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WHAT IS DESPERATION?
1. Desperation is an unquenchable yearning after a well-defined objective.
It could be after God. It could be after the world. It could be after wisdom.
2. Desperation is desire on fire.
The Psalmist says, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my
soul after thee, O God”(Psalm 42:1). Desperation is desire on fire. You desire it
and you are on fire for that desire.
3. Desperation is desire under pressure.
Someone can look at your eyes and see it in your eyes. Everything about you
communicates what you desire.
4. Desperation is desire beyond conviction.
Now, when you are convinced about something, you do not just88 stop at the
conviction, you desire what you are convinced about. You desire it so strongly
that no one can convince you against it. You want the anointing, for instance,
and there is nothing anyone can tell you, to change your mind. You want to
know God, and there is nothing anyone can tell you, to change your mind. You
want the wisdom of God, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. You are
determined to get it – no matter what!
When you have come to that point where you cannot be confused about what
you want and you cannot be convinced against it, then no devil or man can stand
between you and what you desire.
Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with
all wisdom. Proverbs 18:1
You separate yourself and begin to seek and to ‘intermeddle’ with wisdom. You
desire it, so you separate yourself because of it. You seek and begin to interact
with wisdom. You seek it, then you interact with it.
Ecclesiastes 1:13 says, “And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom
concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God
given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.” That is desperation.
Ecclesiastes 7:25 says, “I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek
out wisdom, and the reason of things…” That is desperation.
THREE FACTS ABOUT DESPERATION
1. Men of great desires are men of great discoveries.
Great desires sponsor great discoveries. Daniel is an example. Joseph is an
example. David is also another example.
2. Desperation is the secret of revelation.
Understand this: You get insight only where you have interest. God will not
bother you with what does not concern you.
3. Desperation is the secret of attraction.
Desperation is magnetic. Desperation in the heart of man attracts what is desired.
What you desire, you attract.
What you desire you acquire.
When Elijah was to be taken to heaven, he asked Elisha, “What do you want me
to do for you?” Elisha said, “Give me a double portion of the anointing that is
upon your life.”
Elijah said, “If you see me when I am taken up, you will receive it”(2Kings
2:12-13). Now when Elijah was being taken to heaven, he carried his mantle
with him. And when Elisha saw him going up, he cried: “My father, my father,
the chariot of Israel and the horse men thereof…” In other words, I can see you. I
can see you. And while he was shouting, Elijah’s mantle fell. Elijah did not drop
it; it fell.
Elisha carried the mantle of Elijah that fell. Elijah was, probably, ready to carry
his mantle along. He did not want to leave it behind. But the Bible says Elijah
was going with it, then it fell. The question now is, “What made the mantle
fall?” The desperation in the heart of Elisha! What was in his heart, pulled the
mantle down.
Desire is magnetic. Desperation attracts. It pulls in your direction. That is why,
to have an empty heart is to have an empty life. When the heart is empty, life is
empty. When the heart is light, life is light. You need heavy matters to matter
heavily. Heavy matters in the heart of a man cause him to matter heavily in his
generation.
In the fourteenth chapter of Acts, Paul the Apostle was preaching somewhere
and there was a cripple sitting at Lystra(Acts 14:7-10). He heard Paul the
Apostle attentively. A point came where the Bible says, “And Paul perceived that
the man had faith to be healed.” All other sick people were there, but he only
perceived that in this man. What was in the man’s heart pulled the anointing in
Paul. And Paul said, “Stand upright!” And the man stood. Because healing and
miracle was his desire, healing and miracle was what he attracted.
Watch what is in your heart because it will look for you – whether it is success or
failure; whether it is holiness or iniquity; whether it is prosperity or poverty.
Whatever your heart dwells on will suddenly begin to look for you. For as a man
thinketh in his heart, so is he(Proverbs 23:7).
What you desire, you attract. What you desire you acquire.
KEYS TO DESPERATION
What are the keys to desperation? What are the things that make a person to
have a very unusual desire?
1. The perception of need
When you perceive your need for God, for wisdom, and for power, then you will
become desperate to know God, to get wisdom and to receive the anointing.
When you see your helplessness without God; when you see your powerlessness
against the devil; when you see your foolish actions in times past; then you will
eventually become desperate to get solutions.
A person who does not think he needs anything, will move about like a wanderer
through life. What makes a man to go into fasting and praying? What makes a
man to stand up seven to eight hours praying in the spirit? It is desperation. He
perceives his need for God. He perceives he needs more power; he needs more
anointing; and he needs wisdom from God. It pushes him into a search. That is
why a person must consistently evaluate his life: “Where am I supposed to be,
and where am I now?” When you look at your life consistently, it pushes you
into desperation.
2. Connection to the Almighty
Connection to the Almighty will put upon you desperation. This is how it works:
The closer you get to God, the more God will drop in your mind His burden and
concern for your life, your generation and your family. The moment He drops
that concern (burden) in your heart, you will no longer be at ease. The Bible
says, “Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion.”
When a person sits down doing nothing and is afraid of failing, he will never go
forward.
The closer you get to God; the more you worship; the more you pray, the more
God will drop His burden or concern in your heart – that you should be wiser
than you are now. He is concerned that there are many helpless people, afflicted
by the devil, who need healing and deliverance, and you are doing nothing about
it. He begins to show you what He feels about your country and that places a
burden in your heart. That burden moves you into action.
3. Inspiration from people of impact
When you receive inspiration from people of impact, it will put desperation in
your heart. When you see people ahead of you, generating results effortlessly –
results that you are struggling to get – it will stir your desperation. When you see
people effortlessly manifesting the kind of things that you have been praying
about, it will put you under pressure. You will begin to tell yourself that if the
same God you worship is working in the other person’s life, then you desire
what you see.
One day I was watching A. A. Allen’s tape and this man just sat on a chair and
pulled people out of wheel chairs. He sat down normal, cool, calm, without any
pressure. And as a medical doctor, I was inquisitive to know what kind of cases
they were. Was it arthritis of the knee, spinal tuberculosis, cancer of the spine?
This man of God just jerked them up out of wheel chairs. It put me under
pressure. God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
I was inspired.
You know when a person does not get inspired, he will soon expire. When there
is no one ahead of you to motivate you, you will soon lose relevance on earth.
Desperation is fueled by the influence of people of great impact.
Every time I go to Canaan Land and see the primary school, secondary school as
well as the university, with a fifty thousand-seater auditorium, it puts desperation
in me. If God did it there, He can do it anywhere in the world.
My wife and I traveled to the US some years ago and we toured Oklahoma to
look at Oral Roberts University. We stood before the University in front of
Praying Hands. We went round to sight the University: “This is what one man
did in the name of God. Then it is possible anywhere in the world.”
We stood at the foot of a sixty-storey medical centre, and looked up – built by a
man, not the state; built by a man called Oral Roberts, who just went to be with
the Lord recently. He did it through the anointing of God upon his life.
The influence of people of impact pushes you into desperation.
4. Assimilation from association
What this means is that ‘iron sharpeneth iron’(Proverbs 27:17). When you are
surrounded with the right people – people on fire; people who are going far –
they will get you to go with them.
Desire is contagious. Passion is contagious. When you hang around a passionate
person, a person that has not arrived, a person who wants to become everything
God wants him to be, you cannot be complacent. Woe betides the person who
hangs around a Draught or Ludo player, sitting down every morning drinking
alcohol. Woe betides the person who is surrounded by NFA people – not Nigeria
Football Association but No Future Ambition.
One of the greatest things God has done for me is to surround me with people
who put me on my toes. I am not just talking about mentors here, but people
with whom God is raising us together. They put me on my toes. With such
people, you never ever assume that you have arrived, because you have seen
someone that is moving, and that puts you under pressure.
5. Revelation from the Scriptures
When you look into the Scriptures an see where you are meant to be and you see
the difference in the physical, then you are under pressure to be what Bible says
you should be. You say to God, “Lord, is this what the Word says? Is this how
wise I am meant to be? Was this how Jesus operated? Was this how Joseph
operated? Then I refuse to be where I am now.” It puts you under pressure.
DESPERATION BOOSTERS
There are three keys or boosters to desperation. There are three ways you can
maintain a desperate heart.
1. Prayer and fasting
Fasting intensifies hunger physically and spiritually. Every time you feel hungry
in the physical while you are fasting, it also intensifies your spiritual hunger.
Your desire for that which you want is intensified by fasting and prayer.
2. The right environment
When you stay around people, listen to messages and read materials that put you
under pressure to keep on desiring God and what you are meant to desire, it will
boost your desperation.
3. Persistent pursuit
Persistent pursuit boosts desperation. That is how it works. I continuously pursue
wisdom. I continuously pursue the anointing of God. When I was much younger
in the university, anytime I prayed for people to be healed, whether the person
was healed or not, it moved me to another level. I just kept on praying.
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