Tonight you want to take anything you want from the master.
Just start by worshipping Him and Him alone. Hallelujah Hallelujah
What is obscurity? Obscurity is
The state of being unknown, inconspicuous, or unimportant.
It is the Deficiency or absence of light; darkness.
An instance of being imperfectly known or difficult to understand.
Brethren tonight we deal with the power that puts otherwise great people in total obscurity.
An obscure person business or ministry has very little chance of moving very far. It is totally impossible for you to see for very long or walk very far in total darkness. Even if you manage to do so, you would be moving without direction so you end up in the wrong place.
Obscurity can make the most beautiful diamond stay stuck in the bowels of the earth for millions of years undiscovered. Obscurity can make the greatest ideas lay unused for thousands of years. Why is it that the computer was not important until only 30 years ago. Obscurity of ideas is why the I phone as we now know it was not found out for years. Now your phone is your tv, telephone calculator, organizer, conference office, weather keeper, even your bank or credit card. It is everything almost.
Obscurity anointing can make the greatest movie star remain undiscovered in his or her village for years.
Obscurity anointing can make a ministry or calling God has prepared for the whole world to not have any influence beyond its immediate neighborhood.
In 1 Kings 19:19-21 obscurity anointing was removed from Elisha when Elijah came and threw his mantle on him.
19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”
“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”
21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.
Let’s notice two things:
(1) This mantle was the official garment of a prophet. There were three types of mantles worn in biblical times. This is the `adderet', a cloak that could be made of animal hair and was a garment of distinction worn by kings and especially by prophets (1 Kings. 19:13, 19; 2 Kings. 2:8, 13-14; Zech. 13:4). The mantle automatically marked a man as a prophet, a spokesman of God. It was also a symbol of sacrifice and commitment. The life of a prophet was not a life of luxury. The mantle represented a man’s gift, the call of God, and the purpose for which God had called him.
(2) Throwing it over the shoulders of Elisha was a symbolic act denoting his summons to the office of prophet, but it was also a sure sign of God’s gift that enabled him to fulfill the prophetic office and ministry. This act by Elijah was a prophetic announcement that the gift of prophecy had been given (or would come) to Elisha. It was immediately understood by Elisha even without words.
It was the divine light of God that caused the prophetic drama that removed Queen Vashti and put Esther in her place in Esther 1.
In Joshua 2, it was the divine power of God that turned Rahab from a useless prostitute to a woman of virtue who became part of the lineage of Jesus.
1. Naaman. 2 Kings 5 tells the story of a successful Syrian commander who had the disease of leprosy. The story goes that on the suggestion of the servant girl of Naaman’s wife Naaman went to see the prophet Elisha to be cured of his leprosy. It is an amazing story of healing and turning to the Lord–and also has some twists and ironies at the end!
2. Jabez. Jabez is only mentioned in a few verses of scripture and is known for his famous “Prayer of Jabez” mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:10, “Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, ‘Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!’ And God granted what he asked. ”
3. Josiah. Josiah, one of the greatest kings to ever rule Israel, started his reign when he was only 8 years old. 2 Kings 22:2 says “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”
4. Mordecai. The story of Mordecai takes place throughout the book of Esther. Mordecai is the cousin and guardian for Esther, a foreigner who becomes queen of Persia. Mordecai uses his position in the king’s court to stand up for the oppressed people of God and foil a plot to assassinate the king.
This story plays a pivotal role in the gospel because if the Jewish people had been destroyed (like Haman desired), the story of God’s saving work through the Jewish people (and eventually Christ) would have come to an end.
5. The Thief on the Cross.
We do not know much more about the thief on the cross other than he was:
• A Criminal
• Crucified next to Jesus
• Brought into paradise at his death
His powerful story is told in Luke 23:32-43, that describes the conversation between Christ and the two criminals crucified alongside of Him.
Then he pleaded with Jesus to “remember me when you come into your kingdom.” This desperate and humble cry for mercy is all that God needed to welcome him into the family of God.
Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (23:43)
What an incredible story! A man who presumably led his entire life in opposition to God, by the great mercies of God, was able to be saved in his dying moments. This demonstrates that a humble heart that cries out to God for salvation will be heard!
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13
You can see the extent that God can go to remove someone from obscurity.
The word of God is very firmly against the power of obscurity and He wants every of His children to be shining lights for His glory;
Matthew 5:14 says, “You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.”
Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”
John 8:12 says, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."”
John 9:5 says, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
John 12:36 says, “Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light." When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
Philippians 2:15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe
Many of us were in the marvelous light of God, but sin pushed us into obscurity. Just look at Revelation 2:5. It says, “Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”
We have to repent quickly when we find ourselves in sin and temptation because what does light have with darkness. We are to have no part in it.
Let us go into prayers now to push aside the power of obscurity in our lives;
1. Every strongman of obscurity in my life, die, in the name of Jesus.
2. Every handwriting of ordinances causing my life to be obscure, be wiped off by the blood of Jesus.
3. Every tree of obscurity planted against my life, be uprooted by fire, in the name of Jesus.
4. Every ancestral root of obscurity in my family line, let it be uprooted by fire, in Jesus’ name.
5. Every strongman of bad luck and failure assigned against my life, fall down and die, in Jesus’ name.
6. Every root of bad luck and failure in my life causing obscurity in your life, dry up, in the name of Jesus.
7. I reject every inherited bad luck and failure, in the name of Jesus.
8. Every power keeping me away from my divine helpers die, in the name of Jesus.
9. Every power blocking my opportunities, scatter, in the name of Jesus.
10. Every power assigned to be delaying my divine time and appointments die, in the name of Jesus.
11. God arise and uproot anything You did not plant inside The Believer’s Evangelical Fellowship International, in Jesus’ name.
12. Let the fire of revival fall upon The Believer’s Evangelical Fellowship International, in Jesus’ name.
13. Let the power of peace and progress overshadow this nation, in the name of Jesus.
14. God, arise and give us God-fearing leaders during these coming elections, in the name of Jesus.
