THE disciple is a pilgrim, a stranger In Hebrews 11: 13, the Bible concerning the disciple, “They all died in faith, having received the promises but having seen then afar off.

They were persuaded of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” 

According to 1 Peter 2:11, our city is in heaven This world is not our own (Philippians 3:20; Hebrews 13:13 world is need to know that we are through this world.

The disciple is a man on a journey who will still return home.

He is a ‘strange’ creature Why? Because he is in the world but not of the world Why? B5:199.). We are a different people even though we re living with others in this world.

The disciple is a soldier, always on the warfront is not a civilian. He is always ready for action. Ephesians 6:13).

The disciple has an order to be ready for battle always. I Timothy 6:12-14. He is commanded to fight and resist the devil steadfastly (James 47, 1 Peter 5.8 9).

At the same time, the disciple is a priest in the temple and a king on the throne. In the olden days, if you were a priest, you could not be a king or vice versa, but the disciple is both a priest and a king.

That is why he is called the Royal Priesthood. Royalty talks about kingship, and priesthood talks about being a priest.

As a priest, he has to worship God constantly. Revelation 1:5-6.

THE DISCIPLE AND TIME

The disciple is a forever man.’ He is for eternity (I Thessalonians 4:17). The disciple is always conscious of time, Ecclesiastes 3:1-20.

He knows the value of time. The disciple must be aware that there is a time for birth and a time to die. Immediately a child is born, he begins to grow, or he begins to die.

That is why at age, a baby is referred to as a day ‘old’ and not a day ‘young.’

You must know that day to day, you are getting closer to the grave, and thus closer to the day of judgement.

Hebrews 9:27 says, “it is appointed unto man to die once and after death is judgement. “The disciple is a man in a hurry, because he knows that time is against him.

Any opportunity that goes is gone forever. A disciple is careful about how he uses his time. He is not a time-waster, because he has eternity in mind.

Action Point

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Who Is A Disciple. Part 5. RCCG SOD Year 2

Being Like Jesus in Zeal

WHAT is zeal?

It is a burning desire to get things done A This leads us to a determination that whatever obstacle may be on the way, this obstacle will be used as fuel or the energy of the zealous.

It is like pouring water on a petrol fire. The early Christians achieved so much despite persecution because they were zealous.

The more the persecution, the more determined they became. Our Lord Jesus Christ was very zealous from his youth.

In Luke 2:42-49, the Bible tells us that after the family came to Jerusalem to worship and the parents left, they left Jesus behind in the temple.

He was there talking with the professors, arguing with them, showing them the scriptures, for three days. Within the three days, 1 am not sure He ate anything.

The parents had gone, and I am sure he had no money with Him. He was so jealous of the work of His father.

In John 4:31-35, when Jesus was ministering to the Samaritan by the well, the disciples called him to come and eat, but He told the disciples I don’t need food, my food is to do the will of him that sent me.

He was so zealous that he didn’t even care for food, but to do the will of God who sent Him.

God is very zealous, so Jesus was closely following the examples of His father.

In John 5:17, Jesus Christ said,

“My father worketh hitherto and I work.”

After God had created the heaven and earth in six days and had rested on the seventh day. He continued to work.

The Almighty God is working. If God is working, you too as His disciple should be working.

WHAT IS THE FATHER’S ZEAL DOING?

The zeal of the Almighty is doing the following: (1) The Almighty is busy bringing light to those who are in darkness, the ignorant, the sick, the sinner, and the demon possessed – Isaiah 9:2-7.

2) Bringing joy to those who are sorrowful.

3) The zeal of the Lord is breaking yokes in the lives of the people.

4) Delivering the oppressed from the oppressor, including those who are lawful captives (Isaiah 49:24 25 ) who must be set free forcefully. Waging war with fire against the forces of darkness.

(6) Hastening the return of the Messiah.

(7) Establishing the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Jesus said Whatever I see my Father doing, I do the same thing. The father is zealous, so is the Son, so must be the disciples of the Son.

But our zeal must be with knowledge because in Romans 10:1-2, Paul talked about zeal without knowledge. He said:

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God of Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear then record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.”

How can we be zealous?

We can be zealous in the following ways:

(1) By witnessing, teaching and reminding the enemies of God about His word (Psalm 119:139). Many people have forgotten the word of God.

Now, many people even preach today, and they don’t refer to the word of God. They spend all the time telling stories.

And they talk about what they have done and what they have achieved.

Our zeal must be to get the word of God to the people because heaven and earth will pass away, but the word of God will stand forever.

(2) Ministering to the saints (II Corinthians 9:1-2). Our Lord was zealous in ministering to the saints. He is always feeding the multitude spiritually and physically.

Our lord was always zealous in good works. Therefore, as disciples, we must be zealous in good works (Titus 2:13-14).

The reason we are saved, sanctified and set aside is that we can be zealous in good works. 

(4) We should be in repentance for not the sin of fornication and lying because these cannot be found among the disciples, but of the sin of laziness and Inactivity.

For at times we were sleeping when we should be awake and praying (Revelation 3:19)

(5) We must be zealous in faith. Our faith must be the kind that will challenge others so that they too will become as zealous as ourselves for the Lord (John 6:28, 29)

(6) We must be zealous for spiritual gifts. 

a. So that we may edify the church, build up the church and make the church strong (1 Corinthians 14:12).

(b) So that we may be able to destroy all evil

(c) works (II Kings 10:15-17) so that we can cleanse the body of Christ.

When Jesus Christ was driving some people out of the temple, He said, ‘Do not convert my father’s house into a den of thieves’.

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, there should be nothing impure there.

The temple can be the church of the living God, it can even be this nation (John 2:13-17).

(7) We must be zealous in intercession, Isaiah 59:16-17.

Action Point

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Who Is A Disciple Part Four. RCCG SOD Year Two

A DISCIPLE has to be like His master in The Lord Jesus Christ was the Humility. Th Lord Jesus Christ was the embodiment of humility.

He washed the feet of his disciples. He was born in a manger. He ate with people considered as “untouchable” like Zaccheaus, prostitutes etc. He also live with the poor.

Why Must We Be Like Our Lord In Humility?

This is because the way to conquer is the way to stoop. If you want to win, you must humble yourself.

There is an example in 2 Kings 12:1-16, 6-8. This Story of a young king who went to seek the advice on how to answer the people who had come to inquire of him how his rule will be.

The elders advised humble himself before the people and give them reply.

The king went again to seek the advice of the young men of his age and they advised him to tell something that would let them know how important he was.

They advised him to tell them that if they thought his father was harsh, they hadn’t seen anything because he would do worse.

He refused to humble himself and he later lost the kingdom.

But in the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, He went down seven steps in order to reach the highest point in the universe. Philippians 2:4-11.

STEP 1: In Philippians 2:4-11, the Bible says that even though Jesus was equal to God, He made Himself of no reputation – verse 7a.

STEP 2: He took upon Himself the form of a servant, verse 7b.

STEP 3: Even though He was God, He was made in the likeness of men – verse 7c.

STEP 4: He humbled himself even lower than the very creatures He created verse 8, John 1:1-3. Even being the creator, He didn’t come as a king among men, He chose to be born in a manger and into a poor family.

STEP 5: He became obedient. Someone who had been giving orders now had to take orders – vs. 8b.

STEP 6: He became obedient unto death. Many people can be obedient but not unto death.

STEP 7: His obedience was not only unto death but unto death on the cross. This is a shameful death, full of agony and pain (Galatians 3: 13).

Jesus Christ took seven steps down. The Bible says a result of this, God began to take Him seven steps up Philippians 2:9-11.

STEP 1: God highly exalted Him – verse 9a

STEP 2: God gave him a special name

STEP 3: God gave him a name that is above other name. eve

STEP 4: God gave Him the name Jesus, at the mention of which every knee in heaven should bow.

STEP 5: God gave Him the name Jesus, to which every knee on earth must bow.

STEP 6: God gave Him the name Jesus, to which every knee under the earth must bow

STEP 7: And that every tongue must confess the Jesus Christ is Lord.

WHY WE SHOULD HUMBLE OURSELVES

Humility is the way to go up. The way up actually the way down.

The number of humble sty you take down will determine the number of steps O will lift you up. We discover that the humble can des any enemy.

The easiest way to knock down a man b bend down and grab his feet.

That is why the Jesus has to go down to the lowest part of the earth defeat Satan completely. In Revelation 1:18, the lord Jesus described this total victory saying,

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I an alive for evermore, Amen and have the keys of hell and of death”

In other words. He has it all. He conquered not only death but also Satan who held the key of death.

That is why the Bible said if they had known, they would not have killed the Lord of glory.

The lower the centre of gravity, the more stable the object. That is why the saying goes that he that is down needs fear no fall.

The foundation is the lowest part of a house. When the be use falls, the foundation remains. Even when a house burns down, the foundation escapes the fire.

That is why the Bible says in Psalm 11.3 that when the foundation is affected everything is lost. Jesus is our Foundation and Chief Cornerstone (Revelation 21:14:1 Corinthians 3:111).

WHY IS THE HUMBLE INDESTRUCTIBLE?

The humble man, like the foundation, is quiet. The foundation is neither seen nor heard, yet it carries the greatest weight of the whole house. So is the humble man

In Isaiah 53 :5-6. Jesus is the burden bearer, bearing our sin and shame.

Also in Proverbs 11:12. the Bible tells us that it is the empty vessel that makes the loudest noise: “He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour but a understanding holdeth his peace.”

A man of understanding will hold his tongue, he doesn’t talk too much. ‘Silent rivers run deed’ Proverbs 17:27 says that:

“A man of knowledge spareth his words.” Verse 28 says: “Even a fool when he holds his peace is counted wise. And he that shutteth his lips is

esteemed a man of understanding”.

A humble man knows this and so he doesn’t want to be heard. When you talk too much, you reveal your secrets to the enemy.

As seen in the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel. He said he heard the sound of much rain, and that was why he had to pray seven times before it was actualised.

When we say that the humble man is silent, we mean that he is silent to men, but he is vocal to God.

Isaiah 40:31, the humble man is waiting upon the Lord, praising Him, thus renewing his strength (Isaiah 40:31).

HOW CAN ONE BECOME HUMBLE?

There are two ways in which you can become humble:

(1) Voluntarily:

John 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

If the Bible says humble yourself, it means that it is possible for you to be humble by yourself. You can do i by yourself.

(2) By Force:

(Deuteronomy 8:3) However, if you don’t want to be humble voluntarily, God can make you humble by force.

The Bible says that God caused the people of Israel to wander for 40 years in order to humble and prove them. It is up to you to either humble yourself or be humbled by force. God can get you walking in circles until you know what humility is.

Take a decision to humble yourself. Ask for His Grace.

Action Point

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BEING LIKE JESUS:

LOVE SINNERS BY CHASTISING

THERE must be love among disciples, and this love goes hand in hand with discipline.

If you are in a denomination and you are so big that the leaders of such a denomination cannot correct you, you must relocate to where you can be corrected.

In a congregation where there is genuine, divine love, the following ‘brethren’ must not be spared:

(1) Those indulging in sin (2 Corinthians 13:2; 1 Timothy 5:20)

(2) Blasphemers (I Timothy 1:18-20; Titus 3:10)

(3) Preachers of false doctrine (Deuteronomy 13: 6 – 11 )

(4) Hinderers or those who slow down the propagation of the gospel (Acts 13:6-12)

(5) Deceivers and hypocrites (Acts 5: 1 – 11 )

WHY WE MUST BE FIRM WITH THESE PEOPLE

We must be firm with this kind of people because if we are not, they will gradually destroy the entire congregation.

They will gradually introduce the killer germ’ into the congregation hence, they should be gotten rid of before they destroy the whole church.

Any of these brethren is like cancer in the body. If you locate cancer, and the affected area is removed, then there is hope for the rest of the body.

That is what the Holy Spirit did to Ananias and Sapphires, so that the rest of the church can continue to grow, Jesus Christ said if your right hand will cause you to sin, cut it off, so that the rest of your body can go to heaven.

He said you should do the same with your right eye.

Any brother or sister that will cause himself to be a cancer in the body of Christ must be dealt with.

The question now cones, Is it wise to put oneself under someone who can discipline you rather than enjoy your freedom?

The Bible let us know that it is wise to put yourself under someone who can punish you when you go wrong because of the following reasons.

DISCIPLINE BRINGS WISDOM

If anyone does wrong and is punished for his wrong doing, He will become wise. In Proverbs 29:15, the Bible says:

“The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother shame.”

In Proverbs 15:5, the Bible says:

“A fool despiseth his father’s instruction:but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.”

Proverbs 25: 5 also says:

“A fool despiseth his father’s instruction but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.”

If you take discipline whenever it becomes necessary, you must be a prudent fellow. As a matter of fact, the Bible says discipline is a desirable thing.

In Psalm 141:5, David said:

“Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness, and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil which shall not break my head.”

The Bible says if you are wise and somebody disciplines you, you will love the fellow. However, if you are foolish, you will hate him for it.

Proverbs 9:8 says, “Reprove not a scorner lest he hate you, rebuke a wise man and he shall love thee.”

If you are disciplined and you hate the person who disciplines you, then you must know the type of person you are a scorner! but if you are a wise man, whoever disciplines you becomes your friend.

Those who are under a leader must joyfully receive discipline from him, and they must even fall in love with him for doing so.

HOW CAN THE LEADERS BE DISCIPLINED?

Now the question arises, ‘What about the leader himself? From whom will he receive his own discipline?’

Unfortunately, there is none except God. This is one of the reasons you must always pray for your leaders.

If you make a mistake, your leader will punish you and God will leave you alone. In the case of your leader, there is nobody to punish him.

For forty years, Moses led the children of Israel in the wilderness. Whenever they sinned, he would run to God to go and beg and God will forgive them.

When Moses sinned only once, there was nobody to beg for him. And that was the end of his own story.

In Revelation 2/1 God says that leaders are like stars in His hand. He is holding them like stars in His palm; they have nowhere to run to. If they make a mistake, all He has to do is close His hand.

That will be the end of such a leader. He said, “Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write: These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand…”

The seven stars stand for the seven leaders in the Seven churches.

God does not need to search for the leaders before He can catch then. It must be a good idea if only for two minutes, you pray for your leader, so that God will not destroy him.

Who Is A Disciple? Part Two. RCCG SOD Year Two.

BEING LIKE JESUS

Taking the definition of a disciple as an imitator, it follows logically that all disciples must follow Jesus the leader in all ways without any reservation.

We must be like Him in love, simplicity, humility, boldness, holiness, in power, in zeal and in all ways. We must try to be like Him and even desire to be higher. We must start somewhere.

BEING LIKE JESUS IN LOVE

As an imitator of Christ we must be like Him in love. God is love, hence we take love first. Jesus is merciful, because He is love.

All His characteristics is love. When Jesus came, He demonstrated love in many ways. For example, He carried little children and patted them in love.

As parents, we must love and care for our children as well as other people’s children. Our Lord had time for.

a weeping widow. He loved the lepers (Matthew 8:1-3). He touched the lepers with love. We must learn to shake hands with people of lower esteem than us. differentiate in love We must not

In Acts 10:38 the Bible says,

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.”

in John 10:10 and Isaiah 53:5, Jesus Christ lived for us. He came and gave life abundantly. He died, that we may live. He became poor that we might be rich (II Corinthians 8 :9).

He is love as the Father is love (John 13: 35). As disciples of Jesus, it is only love for one another that makes us different from other people.

Love can be demonstrated by giving, touching, embracing, weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice.

CHASTISEMENT AS AN ASPECT OF LOVE

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.“Revelation 3: 19.

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not. Hebrews 12: 6-7

God demonstrates His love by chastening. We must be chastened as true children of God. At times we are not chastened either because:

(a) We are too young in faith. For example, when a child wets his napkin, we treat him with love. When spiritual babes make mistakes we can overlook.

(b) We are bastards, that is, God has given up the person. Hosea 4:17 says, Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.

Love and discipline always go together. We must not always remain a baby in the Lord. The moment we want to be disciples, it means we want to be object of love and must be ready for discipline. DISCIPLE is derived from the word DISCIPLINE.

John 15:13-15; To be a disciple is to be a friend of Jesus. To be His friend means He will always scourge and discipline us.

True discipline comes from a deep genuine love. The love of a father to the children which nobody can copy.

A disciple must be a son and God must deal with him as a son. He must follow the father’s foot path (Hebrews 12:9-10).

 God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” Hebrews 12/6 – 7

God demonstrates His love by chastening. We must be chastened as true children of God. At times we are not chastened either because:

(a) We are too young in faith. For example, when a child wets his napkin, we treat him with love. When spiritual babes make mistakes we can overlook.

(b) We are bastards, that is, God has given up the person. Hosea 4:17 says, Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.

Love and discipline always go together. We must not always remain a baby in the Lord.

The moment we want to be disciples, it means we want to be object of love and must be ready for discipline. DISCIPLE is derived from the word DISCIPLINE.

John 15:13-15; To be a disciple is to be a friend of Jesus. To be His friend means He will always scourge and discipline us.

True discipline comes from a deep genuine love. The love of a father to the children which nobody can copy.

A disciple must be a son and God must deal with him as a son. He must follow the father’s foot path (Hebrews 12: 9 – 10 )

DISCIPLINE AMONG DISCIPLES.

WHY MUST HE CHASTEN US?

(a) Like father, like son. He wants us to partake of His holiness, no compromise at all (Proverbs 13:24:23:13- 14. Psalm 89:30-33).

(b) It is the justice of God that no man shall suffer twice for the same offence (II Corinthians 5:14). Among disciples, there is always a spiritual head that has to discipline those who commit offences.

If he disciplines someone here on earth, the sin is already stricken out in heaven. It is better to accept the chastisement and suffer here than to spend eternity in hell.

Ezekiel 22/29 – 3 says that God’s people has offended Him but nobody to whom He can report, that He has to discipline them.

The real purpose of discipline in the church is that the spiritual leader could say: “Please Lord don’t mind them, I have punished them.”

Little fellowships are sometimes endangered in this case because everybody is his own master, no discipline.

A small fellowship is like a gathering without Break (1 Corinthians 5:7). There must be discipline becatite God is a consuming fire (II Corinthians 13:10).

Prayer! I am sorry for all the wrong things I have done in the past and for which I was not disciplined, let us forget the past let’s start afresh.

Father have mercy upon me and help me to be upright with you for evermore

Who Is A Disciple Part Two. RCCG SOD Year 2.

A KING, the definition of disciple as an imitator, it follows logically that all disciples must follow Jesus, the leader, in all ways without any reservation.

We must be like Him in love, simplicity, humility, boldness, holiness, in power, in zeal and in all ways. We must try to be like Him and even desire to be higher. We must start somewhere.

BEING LIKE JESUS IN LOVE

As imitators of Christ, we must be like Him in love. God is love; hence, we take love first. Jesus is merciful because He is love.

All his characteristics are love. When Jesus came, He demonstrated love in many ways. For example, He carried little children and patted them in love.

As parents, we must love and care for our children as well as other people’s children. Our Lord had time for

a weeping widow. He loved the lepers (Matthew 8:1-3). He touched the lepers with love. We must learn to shake hands with people of lower esteem than us. We must not differentiate in love.

In Acts 10:38 the Bible says,

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.”

In John 10:10 and Isaiah 53:5 Jesus Christ lived for us He came and gave life abundantly. He died, that we may live. He became poor that we might be rich (II Corinthians 8 :9).

He is love as the Father is love (John 13:35 ) . As disciples of Jesus, it is only love for one another that makes us different from other people. Love can be demonstrated by giving, touching, embracing, weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice.

CHASTISEMENT AS AN ASPECT OF LOVE

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” Revelation 3:19

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure

chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” Hebrews 12:6 – 7

God demonstrates His love by chastening. We must be chastened as true children of God. At times we are not chastened either because:

(a) We are too young in faith. For example, when a child wets his napkin, we treat him with love. When spiritual babes make mistakes we can overlook.

(b) We are bastards, that is, God has given up the person. Hosea 4:17 says, Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.

Love and discipline always go together. We must not always remain a baby in the Lord. The moment we want to be disciples, it means we want to be object of love and must be ready for discipline. DISCIPLE is derived from the word DISCIPLINE.

John 15:13 – 15 To be a disciple is to be a friend of Jesus. To be His friend means He will always scourge and discipline us. True discipline comes from a deep genuine love. The love of a father to the children which nobody can copy. A disciple must be a son and God must deal with him as a son. He must follow the father’s foot path (Hebrews 12:9 – 10 )

WHY MUST HE CHASTEN US?

(a) Like father, like son. He wants us to partake of His holiness, no compromise at all (Proverbs 13:24;23:13. 14; Psalm 89:30 – 33 )

(b) It is the justice of God that no man shall suffer twice for the same offence (II Corinthians 5:14). Among disciples, there is always a spiritual head that has to discipline those who commit offences. If he disciplines someone here on earth, the sin is already stricken out in heaven. It is better to accept the chastisement and suffer here than to spend eternity in hell. Ezekiel 22/29 – 3 says that God’s people has offended Him but nobody to whom He can report, that He has to discipline them.

The real purpose of discipline in the church is that the spiritual leader could say: “Please Lord don’t mind them, I have punished them.” Little fellowships are sometimes endangered in this case because everybody is his own master, no discipline. A small fellowship is like a gathering without break (I Corinthians 5:7). There must be discipline because God is a consuming fire (II Corinthians 13:10). Prayer: I am sorry for all the wrong things I have done in the past and for which I was not disciplined, let us forget the past let’s start afresh.

Father have mercy upon me and help me to be upright with you for evermore.

RCCG SOD Year Eight. This Is Our Daddy. Part Six

We would like to bring this session to a close by talking about the mercy of God. We have talked about His power, His sovereignty, His faithfulness, His knowledge and you know this our God is so good to us.

Psalm 119:64 says, “The whole earth is full of the mercy of God.”

How Great is the Mercy of God?

If you want to know the width of the mercy of God, it covers the whole earth and then it reaches beyond the heavens. Horizontally, it covers the whole earth, vertically, it goes beyond the heavens. That is a lot of mercy.

In Psalm 108: 4, the Bible says:

“For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unts the clouds.”

The psalmist was merely stating the obvious. He said we are surrounded completely by the mercy of God. If under the ground, the mercy goes all over the world and height wise, it reaches up to the heavens, then it means you are living inside it, unless you are taller than the heavens.

In fact, Ephesians 2: 4 says,

“Mercy is part of the riches of God.”

In other words, if God wants to boast about His wealth, He does not boast about gold and silver. The very dust of heaven is made of gold, but He said He is rich in mercy. Look at Luke 1:78 if you want to know mercy as the wealth of God. The Bible says His mercy is tender. His mercy is plenteous and abundant.

In 1 Peter 1:3 and Psalm 86:5, the Bible says the very path that my God walks upon is lined with mercy.

When a wealthy king or an emperor in the Roman Empire wants to walk from one place to another, roses are thrown in his path, so that he would be walking on flowers.

But instead of flowers, my Father says, “Line my path with mercy. Psalm 25: 10 says all His acts are acts of mercy.

Categories Of God’s Mercy

There are three categories of God’s mercy.

1. General mercy — This extends to everybody, everything and everywhere, in all ways, Psalm 145:9 and Acts 17:25. Human beings, animals, all birds, snakes, and all His creatures are covered by this general mercy.
2. Special mercy — This special mercy of God extends to man in general, whether a sinner or a saint. He has a special mercy for all human beings, according to Matthew 5: 45. Whether they are wicked or they are good, God will allow rain to fall on all of them. He will allow the sun to shine over all of them because of this special mercy for the human race.
3. Extra special sovereign mercy — The extra special sovereign mercy of God is preserved for the heirs of salvation alone, and it is communicated to them in a covenant way through our Mediator, Jesus Christ. This is what brought salvation to us. It is this extra special sovereign mercy that you can read about in Romans 9:15-16 and Titus 3:5.

In Ephesians 2: 4-5, we discover that it is this extra special mercy that brought eternal inheritance through Jesus Christ to us and If you look at 1 Peter 1: 3-4, you will know that there is an inheritance “reserved for us in heaven.

There is something strange about this extra special mercy, and that is in Psalm 143:12.

The Bible says that because we are God’s servants, God will destroy our enemies out of His mercy. Isn’t that strange?

Out of His mercy, He will destroy the enemies of all those who are His children. If you do not believe this, read Psalm 136:14-15.

The Bible says God drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea with all his hosts, for His mercy endureth forever. Oh, my enemies are in trouble because of the mercy of God; they will be destroyed.

Romans 9: 22-23 says, while the children of God are vessels of honour and mercy, those who are not the children of God are vessels of wrath. We can prove that every true child of God has a special name.

Their name is Mercy, because the Bible says their Father is the Father of mercies, which means all His children, each one of them, is Mercy. In other words, one of my names that you do not know is Mercy, and I am telling you that it is one of your names too.

In 1 Corinthians 1:3, the Bible says there is extra special mercy reserved for you from the day you were born again.

This is why in Psalm 136: 1, David said we need to praise, we need to thank, we need to worship, we need to honour, we need to adore Him because His mercy endureth forever.

In Psalm 59:16, David also said, I will sing about Your power, but when it comes to singing about Your mercy, I will sing aloud early in the morning. I will sing aloud of Your mercy all the time? Why? Because it is the mercy of God that has kept us thus far. It is the mercy of God that brought us salvation.

It is the mercy of God that will keep us till the end. It is the mercy of God that will accept us into glory. David said, I know you are powerful, I will sing of your power.

How great Thou art, how wonderful, how powerful, how mighty, but when I want to sing about Your mercy, I will roar like a lion, because I know but for Your mercy, where would I be today.

Brother, sister, why don’t you sing of the mercy of the Lord? Why don’t you sing the song that says,

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever,

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord! (2ce)

With my mouth, I will make known

Thy faithfulness, thy faithfulness

With my mouth, I will make known

Thy faithfulness to all generations

I will sing of the mercy of the Lord forever

I will sing of the mercy of the Lord.

Go ahead and sing of His mercies. Sing unto Him, that at least you have finished the course for another year. What remains now for you is revision, examination and then promotion. I think you should sing of the mercies of the Lord, after all, it is not all of you who started who are still on today.

Sing of the mercy of the Lord, and His name will be glorified in your life.

Go to Him now. God bless you.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not,

Thy compassions they fail not;

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be

CHORUS

“Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!”

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided

“Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above.

Join with all nature in manifold witness.

To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love,

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth.

Thy dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

– William M. Runyan.

RCCG SOD Year Eight: This Is Our Daddy. Part Five

We want to talk about the knowledge of our Father.

We want to talk about our Daddy, who knows all things. He is the omniscient God. No matter how intelligent a professor may be in this world, his knowledge is limited.

I have shared with you before, for a professor to know everything there is to know in mathematics, he would need at least one thousand years.

How many years will he need to know everything about mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, history and so on? So you can see that the best professor is a little better than a fool.

He would be an outright fool, of course, if he says there is no God, but at least if he knows there is God, then he is a little higher than a fool.

In 1 Corinthians 13: 9, the Bible tells us that we know in part and we prophesy in part, but there is a God, my Daddy, who knows all in all. Not only does He know all subjects, He understands all languages.

Isn’t that surprising? I remember years ago, we went to South Korea for a world conference on prayer, and people came from eighty-nine countries.

At a certain stage, we were asked to pray in our mother tongues. You should have heard all kind of languages, and the Almighty God understood everyone. This is my Daddy.

In Psalm 139: 2-12, David said it so graphically that my Daddy knows the past, He knows the present and He knows the future.

He knows what is happening on earth, and He knows what is happening in heaven. He knows what is happening underneath the earth, He even knows what is happening in your thoughts. He knows the word that is in your mouth before it comes out.

In Daniel 2:22, Daniel said,

“God revealeth the deep and secret things…”

In other words, there is nothing you can hide from Him.

He even knows the one that you don’t even know is there. And then in Hebrews 4: 13, the Bible says there is no creature that is not manifest before my Father.

So what are you going to hide from Him then? He said there is no creature anywhere on earth that is not plainly open before my Father.

In Ezekiel 11:5, the Bible says that He knows all secrets, even of the mind. This means that there is no secret that you can hide from Him.

In Psalm 90:8, the Bible says that our secret is in His hands. In other words, all secrets are in the hands of God, including the secret that you say you are hiding.

The secret that you don’t want anybody to hear about, the secret that you don’t want to tell your pastor, and the secrets you don’t tell your wife.

This is why it is always wise to confess all your sins to Him, because before you begin to confess, He already knows them.

In Numbers 32:23, the Bible says that your sin will find you out. In other words, when you say you are hiding your sins, you will be amazed when God is going to grabs you. He will just get you so easily, you will not even be able to say anything.

I remember, at one time, two of my children living somewhere in the country were supposed to be very good friends.

One day they came to visit me and they were laughing and smiling, but I said to them, “But Daddy tells me that you are quarrelling.”

They said they were not quarrelling. I told them that Daddy said they were quarrelling over food.

They accepted, and I asked them what the problem was. I told them they could not hide their secret from God. That is why He said your sins will find you out.

There is one important thing, in Job 23: 10, whenever you come to the crossroads and you don’t even know whether to turn right, left, go forward or go backward, call on my Daddy.

Job said God knows the way that he (Job) should take. God knows all things, He knows every step you are supposed to take in this world for you to reach your goal.

There is something very comforting in Psalm 103:14.

The Bible says God knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. Many times, we are not sure God will understand, but He does. He knows our limitations.

I remember in 1981 or 1982, I had been attending to people since 8 a.m. until around 6 pm, when I just managed to eat a little and then went for our Bible Study (Digging Deep).

When I came back, there were people already waiting to see me. I kept praying for people until until-10.30 p.m.

I then asked my secretary if no more people were waiting, and she said there were about ten more.

By this time, my body was aching and I was very tired. I asked God what I should do, and suddenly He said to me, ‘ You don’t need to stand up to pray for them.

Sit down, touch their head and let them go. They will receive their miracle.’ I was surprised. I said, God, you mean I can sit down and pray.

Talking to You, the Almighty God, sitting down?’ He said He had been a human being like me before, and He knew what it meant to be tired. He knows our frame.

I am sure you have slept on your knees while praying to God in some instances.

It had happened to me too and I was very sad and I thought God would never answer that prayer, but He did, even though He told me not to make a habit of doing it, but still He answered the prayer.

God knows all things, and in Psalm 139:23-24, you may want to serve God completely, but you may be confused. You may not even know whether you are doing His perfect will or not.

At such a time, you can say, ‘Search me, O Lord, after all, You know all things. You know I want to do Your perfect will. If I make mistakes, you know I do not do it deliberately?

In John 21:17, the Lord Jesus Christ asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me?”

Peter said, I love you.’ He also said it the second time and the third time. He said, Lord, You know all things.

I know you are referring to the time I denied you, but You know I did not want to do it.

When I said I would sad then the Lord said, “I know, that is why you will stand by you, I meant it.’ Keep on leading this person.”

In the time of disappointment, in the time of failure, in the time when your motives and your actions are mis-understood, remember Daddy knows all things. He understands all things.

Psalm 147:5 says the understanding of our Father is infinite. When you cannot see into the future, don’t worry yourself, Daddy can see into the future.

The Bible says in Acts 15:8,

“Known unto God are all His works from the foundation of the world.”

Leave everything in Daddy’s hands. He will take care of you.

In Psalm 139:14-15, David said,

“I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

One thing is known and understood: God knows all things. He knows our substance, He is willing to fulfil His purpose for your life. Our duty, like that of David, is just to praise Him. He is not a stranger to us.

He knows all our problems. In fact, our own responsibility is just to praise Him, co-operate with Him, do whatever He tells us, whether we understand it or not and go wherever He asks us to go whether we know the way or not, because He knows all things.

Why don’t you spend some time with this all-knowing God, hand over to Him your sorrows, your failures and your fears because He knows all things.

Open up to Him, Tell Him everything, Tell Him Daddy, I know what I am about to tell You, You know it already. I need help, and I thank you anyway because I know you understand and I know you will help me.

Talk to Him now.

RCCG SOD Year Eight. This Is Our Daddy. Part Four

Focus: Our Daddy Is Self-Sufficient

You are welcome to this session. We have been talking about our Daddy in the past months. In part 4, we want to talk about the self-sufficiency of our Father.

We have talked about His power, we have talked about His sovereignty, and we have talked about His faithful-ness.

Man is limited by the fact that he will die. He can only be in one place at one time. He grows tired, he can fall asleep, he can forget, but in Exodus 15:11, the Bible says,

“Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods?

Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?”

Among the gods, among the lords, among kings, among presidents and among generals, who is like unto thee? None at all. In Genesis 1:1. the Bible says,

“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.”

You should ask a question about that straight away.

Who created God? Where was God before He created the heavens and the earth?

Our God is self-existent. He was never created. There was never a time when He was not existing. He had always existed as a Trinity. At that time, God the Son was inside Him, in His belly until He spoke Him out.

The Word in the beginning was inside Him, and the breath that He breathed was the Holy Spirit. Our God had always been self-sufficient.

In Malachi 3:6, the Bible says,

“He is the LORD and He changeth not.”

Isn’t that something? When the Bible says God does not change, it means God is constant.

In other words, if He was self-sufficient in those days, He is still self-sufficient today because He has never changed a bit.

You cannot add to Him, you cannot subtract from Him. You cannot add to His glory, you cannot add to His power.

You cannot add to His majesty, and you cannot subtract from all these things. He remains constant.

In Nehemiah 9:5, the Bible says something amazing. It says the name of my Daddy is exalted far above every blessing and praise.

In other words, when you say you are praising God and you think that you are adding to Him, the Bible says your praise cannot even reach where He is, unless He condescends to pick it up.

If you say, Lord, I bless Your name.?’ He will say, “Thank you, My name has been forever blessed before I created your grandfather.” Each time I talk about my Daddy, I get a little excited. It is because I am happy that He is my Daddy.

In Job 35: 7-8, the Bible says, even if you are righteous, what will God take from you, not to mention when you are evil.

Whether you are good or you are evil, you cannot add anything to my Daddy because He was already self-sufficient from the very beginning.

He was complete, you cannot add to Him, you cannot subtract from Him. You cannot fight Him, you cannot subtract from His glory. He is self-sufficient.

In Romans 11:34-35, the Bible says,

“Who knows the mind of God and who is going to be His counsellor?”

I mean, who among you will say I am so wise that I think I need to give a little bit of advice to the Almighty God.

You want to advise someone who can never make a mistake. His wisdom is absolute. If God receives any gift from you, it is just for your edification. When you praise Him, it is for your exaltation.

You know many at times, when we praise God, when we worship Him the way we should, your own head will swell and tears begin to fall from your face.

When you worship God the way you should worship Him, it is you who will gain. You cannot add to my Daddy, you cannot subtract from Him.

The Bible tells us in Isaiah 40:15-18 that the whole earth is like a drop of water in a bucket.

God looks at the whole earth as if it is nothing. He says He weighs the islands as if they are dust. So he is the one you will say, ‘God, I hope you see, oh, I have built a house for you. I am the one who built that Church for you, oh.

Don’t forget I bought you an organ.’

1 Timothy 6:15-16 talks about my Father. He is the only one who has immortality.

He dwells in the light that no man can approach. He is more powerful than all the lords of the earth. His glory, His honour, and His riches are eternal. He never grows old. Nobody can dethrone Him. Hallelujah.

The more you know my Daddy, the more you will realise that you don’t even know anything about Him at all.

Job said in Job 26:14 that when you have searched and searched about God, you will know just a very little about Him.

These are part of His ways, but how little or a portion of Him is heard.

You might be able to sit down, take your Bible and begin to write everything that is said about God, but right at the time you have finished, maybe you spent seventy years researching Him, you will just discover that you don’t even know anything yet.

You will get to a stage where you will discover, like in Revelation 5:11, that all you should do is just say,

“Blessing, glory, honour, power and might be unto our God forever and ever.”

He is self-sufficient. Should the Almighty God just open anyone’s inner eye to realise just a little about our God, they will know that the more you worship Him, the better for you. You cannot remove from Him, but worship adds to yourself.

Why don’t you spend some time with Him now? Just worship Him, the self-sufficient God.

Tell Him, Daddy, blessings are Yours. Glory is Yours, honour is Yours, might is Yours, power is Yours, eternity is Yours. I am proud to be Your son.

Talk to Him.

RCCG SOD Year Eight. This Is Our Daddy. Part Three

Our Daddy is not only powerful and supreme, He is also dependable. You can depend on Him unlike some people who are powerful but unreliable.

Deuteronomy 7:9 says our Daddy is faithful and reliable, and He keeps covenants up to a thousand generations.

In other words, if He makes a promise to you, He will remain steadfast to that promise, to your children’s children for a thousand generations.

According to 2 Timothy 2: 13, God cannot deny Him-self. He remains faithful. His faithfulness is because of His great NAME, because of His great Power and because of His supremacy.

HE IS FAITHFUL IN FULFILLING PROMISES.

In Luke 1:5-20, Zechariah disbelieved God because of his old age, but whether he believed or not, God still proved Himself because God cannot deny Himself.

Sarah laughed at Him when He said she was going to have a son. She did not believe but whether she believed or not, God cannot deny Himself. He still gave Isaac to Sarah.

In Psalm 89:8, the Bible says,

“O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? Or to thy faithfulness round about thee?”

Great is His faithfulness.

In Isaiah 11:5, the Bible also says the faithfulness of God and His power are directly proportional because He is girded.

He wears faithfulness as a girdle. And in Psalm 36:5, the Bible says the faithfulness of God reaches to the heavens. This is a faithfulness you can trust. Numbers 23:19 says,

“God is not a man that He should lie,”

Once he has spoken, it is a settled matter. There are no circumstances beyond His control. All His blessed promises will come to pass. Whatever He has to do to keep His promises, He will do it.

There was a time Jesus told the disciples to go to the other side, and He would join them.

The disciples took a boat, and they were going, and Jesus went to the hilltop to pra,y and He enjoyed fellowship with His Daddy so much

that he forgot the time. By the time He came back, all the boats were gone, but He had promised them He would come and join them. So He began to walk on the water. If He has to walk on water to fulfil His promise for you, He would do it today.

In Lamentations 3:22-23, the Bible says no matter the situation, great is the faithfulness of the Almighty God. It does not matter the promises He makes, no matter how incredible they may sound, He will be faithful.

In Isaiah 7:14, the Bible says a virgin shall conceive.

Nobody would ever believe that, but God said it and it came to pass.

In Galatians 4:4 and Luke 1:34-37, because my Father can do anything, because with God nothing shall be impossible, when He says this is what He would do, don’t worry yourself.

Once he says it, it is settled. He will do it, for with God, nothing shall be impossible.

In Isaiah 50:10, He said if things are not going the way you think they should be going, just fear God, obey His servants, whatever may be happening, rest. Wait patiently for Him. What he has said, He will do it.

HE IS FAITHFUL IN DISCIPLINE

In Job 5:19, the Bible says, There may be trouble, but there will not be a single scar on you.

By the time God has taken you through the fire of purification, even as He is disciplining you, He will be a faithful God.

If you sin as a true child, He will correct you because He is a true Daddy and He is a faithful God.

But he will correct you in such a way that there will be no scar on you. He will not be like some of the old teachers we used to have.

They would strike you on the head or anywhere. After all, you are not their children.

If it is my Daddy, if He is going to cane you, it will probably be in your bottom where there is plenty of flesh, where your bones will not be broken. He is faithful in discipline.

HE IS FAITHFUL IN FORGIVENESS.

In Psalm 119:75, the Bible says God is faithful in punishing or judging His people, but He is also faithful in forgiving them as soon as they confess.

In fact, in Psalm 89:30-33, the Bible says He will never permit His faithfulness to fail.

In Hosea 5:15, God wants us to move closer to Him, even when He is disciplining us.

Many times, He uses afflictions to draw us close. Some of us who will not draw close to Him when all is well would be drawn to Him by force during affliction.

Whenever you are standing on the word of God, you are standing on a solid rock, stable, dependable, sure and safe. In 2 Timothy 2:19, the Bible says the foundation of God stands sure.

Why don’t you then commit everything into His hand?

He is a faithful God, according to 2 Timothy 1:12, He said He can keep whatsoever you commit into His hand until that day, not for some time but forever.

So why don’t we commit our future, our health, our children, our finances, our ambitions, the School of Disciples, and getting to heaven?

In 1 Thessalonians 5: 24, the Bible made it clear that God has a purpose for our lives.

And because He is faith-ful, He will perform His purpose unto the day of Jesus Christ. This is our Daddy, all-powerful, supreme, faith-ful, very, very faithful.

You need to love Him, honour Him, fear Him, worship Him, trust Him and rest in Him. There is nothing to fear.

Anyone who is a disciple of the calibre of your age, who says he is afraid of the future, afraid of enemies or afraid of what will happen in his place of work, must have something wrong with him.

By now, you know who your Daddy is. Talk to Him. Worship Him. ‘Rely on Him. He will not fail you. Spend more time with Him and I know you will love Him more.

You will develop a greater confidence, so that when people see you and they look at your face,they  and say, What is it that makes this fellow so confident?

How come he has so much peace? Why is he not worried while others are worried?’ You can answer them by singing, ‘I have a Father, Almighty Father, Who is King of kings and Lord of lords, I have a Father.

‘ So sing this song. Sing it with confidence and hand over your problems to Him, and I know by the time I see you next time, you will be a better disciple. God bless you.

RCCG SOD Year Eight: This is Our Daddy Part One

Focus: Our Daddy Is Powerful

First and foremost, a disciple is a son of God, and hence the son should know his Daddy and how big the Daddy is.

How Powerful Is Our Daddy?

In Psalm 50:21, God accused the children of Israel.

He said, Why do you treat me like a mere man? I am not a man like you, not as weak as you. I am not as limited as you. I am the ‘ALMIGHTY?

In Psalm 62:11, the Bible says,

“God has spoken once; twice have I heard this: that all power belongs to God.”

We are talking about Somebody who has the power to do whatever He wants to do.

In fact, the Bible says that when God said “let there be light,” what happened?

Immediately, there was light.

In Psalm 18:13-15, the Bible says, when God speaks, nobody can pretend they did not hear, because He will speak like thunder.

In verse 15, the Bible says that when He speaks, the ocean will open so that the very bottom of the sea will be seen. In Psalm 33:9, when my Father speaks, it is done.

He rules by decree. Psalm 150:1-2 says the whole earth came into existence just because my Father said

“Earth be” and earth was, and it keeps on being. The earth is keeping on because my Father said “keep going.”

In fact, according to Hebrews 1:3, He upholds all things, including

the whole universe, by His power, by the power of His Word or the Word of His power.

In Psalm 89:9, the Bible made it clear to us that in this world, there are great men, presidents, chiefs, kings and so on.

Then, which of them can you compare to my Daddy? Daniel said in Daniel 4:35 that,

“All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing…”

That the entire creation, add all the human beings together, all the animals together, all fish, all the birds, everything, the sun, the moon, the stars, combine all of them, my Father will look at them and there is nothing compared to the Almighty God.

In John 11: 39-44, Lazarus was already stinking, he had been dead for four days and when he heard the voice of my Father, he came back to life, because when death hears His Voice, he will loose his victim.

In Mark 4:36-41, He spoke once, and the raging storm became calm. He said,

“Peace be still.”

I am talking about my Daddy. I am talking about His power. In Mark 5: 1-3, the Bible tells us of a man in whom a  legion of demons had been dwelling.

If you bound him, he would break the iron chain. My Daddy spoke one word, “Go,” and all the demons fled.

Why did they not wait? They knew who spoke. He speaks, and it is done.

He is big and powerful, so much so that there was a time when there was nothing but Him. He existed on His own.

He sustained himself without anybody helping Him. He started creation, and He did not acquire His power from any other source.

There was a time when there was no earth, no moon, no animals, nothing but in Job 38: 4-6, the Bible says, God, our Daddy alone handled all creation.

He is the only one who has all the answers to all the questions that He asked Job. There was once a man whom idol worshippers asked to leave their town.

The man said that he would leave, but they should have a demonstration of who was who in the town.

Let us have a show of power. You chant your incantations, and I will ask you a few questions.

If you can answer my questions, I will leave the town. If you cannot answer my questions, it is you who will leave.’

So they gathered in the marketplace, and the idol worshippers chanted their incantations, and when they were tired, he asked them a few questions from Job 38:46.

He asked them, Tell me,

who laid the foundations of the earth?’ As soon as he asked the questions, thunder began to strike and there was confusion.

When we talk of the power of the Word of our God, we need to know that the power and the Word of God can be used interchangeably.

In Mark 14:62, the Bible says Jesus stood at the right hand of the power of God and then in Job 26: 14, the Bible says, the thunder of His power, no one can understand.

All we know about the power of God is so little. Many of us do not even know anything at all, but our God is extremely powerful.

What about Habakkuk 3:4, the Bible says His brightness is as the light, and His power is so mighty that absolutely nothing is not under His power. Job 9:8 tells us that the mighty waves are under my Daddy’s feet.

In Job 38:11, the Bible made it clear that He alone spreads the heavens and He gave the oceans their boundaries.

If you go to the beach, you will see the waves rising high, expecting them to carry away the land, but no, the waves have a boundary that they can never pass because of the decree of my Father, because when He speaks, it is done.

But for the power of God, the ocean would have covered the whole earth.

And according to Job 22: 14, my Father walks in the circuit of heaven, and the immensity of His power is felt in all the heavens.

In Psalm 104: 3, we have the assurance that our God can work faster than the wind. He can reach His people to help them any time.

In Psalm 89:13, the Bible says His arms are powerful. His hand is strong, and His right hand is high.

WHAT SHOULD BE OUR REACTION TO THE POWER OF OUR DADDY

Our reaction to our Daddy should be two-fold.

• He Can Reduce Other Powers To Powder. When Moses stretched forth his rod toward the Red Sea, all the enemies of Israel were destroyed in one day (Exodus 15:11). What was it then that Moses did? Moses sang praises unto God. He said,

“Who is like unto Thee, O LORD? Amongst the gods, who is like thee?”

Our miracle is dependent on our understanding of the power of God. His arms are so mighty that He can reduce the power of man to powder.

Elijah spoke once, and fire descended from heaven; the king’s army was burned.

 We should know we are serving the One who is fearful of praises. We who are serving Him must know that not only is He glorious in holiness, but He is also fearful in praises.

And according to Psalm 27:1, you have only one person to fear in the whole world, and that is my Daddy. Once you fear God, you have no man to fear.

Why don’t you go to this God, this powerful God, your Daddy, who is glorious in holiness and fearful in praises?

Just worship Him. This is what He wants from you.

Worship Him. He might demonstrate a little of His power in you today.

Worship Him now.

RCCG SOD Year Eight: Spiritual Victory Part Two.

There are more lessons to be learnt from Matthew 12:24-28.

1. The kingdom of Satan is not divided, and this should be known by every disciple. We should know for example that there should be no division also in the kingdom of God. Because God said one of us will chase a thousand and that two of us will put ten thousand to flight. This means that there is tremendous power in unity.

Now, let us ask ourselves some questions. Why is the kingdom of Satan united? Is there love in the kingdom of Satan?

Love is not even in the dictionary of Satan. There is no love because God is love, and anything godly is not to be found in the kingdom of Satan.

So even though there is no love at all in the kingdom of Satan, we discover that they are united.

The Bible now says to us who are in the kingdom of God in 1 John 4:7-8,

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

Now if love is not in the kingdom of Satan and believe me every demon hates another demon and every witch hates the next witch.

If there is anything common to all demons in the kingdom of Satan, it is hatred.

Then how come they are united? They are united because they have a common goal and what is their goal? To kill, steal and destroy.

They all love to do evil, they love to steal, they love to kill, they love to destroy and this common goal keeps them together, according to John 10: 10 which says:

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:” As they say among the elders, “conspiracy united them.”

You saw what happened during the Gulf War. All kinds of people joined together against Saddam Hussein. Who could ever believe that America and Russia would be fighting together in the same camp?

All kinds of people just ganged together because of something. One goal, one conspiracy joined them together.

When there is a common purpose and a common enemy, there should be unity.

So we, the disciples of Jesus Christ should realise that at least we have one common enemy and that is the devil.

We should unite against this common enemy. In other words, even if there is no love among us, the fact that we are fighting a common enemy should unite us.

But then how can we be the children of God if we don’t have love? After all, our Father is love, and like Father like son. If God is love, His children should be love.

The Bible tells us in Mark 16: 17-18, it spells out for us a common goal.

“These signs shall follow them that believe…”

These signs shall follow all believers.

“In my name, they will cast out demons.”

At least we have a common goal to cast out demons, to destroy the kingdom of Satan, because we are all believers.

2. Another point to note is that: the kingdom of Satan is still standing and we are the ones who will pull down that kingdom. How do we know that the kingdom is standing? The Bible says in Psalm 110: 1

,

“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”

God told Jesus Christ to sit down at His right hand until He makes His enemies His footstool and Jesus Christ is now seated on the right hand of God, waiting for us to make the enemies of Jesus Christ become His footstool.

How are we going to do that? How are we going to pull down this kingdom of Satan that is still standing?

In 2 Corinthians 10:4, the Bible says,

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.”

We have the weapons; weapons that are not carnal, weapons that are mighty through God, to the pulling down of the strongholds of Satan.

His kingdom is standing but we will pull down this kingdom in the mighty name of Jesus. Now how do we do it?

(i) First of all, you must pull down the strongholds of Satan in your life. Get rid of anything that Satan may be interested in in your life.

(ii) Secondly, unitedly we must pull down the strongholds of the enemy in the life of every disciple.

So we must start with ourselves and then with other disciples and of course, we now face the kingdom of Satan as a free united army. Unitedly, we will pull down the strongholds of the enemy.

3. Yet there is another lesson from the scripture (Matthew 12: 22-28). The title given to Satan here is Beelzebub, which means “the father of flies.” This should tell you something. Every demon is like a fly in its ac-tivities. For example, look at the characteristics of a fly and see if you can compare them to the characteristics of a demon.

CHARACTERISTICS OF FLIES:

Flies have five common characteristics:

1)      A fly is a carrier of diseases and death. This is what demons do.

2)      Flies come in uninvited and that is what demons do. You do not need to send for them before they come.

3)      Flies are attracted by dirt and uncleanliness. In the same manner,   spiritual uncleanliness attracts demons. Also, immoral thoughts, dirty jokes and bad music do same.

4)      Flies always only want to stay in either cool or lukewarm places and demons are always to be found in congregations that are either cold or luke-warm.

5)      As soon as you turn on the heat, flies will fly away.

SECRETS OF VICTORY

If you want to get rid of the flies, you can do two things.

Either clean the top of the cooker or set fire to the cooker. As soon as the cooker begins to heat up, the flies will disappear.

This will tell us the secret of victory in order to get rid of demons from your life, so that you have victory all the time.

1. You must constantly seek revival. You must be hot all the time. You must be so revived that even your heat will cause a revival for other disciples.
2. In order to have permanent victory, we must be together in hotness. If you are hot and I am hot, by the time we combine our heat, the fire we get becomes bigger and remember, the bigger the fire, the farther away will be darkness.

Remember the name of our God is the Father of Light, so when we are together in love and in unity, and we are all hot for Jesus, our victory will be eternal. It does not matter how hot you are, you can be hotter.

 I want you to spend some minutes to pray in tongues.

Invite the Holy Spirit in and get a little more heat. When you have done that, link hands together and pray together and let fire catch fire, and the enemy will be put to flight.

Go ahead now and do that and God will bless you.

RCCG SOD Year Eight: Spiritual Victory Part One

Focus: The Kingdom Of Satan

In Ephesians 6:10-11, the Bible says,

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

The disciple is a combatant soldier. He is not a ceremonial soldier.

He is not someone who will just be dressing when he should be out on the parade ground. He is someone who is fighting. Verse 12 says,

“We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

The battle that the disciple is facing is compared to wrestling. It is intense warfare, and I am sure some of you have seen the American wrestlers on television.

Some people say it is a joke, but then if you let somebody lift you up as high as you can go and smash you down, and while you are still lying down there, he climbs the rope to a great height and from there he jumps and lands himself on you.

If that is your idea of a joke, that is fine but I know wrestling is no joke and because it is wrestling, all parts of the body are involved.

Skill, speed, technical know how and all kinds of tricks are also involved.

You need to know the personality of the leader of the opposing gang, that is the devil. Now we want to learn some lessons from Matthew 12:22-28;

“There was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb; and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

And if I by Beelzebub cast out devits, by whom do your children cast them onto Therefore, they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.”

There are several lessons to learn from this story.

Jesus cast out a demon from someone who was made blind and dumb by the devil, so the blind began to see and the dumb began to speak, and the people glorified God, but the Pharisees said, “No, He is casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of devils.” So Jesus said,

“if a kingdom is divided against itself it cannot stand, If Satan is casting out Satan, how will his kingdom stand,”.

He said if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then you should know that there is a new kingdom now, the kingdom of God and it is very near you.

There are certain things we need to learn from this:

1. Satan has a kingdom. Jesus said How will the kingdom of Satan stand? The elders say that once God has revealed your enemies to you, they should not be able to kill you. So you need to know that Satan has a kingdom,
2. The devil is the ruler and the prince of his kingdom.
3. The kingdom of Satan is highly organised.
4. Every member of the kingdom of Satan is a soldier. Each one is a wrestler, and they are highly disciplined. They are very active, and there is no room for laziness. Whether you know it or not, witches attend their meetings every night. Every one of them must be present or they will be in trouble.
5. The kingdom of Satan is like an army. It is a military kingdom. There are ranks: There are ranks in the army of the devil (Ephesians 6:12) – principalities, powers, rulers, and they respect one another. Just as obtains in the army, the captain knows that he has to respect the major. The major knows that he has to respect the lieutenant-colonel. The lieutenant-colonel knows that he must respect the colonel and so on. In the same manner, in the army of Satan, everything is highly organised and everybody knows their rank.

In Daniel 10:10-13, the Bible says:

“And behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands.

And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent.

And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was with. stood me one and twenty days; but lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.”

6. Everyone in the kingdom of Satan has his own juris-diction. For example in the story we have just read, there is a prince in charge of the kingdom of Persia.
7. There is also the king of Persia. In other words, there is a presidential demon in charge of Persia and then there are gubernatorial demons also in charge of Per-sia. In other words, there is the demon that is in the category of the president and there are demons in the category of governors. As we have learnt earlier, there are also demons in charge of local government areas and towns, villages, compounds, individual families and even individuals.

GOD HAS HIS KINGDOM

So there are all categories of these demons, but the beauty of this is that our God also has his own kingdom.

When Jesus taught the disciples to pray in Matthew 6:9-13, He said When you pray, pray thus:

“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come…”

There is also a kingdom of God and there is a Prince in charge of that kingdom. I am sure you know Who that Prince is. His name is JESUS.

If you look at Colossians 1:12-13, the Bible says:

“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”

The Presidential Person in the kingdom of God is Jesus.

Of course there are also gubernatorial persons in the kingdom too. As there is a prince of Persia and kings of Persia, there is also a Prince of the kingdom of God and there are kings of the kingdom of God.

I am sure you know one of the titles of Jesus Christ is King of kings.

I am happy to tell you I am one of the kings, and I believe you will be one of us too.

The difference, of course, is clear between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil because the kingdom of God is full of overcomers. We have victory all the time. We are victors because, according to 1 John 4: 4, the Bible says,

“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.”

And also Romans 8:37 says,

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

In other words, the kingdom of the Almighty God is made up of an army. We disciples are soldiers, and we are overcoming soldiers.

The kingdom of Satan is made of soldiers, but his own is an army of losers, and we give glory to God for that.

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE FORCES OF DARKNESS

Jesus Christ then made a statement, He said to these people, “If I cast out demons by the Spirit, and if it is by the Holy Spirit that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God is come near you.”

Jesus is saying that the essential force against the forces of darkness is the Holy Spirit.

In other words, if you want to be an overcomer all the time, the Holy Spirit is indispensable to you.

In Isaiah 61:1-3, the Bible says:

“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the bro kenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”

You need the Holy Spirit to be able to attack Satan, defeat him and set his captives free.

You need the Holy Spirit to release those who are in prison.

You need the Holy Spirit to bring comfort to those who are in sorrow, to bring joy to those who are sad, to bring songs of praise to those who are weeping.

As we learnt earlier on in Acts 10: 38, the Lord Jesus Christ did not do anything without the presence of the Holy Spirit and we also told you in Acts 1: 8 that the only way to get the Power that you need is through the Holy Spirit.

“But you will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”

So if you want to be a victorious member of the army of God, knowing that the kingdom of God is made up of soldiers not civilians, knowing that you are facing an enemy whose kingdom is also made up of soldiers and great wrestlers.

You better get yourself deeply acquainted with the Holy Spirit.

I would want you to spend quite some time now in fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit.

Pray in tongues, if possible, and sing in tongues. If you have been doing that, do it again and the more you do it, the better for you.

Go ahead now and spend some time with the Holy Spirit.

God bless you.

Like Him In Anointing. RCCG SOD Year Three.

The master we are following never did anything without the anointing. Acts 10:38 says: “How God anointed Jesus Christ with Holy Spirit and power: who went about doing good…”

He did nothing without the anointing. He performed no miracle until the Holy Spirit fell on Him (John 1:29-34; John 2:11).

It was after the Holy Ghost descended on Him, after He returned in the power of the Holy Ghost, that He went to the wedding in Cana of Galilee and performed His first miracle.

After Christ’s death, the disciples did not perform a single miracle until Pentecost.

It was after Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came in Acts 2:1-4, it was then miracles started. We begin to see Acts 9:36-42, also Acts 6:2-3,8.

It is only after the anointing has come that miracles can begin. You will notice that the first thing after Paul was converted was the Holy Ghost baptism.

To show the urgency of the need for the anointing, the man who went to pray for him prayed for the Holy Spirit baptism.

The joy of it is that there is only one Holy Spirit, the same one Jesus had, which Peter had, the same one Stephen had. He is the same Spirit available for every disciple today.

He is available to us according to Acts 2:38-39, there is anointing in the word of the master (John 6:63).

The Lord said that the words He speaks are spirit and life. The centurion also said so.

He told Jesus to send His word and His servant will be healed. Remember that all he said to the ten lepers was, ‘Go.

There is anointing in His words. The same was true of Paul. In Acts 14:8-19, when Paul said to the lame man, rise up and walk and the man arose.

There is anointing in the touch of the Master. In Matthew 8:1-3, a leper came to Jesus to be cleansed.

He said Jesus could make him clean if He willed. Jesus said He willed, be clean and touched him.

As soon as he touched him he became clean. In the same way, there was anointing in the touch of Paul.

In Acts 20:7-12, a dead man was brought back to life through Paul.

There was anointing also in the garment of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Matthew 9:20-22.

The woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His garment and was made whole.

In the same manner, there was anointing in the garment of Paul according to Acts 19:11-12, and he was sending his handkerchief and aprons and they were bringing healings.

It is the same Holy Ghost that was in Jesus that was in Paul, and by the grace of God it is the same Holy Spirit that is in you if you are a spirit filled believer.

You have the same Holy Spirit Jesus had and can thus do the same works He did.

CONDITIONS FOR FREE FLOW OF ANOINTING

There are two conditions for the free flow of the anointing whereby the work of God will not be hindered. These are:

1. The vessel in which the anointing is to be low must be pure. There must be no dirt to hinder the flow of anointing (Hebrews 1:8-9; I Corinthians 9:27). The anointing is like electricity. When the wire (conductor) is pure, the current flows unhindered, and there will be no loss of energy.
2. The disciple must have a constant link with the Holy Spirit, there must be no break in the link. In I Corinthians 14:18, Paul thanked God that he prayed in tongues more than others. He kept on praying in the Holy Spirit because 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says we should pray in the Spirit.

For you to receive a supply of electricity, you must be connected to the Source.

If there is a break between your wire and the main wire from the generating source, there will be no supply of electricity at your end.

In the same vein, if you as a disciple do not maintain your link with the Holy Spirit, the anointing will stop. But if you keep on praying in the Spirit, living a holy life, the anointing will keep flowing like a river.

RCCG SOD Year Three. The Privileges Of A Disciple. Part Three

When Satan plans destruction for a nation, what he does is that he moves the people to sin against God so that God Himself will rise and say that He will destroy His people.

Examples are those of Balaam, David and the census, Ahab and the worship of Baal in 1 Kings 17:1.

God is aware of this technique of the devil and is always looking for a way out of the dilemma posed by His holiness and His love, because a Holy God cannot tolerate sin.

If you sin you ought to be punished. Yet He knows that His people were pushed into this sin by Satan.

How does He punish His children who He actually doesn’t want to punish.

Ezekiel 22:29-31: “The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery and have vexed the poor and needy: they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: But I found none.

Therefore, have I poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath.

Their way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord.”

God said that these people had sinned. As a Holy God, He has to punish them, but He was looking for a man who would plead the cause of His people and intercede on their behalf, a man to stand in the gap.

The question now is, who qualifies to stand in the gap?

According to Psalm 15 and Psalm 24:3-5, the one who is going to do this job must be holy.

He must be someone who has a credit with God, people like Daniel (Daniel 1:8) or even Paul (Acts 21:30), who said he was not only ready to suffer but even ready to die for Christ.

In Acts 27:21-25, when a shipload of people was about to perish, God said, “Paul, because of you, nobody is going to die; I give you their lives.”

In Ezekiel 22:30, God made a statement, “I sought for a man among them.”

God is the one looking, He is the one who will decide whether the man is worthy to be used or not.

And the standard of purity of the man is God’s standard and not man’s standard. It is not the pastor’s standard.

In I Peter 1:15-16, the Bible says that as He that has called us is holy, we also must be holy.

Matthew 5:48 also says, “Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

Not as the pastor is perfect. Likewise, what constitutes a credit for you is going to be decided by Him.

God says He seeks a man, not an angel. For example, Cornelius (Acts 10:1-6).

It was an angel that Cornelius saw, but God said, ‘Send for Peter?’

Why didn’t God allow the angel to preach to Cornelius? Because God said He looks for, but God said. ‘Send for Peter.” Why didn’t God allow the angel to preach to Cornelius?

Because God said He looks for a man.

He didn’t say He is looking for many men, but just a man. Leviticus 25:25, 47-49 – the man God is looking for must be a native of the land, not a missionary.

It is a Nigerian who must intercede for Nigeria. A man who will stand, not a man who will sit or sleep.

A man who will stand persistently (Ephesians 6:13), as Abraham did in Genesis 18:16-27.

This is where you come in as a disciple. If you are not holy. God can sanctity you.

God says make a tree good and it’s fruit will be good. You may not have a credit with God but you can earn a credit today.

In John 4:23 says, “God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth for the Father seeks such to worship him.”

He will find you particularly if you are a worshipper.

You might not know how to stand or how to persist. Philippians 4:13 says you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

If you are determined, God will strengthen you.

RCCG SOD Year Three. The Privileges Of A Disciple Part Two

Because the disciple knows how to visit with God, how to enter into the holies, how to be locked in with God in the privacy of His room (because when you are alone with God in His private room you can talk to Him plainly).

The disciple does not only get victories in His battles, he can also obtain victory for others (Intercession)

An example is in I Kings 17:17-24, when Elijah was staying with a widow, and her only son died.

Elijah took the boy with him into the room where they could be alone and locked the door behind them.

Remember what he said – “O Lord my God, why have you done this?”. This was a challenge to God.

You can only say that to God in private. You can’t say that to God outside, but when you are alone with God, you can talk plainly with him.

At the end of the day, the boy was restored, and the widow’s sorrow vanished.

Now if you go into the private room of God and say, “I am not here to ask for anything of my own but I’m here to ask on behalf of somebody else,” and God says, “Why not mind your own business?”

You, as a disciple armed with Luke 11:5-8, can intercede.

This verse is the basis of intercession.

You can tell God that the person is a special person who needs help, but you cannot help him on your own.

According to Philippians 3:10, it is with Christ alone that we can do all things.

John 14:13-14 says If you ask anything in the name of Jesus, it will be done. Tell Him there is no other way out than for Him to help. Refuse to leave till you get an answer (Matthew 15:26-27).

This is the story of the woman with a possessed daughter. She knew that only Jesus could help her daughter.

She knew that only Jesus could help her, and she went to meet him, saying, “Master, have mercy on me!’ Jesus refused to answer, but she kept on following.

By INSISTENCE and PERSISTENCE, she received her miracles.

This is what intercession is all about. The woman eventually got her requests.

Another thing you can tell God is that if He helps you now to help your friend, not only your friend will be blessed, but so will you, because you will rejoice at being able to help another (John 16:24).

Your friend will also rejoice and bless you for aiding him.

Thus, he would be able to help you do the same in future.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says that two are better than one. When one falls, the other will help him up, but woe unto him that is alone when he falls.

If God now says, Present your case, show me why your friend should be helped.’ (Remember, this is plain talk between Father and son.) You now list out your reasons to Him.

1. You will talk of the goodness of God and the unrighteousness of your friend (even if you think your friend is good, don’t mention it at all) – Matthew 19:16-17.
2. Whenever you are interceding for someone, do not mention that the person deserves help. There is no good man. If he were good, would he be in the trouble that he is in? But tell God that He is a good God, a merciful God, whose mercy endures forever. It is because of His mercy that you can even intercede.
3. Tell Him that His name, His glory and His justice are involved.
4. Whenever you are interceding, do not use personal pronouns like ‘my’. Rather, use your?’ For example, your people, your children, your church, etc. Not my church, my people, etc. Tell him not to allow the enemy to laugh.
5. You must also be persistent, very persistent, without being rude.

For example, if an elder wants to intervene and plead the cause of a disobedient child with his father, he does so with wisdom, not rudely.

In Daniel 9:3-16, we see Daniel speaking first of the goodness of God and the weaknesses of himself and his people.

When Abraham was interceding for Sodom in Genesis 18:23,26, he said, “

Will God of the whole earth not do that which was just?” He called God a just God. Who would not kill the righteous with the unrighteous?

1. When Moses was interceding for Israel (Exodus 32:11-14; Deuteronomy 9:18-26,29), he kept saying, These are your people, do not let the enemy laugh at them, do not let them say that you could bring them out of Egypt but could not bring them into the promised land.ou are the Almighty, the merciful God …

That is how to intercede. It is the one who can do this that knows how to visit God in the privacy of his room.

This is the privilege of every disciple, washed in the blood of the Lamb. As they become locked in with God, they can intercede for their friends, families, countries, etc.

Why don’t you start interceding for someone now?

The Privileges Of A Disciple. Part On. RCCG SOD Year Three.

We me already been told that a disciple is first and foremost a son.

A son who has voluntarily decided to follow in the footsteps of his father. So a disciple is a loved son, a son that is cherished, a welcome son.

(i) Consequently, a disciple has the privilege of visiting with God anytime. In other words, a child of God who decides to follow in the footsteps of God can visit God anytime he wants to.

When he knocks on the door, the door will be opened unto him. Once he’s inside the room with God, alone with God, he has the opportunity of being very intimate with the Most-High.

You know, if your father is the president and you want to talk to him in public, you have to address him like other people will address him, Your Excellency. But when you get to the bedroom, “Daddy, how now?”

 Because you are now together in the same room. In the same manner, when you are alone with God, you can talk to him in a way you can’t talk to Him when other people are present.

For example, Jesus will call God Father. But when He is alone with Him, He uses the word “Abba,” which means Daddy. (Mark 14:35-36; Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:15).

This is different from “Father”. Father is a kind of name you give to somebody, to be feared, respected, etc. When you are intimate with God, you call him Daddy.

When you are alone with Him, you can be very frank with Him. You lay all the cards on the table without any pretence.

You know if your Daddy sees you in public and says, “How are you, my son?”

You will answer, Fine, Sir. But when you are alone with him in the room, you will tell him exactly the situation.

Not, I believe I am fine. You will say, “I’m sorry, O, I have a headache.” You will tell him your needs, desires, etc. (I Corinthians 14:2, 4, 18- 19).

I remember when I used to lead morning prayers several years ago.

When I said “let us pray for our country” everybody would pray in English; “let us pray for our church”, everybody would be praying in English.

As soon as I said, If you have any special prayer request, ask God, everybody’s voice would drop.

And then they would begin to pray in their mother tongues, “Oh! God,” will become “Olodumare, Chineke, Abasi.”

Their voice would change, and the tempo would drop. Even the interpreter would begin to pray, and I would not even hear what he was saying.

This is because they had moved into the private room with God.

• You know, when you are alone with God, then God can give you private or special attention; individual personal attention. And then He can give blessings that are custom-made. So there are occasions when God has a special blessing for special people. You know, when God called Abraham, Abraham took Lot with him. God said, “Well, I am not going to do anything until Lot is separated from you because my plan is for you, Abraham. In Genesis 13:14-17, the Bible says that as soon as Lot separated from Abraham, God began to speak with Abraham again. He said, The blessing promised, I shall give it to you now.

• When you are alone with God, when there is privacy, rules can be waived. Oh! There are certain laws that you think cannot be changed. That is in public. When you are in privacy with God, anything can happen. For example, look at Esther 5:1-5. You see, there was a rule in the time of Esther, if you went to the presence of the king without being called, all the king had to do for you to die was to do nothing.

In other words, you come into his presence, he didn’t call you, the soldiers will be watching the king, what do we do to this fellow, and the king did nothing, he didn’t smile, he didn’t move.

A minute later, the head of that fellow is gone. If the king wants that fellow to live, he will have to lift his sceptre towards that fellow, then the soldier will say, “Alright, don’t kill this one.”

But when Esther went to see the king, though she was not invited, because she was the favourite of the king and because it was a private meeting, the king said, What do you want, my queen?

Ask me. Even half of my kingdom I will give it to you. The king waived the rule to meet the needs of someone special to him in private.

• For the disciple who knows how to visit God in private, he enters His presence with thanksgiving and praise and you can do that straight away. Do it just for some minutes and see what God will do. Praise Him.

Transferring The Anointing. RCCG SOD Year Three.

Anointing is like heat. It can be transferred in three ways:

1. By conduction – that means there will be physical contact between the one who has the anointing and the one to whom the anointing is going to be transferred.
2. By convection – In other words, to transfer the anointing to a certain object, that thing would carry the anointing to one who wants it. For example, you can anoint a handkerchief and then send the handkerchief to someone who needs anointing. That one is transferring anointing by convection.
3. By radiation – The third way of transferring anointing is by radiation. Like we just throw a stone, for example, from one man to another; transferring the anointing over a distance without any physical contact.

EXAMPLES OF TRANSFERRING ANOINTING

#1 BY CONDUCTION:

3. Peter, when he was talking to the lame man at the Beautiful Gate in Acts 3:1-3. After Peter told the lame to walk, and nothing happened, Peter grabbed him by the hand; anointing flowed through Peter to the lame man, and the lame man was healed.

1. There is also the example of Elijah versus the dead child in I Kings 17:17-22 when the child of the widow with whom Elijah was staying died. Elijah lay on the child. There was body contact between the two of them. So anointing from Elijah flowed to the dead child and brought that child back to life.

Elisha did the same thing in II Kings 4:32-35 and II Kings 13:20-21, the Bible said anointing was transferred from the bones of Elisha to the dead man.

Also in Acts 20:7-12, Paul was preaching, and he preached a long sermon. There was this young boy, Eutychus, who was sitting at the window, and he fell asleep and fell and died.

When Paul got down, he lay on him. There was bodily contact, and then there was transferred anointing, and the child came back to life.

In Deuteronomy 34:9, the Bible says: “Moses laid his hand on Joshua and transferred anointing to hi,m and Joshua became full of wisdom.”

#2 BY CONVECTION

About the example of convection, that is, passing the anointing into a medium and the medium takes the anointing to the recipient.

1. A very good example is that of Paul, in Acts 19:11-12,

“And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body where brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them; and the evil spirits went out of them.”

In other words, the anointing of Paul was transferred into pieces of cloth and these pieces of cloth carried the anointing to those people who needed deliverance and healing.

Another example is Peter.

In Acts 5:15-16, the Bible says they laid sick people on a street, they said Just let the shadow of Peter touch them’ and as many as the shadow touched, were healed.

In other words, the anointing of Peter was transferred into his shadow, and the shadow carried the anointing to the sick people.

#3 BY RADIATION

In the case of Philip in Acts 8:5-8, the Bible says that when the demons began to hear what Philip was saying, they started screaming and they started getting out, and he didn’t touch them.

He didn’t send a handkerchief to them. As he was speaking, the anointing in him was jumping upon those who were demon-possessed, and several people received their healing and deliverance.

2. Peter healed by speaking the word (Acts 9:32-34 and 36-40). Here we find Peter healing a man who was sick in his bed, whose name was Aeneas. He just said Aeneas, God has made you whole; the Lord has healed you. Immediately, Aeneas was healed.

• When he raised Dorcas from the dead, he just said, Dorcas, get up and the anointing was transferred.

In Acts 13:6-12, Paul said to a man who was hindering his preaching and said, “Be blind.” That’s what he said, and the fellow became blind.

In Acts 14:8-11, we saw Paul healing in the same manner. Paul healed a lame man by speaking to him.

And in Acts 16:16-18, we saw Paul casting out demons in the same manner.

Calling down fire from heaven. This is a special case of anointing by radiation.

We discovered that all those men with anointing that can bring down fire from heaven were always found on mountain tops.

The first fellow to do it was Elijah (I Kings 18:36-38) on Mount Carmel.

In II Kings 1:9-12, he was on top of a hill, and he called down fire three times. Why is it that these people are always on the mo

untain top when they are calling down fire?

You probably have seen what is called the thunder-arrester.

You will find that on top of a very high building, they will put something like a very sharp iron, and then they connect it to the ground.

In other words, whenever thunder wants to strike a house, that sharp iron that is higher than anything else will catch the thunder and arrest it and bring it to the ground, so that the house can be saved.

Maybe you have noticed that when great saints of God want to pray, they combine their hands and it forms the shape of a thunder catcher. They know what they are doing.

When they combine their hands, they want to catch thunder from heaven.

They want to bring fire down, and of course, if they have the right anointing, they can catch fire anytime.

What do you think will happen when they now lift the two hands, one to the right and one to the left? They lift the two hands, so that the two hands can catch fire.

You see what happened in Exodus 17:11-13. The story goes thus: the Amalekites came to fight against the children of Israel, and Moses said to Joshua, You go and fight, I will go to the hilltop.

I will go and catch fire from there and bring it down to you.

When Moses was on the hill top, where it was easy for the thunder catcher to do his work, he lifted his hands and he kept on catching fire, passing it to the people fighting below.

When he became tired, and there was no more thunder-arrester, then the enemy began to win.

Then Aaron and Hur, discovered that Moses’ outstretched hands, were bringing the miracle so they said,

“Well, we will help him.” One stood on his right, and the other on the left, and they lifted his two hands. They kept their two hands up, until total victory was won.

What we are saying now to you disciples is that you too should practice the thunder catching today; I am talking of living thunder.

And we want you to lift your hands to heaven and cry to God.

Ask for the anointing that will break the yokes in your life, in your family life, in your church, in your home, in your city, even in this nation.

Call on the Almighty God in heaven, and you will see what will happen.

Shouting As A Weapon Of Warfare. RCCG SOD Year Three.

How can shouting become a weapon of warfare? How can somebody just shout and get a victory?

From the scriptures, we discovered that some people have shouted before and they got victory.

In fact, we know of a particular army that was surrounded on all sides and when they shouted.

Not only were they delivered out of trouble, they also got a victory. In 2 Chronicles 13:13-18 the Bible says:

“But Jer-o-boam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them.

And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind: and they cried unto the Lord, and the priests sounded with trumpets.

Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jer-o-boam and all Isreal before A-bi-jah and Judah.

And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand.

And A-bi-jah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five thousand chosen men.

Thus, the children of Isreal were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers.”

Here we find an army that was surrounded in front and from behind and then they decided that the only thing they could do was to shout.

They all shouted and as soon as they shouted God began to fight for them and I am sure God will fight for me too.

Those who are always quiet might be in trouble anytime particularly when it is time to praise God.

Those who pray silently particularly in the house of God, do not know what they are missing. Just a single shout can solve all your problems.

When You Shout, Certain Things Begin to Happen:

1. When you shout, it could be a sign that God has accepted your offering (and I want God to accept my offering). Leviticus 9:22-24 says,

          “And Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering; and the burnt        ,       and peace offerings.

And Mos`es and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people.

And there came a fire out before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt    offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted,      and fell on their faces.”

They shouted because their offering had been accepted.

My offering has been accepted too because Jesus said my sin offering and His offering had been accepted by God the Father, which is one of the reasons He said whenever children come to the house of God, they should never be silent.

We do not need to beg you before you shout, “Hallelujah”. If you know God has accepted your offering, you should shout.

2. When we shout, it also means God is present in our midst. Usually, whenever the ark of the covenant of God comes into a town, His people also shout. They shouted because wherever you found the Ark of the Covenant of God, you also found God. For example, in 2 Samuel 6:15, the Bible

says. “So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of trumpet.”

The same thing in I Chronicles 15:28,

“Thus, all Israel brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps.”

Whenever the Ark of the Covenant of God comes into a town, the people will shout because they believe God is present with the Ark of the Covenant.

Therefore, when you find a group of the children of God shouting, it is a demonstration of the belief that their God, who is great, is present in their midst.

When you are very cold, it is another way of saying,

‘God, I believe you are not around.’ But I know my God is around.

In Isaiah 12:6, the Bible says:

“Cry out and shout, thou inhabitants of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.”

The Holy One of Israel is not only great, He is also present in our midst, and one of the ways we can show the world that the Lord is present in our midst is by shouting.

Because wherever God is, miracles are bound to happen, and when miracles are happening people always shout for joy.

3. You may say I will shout for joy when my miracle happens, but whenever you shout for joy before the Almighty God, it is a demonstration of your belief that you are trusting Him for victory, that He is also going to give you victory. Psalms 5:11 says, “But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.”

If you have put your trust in the Lord, the Bible says that you should shout for joy. If you trust God that He is going to give you victory, there is no reason why you should be silent.

When you come before Him, you should shout because you believe the Mighty God in our midst is going to give you victory.

In Psalms 47:1-3, Bible says:

“O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph, for the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.”

Why did He ask us to clap and shout? He said that because God is going to give us victory. He is going to subdue the people under us.

He is going to put nations under our feet. He is going to make our victory complete.

And we should therefore begin to clap and shout for joy, because our victory is certain.

While those of us who have God in our midst do not even know the importance of His presence in our midst, the enemy knows the value of His presence.

4. When the enemies hear us shouting, they get frightened. Why do they get frightened? Because they know that when we are shouting, our God is present in our midst, and they know that they can defeat you on your own, but when God is present with you, you become indestructible.

For example, I Samuel 4:5-8,

        “And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted, so that the earth rang again. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews?

And they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp. And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, ‘God comes into the camp’ and they said, ‘woe unto us! For there hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe unto us!

Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? These are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.”

What happened here? The enemy (Philistines) heard the children of Israel shouting for joy and said, What is the meaning of that shouting? What is happening?

And they said the Ark of the Covenant of their God has come into town. They said, Ah, then we are done for. God has come into camp.

When you begin to shout in your churches, God will come into your midst, all the enemies around will know that God has at last come to your church. Those who had been trying to bring depression upon your church, those who have been trying to pour water on your enthusiasm.

Those who have been trying to sneak in and bring sickness and diseases unto the church, they will say, ‘ah! at long last God has come into this church’ and then, they will be afraid and say, woe unto us. We are in trouble now. Their Lord will avenge now.’

We always look at some of the churches as being too noisy.

But do you know that they always get plenty of miracles?

They may be noisy. They may not have enough teachers!

But they always get enough miracles. You attend any of their crusades, before the preacher begins to preach, the people are attracted so much that many of them will be healed even before preaching.

And go to any of the orthodox churches where everything is so solemn, “Oh Lord, our God. We must not disturb you today, just like you used to do in the past, if it is your will to do something today.”

And those who have been sleeping when the pastor has finished preaching will say, “Amen.” They never get a single miracle.

Because God does not come into that church, miracles cannot happen there.

Do not keep silent, begin to shout in your churches. You will be amazed by the number of miracles that will be happening because God will come in, the enemies will be frightened and the enemies will get out.

When the enemies get out, miracles will begin to happen. Praise the Lord.

Why does shouting bring fear to the enemy? It is not just because when you shout, they will know that God has come to the camp. The devil knows that it is written that when you begin to shout, it means that our enemies are finished.

The Almighty God said, it is written and the devil knows that when “it is written”, nothing can change it. That is why he does all he can to stop you from shouting.

Zephaniah 3:4-17 , says:

“Sing, o daughter of Zion; shout, o Israel; be glad and rejoice with all thine heart, o daughter of Jerusalem.

The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil anymore.

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.

The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”

Shout and you will see evil no more, that is what is written in Zephaniah Chapter Three: The devil knows that.

So when you suddenly begin to shout, he begins to wonder what it is that God has done that assured this fellow that he will see evil no more?

And then he becomes careful because he will think that God must have set a trap for him: he knows that something is going to happen that God had not told him, that is going to put an end to all your enemies.

5. So when you begin to shout even if you have not seen any miracle, yet as soon as you begin to shout you are prophesying that victory is on the way. That victory is about to happen right there and I need a lot of miracles right now which is one of the reasons why I am going to do some shouting today.

Joshua 6:20 says:

“So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.”

When the people shouted, the wall fell. When you shout, you are prophesying that victory is about to happen, that your victory is imminent, that miracles are just about to occur.

For example, in John 11:43, everybody knows that Jesus Christ is a very gentle man; He never lifted His voice before. When He wants to pray for the people, He might say, “I will, be thou clean;” “Okay, receive thy sight,”

“Thy faith had made thee whole;” “Young man, I say unto thee, arise.”

But when He came face to face with a big miracle, somebody who had been dead for four days, that fellow is now about to be raised from the dead, when a hopeless situation is about to be turned round, even Jesus shouted.

Look at John 11:43: “And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.”

When he had thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice. When you shout, you are prophesying that a victory is about to happen; that your victory is certain.

The Devil’s Anointing. RCCG SOD Year Three.

There are two types of anointing: The anointing of God and the anointing of the devil. The devil’s anointing comes in various forms, but only the major ones will be mentioned. These are (1) Anger, (2) Impure Thoughts.

#1 ANGER

The angry man enjoys being angry. Negatively, it is enjoyable to him. His anger steadily increases in intensity.

When a man is angry, he gets supernatural strength. Gradually, the angry man is lifted out of the world of reality.

His self-confidence increases, and he begins to boast and claim he will do what he can never do. There will be a feeling of ‘Damn the consequence.’

When anger reaches its height, its victim is ready to die. That is why it is called temporary madness, and it is sometimes a synonym of madness, as in “I was ‘mad’ (angry) at him”.

At a stage, the angry man loses the ability to reason logically. Even when he is initially right, he ends up far from being right ultimately.

The Bible has a lot to say about this devil’s anointing, and most of these sayings are in the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 19:11 says, “The discretion of a man defereth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.”

In other words, a wise man is slow to anger.

In Proverbs 16:32, the Bible says, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.”

Proverbs 14:17 says, “He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly.”

The Bible says only one man is free to be angry, that is the foolish man. Ecclesiastes 7:9, “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.”

In other words, if you are a fool, anger must be dwelling inside of you. You are free to be angry any time.

Whenever you are angry, you say all manner of things.

Matthew 12:36 tells us that idle words are dangerous because we are going to give account of every one of them on the day of judgement.

#2 IMPURE THOUGHTS

The physical effect of impure thoughts are similar to that of anger but it is in the reverse order of anger. It is a negative kind of anointing that produces a tender and loving feeling.

It induces a pleasure that slows down the victim, luring the fellow into a dream land. Immoral thoughts are used as a diversionary tactic of the enemy.

Usually, when the enemy is about to strike, he uses immoral thoughts to get the victim to lose his focus – David and Bathsheba, for example.

The devil uses these thoughts to divert his victim’s attention, especially when an opportunity is coming his way, until he loses such an opportunity.

Romans 1:28 says that if you yield to immoral thoughts, you will be forsaken by God. Romans 8:7 also says that the carnal mind is enmity with God.

It follows then that when you begin to have immoral thoughts, they have a way of slowing you down, they make one become slothful, and this has great consequences for the soldier of the cross. Proverbs 18:9 says,

“He that is slothful in his work is a great waster.”

When you slow down, you waste time, energy and opportunity.

You lose several precious things. Proverbs 12:27 says: “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious.”

Because impure thoughts make you wander from the narrow path, even though for a short time, it is very dangerous because the Bible says that if you wander off the path, you could die.

Proverbs 21:16, 17 say, “He that wandereth from the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. He that loveth pleasure shall not prosper, and he that loveth wine shall not be rich.”

If you allow immoral thoughts to slow you down, you can wander from the way of understanding, and this can lead to poverty and death.

You may ask how to discern evil thoughts. Even a child knows which thoughts are wrong.

According to Proverbs 20:11

“Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.”

HOW TO DEAL WITH THE DEVIL’S ANOINTING

#1 ANGER

The Bible has made it clear that only a fool is free to be angry at any time.

Anytime someone is trying to annoy you, to get the upper hand over him, just make up your mind to refuse to be a fool, for only a fool is free to be angry.

Every time you are angry, you are equal to a fool, you are more than a fool, you are temporarily mad.

#2 IMPURE THOUGHTS

You must be aware that at the instant you begin to have impure thoughts, danger is nearby. The devil must have a plan up his sleeve to attack you.

It is also a sign that you are becoming too comfortable, too loose, lax and empty (Philippians 4:8).

It is a sign that you are either losing sight of your goal or that you have no goal at all.

As soon as you find yourself facing the battle of immoral thoughts, you must declare a fast immediately. You must set a goal for yourself of prayer hours, Bible Study, memory verses, giving to God, mighty goals.

Increase your commitment to God and the time you spend with Him. It will be quite difficult for you to continue immoral thoughts in God’s presence.

You must decide to keep off the devil’s anointing.

Steer clear of anger, steer clear of immoral thoughts.