₦airaland Forum

In Matthew 15:21-28, Jesus said, “I cannot give the children’s bread to dogs.” This means that a person is either God’s child or a dog. Children have fathers, while dogs have masters. Children can walk up to their fathers anytime to ask questions and make requests, but dogs cannot. While a child can sit with his or her father on the dining table to eat, a dog usually sits under the table to eat crumbs. Such dogs will go hungry if there are no crumbs. If you have not yet surrendered your heart to Jesus, you are not yet God’s child, and now is the best time to turn to Him and allow Him to become your Father.

God has numerous names; He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16), He is the Almighty (Job 23:16), and He is the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last (Revelation 22:13). Despite all His names, when Jesus taught us to pray in Luke 11:1-2, He said that we should start by saying, “Our Father”. The name God loves to be called the most is Father. As Father, God is our source and sustainer; He is our helper. No responsible father will see his children suffering and leave them to continue to suffer.

When I was a child, I often followed my father to his farm. We always had to cross a particular river on our way back, and occasionally, the river overflowed its banks. Whenever this happened, it would sweep the bridge that was built across the river away. On one occasion that this happened, my father picked me up and carried me across the river on his shoulders because I was too small to walk on the riverbed and not be swept away by the currents. While he was walking through the river, I was playing with the water because I was on his shoulder. If an earthly father can do everything to protect his child, how much more our heavenly Father?

Beloved, if you are already a child of God and are experiencing challenges that are currently testing your faith, hold on to God; He is a loving Father, and He will surely see you through and bring you to an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11). If you are, however, yet to surrender your life to Him and you want to experience His special love and care, then accept His invitation to become His child today, and you too will enjoy peace on all sides, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, I mentioned that God needs your hands to be clean so that He can use it to do great things. Your hands should bring blessings to people, not the other way around.

In Exodus 15:22-25, the Israelites got to Marah, and they couldn’t drink the water there because it was bitter. God showed Moses a tree, and he cut a branch from it, threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. I believe that if it had been someone else who threw that branch in the water, nothing would have changed. In 2 Kings 4:38-41, somebody unknowingly added a poisonous herb to the food that was being prepared for the sons of the prophets. Upon tasting it, they said, “There is death in the pot.” Elisha then said, “Bring me some flour.” He put the flour in the pot, and the poison was neutralised. The flour became a potent antidote because the anointing flowed through the hands that poured it into the pot.

Years ago, I travelled to Lokoja, a state capital in Central Nigeria, and I saw a huge tree on a major road within the city. The road was built around the tree, and when I asked why, I was told that the tree could not be uprooted because there were evil forces surrounding it. Quietly, I stretched my hand towards the tree and prayed a simple prayer. That night, there was a violent storm, and by the next morning, the tree had been uprooted. I decree that any tree that God has not planted in your life, family, or city will be uprooted today, in Jesus’ name.

God performed special miracles by the hands of Paul. Handkerchiefs and aprons were taken from his body to heal the sick and deliver those who were oppressed by demons (Acts 19:11-12). Pieces of cloth that had come in contact with Paul’s hands and aprons that had come in contact with his body became healing vessels and demon chasers. In 2 Kings 2:19-22, the inhabitants of Jericho told Elisha that their city was pleasant, but the ground was barren, and the water was bad. He took some salt and poured it at the source of the water flowing into the city, and the waters became fit for use. It wasn’t the salt that performed the miracle; it was the hand of the anointed fellow that threw in the salt. Beloved, I decree that as you raise your hands, any curse on your life, family, village, town, or country will be broken, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, I mentioned that the hands are conductors of the anointing upon a believer’s head. What a believer does with his or her hands can determine how the Holy Spirit will operate. In Exodus 17:8-13, when Moses lifted up his hands on a hilltop, Israel prevailed over their enemies; however, when he became tired and dropped his hands, Israel started losing. In Exodus 14:21-28, Moses’ hands did something extraordinary; He stretched his hand over the sea, a strong east wind blew, and a way was created where there was none before. The east wind is another reference for the Holy Spirit in the Bible. This means that a believer’s hands can determine how the Holy Spirit moves.

In 1981, after I had just become the General Overseer of RCCG, I travelled to Ifewara, my hometown in South-West Nigeria. Then, there was no direct road linking Ife, a major city in the South-West region, to Ifewara. To get to Ifewara, one would have to take a route through Ilesha, a smaller city within the region, making it an extra 70-kilometre journey. When I eventually got to my hometown, I told my people to make a request to God, and they asked for a motorable road linking Ifewara to Ife. I asked them where exactly they wanted the road to be built, and they pointed it out. I lifted my hand and said, “In the name of Jesus, let there be a road.” Six months later, the government decided to build a road from Ife to Ifewara. There was no logical or political reason to do so, and they didn’t build it to get votes because it was during a military regime; they built it because God found a hand that He could use to create a way where there was none.

Beloved, God needs your hands to perform great miracles on the earth. Psalm 24:4 says that only those who have clean hands can ascend unto the Lord’s hill. Are your hands clean enough for God to use? Can He use them as channels to do His will on earth? You must not put your hands into anything that has an appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Don’t use your hands to give or collect bribes; it will grieve the Holy Spirit. Don’t use them to engage in fornication or doctor figures to illegally enrich yourself; that will also grieve the Holy Spirit. Make your hands available and usable to God so that He can do mighty works through them.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

As we see in Psalm 24:5, God places the anointing on a man’s head. However, a man’s hands are the conductors of that anointing. In 1 Samuel 17:34-37, David smote the lion and the bear with his hands. With his hand also, he held the sling that brought Goliath down (1 Samuel 17:49). In Judges 14:5-6, Samson was going down to Timnath when a lion roared at him. The anointing came on him, and he tore the lion in half with his bare hands. In Judges 15:14-15, it was also Samson’s hands that grabbed the jawbone of an ass and turned it into a weapon of mass destruction.

An anointed person’s head is like an electricity generator, and the fellow’s hands can be likened to wires that conduct electricity to where it is needed. The anointing on a person’s head determines the power the fellow carries in his or her hands. One day, I was in a store abroad buying books, and as is my custom, I was singing choruses while picking the books off the shelves. After a while, a man came to me smiling, and he said, “It must be such a lovely day, seeing how happily you are singing.” I laughed and shook his hand because he had extended it for a handshake. As he turned to leave, he exclaimed, What just happened? It is gone!” Apparently, he had been suffering a backache for years, but as he shook my hand, the pain disappeared. A casual handshake resulted in a miracle because my hands conducted the anointing upon my head into the needed vessel.

Beloved, you need God’s anointing upon your head if you want His power to flow through your hands. You must spend quality time in fellowship with God so that He will anoint you. When God anoints you, you will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. As a believer, your hands must be actively doing God’s work. When you see sick people, lay hands on them. Don’t withdraw your hands from doing God’s work because the anointing you carry will remain dormant if your hands are not taking it to where it is needed. The more you lay hands on the sick, the more demand you will place on the anointing upon your life, and the more it will grow. As the anointing upon your life grows, God will trust you to handle bigger things because He knows that your hands will deliver the things that He wants to do.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Whenever God speaks, whatever He says is final (Psalm 119:89). Isaiah 55:10-11 makes it clear that when God sends His word on an errand, it will not return to Him until it has finished its assignment. This means that if God sends His word to a fellow and that fellow refuses to accept it, that word will go to someone else because God’s word cannot, and will not, return to Him without accomplishing what it has been sent to do.

Now, if this same word dwells in your heart, you can use it to accomplish great and mighty things to the glory of God. You can tell sicknesses to disappear from your life and the lives of others, and they will disappear. You can command poverty to leave, and it will leave.

To settle negative issues with God’s word, however, you must allow His word to settle fully in your heart. When something settles somewhere, it has found a conducive resting place there. When Noah sent out a dove after the flood, the Bible says that the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned to the ark (Genesis 8:9). Until you make room for God’s word in your heart, it cannot settle in you. God’s word will settle difficult situations in your life and the lives of others if you let it dwell richly in your heart. People are often called rich because they have lots of money. Those who have only a few thousands in their bank accounts cannot claim to be rich. Similarly, you cannot claim to be rich in God’s word when you know only a few verses in the Bible. You must immerse yourself in God’s word and allow it to fill every part of your being by reading and studying it daily. Never be satisfied with yesterday’s revelation; seek to know God’s word anew daily. His word will dwell richly in you as you meditate on it.

When a cook wants a lump of meat to fully absorb some seasonings, he or she will soak the meat in the seasonings for hours to marinate it before cooking. This is what meditation does; it marinates your heart in God’s word and makes you rich in it.

Beloved, let God’s word dwell richly in you and honour it at all times by obeying it completely. This way, whenever you speak it into any situation, God will surely back it up.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Years ago, a man who was completely stiff was brought to the RCCG headquarters; he couldn’t move his hands or bend down. We asked him if he would give his life to Jesus, and he did. We prayed a simple prayer, and immediately, he was healed. He was able to kneel, raise his hands, clap, and move his body in ways he couldn’t do before. For about two weeks, he was regular at church services, but after that, he stopped coming. We decided to follow him up, so we visited him at home and asked why he had not been coming to church. He responded by asking us if it was the church that healed him. We told him, “Of course not; it was God, but He used the church.” Then He said, “What then is the problem? If you go to a hospital and you get well, won’t you go home? I came to your church, and I got healed. There is no need for me to keep coming back.” We eventually left him alone, and some months later, as I was driving by, I saw him by the roadside in a worse condition than he was before his initial healing. This time, not only was his entire body stiff, his mouth was wide open, and saliva was dripping uncontrollably from it.

One thing about demons is that they don’t rest. When a demon’s host runs to God and gets delivered from the demon, after some time, it will return to see the state of the fellow. If it sees that the fellow, having received his or her miracle, has decided that he or she doesn’t need God again, it will invite seven more demons that are stronger than it to possess the fellow again. Eventually, the fellow who thought that he or she could use God just to get healed will realise that his or her case has become worse (Matthew 12:43-45).

Some men who are living wayward lives join churches because they want to get married to good Christian ladies. However, they often discover, after getting married, that they have been deceived into marrying someone like themselves who is not genuinely born-again, and also came to the church to look for a Christian husband.

Beloved, in my over 50 years of walking with God, I have discovered that people who think that they can use God and turn their backs on Him always regret it. Never be like such people!
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When I became the General Overseer of RCCG, I decided that everyone who attends our annual conventions would be fed by God during the conventions. I made the decision by faith as I was a pastor and did not have a secular job. I announced that everyone would be fed twice daily during conventions and I showed them (1 Kings 17:4-6) where God fed Elijah twice daily. One of the young men in the church, a baker, volunteered to provide us with bread for breakfast during our conventions, and he did this consistently for some years. One year, however, he decided that he would stop supplying bread because he didn’t like one of the sermons I had preached, but he didn’t inform me of his decision.

During one of the morning sessions that year, we sang and praised God until around 11am as we waited for bread to arrive; however, no bread was supplied. Around noon, I sent for him and asked, “What happened? Did the vehicles bringing the bread break down on the way here?” He said, “No”. Then, I asked him what the problem was, and he replied, “I am not bringing bread anymore.” Immediately, I sent for my wife and asked her, “How much do we have for the evening meal?” We gathered the money together and bought bread for breakfast. Somehow, God helped us to overcome the situation. Years later, I woke up one morning and saw the young baker in front of my house. I asked him, “What can I do for you? You are here very early.” He replied, “I could have come earlier, but I discovered that one of my car’s tyres was flat.” I asked him, “What about the spare tyre?” He said that he had none. This was a man who used to have at least 14 cars.

Beloved, don’t think that you can take God for granted because He is doing some great things through you now. Don’t think that He cannot do without you; in contrast, it is you who cannot do anything without Him and will be nothing without Him, as we see in John 15:5. Only foolish people will take the people in power in their country for granted. Therefore, imagine taking the One who is in control of the entire universe (Colossians 1:16-17) for granted. God is way bigger than you, so if you have been taking Him for granted in any way or you have not been honouring Him as you should, repent now.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There are people who used to be wealthy or influential but have little or nothing to show for it today. There is nothing as terrible as being a fellow who used to be wealthy or influential. For example, when those who have never had a car struggle to enter a public bus and someone steps on them, they would see it as something normal. However, people who used to have their own cars might find it difficult to adapt when they find themselves in a similar situation. Also, if they complain about getting stepped on while struggling to enter a public bus, they might feel really insulted when people say, “If you don’t want to be stepped on, why not get your own car?” May you never be a has-been, in Jesus’ name.

There is nothing as terrible as being an ex-champion. Boxers will tell you that the moment you become a champion, other boxers in your category will want to challenge you to a fight. If you want to remain a champion, it means that you need to work harder than you used to before you became a champion. If you relax after becoming successful, saying, “I am the best; everybody already sees how good I am,” you might soon lose your edge and become irrelevant. Instead, you must start working harder on becoming more excellent. The things you need to do to remain at the top are even more rigorous than what you must do to get there.

When God called me to become a pastor, I prayed that I would become so influential for the kingdom, and I can tell you with all confidence that the way I used to pray before I got to the level I am now is nothing compared to how I pray now. As God has continued to take me higher, I have been fasting more, studying my Bible more, preaching more sermons, and working harder generally. This is how I have been able to maintain an upward trajectory.

Beloved, if you want to be the best in your field, you must be ready to put in all the necessary efforts. Most importantly, to remain at the top, you must be ready to put in even more efforts by acquiring more and more knowledge, networking more with other experts in your field, and generally working harder. I pray that you will get to the top and remain there, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Someone once said that the world is a school, and those who are wise go to school to take lessons every day because there is always something to learn there. Proverbs 9:9 says that if you give instructions to a wise man, he will become wiser. You must be open to learning from others because everyone has something to teach you, even children. A teachable fellow is always willing and ready to learn. Mark 4:25 says;

For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.

Anyone who is willing to learn every day will have more understanding and wisdom. A teachable fellow is open to knowledge and is always willing to add other people’s wisdom to his or her own. When you are teachable, you learn mainly through instructions, not by experience. For example, if you keep telling a boy not to put his hand in a fire and you constantly keep him away from hot objects, if the boy is not teachable, he will always want to run towards what you are trying to save him from. One day, he might eventually put his hand in the fire and get hurt. However, a teachable child will listen to instructions, obey them, and grow in wisdom. He or she will not have to experience the pain that comes from disobedience by nursing wounds that could have been avoided.

David was a very teachable fellow. Many times in the Bible, he prayed and asked God to teach him; He was always willing to learn. In Psalm 25:4, he asked God to teach him His paths. When you are open to learning about God’s paths, you can never miss your way. In Psalm 119:26 and Psalm 119:33, he asked God to teach him His statutes so that he could keep them until his death. In Psalm 119:66, he wanted to learn good judgment and knowledge. Also, he asked God to teach him to do His will in Psalm 143:10. No wonder, up until today, David remains the most celebrated king that Israel ever had.

Acts 17:10-11 talks about some believers from Berea who were ready to learn. They received the word of God with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily. The Bereans were hungry for God’s word and remained meek enough to search the Scriptures daily.

Beloved, be like the Berean Christians and be committed to learning every day.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Whatever people put into their lives will determine what they will get out of it. If all they put in are worldly pleasures, then there will be no greatness; however, if they are diligent, they will be prosperous (Proverbs 12:24).

My Father in the Lord told a story of two young men who went to consult an oracle to find out what the future held for them. The oracle told one of them that he would become a king and the other that he would be a servant. The one the oracle predicted to become a king immediately began to act pompously, while the second one said to himself, “What have I done to deserve this fate? Why must I be a servant?” He kept thinking about what the oracle said, and he became angry. When he got home, he took his cutlass and hoes, went far into the jungle, and began to cultivate a portion of the jungle. He would wake up every morning to clear bushes and plant seeds until late at night. Whenever he felt pain, he would tell his body, “You cannot be tired because I refuse to be a slave.” Years passed, and he kept on expanding the farm. After a while, there was a famine in his town. The townspeople spent all their money and didn’t have any food to eat. One day, a hunter went far into the jungle to look for meat and he stumbled on this young man’s store of food. He went back to his townspeople to tell them what he had found and they all came there too. They did not have money to buy the food so they begged the young man to please give them food and they will serve him. He agreed and they crowned him as their king. One day, as he sat on his throne, the other man who the oracle said would become a king came begging and said, “Please don’t let me die of hunger; give me food and I will be your servant.”

Beloved, whatever you sow into your life is what you will reap. If you put in diligence, you will reap abundance because the soul of the diligent shall be made fat (Proverbs 13:4). If you sow to your flesh, you will reap corruption, as we see in Galatians 6:8. If you want the best in life, you must put in the best, and having Jesus in control of your life is the best you can ever have. Follow Him diligently and obey His instructions so you can get the best out of life.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Acts 12:25, Paul and Barnabas took John Mark along with them on a missionary journey, but when things got difficult, he abandoned them. Paul was so disappointed that in Acts 15:36-41, he insisted that he and Barnabas should not take John Mark with them when they wanted to go on another missionary journey. However, in 2 Timothy 4:9-11, the same Paul who didn’t want John Mark to accompany him on another missionary journey said, “Bring him to me for he is profitable.” It is that same John Mark who ended up writing the gospel of Mark in the New Testament. When a fellow keeps growing and developing himself or herself, those who rejected such a fellow before will turn to embrace him or her.

Paul said that when he was a child, he spoke, understood, and thought as a child, but when he became a man, he put away childish things (1 Corinthians 13:11). Everyone starts as a child, but it is not okay to remain as one. Anyone who is not growing is dying.

As a child of God, one important aspect you must grow in is your character. If you were an impatient person before you gave your life to Christ, you must not remain that way. A Christian should not deal with anger issues for the rest of his or her life. If you dealt with anger issues in your twenties, you should have overcome them with the help of the Holy Spirit in your forties.

You must also grow in faith. Jesus talked about people with no faith in Mark 4:40 and people with faith like a mustard seed in Luke 17:6. This means that faith can grow. If you started with a mustard seed faith, as powerful as it is, you should not remain on that level; instead, you should move on to having great faith (Matthew 15:28). You should not still be afraid of sicknesses and demons if you are truly growing in Christ.

Beloved, you were not saved to live in fear and weakness. You are not meant to be just a spectator of the wonderful things that God does through His children. You must grow in faith to the point where you can heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead. Immerse yourself in the word of God regularly (Romans 10:17), pray in the Holy Ghost continually (Jude 1:20), and covet the best gifts from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:31). This way, you will never stop growing.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Many people have misunderstood Genesis 2:2. They feel that God has been resting since it was recorded that He rested on the seventh day after His work of creation. However, in John 5:17, Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,” meaning that God is not idle; He is busy. God is a diligent God, and He never sleeps nor slumbers (Psalm 121:4). When you read through the Bible, you will notice that God always chose diligent people whenever He needed to use men for His agenda on the earth.

When you read the account of how Jesus chose His disciples, you will see that they were all busy at work when He called them. Peter was fishing in his boat, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Mark 1:16-20). Matthew was sitting at a tax collector’s booth when Jesus asked him to follow Him (Matthew 9:9). God never calls or anoints lazy people; He calls diligent and prudent people because He hates laziness.

Lazy people cannot get the best from God. This is because they will waste whatever resources He gives to them, and He doesn’t like wastage. Whatever is in the hands of a lazy person will not be maintained or nurtured properly. In Proverbs 24:30-31, Solomon said:

I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.

If a fellow’s room is always rough and dirty, that is a sign that he or she is lazy. If a person does not always meet up with his or her deliverables at work, school, or in ministry, it is also a sign of laziness. Another symptom of laziness is recorded in Proverbs 26:13:

The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.

If a person always talks about doing something important, but he or she is always giving one excuse or the other for not doing it yet, it means that he or she is lazy.

Beloved, God will not give you His resources or take you to great heights if you are lazy. Evaluate your life in all humility, and if you find any of the symptoms of laziness that I discussed above, make genuine efforts to effect the necessary changes today and make diligence your watchword from henceforth.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In 1979, I travelled for a Kenneth Hagin camp meeting in Oklahoma, USA. During the meeting, a minister announced the collection of an offering for their Bible College. At that point, a man asked for permission to speak to the congregation. He said, “I want to announce that the sum of what you all give is what my wife and I will give.” There were about 17,000 people in the congregation, and when the offering was summed up, it amounted to 3.5 million dollars. When everyone in the congregation heard this, we all thought that the man was in big trouble. However, he took the microphone and said, “Brethren, is this all you can do?” Where I sat, I said to myself, “This man knows something that I don’t, and I’m going to find out what he knows.” As soon as the service ended, I walked up to him and said, “Sir, can I know your secret?” He said, “It is very simple. Five years ago, I started a business with 500 dollars, and I reached an agreement with God that I would not insult him by giving him 10% of the profits. I started giving God 90% while I kept 10% of the profits. Now, I am worth over 50 million dollars, so I know what I am doing.”

The law of harvest says that if you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly. Someone who sows a thousand burnt offerings should automatically know that the result will not be small. A thousand burnt offerings in hundredfold returns will be extremely large. Solomon gave God a thousand burnt offerings in (2 Chronicles 1:6). In (2 Chronicles 7:5), the next time he was going to give an offering, he gave 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep, which means that God must have greatly multiplied his initial seed. That was the law of harvest playing out. In Solomon’s case, he didn’t just get more animals, he got many other things that money cannot buy – wisdom, understanding, peace, and long life.

(2 Corinthians 9:7- says that when you give, God is able to make all grace abound towards you. When you check Solomon’s history, throughout his reign, there was not a single war fought against him even though he lived in an era where kings went to war frequently.

Beloved, honour God by giving to Him, and He will fill your storehouses until they overflow (Proverbs 3:9-10). This is the law of harvest, and it is a promise from God that will never fail.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Years ago, one of my children decided to buy a ticket for me to go on a cruise. For the first six days of the cruise, it was like heaven on earth; the sea was calm, the wind blew softly, and the skies were very clear, However, on the seventh day, a storm came. Believe me, you don’t want to be on the ocean when there is a storm. The ship was several stories high, but the waves kept tossing it up and down like paper. Everything on board was shaking, and objects were flying around. It was very terrible.

Things got so bad that the captain called everyone on board together and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, don’t be worried. There are 12 categories of storms at sea. Category 1 is the mildest, while category 12 is the most turbulent – we are only caught in a category 10 storm.” When I heard that, I became afraid. I turned to God and said, “God, what am I doing here in a category 10 storm? In my village, the biggest river is so small that an amateur swimmer can swim across it.” The captain continued, “Don’t worry, just go back to your cabins.” When I got to my cabin, I asked God, “Lord, what am I going to do now?” He replied, “Son, when I was on earth, and I was in a boat that was caught in a storm, what was I doing?” I responded, “Lord, You were sleeping.” I knew exactly what to do. I immediately jumped on the bed, and in minutes, I was fast asleep. By the time I woke up, we were already at the port, and everything was calm and peaceful. Anytime I tell this story, people ask me, “How could you sleep in such a situation?” I usually think to myself, “What else could I have done, jump into the ocean?” I didn’t even know how to swim; however, I had the kind of peace that only God gives. Also, if I had not learnt to hear God’s voice before the storm, I might have developed high blood pressure due to anxiety for nothing.

Beloved, if you are truly a child of God, then He is always with you. You can live a life free of anxiety if you spend quality time with Him daily because you will know His voice, and He will give you His peace – the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Many people who are yet to surrender their lives to Christ think that they are enjoying life as they live in sin. For example, they think sleeping around is fun until they contract an incurable disease. A lot of them also think that it is okay to make money through any means, whether good or bad, until the wealth or possession they amass leads to their utter destruction. Being in Christ and living according to His word helps believers to live a lifestyle that protects them from many troubles. Those who are in Christ have access to information that will always give them hope and keep them safe.

Many unbelievers look like they are doing well judging by their lifestyle and appearance; however, in reality, they are suffering. Some of them cannot even sleep soundly because of the evil things they have done. Being in Christ gives you peace and removes fears about the future from your heart. A life without Christ is a life with no hope. Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:12:

That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

It is because of Christ that believers are assured that no matter what challenges come their way, they will emerge victorious. Jesus said in John 16:33 that in this world, we will have tribulations, but we must be of good cheer because He has already overcome the world for us. Our hope is grounded in God’s promises and not just wishful thinking. When you read God’s promises in the Scriptures, they will stir up hope in you. For example, in Hebrews 13:5, He promised to never leave you nor forsake you. This means that no matter what you are going through, God is right there beside you. In Romans 8:28, He said that all things will work together for your good if you love Him and are called according to His purpose. Therefore, if you are a lover of Christ and are walking in His purpose for your life, no matter the challenges you might be facing, you will laugh last.

Beloved, I want you to rest assured that God is thinking about you, and His thoughts towards you are of peace, and not of evil, to bring you to an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11). I pray that you will always hold on to the hope of glory you have in Christ, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Years ago, a vice-principal in a girls’ college in Benin, Southern Nigeria, decreed that anybody who mentioned the name of Jesus in the school would be dealt with. During that period, some of the girls in the college became born again after a university graduate undergoing the mandatory one-year National Youth Service corps programme in the city preached to them. Because their vice-principal had said that nobody must mention the name of Jesus in the school, the girls always met secretly to pray and study the Bible. One day, while having a Bible study session at night on the school field, the vice-principal walked in on them. He promised to expel them during the school assembly the next day because they had disobeyed His decree, and when he got home, he told his wife everything that had happened.

Meanwhile, the girls ran to the Youth Corp member and told him what had happened. He turned to God and said, “Lord, if anyone is going to be punished, let it be me. Please, don’t let them be expelled.” The following morning, the students and teachers of the school gathered for the school assembly session as usual. The girls were trembling as they waited for the vice-principal to come to the assembly ground and announce their expulsion from the college. The vice-principal’s wife was also expecting that he would soon march to the assembly ground to expel the girls. When she looked at the time and saw that he was running late, she decided to knock on the door of his bedroom to wake him up so he could go for the assembly session before it ended. She knocked repeatedly, but he didn’t answer – God had taken his life overnight.

When a fellow decides to oppose God’s agenda, he or she might be crushed because God always goes out of His way to support His righteous cause. It is a dangerous thing to stand against what God supports because He is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). He will consume anything and anyone who opposes His counsel. Ephesians 1:11 says:

“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:”

Beloved, the easiest way to get God’s support and to continue enjoying it is to walk in obedience to His will at all times. Ensure that you align yourself with His agenda so that you will not find yourself face-to-face with His wrath.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When people are promoted in their secular jobs, they can get promoted to positions where they will have less work to do than when they were at lower levels. In the kingdom of God, however, the real meaning of promotion is more work.

I recall many years ago, when I had not yet become the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, I saw the General Superintendent praying all through the night on one occasion, and I was worried. I thought something terrible had happened, so I asked him what the problem was the following morning. He laughed and said that I would understand much later. Many years later, when I became the General Overseer, I understood because I now pray all night too. As God promotes you in ministry, the work and sacrifices that you need to engage in will increase. For example, I had never spent Father’s Day with my family until 2020, during the coronavirus-induced lockdown. I am also extremely happy whenever I have the opportunity to sleep in my own bed because it now happens very rarely. The amount of time I have to rest now is less than the amount of time I had to do so when The Redeemed Christian Church of God had 100,000 members. When God promotes you in ministry, don’t get excited about it in the flesh. Instead, you should be sober because it means that you have to increase your spiritual capacity so you can be a blessing to more souls. You should seek to draw closer to God rather than waste time rejoicing among men.

When a fellow is promoted in God’s Kingdom, it is a call to more and greater responsibilities. Hence, when you see genuine ministers of God being promoted in ministry, don’t envy them. The higher you go in God’s kingdom, the more the good work you must do increases.

It is also important to know that when God promotes men and gives them greater responsibilities, He also supplies them with a greater measure of grace. You do not have to be scared about greater responsibilities that come with God’s promotion because He will make all grace abound to you as He lifts you higher (2 Corinthians 9:. As we read earlier in 1 Timothy 3:1, Paul said that desiring a higher office in God’s kingdom is good. Therefore, you should desire for God to keep promoting you as you continue to serve Him.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When Joshua became the leader of the Israelites, God promised to support him all the way and also told him that wherever the sole of his foot touched, he would have it (Joshua 1:1-5). All through the period Joshua led the children of Israel through the wilderness, he found this to be true until the day the Israelites were defeated by a small nation called Ai. After this defeat, Joshua went to God and asked for the reason they lost, and God told him that there was sin in the camp of the Israelites (Joshua 7:2-11). This shows us that even when you are doing the will of God, and He has promised to support you all the way, He will withdraw His support the moment you start engaging in sin. Sin will turn a child of God into an enemy of God, and because God’s eyes are too pure to behold iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13), He will withdraw from such a fellow.

God made several wonderful promises to Moses. For instance, He told Moses that His presence would go with him and He would give him rest (Exodus 33:14). In Exodus 33:1, He also told Moses to go up with the children of Israel and take them to the Promised Land which He had sworn to give to their fathers – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, when Moses disobeyed God, the Lord withdrew His support, and Moses died in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 34:4-5). Disobedience to God’s instructions will make a person lose His support.

Saul was Israel’s first king, and God had planned to establish his kingdom forever (1 Samuel 13:13). However, after he sat on the throne as king, he became proud and disobedient to God (1 Samuel 15:1-30). This made God to change His mind, withdraw His support, and give the kingdom to David. Samson was also destined for greatness. However, he started living in sin, and he thought God would never leave him. On the day God’s support was withdrawn from him, he didn’t even know until the enemies had captured him (Judges 16:20).

Beloved, are you engaging in anything that will take God’s support away from you? If you are engaging in secret sins, desist from them immediately. Don’t think that there will not be consequences because things are still going on as usual. God is surely taking records. Repent today before He decides to turn His back on you. May the Lord not withdraw His support from you, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Psalm 24:1-2 tells us that the earth is the Lord’s and its fullness thereof. Haggai 2:8 also says that silver and gold belong to Him. Psalm 50:10 tells us that the cattle upon a thousand hills all belong to Him. With God as your Father, you should not be bothered about any financial problems. I am confident that you will overcome any financial challenge you may be facing right now because your Father will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

It is worthy of note that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, and other patriarchs in the Bible were all very wealthy. They walked with God, and He blessed them greatly. Since those who walk with the wise become wise (Proverbs 13:20), when you walk with the Almighty, All-sufficient God, He will always meet your needs. Beloved, make up your mind today to walk with God wholeheartedly.

In Luke 15:16-19, the prodigal son had a very wealthy father, yet he considered eating pig food, and no one gave him anything. This is how some Christians today are begging people for things that they can easily get from the Almighty God, their Father. Note that when the prodigal son departed from his father’s house initially, everything seemed to be going well. However, things soon took a turn for the worse, and he realised that he had made a mistake. Thankfully, he decided to retrace his steps, and the moment he did so and returned to the loving embrace of his father, he started to live in affluence again. Beloved, if you have backslidden from God and are already experiencing lack and sorrow, retrace your steps to Him today. Do not admire the things that ungodly people are doing to get wealthy; instead, return to the One who owns all of creation and who gives the power to get true wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18).

Beloved, make up your mind to stick with God fully for the rest of your life so that you can start enjoying the benefits that come with being a child of God. Only God can give riches with no sorrow added to it, as we see in Proverbs 10:22:

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

I pray that you will walk with God wholeheartedly and not indulge in sin so that you can be truly blessed, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The Bible says in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Scripture went further to say, in verse 14 of the same chapter, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” When you dwell so much on the word of God that it leaves the pages of the Bible and begins to dwell in you and become so real to you like your own flesh, you will begin to see the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says:

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The more of God’s glory you see, the more you are transformed into His image from glory to glory. Hence, if you want to radiate God’s glory, you must study your Bible daily and meditate on it day and night. The word of God is powerful, and if you allow it to dwell in your heart, you will experience tremendous transformation in every aspect of your life.

The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
Proverbs 18:10

The Scripture above tells us that God’s name is so powerful and that it is a fortress that preserves those who run into it. However, as powerful as His name is, Psalm 138:2 says, “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.” God’s word is even more powerful than His name. This is why you must not joke with the word of God. Joshua 1:8 says that you should meditate on it day and night so that your ways can be prosperous and you can have good success. Good success implies that there is also bad success. Beloved, only those who allow God’s word to dwell in their hearts and rule their lives can enjoy good success. I pray that you will indeed immerse yourself in the word of God and allow it to dwell richly in your heart so you can enjoy good success in every area of your life, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When you get sufficiently close to God and begin to intercede for other people, God will tell you things about them. Sometimes, you will not need to tell the people you are praying for the things God tells you about them; you can just give them instructions to guide them into God’s will. However, if God leads you to share some things with them, then you must apply wisdom, especially when the messages are negative. You must take a cue from the way Nathan delivered God’s message to David, as we read in 2 Samuel 12:1-14. If Nathan had just told David, “Thus saith the Lord, because you have taken another man’s wife and killed the man, evil will befall you,” he could have lost his head that day. However, due to the way he presented the message, David got on his knees in repentance.

The purpose of prophecy is for edification, exhortation, and comfort (1 Corinthians 14:3), not to condemn or show everyone that you can hear from God. If your prophecy does not edify, exhort, or comfort the one you are prophesying to, you are likely delivering the message wrongly. Even when Elijah was direct in passing judgment on Ahab because God specifically told him what to say (1 Kings 21:17-29), Ahab repented because the purpose of the prophecy was not to condemn him, but to bring him to repentance, as God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11).

Note that there will be times when, even though you deliver God’s message in the right manner, the people who receive the message might still not do the will of God. You can’t force people to do God’s will; your major responsibility is to deliver God’s message. It is up to the recipients of the message to either believe God’s prophet and prosper or not (2 Chronicles 20:20). Sometimes, God might even allow the hearts of the recipients to be hardened as He did with Pharaoh (Exodus 9:12) so that in future, others will take His word more seriously.

Beloved, Ephesians 4:15 tells us to speak the truth in love. This means that if God wants you to give others a message, you must allow His love to guide whatever you say. It is best to ask God to fill your heart with wisdom and love before you speak so that your words will not do more harm than good.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Greatness comes with many responsibilities, including being able to keep secrets. This is because, at a certain level of greatness, there are things leaders must keep as highly confidential so as to protect themselves, their followers, and the greater good of what they represent. There are some kinds of information that are available to such people that can be misused if they become common knowledge, and as such, they must be kept secret.

God also has secrets, and if you are close to Him and truly reverence Him, He will begin to tell you some of them. However, if you go around telling everyone the things He tells you without His permission to do so, do not be surprised when you stop hearing more secrets from Him. When God tells you something and instructs you not to tell anyone, keep your mouth shut, and He will trust you with even more secrets. I pray that you will get so close to God that He will begin to share some of His secrets with you, in Jesus’ name.

The birth and nurturing of Jesus Christ required a certain level of secrecy, and if Mary had been talkative, she would have exposed Him to danger early in His life. As a believer, it is not everything that God tells you that you should tell other people. There are certain things God tells you that are for your ears only.

Psalm 25:14 says:

The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

One major reason God keeps secrets is because He does not want the devil to know what He is about to do. The devil can only guess what God wants to do by studying what He is doing, but most of the time, he guesses wrong and ends up helping God to achieve His purpose. This is why 1 Corinthians 2:8 says:

Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

If God tells you what He is about to do, and you go around announcing it to everyone, you just might be giving the devil information that he should not have. Hence, when God tells you something, always ask Him if they are for your ears only or if He wants you to tell others. If He says that they are for your ears only and you must not tell other people, please keep it to yourself.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Jesus Christ cast demons out of people during His earthly ministry, and He also charged all Christians to do the same thing:

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Matthew 10:8

Deliverance, however, is beyond casting out demons. True deliverance happens when a demon is unable to return and repossess a fellow that has been delivered from it. Jesus said in Matthew 12:43-45 that when an evil spirit comes out of a fellow, it wanders around looking for a place to stay. If it doesn’t find a place to stay, it will go back to check if its former home is still empty. If it discovers that the place is empty, it will invite other demons that are more wicked than it, and they will reside in the fellow’s life. The end of such a fellow will then become worse than when he or she was possessed by only one demon. As a child of God, the moment you cast out a demon from someone, see to it that the fellow is filled with the Holy Spirit. If the demon returns and finds that the Holy Spirit already occupies the fellow, it can’t repossess him or her.

After Jesus cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene, she became one of His followers and followed Him until the end of His earthly ministry. The moment the Lord set her free, she became a divine treasure and committed to serving God with all that she had. Her commitment made her one of the first people to see Jesus after he was resurrected (John 20:13-18). In Luke 8:26-39, after Jesus cast the legion of demons out of the madman of Gadara, He told him to go about preaching the gospel. It is not enough for a demon to be cast out of a fellow; the real deliverance is when he or she is filled with the Holy Spirit such that the demon cannot return to repossess the fellow.

Beloved, true deliverance is when your heart is filled with the Holy Spirit because you pray and feed on the word of God daily, fast regularly, and live a holy life. True deliverance is when a delivered fellow does not return to his or her old lifestyle but rather remains filled by the Holy Spirit such that there cannot be a repossession by demons.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today, I will conclude the teaching I started two days ago by examining prophecies that come from the Holy Spirit.

Years ago, God told me to wear seven agbadas to one of our programmes, even though He knows I do not like putting on any kind of agbada at all, not to mention wearing seven at a time. Even for those who like to wear agbadas, wearing two at a time, not to talk of seven, will be considered absurd. The instruction was strange, but because I know His voice, I obeyed. Then, He asked me to dance for a while and lay them on the altar afterwards. I obeyed again, and He said, “Let anyone who has a problem touch one of the agbadas. However, they should not hold them.” I relayed the message to the congregation, and many people came forward to touch the agbadas. We finished the service by 8am, and I retreated into my prayer room. Around 5pm, I heard some knocks on the door. When I opened the door, some church members told me, “A man is about to die.” They explained that the man had held on to one of the agbadas, claiming that his problem required more than one touch, and he had been shaking vigorously since then. The clothes looked ordinary, but because God had given instructions concerning them, they were saturated with power. I had to plead with God before the man stopped shaking.

A while later, I travelled to the United States for one of our conventions, and God instructed me to take one of the agbadas with me. During the service, I told the congregation that they should only touch the agbada and not hold on to it. A white man in the congregation said, “What kind of nonsense is that?” However, he went forward to touch the garment. The man was wearing an iron brace on his back, which enabled him to stand upright. Immediately he touched the agbada, the iron brace broke to pieces, and he received his healing.

Beloved, when the Holy Spirit speaks, whatever He says will always come to pass. No matter how foolish some utterances may sound, when God is the source, they will not fall to the ground. To hear from God, however, you must relate intimately with the Holy Spirit so you can distinguish between His voice, the voice of the devil, and the voice of your human spirit.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, I started teaching about the sources of prophecy and how a prophecy can come from the human spirit. Today, I will discuss some ways prophecies can come from the devil.

The prophecies that come from the devil are lies with some elements of truth in them to confuse and derail the recipients. The devil might even misinterpret a portion of the Scriptures to support his lies so that a believer will think that the prophecy is from God. When a prophecy comes from the devil, it is only a matter of time before it produces the fruits of the devil. When satan gets to a place, he has three assignments: to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Any prophecy from him will eventually steal from those who believe it, kill their joy and dreams, and destroy their hope.

When the young girl in Acts 16:16-18 said some prophetic words, they had many elements of truth in them. However, Paul knew that her words were from the devil. The devil wanted the people to keep their focus on the girl and not on Jesus. He wanted to distract men from knowing Jesus. The devil knows how to say things and manipulate them to come to pass. Some people hear prophecies from the devil and just ignore them; however, that can be dangerous. There was a very wealthy man who quarrelled with his wife, and she told him that by the time she was ‘done’ with him, he would have to walk to get anywhere within Lagos. When the woman said that, the man laughed because, at that time, he had fourteen cars. Before long, however, he lost all his cars until he had just one left and only 50 kobo in his pocket. He then said to himself, “If I use this 50 kobo to fuel my car, what will I eat? If I buy food with the money, then I will have to walk around Lagos like my wife prophesied.” That was when he came to Jesus Christ, and Jesus began to remedy his situation. On the day he shared his testimony, he dedicated two new houses. I pray for you today that any negative prophecy that might be working against your life and destiny is nullified, in Jesus’ name.

Beloved, you must be careful about the people you give permission to speak into your life. If someone speaks something that is contrary to God’s will into your life, plead the blood of Jesus and cancel it immediately.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Prophecies come from three major sources: the devil, the human spirit, and the Holy Spirit. Today, I will discuss prophecies from the human spirit.

When a prophecy comes from people’s spirits, they will say things that they sense will happen, but most times, they won’t happen. Many times, a person could get excited and think, in that moment, that he or she has heard from God; however, it could be that the person only heard from his or her human spirit. This is why you must put your emotions in check whenever you want to hear from God so that you won’t hear from your human spirit and assume you heard from God. When you are expecting to hear from God, and your mind is fixed on a particular result that you want, you will likely hear a confirmation of that result from your human spirit and assume that God has spoken.

When I was much younger in ministry and there were signs that I would be travelling frequently on ministerial assignments, an airline offered me some really good packages. I was excited by the offer and prophesied that the airline would prosper and never suffer any disaster. Shortly after my declaration, the airline suffered a plane crash. I could have just prayed for them and blessed them; instead, I prophesied based on my emotions.

If you do not let go of your emotions and allow God to sincerely search your heart, you will hear the idols of your heart giving you the go-ahead when you approach God for His counsel in prayer. For example, if a young lady is asking God about which one of her suitors is His choice, she needs to control her emotions despite her personal preference and give God total control concerning the matter if she really wants to hear from Him. If she asks God about His choice but discovers that her heart is fixed on the one she likes during her prayers, she should find a neutral person to pray with her because she just might hear from her human spirit telling her to go ahead with her preference. She must also genuinely want to hear from God because Ezekiel 14:4 says that if you approach a prophet with idols in your heart, God will answer you according to those idols.

Beloved, train your human spirit to totally submit to God so that whenever you need to hear Him, your emotions won’t interfere with His counsel.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Some Christians get to church services late because they only start getting dressed to go to church when the praise and worship session must have started. They believe that the sermon is the main service; however, this is not true. Worship is actually the major part of the service, which is why a church service is often called a 'worship service'. Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of Israel. Right from the beginning of a church service, God is already moving. Christians who understand this always go to church early because they know that while the praise and worship session is going on, they can hear from God and receive an impartation from Him.

It Is unfortunate that many ministers of God do not take praise and worship sessions seriously. When the choir is singing choruses and praising God, many pastors are still sitting in their offices, writing letters and giving instructions because they feel that the main part of the service has not started. By the time they get on the pulpit, the service is almost over because a major part of the service is the praise and worship session. If you worship God well enough, you will see Him in action.

When believers know that they can do nothing without God (John 15:5), they will not miss praise and worship sessions for anything. In 2 Corinthians 1:6-13, the Bible tells us that Solomon worshipped God by offering a thousand burnt offerings to Him. It was an act of worship, the kind that the people around him had never seen before. That night, God paid him a visit and told him to ask for anything he wanted. Solomon asked for wisdom and knowledge so that he could serve God the way he ought to, and the Bible says that God granted him his request and added other blessings. The Bible also says that before him, there was no one like him, and after him, there will never be anyone like him (2 Chronicles 1:12).

Beloved, make it a duty to never miss any opportunity to worship God by dancing and singing praises to His name, especially during church services. If you sing and dance for Him regularly, He will set you apart for greatness. However, if you feel you are too big to dance before Him or worship and give Him thanks, He will also see you as being too big to be carried to the top.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul said that he planted, Apollos watered, but it is God who gave the increase. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts sinners to repent of their sins and become members of the body of Christ.

Beloved, no matter how eloquent you are, you cannot save a soul. If eloquence is required for people to turn to Jesus, the 3,000 people who got saved in Acts 2 would not have cried out to God in repentance because Peter was an ordinary fisherman, and his words were likely to have been unrefined. However, when the Holy Spirit came upon him, the people who heard him were convicted. When they heard his preaching, they were pricked in their hearts and asked what they should do (Acts 2:37). Paul, who was well-educated, knew that he could not save anyone by his preaching alone and that his eloquence could not soften any man’s heart. This is why he said in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 that his speech and preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

Only the Holy Spirit can soften people’s hearts. He alone can bring light to the darkness in a sinner’s soul. (2 Corinthians 4:4) says that the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers. Satan does not want people to be saved, so he blinds their eyes and keeps them from accepting Jesus. This is why you need the Holy Spirit when you go out to evangelise; He alone can destroy the lies of the devil in the minds of men. Without Him, your preaching will be mere words. People may clap for you because of your eloquence, but their hearts will not be changed, and they will remain hardened in their sins. However, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you won’t need to say much before people surrender their hearts to Jesus.

Beloved, you cannot go into a strong man’s house without first binding him (Mark 3:27). To bind the devil and stop his activities in the lives of men, you need the power of the Holy Spirit. Before you preach to people, ask the Holy Spirit to work on their hearts. He is your Helper, and He is in you to help you become an effective soul winner. I pray that the Holy Spirit will work mightily through you to bring many lost souls into the kingdom of God, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When people claim to be good at something, they need to prove it by doing that thing remarkably well. When they do this, people will pay attention to them. Beloved, complaining that people do not notice your talents will achieve no result. Instead, prove your abilities by doing whatever you can from wherever you are, no matter how small it may seem. Soon, people will see your light and come to the brightness of your rising (Isaiah 60:1-3).

You can be very talented; however, if you don’t work hard and use your talent, people won’t take notice. Matthew 5:16 says that you should let your light shine for people to see your good works and glorify your heavenly Father. Did you notice the word ‘works’ in that verse? You must work for people to see you. Someone showed me a newspaper article in which a reporter was making a joke about the miracles God has performed in my life. The person who showed me the article said, “Daddy, what’s your comment?” I told him that I had no comment. I don’t have any comments about such jokes because I am too busy doing God’s work, and I can’t be distracted by trivial issues.

John 9:1-7 tells the story of a man who was born blind. When Jesus’ disciples started to debate about whose sin caused the man’s predicament, Jesus redirected their attention to what was important. He told them, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” Then, He spat on the ground, made some mud out of the clay, anointed the man’s eyes, and told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam – the blind man returned with brand-new eyes. Jesus went about doing the work of the Father throughout His human ministry; He was so busy doing good that everywhere He went, people took note of Him and followed Him.

Beloved, when you go about doing the work of the One who sent you, you will become like a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden and a candle on a candlestick that gives light to everyone in a house (Matthew 5:14-15). People might not like a light bulb’s design, but nobody can ignore its importance. If you want to be so relevant that people cannot do without your unique contributions, let your light shine by focusing on doing the work that God has committed into your hands.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Numbers 11:10-29, God took part of the spirit upon Moses and put it on 70 elders because he had complained that the burden of leading the Israelites was too much for him to bear. When the 70 elders began to prophesy, a young man came to tell Moses that two men who were not part of them were also prophesying. On hearing this, Joshua told Moses to stop them. However, Moses replied that he didn’t mind if the Lord put His Spirit on all His people because that was His ultimate will. Moses was a true leader, and true leaders allow their followers to fly.

Someone once asked a pastor, “Why don’t you encourage the Holy Ghost baptism among your congregation?” He replied, “Because if they get the power of the Holy Spirit, they will outrun us, their pastors.” This amazed me because my prayer is that my children will be greater than I am. Every time I pray for the pastors in RCCG, I ask God to double the anointing on my life and give it to them because, if that happens, my job will be easier. For example, when a corpse is brought to the church to be raised back to life, wouldn’t it be wonderful if an usher could call the dead person back to life without my intervention or any other pastor’s intervention.

Many pastors do almost everything in their churches because they feel they are the only ones who can handle them; such pastors only end up stressing themselves unnecessarily. How can God bring increase to the church if ministers don’t endeavour to raise others to serve God in ministry? When pastors ask God to empower their congregations, and all their members are on fire for God, there will be a great revival, and the ministry will move forward. While it is true that when everyone in a congregation carries a measure of God’s power, they may become restless and grow tired of just hearing the pastor preach, a wise pastor won’t hold them back. Instead, the pastor should train them and put them in new territories so they can impact others with the anointing they’ve been empowered with. Yes, they might make some mistakes, but with the pastor’s guidance and God’s help, they will succeed.

Beloved, if you’re a leader in any capacity, seek the growth and empowerment of the people who serve under you because it will make your job easier. In addition, when they become empowered, let them fly.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today, many men are afraid to get married even though they are mature enough, have good jobs or businesses, and are financially stable. Usually, this is because they do not want to marry the wrong ladies as wives. Likewise, many women are hesitant to get married despite being courted by many men because they do not want to make wrong choices when it comes to choosing a life partner.

It is important for Christians to know that once they are married, there is no going back. Marrying the wrong spouse can be hell on earth. Nobody goes on a long journey without adequate preparations, and marriage is a lifelong journey. This is why, if you are not yet married, you need God’s help to make the right decision regarding your partner on this lifelong journey. Some people have rushed into marriage only for them to find out that their partner is self-centered and foolish. Some have chosen spouses by their physical attributes alone and ended up with a physically okay but spiritually deficient partner for their journey. When the journey became tough, their spouses were neither spiritually sensitive nor capable of strengthening their faith. When choosing who to marry, believers must not allow physical attributes to dictate for them.

Samson was a man who was destined to be great. His glorious future was foretold before his birth, and he was truly on a path to greatness before the woman he chose as a partner, Delilah, cut short his destiny. Before then, Samson had compromised his faith in many areas, and he became insensitive to God’s leading. Therefore, he chose to love Delilah based on her physical attributes. Judges 16:4 says that he saw her in the valley of Sorek and loved her; he allowed himself to be enticed by her beauty. A valley is a low place, and if a believer is in a low place spiritually, where the fellow has compromised his or her values and disobeyed God’s principles, such a believer is not in a good place to make marital choices because he or she might make the wrong choice. Such a believer must first return to the Lord and ask Him to restore him or her before thinking about choosing a spouse.

Beloved, if you are not yet married, God wants to lead you to make the right choice about whom to marry. You must, however, be living in obedience to His words and principles for Him to lead you to make the right choice.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Some people who have received a measure of God’s power use it wrongly. For example, simply because people fall under the anointing during their ministrations, some ministers of God want to touch people just to show that they are anointed. Some even perform different acrobatics during deliverance sessions. Some of them give demon-possessed people microphones so that people can hear what the demons are saying. All of these are unnecessary and wrong. Ministers of God should simply cast demons out of people to set them free; they shouldn’t embarrass the people they are trying to deliver because they want to show that they are anointed.

The power of God isn’t a tool for punishment but for bringing joy to the hearts of people. When God gives you a measure of His power, it is for you to give life to dead things and bring glory to Him, not for you to show off or seek personal gain or vengeance. It is possible to destroy and kill with the power God has given to you; however, that is not what it is meant for. This is why most mature believers are usually slow to speak and try not to get angry no matter what people do to them. They don’t want to ever use the power of God for evil. When God gives you a measure of His power, you are not to go around destroying people you consider to be enemies. Ephesians 6:12 says:

For 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.

A vessel in satan’s hands today can become a great vessel in God’s hands tomorrow. If God could use Mary Magdalene, who had seven demons in her, He can use anyone who is considered evil. If Stephen had called death upon Saul as he was being executed under Saul’s supervision, there would never have been an Apostle Paul. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13:10 that the power of God is for edification, not destruction.

In Luke 9:52-56, James and John wanted to call down fire on the Samaritans because they didn’t receive Jesus. However, Jesus told them that He came to save, not to destroy lives. Beloved, God’s will is for everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4); He doesn’t want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). If He has given you a measure of His power, only use it to fulfil His will, not to destroy.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.