Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. [Hebrews 3:10-13]

There is something in the heart of God which He always drives at, and He wants everyone who encounters Him to clearly discover it. Unless you have this understanding, you may never be able to relate with God seamlessly. The verses above say that God was grieved with a generation of men and women, who always err (stumble, go astray) in their hearts, and the reason God is sad, is because they did not know the ways of God, they did not know how God operates.

Wherever you find continuous erring, sinning, departure and disobedience against God, it is largely because men have not KNOWN Gods ways. There are so many ideas and ideologies that we have about God, but they are very untrue. There are things that have become settled within us as how God operates, but completely, they are off point, and God is far from such. Unless I know exactly Gods paths and ways, I cannot follow Him. I will still follow the paths that I feel He passed through, whereas, God is far away on the other side.

God is so grieved when His ways on how to walk with Him are clearly revealed unto us in His word, yet we are still blind to them. We read but do not grasp. Something wrong has become suffused into us about who God is. We have swallowed so many wrongs about God, and it is getting very hard to change us inside right. Even those believers who know a little of God, something within does not want to search more of Him. They think all they got is all that He is, whereas there is so much more behind the veil that are yet unknown until you are ready to pierce within the veil.

When Paul the Apostle said, "that I may know HIM". It connotes that regardless of my height into God, there is still something much more undiscovered, something far greater than I have known, that I need to seek yet more.

One of the main reasons why men never follow God is because His ways appear too SIMPLE. Gods ways look too basic, so it appears weak. Men believe that SIMPLICITY is WEAKNESS, and that HUMILITY is COWARDICE. The general understanding is that if anything must be authentic and real, then it has to be complex. This is what the devil capitalizes upon in other to get many gullible men unto his side. He presents things complex so that you can think it is great.

If God tells you to “SIMPLY BELIEVE” , you will think… “is that all? how much do I need to pay?” if Gods word says “Christ has settled it all”, someone somewhere would feel that “Yes I know, but do I not need to undergo some special dry fasting and religious activities to appropriate that?” Gods simplicity is regarded as powerlessness, that is why many seek for more complex issues, which in turn drags them into bondage and defeat.

“…they have not known my ways…”

1. PHYSICALITY.

Lots of people feel that Gods ways are physical, not spiritual. Since many do not have a spiritual Life, they think that God operates physically like themselves. Whenever men have anything to do with God, either in seeking Him, serving Him or offering unto Him, they want to physicalize it. They will always want a physical representation that they can touch, see or relate with tangibly whereas Bible says we can only please God BY FAITH, and not by sight or tangibility. Many raise up a form of idol to connote what God intends, and say it makes God more real to them. But these are things that draw God far away. Whenever we speak of “Being born again” for example, people want to physicalize it. They erroneously mistake it as “being baptized”. They hinge something physical to a spiritual reality before it can be authentic to them. When some others speak about healings or miracles, they will find a physical attachment for it. Some will employ the use of handkerchief, for others, they use water, oil, salt… Their faith seems to rest on something they can physically appreciate and see. Of course sometimes God in His mercies still heals some of these people, and it makes them feel that “yes, it worked!”, but "that it worked does not mean that you have got God or known His ways". These things only get you nearer miracles, whereas, they take you farther from the personality of God.

Many other confused people go as far as paying moneys to secure Gods blessings. People become very syncretic, using sand, wood, leaves… to pray. There are others, who even use Bible, but not in simple Christlike faith. They use it just as the heathen uses incantations. The words of God become like words of invocations, which they pronounce over and over. You will hear them say things like: “… you need to repeat the Bible verse 7 times, then shout hallelujah 21 times, then read another portion of the Bible 42 times by 12 midnight, then wash your body with a certain soap, pour the water into the sea and pronounce “Jesus” 13 times…” Even though it is the Bible being used, yet, it is complete idolatry.

God is a Spirit (He is NOT PHYSICAL). Whatever God you knew, if it was NOT in the Spirit, then, you do not know Him yet. What you got was not God at all, EVEN IF IT WORKED POWERFULLY. If there is no revelation of God in your spirit, you have not yet met Him. To know God, you must know Him not by physical eyes or sight or feelings, but in the spirit. In a great gathering of loud musical ecstasy, sometimes it appears as if you can feel God, but feeling God does not mean you have met Him. He is beyond feelings. He must sit in your heart and you follow His ways in love.

Do you know how to walk with God and depend on Him? Do you know how to commit your ways into His hands and know His perfect will for your life? Have you started allowing God speak His mind to you in every decision? For many people, all they know is “make sure you put a scarf on your head in church...”, “do not wear earrings…”, and they will count that as righteousness. They know nothing about Gods voice over their lives, neither do they know anything about divine purpose or how to walk with God daily in fulfilling it... They NEVER hear God clearly. They call Jesus Lord, but He does not lead them daily. Instead, they live by rules, regulations, dos and do nots. They do not KNOW God, but only practice religion. If you ask them specifically, “what did God say about an issue?” Such questions look abstract to them because they never learnt to take anything to God in prayer or know Gods perfect will daily. They live like ordinary men with no trust in God, Though they say they are believers, you did wonder, "what did they believe?"

2. MATERIALISM.

Other people feel that Gods way is the way of materialism. Men are so materialistic. They believe you are getting more of God when things are getting rosy and juicy and better. They judge a walk with God by the abundance of the things which they have. When it comes to seeking God, for them it is all about breakthroughs in finance and gadgets. They will pray fervently about how to “make it”. They are always so excited when the big Pastor is coming to town, because he is coming to rain some breakthrough prayers on their heads, he will pray for their markets, their contracts and promotions. Churches will be filled with so much testimony of the great things that God had done for His people... whereas, these men are still very far from God personally, and they do not know His ways. They can never fellowship with Jesus in His sufferings. They do not understand at all what it means to take the yoke of Christ upon themselves and learn of Him in submission and contentment. They neither fathom what it means to count it all joy when they pass through diverse tests that God arranges to sharpen and form their lives. They live a purely selfish life where their taste is only for food and their god is their belly.

3. RELIGION.
If you ask someone: "how are you with God?" The next reply is: "I go to church regularly". Regular Church attendance is mistaken for knowing God. They count water baptism, tithing, and church commitments as their being devoted to God. Commitment to church is mistaken as commitment to God, they know so much ABOUT God, yet they do not know God personally. You can be working for a man and be his best employer, yet, you may never know the man. God is not calling us just to work for Him. God is not as much interested in your zealousness to church than He is in you dwelling with Him in the closet. God is calling us into a relationship. You MUST relate with Him before you can know Him.

4. DEMONOLOGY:
There is a great deception from hell that makes you believe that the best way to walk with God is always to be dealing with the powers of darkness. You get so preoccupied with casting out demons, binding ancestral spirits, possessing your possessions, breaking curses, fighting attacks (which you wrongly call “warfare prayers”. True warfare prayers is not about demons, it is about taking up unto you the whole armour of God which are: the breastplate of righteousness... shield of faith... see Ephesians 6:10-18). You hear people say, “+Jesus –satan”. They will say, “the more Jesus, the less satan”. This is a deception from hell. Jesus will only begin where satan ends. Knowing Jesus is not about deleting demons, witches and devils, it is not about binding and loosing. Knowing Jesus rather, is an affectionate relationship with Him. For instance, knowing your wife or husband is not about dealing with concubines, you first cut off completely from concubine and ended all forms of extraneous relationships (if ever there was one) BEFORE the marriage relationship with your true lover began. It is not that the less you are loving harlots and prostitutes, the more you are loving your wife, No! You finished completely with one before the other began. Loving your wife and knowing her now is about a relationship with her void of all the other rubbish. Likewise, if it is devils you are still binding from your life, then, your relationship with Jesus is yet to begin…

“I was grieved with that generation, …They do alway err in their heart, and they have not known my ways...”

Do you know the ways of God or you are so tied and attached to your own ways or the ways that religion has formed you to be. You believe so much in the power of the devil more than the power of God. You so much respect and fear the devil more than you fear God. No matter how much explanation given you that Jesus has finished all matter at the cross, you still never believe. You believe that demonic attacks are stronger and quicker than the blood of Jesus, and that the devil can overcome you whenever he chooses. God says, “you always err in your heart, and have not known His ways”. Though Jesus has defeated the devil with a single strike, yet, you never believe it to appropriate it, you only know it as theology. The reason why you struggle every day to reverse attacks is because you prefer to exalt satanic activities so high and trust in the potency of the devil, but never in the power of God. You can fast for days seeking victory that Jesus has already procured. You think it is by power or by how much you can fast and pray…YOU SURELY DO NOT KNOW THE WAYS OF GOD.

“...So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.”

God is so displeased with anyone who, after several learning and admonitions, does not yet know His ways. If God draws you close, it is for the purpose of showing Himself to you to know His ways. Hence, to continue to bask in your ignorance, leading yourself, regardless of Gods investment in you, is to attract Gods anger. As many who do not recognize, know or walk in the ways of God, there is already a finality drawn in Gods anger that such men would never enter into His rest.

Friend, because you believe so much in the power of the devil, and that just one work of the devil can keep you bound for years, whereas, you do not trust that just one work of Jesus on the cross has granted you total freedom, God is so angry with you, and He swears angrily that rest will elude you.
When God in love has admonished you severally, showing you His ways, and yet you still believe your jargons, God will leave you alone to suffer in His anger... You will fast and pray because of demonic attacks you have believed in, yet, victory will be far away. There will be no rest of mind, no answers to prayers. You may bind the devil many times, yet, more attacks will overwhelm you. When many people choose to discard Gods ways and believe in lies, they will die through rigorous fasting, when they ought to be sleeping in Gods rest.
Have you discovered that every night, you are attacked? Are demons oppressing you? Are your days full of sickness, problems, bad lucks...? It is because you refused to plunge yourself into the ways of the Lord in "SIMPLE FAITH". You wanted something more complex, and God decided in His wrath, to keep you in troubles, and take His rest away from you.

“...entering into His rest...”

What is this rest of God? The Bible says, "come unto Me, and I will give you rest...". Of course, there is an eternal rest finally in heaven. But, there is a rest that Jesus gives today unto those who have come to trust Him, a settlement within the heart that never worries, and is never anxious. A rest within that says, "God is in charge, God is handling it". You do not run from place to place, you do not jump from Pastor to Prophet, nobody can deceive you or eat your money. Whatever your needs, there is a rest in your spirit that God will provide.

There is also the rest from sicknesses, attacks, troubles, and all the works of the enemies. That rest Jesus had at all times. Imagine Christians having High Blood Pressure, Hypertension, Fears of enemy, fear of the future, and all those sicknesses that arise because of anxiety... surely, those people have never entered into Gods rest...

“...an evil heart of unbelief...”

The unbelief here is NOT that of agnosticism, atheism, rejecting God, or cursing Him to His face. Unbelief here is NOT that of abomination, discrediting Gods work or arrogating the work of the Holy Spirit to Beelzebub, but rather, it is a quiet way of behaving NATURALLY as if God is weak and incapacitated, just like every natural man who has never met God behaves. Belief in God ought to move you to do and act exactly as that belief suggests. If you belief that God is your protection, then whenever you need protection, your first and only point of call must be God and nothing else. Is your way of thinking not the same as an unbeliever? Is there seated within you, an unwavering trust in God, that would bring God into every of your affairs. Do you not see how you operate majorly with common sense? Do you not see how hard and unreasonable it looks when the issue of "waiting upon God" comes, and you find yourself saying, "how can I keep waiting upon a God that may never answer me on this matter, when I know what to do by myself?" So you just go ahead and do things, not minding what the mind of God is. You hardly take issues to God in prayers before you make decisions. You care less about Gods perspective. Once something seems logical to you, boom, you go ahead. That is the same way the heathen takes decisions. Even animals behave in the same way, they never wait upon the the Lord. This is a heart of unbelief. If you trusted God and believed Him, His ways for you will be the best, and you would long to hear Him over every detail of your life.

Sometimes in defense, you say "I have tried and believed God many times, but it did not work out, it is like God is never listening...” Friend, the truth is that "you never believed...” You were only carrying out a hypothesis with God, hoping that things would work out, but deep in your heart, you had alternatives. God does not throw Himself on any man who is double-minded. Bible already confirms in the book of James that such double-minded people should never even think they would receive anything from the Lord.

“...take heed...”

If there was no danger, there would not have been a warning. This danger is very subtle because you would be thinking your way of life is normal, whereas, you have become a victim of unbelief. Since your normal way of life from birth was to simply follow natures course and operate as common sense suggests, behaving the same way you had always done would not suggest that you are doing something wrong and yielding to an evil heart of unbelief already. You would relax into normalcy since it does not look sinful, and does not involve anything corrupt, deceitful and unclean. But this is the fastest way to depart from the Living God. TAKE HEED…

“Exhort...daily...”

The only way of freedom from unbelief, is by staying in Gods presence to learn of Him and His ways. If we do not continue daily to look into the word of liberty richly, and exhort ourselves in Gods word, sin and unbelief will deceive us. Sin has a way of subtly painting the wrong to be right and mixing it up with the Christian faith. It takes daily meticulous "Looking" to be able to discover the tentacles that sin is trying to spread unnoticed. Have you given in to the deceitfulness of sin without recognizing its venom? We must recognize the ways of the Lord as it is written in scriptures, and follow it meticulously even if common sense suggests differently. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord…