There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

I recall the popular story of the drowning man, who was stranded in an open sea and refused several rescue attempts, each time telling the would-be rescuers that God would save him. Three boats came to his aid, and after turning down the last, he drowned and died. After his death, the man met God and asked why He did not intervene. God responds that He sent all the would-be rescuers to the man’s aid in expectation that he would accept the help.

I recall another story of a Christian brother who was in an airport, and at the other end of the airport, a woman and her 3-year-old son were being held up because she could not make a certain regulatory payment that was required. She felt stranded and hopeless, and in some moments, this brother walked up to her and told her God instructed him to come and help her out with some money. It turned out the exact amount this brother gave her was the exact amount she needed to pay the authorities so she could be allowed access into the country. Of course, the woman burst into tears as she thanked God for this.

We see the parallel in the drowning man and the stranded woman in that they both had unwavering faith in and trusted God for help, but what determined whether they received salvation from God was their ability and capacity to discern and receive men rightly.

Men are God’s choice vessels for releasing the provisions of His dimensions on the earth. Every request to God for His providence is at the behest of the response of a man. Every praise to God is through a thank you to a man. It is through the acceptance of the gifts of men and the offering of our gifts to men that praise and glory comes to God.

The Bible says He has put treasures in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power might be of Him and not of us (2 Corinthians 4:7). The treasures is the excellency of His power, and remember that power is the ability to do, so you see that to enjoy the fullness of God’s abilities in our lives, we must learn to be on the receiving and giving ends of this equation simultaneously.

God owns the treasures and He gets the glory for the treasures, but the way He releases His treasures is by prompting the men in whom He has hidden it to release it, and also counting on the men who need the social or spiritual correlates of the treasure to be open to receive. There are treasures that we each carry for the benefit of those around us, and there’s a posture we must take in receiving the dimensions of God’s ability from others. More profoundly is how the growth of the church and the body of Christ is so dependent on this concept and system.

A pertinent question to ask then is, What is the posture of receiving?

Receiving cannot first be selective because there are angels that walk into our lives unawares. Apostle Paul, drawing lessons from Father Abraham, admonishes in Hebrews 13 that we must always be hospitable, as that’s how we steward our seasons of treasure deposits. To be hospitable is to be welcoming, treat all men kindly, and honour all men. A step higher from that is to discern men rightly. John 1 tells us that Jesus gave the right of sonship only to those that received Him, and the only reason some didn’t receive Him was that they did not know Him. So, we see that beyond general hospitality, discerning people rightly helps to establish the gradient of transfer.

Samuel’s instruction to Saul also lends its relevance to how we position ourselves to release the treasures in us. Samuel told Saul that it is until he comes into the company of some people that he would start to do as occasion demands. Interestingly, Saul also received bread and wine from a certain company as well prior to this encounter, but I digress.

Certain anointing and gifting are only unlocked when we come into the company of men whose inherent needs draw on that anointing and call it out. Gifting are not released in seclusion, so the encouragement is to put ourselves in relational and community contexts that draw on our acts of service. The way the Bible instructs us to release the treasures in us is by again, knowing ourselves, not according to our biological history but according to our prophetic history. Beyond knowing ourselves, is unlocking our bowels of mercy. The key to unlocking it, as we see in Philippians 2, is deep love for the brethren, unity of the Spirit, and seeing and wanting the best version of those around you. When you want to see the best version of everyone, anything in you that facilitates that will automatically be released.

Say with me, this week, I am the (wo)man sent from God to release treasures of divine capacities and capabilities He has hidden within me for the benefit of others, and I receive the men and women sent from God to release His manifold and timely abilities in my life!

Amen and Amen.

Have a productive week!

Olayinka Adebayo

@layinkadebayo