₦airaland Forum

Occasionally, I wonder, “Do I still love God like I used to? Was there a time when I loved Him more than I do now?” In the past, many of us were willing to do anything for Him; we were hungry to please Him at whatever cost and give to Him even when we had next to nothing. I remember the days when we used to have Bible Study Leaders Retreat, and we would take offerings. From the offerings, you would know that if the congregation had more, they would willingly give more. One brother gave his belt because he didn’t have any money to give!

How is your love for God now? Is it greater or less than it was before? There are people who, when they got born again, could dance vigorously during praise and worship, not caring if anyone was looking at them. Now, they can’t even shout hallelujah at the top of their voices. No matter how big a fellow is, he or she is still nothing before God. If a person is too big to dance for Him, He can decide to show that fellow how small he or she really is.

One day, I asked God, “Lord, David did a lot of terrible things, even more than Saul, yet You said David was a man after Your heart while You rejected Saul. I know that You are not partial, but I am curious to know why.” He responded, “What did David do in 2 Samuel 6:14?” I replied, “He danced with all his might.” Then He asked, “Can you show me a place in the Bible where Saul danced for me?” That was when I really knew why God rejected Saul. It is not so much about dancing; rather, it is about the heart of a man after God has raised him. David’s love for God increased as he went higher, while Saul’s love reduced as he went higher. Which of these two are you?

If a believer’s love for God is reducing, such a believer is not far off from offending Him, and that might result in God rejecting the fellow. If you don’t believe me, read Philippians 1:9-10:

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;

May your love for God keep increasing for the rest of your life, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Many people have sought to find out the real meaning and essence of life. I have discovered that the only thing that gives life meaning is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Without Christ, life has no meaning. Without Christ, a man is like a boat, rocked back and forth by the waves of this world. He may pursue a variety of personal objectives, amass wealth, achieve success in one field or the other, or gain pleasure in one thing or another, but soon he will discover that they are all momentary and unsatisfying without Christ. No matter how rich you become, Ecclesiastes 5:10 says that money doesn’t satisfy. In Christ, you have everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

In Ephesians 2:1, Apostle Paul referred to those without Christ as being ‘dead in trespasses and sins’. He said in verse 3 that they fulfil the desires of the flesh, and if anyone has lived long enough, he or she would have discovered that the desires of the flesh do not bring satisfaction. At the end of the day, what people need to gain the joy that they seek is to satisfy the burning desire to connect with their Maker, the Lord Jesus Christ. Until that is done, they will always feel empty. Cars, awards, titles, and all the money in this world can never fill that void in their hearts. Until they have a relationship with Christ, their lives will remain meaningless. This is why when people become born again, all of a sudden, they feel this inner peace that cannot be explained. What follows after is joy. Life now suddenly has a meaning.

Beloved, make Christ your top priority. Don’t trade Him for money or anything else because it will profit you nothing if you gain the whole world and lose your soul (Matthew 16:26). People who do not have Christ will not only live a life of depression and chaos on earth, but they will also suffer for eternity in hell. The worst thing about hell is not the unquenchable fire and undying worms that will torture its occupants (Mark 9:48); it is the eternal separation from God and the regret of choosing to continue in sin despite hearing several messages of God’s salvation. Save yourself from that torment by giving your life to Christ now if you haven’t done so, and ensure you live holy henceforth.

NOTE: If you are born again, you can make this message into a tract. Put the contact details of any RCCG parish at the back of the tract so that people who read it can have a minister of God to call for counselling and prayers. Use it to win souls to Christ.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today, I will conclude my teaching on ‘impossible’ prayers. There is a popular saying that an opportunity, once lost, can never be regained. The fellow who said that did not put God in the equation. With God, nothing is impossible. He can restore the unrestorable. You might have lost an opportunity in the past and now you think that it is impossible to regain that opportunity. However, there is nothing impossible with God.

In Ezekiel 37:1-11, God restored life to dry bones. God can restore that opportunity that you think is long gone to you if you have faith. He specialises in doing the impossible.

When I was studying at the University of Lagos, I applied to the Federal Ministry of Education for a scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree. Time passed, and I never got a response from the ministry. Somehow, I raised the money for my tuition, and life went on. When I was close to obtaining the Master’s degree, I met someone I used to know back when I was a games master in a secondary school. He was a games master at another school, and we had met when both of our schools were involved in a competition. As we talked, I found out that he now worked at the Federal Ministry of Education. I told him, “You people are very tough at the ministry. I applied for a scholarship, and I wasn’t even called for an interview.” He told me that he would look into it. I thought I would get a letter asking me to come for an interview, but to my surprise, the letter I got was to tell me that I had been awarded the scholarship. Since I had already paid my tuition, I bought a land and built my first house with the money I was awarded. God used a casual meeting to restore an opportunity that I thought was long gone, and it led to me building my first house.

What you may have lost could be more serious. If you have lost your first love for Christ, and the passion and love that you had for Him at the beginning seems to have died, God will restore your love for Him today, in Jesus’ name. You can love Him far more than you ever did. All you have to do is cooperate with Him as He guides you on what to do for that love to be restored.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In continuing my teaching on the categories of prayer, I will focus on ‘impossible’ prayers today. The Bible says that some things are impossible with men, but with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26), (Luke 1:37). If you have any doubt about this at all, just take a look at Redemption City, and you will know that with God, all things are possible. There are buildings in Redemption City that were built in seven days and which have been standing for around 40 years. The first secondary school building in the city is a two-storey building that was built in 18 days. I don’t use human engineering, I use divine engineering because, with my God, nothing is impossible.

The moment God hears, “It can’t be done” from your mouth, it just may never be done. This is because Numbers 14:28 says, “…as ye have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:” Despite a fellow’s unbelief, God’s purpose will always be done, only that He will raise up another generation that will get the work done. In Numbers 13-14, twelve spies were sent to Jericho; ten of them came back and said that they couldn’t take the land, while only two said they could. God ensured that all the people who said that they couldn’t take the land were wiped out in the wilderness, while only the two who said that it was possible entered the land. In (2 Kings 7:1-17), Elisha proclaimed a seemingly impossible economic breakthrough within 24 hours. Everyone in the room kept quiet except one man who said that even if God created windows in heaven, it would be impossible. The breakthrough happened, but that man did not partake in it. Never say that anything is impossible; the moment someone says that something cannot be done, as far as he or she is concerned, it just may never be done.

When Jesus said in John 14:14, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it,” He was not joking. Therefore, if I ask for something that seems impossible, He will give it to me because He did not put any limit on what I can ask for according to His will (1 John 5:14-15).

Beloved, don’t express doubt when it comes to God. Don’t try to understand what He can do and how He will do it. Just believe.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In continuation of my teaching on the categories of prayer, I will focus on dangerous prayers today. Some prayers are dangerous because what will follow if God answers them will be dangerous. This is because to whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48).

The prayer for God to anoint you and give you spiritual gifts is a dangerous prayer. The greater your anointing, the more visible you will be to the enemy. When you read Judges 15, you will see how powerful Samson was. However, in Judges 16, you will see how dangerous that power was. This is why I spend quality time praying for my children who are evangelists. I thank God for their lives and the miracles happening through them, but I also know that the anointing makes them very visible to the enemy, and they need to be protected.

The enemy is always after anointed people. In (2 Kings 1:7-15), the king sent a total of 153 soldiers to arrest Elijah. However, in (2 Kings 6:8-16), when the king wanted to arrest Elisha, who had a double-portion anointing, he sent the entire army. There is a level of wealth and influence that, if you ask God for and He gives it to you, will have dangerous results. This is why sometimes, God holds some things back from some people, because He knows that they cannot handle them. Like Elisha, if you ask for a level of the anointing and God gives it to you, your tongue will not remain the same. With it, you can bless, and you can also kill. In (2 Kings 2:19-24), Elisha spoke, and the curse that had been on Jericho for generations vanished. Also, he decreed a curse on 42 unruly children, and they all died immediately.

It is good to ask for great things, but when you do, remember Numbers 20:1-12. Moses had led the Israelites for 40 years, he made only one mistake, and God said that he wouldn’t go into the Promised Land because of it. This is why it is important to always pray for your leaders, especially your spiritual leaders. The power that they possess can both heal and kill. In Acts 5:1-11, Ananias and Sapphira sold a land, brought less than the amount they received to Peter, and that deception cost them their lives.

Power can bless, kill, heal, and make sick; be sure you can handle it before you ask for it. In (2 Kings 5:1-27, Naaman was cleansed by obeying an instruction from Elisha, and Gehazi became a leper by another word from the same mouth.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Over the last three days, I have discussed very easy prayers and easy prayers. Today, I will talk about hard prayers.

You pray hard prayers when you ask God to change the natural order of things and negate the laid-down laws that govern the world. For example, when Joshua stopped the sun from setting, he prayed for something that was contrary to nature (Joshua 10:12-14). Also, in 2 Kings 20:1-11, King Hezekiah wanted the sun to go backwards as a sign that he would be healed. That was a hard prayer, but God did it still. If God answered these prayers by breaking the laws of nature just because someone asked Him to, then there is nothing that is too difficult to ask Him to do in your life.

Years ago, a pregnant woman came to me, saying that she already had daughters, but that her in-laws had threatened to chase her out of her husband’s house if she didn’t deliver a son with her current pregnancy. I told her that according to science, a baby’s gender is decided within 72 hours after it is conceived. She replied that I was not the one who will change the gender of the baby; all she wanted was for me to agree with her in prayers. I did so, and she gave birth to a boy. You may say that the baby was probably a boy all along, however, I shared this testimony while preaching one day, and a woman came to meet me after the service. She was eight months pregnant and had done a scan which revealed that the baby in her womb was a boy. However, she wanted a girl because she wanted to be able to share her dresses with her daughter. I told her, “You know very well that this baby is fully formed by now.” She replied that I was not the one who will perform the miracle; she just wanted me to agree with her in prayers. I did so, and she gave birth to a girl!

Nothing is too hard for God to do (Jeremiah 32:27). He made the laws of nature and can suspend them at any time. He can reverse the irreversible just because you ask Him to. During one of our programmes, a man wanted to see the miracles happening at the altar and whispered to God that he would like to be taller. He outgrew his trousers on the spot and everyone could see it! Indeed, nothing is too hard for God to do.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today, I will continue my teaching on the various categories of prayer by looking at the second category: easy prayers. You pray easy prayers when you ask God for what He has already guaranteed in the Bible. For example, asking God for your daily bread is asking for something that He has already guaranteed (Matthew 6:9-11). The shepherd does not eat grass; it is meant for the sheep. So, when you ask God for food as His sheep, it is an easy prayer that He will answer easily (Psalm 23).

Psalm 35:27 says that God has pleasure in your prosperity. Therefore, asking for wealth is an easy prayer. Years ago, when I asked God for money to build a small house in Mushin, Lagos, He said, “Don’t ask for a house, I have decided to give you a city.” So, when seven of us gathered in Ilorin to pray for a campground, one of us began to prophesy, “I have already provided the land, I will only show it to you.” The land was already provided because He guaranteed it in His word (Psalm 2:.

One of my children said, ‘Give me’ is the prayer of a child. When your son comes to ask you for food, he is just saying, “I am ready for the next ration,” he is not bothered about the provision of the food. In the same vein, you should not be bothered about things that God has already promised you in the Scriptures. They are already provided for you, so all you need to do is ask, and you will get them at the right time. There is no need to worry about money, food, or all those things that make you comfortable; God has already provided them (Matthew 6:25-34).

When you worry about the things that God has guaranteed, it shows that you have little faith. Before you came to this world, He had prepared everything you need to survive. Just ask for them when you need them. As you ask, pay attention to whatever instructions He will give you on how to get them. In 1 Kings 17:4-6, He told Elijah to go to the brook and food was brought to him there. If Elijah did not obey, he would have died of hunger even though food was available for him. Your well-being is God’s responsibility; stop worrying about it.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, I taught about praise and worship being in the category of very easy prayers and the fact that even little children can praise God. Today, I will discuss God’s reaction to very easy prayers.

The first thing you must know about this category of prayers is that God is looking for people that pray this way. Students seek knowledge, politicians seek power, businessmen seek profit, but God seeks worshippers. He is constantly searching for people that will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). When He finds such people, He is so happy that He gives them blessings and miracles that they did not even ask for. Psalm 67:5-6 says:

Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.

When we had just begun to hold the Holy Ghost Service at Redemption City, I was fasting and praying towards the programme one day when God said, “Don’t pray, just praise Me.” I did that, and the way He responded amazed me. On the first night of the Holy Ghost Service, He healed 14,000 people. We were few then, so that was almost everyone in attendance! After the programme, I was in my prayer room, thanking Him because I had not seen such before. Then, He told me to praise Him more and that He would do more the next day. I did not understand what He was saying because almost everyone had been healed on the first day. What I did not know was that the people who had gotten their healing went to tell their friends, and more people came the following day. On that day, 16,000 people were healed! I became frightened. Imagine having a congregation of 15,000 people, and by the next day, it had grown to 30,000! Praising and worshipping God causes Him to do frightening miracles.

A few years ago, during a wedding ceremony in a parish of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, the groom suddenly fell and died while signing the marriage register. All the pastors gathered and prayed all the prayers they knew, yet the young man’s corpse grew colder. Then, someone said that they should all stop praying and just praise God. Not long after they started doing that, the groom rose from the dead.

Beloved, the easiest route to getting God to pay attention to you is through praise and worship. Do it continuously.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There are five categories of prayers: very easy prayers, easy prayers, hard prayers, dangerous prayers, and ‘impossible’ prayers. For the next few days, I will be teaching on each of them to help you have a more robust prayer life.

The first category of prayers is the very easy prayers. This is praise and worship. Praise and worship is very easy because you don’t have to be a theologian to praise God; even little children can praise Him (Matthew 21:15-16).

David said that his soul would not forget all of God’s benefits, and so he would bless the Lord (Psalm 103:2). As a songwriter said, if you count your blessings and name them one by one, it will be very easy to praise God. David said, “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1). You can praise God non-stop because praising Him is very easy when you count your blessings. It is very easy to do, yet it is extremely powerful. Unfortunately, many Christians don’t praise God much.

When we were about to open the first parish of The Redeemed Christian Church of God in Abuja, I was in my hotel room, praying concerning the programme that would hold that evening and asking God to perform miracles, heal the sick, and save souls. While praying, God said, “Shut up, am I your houseboy? Have you thanked Me for all I’ve done for you in the past?” I said, “Oh Lord, thank You for all You have done in the past. Tonight, please heal the sick…” Again, He told me to shut up and that I should only praise Him and not ask for anything for the next three days. It was very difficult, but I did it anyway. By the end of the third day, He said, “Select elders who will be going around, teaching the doctrine of the church to strengthen its foundation because all you have seen thus far is addition; get ready for multiplication.” The result of praising Him then can be clearly seen today as RCCG has indeed multiplied greatly.

Do you engage in this very easy prayer of praise and worship? How often do you praise God? Look around you, there are multitudes of things you can praise God for; praise Him continually for them. I know there are some things that you wish He has done, but what about all He has done already? If you find it difficult to praise God for what He has done, how do you expect Him to do more?

Don’t be an ingrate; go ahead and praise God with all your might.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

PRAYERS FOR YOUR NATION

1. Father, I am grateful for your blessings over my nation. We are still standing because you are watching over us.

2. Father, please empower the leaders of my nation and grant them the wisdom and strength to lead us aright at all times.

3. Lord, please expose and uproot wicked leaders from their offices, in Jesus’ name. Never let the wicked rule in any part of my nation again.

4. Father, please give the righteous people in my nation the boldness to rule. Raise righteous people who will boldly take up the mantle of leadership, in Jesus’ name.

5. Lord, please let your mercy reign in my nation. Let there be no disasters or outbreaks of diseases, in Jesus’ name.

6. Father, please let my nation prosper greatly. Let our lands be filled with abundance, and let our economy blossom. Open new doors of opportunities and prosperity to us; let barrenness and scarcity come to an end in every part of my nation, in Jesus’ name.

7. Father, please let peace reign between us and the nations around us. War and violence of any kind will not be mentioned in our land, in Jesus’ name.

8. Father, please let your plans for my nation be fulfilled. Let them come to pass quickly, in Jesus’ name.

9. Lord, please have mercy and cause us to repent from any form of pride and foolishness that may destroy us in our nation, in Jesus’ name.

10. Lord, please let my nation be among the great nations of the world. Let those seeking to destroy my nation and steal her glory be brought to shame, in Jesus’ name.

11. Lord, please let there be a revival in my nation. Let us begin to seek you wholeheartedly, in Jesus’ name.

12. Your personal prayer points for your nation.

Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Some people do not want to grow old; it is as if they are seeking a ‘fountain of youth’ that can keep them young forever. While it is impossible to remain young forever, you can still have the strength and vigour of a youth no matter how old you become.

I told some friends sometime ago that since Joel 2:28 says that young men see visions, if you still have visions that you are pursuing, you are young. God will give you visions when you wait on Him in His presence (Habakkuk 2:1-2). Those who spend quality time with God are visionaries; they come out of His presence loaded with visions that they want to accomplish. Before I became born again, my biggest vision was to be the youngest Vice Chancellor in Africa, but after I got saved and started spending time with God, I began to have bigger visions.

There is always a transfer from God to you when you spend quality time with Him. In Exodus 34:30-35, when Moses returned after he had been with God, the Israelites could not look at his face because God’s glory was all over him. Moses spent quality time with God; he once went to a mountain and stayed there with God for 40 days (Exodus 24:18). No wonder when he was 120 years old, his strength had not reduced, and his eyes were still very sharp (Deuteronomy 34:7). Abraham was over 80 years old when he went to war to rescue his nephew, Lot (Genesis 14:13-16). He could do so because he was a man of altars, always spending time with God. Spending quality time with God keeps you strong and youthful. With the little sleep that I often get because of my tight schedules, I should be looking older than my age, but by God’s grace, I am still strong enough at 82 to go on long walks, and my eyes are not dim. It is not because I am special; it is because I am always in contact with God’s glory in His presence.

Beloved, you can retain the vitality of youth even until your old age by being addicted to His presence. However, you shouldn’t live an unhealthy lifestyle and expect God to keep you young because you spend hours in His presence. Anyone who is irresponsible with his or her health will face the consequences.

Spend quality time with God; His glory will rub off on you, and your youth will be renewed as the eagle’s.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In conclusion of my teaching on the above topic, one major destiny destroyer that many people are not aware of is gluttony. Gluttony is the habit of eating and drinking excessively. Gluttons cannot control their appetites, and such people do not usually go far in life. They simply want to eat every time; food has become their preoccupation – their god.
Controlling your appetite is very important, and this is why the Bible says:

When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
Proverbs 23:1-2

The Scripture above does not imply that believers should literally put a knife to their necks, rather, it is saying that if they cannot control their appetite, even if they sit at a table with great men, they will still bring about their own destruction. The Bible tells us that even though Daniel and his friends were chosen amongst those to eat a portion of the king’s food, they controlled their appetites and chose not to defile themselves with the food. They chose to honour God by controlling their appetites, and God honoured them in return (Daniel 1:1-21).

Esau’s destiny was destroyed with a bowl of porridge; just one bowl of food caused his name to be omitted from the list we usually talk about – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ‘Jacob’ on the list would have been Esau, but he couldn’t control his appetite and lost his place on that great list (Genesis 25:29-34).

Some adults eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, snack in-between meals, and eat again just before going to bed. How can you have the strength to wake up in the middle of the night for spiritual warfare when you are so loaded with food that you can hardly stand? There are many people who died untimely deaths and truncated their own destinies because of how much food they ate. They ate to the point of endangering their health, and then they passed on. Don’t let this be your portion.

Beloved, you should eat only when necessary and eat only the quantity of food that you need to survive. When you eat too much, you will be weak, and you will have less strength to do the things that you need to do to achieve greatness. Those whose belly is their god – meaning they are controlled by it – will end up in destruction. Control your appetite!
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today, I will continue my teaching on the different vices that can destroy destinies. When we first started building Redemption City, I knew some bricklayers who would have been very wealthy by now if only they had not been lazy. God had set them up in a place where they could have had great success, but their laziness robbed them of that opportunity.

Beloved, don’t be lazy. When I meet some pastors who started about the same time as me, they will usually say, “God has been good to you.” Truly, God has been really gracious to me, but then, nobody can accuse me of laziness. God can supply you with the grace you need to fulfil your destiny, but if you are lazy, the grace He provided will go to waste because you will not use it. Many have prayed for open doors, but when the door was opened before them, they did not walk into it because of their laziness.

In Proverbs 6:6-11, we are told to learn from the ants as they provide their meat and gather their harvest at the right time. These days, some people make excuses to hide their laziness using different terms like exhaustion, procrastination, and so on. When a fellow constantly disregards the things that he or she ought to do when they ought to be done, it is simply laziness. For instance, if someone is to go out at 8am, but decides to stay in bed and refuses to have a bath nor get his or her clothes ironed by 7:30am, that is laziness.

When you read Proverbs 24:30-34, you will see the major danger in laziness. Laziness does not destroy destinies suddenly, it does it little by little. If you are lazy, you will look back at your life after a while, and you will realize that you are far from the things that you set out to achieve.

Beloved, please banish any form of laziness in your life. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:11 that time and chance happen to everyone. If you are lazy, when your time and chance come, you will likely be in bed sleeping. Don’t allow a little sleep to destroy your destiny. Good sleep is very important for your health and general well-being, however, do not oversleep or sleep when you ought to be working.

Get up and work! Your destiny and that of many others depend on your efforts.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, I discussed how the devil can use illicit sex as a tool to destroy destinies. Another means through which the devil destroys destinies is greed. (1 Timothy 6:10) says:

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Once the devil can get someone to love money, other evils will begin to spring forth. Money should not have dominion over you; don’t make decisions that you know will offend God solely because of money. Anything that is against the will of God, even if it has benefits worth billions of dollars attached to it, must become a taboo to you. Many people have stolen money to buy a car, and then that car became their coffin.

Gehazi had a great destiny ahead of him; he could have inherited a double portion of the double-portion anointing that Elisha had, and that would have given him tremendous power. However, greed denied him of a great destiny. No matter how much money a Christian is tempted to steal, God’s plan for his or her life is much bigger than it. I have seen great destinies destroyed because the people involved were too much in a hurry to become rich, and so, they took what they ought not to take. Proverbs 28:20 says:

A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

Don’t be too much in a hurry to be rich. If someone is too much in a hurry for riches, he or she will not be innocent, and that lack of innocence is what the devil will use to destroy such a fellow. Be faithful, and you will abound in blessings. Don’t envy the people who are doing all manner of evil things to get money now; they are rams awaiting slaughter. Proverbs 15:27 says:

He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.

Those who are greedy of gain are calling trouble on themselves and their families; it is only a matter of time before they begin to burn from the troubles that they bring on themselves. Don’t join them.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The devil is always looking for signs that mark out people of great destinies. You may have noticed long ago that you are not in this world to be ordinary, and that there is a great destiny that God has ordained for you. The devil may also sense this, and even though he is unable to fully understand it, he will begin to send destiny destroyers to the fellow to ensure that he or she does not fulfil that glorious destiny. One major destiny destroyer the devil tries to use is illicit sex.

In Genesis 37:5-9, the devil heard Joseph talk about his destiny and marked him for destruction. He tried to get his brothers to kill him, but they ended up selling him into slavery. The devil thought that Joseph would not fulfil his dreams in slavery, but when he saw how he prospered in Potiphar’s house even as a slave, he knew that the only way he could stop him was to tempt him with illicit sex, so he sent Potiphar’s wife to seduce him (Genesis 39:11-12). Thankfully, Joseph did not fall for the temptation because that would have been the end of his big dreams and destiny. Every time you are tempted to engage in illicit sex, that is the devil trying to destroy your destiny. Your response will determine if you will still fulfil destiny or not.

No matter how great a person’s destiny is, giving room to fornication or adultery will destroy such a fellow because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 that our bodies are God’s temple, and if a fellow defiles God’s temple, he or she will be destroyed. Samson was really great and powerful, so much so that he could single-handedly defeat an entire army. However, as powerful as he was, he met his defeat in the laps of a woman that he wasn’t married to. Before long, he was grinding corn for his enemies (Judges 16:21).

If you find out that you are having illicit sexual desires towards someone of the opposite sex, you should run to God for mercy, go on a fast, and pray for those desires to die. This way, you will strengthen yourself enough to avoid falling into the temptation and those illicit sexual desires will die eventually.

Beloved, guard yourself against the devil’s temptations to engage in sexual immorality. Don’t allow him to make you destroy your destiny with your own hands. Resist him, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Prayer is one of the greatest weapons that God gave to man; the ability to call on Him anytime we want and have Him answer us. It is a signed blank cheque to His children. The question now is, how come some Christians don’t use this blank cheque? The answer is in Psalm 10:4:

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

Christians that do not pray are proud; it means that they do not have God in all their thoughts because they think they are smart enough to solve all their problems. 1 Corinthians 1:25 says that no matter how wise you are, the things of God that may appear foolish far exceed human wisdom, and the things that seem weak far exceed human strength. It is foolishness not to pray.

One day, when I was a child, I was playing football in front of our house. At a point, I kicked the ball to the top of the roof, and it got stuck there. I was little, so I couldn’t see the ball. I tried using a stick to get the ball down from the roof, but I was not able to. My dad was sitting close by, but I didn’t call him for help. At last, when I was tired, I asked for his help, and he said, “You saw me here all this while, but you didn’t think to ask for my help.” He stood up and, with one sweep of his hand, brought the ball down. I thought I could bring the ball down by myself, and I kept stressing myself to do so even though I could have just asked my dad for help and gotten the ball easily. Many people stress themselves unnecessarily, running from pillar to post in search of solutions to problems that can easily be solved on their knees in prayers to God.

God gave you a blank cheque in Jeremiah 33:3:

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

I have been using my blank cheque at every opportunity, and God has been answering and showing me great and mighty things that I did not know. Will you also begin to use your blank cheque?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today, I will conclude my teaching on what it means to be a true helpmeet. There are wives who parade themselves as helpmeets, but they are not. As a wife, if you hide money, saying, “My money is my money, and my husband’s money is our money,” you are not a helpmeet. To help someone, you must be willing to sacrifice your resources. You cannot claim to be helping when you do not meet needs that you can easily afford to. Yes, it is a husband’s responsibility to take care of the home, but whenever you can afford it, it will be very helpful to say, “Don’t worry about this, I have taken care of it.” Helping someone entails taking burdens off the person and not watching him or her carry them alone.

As a helpmeet, you must be fully involved in what your husband does; be there to help him in areas he needs help, especially when he asks for it. You cannot be a helpmeet if you are not submissive. If you are to help someone with something, they will give you instructions on how to help them. When they give you instructions, your answer should be, “Yes, darling.” If you say “No”, you are clearly not willing to help. If you want to suggest a better idea, your answer should be, “How about we do it this way?” as opposed to an outright “No.” If you are truly interested in your husband’s success, you will do all you can to help him.


When I moved my family to Redemption City, it was not convenient for my wife. We moved from a city to the middle of a forest, and the house we moved into had no windows – this is where the Open Heavens International Centre is today. Not only did my wife move into such inconvenience, but she also began rigorous rural evangelism in the surrounding areas. She gathered a small team to help her and would travel to many villages several kilometres away, preaching the gospel. Some people didn’t want to hear about Christ, while some said that they were already part of bigger church denominations. However, she persisted and was able to establish most of the parishes we have around the city today, even all the way to Ibafo, which is about 20 kilometres away. She is a perfect example of a helpmeet, one that gets involved and does everything in her power to see her husband succeed.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When God instituted marriage in Genesis 2, He made the woman to be the helpmeet for the man. In other words, the woman is to help the man in doing what God has called him to do. However, for one reason or the other, some women are not real helpmeets to their husbands, and this causes problems in their homes.

First, a woman cannot help her husband beyond her capacity to help. For example, if a husband is a businessman that earns millions, he should raise his wife to the level where she earns hundreds of thousands at least. At that level, she will probably understand his business more and help him better. However, if she is earning below that, when there is a need for her to help, she may be unable to do so significantly, even though she is willing to help. As a pastor, if you can pray for six hours at a stretch, train your wife to be able to pray for at least four hours. This way, the day you need prayers, she can stand in the gap for you at a reasonable level. If you cannot send your wife to preach on your behalf at a meeting that you are unable to attend, you have not been training her, and she has not developed what it takes to be your helpmeet (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

Your helpmeet is supposed to be there to lift you up when you are down. However, the strength of your helpmeet will determine how well they can lift you in your down seasons. As a husband, if something terrible happens and you fall, you will fall to the level of your wife. She can only catch you at the level at which she is standing financially, spiritually or otherwise. Therefore, if you don’t lift her to your level or at least close to your level, your fall will be great in such seasons because you will only be able to depend on her resources to stay afloat until you start rising again. As a husband, you should endeavour to empower your wife to become a helpmeet to you indeed.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The Bible says that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). This analogy alone is enough to tell us straightaway that love is not an emotion or feeling, but a decision to consistently act in the best interest of your spouse. In other words, the best interest of your spouse should become a priority to you.

In Luke 22:42, Jesus did not feel like dying for the church. He tried to convince God to let the impending suffering and death pass over Him. He prayed so hard that His sweat was like blood, but what had to be done, had to be done. He went to the cross, suffered shame, pain, and death for the ones He loved. That is what husbands are to do for their wives; love them as Christ loves the church and gave Himself for her. Husband, can you do this for your wife?

When I see Christian husbands buying new clothes and shoes for themselves while their wives wear old, worn out clothes, I wonder if they even read their Bibles at all. Worse still are the men who beat their wives. As a husband, if you love your wife, you will take good care of her and put her interests above yours. Money will be too small to sacrifice to make her happy. In Nigeria, men of the Igbo tribe are renowned for truly caring for their wives. In Igbo land, any man that beats his wife or does not take care of her is called an Efulefu. An Efulefu is someone who is way below useless, empty, and who has nothing good to offer. This is a generally held belief among people who are not all believers, how much more Christians who have been directed by God to take care of their wives and families (1 Timothy 5:.

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Ephesians 5:28

The Scripture above instructs husbands to love their wives as they love their own bodies. Just as they eat good food, put on good clothes, and do not allow any harm to come to their bodies, they are to treat their wives the same way. As a husband, you should use the best of your resources, words, and actions to show your wife that you love her. When you do this, you are a good husband indeed, and one advantage that a good husband has, according to 1 Peter 3:7, is that God hears his prayers.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Marriage is a beautiful gift from God; it is designed to bring joy and fulfilment to both partners. Like every other gift from God, it comes with a manual – the word of God. In Ephesians 5:22-33, there is a detailed description of how a husband and wife should relate with each other. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church, while wives are to submit to their husbands.

Many women don’t understand what submission really means. They say they are submissive, whereas they are only cooperative. Cooperation is agreeing with your husband because you want the same things. Submission, however, is complying with his wish even when you don’t agree. Many women find it difficult to submit to their husbands because the society talks about gender equality. However, this is not what the Bible says about marriage.

Submission does not mean slavery or servitude, rather, it is a voluntary act of respect and obedience from a wife to her husband as the head of the home. When you obey your boss in the office, it is not because you are a slave, it is because there is a hierarchy that must be followed for things to go smoothly in the office. An English proverb says that two captains cannot sail a ship. As a wife, your husband is the captain of your marriage-ship; submitting to him is a key ingredient in ensuring that you have a blissful marriage.

Years ago, I used to preach regularly at a university, and a woman would usually come to me complaining about her husband’s stubbornness and asking me to pray the stubbornness away. After a while, I decided I wasn’t going to pray anymore. I told her, “When you get home, place his food on the dining table, call him your head, and ask him to come and eat. When he sits at the table, give him a bowl of water, kneel and let him wash his hands in it.” She said, “No way! He is a professor just like I am. We are the same.” I replied that if she wanted my help, she should take my advice. She decided to do it, and at first, her husband wondered if she had poisoned the food. She told him that her pastor taught her what she was doing, and suddenly, the stubborn husband became very soft. He followed her to the next service and became born again. Their marriage blossomed thereafter.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The fact that you are a Christian does not in any way take romance out of your marriage. Marriage is the only institution where romance and intimacy is allowed between a man and a woman. Some pastors hardly go on dates with their spouses because they consider such a romantic activity as a distraction from their focus on spiritual matters. Some of them don’t even play with their spouses anymore. Beloved, the anointing does not reduce the need for romance in marriage.

Isaac was an anointed man of God and a successful businessman, yet in Genesis 26:8, the Bible says he was being romantic with his wife:

And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

Don’t become too rigid in your marriage; don’t have more fun elsewhere without your spouse. Make the times that you and your spouse spend together so much fun that you are always looking forward to seeing each other again. If you are married, remember how you used to talk for long hours with your spouse before you got married and had children; revive that relationship again. Your spouse is still the same fellow you were very fond of, and the things you loved in him or her are still there. Don’t let all the cares of this life distract you from the gems in your spouse.

Once in a while, compose a poem for your spouse and read it to him or her in a romantic setting. Spice things up with pleasant surprises every now and then. Write a note and put it in his or her bag so that when they get to the office and open their bag, they will see the note and smile. Have a pet name that you call each other behind closed doors. Up until today, there is a pet name my wife calls me when we are alone. I equally have a pet name that I call her, and every time I call her by that name, she cannot but smile at me lovingly. When we are alone, we are lovers, not Daddy G.O and Mummy G.O. Your marriage can be like heaven on earth if you and your spouse are deliberate about remaining the lovebirds that you were when you first got married. Don’t let the romance die.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Everyone at one time or the other will be in a waiting season. Your waiting season is a period when you are waiting for something that you desire to come to you. A secondary school student is usually waiting earnestly for when he or she will get into the university, the university student is waiting to graduate, the graduate is waiting to get a job, the single person is waiting to get married, the married person is waiting to have children, and parents are waiting for the different stages of their children’s life. The waiting goes on for different things at different times.

Waiting is inevitable for everyone, however, what you do while waiting is more important than what you are waiting for itself. When people lose their patience with God and decide to do things outside His will to stop their waiting season, they often regret it.

In 1 Samuel 13:8-14, Saul got tired of waiting for Samuel’s arrival to perform a sacrifice, so he decided to perform the sacrifice himself, which was against the will of God. That action resulted in him losing his throne. In Genesis 16:1-3, Sarah got tired of waiting on God for a child, so she gave Hagar to Abraham as a wife. She regretted it after Hagar conceived (Genesis 16:4), and today, that action has resulted in great persecution for her descendants. Finding alternatives to God in order to shorten a waiting season always ends in regrets. My wife and I were praying for a woman to conceive. At some point, she got tired of waiting on God and went to see a herbalist. She got pregnant quite alright, but the pregnancy that should last for only nine months remained for years. The last time I heard about her, she still hadn’t given birth to the baby. Every alternative to God gives permission to the devil to oppress you.

The reason we have many internet fraudsters today is that many young people don’t want to go through the correct process of making money. What they don’t know is that although they could get a lot of money quickly, what they will have to give in exchange for that money is their very soul. Matthew 16:26 says that this is foolish because there is only loss in a fellow gaining the whole world and losing his or her soul in the process.

Don’t be foolish, wait on God, and He will surely come through for you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

True prophecies come from the mind of God. A prophet hears from God and relays the message to the people. Whenever a prophecy is given based on feelings, that prophecy is false, and the Bible describes people who do this as fools (Ezekiel 13:3). A true prophecy is an echo of what God has said.

When I was younger in ministry, I recall prophesying that a particular airline will never suffer loss because I was excited over their services to the church. I prophesied based on my feelings without hearing what God had to say. Not long after, the airline suffered a plane crash. I should have just prayed for them and blessed them for their benevolence, rather than giving a prophecy in my excitement. I learnt my lesson from that – if God has not spoken, I do not prophesy.

Beloved, don’t be too much in a hurry to say ‘God said’ when God didn’t say anything. Don’t allow pride to push you to prophesy; prophesy only according to the will of God. Push pride aside so that you can hear God clearly. Long before the Nigerian elections in 2023, people were agitated as to who will become the next president. They put pressure on me to tell them what the outcome of the elections will be. Even with all that pressure, I made sure not to say anything I had not heard God say because I knew that it would be a lie. I told them a few weeks before the election, “God has still not spoken. Until God speaks, I won’t say anything.” You must become comfortable with keeping quiet when God is quiet. If you are truly His mouthpiece, when His mouth is shut, yours will be also.

Prophecy must also be in line with the word of God. If a prophecy does not echo the word of God in the Scriptures, it is false. A man came to me and said, “I heard that you are a prophet, and anything you say comes to pass. Can you tell me my future?” I responded, “That is easy. Are you born again?” He said, “No”. “Then, your future will be terrible,” I responded. He asked, “How do you know? You’ve not even asked for my name.” I told him, “Isaiah 3:11 says, ‘Woe unto the wicked.’” Anyone who has not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is condemned already (John 3:17-18).

A true prophecy comes from God and always aligns with His word in the Scriptures.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Psalm 39:4-7, David asked God to make him know how frail he really was. This was a man who witnessed how his highly-exalted king, King Saul, suddenly started acting like a mad man on several occasions and needed music from a harp to calm him down (1 Samuel 16:23). This was a man who used an ordinary stone to bring down a giant that had terrorised his country for 40 days and nights (1 Samuel 17). As humans, we have the tendency to believe that we are strong and that we are in control, whereas, God is the One that upholds us (Isaiah 41:8-10).

In Daniel 4:30, Nebuchadnezzar was boasting of his really great achievements, but within that same hour, he was on all fours, eating grass with the beasts of the field (Daniel 4:31-33). He was indeed a great king, but God humbled him in an instant. No matter how great and powerful a fellow is, God can humble him or her in the twinkling of an eye. King Herod thought that he was powerful and could capture and kill whoever he wanted to (Mark 6:16-17), but right in front of his people, he was eaten up by ordinary maggots (Acts 12:23). When God wants to show that He is in control, He can use ants to bring down an elephant. This is why you will always see me being humble, kneeling to worship God in public, and surrendering my all to Him. I know what I am doing because I know that without Him, I am nothing. I know that no matter how powerful people think I am, God can break me like a toothpick if I offend Him.

Beloved, always live conscious of your frailty in God’s hands; don’t ever think you are in control. Keep it at the back of your mind at all times that God is in control. The producers of a popular television show in Nigeria would always say that we are nothing but pencils in the hand of the Creator. If you think you are better than everyone else, know that you are just a pencil in God’s hands, and He can do with you as He pleases. Like David, ask God to always remind you of how frail you are in His hands.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

God makes everything beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). The pursuit of the vanities of this world has robbed many people of far greater and better blessings from God. It is not bad to want to achieve something great or pursue a good cause, but if you try to outrun God, you may never achieve that goal, and worse still, you may pay for it with something very precious to you. God knows your desires; in fact, it is likely that He is the one who put them there. He knows the best times and the best ways for those desires to be accomplished, so, don’t try to act smarter than the One who made your brain.

Years ago, I was duped by a man who promised to make me a commandant of a paramilitary group. This man had been sending messages to me through my secretary for a while, and so, one day, I gave him audience. He explained to me how a Boy-Scouts-like group had evolved into this new agency, and that he was sourcing for who would lead the group spiritually. Normally, I ask God before getting involved in anything at all, but this time, my love for the military in my younger days beclouded my best instincts, and I agreed to be their head. He told me that they needed some funding, which I gave as the prospective head. However, I later found out that the man was a fake. My desire to be part of a paramilitary group made me run ahead of God, but God had already purposed for Redemption City to have its own corps of chaplains as well as a local Police post. He knew the desire of my heart, and He had planned for it to be fulfilled in His own time. I thought that I could bring my desire to fulfilment at my own time, but I was wrong. What I lost in that experience was money, but for someone else, it might have been their life or a loved one.

The Bible makes it clear that God delights in our well-being and prosperity (Psalm 35:27), (3 John 1:2). Therefore, it is not wrong to desire wealth. He will definitely make you prosper, but in His own time. Beloved, follow God’s timing; don’t try to outrun Him.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is committed to God that does not turn out well. This is why you must commit things into God’s hands and let Him take the lead in everything that you do. Ask Him for counsel before you make any move, and everything will go well.

My Father in the Lord, Pa Josiah Akindayomi, exemplified committing things into God’s hands. He placed the church in God’s hands right from its outset. He did not just commit the church into God’s hands in prayers, he also did so in actions. He did exactly everything that God asked Him to do as regards the church, and in turn, God fulfilled His promises concerning the church. Many people think that The Redeemed Christian Church of God is what it is today because of me; that is not true. God already decided the destiny of the church long before I became born again. If I had refused to obey Him, He would have gotten someone else to become the General Overseer. Whatever is committed into God’s hands can never go wrong.


If you really want to be successful, place all your plans in the hands of God. Proverbs 3:5 says:

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Don’t depend on your degrees, skills, connections, or money; depend on God alone. Trust Him with all your heart, do everything according to His word, obey all His instructions, and you will see Him do great things for you. Make it clear to God that He is the owner of your career, business, ministry, and every other aspect of your life, and He will make sure that you have all-round success.

You must note, however, that when you commit something to God, you are agreeing to Him becoming your senior partner. This means that when He gives you instructions, you must obey. Some of these instructions may not make sense to you, and some may be very difficult for you to do, but if you don’t take the control back from Him, and if you submit to His leadership, you will enjoy greater success than you could ever have had all by yourself.

Amongst the people you find in church, some are unto honour while others are unto dishonour, as we see in 2 Timothy 2:20:

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

God, however, is not the One who makes some vessels unto honour and others unto dishonour. Rather, people, based on their behaviour toward God and His instructions, choose for themselves if they will be unto honour or unto dishonour.

There are many people who say that since God is merciful, and His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), they can commit sin multiple times and ask Him for mercy multiple times. Therefore, they commit sin purposely, trusting that when they ask for mercy, God will have mercy. Some even say things like, “God, forgive me for what I am about to say.” They know it is a sin, but they ask for forgiveness and go ahead to say it. People like this are trying to make a fool out of the Most High God and will become vessels unto dishonour if they do not repent. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Even if a Christian gives a big sacrifice or worships God deeply, if his or her heart is still in a sinful state, the wages of sin remain death.

In 1 Samuel 15:1-28, God told Saul to kill all the Amalekites, but he decided to play on God’s intelligence by saying that it was the people who brought the king of Amalek and the chosen animals back with them to Israel. We see the result of the disobedience in 1 Samuel 15:28:

And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.

Saul begged Samuel to let him worship God, but it was not out of true repentance. He only did that because he did not want to be embarrassed in the presence of his followers. In the next chapter, you will see that as much as Samuel pleaded on his behalf, God still asked him to anoint a new king as his replacement. God later sent an evil spirit to torment Saul, as he had become a vessel unto dishonour.

Beloved, be careful. Don’t toy with sin, and don’t try to play on God’s intelligence so that you don’t end up like Saul.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When God gives a commandment, many people think that it is for His own good, whereas every commandment that He gives is for our good. When you disobey God, you are actually hurting yourself; He remains God whether you obey Him or not. Those who choose to disobey God are the ones that are actually losing, not God.

When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son to Him, it was not because He wanted to eat the boy for breakfast; it was because He wanted Abraham’s obedience to open the door to irreversible blessings for him and his seed. If Abraham had disobeyed, he would have missed out on such a great blessing. When Elisha told Naaman to go and wash in the river Jordan, it was not because he wanted to humiliate him, it was because he wanted him to be healed of leprosy. Naaman almost missed his healing because of his pride. If he had not gone to wash, Elisha would not have lost anything, but Naaman would have died a leper. When God gives you an instruction, no matter how difficult it seems, you stand to gain a lot more from obeying it.

God gave man a special gift, and that is free will. This free will is one of the things that makes us more special than all His other creations. You can decide to obey or disobey Him if you want. However, to justify any blessing that He wants to give to you, He wants you to obey Him out of your free will. If you disobey His instruction, you are using your free will against Him, and that will disqualify you from receiving the blessings that are attached to the instruction. When God sent Elijah to the widow of Zarephath for food, he told the woman to give him her last meal. It was not Elijah who needed a miracle; God had already been feeding him supernaturally up until that time. God wanted to test the widow to see if she would use her free will for herself or Him. She passed the test, and in return, she had more than enough food to last her through the famine. Also, when her son died in 1 Kings 17:17-22, because she had obeyed God, Elijah was there to bring him back to life.

Beloved, obeying God is always for your good.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today’s teaching may be controversial to some people, but I will share the complete truth anyway. When there is an opportunity to serve God through a prophet that you are sure is sent by Him, no matter how small the service may be, don’t let the opportunity pass you by. When you serve or give to a prophet, because of God’s anointing on his or her life, you will receive a blessing from God.

I went to a foreign country for a programme, and throughout my stay, a very rich man drove me around. When he dropped me off at the airport, I wanted to show my appreciation, but since he was richer than me, I put some money in an envelope and said, “Please give it to your children on my behalf.” He collected the money and said, “Amen” several times. I became embarrassed, and I turned to the other pastor who came with us. The pastor said, “He has been waiting on God for the fruit of the womb.” On hearing that, I said, “Glory be to God, I don’t have money, but I am connected to the Most High God.” The following year, when I arrived in that country for another edition of the same programme, the man came to drive me again. This time, he had a gift with him and said that it was from his son. You might have prayed for certain things and not received them yet, but offering your service to God through a prophet could bring them to you immediately.

When you check through the Scriptures, you will see that those who served prophets genuinely got great rewards for their service. Samuel became a kingmaker and king-remover because he served Eli. Elisha got a double portion of the anointing because he served Elijah diligently. The Shunammite woman got a child even when she had lost hope because she served Elisha. Whenever you get a chance to serve God through one of His ministers, make the most of the opportunity.

Ministers of God, however, should not take anyone’s willingness to serve God through them for granted. God shows appreciation to those that serve Him, and His ministers ought to do the same. However, if you are serving God through one of His ministers and it seems like you are not being appreciated, as long as you are sure that he or she is a genuine minister of God, you will surely receive the rewards of your service from God.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Sometimes, God gives prophecies that sound impossible to the human mind and this makes some people doubt and miss out on them. When a prophecy seems too good to be true or difficult to believe, just keep quiet. Don’t say anything against the prophecy because if you do, you may never see it fulfilled. In 2 Kings 7:1-17, the minister voiced his unbelief in Elisha’s prophecy. The prophecy came to pass, but because of what he said, he did not live to experience it.

What we say and/or do after receiving a prophecy matters. God told Abraham in Genesis 17:4 and Genesis 26:3-4 that he would be a father of nations and that his children would be as many as the stars in the sky. At that time, he and his wife were already old and did not have any children. Even though Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6), the prophecy was not fulfilled immediately. When it appeared as if the prophecy was not going to come to pass, Sarah got Abraham to have a child with Hagar, her handmaiden. Despite this, God told him in Genesis 17:1 to walk before Him and be perfect and repeated the prophecy. This time, Abraham doubted in his heart (Genesis 17:17), but he did not speak out, nor did he try another alternative outside God’s will. God instructed him to circumcise all the males in his house as a sign of His covenant with him, and Abraham obeyed. Although he doubted God in his heart, his words and actions did not express it. Later, in Genesis 18, God appeared to him, and nine months after, Isaac was born. If your mouth and actions don’t negate God’s promises for you, no matter how unbelievable those promises sound, you will see them come to pass.

When God tells me something unbelievable, I immediately begin to repeat it to those He permits me to share it with. I don’t give room for my human mind to process it and express doubts. I confess the prophecy repeatedly so that it becomes real to me. When God told me that He would build me a city, I could not even afford to build a small house, but I announced it to everyone who cared to hear. Today, He has fulfilled that prophecy. When He showed me trailers bringing in cows to feed the crowds that will be attending our programmes, I announced it to people, even though we did not have money to buy half a dozen cows. Today, that prophecy has been fulfilled as well.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, I talked about rejecting negative prophecies from false prophets. However, sometimes, a real prophet can prophesy something that you are not comfortable with. God sometimes tells us things just for our information; at other times, it is so that we can do something about them. How then do you reverse negative prophecies if you receive them?

Like Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:1-11, the first thing you can do is to cry to God to reverse the prophecy. If He listens, He will send the same prophet back to you with a new prophecy. Secondly, you can get a prophet with a higher anointing to cancel the negative prophecy. This is what the people of Jericho did in Joshua 6:26. Joshua had placed a curse on the land, but Elisha was able to cancel the decree that Joshua made because he had a double portion of the anointing.

Years ago, a man told me that he met a prophet when he was 44 years old who told him all that would happen to him for the next 40 years and that he would die at 84. He said that everything the prophet told him had come to pass, and it was now two weeks to his 84th birthday. I asked if he wanted to serve God, and he said, “Yes,” so I told him that he will live. He insisted that everything the prophet told him had come to pass, but as a higher prophet, I replied that as long as he was willing to serve God, he would live until he was ready to die. A few weeks before his 100th birthday, he sent for me and said that he was ready to go; he died a few days before turning 100.

Sometimes, negative prophecies can come to you directly from God, either in a dream, trance, or even in an audible voice. In such instances, you can meet a prophet who is closer to God than you and ask him to help you plead with God to change it. Years ago, a wealthy man, who had just given his life to Christ and had been of tremendous help to me in fulfilling God’s work, had a dream where God told him to put his house in order because it was time for him to be called home. He came to me, and I said, “No!” I told him, “Don’t worry, I will discuss it with my Daddy.” I told God, “Lord, I still need this man here, please don’t take him yet.” God answered me, and the man lived.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There are all kinds of ‘prophets’ these days. While there are genuine ones, many are false and give false prophesies that are sponsored by the devil. When a negative prophecy is from a prophet who genuinely hears from God, the fellow involved can cry to God like Hezekiah did in 2 Kings 20:1-11, and God can decide to change it. Tomorrow, I will discuss more about what you can do concerning negative prophecies but the discussion today will be centred on false prophecies.

We don’t have many accounts of false prophets in the Bible because God said in Ezekiel 13:9 that they will not be in the assembly of Israel or written about in the books of Israel. These days, false prophets try to plant fear in people with their prophecies. If these people allow fear to take root in their hearts, they have given those prophecies the power and permission they need to be accomplished. This is because what a person fears is likely to come upon him or her (Job 3:25-26). As a Christian, when such prophecies come your way, don’t allow fear into your heart; God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Rather than being afraid, meditate on the word of God that negates the false prophecy and pray to God about it. Many false prophets have told me, “Thus saith the Lord.” However, God would always tell me, “Don’t mind that fellow; that message is not from Me.”

Not long after the great Archbishop Benson Idahosa went to be with the Lord, some investors opened a bank and invited me to pray before they commenced operations. After praying, they asked me to open an account with them so that I will be their first customer. I told them that I didn’t have money to open the account, so they opened it for me with 50,000 naira of their money. Shortly after that, some newspapers reported that I had started a bank with 50,000,000 naira; the news was everywhere. We had a meeting of Pentecostal pastors in Nigeria just after that, and one ‘prophet’, misled by the newspaper reports, prophesied that I would soon be called home just like the archbishop. Others at the meeting urged me to react, but I stayed quiet because I know what the word of God says about my life. The man who made that prophecy is no more today, and I am still here by God’s grace.
Written by Pastor E.A Adeboye.