₦airaland Forum

Today, divorce rates are as high as 50% in some countries, and some people believe that they are better off not being married. This brings up the question, is marriage a blessing or a curse?

Some people argue that marriage is a curse because if Eve was not created, and marriage was not instituted in the first place, there would be no sin in the world. Adam also seemed to believe this theory because he blamed God for giving him Eve when he was asked why he ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:12). However, we must remember that Adam was alone, and God created Eve for his good. Everything was going well until sin came in. So, Eve was not the problem, the problem was sin.

Marriage can either be a blessing or a curse, depending on what either of the couple allows into their union. If marriage is done in line with God’s word, it will be a blessing. However, if either of the couple goes outside the will of God and lets sin in, there will be trouble. Today makes it 57 years since I have been married, and I can tell you without a doubt that my marriage became a blessing when my wife and I gave our lives to Christ and started living according to His will. Before then, we would have disagreements that would last for weeks, but these stopped when we surrendered to Christ.

I recall the story of a couple who fought every single night. One day, someone invited them to a RCCG parish in their city, and when an altar call was made, they gave their lives to Christ. Over the next three weeks, their neighbours didn’t hear them fighting. Curious, the neighbours asked the couple why they had not been fighting. They replied that they had brought Christ into their marriage, and He was the reason they stopped fighting. If your marriage is to be a blessing, you and your spouse must truly be born again, living according to God’s word. You and your spouse should study the Bible, pray, and evangelise together. You should both be on fire for God. When you do these regularly, you will discover how beautiful marriage is. I am enjoying my marriage, and I pray that you will enjoy yours too, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

A pastor once took a lady to a hotel room. Before they went in, they looked around to be sure that nobody could see them. On getting inside, the lady was uneasy and said to the pastor before taking to her heels, “Before we came in, we looked left and right to ensure that nobody saw us, but we did not look up…God can see us.” Believe me, there is no place that God’s eyes do not get to. No matter how well some people think they can hide their sins, they cannot hide even the smallest of them from God. If no one can hide sins from God, it means no one can avoid the consequences of sins. Rather than trying to hide whatever sins you might have committed, why not change your ways?

The reason many people hide their sins is that they want to appear to all as being righteous. The question is, are they being righteous for people or for God? Is it people that will judge them on the last day or God Himself? They are like students that pretend to be studious by putting their books in front of them every time their parents are around but who never read. When examinations come, they will fail and be termed a failure even by the same parents they pretended to. When rapture happens, the same people they pretended to will see who they really are and then their secret will be out. Rather than pretend to people who are not important to your eternal destiny, it is better to get the real salvation so that the One who will judge you can see that you are truly born again.

If you are a true child of God and you’re hiding your sins and pretending to people, I’m sure the Holy Spirit is telling you to stop the pretence and stop committing those sins. Don’t ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit; listen and obey. God wants to have mercy on you now, and He will give you the grace to live a truly holy life, but you have to repent genuinely from your heart.

Beloved, if you are still harbouring any form of sin in your life, make the decision now to repent and forsake them. You can say this short prayer: “Lord Jesus, I am sorry for indulging in sin, I am ready to live a truly holy life. Please help me Lord, and let me never backslide again, in Jesus’ name I pray.”
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Jesus Christ, the Word of God Himself read the reason for which He travelled all the way from heaven to earth, that is, His mission statement, in Luke 4:18-19:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

God sees when your heart is broken, and to mend your heart, He sends His word.

Many years ago, there was a boy I loved so much because he was very committed to God in evangelism. During his National Youth Service Corp year however, this boy died. His fellow Youth Corpers came together to pray for him, but then he came back to life, sat up and told them, “God asked me to come and tell you that you are disturbing Him; stop praying” and he died again. When I heard the news, I was really heartbroken. As a Pastor, I had to put up a bold front to everyone, but throughout that period, whenever I got back home, I would cry. I was really heartbroken.

One day, however, God sent His Word to me, saying, “My son, why are you so sad” I responded, “It is because of the death of this boy”. The Word came again, saying “No, that is not really why you are sad. You are sad because you and the boy are apart; now he is in heaven and you are still here on earth”. I said, “That is true”. The Lord then said, “If you are going to a far country that you have never been to, won’t you be happy to have someone you know go ahead of you so that when you arrive, there would be someone waiting to welcome you?” I said, “Yes”. The Lord then concluded thus: “Your boy has only gone ahead of you; when it is time for you to arrive, he will be waiting to give you a warm welcome”.

When you are heartbroken, don’t look to social media, movies, drugs, alcohol or friends to make you feel better; the real mender of broken hearts is the word of God. His word can come to you through a sermon, Bible study, or directly from the Holy Spirit.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

PRAYERS FOR LEADERS

1. Father, I thank you for all the leaders in my family, church, state, country, and in every other place. Thank you for their lives, their families, and their well-being.

2. Father, I pray for wisdom for my leaders. Please, let none of them lead us in the wrong direction. Give them the wisdom to know what to do at all times, in Jesus’ name.

3. Father, please let it be well with our leaders. Take care of all their personal needs so that they will have peace of mind to lead us aright, in Jesus’ name.

4. Father, please provide all the resources that our leaders need to achieve the goals set ahead of them, in Jesus’ name.

5. Father, please give our leaders the strength to overcome every obstacle that may stand in the way of the glorious future they are leading us to. Help them to surmount any challenge that confronts them, in Jesus’ name.

6. Father, please let our leaders have a compassionate heart towards their followers. Let none of them use their position to exploit or oppress their followers, in Jesus’ name.

7. Father, please don’t let any of our leaders offend you and do things that will bring judgement upon themselves and their followers. Please help them to do your will at all times, in Jesus’ name.

8. Father, please remove any leader that refuses to do your will. Just as you replaced Saul with David, replace them with people that will do your will, in Jesus’ name.

9. Father, please let our leaders be good examples to us. Let their conduct and personality set good standards for us to live by, in Jesus’ name.

10. Father, please let there be unity and peace amongst all our leaders. Let them be united, and give them the wisdom to relate with each other peaceably, in Jesus’ name.

11. Father, please raise righteous leaders to occupy leadership positions so that the people can rejoice, in Jesus’ name.

12. Your personal prayer point for your leaders.

Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

No matter how long you spend on earth, you will never see a tree that eats its own fruit. Trees are planted by human beings for their pleasure, not for the pleasure of the trees. In the same way, God made you for His own pleasure. You were not made to satisfy yourself, you were made to satisfy Him. Therefore, when people live their lives just to give themselves pleasure, they are malfunctioning.

Having lots of money, driving good cars and owning houses does not mean that someone has fulfilled his or her destiny because all those things are for the fellow’s pleasure. Destiny is not measured by how much money you have or how powerful you become; it is measured by the degree to which you are doing the will of God for your life. For example, someone might have seen Joseph as the Prime Minister of Egypt and said, “This guy has made it! He is fulfilling destiny because of the exalted position that he has attained,” but if Joseph did not save his family from the famine as God had created him to do (Genesis 45:1-11), he would have been a failure. There will be many rich people who will finish their races here on earth, and rather than them being told, “Well done thou good and faithful servant,” they will hear, “Thou wicked and slothful servant.” I pray this will not be your portion, in Jesus’ name.

Beloved, it is good to be rich, famous, and powerful, but even when those things come, you will still not be fulfilled unless you do the will of God. Don’t chase shadows; chase God’s calling for your life. It seemed foolish when I left lecturing to pastor a small church. However, because that was the will of God for my life, it was the best decision I ever made. In fulfilling His will, God gave me all that I could ever ask for and more.

A tree that bears fruits for its owner to eat will be taken care of. The owner will give it all the nutrients and care that it needs to flourish. When you pursue God’s will for your life, He will ensure that you never lack any good thing. Ask Him what His purpose for your life is and pursue it.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Many Christians take people’s love and loyalty for granted. When a brother or sister in Christ loves you, be careful not to disappoint them because if you do, and the fellow is offended, they may never regain the love they had for you. If someone is willing to make sacrifices for you, take that as a challenge for you to also make sacrifices for them. When they are loyal to you, you must also be loyal to them. The closer someone is to you, the more careful you must be not to offend them.

Many ministers of God feel that because they are the head of a ministry, they can do whatever they like without caring about the people that love them. For some, the moment they become popular, they begin to take those who started out with them for granted. Many sworn enemies today are people who were close friends yesterday. There is an English proverb that says, “Make new friends and keep the old; one is silver, the other is gold.” Old friends are gold; they knew and loved you when you were nothing. As years pass by, your new friends will also start turning to gold. You can keep making new friends but keep the old ones.

One thing that has helped us in RCCG is that everyone who laboured with us when we were still very small is honoured and appreciated. This way, the younger ones see that if they work hard, they will not be neglected.

The worst enemy anyone can have is the enemy within his or her household. An enemy that goes in and out with someone is very dangerous. Believers must be careful not to offend their brothers and turn them into enemies; they are likely to suffer greatly for it. When you notice that there is something that may offend your brother, call him aside and discuss it with him. Matthew 5:23-24 says that when you go to God with an offering, and you remember that a brother has something against you, you are to leave your offering there and seek to reconcile with that brother before you come back to give the offering. Note that the Bible does not say, “If you have something against the brother,” but, “If the brother has something against you.” Don’t put a stumbling block between yourself and God. The Bible says in Romans 12:18, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”

As much as it may be in your power, live in peace with everyone around you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

These days, many Christians look for ways to water down certain doctrines and prove that they are useless. When the doctrine of their Bible-believing church dictates that they should not dress in a certain way, for example, they go about looking for Hebrew and Greek interpretations of Scriptures to say that the doctrine is useless – this is not right. Doctrines are a major part of your Christian walk. Although they can sometimes appear to be tough to live by, they are codes of conduct that will keep you consecrated. A doctrine may not seem interesting when you are living by it, but if you keep doing so, over time, you will realise that it has helped you to stay strong in the faith.

God is always solidly behind doctrines. In fact, (2 Timothy 3:16) says that one of the reasons God gave us Scriptures is so that we can get doctrines from them:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

You must note, however, that doctrines are gotten from the Scriptures by the representative of God in the leadership of a denomination. The head of another denomination may not develop a doctrine from that same Scripture, but as long as the fellow whom you call your Father in the Lord develops a doctrine from a Scripture, you have to live by it. The early Church was strong with very fervent Christians because they continued steadfastly in the doctrines of their leaders, the Apostles, as we see in Acts 2:42:

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Note that you are not to choose which doctrine to follow based on convenience but based on your conviction that the one who brought the doctrine developed it from the Scriptures. You should also be convinced that the person is the spiritual leader that God wants you to submit to.

Doctrines raised from the Scriptures will set you apart from the world. They are a great catalyst for your spiritual growth and well-being.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

One thing that everyone who is born again must learn is that the Christian walk is not a sprint but a marathon. I have been born again since 1973, and I am still on the journey until now. We were told back then, “Jesus is coming soon.” ‘Soon’ has run into more than 51 years now, and we are still awaiting His arrival. This tells you that without perseverance, you cannot win in the Christian race. It is good that you resisted temptation yesterday and did not fall, but that is not enough to ensure that you will remain standing until the end. You must also resist the temptation that is coming tomorrow. If a believer relaxes because of the things he or she has overcome in the past, it is likely that the fellow will be brought down by future temptations.

It is in perseverance that many Christians fail. The devil knows that if he brings temptation to you once, you might not fall. However, he knows that if he keeps bringing the temptation over and over again in different forms and intensities, one day, when you are relaxed spiritually, you will likely fall. This is why having oil for today is good, but you must always have extra oil for tomorrow. The ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13 were all virgins, meaning that they were all pure. They all had oil which signifies the Holy Spirit, but while they were waiting for the arrival of the Groom, they all slept because the Groom tarried. However, only the ones with extra oil were able to meet with the Groom. Proverbs 24:10 says:

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

You must be prepared for the day of adversity. Believe me, without extra strength, you will not be able to persevere until the end. Therefore, read your Bible beyond what you need for today, pray longer hours than you need for today, and serve God more fervently than is necessary for today. Doing these will build in you the strength that you need to persevere. Many people have yielded to fraud in their offices because the oil finished, and they didn’t have extra to keep them on fire. Some yielded to fornication and adultery because their strength failed. Don’t make this mistake; get extra oil always.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When you read Bible verses like (1 Corinthians 6:20), which says that you have been bought with a price, you might begin to wonder, “Bought from who? When did I consent to being owned by someone else which warranted buying me off that fellow?” This expression in itself tells us that every human being, whether they know it or not, and regardless of how they feel about it, is owned by a spirit. Everyone was conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5), and until they become born again, they remain properties of the devil.

Nobody is totally independent; every single person is owned by one spirit or the other. The question now is, who owns you? You can tell who owns a property by the way the property is being used; a property will reflect the character and personality of its owner. That is why Matthew 7:18-20 says:

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

If you are owned by Christ, people will see the character of Christ, which is also known as the fruit of the Spirit, in you. Does your character reflect Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness and Temperance? (Galatians 5:22-23). If these do not define you, then it is likely that it is not God who owns you.

Since there are only two divides in the spirit realm – the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God, anyone that God does not own, is owned by the devil. This person will automatically engage in the works of the flesh as listed in Galatians 5:19-21. When you read that passage, you will see that many of the people who do these things do not even know that they are acting in accordance with their owner – the devil. For example, many people who envy think that it is just natural for humans to envy; they don’t know that envy can only stay in their hearts because they are not owned by the One who is Love Himself. The Bible tells us in Romans 6:16:

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

When Christ becomes your owner, you will no longer behave in line with the character of the devil. Surrender your life to Him today if you are yet to do so.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In God’s kingdom, to become the greatest amongst any set of people, you must be the lowest of all of them. This does not sound logical to the natural man, but that is how God made it. The higher you want to go, the lower you must first go.

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1 Corinthians 1:27-28

The above Scripture tells us that God does not choose people that believe themselves to be the best to lead, He chooses those that are humble enough to serve others.

I studied Jesus’ ascension into heaven and realised that God raised Him seven steps high after He had gone seven steps lower (Philippians 2:9-11). Though His disciples called Him ‘Master,’ He was humble enough to wash their dirty feet. Can you wash the feet of those you are leading? When there is plenty of work to be done, can you take the lowest of all the work?

There are people who somehow get to the top without serving, but before long, they will lose their position if they refuse to serve. Some years ago, we held a camp meeting at a secondary school when the students were on holiday. We arrived at the school, and I went to check the toilets. They were an eyesore as there were faeces everywhere. I told my team how horrible the toilets were and that we had to wash them in preparation for those that would be attending the camp meeting. I intentionally chose the dirtiest of all the toilets and washed it. When the rest of the team saw me washing the toilet, they were moved to wash the other toilets. When we were building the first auditorium at Redemption City, some church members would come to the building site when they had closed from their offices to help out with the construction work as we did not have enough money to pay labourers. Every single evening, I worked with them, carrying cement and doing every other thing that needed to be done even though I was the General Overseer. This is how I have remained at the top – by serving.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The Bible makes it plain that God values work. Whether you’re a full-time parent, bus driver, artist, or engineer, God is concerned about your work, as long as what you do for a living is legitimate. Work is a major component of God’s overall plan for man. In the Garden of Eden, after God made man, He told him to tend the garden (Genesis 2:15). This means that any man that does not work is malfunctioning because man was made to work.

The value of work is inherent. Work gives pleasure, which is why some retired people are still working even after their retirement. There is no pleasure in just sitting around from morning until night-time, doing nothing. Many wealthy people fall into depression when they feel like they have made a lot of money and don’t need to work anymore. There is no pleasure in accomplishing nothing. For example, when you work on a garden, you will get a lot of pleasure when you see the fruits in that garden begin to blossom.

The Jeremiah 17:10 says that God will give every man according to the fruit of his doings, so if a fellow does nothing, he or she will get nothing. This is why (2 Thessalonians 3:10) says:

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

The reason God gave you talents is so that you can put them to work. If a believer does not use his or her talents, he or she will answer to God on the last day (Matthew 25:14-30). God cannot condone laziness at all. John 5:17 says:

But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

If God is working, He will not allow you to be lazy. My God is not a God of lazy people. If a believer is lazy and is asking God for blessings, He will ignore such a believer. Working hard is a godly value, and laziness is ungodly. You cannot claim to be a Christian and yet be lazy. Even if you are unemployed, pray to God and find something that you can do to contribute positively to the society, no matter how small it may be. From doing this, God will open greater doors for you. You cannot afford to lie around doing nothing; it is against God’s plan for you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

For many Christians, when they are having a dispute with someone, they tend to forget that they are still born again. As they don’t seem to like a fellow or the fellow doesn’t like them, they treat him or her badly. Jesus Christ said in Luke 6:35 that you must not only love your enemies, you should also be kind to them. When you know the right things to do for people, whether you are on good terms with them or not, do it. The Bible says that it is sinful for you to know something good that you are supposed to do and not do it. James 4:17 says:

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Don’t victimise someone with your position because the person is not your friend. Whether you are the one who is right or not does not matter, the moment you decide to victimise them, you become the one who is wrong.

In Matthew 5:38-48, Jesus Christ said clearly that you are not to repay evil with evil, rather, you are to repay evil with good. The reason for this is that He does not want your heart to abhor any form of corruption or evil at all. Apostle Paul said that when you decide to avenge yourself or repay evil for evil, you are letting evil overcome you. Romans 12:20-21 says:

Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

The Scripture above says that you should love, care for, and even provide for those that hate you. You shouldn’t relate with people based on whether they love you or not or on how they treat you; you should relate with them based on how God wants you to. Don’t let evil overcome you in a bid to repay someone or show them how powerful you are. If evil overcomes you, it means that you are now on the side of the devil as opposed to the side of God. I will conclude this teaching with the words of Apostle Paul in Romans 12:18:

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

You cannot get close to someone by relating with him or her only in a group. If you really want to get close to someone, you will need to spend some time alone with that fellow. It is necessary to have your family devotion, where all members of your family come together to study the Bible and pray, and it is absolutely necessary to attend Bible Study and prayer meetings with other brethren. However, you cannot get close to God if you don’t sit alone with your Bible to study it and spend time alone with Him in prayers; this is your personal devotion time.

God relates with individuals, not groups. Even in a group, when God wants to talk, He addresses Himself to individuals. For example, He was talking to all members of the church in a city when He said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelations 3:20). Though God was talking to the entire church, He used singular pronouns. This is why many-a-times, when I am ministering, and God wants to give someone a miracle, He will say through me, “There is someone here…”. Two or three people may get their miracle from that proclamation, but He addressed each of them separately. God wants to have an individual relationship with you. The relationship your pastor, parent or Bible Study leader has with Him does not apply to you; He wants to connect with you personally, and until He has built a personal connection with you, you cannot really know Him.

To build this personal connection with God, you must have a personal altar. This is a place and/or time when you meet with Him daily. You must set aside a time every day to study your Bible and pray. You will discover as you start having personal time with Him that there will always be an ongoing conversation between yourself and Him every time, either on something He is teaching you or something that you are trying to understand as you study your Bible. Your altar is not a place you come to only when you need something from Him, it is a place you come to regularly to build a personal relationship with Him.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When I got born again in The Redeemed Christian Church of God, those that served in the church were not called workers, they were called Children of God. There was a reason behind that. When a child gets to his father’s house and sees that things are not placed where they should be, he or she naturally starts putting things right. However, when a visitor comes into that same house, he or she will simply find a place to sit and remain there. If you see God as your father, whenever you get to His house, you will do whatever you can to make things work smoothly. You wouldn’t go to your father’s house and not care about the outlook and advancement of the place.

There are many benefits of being a worker in God’s house. One of them is stated in 2 Timothy 2:6:

The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

Because you are a husbandman, one who is cultivating the land to produce fruits for everyone, you will be the first partaker of those fruits. In other words, when you work to make services run smoothly, you will be the first partaker of the blessings and miracles that happen in those services. No one works for God without getting a reward. Hebrews 6:10 says it clearly:

For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

God will never forget whatever labour you do out of love for Him. God decreed in Leviticus 19:13 that no labourer must be denied his or her wages. Do you think He will not reward you for working directly with Him? Your wages when you work for Him include protection, provision, a sound mind, deliverance, speedy answers to prayers, and a whole lot more. While it is fine for a church to employ or pay professionals for some services, I always tell church members who are adamant about charging a fee for rendering any service without being employed by the church that they shouldn’t expect anything from God again, as they cannot get paid twice for the same service. As a worker in a church, once you insist on getting paid money for any service you render in the church, you have made yourself a hireling in His house and not a child.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The most dangerous thing about envy is that it opens up the heart to many evil things. Anyone who allows envy into his or her heart is only a few steps away from harbouring many other evils. Cain did not have any intention to murder his brother until envy came into his heart. They must have been very close, but the day envy crept into his heart, it opened up the door to the thought of murdering his brother. In Numbers 16:1-33, Korah and his group rose against Moses because they envied his position and were swallowed up by the earth. When you see someone with something that you would like to have, rather than envy them, be happy for them. Romans 12:15 says:

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

If someone is doing better than you in business, ministry, or whatever, don’t envy them, rejoice with them instead. Yes, you may feel a little envious at first, but the danger comes when you allow that envy to linger and grow in your heart.

For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
James 3:16

According to the Scripture above, envy is a partner to strife, and where they exist, there will always be evil. This is why you shouldn’t allow any feeling of envy to linger and take root in your heart. The moment you catch yourself feeling envious of a fellow, work on your mind to expel that envy by replacing it with joy. To work on your mind, you can ask God to help you not to feel envious. You can also start praying for that fellow because it will really get the devil angry as he is pointing out things for you to be envious of, but instead of getting envious, you are praying for the fellow. He will stop trying to get you to be envious after that.

If you allow envy into your heart, you are opening the door for destruction. Proverbs 14:30 says:

A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.

Guard your heart against the poison called envy, it leads to destruction.

Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Peer pressure is one of the greatest enemies of a Christian. The most dangerous thing about it is that it is not specifically listed amongst the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, and so many Christians are not careful of it. Also, many people think that peer pressure only applies to teenagers, but it is also present among older people. For example, when you go to a wedding, and you join your peers in dancing to worldly songs because you don’t want them to see you sitting aside, that is peer pressure making you do something against God’s will. You cannot please God and man at the same time. King Saul tried to please men, and he displeased God as a result. He lost his throne and died a shameful death (1 Samuel 31:1-6).

Don’t try to dress like the world because you don’t want to seem ‘left out’. Don’t try to use dirty slangs to show that you are also familiar with current trends. Many years ago, I was a guest minister somewhere, and when the man of God who was to introduce me went to the altar to do the introduction, he said that he liked everything about me except the way I dressed like a hunter with my short-sleeved suits. I replied that I am not a hunter, I am a soldier. His remarks did not make me change the way I dress, even though my colleagues were wearing flowing agbada around that time. Today, God has raised me very high amongst my colleagues. Children of God are not influenced by peer pressure; they are led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14). When a Christian starts doing things because of what people will say or think, such a believer has stopped being led by the Spirit of God, and the fellow is already losing his or her sonship.

The word of God says in (2 Corinthians 6:17) that you must be separate. If people are to be seen as your peers, let them be people who have separated themselves for Christ. Amongst these people, you can bow to the peer pressure of who is praying the longest, who has memorized more Scriptures, who wins the most number of souls per day, et cetera. That is the only kind of peer pressure that is good for a Christian; pressure to please God more and draw closer to Him, not pressure that relates to carnal things.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

A shepherd can fail his sheep in two major ways. One of the ways is by not giving them food and making them starve to death, while the other is by not protecting them from predators. If you are a leader in the body of Christ whom God has placed over some of His sheep, you must ensure that you preserve them by feeding them with the accurate word of God and protecting them from false teachers who are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing.

In Acts 20:28, shepherds are told sternly to feed the flock in their care. If you are not teaching the people that God has put in your care the true and complete word of God, you are killing them spiritually, and God will not spare you for that. No human being can live long if he/she is malnourished, so also, the souls of the people in your care will perish if they are malnourished. As you teach them prosperity, also teach them holiness. As you teach them about Christ’s love, don’t leave out the fact that He is also the consuming fire. Don’t worry about the church’s growth, do what God has called you to do, and He will grow His church.

The apostles regularly warned the sheep about false teachers and their teachings (2 Corinthians 11:13-15), (2 Peter 2:1). They were protecting them from wolves, and we must do the same. There are all sorts of doctrines going around these days that are completely opposite to God’s word. Don’t ignore them; tell your people never to listen to such teachings. If you don’t tell them to stay away from such teachings because you don’t want to offend anyone, you will leave them to be devoured by wolves.

Social media has created many opportunities for false teachers to confuse some of the sheep with their teachings. The sheep may see someone working miracles and believe that he or she is a genuine minister of God. They might start listening to the fellow’s teachings, so you must ensure that what they are listening to is not the lure of a wolf. Teach your followers to be like the Berean Christians who always checked any teaching they heard against the word of God (Acts 17:10-11).

Whether you are a pastor, head of a department, house fellowship leader, or parent, if you have been placed as a spiritual leader over some people, it is your responsibility to ensure that the devil does not devour them.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Oppositions are different from persecutions. Persecution happens when someone attacks you because you are a Christian, while oppositions happen when you are attacked in a bid to stop you from doing whatever you have planned to do for God. Many people have set out to do things for God and were faced with opposition that made them back down. Some of them remained fervent Christians, but the opposition discouraged them from going ahead to do what was in their hearts for God. If we allow oppositions to stop us from doing what God has called us to do, many souls will perish in hell, and the devil will oppress people because the Christians are quiet. Therefore, rather than allow oppositions to stop you, you must learn to keep going despite them.

One man who faced opposition and kept going until the work was done was Nehemiah. He had set out to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, despite the fact that it was not going to be an easy task – then, opposition arose. If you study the book of Nehemiah, you will see the three major tools of opposition that the devil employs against Christians: mockery (Nehemiah 4:3), threats (Nehemiah 4:7- and discouragement (Nehemiah 4:10). He can raise people to mock you for what you are doing, but you must ignore them. Some people will threaten you with many things or even death if you continue to do what you are doing for God. However, you should not be afraid because God will take care of such people for you. Lastly, the devil can bring discouragement by making the work more difficult. He can do it by ensuring the unavailability of resources or some people’s refusal to cooperate with you. Whether the devil brings one or all of these things your way, if God has given you a vision, you must never back down.

Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.
Nehemiah 4:9

Nehemiah’s default response to all the opposition he faced was to pray. Prayer is not a last resort but your primary defence against oppositions. As you do all that you humanly can to forestall oppositions, put your trust in God. Place your ears on His chest to hear the next instruction He will give you; after all, you are doing His work. The people opposing you are actually opposing Him, so let Him do the fighting while you keep working.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

As long as this world remains, every true child of God will face persecution because the devil is the prince of this world (John 14:30). You must therefore be well-equipped to handle persecutions so that they won’t derail you from your race to heaven.

The devil persecutes you as a child of God because he wants you to deny Christ, and the only way to pass through persecution without denying Christ is to be well-grounded in Him. Therefore, before persecutions come and before the devil launches his attacks, you must be well-rooted in Christ by studying God’s word, memorising it, and praying without ceasing. The depth of a tree’s root determines if it will remain standing during a storm. If you don’t want persecution to bring you down, you must be deeply rooted in God’s word. Those who fail in times of persecution are those who were not as intimate with Christ as they should have been before persecution came.

Long ago, there was a missionary in a foreign land where Christians were being persecuted. On her wedding day, the local police raided the missionary base and arrested her in her wedding dress. She kissed the handcuffs they put on her and said, “Lord, I didn’t know you were so jealous over me and wouldn’t let me marry anyone else. How beautiful is your wedding ring to me!” She was so in love with Christ that her wedding being invaded meant nothing to her; she saw the handcuffs as wedding rings. That is the kind of intimacy you must have with Christ so as not to deny Him in the face of persecution.

When people compromise after facing a little persecution, like not being promoted at work because of their Christian values, I shake my head because I know that they were never really rooted in Christ. Christians who are truly rooted in Christ rejoice when they are persecuted because they know they are blessed (Matthew 5:10-12). They see persecution as a sign that they are a terror to the devil, and that excites them; they want to cause him even more terror. Persecution drives them to do more for God against the kingdom of darkness. In Acts 5:41, the disciples rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Jesus’ name. In (1 Peter 4:13), we are told to rejoice that we are partakers of Christ’s sufferings. Don’t let persecution weigh you down; let it become fuel for you to do more for God.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

I discussed handling failure properly yesterday. However, handling failure properly is not the only factor that can affect success in life; there is also the need to learn how to handle success correctly. Many people have eventually failed in life because they did not know how to handle their success.

In 1957, a man won £75,000 in a lottery. In those days, you could buy a flat in London for a tiny fraction of that sum. One day in the early 1980s, somewhere in Western Nigeria, I saw a man that was wearing rags, sitting beside a building that had collapsed in half. I asked the fellow who was driving me, “Who is that fellow?” He said, “That is the man who won £75,000 in 1957.” The man had great prosperity but did not know how to handle it, so he ended up poor. A popular proverb inspired by Proverbs 21:20 says that a fool and his prosperity are soon separated. If a fellow is not wise enough to handle success, it can turn out to be the beginning of great failure.

Don’t get over-excited when success comes. Many people start rejoicing and partying after a victory, forgetting that the devil never relaxes. What actually happens is that the devil becomes more determined to bring such people down. Don’t miss prayer meetings or your personal devotion because you are celebrating a victory. Yes, you won the battle, but the enemy is not dead yet; he is still roaming, looking for whom to devour (1 Peter 5:. You should increase your commitment to God after every victory and not the other way around.

The devil knows that after successes, people are likely to relax, so he usually attacks them during such periods. After David killed Goliath, he raised King Saul up against him. It was after Elijah called down fire from heaven that Jezebel swore to kill him (1 Kings 19:1-3). When you attain success in a particular thing, you must not relax. You must remain alert and ready for battle. Don’t let success distract you from the end goal that God has called you to achieve.

One great success we had in RCCG was a programme called Lekki ‘98, where over six million people gathered in one place to worship God. Immediately after that programme, we doubled our missionary efforts, sending missionaries to new territories. We immediately started planning the next edition of the programme, and today, we have held much bigger programmes because we doubled our efforts and did not relax after our success.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The way people respond to failures determines whether they will eventually live in victory or not. Failure is not as bad as people paint it to be; it does not signify the end, but it is a signal to try again using a different method. Almost all scientific breakthroughs result from failure. If most scientists became sad and stopped after the first time they failed, they would never have had breakthroughs. Every successful person you see is a product of many failures. If you try today and fail, rise up and try again in a different way. As long as you are sure that what you are doing is in line with the will of God, don’t give up on it; keep trying until you succeed.

In Judges 20:18-35, the Israelites asked God if they should go to battle against the Benjamites and if they would win. God told them to fight and that they would win. However, when they got to the battlefield, they were defeated. The question on their minds would have been, “Did God deceive us?” They refused to give up, got themselves together, and went to ask God again if they should return to battle the Benjamites. God told them to go, and once again, the Benjamites defeated them. At that point, giving up would have seemed reasonable; they had already lost 40,000 men, and it looked as if God, the only one they could trust, was deceiving them. If they had given up, they would have been commended for trying, but they did not give up. They went back to God, and this time, they fasted and gave offerings to God. They asked again if they should return to fight the Benjamites, and God said that they should go. They went, and as you read in the story, they used a different strategy and were able to defeat the Benjamites. Don’t give up; your breakthrough is probably just around the corner. Try once again.

When next you encounter failure, ask yourself, “Why is God letting me go through this?” If you have been consistent with your prayer life and walk with God, ask, “What can I learn from this experience? What is God trying to teach me with this failure? Are there other strategies to achieve my goal?” If you answer these questions sincerely, you will draw valuable lessons that will help you achieve success the next time you try.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There was a man in my village called Kaka, who was the leader of the occultists. It was generally believed that he single-handedly protected the town from all forms of evil, and he was feared by all. When we wanted to open the RCCG parish in my village, the place we found suitable for a rally was close to Kaka’s house. Surprisingly, when an altar call was made during the rally, Kaka came out of his house to give his life to Christ – he had been listening to the worship session and sermon. Later that night, he came to my Father in the Lord, Pa Josiah Akindayomi, and said, “The way you spoke about your God, He must be really powerful.” Papa said, “Very, very powerful.” Kaka said, “In that case, now that I have given my life to Jesus, I would need help with an idol in my house called shigidi. It is an effigy that has been in my family for generations and that we send out at night when we want to kill someone. It is so dangerous that we must not sleep until it returns, and we must kill a ram to welcome it. Upon its return, it will step on the ram’s blood and drink it. Thereafter, it will return to its position and become just like an ordinary effigy. I am afraid of the trouble that might follow if I throw shigidi away.”

Papa decided to send me over to remove the effigy. I went to Kaka’s house with the pastor of our parish in Ilesha and a church worker that I thought to be a strong prayer warrior. When Kaka saw me, he felt sorry for me, “Ahhh, Adeboye’s son, you are the one they sent?” When my colleagues saw shigidi, they ran out of the house, leaving me alone with the effigy. It was smeared with blood and adorned with all manner of charms. I said a prayer, broke the effigy into pieces, removed the shrine in front of the house, and threw everything into a river. After three weeks, I returned to my village and visited Kaka at home. When he saw me, he shouted, “You are still alive?!” That was 1975. I am still alive almost five decades after.

Beloved, the devil and his demons are under the feet of even the smallest child of God. You are a part of the body of Christ, and Ephesians 1:21 says that Christ is seated far above all principality and powers.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Certain things can contaminate our prayers, such that they weaken our prayers and their possible results. One such thing is speaking words that are against what we are praying for. When you pray about your country, for example, and later join others in saying that nothing good can come out of that same country, you have contaminated your prayer already.

Don’t pray for God to give life to something and then turn around to speak death into that same thing; you will not get results from such a prayer. Joel 3:10 says, “Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’” In other words, if you have prayed for strength, but can still see traces of weakness in you, at that point, say, “I am strong”. As your words go in line with your prayers, they will remain potent enough to deliver the results you seek. When you pray about something, it is important that your words and thoughts agree with your prayer. This way, you will not stand in the way of the answer to your prayer.

Another thing that contaminates prayers is a lack of concentration while praying. This is when people pray, but their hearts are not in the prayer. Rather, their minds are occupied with other things. The devil knows that if your mind is distracted while praying, your prayer will not carry as much power as it should. Therefore, whenever you decide to pray, he will begin to remind you of things you are yet to do and places that you ought to have gone to. His plan is to occupy your mind with other things so that you will become distracted and lose your concentration as you pray. Whenever you find your mind wandering while praying, write down the things that you ought to have done, put the note aside, and continue to pray. Train your mind to keep all distractions away, and don’t give room for them to disturb your connection to God in the place of prayer. With time, as you continually train your mind, you will get good at focusing on only God while praying.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today, I will conclude my discussion on some of the factors that can extinguish prayers. Some people get almost everything right in the place of prayer but miss out on just one thing – faith. James 1:6 says that believers should always make their requests to God in faith without having any doubts in their hearts. The next verse directly addresses anyone who makes requests from God without faith:

For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
James 1:7

When you pray without faith, that prayer is dead on arrival.

Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Believers cannot expect God to answer their prayers when He is not pleased with them. God requires that you have faith in Him when you ask Him for something. Luke 17:6 says that even if your faith is as little as a mustard seed, God will use it to move mountains on your behalf. If your child asks you for food and then looks at you in such a way that says, “I know you will not give me; you probably don’t even have it,” you will feel insulted. This is what we do when we ask God for things that we are not really expecting Him to give to us.

When you come to God in faith, you come knowing without a doubt that what you have asked of Him is already done. You bring your requests with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6) because you know that your prayer has already been answered. The moment you pray, your hands are already stretched out to God, expecting what you asked for. This is how to pray; it is the kind of prayer that God cannot ignore. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the evidence of things not seen. In other words, when you have faith, even though you have not seen what you are asking for, you will be so sure that you have it that you can present it in court as evidence to any judge, telling them, “See what I have.”

For a long time, I tried by my own power to increase my faith, but it was difficult. Then, I read Mark 9:24, where a man cried to Jesus, saying that he believes but that Jesus should help his unbelief. In minutes, what Jesus was asking him to believe for was done. I also started praying that God should help my faith, and I have seen my faith grow tremendously since then. If you pray the same prayer, Jesus will give your faith a boost, and you will be able to overcome unbelief.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, I discussed how sin can extinguish our prayers. Another prayer extinguisher is – not praying according to God’s will. You must understand that God has a plan for your life and wants to bring you to an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11). This means that God already has an expectation about you before you were born. Thus, everything He does, including the prayers He answers, is to bring you to that expected end. You cannot pray for God to do something against His will and expect Him to do it.

Many people have said, “I have been asking God for a particular thing for so long without an answer.” Where they are probably getting it wrong is that they are not checking if what they are asking for aligns with God’s will or if it’s just for their selfish lusts (James 4:3). Asking for something outside God’s will is asking amiss; such prayers are extinguished, and God will not grant such requests. This is why you must be intimate with the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:26 says that we do not know how to pray because, many-a-times, we don’t know the will of the Father. However, the Holy Spirit can help you to pray exactly what the will of the Father is, and then your prayers will be attended to.

When you pray in tongues, you are praying very accurate prayers because the Holy Spirit is praying the will of the Father through you. Imagine that you are friends with the son of the chairman of a company, and you apply for a job in that company, using an application letter that was written by a director in the company, and having the chairman’s son, who is also a director, as your referee. When your application gets to the chairman’s table, he will not be able to ignore it because it will contain the exact things that relate to the organisation and the role you are applying for, and also because his son is your referee. You will surely have the job because your application will contain exactly what is on the chairman’s mind, and you have a good relationship with his son.

If you don’t want your prayers extinguished, let the Holy Spirit pray through you as you maintain an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ in whose name you are praying. The best prayer points are the ones generated for you by the Holy Spirit.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When you spray a fire extinguisher over fire, it dies off. In the same vein, certain things act as prayer extinguishers. If such things exist in our lives, we will not get answers to our prayers because the prayers will die off before they get to God.

Sin is the first thing that extinguishes our prayers the moment they leave our lips. David said in Psalm 66:18:

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

If sin is in your heart, it will extinguish your prayer, and God will not hear it, even if you scream aloud while praying. In Isaiah 59:1-2, the Bible says that sin creates such a huge distance between God and us that He cannot hear us nor can His hand reach us.

Even when a genuine man of God prays for a sinner, the prayer will be extinguished by the sins of that sinner unless he or she repents. Many years ago, when the congregation was not as large as it is now, and I could lay hands on everyone, a woman came to one of our Holy Ghost Services. She had been married for many years without a child and had been told that I have a special anointing for making the barren fruitful. I laid hands on her during the service, and she fell under the anointing. However, months after that, she still did not conceive. She came back complaining, “They told me that when you lay hands on me, I will fall, and then I will become fruitful, but up to now, there is still no child”. I thought she needed an extra dose of the anointing and was about to pray for her again when God told me, “Son, ask her how many boyfriends she has.” It was hard to ask her the question, but I managed to mumble the words. She replied that she had six boyfriends. I exclaimed, “Ah! And you expect my God to answer your prayer?” Yes, I prayed for her and laid hands on her, but her sin extinguished the prayers.

Check yourself before you pray to be sure that you don’t have any sin in your heart because if sin is present, your prayers will go to waste. Repent of the sin first, then you can be sure that God will answer your prayers. The only prayer that God will hear from a sinner is the prayer of repentance from sin because as long as sin exists in his or her life, God will not hear him or her (Isaiah 59:1-2).
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?
Numbers 23:8

The Scripture above tells us that it is impossible to curse people that have been blessed by God. Such persons can never be affected by curses that are pronounced on them. No matter how hard he tries, there is absolutely nothing the devil can do to curse the fellow that God has blessed. Romans 8:31 says:

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

God is Almighty; if He is on your side, there is no force on the earth, underneath the earth, or in any other place that can work against you. The Bible says that you have been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20) and that price is the blood of Jesus. This means that no one can touch you because you are God’s possession. Through the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus flowing inside you, you are irreversibly blessed. God has blessed you with all heavenly blessings, and there is no man that can curse you! Numbers 23:23 says:

Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

In Proverbs 26:2, you are reassured that:

As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

If someone decides to curse you without a genuine cause, do not be moved and do not be afraid. Goliath cursed David and, in a few minutes, his head was in David’s hands. In fact, any fellow who tries to curse you needs your prayers because God’s word says in Genesis 12:3:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: …

What is that genuine cause that can make a curse active even on a believer? It is sin. After Balaam could not curse the people of Israel because they were blessed, they were tricked into sleeping with strange women, and before they knew it, they were cursed with diseases. If you want to be blessed beyond curses, after surrendering your life to Jesus, you must ensure that you live holy. A life without Jesus does not have protection against any curse. As long as you remain a child of God, you are untouchable to curses.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

I am quite sure that you are aware that over two thousand years ago, Jesus walked the face of the earth as a human being like you and me. However, are you deeply aware of the exact reason for which He came to the earth in human form? John 1:14 says:

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

What was Jesus’ purpose for coming to the world as a man? Let us examine some of the answers that the Bible gives us concerning this:

1. He came to call sinners to repentance. Matthew 9:13 says, “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

2. He came to give eternal life. John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

3. He came to heal, deliver and set the captives free. Luke 4:18 says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”

4. To destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3: says, “… For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

Considering these scriptural references about Jesus’ purpose for coming into this world, has His coming had any impact on your life? If you cannot answer this question clearly, then you need to invite Jesus into your life, even if you have done so before. Surrender your life completely to Him today and make a commitment to live holy going forward. This way, the purpose of Jesus coming to the earth as a man will be fulfilled in your life, and you will live above sicknesses, diseases, captivity, and the works of the devil. You will enjoy abundant and eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When you consider the word ‘husband,’ you will see its similarity with the word ‘husbandry’. Husbandry has to do with caring for and cultivating crops and livestock. This gives us insight into the duty of husbands; they are to tend their wives like gardens for their potential to blossom. They should nurture their potential and make them more beautiful and fruitful than when they met them. People admire some men’s wives because those men tend their gardens well. The way a man tends his garden is a reflection of the kind of person he is.

Gardens bring beauty to homes; if a garden is fruitful, then the family will be nourished with healthy fruits, vegetables, and fresh air. However, if a garden is filled with thorns, a lot of pain and parasites will exist in that home. Many married men who are always miserable and sad often complain about their wives not making them happy. Their wives can’t make them happy when they are sad and miserable; it is only what they receive that they can give. If you’re a husband, what you should put in your wife is what you want. Take care of her and make her happy; she will make you happy too. Before you buy a shirt for yourself, buy a dress for her. If you call her a witch and maltreat her, know that you made her one because when you were courting, you were calling her an angel. It is after she entered your house that she became a witch.

Another definition of husbandry, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is the management and conservation of resources. Many husbands don’t seem to see anything special in their wives; those are bad husbands. A good husband will see the potentials in his wife in the form of her talents and giftings and will help her manage them properly to yield the best results. As a husband, in managing your wife’s resources, you should also manage her excesses and shortcomings; that is the aspect of weeding in husbandry. Those shortcomings will try to hinder her talents from blossoming, but it is your duty to identify them and reduce them to the barest minimum.

A good husband does not complain about his wife’s shortcomings; he manages them to ensure they don’t stop her gifts from blossoming. A good husband will patiently work with his wife to overcome her shortcomings and enhance her talents. The great women out there also have their shortcomings, but thank God they have good husbands. They are great achievers notwithstanding and are making their husbands proud today.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, I started teaching on the importance of living by God’s principles. Today, I will conclude the teaching.

I thank God for His grace, but I also thank Him for making me study mathematics before I became born again. If there is anything mathematics teaches you, it is that certain formulas will only work if you meet certain conditions. For example, in a right-angled triangle, the sum of the squares of two sides will be equal to the square of the hypotenuse. This will always be true, whether on Earth or on the moon. It is foolish for anyone to try to get certain results without first meeting the necessary conditions. Even Jesus Christ had to be baptised by John the Baptist to fulfil one of the conditions for success in His assignment on Earth (Matthew 3:15).

Do you know that there are many people whose breakthroughs have already been released by God, but they are yet to experience it? The door they have been asking God to open was already opened a long time ago; God is only waiting for them to do what they need to do to walk in. Unfortunately, many people are wasting the answers to their prayers just because they refuse to obey simple principles. I have always told my children, even though the Almighty God had said that Sarah would give birth to a son for Abraham and had quickened their dead bodies according to Romans 4:19, if Abraham had not been intimate with her, Isaac would never have been born. Many miracles have already been released by God to many of His children, but instead of them to do what they need to do to get the miracle, they are being mis-spiritual. By mis-spiritual, I mean spirituality in the wrong direction. Can you imagine a couple looking for the fruit of the womb not being intimate with each other, but observing prayer vigils daily? Or a student who has not studied at all, praying all night to pass an exam that is slated for 7am in the morning?

True spirituality does not suspend the senses; in fact, true spirituality births wisdom because wisdom is a gift of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:.

I pray for you today, mis-spirituality will not be your portion, in Jesus’ name. The devil will not make you blind to the principles that will birth your breakthrough. You will be inspired to do everything that you need to do to receive all that the Lord has provided for you this season, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Many Christians complain that things are not going well for them even though it has been a while since they confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. The question I often ask such Christians is, “Since you received Jesus Christ into your life, have you been living by His principles?” It is a good thing to have Jesus in your life, however, you must ensure that you also live by His principles if you want to experience positive changes in all aspects of your life.

No matter how spiritual you are, certain principles must be applied for certain things to work in your life. For example, the Bible says that he that does not work should not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). No matter how prayerful you are, if you are lazy, you may not escape poverty (Proverbs 6:10-11).

Shortly after I became born again, tapes of many pastors teaching the power of positive confession were circulating around the Christian community. They would say things like, “You will become whomever you say you are. Just confess good; say what you want to see in your life.” Although this message is correct, many took it the wrong way. Lazy Christians continued being lazy, while the uneducated ones did not pursue education to enhance their ability to earn. They all just kept confessing, “I am rich, I am not poor,” “I am a landlord, I will never beg,” and so on, but nothing changed in their lives.

If you want change, you must adopt the principles of God. One of His principles is in Luke 6:38; if you don’t sow seeds, you shouldn’t expect a harvest. Being stingy and yet praying for God to bless you is like being a farmer who did not plant any seed but who goes to his farm every morning to pray that yams should grow there. During the season of harvest, when he digs the ground to get yams, he will find nothing there because he planted nothing.

Some other principles of God which I will like to mention are: Do unto others what you want them to do to you (Matthew 7:12), exercise control over your mouth (Psalm 141:3) and your appetite (Proverbs 23:1-3), let others praise you, don’t praise yourself (Proverbs 27:2), always do things in steps, start small and grow from there (Zechariah 4:10), whatever you embark on, ensure that you plan properly for it to be achieved successfully (Luke 14:28). These and many more are principles of life that may not necessarily lead you to hell if they are not practised, but will definitely help you to live a better life on earth if they are.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Miracles happen when God suspends one or more laws of nature. For example, when Jesus walked on water, He suspended the law of gravity. Many times, it is difficult to explain a miracle to someone who does not know God because you will be trying to explain how a law of nature suddenly lost its effect. The good news, however, is that it does not matter what the world may say; my Daddy is the miracle-working God, and miracles happen when He steps into a matter.

In 2 Kings 6:1-7, when the sons of the prophets were cutting wood so they could build a bigger dwelling place for themselves, the axe head that one of them was using fell into the water, and he cried to Elisha. The young man cried because he knew that, according to the law of nature, when a heavy metal like an axe head drops in the water, it will sink to the bottom. He also knew that no one amongst them could swim to the bottom of the water to pick up the axe head. He thought he was finished, but thankfully, he called on a representative of the Miracle Worker on Earth for help. The moment the Miracle Worker was introduced to the situation, hope came. All Elisha did was to simply reverse the law of nature. He put a little stick into the water, it went to the bottom of the river, and the heavy axe head swam to the surface. The Miracle Worker will reverse any law of nature to bring hope to every hopeless situation in your life or around you today, in Jesus’ name.

Do you need a miracle? Are you in a situation where you know that the only way out is if God intervenes? All you need to do is cry out to Him today. Don’t try to work things out on your own; take out time to cry to Him until you hear a word from Him. Doctors are helpless when faced with incurable diseases, but with The Great Physician, no disease is incurable. If the body part is so damaged that it cannot be repaired, He will simply replace it because He is the manufacturer. Some financial situations are so terrible that the best finance consultants cannot solve them, but my God can bring money out of the mouth of a fish to solve financial problems.

Beloved, call on Him today and let Him work a miracle in your life.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.