LEADERS MEETING WITH BRO GBILE AKANNI

Dearly Beloved,
Calvary greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We believe that the Lord
kept you as you journeyed back and that you are doing well, especially in your inner man.
We want to appreciate the Lord for the opportunity He granted us to sit together at His feet even
as leaders and to learn of Him. We would like you to take very serious every issue the Lord
raised with us. Jesus said to His disciples in John 13:17, Now that ye know these things, happy
are ye if ye do them.
As a follow-up, we would like to highlight some of the things the Lord said to us as we sat at His
feet for those three days. Remember that He spoke to us from 2 Chronicles 36:11-21 and Ezra
7:1-10.

A man can still become a pillar for Gods Kingdom in the midst of unfavorable conditions. In
fact, it is in such times that ones growth is genuine and real. Deep roots are actually grown in
the dry season and not wet season. If your roots are grown and developed in the rainy season (in
favorable conditions and environments), then you will not last long. Maybe the reason why so
many of us are shallow and weak is because we have located ourselves and are growing our roots
in places where we are being pampered. Ezra lived in Babylon when the children of Israel where
on exile. The Lord had given Israel over to king Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the walls of
Jerusalem, burnt down the temple of the Lord and all the palaces, and took away the vessels and
utensils used in the temple of the Lord. It was in such difficult and unfavorable times that Ezra
lived, yet we see how he became a pillar for the Kingdom. Beloved, have you been discouraged
and depressed by the hard and unfavorable conditions around you? Cheer up brother/sister, those
hard conditions are Gods instrument to ensure that your roots grow deep and strong! If,
however, you deliberately are enjoying the pleasures of ease and comfort, beware! Your roots
may not support you when the strong winds and rains come.

By the time Ezra was coming up out of Babylon, he was a ready scribe. It was not at the
point where he was to function that he started preparing himself, No! he was already ready ... a
ready scribe. Pillars are not made on the platform of manifestation. God arranges makings for
them before they arrive there. Brother/sister, what are you doing with your life now? Are you
waiting till God calls you to serve before you start preparing your life?

Ezra was not a strange son. His genealogy could be traced to Aaron, the high priest. His lineage
was pure and correct. Do you have a correct genealogy? When you arise to pursue Kingdom
matters, is Heaven wondering where you came from and who gave birth to you? Can Heaven
trace your life to Jesus Christ, our High Priest? When your genealogy is wrong, you cannot
function at the altar. Every offering you offer will be a strange offering.

Brother/sister, do not let your labor in the household of faith be in vain. That a man labors in the
house does not make him a son of the house. He is at best a servant and a servant does not abide
in the house forever (John 8:35). Are you a son? Do you carry the seal of a son? The seal of a
son in the house of God is that he does not sin (2 Tim 2:19, 1 John 3:9). Sin is the only thing that
sends a man out of the house, irrespective of who he is and what he does in the house. Is there
still sin in your life? You can never check and evaluate yourself enough to ensure that there is no
sin in you because until you have finished this race, you have not finished! Please, beware of
hypocrisy. It is the greatest sin of a leader and it is so easy to commit. Any leader who wants to
function well in leadership must first deal with hypocrisy.

This Ezra ... the Lord was particular about Ezra. There were several other young men in Babylon
at that time, but God was particular about the Ezra whose genealogy was described in Ezra 7:1-5.
It is important to be born again, but that a man is born again is not sufficient a reason for him to
be a leader (one upon whom the Lord will put the weight of leading men). To be a leader, you
must be particular about your life in the midst of all the things that are going on around you.
Deliberately take your destiny in your hands and build your life. Do not prepare yourself in
anticipation of a program or meeting, NO! Let the preparation of your life be your normal habit
or lifestyle. You must allow the finger of God to rest on you mightily. You must allow your life
to bear the Presence of the Lord! The regular, sedimented Presence of the Lord is a very great
treasure and it is built over time, it is not gotten overnight. It is built out of an intimate and
consistent friendship with the Lord. It is developed with a consistent and regular walk with God.
The more time you spend with God, the more of Him you will bear. Remember that sin is the
only blade that severs off that connection and when it cuts that connection, it cuts it to the roots,
such that whenever you, by mercy, decide to build that connection again, you will have to start
from the scratch again.

When the Presence of the Lord settles on a life, what that life would normally struggle to do over
a long period of time, will be done in no time. Brother/sister, what you need is the Presence of
God, nothing else.

When the hand of God is on a man, every provision he needs will come to him; he does not need
to struggle for it.

Since the Presence of God is so valuable and indispensable, how can we maintain a progressive
growing of/in the Presence of the Lord? The first issue we must handle if we must maintain a
progressive growing of/in the Presence of the Lord is the issue of the heart.

Ezra prepared his heart to ... The preparation of a mans heart is very important. If God will
move away from any man, it is because of his heart! The Presence of God has a very critical link
to the condition of the heart. It is the condition of a mans heart that attracts God or puts Him off.
Once ones heart shifts away from God, even if it is for five minutes, there is an immediate
disconnecting from His Presence. This is a very complex and subtle matter that requires us to
pay close attention to, because the shifting of the heart is NOT noisy at all; it is silent and almost
imperceptible. Brother/sister, a progressive culturing of your heart is what you need in order not
to send God packing out of your life.

To have a progressive continuous hand of God on your life, you must take heed to your heart!
And you need to do it with all diligence (Prov. 4:23).

The second issue in maintaining a progressive growing of/in the Presence of the Lord is the issue
of pursuing hard after God. The pursuit of God is a do or die affair because His Presence is a
vital necessity for any life! Pursue the Lord with all your heart (Jer. 29:11-12). The grace of God
is free and great, but it is not cheap.

The pursuit of God is not what you do at the beginning of your walk with Him and not do again.
No, it must be continued throughout your lifetime.

The pursuit of God is a pursuit of a personality and not a doctrine.

The third matter in maintaining a progressive growing of/in the Presence of God is the matter of
obedience. The Presence of God becomes progressive when you obey Him continuously. For
you to have progress with God, your obedience must be prompt, unprocrastinated and
implicit. So as you engage God, you must immediately act, so that your heart does not shift.

Fix your heart on pursuing God, loving Him and obeying Him. Your heart must be fixed in all of
these so that it does not shift.

Finally, when God has wrought His word in your life and your obedience is complete, you
can then teach it. Teaching will consolidate His word in your life.
Beloved, we trust that as you open your heart to these dealings, you will allow God to make you
into a pillar for His Kingdom in Jesus Name.
Your brothers,

Fadoo Unom