WHEN THE HEAVENS BECOME BRASS

Dr. D. K. Olukoya

The message of this week is for those who believe in the God of the suddenlies, those who know that no matter how fast the enemy has been running, just a word from the Master is enough to halt his race. After all, in the beginning, when the earth was without form and void all that was required to bring sanity was for the voice of the Lord to say, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Also, when there was satanic storm on the sea, all that was required to quench it was for the voice of the Lord to say, “Peace be still.”

The message is entitled “When the heavens become brass.” Let us start from the book of Genesis, from the first man to see an open heaven. In Genesis 28:11-12 we see Jacob as a very confused man. The Scripture says, “And he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. (His head was on the stone. When his head got on the stone, then his vision became clear. That stone was Jesus). And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending. And behold the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land wherein thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.” Right from this experience, the life of Jacob never remained the same.

You need an open heaven. When this man saw an open heavens, for the first time he saw a ladder going right into the heavenlies, and God was there talking to him for the first time in his life. If you need to do seven days dry fast or to go on only water for 21 days for God to speak to you for five minutes, it ‘s worth it, because if God talks to you for two minutes, it is better than a preacher talking to you for ten hours. If God talks to you for one hour, it is better for you than a preacher talking to you the whole of your life. When you have open heavens you will hear the voice of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 28:23: “And thy heavens that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.”

Please, pray like this: “My heavens shall not become brass, in the name of Jesus.”

That Scripture tells us that the heaven over a particular person’s head can become brass, and the earth under his feet can become iron. It is a terrible situation when the heavens become brass. This means that God has allocated to everybody an air space above his head, that can either be open or can become brass.

Matthew 3:13-16 says, “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness: then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him…” That passage says “Him” and not all those people standing around. John the Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove; and lighting upon Him. Jesus did not go out to minister until He received open heavens. He could not operate because when the Old Testament closed at Malachi, for 400 years God did not send any prophet and did not talk to anybody, the heaven was brass. It had to be opened before the Son of God could start His ministration.

In John 1:51, it is written, “And he saith unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” They first of all ascend and then descend, meaning that the initiative for the angels of God to come and help you lies with you. The initiative has to come from the earth.

For your life to prosper, the heavens must be involved, because the heaven above us is seeing everything. If a man is ever going to prosper, he cannot do it outside of heaven. A destiny remains stagnant until a connection is made between earth and heaven. On your own, you can’t do nothing. Even those who don’t believe that God exists and don’t serve the Lord are existing by the mercy of God. God sends His grace on the evil and on the good. Even if you said He does not exist, no problem; but the fact that you are alive shows that you are enjoying His mercies.

A destiny remains in the same place until a connection between heaven and earth is made, as with the ladder in the case of Jacob. You must have a process or a procedure to bring heaven to earth, or to join the earth to heaven. Until your heavens are opened, you cannot even locate your ladder, let alone go anywhere. Some people have broken ladders, some have no ladder at all, and that is why they have never in their lives seen anything positive coming from heaven. Until your heavens open, you don’t really know how sweet God could be. But when the heavens open, you know and experience the power of God. He will speak with you, you will hear that voice which many prophets have heard, and their lives never remained the same. God cannot speak to you and you will remain as you are. There must be a connection between earth and heaven. But when this heaven becomes brass over somebody’s head, his destiny is as good as dead.

SEVEN MAJOR THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THE HEAVENLIES

There are seven major things that happen in the heavenlies above. Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”

1. The heavenlies are the location of spiritual blessings.

2. The heavenlies are the headquarters of darkness. In Daniel 10, we find that for 21 days the heaven was brass. Why? There was a prince of Persia up there holding tight the angel bringing an answer to Daniel’s prayer. He could not bring the answer until he wrestled with the prince for 21 days. For all those 21 days, the heaven was brass because nothing was coming through. Until Angel Michael came and cleared that demon out of the skies, Daniel did not get his answer. This means that prayers can be hindered by the headquarters of darkness above.

When the whole of heavenlies are occupied by darkness in the life of a person, the person cannot receive the rain of God. Such a situation describes what is meant by the heavens becoming brass.

3. The heavens are the battlefield for spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against wickedness in high places.”

4. The heavens are the sphere or the arena of angelic activities. Ephesians 3:10 says, “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” When you say, “I bind, I loose, I bind, I loose” and the heavens do not answer you, you are wasting your time.

5. The heavenlies are the battleground of the success of our Lord Jesus Christ in spiritual warfare. Psalm 103:19 says, “The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens: and His kingdom ruleth over all.”

6. The heavens now are the location of believers’ position in Christ. Ephesians 2:6 says, “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” That is where we are supposed to be ruling from but we are not there. This is why the enemy is boasting.

7. The heavenlies are the action field of the triangular powers. What are the triangular powers? They are the sun, the moon and the stars. That’s why God says, "The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night.”

When you look at these seven things, you will begin to understand that if all spiritual blessings are in the heavenlies, and one way or the other, they are not coming down, it means that the heavens have become brass. Since the heavens are the battlefield for spiritual warfare, if a person loses all the battle fought there, then the heavens have become brass for him. If the heaven is the arena of angelic activities, and the angels do not come to assist you, your heaven has become brass. No wonder Jacob saw them ascending and descending. If the heaven is your location in Christ, and you are not sitting there, it has become brass, a hard metal.

We need to pray some brass-destroying, brass-shattering prayers. When you notice that there is silence from heaven, you get no information, those who want to help you get into trouble themselves, you go to borrow money and discover that the man who wants to give you the money has been involved in an accident and everywhere seems blocked, you have to check the condition of your heavens.

At this juncture, I would like you to pray like this:

• You forces of brassy heavens, give way by fire, in the name of Jesus.

• You heavens of brass, shatter, in the name of Jesus.

• Whatsoever that is making the sky to thicken over my head, die, in the name of Jesus.

IRON AND BRASS

Iron and brass in the spirit are equivalent to famine, dryness and drought. It is this dry and arid land that the devil normally rules. The Bible says, “When an unclean spirit has left a man, it roams around in dry places, i.e. in the lives of those that the heavens have closed. That is what the Bible means by dry places. When the heavens are closed over the head of a person, there would be traffic of demons in the life of that person. So, the questions that are pertinent to ask are: “Are your heavens open or closed? Are you really concerned about your life, progress, calling and destiny?” Once you are concerned about your life, your progress, calling and destiny are the first things to check to know whether your heavens are closed or not. If your heavens are closed and have become brass, demons would overcome you with ease. Nothing will go smoothly. Everything will be so hard, the ground will become very dry and plantations will not survive. Sometimes when you go into a house to pray and say, “Father, in the name of Jesus,” you would continue to pray and it will flow and appear as if you should not stop. But when you go to some houses and say, “Father, in the name of Jesus,” the people there would be falling asleep. As you pray you would notice that something is pushing the prayer back into your mind.

Sometimes ago, some brethren and I went to pray for a sister who was very ill. As we began to pray, I felt a thick darkness. I opened my eyes and said, “Madam, what are you doing here?” She said, “Em, before my father died, he willed the house to us, the children, and as the eldest daughter, I am staying here.” I said, “Do you want to die?” She said, “No.” I said, “But you have your own house, why are you not living there?” She said, “I’ve given it out to tenants.” The heavens closed over that place.

When the heavens are closed and there is no rain, plantations will not survive. When the heavens are closed, seeds are wasted because when they are put in the soil, they will not grow. You will plant much but reap very little because the heavens are closed and the whole of life is a struggle. There is a lot of profitless hardwork. One man was in Germany for 13 years and couldn’t get one single certificate. To worsen his case, his father, who was a herbalist, used charms to summon him home. He suddenly packed his things and left Germany, and all of a sudden he discovered that he was at Muritala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja. It was then his eyes cleared and he said, “What am I doing here?” They took him back to his hometown. He is now a herbalist like his father. The heavens closed.

When the heavens are closed, you need more labourers to do a very little job. Many people will be there struggling. When the heavens have become brass that is when worldliness and sins find their way into the lives of Christians. When the heavens become brass, problem remain the same even after deliverance ministration, a person will consume much more than he can produce or contribute, debt would be rising and the income would be low. When the heavens have become brass, a person will be labouring on hard ground. He will labour and sweat so much and achieve very little. You know that when the ground is dry, and a farmer is hoeing, the hoe would be making much noise on the ground but would be making little progress. When the heavens become brass devourers are released unto a person’s labour. It leads to deflected and paralysed life, and the affected person would notice that his spiritual life is going down.

It is possible that the heavens of somebody were open before but are closed now, and the person is now living on old and past achievements. The person does not have fresh fire and his prayers have become ordinary noise. His mind wanders about during prayers and Bible reading becomes a religion. He no longer derives any benefits from Bible studies and he goes to a great length to spiritualize the foolishness that he is practicing. Unbelievers boldly toss him to and fro.

When the heavens are closed, the person finds it very easy to co-exist with darkness. When you find it easy to co-exist with darkness, it is a sign of brassy heavens. When the heavens of a person become brass his prayer life becomes vague and powerless; the joy of the Lord no longer remains his strength.

Beloved, do you know of certainty the condition of the heavens over your head? This is a very important question. Before you start blaming anybody for your problems, first ask yourself this question; “Are my heavens open?” Check that thoroughly, look deeply into your heart, look deeply into your life and your commitment to Jesus. Have you noticed, beloved, that you sow much but bring in little? What is the sense in working so hard and at the end of the day, you go to the bank to cash money and behind you are armed robbers? This is the money you have sweated for years. Do you eat fatty things and become lean? Are your expectations cut short most of the time? Do you look for much from your investment but very little comes in? Do you have leakages in your purse? Do you have a bag with holes so that nothing is retained? Do you come to the house of God and the word of God becomes dry and empty to you? Do you notice a strong dominion over you life? Then you have work to do.

I heard something from a certain man that troubled and challenged me. He said that spiritually, you deserve what you tolerate. If you allow evil powers to drink your blood, they will drink it. If you allow your heavens to be closed, it shall be closed. When the heavens have become brass, that is when some people who have no money would begin to sing, “When I get home, when I get home, my sorrows shall be over.” That is not correct. The Bible says, “Verily, I say unto you, there is no man that has left house, parents, brethren, wife, children for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold blessings, even this present time and in the world to come.”

If you want God to change you, you have an opportunity. If you say, “Well, I refuse to tolerate brassy heavens,” then it shall be so and you shall not tolerate it and your heavens shall be opened.

When the heavens are closed, and it has become brass, the wealth of a person goes to the wrong hands. The person’s child becomes sick, and there would be no money to treat the child. The poor child is exposed to mosquito bite because there is no money to buy insecticide. It is a sign of brassy heaven. If you tolerate it, it will continue. When you find that everything is just slipping away from your hands, this will come and will go away, another will come and go away, check the condition of your heavens. Many sicknesses come upon people who are not eating well. When the heavens become brass, people feed poorly. Proverb 10:15 says, “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, the destruction of the poor is their poverty.” When the heavens are closed, scarcity is created in the midst of plenty. When heavens are closed, the person will pay his tithe to the wrong place. If you refuse to pay it to God, something else will collect it from you. But when the heavens are opened unto you, the devourers would be silenced. There was a brother who whenever he got his salary, used it to settle debts. He never paid anything to God. One day, something happened. He soaked his choicest clothes in the water and went into the house to bring soap. By the time he came back, both the bucket and the clothes had been stolen. He shouted, screamed and did everything, but nothing worked for him until he began to pay his tithe to God.

It does not pay to cheat God because you will just end up closing the whole of the heavenlies. One of the greatest things that could happen to a man is to have open heavens. And I pray that the Lord will give you open heavens today, in the name of Jesus. When you have open heavens, blessings are released unto you in abundance and you will take the good treasure of the land where the Lord has planted you. But if you continue to live in disobedience, the heavens would remain closed.

HOW TO DESTROY BRASS IN THE HEAVENS

1. Repent from any sin that has closed the heavens against you: This is the first thing to do. Disobedience and sin will close the heavens.

2. Pray brass-shattering prayers: There are some prayers that will do that for you and there are some prayers that cannot do it.

3. Engage in sacrificial giving: Give to God in a way that you will feel that you have given something. You should give to God sacrificially, generously, unselfishly, cheerfully and without grudge. You should give proportionately, you should give at every opportunity that God asks you to give. You give without open show. The Bible says, “If you bring your tithes to my house, I will open the windows of heaven.” What the Bible is telling you is that, if you do not bring it those windows shall be closed and devourers shall be released.

4. Long sessions of praises: Take time to learn worship songs. Take time to learn hymns in the hymn books. Spend quality time praising God. Sometimes don’t even pray at all, just praise Him. Long sessions of praises break the heavenlies open.

5. Destroy ancestral covenants and altars: Please, pray like this: “Every ancestral altar of destiny destruction, die, in the name of Jesus.

6. Drop all languages of closed heavens: The languages of closed heavens are for example, “What gonna be gonna be. What goes up must come down. What’s gonna be gonna be and there is nothing you can do about it.” When you say that what is going to happen, must happen and that there is nothing anybody can do about it, you are speaking the language of closed heavens. There is one demonic Yoruba proverb of laziness and backwardness that says, “If it is not possible to go forward, go backward,” whereas the Bible says, “Go forward!” The languages of closed heavens include, “Eh, I’ve prayed and prayed and fasted and nothing has happened. Everything is upside down.” Drop such statements for you are making yourself miserable. Nobody can make you miserable unless you permit the person to do so. A person can stand in front of you and abuse you from morning till night, but if you make up your mind inside that you will not allow what he is saying to make you miserable, you will not be miserable. If you live with a person and the person does not appreciate what you are doing and whatever you do is wrong, if you allow it to get to you, you will become miserable. But if you decide that whatever he is saying will not get to you, you’ll not be miserable. So, you can choose to be miserable or not to be. The choice is yours.

   You can also choose what to say. You may decide to speak the language of heaven or speak the language of hell fire. Saying, “I’m fed up with all these,” is the language of closed heavens. When you say that you are fed up, the devil will say, “Yes you are fed up.” When you say, “I’m fed up with this marriage, let us pack up everything,” the devil would say, “Yes, pack it up.” You speak the language of closed heavens when you say, “Eh, God cannot do it.” When somebody says, “I am frustrated in this situation, I will stop coming to church, Lord what is my sin that you are doing all these to me, or are you saying that you are for some special people?” It is the language of closed heaven. If you have been uttering those kinds of statements maybe not verbally, even in your heart, it is still a voice of closed heavens. You must stop saying them and repent of them.

PRAYER POINTS

1. My heavens, open by fire, in the name of Jesus.
2. You my enemies, you shall not prevail, in the name of Jesus.
3. O God, arise in my life and let the world know that you are my God, in the name of Jesus.
4. My hidden riches, be revealed and be released, in the name of Jesus.
5. O windows of heavens, open unto my life, in the name of Jesus.
6. Satanic brass of iron working against me, shatter, in the name of Jesus.
7. Sun, moon and stars, refuse to co-operate with my enemies, in the name of Jesus.
8. Every power that has been assigned to sit on my breakthrough, die, in the name of Jesus.
9. Every Pharaoh from my home town, sink in the Red Sea, in the name of Jesus.