LHB RETREAT LESSONS 2024

Commander’s insights from the “Scent of Water” by Apostle Femi Lazarus.

The links are: Scent of Water, Scent of Water 2, and Scent of Water 3. 

Lessons:

• Purpose is the reason why you woke up this morning. And when you’re done, you’ll wake up in heaven.
• It is in chasing intimacy that you can fulfill your purpose. It is in the place of intimacy that you can be empowered to fulfill purpose.
• When you chase purpose only, you can gain the world and still lose your soul.
• God’s more concerned about you than the work you gave to you.
• In the end, it’s not whether you know Him but that He knows you.

Instructions:

• Go to God the way you are. He has already seen your flaws. He has seen the issues you have.
• Don’t ask for purpose and hide the flaws from Him. God wants to sort what you’re suffering.
• No matter what your issue is, at the scent of water, He can redeem you.
• No matter how far you’ve strayed, you can become intimate with Him.
• No matter how hopeless your situation is, if you can be sincere with Him, He can restore you.

Prophecy:

• This is the year of intimacy with God and love for men.

Jeremiah 31:3 KJV

[3] The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. 

• God is drawing you with love so you can draw others with love no matter their state.
  • God wants you to recognize that He using you doesn’t mean you’re better than others.
  • God wants you to remember where He brought you from.

• Don’t see any situation as hopeless.
  • When you move away, God builds a bridge so you can come back.
  • God can still use you if you ask His mercy, restoration, and manifestation of His words.
  • Even if you’re in a good place with God, it’s essential to still ask for mercy.

Romans 9:16 KJV

[16] So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. 

Prayers:

• May God draw us into deep intimacy with Him.

• May He restore our every hopeless situation in our lives and families.

(Pray like you know He’ll answer).

Commanders’ words from the 2nd Session for the Day.

Topic: School of the Spirit

The Spirit of God descended on Jesus and led Him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Strategic blueprints are important because as God leads you, you’ll need to recognise the paths.

The gap between purpose discovery and purpose fulfilment is the School of the Spirit.

God can tell you the what but deliberately not telling you the how. This is because how your purpose will be fulfilled resides totally in the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Gideon an example:

Judges 6-8 

Israel was under attack constantly by the Midianites who attacked their harvest.

Prayer: Anyone in the bondage of almost breakthrough, a situation where your hard work is scattered, I pray, may God deliver you.

In Judges 6:8, God sent His scent of water. 

[8] that the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; 

1. In verse 12, the first thing the angel told Gideon was who he was—identity.

Judges 6:12 KJV

[12] And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. 

2. Then the angel revealed Gideon’s purpose statement—sent to deliver the Israelites from the hands of the Midianites.

Judges 6:14 KJV 

[14] And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? 

3. Your assignment may look too heavy for you but that’s God telling you that He’ll be the one to work through you.

Judges 6:16 KJV

[16] And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. 

4. Gideon had to enter into intimacy so he could converse with God and understand what he had to do.

Judges 6:17 KJV

[17] And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. 

How does a poor man who is the least of the tribes of Israel be the one to deliver the entire nation? How will you be the one who will carry out the words of your purpose sheet? 

What’s the strategy (the how)? How does a farmer deliver a country from a very powerful army with hoe or cutlass?

5. In Judges 6:25 KJV, God told Gideon to bring down the idols in his father’s house.

[25] And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: 

Once you enter the school of the Spirit, one of the things the Holy Spirit does is to bring down the idols in your heart. If your idol is your beauty, He can instruct you not to use jewellery or excessive makeup.

In the school of the Spirit, you’ll undergo a process where the idol(s) in your life will be taken away. An idol can be a person that you love more than Jesus. 

The Holy Spirit will tell you to separate. Whatever the idol is, He’ll deal with it. 

Why? The Holy Spirit will carry you from purpose discovery to purpose fulfillment and He can’t carry you if you’re carrying idols. 

The School of the Spirit is where He’ll strip you of every weakness you have. He’ll teach you how to obey like a fool. It’s important to note that instruction is more powerful than strategy in the school of the Spirit. 

The reason why the Israelites were in slavery and were given over to the Midianites was because they were worshipping other gods. For mercy to flow into the land, you have to bring down all idols. 

When Gideon took down the idols in his father’s house altar, the people of the land came to kill him. His father gave them a response, “let the idol kill the offender”. 

The end point of every purpose we have is that Jesus is glorified over every other idol. It is because of the act that made others (the citizens) follow him. 

Bringing down idols brought the purpose helpers. He gathered the men. Imagine 32,000 men led by a farmer. But the number was small. 32,000 men to defeat who?

Instructions: 

• Don’t look at your current level compared to your purpose assignment. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t build yourself.

• Build yourself but note that your current level of purpose is not useless to your assignment because purpose fulfillment is achieved by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

• The school of the Spirit is where the Holy Spirit leads you on the how per time.
• He’ll lead you on how you’ll get through your 10-year plan that came by prophecy.

• Don’t think purpose fulfillment is a straight line.

• He can send you to India for 2 years, where you’ll meet someone that’ll help you in 5 years.

• This year, you’ll hear some strange instructions. Just say, YES SIR.

2024 is a year of DARING steps of faith.

• God said to Gideon: 32,000 men is too many

• To start with, if we remove the tithe of the army the Israelites were going to face, they are most likely more than 32,000.

• Gideon got to the battle front and God said, “your people are too many”.

Understand that God wants to be the only One that takes the glory.

• He can do anything for you, when you let Him take the glory.

• God can open any door for you. He can make anyone come and serve you if you promise to give Him all the glory.

• This year, your victory belongs to Jesus.

Gideon’s story was a period of 3 years.

• You think yours will take 20 years but God’s saying your assignment will be done by you in the space of this year.

• No matter how it’s looking, don’t change your confession. 

• Whenever you’re in doubt, don’t turn back, tell Him to help your unbelief.
• Just obey God’s instructions because the gap between purpose discovery and purpose fulfillment is the school of the Spirit. JUST DO IT. 

• When Gideon blew his trumpet and opened his torch of fire to announce his arrival, the Midianites, out of fear, started to kill one another.  Then Gideon and his 300 men came down and chased towards the road. 

• Knowing what you’re called to do doesn’t mean you should limit God’s leading in your life. If you fail a class, you’ll repeat it.

• The Holy Spirit does not do “let my people go”. 
• (“Let my people go” is a phrase used in the Nigerian educational system where students barely pass a course or subject and end up with a grade like an E.)

• As the Holy Spirit is leading you, pride can’t stay in you. It will die.
• You’ll be convinced that you’re not doing things by competence.

• He’ll teach you how to love all men. He’ll remove bitterness from your heart and sanctify you.

• The School of the Spirit is designed to make you more like Christ. Just like marriage, you’ll constantly sentence your flesh to death.

• Marriage, by God’s creation, has two sides. It’s either your flesh dies or your marriage dies.

How do you stay in the School of the Spirit?

• Know that you can always drop out in school of the Spirit.

• Maximizing your stay in the school of the Spirit functions by you being able to hear God. If you can’t hear Him, nothing can happen.

• Your prayer life has to be consistent for your connection to be constant 

• Be rest assured, if God’s with you, nothing in heaven, on earth, or under earth can touch you.

The How-Tos

1. Have a consistent prayer life.

2. Build your intimacy with God.

• This will remind you that God is a good God.
• Some prayer warriors don’t believe God’s a good God; this is why you need to build your intimacy with God beyond having a prayer life.
• The God that started with you will finish with you.

3. You must be full of the Word.

• God will not lead you outside the word.
• The greatest confirmation for every leading of the Holy Spirit is the Word.
• When you’re living by the word, you’ll be able to confirm the instructions of the Holy Spirit.
• Know that there’s a contrary voice to that of the Holy Spirit and he speaks also.
• The word of God helps you divide every voice and tells you which is God’s voice.
• When you’re full of the word internally, you’ll be able to divide God’s voice from others.
• God’s word has to dwell richly in us more than before.

4. Obey instantly. 10/10 

There’s delayed obedience which is dangerous. The person God will send you to might not have a second chance; you may be the person’s last bus stop. So obey instantly!

5. Know that worship is your weapon of victory. When everything else fails, worship God. The School of the Spirit is where God conquers you first and uses you to conquer. You can’t fake the school of the Spirit and intimacy. It’s either you have it or you don’t.

Prayer Points:

• Father, from this moment, lead me into the school of Spirit and keep me there for the rest of my life.

Father, grant me consistency in Your word, in the place of prayer that I might hear You per time.

Command for the Year 2024: “Eagles Fly”

God is taking us to the top of the mountain and He wants us to soar.

The wind is the Holy Spirit and He’ll carry us all through as long as we can spread your wings and fly. The way to ascend is to pray in the Holy Ghost.

There’s the anointing for the strength to fly (Isaiah 40:31). Daily wait upon the Lord in prayer and pray in the spirit to ensure you’re constantly in flight.

Year 2024:

1. 2024, a year full of the Spirit.
2. A year of intimacy with God and love for men.
3. The year where the Word dwells richly in us.
4. Year of daring steps of faith.
5. A year of sudden announcements in our lives, LHB, our churches, and our countries.
6. A year to sow.
7. A year of intercession for yourself and others. Create your war list. Intercede and don’t stop interceding.
8. Economically, things will be interesting. A lot of “japada”. Know that you’re a fertile ground and wherever you go is fertile.
9. It’s not a year where you’ll advance by buying and selling but by sowing and reaping. Save to sow.

How do You Sow?

1. Sow into any ministry that allows people to come into intimacy with God.
2. Sow into ministry that wins and disciples souls.
3. Sow into NGOs.
4. Sow until what you have reaped can meet your needs.
5. Sow into people who have invested in you.
6. In the school of the Spirit, don’t mess up and continue.
   • Ask for mercy 
   • Move to intimacy
   • Continue your assignment.

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The End