even aware of that. And I want to tell us pastors, we should be very careful of people that come to us for counseling. If when they come to you for critical counseling, tell them to go and tell their pastors. So they will tell you that they are fasting and praying and they want you to pray for them, that this is the last day of their fasting and prayer, and they believe you are anointed, pray for them. Why are you praying for them? So that you can permit them, you can love them. You can endorse their disobedience. When I received my calling in God, if I tell you that today I didn't tell my pastor, I didn't tell my pastor. It was a year. I received my calling after about three years later. I came back from a mission work, and they told me, they said, and they told me, they said, I learned that God is using you. And right there they prayed for me. My pastor in Kogi State, Pastor Nelson, he was the state coordinator. He prayed for me and sent me forth. I didn't tell them that I had this revelation, I had this encounter. No! I don't need to tell them. They are to be a witness with my calling. Today we have disobedient ministers of God, who think they hear God more than their pastors. And you see that they come and tell you that God say, God say, God say. They see it themselves. Have they gone through tests? Do you know what it means to go through ministry? Do you think that ministry is just shite play? And that is why you seek God when you have responded to your own calling, and you enter your own calling, not God's calling. You start hearing different atrocities that ministers are doing, because they try to seek God, and God was not responding to them. And they start going through other ways, because God will not respond to a disobedient walk, a disobedient walk. He will not respond to that. I use this to tell us, I know that you are not ministers here, you are not a minister, but I'm using this because you may become great tomorrow. My prayer is that every one of you should be greater than me. That even when God calls any of you, whether you are a sister here, we have our sisters here, or a brother, or some of us that are not around, when God calls you people to ministry, you are in any way doing ministry, I'm seeing your father in the Lord. I'm so glad, even if your work is greater than my work, I will gladly be visiting your ministry to minister to you when you have a conference. You are not with me, but we are connected, because I ordain you, and I bear witness with your testimony. Not the kind of ministry that if you fancy that train you up, you cut it off. You can't go there again. It's not good. So most people seek God, hallelujah. They seek God without submitting to the spiritual leaders over them. Whether your pastor is not schooled, submit to him. It was there that you were trained. You shouldn't come online and give me honor. I didn't do any work. I met you already branded. I met you already pushing on the pulpit. I met you already trained how to read the Bible, how to pray. I met you already, you know, doing ministry. There was somebody behind me, before I came, there was someone that trained you to that extent, like some of you now. When you came and who you were some years ago and who you are now, that's a very big difference. I knew God used me to impact your life. And when I started hearing you talking about other ministers of God, maybe because you made them on social media, that they are behind your development and growth, I laugh. Because I know who I met and I know the training I took you through to become who you are. But because you have not seen us on television, you carry the honor and give to someone who doesn't even know whether you read your Bible last night. Hallelujah. Please let none of that happen. Thank God my prayers will not happen. When we start raising ministers in the church, these are ministers that Jesus has spoken to us about. They have encounters and we have encounters too. Hallelujah. So when we submit to the Lordship of Christ, okay, number nine, we will never receive from God when he decides not to respond to us at such time. So the times you will seek God, that God will decide not to respond to you. So what is expected of you is to keep seeking Him. Then number 10, when we can't sacrifice time and our heart to truly seek Him. Now some people can be seeking the face of God and they are still seeking other things. They are not paying attention. They are not in expectation. Nothing. No even time for prayer. They will be fasting without prayer or they will be praying without their mind in it. They are only praying because their pastor has them to seek God or because their husband or their wife asked them to seek God. It's not from their heart. It's not from their heart. It's not from their heart. So let me close with this one because of time. How to rightly seek God and receive answered prayers. How to rightly seek God and receive answered prayers. Number one, seek God in repentance and in restitution. Repent. Let it be that if you want to seek the face of God, maybe you want to do it for seven days. Use the first and second days for repentance. Repent. Sit down and ask yourself where you have missed it. Sit down and ask yourself where you have wronged God. Repent. Search and examine your life using the first and the second days. Repent and restitute. Settle with people. Fall at peace with all men. Use the two days to repent and to restitute the things that needed to be opened up. Open up to the people. Open up to your wife. Open up to your spouse, your husband. Open up to your pastor. Use those two days to settle with God and with man. Then you will get him on the seventh day or before the seventh day. Number two, how to rightly seek God and to receive answered prayers. Number two, seek God in truth. That is, you have to seek God in sincerity, in truth and in spirit. In sincerity. Be sincere to God. Don't be double-minded. Let God know that you are very serious about what you are talking about. Let God know that you are very serious about what you are seeking for. Let God know. Let God see the desperation in your heart that you really want answered prayers. Be truthful. Number three, seek God in willingness to submit to his will. Seek God and let him know that the reason you are seeking him is that you want to do only his will. You want to do only his will. Seek God in willingness to submit to his will. Seek God in willingness to submit to his will. Number four, seek God in patience. Seek God in patience. Seek God in patience. Wait till he speaks. Don't just seek God and stop halfway or seek God and you say, I'm not doing it again. Be patient with God. Even after you have finished your fasting, if God has not spoken to you, keep talking about it. Keep praying about it. Be patient till he speaks. Till he speaks. Till he speaks. Number five, seek God in faith. When you are seeking God, have faith in God. Have faith that God will speak to you. Have faith that God would communicate to you. Seek God in faith. Then number six, seek God through seeking counsels from your spiritual leaders. While seeking God, also seek for counsels from your spiritual leaders. I'm telling you what helped me. I seek for counsels from my spiritual leaders, my mentors. Even till today, some of the mentors that I have around me, that I know that in this area, they are gifted. I go for counseling. But by the grace of God, some of you, you are pastors whom God has blessed with wisdom in all areas of life. Go for counsel. Don't be proud. Don't be proud that every man that God has placed over you and God has called into ministry, there's anointing God gave to them that he had never given to you. Don't think that you are more anointed than your pastor because he's in the village. Because he's called into that work, he's more anointed than you. There are some certain miracles that will never come through you. Or some certain ministerial breakthrough, except through them. God called them to that particular assignment. So go to your pastor and seek for counseling. Don't just go to online person. Even though if I'm an online pastor, if you have a pastor there, greet your pastor over there where you are. There are people like that online who just see a message from a stranger. This discussing matters with others should be discussed with their pastors. It shouldn't be like that. Number seven, seek God in humility and meekness of heart. Seek God in humility and in meekness of heart. Number eight, seek God through his word. How would you be seeking the face of God? You are not reading your Bible. You are not studying the Bible. You are not searching the scriptures. How? Seek God. If you are seeking God for a business breakthrough, study the Bible alongside with it. God will give you principles. He will give you answers there. Seeking God for promotion in your place of work, read the Bible alongside. Seeking God for direction, read the Bible alongside. Seeking God if that person is a wife for you or husband for you to marry. Pray about it and study the Bible. Seek God through his word. You can't claim to be seeking the face of God and for the past seven days you have not opened your Bible. For the past two days you have not even opened the Bible. You are seeking God in vain. So seek God through his word. Number nine, seek God through prayers and fasting. Seek God through prayers and fasting. Through prayers and fasting. There are times you have to just go into fasting. To seek the face of God. Seek God through prayer and fasting. At the last of it all as we close the meeting this evening, seek God through attending Christian assembly. Attend church meetings. I'm seeking the face of God. I'm not going to be in church for some days. Are you not seeking God to hear from God? When you come to church, the message can be orchestrated by God to talk to you. Seek God through attending church meetings. God can speak from the altar and that which you have been fasting and praying about, you will hear it clearly with conviction from the pulpit. You will hear it clearly with conviction from the pulpit. When you are seeking God, it is the best time to come to church with a great expectation because he can speak to you from the Sunday school. He can speak to you from the Bible study. He can speak to you from the miracle service. You will just hear the message from the altar and your spirit will be a witness to that message that it is God talking to you at this time. Seek God by attending meetings. Thank God for the kind of church you are. In this church, I love this church so much. Not because I'm the pastor over you, but because I know we have a balanced message here. A balanced message here. A balanced message. So, seek God by attending Christian assemblies. Shall we stand up on our feet and go to the Lord in prayers? You have heard the voice of God. Find time to get the message. The message is on the record. Go back again and again and again. Listen to it until you have understood the message. So, go to the Lord in prayers and ask Father, give me grace to seek you rightly. Help me to find you as I seek you. You have spoken to my heart. You have given me the truth. Lord, give me grace to seek and to find you. Open your mouth and talk to the Lord. I want to expect you. I want to expect results. I want to expect your findings after this message that you will be coming to testify that you sought the face of God until you find him. Open your mouth and talk to the Lord. Let us begin to pray.