INVITE
In Ruth chapter number one verse six, Naomi heard that God has visited his people by giving them bread. But when they reached Bethlehem in Ruth chapter number one verse twenty-two, they did not find bread but they found the harvest.
What does it mean? When you look at the word visitation in the Bible, it equals to the word opportunity. So when the bible says that God visited his people, it means that God gave opportunity.
Anytime you see an opportunity, it is God visiting you. But the question is, how to make the most of divine opportunities that come our way on daily basis?
That is what I am so excited to share with you in the morning altar of prayer. Please tune in because you will discover what you have to do for you to make the most of the opportunities coming our way on daily basis through connections, through opening of doors, through events of life. And I can assure you at the end of the message, your life will not be the same again. No opportunity will pass you by again. In Jesus precious name.
OPENING PRAYERS
Shalom Shalom Word Of Life. I welcome you again this amazing morning altar of prayer.
Lord thank you again this morning.
Blessed be your name oh God for such a beautiful opportunity to be in your presence. Thank you for the night, thank you for the day. You are faithful oh God. Blessed be your name as we open the book to read and to meditate.
May you speak to us this morning and to you will be the glory in Jesus precious name we have prayed and we all say amen and Amen.
INTRODUCTION
Let us read Ruth chapter one verse six …
Then she arose with her daughter-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab for she had heard in the of country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.
I did not know that giving bread was can and can be counted as a visitation. Is it the same bread that we take everyday that isi counted as a visitation from God? Is it just the bread or is there any other bread that can be hidden year?
Anyway, I will go deeper this coming Sunday. I invite you to come this church Sunday the Bali Harvest Sunday service. And I believe and I trust God that he has a Word that will turn your life around.
I believe that what God did for Ruth and Naomi, he will also do the same for you. I strongly believe in me, in my heart, in my spirit, in my soul that the same way God visited his people God will also visit you this coming Sunday.
There is a touch. There is a revelation. There is an opening. There is a release. A prophetic release. An outpouring of the blessing of revelation that will come from the throne of grace that will not leave your life the same.
The Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. And when she arose they came in the beginning of barley harvest. In verse six she heard that the Lord has visited in giving bread. But when you read verse twenty two the, Bible does not talk about the bread. It talks about the Harvest of Barley.
Why the gap between what she heard because she heard about bread, but on the ground found, the people were busy harvesting? And the Bible says in the beginning of the harvest.
Now I just want to draw your attention on the fact that the Bible talks about the beginning. Meaning that it has an end.
If the Bible talks about the beginning of the Barley Harvest, it means that the Harvest will not be there forever. If it has a beginning, it also has an end.
Why did they not come in the middle? Why did they not come at the end of the valley harvest? Why did they come in the beginning of the valley harvest?
Those are the questions and I just pray that it will open your eyes and understand the harvesting of Barley was lasting only seven weeks. They were not lasting forever. When we talk about visitation, what is it about? I want to understand the concept of visitation.
How do I know that God is visiting me? And if God is visiting me what do I do?
So when we talk about the Barley Harvest, please understand friends that it is divine visitation. This is your season of visitation.
One of the way you can know that God is visiting you it is through the divine opportunities.
Opportunities can be defined as a set of circumstances, a set of events that happen in a life at a particular time and at a particular season for a particular purpose.
How do I respond to visitation? How do I make the most of divine visitation? Help me oh God. That is my prayer for today.
And you can make it your prayer even now. May God help you to make the most of divine visitation. Even this time when we are fasting and praying, it is also an opportunity. When we are invited to come to church, it is an opportunity. When you meet some people you have never met before, it is an opportunity. When we have the morning utter of prayer, it is an opportunity. When we have the morning dew, it is an opportunity. When we have the Kingdom Advancement Prayers, it is an opportunity. We have all kind of opportunities.
So I pray today you will have the knowledge of times and season. I pray you will never miss your opportunity again. I pray you will never miss your visitation again in the name of Jesus Christ.
Now listen to me. Let us read 2 Kings 4:8-
2Ki 4:8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.
2Ki 4:9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.
2Ki 4:10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.
2Ki 4:11 And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.
2Ki 4:12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.
2Ki 4:13 And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.
2Ki 4:14 And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.
2Ki 4:15 And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.
2Ki 4:16 And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.
2Ki 4:17 And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.
There are some facts I want to share with you that will help you understand when we talk about visitation.
FACT 1 | VISITATION HAPPENS A DAY
In Second Kings four eight, the Bible says, “It fell on a day...”
I want you to know that days are not the same. There is a day and there is a certain day. Take note that there is a day and there is also your day. … It fell on a day...
When I read Acts chapter two verse one, the Bible says, “When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord in one place”.
You see? It is very very important to know that your day is in a day.
And I pray that your day will find you in your place. I mean it should find you in the right place.
So when you think about visitation or opportunities, sometime we think opportunities are something very big and strange. But every day that God gives unto you, it is an opportunity. The twenty-four hours you have everyday, it's an opportunity to make the most of.
Remember the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 5:16, “Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Redeem the time. Don't waste your time. Every day is an opportunity.
FACT 2 |OPPORTUNITIES ARE NOT FOREVER
That is a very fundamental truth that you need to consider. Which means in another word that opportunities are not forever. They pass. You will not have such opportunity everyday. It can come today and tomorrow you may not have it.
FACT 3 | OPPORTUNITY IS THE RIGHT TIME
I thank God because Naomi and Ruth reached Bethlehem at the right time : in the beginning of barley harvest. Which means it was the right time.
I just want you to open your hand. And I want to declare over you. You receive the grace of the right time. I pray you will reach. I pray for you to receive the grace of the right time. The grace for the right time. Ruth and Naomi came at the right time … the beginning of the Barley Harvest in Jesus name to make the most of your visitation.
FACT 3 | YOU NEED REVELATION TO MAKE THE MOST OF DIVINE OPPORTUNITIES
This lady said... “I perceive that this man who passes here everyday is an holy man of God”. (2 Kings 4:9)
You see? She said … the man who passes here everyday...
Everyday is an opportunity. We all have the equal time all of us. But the problem is revelation.
Case 1 | Bartimaeus
You have the case of Bartimaeus. Jesus was passing and the Bible says he was passing. In case you didn't know, you should know that it was the last time that Jesus was passing there because he was heading straight to the cross.
Just when the right time came, discouragers arose and started discouraging him.
Now, you will know that it is your time of visitation by the kind of opposition that is coming your way. Because anytime the right time comes, discouragers also come.
How did Bartimaeus respond to it? When the right time came, he was shouting. That is why I want you to know that when it is your time of visitation, you should not keep quiet. You should not shut your mouth. You should cry to God.
Despite the people discouraging and silencing him, Bartimaeus shouted and shouted the more until Jesus stopped to attend to him. The more they silenced him the more he shouted. And you know what? Jesus stopped.
In fact, he could have given up. If at all he could have listened to the discouragers, he could have missed his opportunity.
Friend, be careful with discouragers. We have discouragers here in town, in ministry, in Church. People asking, “What are you doing there? What are you doing there?”
And you should know that when people are discouraging you, you should open your eyes and understand that it is your season.
I pray for you today to receive the grace not to give up because of discouragers.
Case 2 | The woman with the alabaster box.
We find the story in Matthew 26:7-8. This woman broke the alabaster box and was wiping the feet of Jesus with her hair. And it came to pass that people started complaining and murmuring because they were offended. That is another sign.
When you just find yourself that for no reason people are murmuring, complaining about you, if you know that your conscience is clear, you better open your eyes to know and understand that it is a sign of visitation.
Maybe you are expecting the visitation in term of angels coming to you, but it is not always the case.
When the woman broke the alabaster box, it was at the right time because she was embalming Jesus’ body before his death. Later, when other women went also to embalm the body of Jesus, they came late and they did not find Jesus.
I pray for you to receive the grace of right time.
From the case of this woman, we understand that sometime, murmuring and complaining from people can also be a sign that God is visiting you.
You just need to be sure that what you are doing, you are doing it in alignment with the will of God.
FACT 4 | TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME OF VISITATION, PROPHETIC ACTIONS ARE NEEDED.
There is an extra mile that is requested from you when your time of visitation comes.
There is a sacrifice that can be required when this is your time of visitation.
Let us look at the Shunamite woman.
When she got the revelation that Elisha was a prophet, a man of God, she did something extraordinary.
You cannot be in your time of visitation and expect to make the most of it doing things ordinarily. It doesn't work. There will also be a requirement for you to do something extra, something beyond the natural.
That's why I always say there is no supernatural anywhere without men taking responsibility.
There is an action needed from you when you are in your time of visitation when opportunities come, knowing that it will not be there forever.
Friend, we are in our season of visitation. We are in our time of visitation. You are sleeping too much. There is nobody who can be in a time of visitation and sleeping, and making the most of it.
Case 1 | The 4 friends and the paralytic
The four friends took their friend and brought him to Jesus because it was a time of visitation.
Friend, there is an action needed from you. While you are just there sleeping, others are moving. You have to do something.
When they reached where Jesus was, they found an obstacle. What did they do? They broke all protocol. They removed the roof and exposed their friend before the Lord.
Do you understand that when it is the time of hesitation you ought to do something?
Case 2 | Bartimaeus
Bartimaeus knew that it was the time of his visitation. What did he do? He started shouting despite people stopping him.
I imagine Bartimaeus saying to himself, “That is my time. That is my season. That is my time. I can't keep quiet. I can't shut my mouth. It is my time. It's my time”.
Case 3 | The woman who was bleeding for 12 years
There was a woman who was bleeding for 12 years. She knew her time of visitation. What did she do? She came in the press.
She said to herself, “I will touch Jesus. I want to be healed. Because it is my time. It is my time. I have to do it now. If I don't do it”.
May you be free from procrastination. Everything could not allow her to start to touch Jesus, but she came after Jesus and touched his garments.
By doing so, 12 years of plague terminated like a dream in the night.
Case 4 | The 4 lepers at the gate of Samaria
When their time of visitation came, the four lepers at the gate of Samaria said to one another, “What are we doing here? No. We cannot continue to just sit here. Let us stand. Let us go to the camp of the Syrians. If they kill us, we will die. It is our time”.
Friend, this is your opportunity to pray, to fast, …
Remember. The Barley Harvest lasts only seven weeks. You have to make the most of it. Otherwise, it will pass you by.
You are too lazy. You are just there. People are moving. People are doing something. You are doing nothing.
You don't want to pray and fast. You don't want to come to Church. You are just there on TikTok everyday.
My friend, let me tell you this … Jesus cried only in two places in the Bible.
Number one | He cried at the death of Lazarus.
Number two | He cried over the people who did not know the time of their visitation.
CLOSING PRAYERS
- Can you pray today and say Lord help me to know my time of visitation eh help me to do rightly and accordingly What is to be done when visitation is here? We are in a season of grace. But the grace will not be forever. It will end. What are you doing? What are you doing? Lord I come before you today and I pray that you give me the grace.
- Help me oh Lord.
- Most of the time I'm not aware. Just pray. Just pray. Just follow the prayer I'm making before the Lord.
- We need your grace oh Lord.
- We need you oh Lord.
- Jesus we need your grace we need your presence we need your power Lord help me to know my time of visitation Revelation is important in the time of visitation. Lord I pray that I will not be distracted.
- Lord deliver my people from destruction. May you be delivered from destruction. May you be delivered from procrastination. Those are the enemies of visitation.
- Destruction and procrastination. Where in our time in our season of daily harvest oh God. Help me oh God God. Help me, help me to be like Naomi and Ruth. They came at the right time. I pray that I will never be late in my life. I pray I will not be out of time oh God. Help me Jesus I need you. Please help me. Help me to make the most of my time of visitation in my ministry.
- In my life at work oh God. Help me. Help me oh God. Help me. Help me. Time will not always be there. Time will not always be there. Help me oh God, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me. In the name of Jesus Christ, son of the living God. I have prayed and we have all prayed. And I pray that God will visit you.
- I believe God is visiting you already. But what are you doing for the visitation? May you receive the grace. Receive the grace to know this is your time to move. This is your time to do something. This is your time to act. This is your time to take responsibility. Receive that grace this morning in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit. Sunday is your opportunity again to come to church.
- In Jesus name. God bless you. Have a blessed day. Thank you to Hilda as not to work the whole week until today to do the work eh which you are having. It's an opportunity she she is having to serve the Lord to use her gift one day she will be rewarded. And I believe you also will be rewarded. For being faithful to follow this message and to share if at all you care to share.
- This is another opportunity given to you to share with somebody. Do you? You don't do. But God still bless you. In Jesus name.
- Amen. Thank you.
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