Opening Destiny Doors Through Relationships by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Power of God's House

The Bible says they go from strength to strength as many as appear before the Lord in Zion (Psalm 84:7). Strength to strength is the heritage of anyone who takes God and His house seriously.

Spiritual growth is not a gift—you press with determination, you take advantage of the grace that has been given by God, and you press. Philippians 3:13-14 says, "This one thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind, I press."

The house of God is not a museum, not a cinema center, not merely a recreation center. When you come to the house of God, you will be enlightened and inspired. The house of God is where God dwells.

According to Psalm 133, when we are gathered together, the Lord has commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. That means in the presence of God you're expected to be healed, lifted, and changed.

The Parable of the Sower

Jesus spoke a parable about the sower who went to sow (Matthew 13). The seed is the word of God, and it fell on four kinds of ground. What makes your ground good is that you hear and understand.

Among those that produced, there were three levels of harvest: thirty-fold, sixty-fold, and a hundred-fold.

Three Platforms for Opening Closed Doors

1. The use of the right or correct key (keys refer to knowledge)
2. The art of knocking (Matthew 7:7-8)
3. The use of force—the supernatural and the power of God

Main Teaching: Opening Destiny Doors Through Relationships

Luke 11:5-10

"And he said unto them, which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me and I have nothing to set before him.'

And he from within shall answer and say, 'Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.'

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth."

Key Observations from Luke 11:

• This issue of opening doors is among friends, not strangers
• Only a friend can accommodate that level of inconvenience (midnight visit)
• The person in need invoked the relationship by calling him "friend"
• The purpose was to help honor another friend
• The door can be opened through friendship OR through persistence (importunity)

The Power of Relationships

Proverbs 13:20 - "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."

Matthew 4 - Jesus beckoned the disciples saying, "Follow me and I will make you." I will not make you when you stand from afar; I will only make you when you follow me.

**Destiny fulfillment and advancement is practically impossible without relationships and strategic connections.**

Relationships Are:

• Bridges to an exceptional life AND bridges to a life of pain and regret
• Currencies - They can buy what money can buy and what money cannot buy

May you never be so poor that all you have is money.

Men have risen to enviable destinies from very modest and sometimes shameful backgrounds using the leverage of relationships. The Bible and history are full of ordinary men and women who meandered across this mystery and, through the ladder and lift of relationships, rose to enviable positions spiritually, economically, sociologically, and politically.

Judas had a relationship and threw away a valuable relationship to pursue money. At the end, he got the money, but losing the relationship, the money did not benefit him—he lost both, including his life.

The easiest way to succeed in life and destiny is through relationships.

The Tripartite Dimension of Relationships

There are three dimensions of relationships that must be at work in your life for doors to be open:

1. Your Relationship with God

Matthew 22:37-40 - "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Proverbs 23:26 - "My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways."

2 Chronicles 15:12-15 - They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul. They swore unto the Lord with a loud voice, and sought Him with their whole desire, and He was found of them, and the Lord gave them rest round about.

Matthew 19:26 - "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

**The implication of a healthy relationship with God defines the extent of the possibilities that you experience.**

Every possibility should manifest as far as the finished work of Christ is concerned, but entering into the experience of it depends on a functional, ever-growing relationship with God.

There is nothing in this life, no one in this life, that should sustain the ability to take the place of God in your life and interrupt your walk with God.

John 17:3 - "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

The Price for All of God is All of You

Many believers do not intend to take God seriously. They want to keep Him at the minimum level—enough to hopefully secure life after death, like insurance—while they go around doing everything they want to do with their lives.

If you want God to honor you, if you want to command power and relevance in our world today, you have to make up your mind that you are going to go all out for God.

1 Corinthians 2:9 - "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, what God has in store for them that love Him."

When Jesus started with the disciples who would later be apostles, one day He said, "I no longer call you brethren but friends" (John 15:15). He was telling them they had scaled a height, demonstrated their love, and survived a lot.

Do you know what it means for God to give you the title "friend of God"? Abraham was called the friend of God. In friendship there are no secrets.

2. Relationship with Men

Psalm 8:1-6 - "O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength...What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet."

**What is in man that man himself does not know?**

As excellent and powerful as God is, there is something the ministry of man does for Him. God shows so much passion around man.

Ezekiel 22:30 - "And I sought for a man...why will God be seeking for a man?" If the God of the heavens has not ignored men, it is lack of wisdom for you to ignore men.

Psalm 115:16 - "The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men."

The Story of the Man at Bethesda

John 5:1-8 - A certain man was there who had an infirmity for 38 years. When Jesus asked him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" the impotent man answered, "Sir, I have no man."

In 38 years, he took responsibility: "I am knowledgeable enough to know that I have no man. When the water is troubled, I have no man to put me into the pool."

Why have you not risen till now? Why has your life not changed? The correct answer for many people is: **I have no man.**

Jesus did not look at him and say he was lying. He knew the man was right. Jesus said, "You got it right—you have no man. But now here is a man. Rise up, take up thy bed and walk."

All Blessings Come from God, But They Come Through Men to Men

If God says yes and a man to partner with Him says no, yes will remain in the realm of the spirit—it will not manifest here. When God says yes, the Spirit and the bride must also say yes for it to manifest (Revelation 22:17).

**The spirit and the bride say come—not the spirit alone, not the bride alone.**

The nation of Israel had God for 430 years and were still slaves. God was there, but they remained slaves. Until Moses showed up and stood before Pharaoh saying, "Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people go!" (Exodus 5:1). God backed the man He sent.

Your life can be put in indefinite pain, regret, and perpetual circles of defeat simply because you have no man.

Proverbs 14:28 - "In the multitude of people is the king's honour."

Why Men Ignore Men

• Arrogance
• Ignorance

**Who hates you does not matter in this kingdom, but who loves you matters.**

**God will always use men for your rising. Satan will always use men for your falling or destruction.**

Keys to Maintaining Relationships

**1. Rise Above Competitive Jealousy**

Proverbs 14:30 - "A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones."

You can never maintain strategic relationships when you are prone to jealousy. There are people who can never be in any circle unless they are the leaders. If they are not going to lead and call the shots, they cannot sit quietly—it is a dangerous mentality.

**2. Avoid Evil Speaking/Backbiting**

You cannot maintain relationships living in an atmosphere that is perpetually about evil speaking and backbiting. Nobody will accommodate you under that pungent atmosphere.

Dr. Myles Munroe said: Losers talk about people, mediocres talk about things, but great people talk about ideas.

**3. Practice Forgiveness and Tolerance**

It will be impossible to maintain relationships all through your lifetime if you cannot practice forgiveness and tolerance.

- **Forgiveness** = providing pardon for a default

- **Tolerance** = accommodating the intrinsic weaknesses of people

Carrying offense and unforgiveness is like swallowing poison and expecting another person to die.

**4. Be an Active Contributor to the Growth of the Relationship**

Relationships do not build themselves—they are built by the parties involved. **Relationships must be a healthy balance between expectations and contributions.**

When your expectation in a relationship far outweighs your contribution, you are a selfish person. You cannot contribute 1,000 naira worth of contribution and expect one million naira worth of expectation—that is fraud.

Where you do not have any definite value to offer, let your value be gratitude.

Gratitude is a big contribution in any relationship. Gratitude can equalize even what your value cannot bring.

**5. Master Kindness and Hospitality**

**Kindness** = the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate

**Hospitality** = built upon an intrinsic desire to see people happy and welcomed

You cannot surround yourself with this kind of spiritual and psychological energy and have people run away from you.

Some of the greatest helpers in life have been the most unassuming people. Based on physical appearance, if you were to select people, you would not go close to those people, yet they have profound and tremendous influence.

3. Your Relationship with Things

1 Timothy 6:17-19 - "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."

1 John 2:15-16 - "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

There is a way to relate with things. You can relate with things wrongly the same way you relate with God wrongly or with men wrongly.

**The secret to managing things:**

1. Never exalt them above Jesus
2. Understand that every blessing God gives you is for your comfort, for the revelation of Jesus, and to help you become a blessing to humanity

Don't have a garage for your car, a safe for your jewelries, and yet not have a place to meet with God.

It is easier to become successful than to remain successful. The dynamics of managing things is such that if God does not help you, you will lose your life, your character, your integrity—everything that makes you you intrinsically.

**One of the ways you manage things is to remember where He took you from. Thou shalt remember!**

The Cycle of Open Doors

Your relationship with God → gives you access to wisdom and favor

Wisdom and favor → gives you access to men and systems

Men and systems → give you access to resources and influence

You then use your resources and influence to:

• Serve God
• Bless men
• Live a successful life

This recycles the process again, giving you more room to maintain and increase your relationship with God.

Final Prayer Declaration

As the doors begin to open through this key of relationships, walk through them singing:

*King of my life, You are my all, and I live for You alone*

*You're the King of my life, You have my all, and I lay my life for You*

*My heart is Yours, my mind is Yours, my will is Yours*

*You're the King of my life, You're the love of my life*

Walk through the doors of prosperity singing this song. Walk through the doors of influence singing this song. Walk through the doors of lifting singing this song.

"Lord, my relationship with You—let wisdom and favor come from that relationship. And with wisdom and favor, I obtain grace, O God, to win the heart of men—valuable relationships. And with valuable relationships, O God, let resources come. And with resources, give me the wisdom to serve You, the wisdom to bless my world, to live a successful life, and then it gives me an opportunity to spend time knowing You and building my relationship again!"

May you never have to confess like the man at Bethesda: "I have no man."