₦airaland Forum

The Bible reveals that Christians who are genuine children of God are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ through divine adoption (Romans 8:16-17). This is an amazing truth. It implies that we have access to the same resources of heaven which backed up the work of Jesus while He was here on earth. Why then is it that lots of Christians are not operating at the level which he operated while He was here on earth? The problem lies in the fact that, although they bear the Name of Jesus, such people are not ready to pay the price that being a child of God demands of them. Jesus summarised the price we need to pay to operate as children of God in Matthew 11:29a:
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;”
His yoke has to do with His passion to please His Father. John 4:34 thus says:
“Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ, while on earth, was passionate about doing His Father’s will. This is the reason why the Father always heard Him when He prayed. He proudly declared this fact at the tomb of Lazarus in John 11:42:
“And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.”
To establish His claim, He commanded the dead Lazarus, who was already decaying, to come out alive, and Lazarus became a living soul again (John 11:43-44).
 
The proof of our adoption as children of God is manifested in freedom from the sins which we hitherto lived under before our glorious encounter with Jesus Christ. This is the crux of the message in Ephesians 2:1-6. As children of God, we must therefore live a life void of sin to the glory of God (1 John 3:9-10). We should also recognise that while we are on earth, we occupy the same position Jesus Christ did while He was on earth; therefore, we can do all that He did and enjoy every privilege He enjoyed (1 John 4:17). Our position in Christ therefore, is to share with Him the same miracle-working experience He had, and give Him the glory. However, we must be children of God indeed. If you have not given your life to Christ, you have no position to share with Jesus Christ. Today is the day of salvation for you.

The enmity between God and man, created by sin, can only be reversed through the forgiveness of God. Going by the righteous requirement of God’s law, no man can pay the high price demanded by God for the atonement of sins, but the divine mercy of God brought us forgiveness through the Blood of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:7). Without the power of forgiveness, there can be no atonement, no reconciliation and no salvation.
 
Just as God has extended His unconditional forgiveness to us, He expects us to extend the same to our neighbours. This is an area where the people of God have problems. We like to enjoy God’s benevolence, but we find it difficult to extend the same to others. The gravity of this negative attitude is found in the parable of Jesus about the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:23-35). Although the king forgave this servant a debt he could not afford to pay, when his fellow servant who also owed him begged him to be patient with him, he refused. Rather, he cast this fellow servant into prison. This attitude made the king so angry that he handed him over to the tormentors and charged them to torment him until he was able to pay his debt. Of course he would not be able to pay; so he was effectively banished to a lifetime of torment. The key thing to note from this parable is what Jesus said in Matthew 18:35:
“So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”
 
The virtue of forgiveness proceeds from the offended, and it is carried out by the offended also. There is nothing anyone can do to convince the offended to forgive, if he or she does not look beyond the offending party and choose to unconditionally forgive. There is every reason to be vengeful when you are offended, but when you cast your mind back to remember how you have been forgiven yourself; you will have no choice as a child of God but to forgive. Those who easily forgive others who offend them are likely to be favourites of God because they share the nature of God in the area of forgiveness. Their prayers are also more likely to be speedily answered than the prayers of those who are vengeful.

The word of God is full of mysteries. Matthew 5:4 reveals one of such mysteries. How can mourning, which is an expression of deep sorrow, become a blessing? The answer lies in '2 Corinthians 7:10 which reveals two types of sorrow: godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world. There are lots of blessings associated with godly sorrow. One of these is that it produces repentance which brings about salvation. Godly sorrow can be experienced as a result of the conviction of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:24-25) or through the Father’s chastening. The godly sorrow that results from the Father’s chastening, blesses its recipient with the fruit of righteousness. Hebrews 12:11 says:
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
 
There are examples in the Bible of those who mourned for their sins, and for this, received pardon and justification. The city of Nineveh is an example of this (Jonah 3). After Jonah preached the message of doom to the inhabitants of Nineveh, the Bible reports that the king of that city abandoned his throne, put on sackcloth and sat in ashes. He then commanded that everybody, including animals, should embark on a fast. The result of their mourning is evident in Jonah 3:10:
“And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”
The publican in the parable of Jesus in Luke 18:9-14 is another example. This man mourned by bowing his head down like a bulrush, beating on his breast and asking for God’s mercy. The result of his mourning can be seen in Luke 18:14a:
“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other:”
 
I prophesy to you that in the Name of Jesus Christ, your days of mourning are over. It shall be well with you because the Bible in Psalm 30:5 says:
“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Children of God are produced by the power in the Word of God. The reason why it seems genuine children of God are scarce nowadays despite the increase in the number of churches and increase in church attendance is because the Church is suffering from a famine of the genuine Word of God. It is by faith that we become genuine children of God. However, this faith does not come by the wisdom of man; neither does it come by the philosophical sayings of the learned or the motivational words of orators. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 says:
“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
 
The world, especially devotees of certain religions, still wonder up till now how it is possible for a human being to claim that he or she is a child of God. Such people look at divine paternity with the mind of the flesh, and so they cannot understand or accept the mystery of adoption which empowers us to become sons of God through Christ Jesus. Even to us who have been conferred this prestigious status of being children of God, it is still a mystery. John the beloved expressed this mystery with awe in 1 John 3:1:
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”
 
The Word of God came to Mary and produced the Son of God, when she had not known any man (Luke 1:30-35). This is a template for us. The mystery of divine adoption lies in the Word of God. For us to produce children of God from children of disobedience, we need to expose them to the undiluted Word of God that will produce the required faith for their adoption. Romans 10:17 says:
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
We should therefore follow the pattern of the early apostles, who produced children of God through the Word of God. We see this manifested in Acts 4:4:
“Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.”

From '1 Samuel 7:1-17, we read of what happened between the Israelis and the Philistines. Then, God assigned prophets over His chosen Land Israel, and Samuel was the prophet as of the time. The Philistines was to engage in a battle with the Israelis, and they also had a greater army in terms of physical strength and could have conquered Israel, but due to the fact that Israel was in a covenant with God, they tapped into it through the Spiritual prophet Samuel, using sacrificial offering in the altar of God.
A sacrificial offering is what you lay down on the altar of God, which moves Him to act on your behalf when what you are facing is bigger than you humanly speaking. In our dispensation, it can come as worship, praise, prayers, holiness, money, material items, or anything at all as led by the "Holy Spirit". It is important to note that life is in phases and stages, and to get to the next phase, you've got to face some battles, and some times, these battles are bigger than us humanly speaking, so it's the sacrifice you lay down on the altar of God that would help you scale through. The universe functions in a principle of "Seed time and Harvest time", so it is what you've supplied to God as a sacrifice that would give you the ground on laying a demand out of it based on the Word of God. Most importantly, we should always know that everything we receive from God is by His Mercy and Grace, and nothing of our own self sufficiency.

As a young Christian, I used to think that the sole purpose of preaching was the conversion of souls. When I preached and people did not respond positively, I used to be discouraged. Often times, I felt that there was no need to preach to people whom I assumed were despisers of the message of the gospel, until the Lord led me to a truth about my assignment as a watchman. This truth is hidden in Matthew 24:14:
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
From this scripture, I understood that the gospel must be preached not only for them to believe and be saved but also to serve as a witness so that they may be left without excuse! The Psalmist also mentioned this truth in Psalm 51:4. As watchmen, we are therefore left without an excuse if we do not deliver the message as instructed.
 
As Christians, we should understand that we are watchmen and not watchdogs. Dogs can only bark, but we are sent to teach what our Lord has commanded us, and this we must do till the end of the world (Matthew 28:20). It is satanic to consider as pointless or obsolete, the ideals of our Lord Jesus Christ, as recorded in the gospels and those revealed through His Holy Spirit in the epistles. Moreover, as watchmen and oracles of the Lord, we must preach the message of hope, assuring people in our generation that there is room for sinners at the cross of Jesus for repentance. Whenever they ask us “What must we do?” We should answer with the words of Acts 3:19:
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;”
 
God told Ezekiel to assure the people that He had no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Rather, His desire is that the wicked one should turn from his evil ways and live (Ezekiel 33:11). This is our message, and this is our responsibility. However, we must call a spade a spade, so that the reality of Hell awaiting unrepentant sinners may dawn on them and they may repent. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

God called Prophet Ezekiel and set him as a watchman over the house of Israel. As a watchman for God, he was to hear from Him and warn the people concerning whatsoever God told him. Just like Ezekiel, believers in these end-times, particularly ministers of the gospel, are set as watchmen to warn the world of the impending judgement of God. One of the most important responsibilities of a watchman for God is that he or she must of necessity hear from God (Ezekiel 33:7). You must hear from God in order to warn on His behalf those who are perishing. You cannot warn them using your own wisdom; rather, you must tell them what God is saying to them. How do you hear from God as a watchman? The simplest way to hear from God is through the revealed truth, which is the Holy Bible. This holds true only for those who still consider the Bible as infallible and having eternal truths for all generations. As a watchman, you must therefore follow admonition of '2 Timothy 2:15: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth".
Another responsibility of a watchman for God is to maintain an intimate relationship with the One who commissioned you by remaining true to your message, because, you cannot give what you don't have. Paul emphasised the need to remain true to our message in 'Romans 2:21: "Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preaches a man should not steal, dost thou steal?"

In Ezekiel 33:8, the Almighty God said His appointed watchman is held accountable for every soul that perishes if the watchman fails to sound the note of warning at the appropriate time. This is one aspect of the responsibility of a watchman, where 21st century preachers need to be careful. We need to be careful not to be negligent in our responsibility to warn evildoers without minding whose ox is gored. Beware of the fact that some pastors and teachers of the word may be condemned to the lake of fire on the last day for failure to warn the people that God has set them over against sinful habits that have become part of popular culture. We are living witnesses to the tolerance and consideration the Church is showing towards issues like homosexuality, which brought fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah in the time of old. I pray that Christians, especially preachers of the word will not go to hell because of their failure to warn people against sin. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

One anomaly noticeable in the Body of Christ today is the presence of messengers running around without a message. An example of such messengers is Ahimaaz in '2 Samuel 18:19-33. After the death of Absalom, Joab, the captain of David’s army, sent Cushi with a message to the palace; but Ahimaaz volunteered himself to also deliver a message to the king. In spite of the fact that Joab reminded him that he had no reason to go since he had no message to deliver, he insisted that he would, and he was allowed to. The funny thing about this story is that, Ahimaaz outran Cushi who actually had a message to deliver. When Ahimaaz got to King David and he was interrogated, the emptiness of his message was laid bare, and the king therefore asked him to step aside for the person who actually had substance in his message. One cannot help but wonder: what was the essence of Ahimaaz’s effort, so much so that he outran the person who actually had a message?
 
The attitude demonstrated by Ahimaaz can be referred to as zeal without meaning. This is the situation of some so-called ministers of the gospel today. They are messengers sent by their belly or by the devil (Romans 16:18). How do we know messengers without a message? We know them by their deceptive speeches, which are geared towards making people “feel good” when they should be sober about their lifestyle of sin. Apostle Paul, while giving his final charge to Timothy, his son in Christ and a young bishop, instructed him to:
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
2 Timothy 4:2
Today, many so-called sermons are actually motivational speeches, given by motivational speakers disguised as preachers. Their message cannot be the word of God; it contains no rebuke, no reproof and no doctrine. As a matter of policy, they would not teach doctrine because they say they have not been called to do so! One cannot help wondering who commissioned them in the first place. It is their belly, of course (Philippians 3:17-19). Beloved, I advise you to be careful of the ministers you listen to, and to filter the type of sermons you admit into your spiritual sub-consciousness. On the other hand, if you are a deceptive preacher of the gospel, desist before the anger of God comes on you without remedy. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Our God is a God of reward and an excellent motivator. He gives a law, and specifies the reward that will follow if we keep it (Deuteronomy 28:1-2). In like manner, He also indicates the punishment attached to breaking any of his laws (Genesis 2:16-17). In Ephesians 6:1-3, we read about the first commandment with a promise. Apostle Paul got the inspiration on this truth from Exodus 20:12. It is unfortunate that this law of life is not being heeded by the young folks of today. This is the reason why life expectancy is reducing. The story was told of a young boy in a very remote part of Africa, who respected and honoured his parents to the extent that their wish was law in his life. One of the rules his parents gave him was that he should not eat anything that did not come from them. “What if I was given something to eat outside, what should I do with it?” he asked his parents. They said, “Bring it home before you eat it.” One day, this boy went out with his friends to a neighbouring village where they were given food packages. They had scarcely stepped out of this village when all the other boys started eating their food, which unknown to them had been poisoned. Only this boy remembered the instructions of his parents and refused to even open his pack. All the other boys died as soon as they got back to their village, and he alone survived the attack. To a young man or woman reading this, I advise that you take this commandment which has longevity as its reward very seriously.
 
Besides, there are two categories of parents: biological and spiritual. Parents of both categories should be honoured (Malachi 1:6). A believer must exhibit this trait so that unbelieving parents will know that the best life to live is the Christian life. God watches over His words to honour them. If you honour God by obeying this injunction, He will keep you from evil. The problem with present day youths is that they think they know more than older people do; hence, they disregard their instructions, particularly those of their parents, to their own peril. Such youths can’t seem to learn from the story of the rebellious Absalom, who met a premature death at the prime of his life (2 Samuel 18:9-15). He was so unruly that he temporarily deposed his own father. Many youths in Church today scheme to get their pastor out of the way so that they can be in charge. May God salvage this generation from the spirit of rebellion in Jesus Name. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

One of the sins that God hates so much is the sin of murmuring. During the mass exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land, the reason why God destroyed some of them was due to their incessant murmuring. They kept on murmuring instead of discussing their problems with the One who had severally demonstrated the capacity to solve them. A reoccurring scene in their journey is described in Numbers 14:1-2. The consequence of this demonstration of faithlessness in God was that He denied them the joy of making it to the Promised Land. They all died in the wilderness, according to what they had said against themselves while murmuring. We must be careful of what we use our mouth to say in times of challenges (Numbers 14:28).
 
When confronted with the challenges of life, we should learn from 'Luke 18:1-8 and Psalm 35:1 what our attitude should be. In Psalm 35:1, the Psalmist asked God to come to his aid against enemies that fought against him. He chose the correct Ally for the battle of life he was confronted with – the One whose Name is the Lord of hosts. He would rather report his enemies to the Captain of his battle rather than murmur about them. When you consider the end of David and the posthumous glory accorded him till date, you will see a man whose Ally was the Almighty God. Also, the widow in the parable of Jesus did not go to the house of the judge to murmur. She knew what she wanted: that the judge should fight her cause and grant her justice. Nobody knows what her adversary did to her; probably the adversary killed her husband and took their properties away. We are not even told for how many days, weeks, months or years she had been going to the judge for justice. But one thing we know is that, she kept on saying to him: “avenge me of my adversary” (Luke 18:3). The judge had no choice but to avenge her. Hear the Lord’s conclusion from this parable in 'Luke 18:7-8a:
“And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.”
This is so comforting and reassuring. I therefore urge you to cultivate the habit of reporting your adversaries to your sure Ally: the All-powerful God. Don’t engage in murmuring while you think you are praying. My prayer for you is that the Great God of heaven will avenge you of your adversaries this season, and you will know peace in Jesus’ Name.

Prosperity is good, and it is far better than poverty. As a matter of fact, God wants His children to prosper (3 John 2). However, we cannot wave off the words of Agur’s prophesy in 'Proverbs 30:8. One may wonder why he would make this strange utterance. The answer lies in Proverbs 30:9:
“Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”
The first part of his reason for this statement is what I consider to be the other side of prosperity. When you become so prosperous that you forget the God who prospered you in the first place, you are in very serious trouble. My prayer for you is that the prosperity that will make you forsake God will not come your way in Jesus’ Name.
 
In '2 Chronicles 18:1-3, we see how God prospered King Jehoshaphat with abundant riches; but after he experienced prosperity, he made a military alliance with the wicked King Ahab. He would have lost his life through this evil association with Ahab, but for the mercy of God (2 Chronicles 18:31). You must be very careful of the people you associate with as you climb the ladder of prosperity (Proverbs 19:4). Some people suddenly become clubbers after they start commanding wealth. They now enjoy the world of vanities, and no longer value time for fellowship with the brethren. The story of King David in '2 Samuel 11:1-4 is an example of what prosperity can do to a one-time valiant warrior. David had no time for extra-marital affairs when he was running for his dear life from cave to cave. But after the crown came, at a time he was supposed to lead Israel to battle as he used to do, he was busy enjoying a sinful holiday.
 
Should we then conclude that prosperity is evil? Not at all; all we need to do is to follow the pattern of prosperity management used by the fathers of faith like Abraham. No matter how wealthy you become, keep standing out as a lover of God who trembles at His commandments. Your wealth has a purpose, which is to serve the interest of God and His kingdom through the machinery of the Church. You cannot imagine that God will bless someone with a car, when the motive is to use it for seducing innocent girls to defile them. This is the reason why some children of God are yet to receive their promised prosperity: God knows they cannot handle it yet.

Who or what is an Amalekite? An Amalekite is a symbolic representation of whosoever or whatsoever stands as an enemy of God or His plan. In '1 Samuel 15:1-3, God opened the book of remembrance to the page where the wickedness of the Amalekites against His chosen people was recorded. 1 Samuel 15:2 says:
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.”
This should serve as a warning to whoever takes pleasure in doing wickedness to desist from it, because every deed has its divine recompense. Also, it should serve as a pointer to all children of God that they have a responsibility to identify and get rid of anyone or anything that provokes their Heavenly Father to wrath.
 
The Lord commanded King Saul to go and get rid of the wicked Amalekites, who opposed His goodwill to Israel, and that he should spare nothing and no one. Unfortunately, the calamity of disobedience struck, and God got rid of King Saul for failing to get rid of His enemies. In like manner, the Almighty had earlier commanded Pharaoh to let His people go so that they may serve Him, but after Pharaoh refused, God got rid of him. I pray for you today, that those who are opposed to the good plans of God for your life will be destroyed in Jesus’ Name.
 
Just as God sent Saul to destroy all the Amalekites, God is telling all His children today to destroy every symbolic Amalekite in their lives. The Bible in Ephesians 5:3-4 says:
“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.”
As children of God, we must know that there are things that men do which provoke God to anger. A good child of God will not do what annoys the Father. This is why Jesus in 'Matthew 5:29 said that if your right eye would make you sin, you should pluck it out. It is that serious. I pray for God’s grace to help you today to get rid of whatever will make the Father reject you like He rejected Saul, in Jesus’ Name.

It is not all acts of worship that God accepts, because not all worshippers are true worshippers. This truth was revealed by Jesus in His conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. He also revealed some other great truths about worship that we should pay close attention to if we want our worship to be acceptable to God. The first of these is that any "God" that is limited or restricted to a particular place is false and not worthy of worship. Worship directed towards such contraptions of men is counterfeit worship. The worship of the true God does not involve going to a junction where three roads meet to put food items for God to come and eat. Paul came across worshippers of such gods at Mars' Hill in Athens (Acts 17:22-31). The true God is described thus by the Psalmist in Psalm 8:1: "O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens".
Another truth about worship which Jesus revealed is that any god that does not have a fatherly relationship with his worshippers is not worthy of our worship. Anyone worshipping such gods is not a true worshipper. This is why Jesus came to make us children of His Father. Also, when He was teaching His disciples how to pray, He described the true God as "Father" (Luke 11:2). Furthermore, Jesus revealed that our worship of God is not true worship if we do not know the God we are worshipping. This is the reason why Paul tried to introduce the Athenians to the God they were ignorantly worshipping (Acts 17:23). He tried to teach them that they were wrong to think that the Godhead could be represented by gold, silver or stone graven by art and man's devices (Acts 17:29). No worshipper should ignorantly think that a Holy God will accept worship from a life laden with the sin of falsehood, pretence and all manner of immorality and wickedness.

True worship involves worshipping the true God in spirit and in truth. We must worship God in spirit because God is a Spirit, and only through the spirit can we relate meaningfully with His Spirit. To worship God in Spirit means to do what He bids you to do with a spiritual mind of faith. There are things the Holy Spirit of God would ask us to do that when viewed with a carnal mind, are difficult to understand. For example, when God asked Noah to build a big ship on dry ground, to men of his generation, this was not a sensible thing to do. That a person should stick to one spouse "for better, for worse" may not sound reasonable, but that is what the word of God says. A true worshipper of God will not tell lies even if there is no risk of being found out. To a true worshipper, being truthful is not about man but about God who is all-knowing.

In addition to opening our mouth in prayer, opening our mouth as witnesses of Jesus is another obligation we must perform. Evangelistic outreach is for all children of God; not for God’s ministers alone. We must all bear fruit of souls into God’s Kingdom as commanded by our Lord in John 15:16. To back us up in this obligation, our Lord Jesus Christ assures us that all power in heaven and on earth belongs to Him. It is therefore a settled matter that no power on earth or in the spiritual world can stop us from carrying out His instructions. We are therefore inexcusable if we fail to win souls. He instructed us to go and teach all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The Great Commission therefore involves teaching. Let us pause and think about what this assignment of teaching means.
 
To teach is to expound truths that will bring about change in the taught. We are faced with a two-pronged problem in the area of fulfilling this assignment today. One aspect of this problem is that the teacher who is supposed to expound the truth is often afraid of what the reaction of the student would be to a demand for change; hence, he shuts his mouth. But the Bible in 2 Timothy 4:2 says:
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
The other aspect of this problem is that the people to be taught are not comfortable with the cry for “change”. They do not want to be “intimidated” by the “dos and don’ts” of their new found faith in Christ. Such people are deceiving themselves because the Bible does not say we are called into lawlessness. As a matter of fact and whether we believe it or not, a yoke of “learning and change” is attached to our calling into the faith. Jesus in Matthew 11:29a said:
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;”
It is our duty as children of God to open our mouths wide to this perverted generation and teach them the counsel of God without fear or favour. I was in a church sometime last year and I heard a sister teaching on tithes. In order to make people accept the doctrine of tithing, she said they could start by giving 5% of their income and gradually increase it! What an erroneous teaching! We must not hold back the truth from those we are sent to. This is the only way our fruit can endure, and then our prayers will be answered. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Daniel 9:1-19 shows Daniel, a great man of prayer, interceding for his nation, Israel. In his prayer, he asked God to remember His promise to restore the nation of Israel. He was determined to seek the face of God for mercy, through prayers and supplications with fasting. He mourned for the despicable condition of the Jews who were scattered all over the world and for the ruins of Jerusalem. There are great lessons of life we can profit from when we ponder on this example of Daniel.
 
One of these lessons is from this statement: “I Daniel understood by books” (Daniel 9:2). It was Daniel’s discovery and understanding of what the Lord had said through Prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29:10, concerning the time of His visitation to restore Israel as a nation that motivated him to intercede for his people. Recognise the fact that in this period, there was no Bible collating all the writings of the prophets in one volume. The writings of the prophets were on different scrolls spread across various locations. Therefore, it must have been a lot of hard work for Daniel to search for the relevant scrolls of the prophets, and then read through them to know what God had said about the situation he was bothered about. Reading, studying and meditating on God’s word is hard work, but the extent to which you know the Bible is the extent to which you will know the mind of God concerning you. When you know the mind of God concerning a situation, it will build your confidence as you approach your Heavenly Father in prayer.
 
Our Lord Jesus Christ assured us of answers to our prayers in Matthew 7:8. He followed up this assurance by asking this question in Matthew 7:9:
“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?”
In answer to our Lord’s question, a father indeed would not do that. How much more our Heavenly Father who is more benevolent than our earthly fathers (Matthew 7:1)? I therefore encourage you to study to know the mind of God, so as to pray aright at all times. This alone can guarantee express answers to your needs. It will not be good for you to engage in an exercise in futility. Pray according to God’s mind in His holy word and you will be happy you did. Do not keep your mouth shut and suffer in silence.

From the beginning, the devil's modus operandi has been to sow the seeds of doubt in the heart of mankind with regards to the plan and intentions of God for them. For example, while God's reason for restraining Adam and Eve from eating the forbidden fruit was to keep them alive, healthy and prosperous, the devil came and told them that God did so because He did not have their good at heart (Genesis 3:4-5). It was this type of doubt that the devil sowed in the heart of Joseph's brothers after the demise of their father. Thank God Joseph was a man who knew the mind of God; He quickly quenched their doubts. For us His children today, God has revealed His plans and intentions for us in Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end".
This is not an after-thought; rather, this has always been God's intention for us from the beginning of creation (Genesis 1:26). It is therefore a sin to doubt the good in God's motives when He directs us to do something or live in particular way that is contrary to what the devil or the world expects.

Because Joseph knew the mind of God concerning all that happened to him, he rejected hero-worship from his brothers and allayed their fears. He comforted them by making them understand that their negative actions towards him were used by God to fulfil His eternal good purpose in his life. Genesis 50:19-20 thus says: "And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive".
In other words, Joseph was saying to his brothers that it was not they but God who sent him to Egypt for a clearly defined purpose. Paul corroborates this truth in 'Romans 8:28.

The Lord is saying to you that you should stop complaining about what is happening to you now; it is for your good. Things will work out for your good if you continue to love God even in that so-called unpleasant situation, which has a divine purpose attached to it. Once again I say to you: it is for your good, and you will soon know why.

The Church of Jesus Christ on earth will be healthy and pleasant if Christians would live with a conscience void of offence. Unfortunately, offences often arise here and there in the Body of Christ today. This is caused by the misuse of opportunities, wealth and other material possessions. For this to be uprooted from the Church, we need to apply the spiritual principles that Apostle Paul laid down in 1 Timothy 6:17-18:
“Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;”
 
A good number of Christians are still living under the bondage of a conscience filled with guilt. Why? It is because they have not being totally cut off from their terrible past. For instance, some of them are still living with women who are not their first wives. Some others are still living in houses they stole money to build or buy. Some find it difficult to sever their relationship with their old satanic clubs. These and many other entanglements are the reasons why they are not totally free. Some of these Christians put their pastors in tight corners, because their problems just refuse to go away. It then appears as if the pastor does not have enough anointing to deal with such problems. They then move from church to church without finding rest for their souls. The abuse of wealth and position, particularly those that are ill-gotten, robs you of a free conscience. This is why the expected life of peace, joy and contentment, which is our greatest gain and which makes us peculiar as children of God, has eluded some.
 
A common saying among Christians guilty of the abuse of wealth and position is “My conscience does not condemn me.” The question is: which conscience are you talking about? Is it the dead one that has become reprobate? Some of them even say “As many as are led by the Spirit are the children of God.” Which spirit are you talking about? Can the Spirit of God, who inspired the writing of the scripture, turn around to tell you that what He inspired men to write was a mistake? Beloved, let us not deceive ourselves any further. Let us live a Christian life devoid of offence against God and men, particularly those of the household of faith.

I have observed that one of the reasons why many Christians find it difficult to live according to the standards of the Bible today is that their mind is not set on the things of heaven, and the reason for this is the coming of material prosperity to the church. Is it then a mistake that God has prospered us materially? Certainly not! Abraham was blessed, Isaac was blessed and Jacob was also blessed, but yet, they all served the Lord. King David even blessed the Lord for material prosperity among other things. Psalm 103:1&5 says,
“Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name...Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
I have always said that the grace you need to manage material prosperity is far greater than the grace you need to manage poverty. When God begins to prosper you, you must begin to pray harder for more grace to manage the prosperity, or else, your affection may shift from the things of heaven. It is foolishness to serve the Lord and be mindful of the things of heaven when you are poor, only for you to forget the Lord who has prospered you when the wealth comes. This is why the Bible in Proverbs 1:32 says:
“For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.”
 
For many children of God, when they were still struggling to make ends meet, their prayers used to be “Thy Kingdom come.” Nowadays, they live their lives as if they are not going to die any more, and as if Jesus cannot come at any moment. It’s not hard to identify those whose affection is set on the things of heaven, because they are always busy investing in the expansion of God’s kingdom. Because their investments are in heaven, their hearts are always thinking about heaven.
“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Matthew 6:20-21
There is no certainty in whatever treasures you keep on earth. Your investment in the things of heaven is what you will be left with if you make it to heaven. Therefore, begin to set your affections on heavenly things from today. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

To become a standard or a positive reference point, there is a price to pay. Going through the Bible, one will see that all those who got outstanding approval from God had at least one thing in common, which is that they stood out for God before they became a reference point. One of such Bible heroes is Elijah. He stood out for God on Mount Carmel. He risked being killed by numerous prophets of Baal whom he had challenged. As a matter of fact, he was considered to be Public Enemy No. 1 by the ruler of his day, Ahab (1 Kings 21:20).
Another Bible hero is Daniel. He stood out alongside three young Hebrew men in order to be outstanding and thus became a standard. Several times, he risked being killed because of his stand for godliness. He knew his God and would not compromise his allegiance to Him. On one occasion, a decree forbade everybody from praying to God, but he put his life at risk by praying. He showed that he was different from every other person. The Bible says he did not go into hiding to pray; rather, he opened his windows and prayed three times a day until he was found out (Daniel 6:10). He disobeyed the malicious decree, which his malicious fellow presidents made King Darius to Sign. One striking thing in this story was the statement of these presidents in Daniel 6:5: "Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God".
The question is: if it becomes a crime to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, will you be found guilty? It is unfortunate that Christians are steadily losing their virtue as salt and the light in this world of darkness. Christians are no longer setting the standard for godly, virtuous living. They are allowing this corrupt world to overwhelm them, failing to realise that the state of corruption they are witnessing today was predicted in the Bible so long ago to prepare us to meet its challenges (2 Timothy 3:1-5). This is the reason why in '2 Corinthians 6:14-18, God commands us to come out from among evildoers, particularly false brethren. This is part of the price of being a standard; you must stand out and not conform to this world (Romans 12:2). May the Lord give you the grace to obey in Jesus' Name.

The Bible says something very fundamental about our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ which many of us do not pay close attention to. This relates to caring for the needy. Proverbs 22:9 says:
“He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.”
One of the quickest ways to be blessed by God is to care for the poor. The Almighty God said that the poor shall never cease out of the land, and it is His prerogative to take care of such poor people. In as much as God will not come down to do this duty Himself; He has commanded those who are blessed with resources to give to those who do not have. Whoever acts on God’s behalf by catering for the needy and the poor will be bountifully blessed by Him. This is one of the secrets of divine blessing.
 
Apart from blessings in this world for those who cater for the poor, our Lord Jesus Christ goes further to assure them of eternal blessings. He said that such people will be adequately rewarded in the kingdom of God. Matthew 25:34-35 says:
“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:”
 
One of the respected general overseers of a church in Nigeria once gave the testimony of how he got saved during the Nigerian Civil War. According to him, as he was running from place to place for safety during the war, he stumbled on the small residence of a Christian couple and they received him into their home. To his surprise, he had barely settled down to rest in this couple’s house when the wife placed a big plate of rice before him. He wondered how the couple managed to prepare such sumptuous meal in the first place, and how they could sacrifice such a delicious meal to a wanderer like himself. There and then, he decided to serve the God who was able to take care of this couple even in the time of war. That was how he became a Christian. Today, he has a successful Christian ministry that is spread all over the place. One fact remains, the couple that led him to Christ through sacrificial hospitality will share in the reward of the harvest of souls being credited to his ministry.

Many of today’s Christians don’t pay attention to their physical appearance. They have overstretched the fact that physical appearance may be deceptive at times. Although the Bible confirms this to be true in Proverbs 31:30, it is also true that what you show on the outside is a reflection of who you are on the inside. In my culture, there are two sayings of the elders which appear to contradict each other, but which contain eternal truths that cannot be wished away. The first one says: “The way you appear determines the level of respect people will accord you.” In other words, if you dress like a slave, you will be treated like a slave. The other saying is: “A gorgeous dress does not guarantee nobility.” That is to say, a slave can dress like a king but this does not make him a king.
 
The experience of Moses when He fled to Midian confirms the truth that a person is more often than not addressed based on the way he or she is dressed. Moses was not an Egyptian; he was Hebrew, but he was called an Egyptian by the daughters of the priest of Midian. Why did they call him an Egyptian? It’s most certainly because of his general appearance. The lesson we should learn from this story as Christians is that we should allow what is inside us to reflect on the outside. For instance, if you are actually saved from sexual immorality, your manner of dressing must not promote it. Many years ago, some foreign teachers came to teach in our Bible College, and they taught our students that how they dressed did not matter, rather, it was that which was inside of them that was important. To correct this wrong teaching, I went to the nearby market to buy two similar oranges. The only difference between them was the fact that one was yellow while the other was green. I took the oranges to the class, showed them to the students and asked: “Given an option to choose, which one would you choose out of these two oranges?” They chose the yellow orange because according to them, the yellow one would be sweeter. Then I further asked how they arrived at this conclusion, since they had not even cut them open. They replied, “The outside appearance shows what is inside.” That drove home the message. When you dress in a way that people begin to wonder whether you know the difference between the “public” and the “private” parts of your body, then you need to learn Christian dressing ethics. Christians should allow the Holy Spirit to guide them on their physical comportment as becoming of saints. Others may dress inappropriately, but children of God cannot. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The most pleasurable sin to the flesh is sexual immorality. Incidentally, this particular type of sin is the most deadly because its consequences are not only spiritually unpleasant but also physically humiliating. In 1 Corinthians 6:15-20, Apostle Paul warned the Church at Corinth against sexual immorality. He explained that we are the temple of God. The implication of this is that your body does not belong to you, but rather, it belongs to God. He further revealed to us the judgment that would follow if we defile the temple of God - our body. In 1 Corinthians 3:17 he wrote:
“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
 
Are you currently involved or planning to go into any form of sexual immorality? God is warning you today. You better desist before it is too late. If sickness has turned your body into its permanent place of abode, and you have claimed all the promises of God concerning healing to no avail, it would be wise of you to examine yourself. Is there any sexual sin you have committed and you have not confessed? I am afraid to tell you that you may be under God’s judgment, and there is nothing any anointed man of God can do about it unless you repent. You have defiled God’s temple; you therefore need to make amends through genuine repentance that involves confessing and forsaking this sin entirely. I know of a man of God who appeared fervent, but suddenly he was stricken with a strange sickness. This sickness persisted for so long a time that I began to wonder what was actually responsible for his affliction. One day, the Lord decided to satisfy my curiosity. Someone came to tell me some secret things about this man of God without knowing how close I was to him. He was flirting around with women, including widows! The Bible in Proverbs 9:17 says a LovePeddler sits at the door of his or her house calling customers who lack understanding to come and patronise him or her, saying:
“Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
This is the deceit of the devil. There is nothing in that strange woman or man you are going out with that is not present in your spouse. The same scripture in Proverbs 9:18 says:
“But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.”
I pray that you will not go to Hell as a result of either pre-marital or extra-marital sexual adventures. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The admonition of Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 13-18 is addressed to those he referred to as “brethren”. His first admonition is against ignorance (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Ignorance is the first weapon the devil uses to make Christians not ready for the rapture! Going by the words of Paul’s warning, other people on earth can afford to be ignorant, but we who are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ cannot afford to be. One reason why many Christians are not watchful anymore is the supposed delay in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They feel He may not come as expected; therefore, they have thrown godliness with contentment to the wind. Such Christians display their ignorance by not recognising the fact that although the great trumpet of God has not yet been sounded by the archangel, there is the individual trumpet, which the angel of death sounds when your time on earth is up.
 
In 2 Peter 3:1-11, Apostle Peter also attacked the spirit of ignorance in the brethren. Specifically in 2 Peter 3:8-9 he said:
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Are you a beloved of the Lord? Then, you cannot afford to be ignorant of the fact that the two thousand and fifteen years following the Lord’s first advent is just two days and a few seconds by the Lord’s timing. One of my sons wrote an article at the end of the second millennium which he titled “Two Days Are Gone” – pointing to the truth in Peter’s epistle above. We must do everything within the available grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship (the helpful partnership) of the Holy Spirit to be ready for the rapture. To remain rapturable, you need to take very seriously the words of Romans 12:1-2:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.“ Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

While some commandments of God are very glaring, some others appear in covert mode, such that many don’t even see them as commandments. One of such subtle commandments is the commandment to “watch” (Matthew 24:42). This commandment can also be expressed this way: don’t be careless. It is unfortunate that many children of God today are careless about their Christian life, and by so doing, they have shipwrecked their faith. They live their lives as if they have nothing to lose to the enemy. Such Christians needs be reminded that they have at least one crown to protect – the crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:. The Lord in Revelation 3:11 says this to us:
“Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
 
Our Lord Jesus Christ expressly commanded us to watch. Have you pondered on why He gave us this command? It is because He knew He would not be coming back as quickly as we would expect, and that there would therefore be the tendency for us to become careless with respect to our readiness for His return. We are all living witnesses of the spiritual decadence that is enveloping the Church today. The Lord used the experience of Noah’s period to warn us that His coming will be sudden. He said it will be business as usual for most people at this time, and they will have no inkling whatsoever of what is about to happen (Matthew 24:37-39). When I see Christian brothers and sisters being careless about holiness, I begin to wonder whether they still believe the words of the scriptures, particularly those that came directly from the mouth of our Lord Himself. Different scriptures are being fulfilled in our time more than ever before, and so many seem not to bother! In the early days of spiritual awakening, some Christians would not even want to marry in order to avoid the cares of this life. But these days, even some pastors are changing two, three or four women in rapid succession. It used to be that Christians dressed for the purpose of covering their unclothedness, but today, we dress for “fashion”. Some Christian women even compete with call girls in their mode of dressing. This scenario playing itself out may be as a result of the “delay” in the return of our Lord. Yet, the scripture has already warned us against this in Matthew 24:43-44:
“But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

The power of spiritual sight is apparent in anyone who has it. Such a person can see into the future and therefore does not exercise any form of fear. We can see these attributes manifested in Elisha in 2 Kings 6:11-18. Elisha’s servant could not see what his master saw, and so he was afraid of the human army attempting to arrest them; but read what happens in 2 Kings 6:17:
“And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”
People often ask me why I don’t go about with police escorts like many great men of God do. My answer is simple: it is great men who need human protection, and if only God would open the eyes of those who are so concerned about my safety, they would see that those who are with me are more than those with the enemies who would want to attack me.
 
What really kept Abraham going in his journey of faith was the power of what he was seeing. God, in several instances, used audiovisual aids to build up his faith (Genesis 13:14-17, Genesis 15:5-6). What God showed Abraham was so convincing that he stopped worrying about his state of childlessness until the child of promise came.
 
Moses also was endowed with the power of sight; he saw into the future of the Hebrews while they were still in bondage (Hebrews 11:24-26). He saw that someday these people would be set free, while their tormentors would be in agony. He therefore preferred the temporary shame of identifying with the people of God, to the enjoyment of temporary bliss that would lead to eternal damnation. This quality qualified Moses to lead the people of God. He who sees what others can’t see will ultimately lead the rest. I pray that whatever is blocking your vision will be removed today in Jesus’ Name. A man with the power of sight will often act reasonably well. For example, after King Nebuchadnezzar saw a fourth man in the fiery furnace, his perception changed (Daniel 3:23-30). May the Lord open your eyes to see the pleasant surprises that God has in store for you, so that you don’t backslide before the time of your divine visitation. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There are 3 categories of sight, all of which are very important. These categories include: physical, mental and spiritual. Proverbs 29:18 rightly summarizes the risk a person without the power of sight is taking in life. The story of the man born blind in John 9:1-7 shows us some of the challenges a person without the power of sight faces. For as long as he was blind, this man had to be content with sitting on one spot, begging (John 9:. Before Jesus met this man, he was already on the verge of frustration and despondency, but after his encounter with Jesus, many things took place in his life. His life was transformed for good, such that the one who had been a liability to his parents suddenly could go out and work for a living. Also, those who had been passing black to him as white before his miraculous experience would desist from doing so, because he could now see. Moreover, the danger of falling into ditches was now history in his life. The Bible in Luke 11:34a says:
“The light of the body is the eye:”
It is a great thing to have physical sight. More often than not, what we see affects our personality and our perception of life generally. For example, because my father never saw a house fitted with a modern toilet or bathtub, he never aspired to build a house with such facilities till he died.
 
However, some people with physical sight lack the power of mental sight. Lack of mental sight leads to lack of knowledge which in turn leads to lack of wisdom, and as we know, wisdom is the principal thing (Proverbs 4:7). Wisdom has been defined as the correct application of knowledge, but it is only the knowledge that you have that you can apply. I pray that you will not lack mental sight in Jesus’ Name. I am praying this prayer for you because of what the Bible says in Proverbs 17:25:
“A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.”
 
In addition to physical and mental sight, we most importantly need spiritual sight. Having spiritual sight is the bedrock of all good success. Spiritual sight exposes you to deeper truths in the word of God. Every word of God suddenly becomes meaningful to you (2 Timothy 3:16). Those who don’t have spiritual sight to illuminate their understanding cherry-pick only those areas of scripture that favour their easy-going Christianity. You need to pray for all three categories of sight today so that you can fulfil your destiny here on earth. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Gehazi was the servant of Prophet Elisha. He was privileged to be the apprentice of a great prophet and had the potential of inheriting at least the double portion of Elijah’s power that was upon Elisha. However, his covetousness ruined his destiny as a would-be great prophet. He decided to go after the material things of this world at the expense of his prophetic calling. He was so determined to go after worldly things that he even swore by God that he must “possess his possessions”. Like present-day worldly preachers, he seemed to be saying: “...after all, he that labours by the altar must feed by the altar”. Consider his words in 2 Kings 5:20:
“But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.”
Once his sin of covetousness was found out by his master, the leprosy of Naaman was transferred to him and all his generations after him (2 Kings 5:27).
 
Judas Iscariot is another individual we should learn from. He had almost the same moral and spiritual problem as Gehazi: covetousness and greed. The Bible says he was a thief, and being the treasurer of Jesus’ ministry, he often stole from the purse (John 12:4-6). His greed got to the level where he took a decision that condemned him to eternal perdition: he decided to sell his Master, the King of glory (Matthew 26:14-16). Before Judas Iscariot realised his folly, he had already ruined the opportunity of having himself numbered among the twelve apostles. He ended up committing suicide.
“Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,...And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.”
Matthew 27:3&5
 
Children of God in the 21st century must be wary of materialism. It is deadly, though it may not look that way. This is why John the Beloved warned us against worldliness, as if he knew what would become of the Church in the end-times (1 John 2:15-17).

While the decisions made at crossroads resulted in a great future for Moses, Elisha, Daniel, Peter, Paul and Ruth, the decision of Esau at such a moment blighted his future. Esau found himself at a crossroads when his brother, Jacob, offered him food (a present need) in exchange for his birthright (a future asset). He experienced a negative turning point when he chose to sell his birthright. He filled his stomach with bread and pottage of lentils, gulped some drinks, rose up and went his way, but he forever lived to regret it. The Bible in Hebrews 12:16-17 says:
“Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”
 
Another figure who took a decision that led to a negative turning point was Reuben, the first son of Jacob. He defiled the bed of his father by sleeping with his father’s concubine. When Reuben was taking this decision to humiliate his father, little did he know that he was destroying his own future. Our Father in heaven deserves our honour and not humiliation. We humiliate our Heavenly Father when we offer Him worship that is polluted with sinful habits (Malachi 1:6-7). As priests of God (Revelation 1:6), when we lift up unholy hands in worship to God, we are offering polluted “bread” on His altar. This is the reason why the Bible in Romans 12:1 says:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
 
The most fearful thing in the story of Reuben is that after he did the abominable act, he did not realise that his father knew about it, because his father never even mentioned it (Genesis 35:22). However, on the day of reckoning, his father placed a curse on him (Genesis 49:3-4). I will therefore encourage you to pray that the Lord will, through the blood of Jesus Christ, undo whatever you have done wrong in the past that is troubling you now even as a Christian.

After Ruth lost her husband early in life and there was no child to show for the relationship, she could never have dreamt that she would be a mother of many nations through Jesus Christ our Lord (Matthew 1:5).  Ruth would have been long forgotten but for a turning point in her life when she made the decision in Ruth 1:16. Her sister-in-law, Orpah, kissed their mother-in-law goodbye and left, but Ruth refused to let go. She was resolute in her decision to stay with Naomi.
 
After moving to the land of Israel with her mother-in-law, Ruth eventually remarried Boaz, who was a distant relation of her late husband. This union produced an ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ, Obed (Ruth 4:13-17). Anytime I remember the decision I made to serve the Lord in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, after the founder personally followed up on me by visiting my residence just after my first visit to the Church, I give glory to God. When I was making the decision to turn away from my self-righteousness and academic pride, little did I know that I was entering into a lifetime of joy in the service of the Lord. I am grateful to the Holy Spirit who helped me make that decision. I pray for you that the Lord will help you to make the decision that will turn your life around for the best today, in Jesus’ Name. You will decide to serve God in spirit and in truth as from today in Jesus’ Name. The last mention of Orpah in the Bible was when she was at a crossroads, and she made the decision to return to her idols.
“And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.”
Ruth 1:14-15
 
Beloved, what type of situation are you passing through now, and what decisions are you making? Have you weighed the decision you are making, and is God being brought into the picture? Think about this and go into prayer as you go about your business today. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

A turning point is a defining moment; it is a moment of decision that either makes or mars the life of a person. In life’s journey, there are always crossroads where you have to decide whether to go to the right or to the left. At such moments, if you make the right call, glory to God, but if you make the wrong decision, may God have mercy on you. The Bible contains several examples of people who took either positive or negative turns while at crossroads. Moses is one of such persons. In Exodus 3:1-6, Moses made a turn that sealed not only his destiny but also that of the Jews for good. I pray for you today that God will guide you to always make the right call when you are at a crossroads in your life, in Jesus’ Name. When Moses turned to see the great sight of the burning bush, the Bible says it was then the Almighty God spoke. There are some necessary turns you must make in order to fulfil your destiny. There are steps you must take to make progress. The Bible in Exodus 3:4 says:
“And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.”
From that moment, a dialogue ensued, followed by a commissioning for an assignment of eternal value (Exodus 3:10).
 
Another example of someone who took the right turn was Elisha. His decision to answer the call of God to the office of a prophet made kings call him “my father” (1 Kings 19:19-21, 2 Kings 6:21). Also, the decision of Daniel, that he and his colleagues would not defile themselves with the king’s meat, made him outlast several kings and serve as a reference point of excellence to them all (Daniel 1:8, Daniel 1:21, Daniel 5:11-12). The day Peter forsook his big catch of fish at the lake of Gennesaret, he sealed his destiny as a foremost apostle whose shadow would heal the sick (Luke 5:10-11, Acts 5:15). The turning point Paul experienced on the road to Damascus resulted in him writing more than a third of the entire New Testament, not to mention the special miracles the Lord performed through him (Acts 9:3-8, Acts 19:11-12).
 
I encourage you to prayerfully decide what you want to do with your life today. Are you born-again, sanctified and Spirit-filled? Your decision today will determine if you will partake of these experiences or not. God will take over your life from the moment you make up your mind to serve Him in spirit and truth.

A child who must fulfil destiny can never be destroyed by the enemy. The fact that you are alive today is a pointer to the fact that you have a destiny to fulfil, and this destiny is a good one (Jeremiah 29:11). By Pharaoh’s calculations, Moses was born to die. He orchestrated a diabolical arrangement with the midwives so that even before Moses was born, death was already waiting for him. However, the plan of God for Moses was quite different from Pharaoh’s plan. The good news is that God’s plan for you supersedes that of any human entity (Lamentations 3:37). Always be conscious of the fact that you are created for a divine purpose.
 
Although the children of God are a specially selected group of people (Ephesians 1:4-5), there are serious questions they must ask themselves and provide answers to in order to fulfil their destiny. Such questions include: will the plan of God for my life be fulfilled?  The answer to this question is yes; that is if you are in good standing with God, because the counsel of God shall forever stand (Psalm 33:10-11). However, every child of God must remember that they can ignorantly upturn the plan of God for their lives as seen from the life-story of Eli the priest (1 Samuel 2:30).
 
Another question a child of God must ask if he or she would fulfil destiny is: can the plan of God for my life be completely fulfilled? The answer to this question may be positive for some and negative for some others. For example, God’s plan for Joshua was unfortunately not fulfilled completely. In Joshua 1:3-4, God declared that He would help Joshua to fully capture the whole of the Promised Land. God even spelt out its boundaries to him. But alas, at the twilight of Joshua’s life, God said this to him in Joshua 13:1:
“Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.“
What a disappointment. For you to fully realise God’s purpose for your life, you must make up your mind to be completely obedient to Him in everything He commands. When you consider the devastating effects of partial obedience on King Saul (1 Samuel 15:17-23), and the failure of King Joash of Israel who was asked to strike his arrow on the ground severally but stopped after the third strike (2 Kings 13:18-19), you will learn how to obey God completely.

In his sermon just before he was killed, Stephen spoke to a Jewish audience made up of people who were circumcised in the flesh as required by God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:10). However, Stephen revealed to them that there exists a circumcision beyond that of the flesh: the circumcision of heart and ears (Acts 7:51). This circumcision is spiritual. He admonished them to accept it in order to belong to the new dispensation of grace. They rejected his message and held tenaciously to the old order, which Paul declared as irrelevant under this new dispensation. 1 Corinthians 7:19 says:
“Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.”
 
Those of us who claim to know God and claim to be born-again must be careful not to fall into the same error as the Jews to whom the gospel was first preached. The circumcision of our heart and ears must not be one professed by mouth only. Our Pentecostalism must not turn to lawlessness. We must truly be circumcised in our heart and hearing, so that the message of the gospel may always have a place in our lives. We must heed the warning of Hebrews 12:15-16:
“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.”
 
We tend to glory in many things as Pentecostals, as if attending a Pentecostal Church is the main ticket to heaven. Many of us have become docile in spiritual matters. The enemy is taking advantage of this passive attitude to penetrate and adulterate Pentecostal beliefs. This is why homosexuality, lesbianism and the reconstruction of the Bible doctrines handed to us by the apostles and prophets are being considered. What we must do as individuals and as a family is to retrace our steps back to our first love for the Bible and the sound teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, such as these in Revelation 3:2-3:
“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”