Divine Keys by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Sequential Order of Spiritual Knowledge

Knowledge is important, but revelation must be sequentially arranged to be effective. There are people who received truth and it destroyed them — not because the truth was wrong, but because it was out of order. The truths of Scripture are designed to complement one another. When there are gaps in a spiritual understanding, those gaps become loopholes the enemy exploits. Truth can kill. A knife is not designed to kill you, but held wrongly it can.

The Law of the Mind

Three powerful principles govern growth. The first is the law of the mind.

Psalm 78:41 — "They limited the Holy One of Israel." Although heaven is God's throne and the earth his footstool, a possibility exists where men can limit God. The lack of results in your life is not proof of God's incompetence — there is something about a man's understanding and lack of knowledge that can cause the Most High to be limited.

Everything in life is built twice. It must first be built in the realm of the spirit, then built physically. Anything that does not have a foundation in the realm of the spirit has no vehicle in this realm and must disappear.

God designed man as a spirit that lives in a body, but that spirit cannot operate with the body directly because they are in two different dimensions. So God created an agency called the mind — to interface the realm of the spirit and the physical realm. Man is a spirit hosted in a container called the body, given the mind — containing will, emotions, and intellect — as a faculty of expression. The soul is simply a spirit that is conscious because of the mind.

Hebrews 11:1-3 — Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the tangibility of things not seen. The things that are seen came from the things which do not appear. Everything that is required is already reality. You do not have the ability to desire anything that does not exist. Creation from this realm is only a technology of transportation — transporting spiritual realities from a dimension that is not earthly to give it frame in the physical.

Your life is akin to a mirror. Everything you see in the physical is like a reflection. You do not remove something from your reflection by putting your hand into the mirror — you correct it here, in the mind.

Genesis 11:4-6 — Nimrod and his people had not yet laid one physical block, but in the realm of the spirit, as their minds were receiving it, God saw the structure finished. God said, "Nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined." The construction was complete in the realm of the mind before a single stone was laid.

Ephesians 3:20 — God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. Several requests going from your mind to heaven cause God to respond. When you change your mind, you limit what God can do.

Success is not in doing — it is attracted by the transition that happens in your mind, which is a reflection of what you are becoming. Every realm of spiritual understanding has possibilities that accrue to that realm. An attempt to attract a reality higher than your mental level is like pulling a rubber ring — it goes back. That is why many results are short-lived; they came with desire and sometimes ego, not with growth.

You do not need a visa to travel here. You can dream with God and he takes you to that realm. This is the technology of growth — it takes your mind to your future, and the moment your mind gets there, it comes and takes your body to join it.

When you stop moving, it is because your mind has stopped traveling.

Satan knows this. When he comes to you, he does not touch you — he only projects a picture of failure. As you keep watching, you begin to see in your life what you have been seeing in his projection. The rich secret of success is you and God — not what you do, but who you are. What you do will continue to become who you are. Guard your mind jealously. We build garages for our cars and wardrobes for our clothes, but we do not build protection for our minds. Out of the mind come the issues of life.

The Law of Men

The second key is understanding man. It is not enough to know God. The Psalmist, when he considered the works of God, asked, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" Throughout Scripture you see the inertia of God seeking man — not just man seeking God.

This is the world of men. Those who know this rise as if Satan does not exist. Those who have ignored men pay for it.

Abram wallowed in confusion until he met Melchizedek. Jesus himself — the Word made flesh — walked under a closed heaven for thirty years until he met a man called John the Baptist. Abraham was in a vision with God and saw the captivity would last four hundred years, but the difficulty in preparing Moses added thirty extra years. God could not anoint David because a man — Samuel — refused to agree. God himself had to plead with Samuel: "How long will you weep, seeing that I have rejected Saul?"

We have taught for many years that you do not need a man to rise. If you mean that to express God's sovereignty, you are right. But if you mean God can do without men, you are wrong. He has chosen to incorporate men. If you ignore man, you will pay for it.

• Divine connectors — They do not have what it takes to bless you, but they can link you with who has what it takes. They come in fashions that are not receivable; you need discernment to identify them.
• Men of influence — Gatekeepers who have resources, track record, and credibility. One endorsement from them can lift a person overnight.
• The anointing — Not just an ointment on your head. An anointing is an impetus that opens a dimension of spiritual possibility. It does not do everything; it opens what your request and your obedience activates.

Joseph is dying in prison with a dream. The king can set him free with one decree. But the middle man forgot. When God was ready to lift Joseph, he gave the pharaoh a dream no astrologer could interpret. The king sent for Joseph — a man sent for another man — and brought him out of his dungeon.

All blessings come from God through men to men. If God says yes and the middle man says no, the answer is no.

The credibility of men matters. The endorsement of men matters. The true proof of favor is not money — it is the hearts of men. When God gives you the hearts of men, you have everything.

The Law of Spiritual Empowerment

I have tried to obtain things in my life through the years that proved very difficult. Every time I prayed, God spoke as if I already had them. But then I met certain men and was amazed at how easy my life became.

You have favor with God and favor with men. You can have favor with God alone — you will grow spiritually, you will have visions — but you will suffer on earth, because the favor that works on earth is favor with men.

Luke 2:52 — Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man.

Men are not just men — they are repositories of a program. Do not mind the body; look at the agenda. The bodies are the only ones who are modern. What is committed to certain men is ancient.

If you see men in the flesh, you will never receive anything. Elijah was a system embodied in a person. There are dimensions of the Spirit that are possible through men — possibilites that are older than the vessel carrying them.

God is raising mighty men and women in this place. He won't stop — He won't stop till your life looks like Him.

Father, send divine connectors into my life. Send men of influence. Send gifted people. And in all your sending, send me burdenbearers — faithful people who will stand with me through the storms until my glory is revealed. In Jesus name, amen.