======================================================================== A DESPERATE, UNYIELDING HOLD ON GOD FOR AN OPEN HEAVEN by Gbile Akanni ======================================================================== Summary: Gbile Akanni teaches that a desperate, unyielding faith in God unlocks the open heavens, bringing divine visitation and breakthrough into believers' lives. Duration: 1:22:46 Topics: "Faith and Perseverance", "Divine Visitation", "Open Heaven" Scripture References: John 1:50-51, Mark 7:24-30, Matthew 15:21-28, Isaiah 60:1-3, John 14:6, Genesis 28:12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In this powerful topical sermon, Gbile Akanni explores the transformative power of a desperate, unyielding faith in God that unlocks the open heavens. Drawing from the story of the Syrophoenician woman and key biblical passages, he encourages believers to hold fast to God for divine visitation and breakthrough. Gbile Akanni challenges listeners to expect greater things and to walk in the reality of heaven's open door in their lives and communities. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Living Seed Media brings to you God's Word, which is his comprehensive equipment for changing lives. May the Lord impact your heart as you encounter his Word. For further enquiry or counsel, contact Peace House, PO Box 971, Boko, Benue State, Nigeria. Telephone numbers 0703 03636 59, 0703 76811 98. Email address lsmedia at livingseed.org or visit our website at www.livingseed.org. Let us sit back and listen as the servant of God brings forth the Word of Life. Our Father and our God, we thank you this moment. We are grateful to you for gathering us together to yourself. For the Bible says, unto the Lord shall the gathering of his people be. Thank you for the privilege of our fellowship together from different lands, different tongues and different nations. Thank you God for what you are doing in our midst as you are saying to us that the unstoppable move has begun. We are grateful that you have been so good to us. And now you have brought us a promise. Say hereafter, you shall see greater things. And very, very soon to you, after here, see the heaven open. Our Father and our God, we are asking that the revelation of your presence and the revelation of your Son, Jesus, will come unto us individually. Wherever we are seated, from one amulet to another village to a city and to town centers, wherever your people are gathered, please manifest yourself to us. As we are taking time introducing ourselves as much as we could, we cannot be able to introduce everyone because it's not possible. We can't get to all the nations. We just want to say to you, having come to you, we have come. And we are asking that you will please turn your eyes unto us and do us good. Meet with each one of us in our places, in our areas of needs. No one who has come will go empty handed. No one who has come will go seeking open heavens, will go again under the dark. We are trusting that your spirit will come upon us. Thank you because you will do much more than we could ever ask or imagine even this time. Thank you, Father. In Jesus Christ's name, we have prayed. Amen. Amen. I'd like to give God praise for the opportunity that God has given to us to gather in this year's MLR as we continue to work in response to God's leading upon our lives. I want to welcome all of us from all the different nations. I was just thinking of when we used to call the Summit of Nations. And the last one we did in 2019, God was saying, now go back to your nations and set a track. And we realize that God has done what he says he will do. And we are at the threshold of an outburst that none of us will be able to predict how far it is going. Before I bring you the word of God tonight, I'd just like to read the notes that I sent across to create the body and the vision for this particular meeting. I'll just go through it very quickly. I know that we are behind time to a level where God will help us. Now, our theme text, as Abraham Matthew began to lead us to pray through it, has been taken from John chapter one, verse 50 to 51. John 1, verse 50 to 51, Jesus answered and said to him, because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe you will see greater things than this? And he said to him, most assuredly, I say to you hereafter, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. All we have seen, and we have had God declare to us, since we entered into this decade, has been very prophetic. And all the words he has sent to us and the various similar themes he led us into for 2020, he said fill the earth, so do it, preach the word. In 2021, he declared to us a Rehoboth, abiding, abounding, and abundant fruitfulness. And by the time we came together last year, the Lord began to charge us to pursue, overtake, and recover all, maximizing our Rehoboth. Now, all of these have been directional. And as we kept responding to God, we have seen the unfolding of what he says he wants to do, and the extent to which God wants to work. When in 2019, he began to speak to us about that I have a greater task for you. And we were all praying, Lord, how do we enter into this greater task? Little did we know that God was mobilized to move us into where we now stand. He said, as soon as Zion traveled, she brought forth her man child. Who has seen such a thing before? Can a nation be born in one day? And this is what we saw God beginning to do. Things are happening concurrently, simultaneously, things are springing forth from Cape Town, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and different parts of Southern Africa. And then we come into East Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, and all the various places where God is doing things. And even in Sudan, the South Sudan and the Sudan itself, we see God coming down again to show forth his purpose. We realize that God had been directing, and his instruction had been directional. They are not topics per se. We are not dealing with topics. They are prophetic directions and guideposts to what we must do now in this season of his visitation. Why disciples must multiply from nation to nation. It is clear that the time has come, our day has broken, and the Lord is still holding the scepter to us in mercy to rise and shine his light into the nations of the earth. So this year, again, the Lord has taken away the veil to show us what we must hereafter enter into, even as the season of our revival continues with a very strong assurance and declaration. And I want you to please note that the meeting this year is a beginning of something that God himself has a reason to bring us into. When he said, most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter, hereafter, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Now, we are not going to be able to deal with all of that today, but I just want you to know that you have entered into something and God is starting it with a deep assurance. The most assuredly, I say to you, and I want you to note that as our brother was leading us in prayer, God was focusing on the individuals. God was speaking to Nathaniel in that case. He said, assuredly, I say to you, you, you will see greater things. You shall see heaven open. And I want you to please help me tell someone by your side, say assuredly, assuredly, hereafter, you will see heaven open. You will see angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. The glory of God will break forth upon your life in the name of Jesus Christ. Even as you have come here, whichever way you have come, the other brother that we are talking about sat under the juniper tree. You know, we don't know what was his condition before that time. And he must have been sitting there wondering what will happen to him. But when that invitation came, come and see, that became a turning point in his life. A turning point is on your way. You will never remain the same again, my dear brother, my dear sister, in the name of Jesus Christ. The Lord has come again to declare to us with utmost assurance that henceforth we shall see heaven open and we shall see the traffic of the heavenly on the Son of Man, who indeed is our stairway to glory. It is on him that we shall see the move of God and the release of the outpouring of the showers of blessing from heaven to overrun and overwhelm our earth. We want to share with you, we perceive the Lord is about to open the heavens unto us corporately and particularly to you as an individual, more than we have ever known in all our years of living within. Several of us are the Nathaniel's of our day. Nathaniel's who are seeking genuine visitation from on high, who cannot make do with mere stories and routine religious activities. We have mused in our hearts over and over again, can anything good come out of Nazareth? There's a cry, there's a yearning in several of our hearts, and I can imagine that God is coming down to respond to those musings of your heart in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been drawn into discipleship seeking to see the reality of Christ's life and his work in our lives and our generation. We have come to know him in a way, and we could say he is our Lord and our God. He is the king of our lives, but he is taking us into the next dimension of his dealing with us. He says, most assuredly, I say unto you, hereafter, you shall see heaven open. And hereafter for us means henceforth, from now on. Something is going to begin from now on, and it shall continue, it shall increase, it shall grow in depth, it shall enlarge in width, and it shall multiply even in its intensity as we go from now. So I wanted to note that whatever begins with you from this meeting, there is a hereafter of it. There's something beyond here, and so I'm trusting that you will settle before God as this meeting progresses, because it is to him we have come. Whatever God will do to open the heavens over our heads, and for us to walk daily under the open heaven and minister under the open heaven, experiencing divine courage, ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, which I sit at his feet in this year's MLR, to experience. Our hearts are full of expectation of what the Lord is surely bringing us into. There are several instances in the word of God when he pleased the Lord to open the heavens to a person, a people, and the result was unmistakable. As we gather together at his feet for this encounter, just as our Lord had to go to Jordan to be baptized of Job for the heavens to open to him, and for the Spirit to come as the door to rest upon him, and for the voice of the Father to be heard, authenticating him and commanding people to hear him, such that he could finish the work his Father gave him to do in the years allotted to him. We trust God to help us get down to the place where we can individually see heaven open unto us, and empowering us and opening the door for us to accomplish the greater task laid on our lives, even in this our day. Jacob came to Bethel, and he saw it as a dream, but could not enter into it then, as he went his way into many conflicts because of his own nature. It only remained a mirage, or a faint promise in his heart. He could not perpetuate that experience until he came back twenty years after, to Peniel where God terminated the Jacob in Jacob, and then the heavens opened unto him, and the sun rose upon him, and he walked the rest of his pilgrimage on the earth, with the sun rising upon him, while leaning on the staff of grapes. You may be the one whom God has signaled to use for the past several years, but you have not been able to enter the promise due to your own Jacob nature. I perceive that this MNL may be your Peniel, where you will look unto God to permanently deal with your personal hindrances, and set his sun to rise upon you, so that you also can walk into his promises, as it is in Isaiah chapter 60, and all the promises that that prophecy holds for us arise, shine. For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people. But the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen on you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. It is the set time, the day now breaks, the heaven must open to you, and your light must shine now, and the glory of the Lord must rise upon you now, in this your day, and in this your time of visitation. May the Lord help you to sow, so that you will not miss out. Hereafter you shall see heaven open. After here, after this MNL, you will see the sun rising upon you. You shall see heaven open, and angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Do not come after the event, that's my prayer. May the Lord help you to be at the right place, at this point in time that God has brought us. As you have come, you have come to the Lord himself. Prepare, and say to your heart, to indeed, to indeed, come and come you yourself apart. The reason why we have insisted that we will meet in centers, is because this MNL itself is onsite. There are only few online inputs. We are expecting that in worship, in prayer, as we study scriptures, as we interact in Bible studies, as we interact in our workshops, as we interact with songs, and the various aspects of the meeting that are onsite, you will be expecting the Lord to descend. We are trusting God that in every center, the presence of God will be there. The power of God will overwhelm you, and the hand of God will touch you. Now, that's what we have been holding God for. That whether in Belize, or in Russia, or in India, that God Almighty's hand will be stretched to as many as are looking unto him for visitation. So we want you to do something this night, and that will take me to the scripture I want to use to start the meeting tonight. I want you to do something. I want you to become desperate. I want you to give God no chance to pass you by. God is passing. I wish you would do something deliberately tonight, and say, Lord, while you are touching others, while you are helping others, while you are changing other people's lives, while you are solving their problems, do not pass me by. So as I ask you to please turn your Bibles with me, we are going to read, we have already picked the John chapter one, but for tonight, I just want to draw an exhortation from the life of a woman that will not let Jesus go. That will not allow him to pass unless something happens to her life. In the book of Mark chapter seven, the story is repeated also in Matthew chapter 15. I may be moving between the two passages, but let's read it from Mark chapter seven, and we'll read from verse 24 to verse 30. That's all that we're going to read there. Mark chapter seven, and we'll pick it from verse 24. From there, he arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but it could not be hidden. For a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him, and she came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she kept asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter. But Jesus said to her, let the children be fed first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. She answered and said to him, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yet, even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs. And he said to her, for this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter. And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed. May the Lord bring increase to his word as we share together tonight in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, I thank God that we're all seated. Some are sitting in their own homes, and some of us, by the grace of God, we have gathered together in centers where we're expecting the Lord to visit us and to deal with us according to his promise. Now, what do I want to deal with tonight? A desperate, unyielding hold on God for an open heaven. A desperate, unyielding hold on God for an open heaven. All the time as I look at scriptures, I found that when men come to the end of themselves, when people have come to the end of their own efforts, and they have no other way to go, and they have no other thing else to try, and they decide to hold on to God as the only way forward for them, God, in his mercy, had never failed to cause his heavens to open unto such persons. And tonight, as we begin this meeting, one prayer I've been praying is that the Lord will respond to our desperate cry for a divine visitation, either as individuals, or as families, or as congregation, even as a nation, as we have found ourselves in a very critical point of need. At a time like this. Now, before I will deal with this particular story, which is the anchor I want to use tonight to draw a few issues I need to draw, I wanted to note that all the people that I read about, they recognize that the solution to their problem lies in the hand of Jesus. They recognize that the ladder, and I'll be coming on that ladder tomorrow by God's grace, the ladder that is set up on earth, that can connect us to heaven, that kind of ladder that Jacob saw, and Jesus again is speaking about it in John chapter 1, he says, you will see, you will see angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. You will see the heaven open. That connection, that link that God has provided, that we bring the blessedness of heaven to our earth, is this Jesus. And it is this Jesus that God has provided as our stairway. Even the Lord himself said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the light, no man can come to the Father, except by me. Now, this woman I want to look at here tonight, we are told she is one of the gentile ladies. In fact, they call her a Greek woman. The way they describe her, they say she is a Greek, a Syrophoenician by nation. In the book of Matthew, they describe her, they call her a Canaanite woman, Matthew chapter 15. They said, Behold, a woman of Cana came out of the same coasts of Ether and Sidon, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. So the first thing I saw is that even though it will appear as if she was not properly located, it will appear as if she is not in the center of divine consideration as at the time, even though it will appear as if she will not have audience, even with the Lord, yet, because she was desperately unyielding in holding on to the Lord for a miracle, for a divine visitation, God cannot but visit her. God cannot but do something deliberate in her life. Now please go with me to the story itself. And from thence Jesus arose, and he went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into a house, and he would have no man know it. According to his own plan, he didn't intend anybody to know he was in the house. He wanted to take a private rest, and as if, look, I've spent enough time with the public, with the crowd, and having dismissed the crowd, and they have all gone back, he wanted to rest in a house. He did not want anybody to know that he was in that house. But the Bible says he could not be hid. He could not be hid. A city set on a hill could not be hid. For a certain woman whose daughter, whose young daughter, had an unclean spirit heard of him, and came and fell at his feet. Now, Mark did not give all the explanation of the context of how the O happened. That's why I love to look at it from the book of Matthew, because you will see how it happened in the book of Matthew, where Matthew captured it, and brought it out in a vivid manner for you to see that this woman actually was looking for something, and she will not get a no for an answer. I pray that somebody sitting in this meeting, whatever it is that you brought, whatever it is that is vexing your life, whatever is it that has brought you to where you are presently, God is going to respond to it. God is going to do something about it in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, the Bible said this woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. Have mercy on me, O Lord. Now, look at the first response in Matthew 15, but the answers are not a word. Imagine a woman crying, speaking, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with a demon. The devil is tearing my child apart, and you are the only one that can help me out. Have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. And the Bible said he answered her, not a word. To the extent that the disciples, the disciples of the Lord Jesus, they came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she cries after us. She became such a nuisance. Her cry is a disturbance to everybody. And the disciples, not knowing exactly how to respond, their only response was, Master, send her away, please. She's crying too much after us. Let her go. Send her away. Send her away. But the Master answered her, not a word. Are you sitting in a meeting, this meeting today, and your impression over the years is as if the Lord has not given you and answered you a word? Even though you have cried, or you have been looking for help, you have been searching for deliverance, you have been looking for a divine intervention, and it looks as if heaven is silent. It looks as if whatever you are saying did not pass the ceiling. Something is going to happen in the course of this meeting. And we are believing that God, who responded to this woman in this context, he will respond to our cry in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, so the disciples, they said, Send her away. Send her away, for she cries after us. She's disturbing us. She's not letting us get into what we need to do. Please send her. Let her go anywhere she like. We don't have time for this woman now. And the way the Bible said, they said, His disciples besought him. They urged him, as if they are saying, Sir, please do something about this woman. Let her go. Let her go. Let her go. I don't think they were interceding for her to say, Lord, please, please, the way this woman is crying, just do something about her case. That's not what they were saying. They said, Send her away. She's a disturbance. And she's troubling us too much. It's someone sitting here and it looks as if your case has become a nuisance to people. The cry of your heart has become an irritation to people to the extent that all they are saying is, Get rid of this man. Get rid of this woman. We don't want this kind of noise around here. But you know, there was something else that the Lord Jesus was considering. There was something else that is holding the Lord Jesus back. There was something else that Jesus is thinking about that will not allow him to respond to this cry. And that is very, very instructive for me in this moment. And I'd like you to please be careful to listen. And that is where our cry is going to rise tonight. Now, the Lord Jesus did not answer that woman a word because there was a consideration. What is this consideration? The Lord Jesus, in verse 24, began to reveal something that even the disciples may not know about. Jesus began to say, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As if to say, even though this woman has a need and I can see it, but she's outside the jurisdiction of my commission for this time. She is not included in the consignment of grace, in the consignment of divine provision that I carry. Even though there is virtue that you see me going up and down with. Yet, I know for whom and for which people are these things being set for me to go and deliver. And I was looking at the consideration of Jesus, and that came to me on a very serious note. And the Bible said, while Jesus was saying, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came this woman, and what she did say, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Lord, I know you are the one who can help me. There's something you will do, and my life will change. Lord, help me. And while the Lord was still considering, the Lord went ahead to now speak and tell her, look, madam, the issue is not about you. The issue is not this matter. There is a matter that is more crucial that I am chewing. Oh, what was that matter? Jesus answered and said, it is not meat. It is not correct. It is not proper to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. There are people that are in need. There are people that are crying. There are people that are looking for help. But Jesus was saying, boy, it is not correct. It is not meat. It is not proper to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. I wish the children are the ones crying for what belongs to them. I wish the children, the lost sheep of Israel, they are the ones that are looking for what I carry will belong to them. The woman said, sir, that is the truth. I'm not arguing about that, sir. Truth, Lord. But there is something that I know. He said, yet the dogs, they eat of the crumbs which fall from the master's table. At that moment, at that point, in fact, if you look at the way the Bible put it, then Jesus said, Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith, be it unto you even as that wheat. And from that moment, her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Now, there are a few things I want to quickly lay before you this night before I release you in prayer. What is the first thing I'm saying here? There's a consignment that God is keeping for those of us that are sons and daughters in the family of God. If God, by the grace of God, has brought you to Christ and you are born again or you are saved, you have been redeemed. God is so committed for the children's bread. And unless the children will come and eat what belongs to them, there will be no crumbs for the dogs. This is where the matter is coming this night. Many, many, many men are crying, we are dogs. They are looking for help. They are tired. They are gone here and there and there is no solution to their problems. But just a little crumb from your own table will solve their problem. For whoever gets crumbs until the children have eaten their meal. The cry of God to us in this meeting, come over and take your meal so that the nations of the earth may get the crumbs that will lead to their own deliverance. Come over and settle into what belongs to you so that the crumbs, the leftover, so to say, that will solve the problem of the earth, that will solve the problem of our generation, might be released to them. The whole world, as I'm talking to you now, they are crying, they are groaning. But what are they waiting for? They are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. They are waiting for the children of God to arise. If you don't eat, there'll be no crumbs for them. If you don't eat, there'll be nothing to drop from the table for the dogs. And this woman said truth, Lord, truth. That's the truth. That's the truth. But dogs can always take the crumbs that fall from the master's table. I'm not asking for the children's bread. I'm asking only for their crumbs. And you know, my heart is overwhelmed tonight that the crumbs that fall at the master's table was enough to cast out any kind of demon. That the crumbs that will fall from the master's table can settle any kind of difficulty that men are going through in the whole world. It doesn't take more than a crumb, a crumb of the grace of God on our lives to solve the problem of our generation. It doesn't take more than crumbs falling out of your own life for people around you that are languishing, that are struggling, that are hopeless and helpless to find deliverance. But why? Why will they suffer like this? Why will our generation perish? Because the sons of God, they have not come. They have not come to the reality of what was made available for them. And so in this meeting, one of the critical burden I sense God has gathered us for is that so that there will be solution, there will be the revival, there will be restoration, there will be deliverance for the nations and for the people around us. You must come and take your bread. So when he said hereafter, hereafter, I actually believe that after this meeting, something will break loose upon your life. The truth is that there are thousands that are only waiting for the crumbs that shall have fall from your own table. There are thousands, thousands, thousands that are waiting that if only the glory of God will break forth upon your own life as a child of God, that the power of God will come upon your life as a child of God. What will release them from their bondages, from their struggle, from the power of darkness will only be crumbs that come from your life, crumbs. But unfortunately, the situation we have found ourselves in is that even those who are supposed to walk in the reality of divine provision, in the reality of what Christ carried, in the reality of what Christ represents, they are busy running up and down, digging broken cisterns and making it look as if God has no provision for us, despite the fact that we are in the body of Christ. This night, as I welcome you to this meeting, there are two cries, and you must be responding to these two cries. The first cry is the cry of men and women all around us. I wish God will help you to hear their cry. And they are crying. They are crying. But you see, the first response was that the disciples, who did not know that it was their crumbs that this woman was crying for, what did they say? They came to Jesus and said, look, these people, they are worrying us. Get them out of here. Get them out of here. And I can see the kind of prayer that some of you are praying. You seem to be urging the Lord that these people, they are troubling us too much. They are doing this. Let them go away. Let them go away. Let them go away. Let them leave us alone. Leave you alone for what? Leave you alone for what? If we send them out, send them away, who will solve their problem? Where else will they find answer? Where else will they find deliverance? Where else? The woman is saying, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. Grievously. It was a trouble, it's a problem. This girl has not slept, is not sleeping, everything just tearing her life apart. And yet all that I need for her life to be resolved is only crumbs that fall from this, your son's table. That's the first cry. There's a cry that your life has to produce something. There's a cry that the nations of the earth are knocking, and they are knocking only for the crumbs that should have fallen out of your table. But you are behaving as if there's nothing. You are living a life that is not solving a problem anywhere. You are going up and down. And everyone is saying, it's not correct for us to give this children's bread and give it to dogs. It's not correct. That's the only thing that Jesus was holding. It was not as if he did not have compassion on the woman. It's not as if he did not know that this woman has no other place to go for her deliverance. He knew. But what of the children for whom heaven is making a provision, but they are not coming? What is the second cry? How could we have so much in Christ Jesus, and we are not an answer to the challenge of where we live? There's a cry. Have you seen yourself struggling with barrenness? Barrenness of life. A life that is not creating any effect. Have you seen yourself struggling with dryness? Everything about your life is dry. You are becoming a dry stick. All that heaven was looking for in terms of fruitfulness, in terms of what will have caused your righteousness to spread everywhere. And men will be saying, ah, because of him, because of him, because of him, our lives have changed. Something has happened. God has done something for us. Even though it's ordinary crime we are taking, yet it has solved all our problems. Are you so dry? Something must happen here. So when Nathaniel cried out, and Nathaniel said, look, you are saying Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? I'm looking for something that will change the story. I'm looking for something that will happen to me, that will bring a turn around. I've heard many stories. I've heard about what God did before. Why am I not seeing it in my own day? Why am I not seeing it in my own time? Why am I not seeing it? Why am I not a blessing to my generation? Why am I just drying out? That was the cry. That was the cry. As I leave you this night, that will be the first cry. But there are two categories of people in this meeting tonight. The first category I see is a woman that is saying, I'm being vexed. I need help. I need help. I need help. Even though the song seemed not to be coming to collect their bread, she broke forth. Because I was looking at how did she come forth like that? The Bible said, why Jesus was answering his disciples who are saying, you know, because they were talking privately to Jesus in verse 23 of Matthew 15. They were saying, but they were saying to Jesus, excuse me, sir. Send her away, for she cries after us. Send her away. She's worrying us. They were talking to Jesus, I hope in no terms. I hope they were quietly saying, master, send her away. She's a nuisance. She's troubling us. Let her go from here. But they didn't know what was in the heart of Jesus. What was in the heart of Jesus was not to send her away empty handed. What was in the heart of Jesus was not to let someone who is an unbeliever, who already sees possibility, who saw what God can do and is looking for it, is pressing for it, is dragging it. And yet, the children that are supposed to have eaten this and left crumbs for her, they are not eating. This is where the matter is. So, what am I asking you to pray about tonight? First, are you that person in this critical need? The Lord Jesus has a plan for your life. As soon as that woman came and said truth, Lord, yet the dogs, they eat of the crumbs which fall from the master's table. She seemed to have said all that Jesus needed to hear. Jesus answered and said, O woman, great is your faith. Great is your faith. Be it unto you, even as thou wilt. What you have been designing, you get it now. You get it now. The crumbs is enough. You can go now. And that was the end of that problem. And the woman went away, found her daughter, you know, completely, completely made whole. And that story, why did it enter the New Testament? Why was God bringing that in? Two things that I want to say before I leave for tonight. There is a pressing in. Even though some of us were thinking that they are troubling us. Even though some of us are thinking that they are worrying us. Some of us are thinking that maybe they are persecuting us. They are choking us up with their own noise, with their own philosophies, with their own ideas. But the truth of the matter is that they are crying. They are being vexed with the devil. Satan is the one that is vexing the world that you are seeing. Satan is the one that is vexing all those young people, all of them that are now going up and down as if they have found convenience in alternative gender that they are looking at. No! The devil is vexing them. And I can tell you it is because they have waited on the church for years. They have waited for answers. They have waited to catch our crumbs and they didn't get it. That's why they are going this way now. That's why it's looking as if now they are turning back and they are desecrating all our values. That's why it looks as if now they are not interested in what we are saying. No, they are. Even now they are. They are only waiting for crumbs. Would you like to say to God, these lives must not go again. Do something with me. I'm coming Lord to take that which you have provided that will solve the problem of this generation. I'm coming now Lord to lay hold of you until something happens to me. You may be sitting here because God must break through with your life so that you can become an answer to many others that are crying, that are being vexed of the devil. And it is only your own crumbs that heaven is waiting to serve them with. It is only what will fall out of your own table that will bring deliverance, bring salvation, bring redemption to many that are hanging. They knew that this Jesus is the answer. They know that this Jesus is the way out. They know that this Jesus is the one that have the final authority over their lives. They are begging, they are crying, but it has to be the crumbs that fall on the table after the sons, after the children have eaten. Tonight, are you sitting in this meeting and the Lord Jesus is actually walking across and the first call is, are you desperate enough? Two desperations. There is a woman that has a need, is crying. And maybe you have broken into this meeting. Someone has invited you and said, come, Jesus will do something for your life. I want to tell you, you don't need to go back. He will do something for you. He will deal with that issue. He will save you. He will deliver you. He will break that yoke. The vexation of Satan over your life is going to end here. Even as we will be moving from this meeting, you will find that things will be reset in your life. Because he has all it takes to help your life. He has all it takes. And what it takes to help your life is no more than ordinary crumbs. It's not more than ordinary crumbs. All the vexation of Satan that has been troubling this woman's daughter, only crumbs will settle it. Only crumbs will have settled it. It is not such a big thing that God will not have been able to deal with all the problems around us. Only crumbs will deal with it. Only crumbs. There was the other woman that said, if only I can touch the hem of his garment. Just the tip of his garment. This 12 year old problem of my life will finish. That's all she did and it finished. It finished. It finished. There are people that just touch a little and Jesus says, yes, your faith has made you whole. You are here tonight, wherever you are sitting, whether you are in the village or you are in the city, wherever you are, the Lord is available unto all. As many as we call on the name of the Lord, they shall be saved. As many as we cry to the Lord, something will happen. I say to you before we pray, what God needs to give you to solve the whole of that problem is no more than a crumb. It's no more than a crumb. Your problem is not bigger than what a crumb of bread will deal with that falls from his hand. And so I can call you tonight with boldness. I can invite you to step out before God and say, Lord, so my problem is not more than just a crumb can handle. So this thing that I spent millions of Naira on or millions or thousands and thousands of dollars. So a crumb will settle it if I only come in contact with Jesus. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. And it doesn't matter what men have said about it. Doesn't matter how many years you have been vexed so grievously by the devil. That matter will end just with a crumb tonight. And as we step out by faith, the Lord Jesus simply commended that woman. He said, Great is your faith. Faith in the ability of God to help you. Faith in the Lord Jesus tried to set you free. Faith that will not let you go backward. Faith that is saying, if only I can touch him, my life will be changed. There may be some people that have traveled and say, just come to this meeting. As the word of God is coming, God will respond to your life. I don't have a doubt that God will do that for you, even where you are sitting. I don't have a doubt that God will cause you to arise from that thing that has crippled you for years. I don't have a doubt that God will speak into that situation and that vexation will be taken up. Just a crumb is enough to deal with it. As we will be praying and calling on God this moment, don't sit back. Don't sit back. Don't say my problem is too much. No, no, no, no. Just a crumb from the master's table is sufficient to deal with it. Sufficient to deal with it. People told you a nuisance and they are saying, let that go away. We don't need people that make noise here. We are too organized for that. Please cry out more. Blind bat emails were told to keep quiet but he cried. But as soon as Jesus heard him, that was the end of his problem. 40 years of begging finished because Jesus touched his life. Tonight, it doesn't matter what it is that has troubled you. It doesn't matter what it is that has vexed you for years. Just a crumb from his table is sufficient to end that matter. If you don't need more than that crumb, your situation will completely finish. As we begin to pray, as we begin to call on the name of the Lord, I want you to take a personal stand and say, Lord, while you are touching others, while you are helping others, while you are saving others, I need only a crumb that falls on your table and this problem will be finished. I need just a touch of your hand, the helm of your garment, and this matter will finish. The centurion man said, only a word from your mouth, my servant will be made whole and that was all. Those who have seen the glory of Jesus, those who have seen his power, those who have known who he is, they know that just a word from his mouth, just a crumb from his table, and just the helm of his garment, just a touch was enough to solve their problem. As we are going to God now, you are not coming to a weak Jesus. You are not coming to him who has no power to solve your problem. You are not coming to him who is struggling. If he had waited over time his only death, just a consideration that the sons who ought to eat so that the crumbs can bring solution to people, he has been waiting for them. That's the first cry, and when we are praying, don't look left, don't look right, the woman was not ashamed, she just came, fell at his feet, worshipped him and said, son of David, help me, help me, I am in need of your help, and that was the end of that matter. Now the second cry, are you there? Did you have a testimony that you are born again? But the things that God has been holding out for your life, you have refused to come for it. You have not been the channel of blessing that you are supposed to be. You have not brought crumbs, crumbs that will have solved problems, because you have not eaten, because you have been sluggish, because you have been stayed away. The Lord is saying, who will bring solution to this generation? Who will bring deliverance to the people that are crying left and right? What are they waiting for? The manifestation of the sons of God. This night, at the beginning of this meeting, would you like to pray and say, Lord, every importance of my life, even though I am a Christian, every dryness, every stagnation, everything that has painted you as if you are weak, and as if you have no power to save and to set men free, this night, Lord, let your heavens open over my head. Do something deliberate with me. Shall we rise, wherever you are? Shall we begin to pray? Will you talk to God and say, Lord, I have come. I have come, Lord. I can't go without this heaven being opened over my head. I learned that you are touching others, you are changing people. Many lives are waiting on me to be helped, and I'm just there like this? Change my story. Do something new with me. Do something critical with my life. Touch me like never before. Let's pray. Go on to pray. Open your mouth and talk to God. I see needs all around us. I see souls of men struggling. I see nations fighting. I see all kinds of troubles, and yet, heaven is saying, let the son eat. Let the son eat first so that crumbs can fall. So that crumbs that will solve problems can fall from their table. Will you pray and say, God, why is it that I'm just like this? Why am I, oh God, like this? When will you change things about me? This is the beginning of that cry. Lord, when will my life release crumbs that will settle men, that will settle their challenges, that will settle their problems? Lord, when will you help my life? Oh God, let the heavens open unto me now. Let's pray. Keep praying. If you have seen the cry, you have seen the need, you have seen what God is wanting to do with your life, it is time to pray. It is time to say, Lord, I can't continue the way I am. I can't go on the way I've come. I can't return the way I came. Do something deliberate with me. Do something with my life, oh God. Transform me, oh God, transform my life, transform my thought, transform my nature, and break forth upon me. Whatever has been a hindrance between me and you, Lord, please take it out. Take it out, Lord. My life must not be a blockage unto so many that are waiting, so many that are looking to go for help, so many that are crying, and everyone says, let the sons eat first. Let the sons eat first. Let's get their own way first so that crumbs can come. The women say, I'm only looking for crumbs, but they are not eating it. They are not bringing the crumbs. Lord, help me. Lord, help me. I want you to go on praying. I want you to pray to God tonight. I want you to say, Lord, something must break loose upon me. Your hand must come upon me in a new manner. Your hand must come upon my heart, my life in a new way. Break forth upon me, oh God. Break forth upon me, oh God. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Oh, hereafter, heaven must open on your life. You can't return the way you came here. God's intention is that seven will begin to follow one of us and say, take me to your God. I know your God has power. I know it is your God that will solve my problem. Take me there. Take me there. That's what God wants to do hereafter. Please pray and call on God and say, Lord, I can't go the way I came here. And whatever you must deal with in my life, deal with it from tonight. Lord, break forth upon me by your Spirit. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes Are you kneeling down? Are you praying this night? And you have been vexed. And all that God is waiting to do is that even ordinary crumbs falling from the table will solve this problem. That woman could not wait for the Psalms. So even if you are here and you think Christians have not helped you Jesus is here. Jesus is here to solve that problem. Jesus is here to change your life. Jesus is here to save you, to redeem you. And a word from his mouth is enough to finish it. A crumb that falls, a hem of his garment, a word from his mouth is enough to deal with that matter. Ah! And so he said, Lord, your faith has made you whole. So I will leave room right now so that as we are praying as we are praying, those that have come here, your heart is pounding. The Lord is saying, I brought you to this meeting because this matter must end here. And what you need to solve that problem is no more than a crumb from my hand. It's no more than a crumb from his hand that this matter will be resolved. This trouble will come to an end even tonight. Where are you? Where are you? You want to say, Lord, I've struggled enough? I've traveled left and right. But I've been told that if I come to you, you will help my life. I am bringing my life to you. Lord Jesus, I am coming to you tonight. I don't want to struggle through life anymore. I need to come to that place of rest. He said, come to me or you that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Now, if the Lord is touching and drawing your heart in that manner, can you begin to step out of the altar and just cast that matter at his feet? The Bible said that woman just came and fell at his feet and worshiped and said, Lord, help me. Son of David, help me. I don't think you need to do any more prayer than, Lord, help me. Lord, help my life. Lord, deal with my case. I can't go again. I've tried. I'm tired. God bless you. Please walk out and get on your knees by the altar and just say, yes, Lord. I've tried. I've wandered far away. I've gone in and out. Things have happened later, right? But tonight, Lord, I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Lord, help me. That's the first cry that I want you to respond to. If you are there, God bless you, dear sister. Thank you, my brother. Just walk out quickly. That young brother, please come out. Just step out before God and say, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Step out and do not hold back. Whatever it is that affects your life, come lay it at His feet tonight. What He will do that will solve that problem is no more than a crumb that falls from His table. The challenge that you think you have had is nothing beyond what His hand will deal with tonight. Where are you? Just step out. Step out by praying. Step out. Don't carry that matter out here tonight. The Lord will handle it. The Bible says before that woman got home, the matter was resolved. The matter was finished. This matter will finish with your own life today. Just ask Jesus. Step into my life. Everything that is in disarray, all that sin has brought into my life, all that the devil is using to vex me, this night, Lord, please take over. Where are you? Just step out because we are praying. God who is doing something new in our midst. God is walking from place to place, from village to village, from town to town. He knows you. That's why He is coming to you directly. Have you suffered? Have you struggled with all kinds of oppressions? All kinds of things that the devil has done around your life? Have you suffered all kinds of miscarriages in life? And it looks as if your own is finished. Bring it to the Savior here tonight. And just a crumb from His table we set to that matter. Thank you. We are saying, Lord Jesus, I'm coming to you. Lord Jesus, change my story. Lord Jesus, take your space in my life. Thank you, my friend. Thank you, my friend. Wherever you are, I would like to pray with you before I take the second issue of prayer. If you are stepping out, please do that quickly. And do not wait again. Thank you, my friend. Thank you, my brother. Thank you. Just lay it down before the Lord. Lay it down before the Lord. Say, cast all your cares upon me for I care for you. Bring that care. Drop it at His feet tonight. What it takes for Him to solve that problem is no more than a crumb. I want to tell Him, tell Him like that woman said. Say, truth, Lord. Even dogs can just take ordinary crumb and that would be enough. Tell Him, Lord, I do not think my problem is too big for You to handle. I don't think what has happened to me is beyond You. From center to center, please break forth and step out. Now, while these people are kneeling down and crying to God, while they are praying and Jesus is passing by and speaking a word and touching them, if you have come with sickness, bring it out. If you have come with any matter, bring it and lay it at His feet. As you drop your life at His feet, all that pertains to your life, He will undo them. God bless you. God bless you. We have a great expectation that this meeting is going to be a hereafter. After here, your life can never remain the same again. You won't walk under closed heavens again. You won't walk under difficult heavens again. From now on, from now on, the Son of His glory will rise upon you. God bless you. Is there still somebody that needs to step out and say, Jesus, I'm coming to you tonight. Thank you. Thank you. You may say, but I've been going to church. I've been going to church. Yes, you've been going to church, but you've not come to Him. You've not come to Him who solves problems. You've not come to Him who handles situations beyond what a man can handle. You've seen people, they have disappointed you, but you've not touched Him yet. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for what you are doing in this meeting tonight. Thank you for the way you are working in our midst tonight. All those that have stepped out and are dropping their life at you, and they're saying, Lord, just a crumb from your table, just a crumb is what I need to deal with my life, to deliver me from oppression, to deliver me from sin, to deliver me from the power of darkness, to deliver me from this vexation that has troubled me for years. Lord, that man was there for 38 years at Bethesda, but you came in just one moment, a word, that matter finished. Lord, I'm trusting you. Those that have been crippled for years, those that have been tied down for years, those that the devil has vexed their lives for years, as they hear your word here tonight, as they touch the power of the resurrected Lord tonight, as they ask you to step into their lives tonight, Lord, let there be a release from heaven, a release of the supernatural. Let your finger deal with those vexing spirits in the name of Jesus. Let your hand, O God, be stretched upon these lives and give them a new heart. You say, a new heart will I give you? A new spirit will I put within you? Do it for us, particularly tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Now, can you put your hand on your heart as you have knelt down? Can you put your hand on your heart and just say to Jesus, unto you, O Lord, I have come. Unto you is able to do much more than anybody could think. My problem is not more than what a crumb, a crown from your table will handle. And so, Lord, I'm coming to you tonight. I believe that this now will be the turning point. It will be the end of this vexation, to be the end of this activity of Satan around me. It will be the end of the torment of sin. It will be the end, O God, of this addiction that has brought me to nothing. It will be the end of this trouble that will not let me have a family life. It will be the end of this thing that has turned my life upside down. Lord, tonight. Tonight, Lord Jesus, let your hand touch my life. As you did for that woman, she cried even when people thought she was a nuisance, but you turned to her. You solved her problem. She left home, and she left for home with joy. Father, tonight, do that work in this meeting. Go from state to state, from place to place, from station to station, from row to row, from person to person, and Lord, reach out to our lives. Bring about a turnaround in our hearts, deliberately from tonight. Thank you for hearing our prayer. Now, can you say, Jesus, take over from me from now. Take over my struggle, and be the Lord of my life. I welcome you now to handle this matter. I will no longer struggle again. I will enter into your rest. Lord Jesus, have your way with me. Thank you for hearing my prayer. In Jesus Christ's name, we have prayed. Amen. The woman of Samaria met Jesus once, but by the time she rose, her testimony brought a host city. Many, many began to drink from her life as soon as she met the Lord. We want to pray now that you're coming to the kingdom of God. You're coming to Jesus. We turn you to be a channel of blessing. Your life must turn around to be a channel of blessing. There are others, there are hundreds, there are thousands that must drink from your life. They must take crowns that will fall from your own table. I want you to pray and say, Lord, I cannot continue to be alive. And souls of men are still perishing and I'm not able to help them. Let your heavens come over me. Let your heavens open, O God. The manifestation of the sons of God that men are waiting for, let it begin with me from this meeting. Thank you, Father. Lord, for all the children that are crying, all our brothers and sisters, who are saying, Lord, I can't continue in barrenness. I can't continue in dryness. I heard that you are going about dropping showers of blessing on people. Lord, do not pass me by. Jesus, do not pass me by. You are the connection that I need from here to heaven. Lord, please connect me and let your blessing fall upon me. Let your glory begin to be made manifest in my life from now. Thank you, Father. Thank you. In Jesus Christ's name, we have prayed. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/gbile-akanni/a-desperate-unyielding-hold-on-god-for-an-open-heaven/ ========================================================================