₦airaland Forum

From Matthew 11:28-30, we see that when God beckons on you, it is an invitation to rest.

There is a difference between hard labour and other types of work. God expects you to work. (2 Thessalonians 3:10) says that if you don’t work, you are not to eat. However, labourers, especially those who labour at menial jobs work from sunrise to sundown. At the end of the day, they earn just enough money to keep body and soul together. I decree that you will no longer struggle before you eat, in Jesus’ name.

One of the reasons you are reading this now is because God beckoned on you. When He beckons, He is saying, “Destiny is calling you.” In Exodus 3:1-10, Moses was at the backside of the desert when he suddenly saw a bush that was burning but was not consumed. He said, “I will turn aside and see.” That was a beckoning, and by the time He responded, God told him that his days of staying in the wilderness were over, and it was now time to fulfil his destiny. In Mark 3:13-15, Jesus went to the top of a mountain and beckoned to those He desired and they came unto Him. Those people (except Judas Iscariot) later became the Apostles we know today.

The first thing you are to do when He beckons is to take up His yoke, in other words, make His desire your concern, and pursue the things He pursues. When you think of the greatest thing that God pursues, it is souls. If you really want to fulfil your destiny, you will take up the yoke of winning souls, and you will begin to see how He arranges things for you to fulfil your destiny.

My major pursuit was to become the youngest Vice Chancellor in Africa, but God beckoned on me, and I took up His yoke of winning souls. That is how I got to fulfil my destiny and now Vice Chancellors call me Daddy. You have no idea what your true destiny is until you start winning souls and doing the work of God.

Just in case you think soul winning is only for evangelists and pastors, please study Matthew 28:19-20 carefully. All followers of Jesus Christ are commissioned to make disciples of all the nations, and this includes you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Mark 10:13-16, they brought children to Jesus, and as He carried them, He also blessed them. When God carries a person, He also blesses the fellow as we see in Mark 10:16.

When you read the account of the Israelites leaving Egypt, you will see clearly that all the forces in heaven, on earth, and underneath the earth were working together to favour them. This is what happens when God carries you; you become blessed by Him.

Exodus 19:4 says:
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

Some people don’t know the real meaning of ‘God bless you.’ After you have said, “God bless you,” they still say, “Pray for me.” Being blessed by God is a summon to all the forces in heaven, on earth, and underneath the earth to assist you to succeed – that is the meaning of ‘God bless you.’ Believe it or not, even demons will be summoned to assist you when God is carrying you.

A few years ago, I was in an African nation for a programme. As we were heading to the venue of the crusade, we encountered a serious traffic jam. Even though we got a Police escort to help clear the traffic on the way to the venue, we were still stuck as nobody was obeying the Police escort. All of a sudden, a madman came to the front of the car we were in and began to clear the way. The man was so mad that if you looked into his eyes, you could see devils dancing in them. He cleared the way until we got to the end of the traffic jam. When the road was free, he came to the side of the car I was sitting in and bowed. When God carries you, everything will work together in your favour.

If you want God to carry you, you must become like a child. In Mark 10:13-16, there were many adults around, but the only ones Jesus carried were the children. If you are not like a child, you will be too heavy for Him to carry. This means that you must be humble, obey His word, not hold grudges, and have faith in Him like a child that believes whatever his father tells him.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

If you want the results of a particular man, copy that man. When Elijah left the earth and dropped his mantle, Elisha took it, rolled it together as his father did, went to River Jordan as his father did, smote the river as his father did, and called on the God of his father to answer him like He answered his father – and God answered! Apostle Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). The secrets of people’s successes lie in the things they do daily. If you can find those things and do them, you will also produce similar results. Romans 2:11 says:

For there is no respect of persons with God.

Our God is not partial; the success He gave to that fellow you admire, He can give to you too if you will do the needful. Genesis 4:6-7 says:

And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

God was essentially telling Cain that if he had done what Abel did, he would have gotten the same result he got.

How many books about successful people have you read? How many of them have you watched documentaries about? How many autobiographies have you studied? These are the ways to know what these people did that got them the results they got. In a book, you can learn within one hour things that took a man 70 years to learn. Once you have learnt them, you just have to put them to use and you will get the same results; there’s no need for trial and error. This is one of the beauties of the Scriptures and I believe it is the reason the stories of great prophets of the past were recorded for us to read. James 5:10 says:

Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

You are to take the men of God that have gone before as examples to follow, just as Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 11:1. You should however note that Jesus Christ is the ultimate model to be transformed and conformed unto. Yes, the children of God are encouraged to learn from those that have gone ahead, but such emulation must be in line with God’s will and directives.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Jeremiah 23:1-8, you will see God’s mind about follow-up; you will see that He doesn’t take follow-up lightly at all. He said pastors, and this includes anyone God has put in charge of others, should feed the sheep. When they fail to do so, they are invariably scattering the sheep, and there are woes in store for such persons. He said in verses 7 and 8 that He doesn’t just want to be known as the God who brought His children out of Egypt (the bondage of the enemy) but as the Lord who brought His children out of bondage and brought them to their own land (Zion or Heaven).

God is never satisfied with you just preaching to sinners. Beyond encouraging them to confess their sins and give their lives to Christ, He is more interested in you following them up until they see Him in glory. Learn from the apostles of old; after Paul had won souls in a place, he would stay with them for a while to ensure that they become grounded in the faith (Acts 18:11, Acts 19:10, Acts 28:29-32). Even after he left, he would keep sending them letters to strengthen them even more. Those are the origins of the letters that we read in the Scriptures today and which strengthen us to date. He also often made out time to visit them so that they may be further established (Romans 1:11). In Acts 15:36, the Bible says:

And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the LORD, and see how they do.

Relating this to modern times, after you have won a soul, get their contact details so that you can keep calling them and sending text messages to strengthen them. You must also visit them to see how they are faring. Visit the local assembly they attend to see if they have joined the workforce there and if they are fervently serving God. Give them the opportunity to ask you questions about their walk with God. New converts always have lots of questions to ask; be there to answer their questions and explain the Scriptures to them. Don’t leave them to become prey to the devil; follow them up so well until they are fully established in Christ.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

If God is ever going to use you to bring a harvest of souls into His kingdom, then you must be hardworking. This is because harvesting requires way more labour than sowing. Farmers will tell you that sowing is hard work; if you are going to sow on a large farm, you are going to work hard. However, reaping involves more hard work. This is because there is a time limit for harvesting. If you don’t harvest within the time limit, the fruits will rot. The harvest of souls that God has prepared in this end-time revival is great and we have limited time. I pray that God will give you the grace to bring in the harvest, in Jesus’ name.

When Peter cast his net into the sea in Luke 5:1-10, he did it alone without help, but when the harvest came, he realised that he needed more effort to bring it in. Proverbs 12:27 says that the slothful man will not roast the meat he caught while hunting. Do you know what that means? It takes hard work to hunt and harder work to prepare what was caught so it will not rot. God is not going to waste His anointing on a man who will win souls and not follow them up.

Soul winning is an easier job than following up new converts till they mature in Christ. This is why some people prefer the work of the evangelist to that of a pastor. The evangelist gets on a podium, preaches the gospel of salvation, makes an altar call, and leaves thereafter, leaving the pastor to do the hard work of training the new converts, setting them in systems that will help them grow spiritually, answering all their questions, and teaching them regularly until they can stand on their feet. In a time of revival, you must not only be ready to do the work of an evangelist but that of a pastor as well. John 15:16 says that you must win souls and ensure that they abide, implying that they never return to the devil.

As painful as it is, giving birth is still easier than taking care of a baby until adulthood. Parents will tell you that the work of a mother over her children never ends. Are you ready to nurture new converts till they make it to heaven? If your answer is yes, then God will really find you useful for His work.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In 2 Timothy 2:15-21, the various kinds of vessels that can be found in the house of a great man were identified. It says that you will find some vessels unto honour and some unto dishonour. This may make you wonder, why does the great man keep vessels unto dishonour in his house, why doesn’t he just throw them away? This is the same question that many ask when they consider the body of Christ today. They say, “Why does God not kill all fake pastors? Why does He not expose all those who are using His name to amass wealth and fame for themselves?” The answer to that is in Matthew 13:24-30. Verses 29 and 30 in particular say:

But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Our God does not act rashly; everything He does is for a reason. There are some fake pastors that some genuine Christians believe to be real. If God destroys such pastors, it could affect the faith of those who are following them. As such, the tares would have been gathered but the wheat would have unfortunately been rooted up with them. Don’t worry about the mixed multitude in the church, God is coming to separate the wheat from the tares and when He does, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

If you claim to be a Christian, yet you are bringing dishonour to the Lord, you better change now. If such a person refuses to change, that is not a problem. The fire that will consume him or her is getting hotter every day. Such a person can keep enjoying the benefits of being called a Christian for now, however, God is coming with the reward for such deceivers, and on that day, He will take no apologies.

Beloved, if you are one of such deceivers, it is in your best interest to genuinely repent now, forsake your sinful ways, and truly surrender your life to Jesus Christ. It is the only way to escape the judgment that is coming for all those that are vessels unto dishonour.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

John 1:12 says:
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

If you have received Christ into your heart and you believe in His name, not just in word, but in deeds such that everyone around you can see from your lifestyle that you are a believer in Christ, then you qualify to be called a child of God.

On the other hand, the Bible says that the devil has his own children too. Jesus Christ was addressing the Pharisees and He said to them in John 8:44:

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

The question then is, how do we tell a child of God apart from a child of the devil? The Bible answers this question aptly. For example, the Bible says that people who love the world do not have the love of God in them (1 John 2:15-16). This clearly implies that such people cannot be described as God’s children. When you see someone who loves material things more than God, that fellow does not have the love of God in him and hence cannot be His child if he or she remains in that state.

A child of God on the other hand is one who is born of the Spirit and focuses on spiritual things rather than worldly things. John 3:3-7 says that anyone who wants to enter into the kingdom of God must be born of the Spirit, and of course, only the children of God can enter into His kingdom. This is why you must be born again.

Beloved, when you are born again, you are born of the Spirit, and you truly become a child of God. When you are born of the Spirit, you will begin to live by the Spirit and be led by Him. You will begin to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit as written in Galatians 5:22-23. Remember, it is the kind of fruit you produce that will determine who your father truly is.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Revival is here and only those who are prepared will be a part of it. God is doing a new thing and He wants to use willing vessels, not just pastors and men of God, but also ordinary people that are filled with the Holy Ghost. If you have not yet been baptized in the Holy Ghost, you better ask Him for the baptism. A big revival is here, and He doesn’t want to use the pastors alone; he wants to use all His willing and available children. The question, however, is, are you fit for the Master’s use?

There are two major things you need to be fit for the Master’s use in this revival. They are stated in 2 Timothy 2:21:

If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

The first thing you must do is purge yourself of any iniquity – you must be sanctified. Sanctification comes through constant study and dependence on the word of God (John 17:17).

Secondly, you must be prepared to work. God cannot use you if you are lazy, He only uses people that are prepared to work hard. Proverbs 18:9 says:

He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.

God describes the lazy man as being just the same as a waster. God won’t waste His anointing on you if you are lazy. When He gives you the anointing, it is not the time to relax but the time to work even harder.

Beloved, it takes hard work to become a champion, but it takes even harder work to remain one. When you are struggling to become a champion, you stretch yourself and train vigorously. Once you become one, you will suddenly realise that from that moment, everybody starts coming after your crown to take it from you. Clearly, it is better not to have become a champion than to be an ex-champion while still at one’s prime. The pain of the ex-champion is not the bruises on his body, it is the shame of walking in the streets and seeing those that had been hailing him as a champion suddenly turn their faces away from him.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Acts 4:1-13, Peter confronted the Sadducees, defending his faith and the name of Jesus Christ. However, was Peter this bold before he was baptised in the Holy Spirit? The simple answer is, “NO”.

In Matthew 14:28-32, Peter was described as being ‘afraid’ after he saw the boisterousness of the wind. In John 18:16-27, when servants recognised him as one of Jesus’ followers, he denied it and swore that he did not know Jesus. This same Peter was now the one confronting Sadducees.

In Acts 4:10, the one who denied Jesus Christ said, “The same Jesus you crucified, God has raised Him from the dead, and it is through Him that this lame man is standing before you whole.” He added that there is no other name given unto men by which anybody can be saved but by Jesus – he was now standing solidly behind Jesus Christ. The Peter after Pentecost was different from the Peter before Pentecost. He was now bold and could speak about Jesus Christ to anyone regardless of their status in the society.

Acts 4:13 says that the boldness of Peter and John was beheld by the people around them. In other words, their boldness became very obvious. What was responsible for this kind of boldness? The answer to this question can be found in Acts 4:8:

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel…

Being filled with the Holy Ghost is the antidote for fear. If fear has been holding you back from fulfilling your destiny, it is because you are not yet filled with the Holy Ghost. When you become filled with the Holy Ghost, you will look at the biggest obstacle in front of you and smile because you know that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4).

Whenever fear tries to creep into your heart, start speaking in the Holy Ghost. Speak in tongues to the point where you ascend above the level of that fear. The Holy Spirit gives you the boldness to surmount any obstacle that may be standing in your path, no matter how big it may appear. Pray in the Holy Ghost every day, study your Bible, and have the Holy Ghost lead you. Make the Holy Ghost your companion at all times, and fear will become a stranger to you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Acts 3:1 starts with ‘Now’. This implies that after the incident that happened before, something new is happening. Acts 2 tells us about the day of Pentecost and how everyone at the upper room was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now then refers to something that was about to happen in the lives of Peter and John as a result of that incident. Clearly, that was the working of miracles.

When you get baptised in the Holy Ghost, you carry divine power within you. You have the power to work miracles, heal the sick and raise the dead. Unfortunately, many Christians become baptised and are satisfied with just speaking in tongues. You received more than that when you were baptised in the Holy Spirit; you received the power to go out and do the work of God.

Many years ago, I prayed to God for many weeks for power to do His work, but He didn’t respond. At last, one night, He told me to keep quiet and began to ask me some questions. “Have you been baptised in the Holy Ghost?” I said, “Yes”. He said, “What is written in Acts 1:8?” I knew it offhand, so I quoted it to Him. Then He said, “You received power after your baptism in the Holy Ghost.” I responded, “Lord, but I don’t feel powerful.” He replied, “Did I say the just shall live by feelings?”

The next morning, a sick child was brought to me for prayers. I was afraid, but then I remembered the conversation I had with God the previous night, so I laid my hands on the child and prayed. Not long after, I felt the child go numb, and I thought to myself, “Has this child died?” When I finished praying and opened my eyes, I realised that the child was sound asleep. The mother said that the child had not slept in days, but now, she was sure that God had healed her child.

Go out and use the power that God has already given to you, if not, it will remain dormant. When I realised that I had been empowered by God, I was hungry to keep laying hands on the sick. That is how I’ve gotten to the stage where many great miracles happen through me today. I have been using the power God gave me since I was baptised in the Holy Spirit and it has been growing since then.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, I explained that a son can become so close to the Father that he also becomes a friend of the Father. This is true, however, among friends, there are favourites. From the moment I learnt that it is possible to be a favourite of God, someone from whom God will never hide anything, I decided to get so close to God that I will become His favourite. Do you also want to be God’s favourite? You must note that it will cost you something.

Many times, when we talk about how a Christian should behave, dress, and act, some people will say, “God is not that difficult, He is a God of love. Where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty.” I always say, “We shouldn’t quarrel about it, live your life the way you want to live it. It all depends on how close you want to be to God.”

For example, if all you want in life is to become an Office Assistant, then you don’t need to attend a higher institution. All you need to know is how to run basic errands, and you will achieve your goal. However, if you want to become a professor, then you will enrol in tertiary institution and burn the midnight oil. I want to be a professor for God, I want to get close to Him, and I want to be His favourite. I don’t want to be just a servant of God, I don’t want to be just a son, I don’t want to be just a friend, I want to be a favourite, and by the grace of God, that is what you will be also, even though it is going to come at a cost.

Becoming one of God’s favourites will cost you your time. Those who become God’s favourites spend more time with God than they spend with anyone or anything else. Becoming God’s favourite will also cost you your appetite. You must be ready to fast like no man’s business if you want to draw closer to God than majority of others ever will. It will also cost you material things because you must hate the things of this world and prioritise the kingdom of God. James 4:4 says friendship with the world is enmity with God. Matthew 6:24 further says that you must choose between God and mammon. You must reject mammon to become close to God. Are you willing to pay the price to become God’s favourite? I am.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There are many categories of children and I will be discussing some of them today. The first type I will look at are the ones referred to as ‘prodigal’ like we have in Luke 15:11-24. By the grace of God, I will never become a prodigal son, in Jesus’ name. I’ll encourage you to say the same prayer for yourself.

When God blesses me, I will not squander His blessings; I will use them for His work. Some people believe that the only way you can show that God is blessing you is by showing off: wearing golden shoes and clothes, and walking as if you own the whole world. These are the attributes of people that are referred to as prodigal sons, and I have made up my mind never to become such. What about you?

Another category of children that the Bible talks about are those that bring grief to their fathers. The Bible says that a foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him (Proverbs 17:25). I have equally made up my mind never to be one of such, in Jesus’ name. Psalm 14:1 says that the fool is one who says that there is no God, and it goes on further to say that a fool is a corrupt person. I acknowledge God in all that I do, and I refuse to be corrupt. I will never cause my Father in heaven grief. What about you?

If you go to Matthew 3:16-17 however, the Bible talks of ‘My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’ This is the kind of son I want to be. I want to be the kind of son that God will look down on and say, “This one, I love him.” You can be that kind of friend too. God has had sons who became friends over the ages. Abraham was a friend of God (Isaiah 41:, and I am sure He is also saying, “Adeboye is my friend.”

You can tell who will become a beloved child of God as well as His friend by how much time they are willing to spend in His presence. The kind of sons that yearn for a close fellowship with God and desire to please Him at all times are the ones who don’t just read the Bible but also study and meditate on it daily so as to know God more and draw closer to Him.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

A son dwells in the house of God, he does not come and go, he dwells in the presence of his Father. Many people come and go from the presence of God. The sons are the ones that abide in His presence; wherever they go, they ensure that His presence is with them.

How do you remain in God’s presence? First, you don’t joke with your quiet time with Him. That is when it is just you and Him in the morning, conversing. That is when you study your Bible and pray. You should start your day with Him and become addicted to speaking to Him every morning. Beyond that, don’t make any decision without first asking for His input. You should ask Him for which outfit to wear, which route to take on your way to work, and so on. When you live basically on His voice, you are dwelling in His presence continually. Psalm 10:4 says that those who don’t have God in all their thoughts are proud and wicked.

God must be in all your thoughts. He must be the motivation behind everything you do. Everything you do must be done for His glory. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says:

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

A son is always seeking to glorify his Father’s name. He never wants to do anything that will make people say, “And you call yourself a child of God.” As such, he lives conscious of whose he is. He doesn’t do anything that is outside the leading of his Father because he never wants to leave the presence of his Father.

When you read Mark 15:34-37, you will see that it was when Jesus saw that the Father had forsaken Him that He gave up the ghost. He could bear all the pain as long as God was with Him, but the moment He saw that He was no longer in the presence of His Father, He gave up the ghost. That is how addicted you must be to God’s presence. If you are a son of God, abiding in His presence must be like breathing to you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, I distinguished clearly between being a son of God and being a servant of God. I am quite sure that you choose to become a son of God rather than a servant. How then can you become a son of God?

Being a son of God requires that you fulfil some obligations. A son is a major stakeholder in whatever the father does. He takes whatever belongs to the father as his because he is not a servant but a son. John 10:12 says that the hireling (servant) will not give his life for the sheep, but Jesus, the Son of God, gave his life for the sheep. In the same vein, you must be ready to spend and be spent for the salvation of men on earth. Nothing must be too hard for you to do so that people will not perish in hell. A servant can see souls perishing and turn the other way, but not a son; a son will go out and preach the gospel to them until they give their lives to Christ and remain steadfast in the Lord. If you are not an incurable soul winner, your sonship is in doubt.

A son resembles his father. It is only what he sees his father do that he does. That is why (1 John 3:9) says:

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

True sons of God hate sin. Don’t mind those who tell you that once you have given your life to Christ, you can go ahead and commit sin – they are liars! Real children of God have the seed of God in them, and that seed makes it difficult for them to sin. If they fall into sin, that seed begins to bite them, and they become very sorry for what they have done. They go back to their Father, like any genuine child will do, and plead for forgiveness. Nobody can keep committing sin on purpose and claim to be a son of God – that fellow is a liar. A child that does not resemble his father is called a bastard.

It was recorded that Jesus loved righteousness and hated iniquity (Hebrews 1:8-9). If you are truly a child of God, you will hate sin and love righteousness because of His seed within you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Whenever I insist that I am not a servant of God, but a son of God, some wonder if there’s a difference between children of God and servants of God. Simply put, a son of God has several advantages that a servant of God does not have.

In John 8:35, the Bible says that, unlike a servant, a son abides in the house forever. A servant can resign or be sacked, but a son cannot be sacked. When a father says, “I reject you as my child, I disown you,” it is a joke because his blood is running in the child; he can’t take the blood away. Hence, a child will always be in the house. The implications of this alone are many. Psalm 23:6, for example, says: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” The one who dwells in the house forever has the assurance that goodness and mercy shall follow him forever. Also, according to Psalm 91:1, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

A servant is always a visitor; he comes into the presence of the master when he is needed and goes out when he is not needed. A son, however, is a dweller; he stays in the house all the time. Furthermore, according to John 5:20, the son sees everything that the father does; the servant does not see everything his master does. There is beauty and joy in knowing what God is doing and being able to see ahead of time what God is going to do. For example, years ago, when problems were brewing, I told those close to me, “Trouble is coming, but at the end of it, somebody is going to laugh,” and so it happened because I have the privilege as a son to see what my Father is doing.

There are certain things that can happen to servants that will never happen to children. For example, as good as Job was, God called him “My servant,” little wonder God allowed Satan to experiment with him (Job 1:8-12). My Father will never permit the enemy to experiment with my health, resources or anything that concerns me because I am His son.

Tomorrow, by His grace, I will commence a study on how to become a son of God.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The temple of God is much more than all I have discussed in this series so far. In fact, if I want to call God’s temple any particular name, I will probably call it the house of praise and power.

In 2 Chronicles 5:13-14, you will discover why David said:

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Psalm 122:1

The temple is a house of praise. Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of Israel, and we saw a manifestation of this in 2 Chronicles 5:13-14. The temple is also the house of thanksgiving because our Bible reading passage today also says that they were thanking God too and not just praising Him (2 Chronicles 5:13). In fact, David says in Psalm 100:4 that you should enter God’s gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. As praise and thanksgiving go on, His glory fills the temple powerfully. So, when you go into the temple, you are actually going into God’s glory. That glory rubs off on you, and everywhere you go after that, you just begin to experience supernatural goodness and mercy.

God’s temple is also a house where goodness and mercy abound. In Psalm 23:6, the Bible says:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

There is a song I love so much, and it goes thus:

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life (2x).
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and I will feast at the table set for me.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life (2x).”

Beloved, I encourage you to sing this song prophetically, and if you do not know the song, you can just speak the words into your life. You must, however, go beyond merely singing or speaking the words, you must live it. Dwelling in the house of the Lord precedes feasting at the table set before you. Whether the enemy likes it or not, when you are in the house of the Lord praising and thanking Him, a table will be set before you, and nothing can tamper with it!
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

God’s temple is also a house of grace. Hebrews 4:16 calls the temple the throne of grace. It is the place where you can go and obtain grace and mercy in times of need.

You may be in need of strength and grace to overcome a particular situation; the good news is that the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that God’s grace is sufficient for you, and His strength is made perfect in your weakness. You receive this sufficient grace when you come into His temple. People who go to the occult for power know that they have to keep visiting the shrine regularly to renew their powers. The devil only tries to copy God’s methods; we who own the original must also always go to the temple of God to keep renewing our strength and receive fresh grace to surmount challenges that we may be faced with daily.

There are people who, when they have committed a sin, avoid going to church because they feel dirty – that is wrong. At that point, they need the mercy of God and where they can get it is at His throne of grace. That is the time they need to be in church the most. When you get to His throne of grace, go in humility. Even if you are a worker, don’t try to keep up an appearance; tell God you have erred and that you are sincerely sorry. Tell Him to please have mercy on you.

Many people go to the temple and keep up appearances like the Pharisee in Luke 18:10-14, while some others go in like the Publican in the same passage. This is why many people keep going to church and are yet filled with so much junk within them. Even if you are the pastor of the church, when you are before the throne of grace and in need of mercy, don’t put up a false appearance of piety; go before God pleading for mercy.

The devil knows that you can always access mercy and grace in the presence of God, so he will do everything he can to discourage you from coming unto Him. He used to have that privilege of being in God’s presence, but he lost it when iniquity was found in him (Ezekiel 28:14-16), and of course, he does not want you to enjoy what he has lost.

Beloved, don’t let anything keep you away from coming into God’s presence to access his mercy and grace.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

God’s temple is also the house of knowledge; it is a house of education. In Psalm 27:4, David made it clear:

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

In the house of the Lord, you can behold the beauty of the Almighty God. However, David went on to say that he not only wants to behold God’s beauty, but he also wants to be there to enquire of Him. In other words, if you have any questions for God, bring them to His temple; come and ask Him in the temple.

When you come into His temple, you will receive revelations; He will begin to tell you certain things that you will not learn at home. This is why you must always go to church with your writing materials. It is a place to go and learn new things and get new perspectives. There have been many times that I was confused about a matter, but while listening to the word of God, light will begin to shine on the matter, and I will receive revelations on how to resolve the situation. This is why the psalmist said:

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Psalm 119:105.

The house of God is a place where you go to hear the word of God, and in that word is great knowledge and wisdom that you cannot get anywhere else. So, whether you need revelation for business, family issues, ministry, health or any other field of life, you will get it in the house of God. Those who regularly go to a church where the undiluted word of God is taught don’t stay confused for long.

You may, however, then ask, “How do I know if the word being taught in my church is genuine and undiluted?” You will have to emulate the Berean Christians who always returned to their homes to search the Scriptures to verify what they had been taught in church (Acts 17:10-11).

As long as you remain in the environment where the undiluted and genuine word of God is preached, knowledge and wisdom will be available to you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Beyond being the house of prayer and healing, God’s temple is also the house of sacrifice. Anyone who wants to sacrifice anything has to take his sacrifice to a designated place. In Yoruba land, where I come from, when they want to sacrifice to the devil, they take the sacrifice to the crossroad, and when they want to sacrifice to witches and wizards, they put it behind an Iroko tree. For us who give sacrifices to the Most High God, He said in (2 Chronicles 7:12) that He has chosen His temple as the place where He will accept our sacrifices. Furthermore, Deuteronomy 16:16 says that you should not come empty-handed when you are coming to the temple of God because He wants to accept your sacrifice.

A friend of mine used to say whenever he was taking offerings, “If you have none, borrow from your neighbour so that when the basket is going round, God will see you putting something in.” Then he would add, “It will not be long before you too will lend to others.” God takes giving a sacrifice in His temple so seriously that He always observes what people drop in the offering basket. In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus watched the offerings that people gave and weighed which ones were sacrifices and which were not. This tells you clearly that God is keen on accepting sacrifices in His temple.

Some people say that because they don’t trust their pastor, they will rather give to the poor than give in church. First, I don’t understand why they have a pastor they believe to be a thief. Secondly, it is good to give to the poor; Proverbs 19:17 says that when you give to the poor, you are indirectly giving to God. However, you must never neglect giving your sacrifices in the house of God itself. If somebody says he likes me and gives my children money whenever he sees them by the roadside, but he refuses to give when he sees that there is a need in my family, despite knowing the way to my house and having money to give, I will begin to suspect such a fellow. It will be clear that he isn’t giving to my children because he likes me but for other reasons. This might be because he just wants to be seen in public as a giver or that he wants to gain some undue influence over my children. It’s the same when you claim to give to the poor in the name of God but never give in the house of God itself.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The temple is not just the house of prayer; it is also the house of healing. In Matthew 21:14, after Jesus chased all those who were buying and selling in the temple, saying, “My house shall be called the house of prayer,” the Bible says that the sick came unto Him in the temple and were healed.

In Matthew 12:9-13, Jesus went into the synagogue and met a man with a withered hand. There were some scholars who felt that people shouldn’t be healed on sabbath days. When they asked if He would heal the man with a withered hand, He told the man to stretch his hand, and he was healed. Note that the man did not ask to be prayed for; just seeing a case like that in the temple compelled Jesus to heal him. Some people have challenged me before, saying: “You people who claim that you have the power to heal, why don’t you go to the hospital and heal everybody there? Why do they have to come to the church to be healed?” Truly, God can heal anywhere, but He specifically heals in the temple. There are many people who, by just stepping foot on Redemption City, got their healings. Nobody prayed for them; the mere fact that they had entered God’s temple brought them their healing.

Going to God’s temple regularly is like going to the doctor regularly. Even when you are feeling well, and you go to see him, he will examine you, and whatever strange thing he finds in your body, he will deal with it. There are people that are carrying one sickness or the other in their bodies that they don’t even know about yet. When you go to church, and the power of God falls on you, such sicknesses disappear because you have come to a place of healing. This is why I wonder if people know what they are missing when they decide to stay at home and watch a church service on TV. If you are far from the place of worship and God sees that you sincerely will like to attend physically but cannot be there, that is a different case. However, when you decide to stay at home and connect to a service that you could have easily attended, you cannot get the same atmosphere as those who are in the service physically.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Many people don’t know why they need to go to church or any place of fellowship at all. They think to themselves, “Why can’t we just sit down at home? After all, God is everywhere.” So, for the next few days, I intend to spend some time looking at what God’s temple really is.

God’s temple is the house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7), and before anyone says that this is just in the Old Testament, Jesus Himself, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrew 12:2), further validated it in Matthew 21:12-13.

We go to the One who hears prayers (Psalm 65:2) in the house He has dedicated and assigned as the house of prayer. I know you can pray anywhere, and God will hear you, but there is a difference when you pray in the place that was originally assigned as the place of prayer. In such a place, the atmosphere is already charged, and there are heavenly protocols in place already to ensure that prayers said there are answered. When a place has been dedicated as a house of prayer, there is tremendous power there.

For many years when I lived in the house that is now known as Open Heavens House, I had a small room that I called my prayer room. It is a room that was assigned as a place to pray and meet with God. As a result of the constant prayers that went on there for long hours, a portal between heaven and earth was created there, just like the one we see in Genesis 28:10-17. Many people had prayed for certain situations without results, however, when they entered that room to pray, testimonies followed. For example, there have been records of people entering the prayer room with glaring physical defects, and by the time they would come out, the Lord would have touched them, and the defect would have disappeared. What made the difference was not so much in the words they said but that they prayed in a place that had become a portal between heaven and earth.

When a place has been dedicated as a place of prayer, and intense prayers have been going on there for many years, you better believe that such a place is saturated with immense power. You can pray on your own every day, but in addition to that, every time you have the opportunity to go to church to pray, please don’t miss it.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Friendship is a very sensitive topic to discuss, especially in these last days when many have become lovers of themselves (2 Timothy 3:1-2). In spite of this, however, everybody still needs good friends. Some friends can be closer to you than a brother – you need one or two of such friends around you. Such friends will challenge you to do more for God and can tell you the truth when everyone else is afraid to do so. They are people that you can have as a shoulder to lean on when the chips are down.

Acts 3:1 says that Peter and John went to the temple. You may ask yourself, after the Holy Ghost descended on 120 people in Acts 2, why is the Bible bringing only these two to our notice? The reason, I believe, is that they were friends who were part of Jesus’ inner circle. They were three in that circle – Peter, James and John. Out of these three, Peter and John had a close relationship even before Jesus died. If you read John 13:21-26, at the last supper, when Jesus said somebody was going to betray Him without telling them who it was, Peter beckoned to John and told him to ask Jesus. That is an example of a friend you can ask to pray for you concerning a matter you are not clear about, and he will hear from God for you.

After Jesus died and rose from the dead, the link between them obviously grew stronger. In John 20:1-8, when Mary Magdalene discovered that Jesus had risen and came to tell the apostles, two of the apostles ran to the tomb; they were Peter and John. It’s interesting to note that John is the one who wrote the story, and he stressed that he outran Peter and got to the tomb first – in fact, he repeated it twice! I always wonder, “Why are you telling us that you beat him so emphatically?” There seemed to be a friendly competition as to who loved Jesus more between them.

You need friends you can have healthy competitions with on who can pray the longest, who reads more Scriptures, who wins more souls and so on. The link between Peter and John was strong, and it rested on their relationship with Jesus. You need friends whose link with you is majorly based on the link you both have with Jesus Christ.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

One thing about being one of God’s best friends is that you must be ready to be pruned. God’s best friends are fruit-bearers; that is why He said in John 15:16 that if you bear fruits and those fruits abide, you can ask anything of Him, and He will do it.

God will prune you till you are genuinely humble. He will prune you till you are completely dead to the flesh. Once He marks you as someone to bring closer to Himself, He will start pruning you. This is where many people drop off His friends list because they cannot endure His pruning.

Many years ago, I was at an airport, and I was to declare all the money that I had with me. I only told the attendant about the notes and left out the coins. She told me to show her my purse, and I was embarrassed because I had to admit I had lied. The lady let it go, but I heard God’s voice at that moment, “You are special to me, so I will not condone the smallest of lies from you.” If you really want to be one of God’s best friends, you must be ready to meet His high standards.

Nobody can get close to God without going through intense discipline. You must be willing to submit to His discipline if you want to become His best friend. If God disciplines a person for doing something wrong and the person does not desist from committing that particular sin, He will eventually leave such a person as He cannot become friends with unrepentant people.

Once in a while, God tests His best friends. He takes them through a period of trials to prune them and make them perfect, wanting nothing (James 1:3-4). Only a few people go through these trials and come out on the other side perfect. Only a few people can submit to these tests without compromising their faith. Are you one of those people?

Beloved, it is true that divine pruning can be a painful exercise, so you must spend quality time in God’s presence daily to build your spiritual strength. If you hold on and do not give up, you will not only become more fruitful, but you will also become one of God’s best friends.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Many people want to be one of God’s best friends so that whenever they ask Him for something, He will do it for them immediately. This is surely one of the benefits of being one of God’s best friends, however, those who really become such care more about Him than they care about themselves.

The priorities of a man are known from his prayer points. If your prayers are always selfish, God will not make you one of His best friends. In fact, He will not answer your prayers when they are born out of your lusts (James 4:3).

Those who will be one of God’s best friends are people who pray God’s prayers and want to partner with Him to establish His will on earth. They are people who say regularly, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” When such people go to pray, they don’t go with preconceived prayer points at all times. They make a habit of going into His presence with a burden to hear from Him about what He wants to be done on earth and to pray those things into existence.

Every now and then, God needs someone to stand in the gap for His people, He needs someone to pray about a particular situation so that He can have the legal right to step into that situation. If you are an intercessor, always willing to pray God’s will into existence, He will draw you closer to Himself. He will tell you things that He usually doesn’t tell others and show you sides of Himself that others don’t see – He will even reveal His burdens to you! Only those who are willing to share in God’s burdens can become one of His best friends.

In Matthew 26:36-39, Jesus’ best friends saw His sorrow; they saw Him in His time of distress at the garden of Gethsemane when He was crying for God to take away the cup from Him and more importantly, to let His will be done. Jesus was the one who invited them to watch with Him; they were His prayer partners.

Can God invite you to watch with Him over a nation, His church or any matter at that? Can you forget all your prayer points and just keep praying for the will of God to be fulfilled like Jesus did in the garden of Gethsemane? Do you care more about God than you care about yourself?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

From yesterday’s discussion, I believe you must be very interested in becoming one of God’s best friends. If you truly are, you must study those who have been best friends with Him and do what they did. One major thing you will notice about such people is a great level of faith.

Faith is a major attribute that is required of anyone who wants to become God’s friend. Those who will be one of God’s best friends will not only have faith but have so much faith that they will be doing things that do not seem to make sense according to human understanding.

Romans 4:18 says that Abraham hoped against hope – that is a great level of faith! He not only hoped in his heart, but it also showed in his action when he told everyone to start calling himself and his wife ‘father of nations’ and ‘mother of nations’ respectively, even when they were old and didn’t have a child. Romans 4:19 says that he did not consider his body that it was dead; he believed God like a fool.

Can you have that much faith in God that you will begin to say and do things that would make people who do not understand God’s ways wonder if you are normal? Will you see the word of God as more real and potent than anything else, including natural laws? When God sees this kind of faith in someone, He draws the fellow closer to Himself.

Early in my Christian walk, I learned during a Sunday School class that faith can be likened to when a child jumps from a high surface at his father’s instruction without being scared of falling because he knows that his father will catch him. When I heard that, I started jumping without being scared of falling because I know from His word that He will catch me. I noticed that every time I made audacious statements or moves of faith based on God’s word, He drew me closer to Himself.

You can have a close relationship with God if you can just be audacious with your faith. If you can hope against hope and become a fool to others because of what you so obsessively believe in the word of God, not only will you see His word come to pass in your life, but you will also discover that He has brought you close to Himself to make you one of His best friends.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

It may surprise you to know that God has best friends. God’s best friends are so close to Him that they know things about Him that no one else knows. They are people with an experiential knowledge of Him that most people don’t have. Such people don’t like to talk deeply about how much of God they know because those who haven’t gotten that close to Him will misunderstand them.

Abraham was one of God’s best friends. He was so close to God that God said He could not do anything significant on earth without first informing him (Genesis 18:17). Moses was also one of God’s best friends. He was so close to God that God Himself testified in Numbers 12:8 that He spoke to Moses mouth to mouth and that he beholds His similitude which is translated as ‘form’ in modern English. John the Beloved was another man who was clearly one of God’s best friends. Of all the people on earth, Jesus decided to tell him all the things that will happen in the end time (Revelation 1:1).

All these people had such a close relationship with God that they saw sides of Him that others never saw. They heard things from Him that they never told others and made Him change His mind on several occasions (Genesis 18:24-32, Exodus 32:9-14). Probably the most obvious example is reflected in Jesus’ relationship with Peter, James and John while He was on earth. Because they were with the Lord Jesus Christ on the mount of transfiguration, they saw His glory (Matthew 17:1-2). When He went to raise Jairus’ daughter, He allowed only the three of them to follow Him, and so they saw His resurrection power (Mark 5:35-37). They were so close to Him that they saw Him in His time of distress at the garden of Gethsemane when He was crying for God to take away the cup from Him (Matthew 26:36-39). Jesus invited them specially to watch with Him. These three experienced special moments with Jesus Christ that no one else did.

It indeed is a special honour and privilege to be one of God’s best friends. I believe every sincere believer should desire to be in God’s special inner circle of friends, and so I will be discussing what it takes to become one of God’s best friends in the next couple of days.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today, I will be discussing how needful it is for men to also open a book of remembrance of God’s goodness so that they can give Him praise like the psalmist in Psalm 103:1-5.

Over the years, I have come to realise that many people easily forget the goodness of God to them. For example, when things are going fine, it is easy for a fellow to be full of praise for his or her Maker. However, when things are not going well, the same fellow may momentarily forget all that the Lord has done for him or her and immediately begin to complain. David also realised this tendency in men to forget what God has done for them quickly, hence the reminder he set for himself in Psalm 103:2.

After setting the reminder in Psalm 103:2 for himself, David went on to open the book of remembrance of God’s blessings upon his life and began to praise Him (Psalm 103:3-5). He praised God for forgiving his sins, for healing him, and for saving him from destruction. He went further to praise God for crowning him with loving kindness and tender mercies. David also praised God for satisfying him with good things and for renewing his strength like the eagle’s.

Beloved, it is very important that you always remember the goodness of the Lord upon your life. You were created in His image, and this is enough reason for you to thank Him at all times. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary for your sins and indeed the sins of the entire world is another major reason to be thankful to God at all times. You should thank Him always for saving you from the consequences of sin and all sorts of evil in the world today. Like David, you must give thanks to God for His lovingkindness and tender mercies. The Bible says that you would have been consumed if not for His tender mercies (Lamentations 3:22), so you owe your continued existence to Him.

I am sure that I can go on and on, and I still will not be able to exhaust the list of reasons you should praise God at all times. Beloved, open a book of remembrance of the Lord’s goodness over your life today and begin to praise Him.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, I mentioned some wonderful things that can happen to God’s children when He opens the book of remembrance in their favour. Today, I will progress in the discussion by looking at what happens to the enemies of God when He opens the book of remembrance concerning them.

In Exodus 17:8-13; 1 Samuel 15:1-2, the Amalekites attacked the Israelites for no just cause, and God recorded this evil act against them. He also promised to wipe them off from the face of the earth. Many years after, their past evil action against the children of Israel was brought to remembrance, and the Lord commanded Saul to wipe them off the face of the earth. I pray that a negative book of remembrance will never be opened to you, in Jesus’ name.

Beloved, a terrible book of remembrance was opened to all men because of the sin of the first man and woman in Genesis 3:19:

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

This terrible book of remembrance is re-echoed in Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23. Beloved, the only way to escape the consequences of this terrible book of remembrance that was written because of the disobedience of our first parents is found in the last part of Romans 6:23:

…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God has provided only one way of escape from this terrible book of remembrance, and that way is Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Jesus’ blood was shed on the cross at calvary to write off the consequences of this terrible book of remembrance for everyone who accepts Him as their Lord and Saviour. Beloved, if you have not truly surrendered your life to Jesus, there is no way you can escape the ultimate consequence of this terrible book of remembrance, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23). Surrender all to Jesus today and commit to living a holy life if you are yet to do so. Only then can you experience the mercy of God and have the book of life opened to you.

I declare that every evil book of remembrance concerning you shall be shut down permanently from today, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

I prophesy to you today that as you read this, a pleasant book of remembrance will be opened in your favour, in Jesus’ name. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the word remember means to be able to bring back a piece of information into your mind or to keep a piece of information in your memory. In Genesis 8:1, the Bible says that God remembered Noah. Ordinarily, one cannot imagine that God can be forgetful and not remember the family He put in an ark. Thus, when the Bible said that God remembered Noah, it could only mean that God was now paying attention to Noah’s situation. The same thing applied to Rachel in Genesis 30:22-23 where the Bible says:

And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and open her womb. And she conceived, and bare a son; and said God hath taken away my reproach:

The above scripture reveals another meaning of remembrance: the taking away of reproach by a higher power. When God remembers a barren woman, she conceives and becomes a mother of children, like in the case of Hannah in (1 Samuel 1:1-28). She had been constantly provoked and humiliated by her rival because of her barrenness, and it seemed like her case was hopeless. However, God remembered her and intervened in her situation when she cried out to Him in Shiloh. When she returned to Shiloh, she was carrying her testimony in her hands.

In Esther 6:1-11, God intervened in the case of Mordecai against his adversary, Haman. Mordecai and his niece, Esther, prayed, and there was a breakthrough. The king was unable to sleep, and he commanded that the record books be read to him. While this was being done, the good deed of Mordecai that had been forgotten was brought to remembrance. That could only have been God. Nehemiah understood the things that can happen when God remembers a fellow, and that was why he prayed that prayer in Nehemiah 13:14.

Beloved, I encourage you to ask that the Almighty God should open a book of pleasant remembrance for you this year. I join my faith with yours, and I pray that He will remember you for good all through this new year and beyond, in Jesus’ mighty name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today, I will conclude the discussion about God’s prophetic message to you from Isaiah 3:10 that says it shall be well with the righteous in this new year and beyond. God indeed desires that you should enjoy all-round wellness, and this includes recovering all that you might have lost to the enemy. I declare that you will recover all that you may have lost to the enemy, in Jesus’ name.

Our Father in heaven said in His words, “I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:” (Isaiah 45:2). In other words, the Lord is assuring us of His presence as we pass through this new year. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us an added assurance in John 16:33:

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

These infallible words in the Scriptures are an assurance to you that regardless of what you might have experienced in the last year, it shall be well with you in this new year.

Beloved, for it to be well with you this year, you must learn a lesson from 1 Samuel 30:1-8, 18-19. David consulted God before pursuing the enemy, and God assured him of victory. I encourage you to cultivate the habit of seeking divine direction this year as you go about all your lawful endeavours. David, even though He was an army General of high repute, did not rush into pursuing those who raided his camp while he was away. Instead, he consulted with his Commander-In-Chief, Jehovah-Nissi, for divine assurance. God told him to pursue after the invaders, and when he did, he recovered all that they had stolen from him.

Are there things you know that the devil has stolen from you? Are there opportunities you believe you have lost? Are there steps you ought to have taken but failed to, and you feel all is over? I want to assure you today that my God can help you recover all if you trust Him and surrender all to Him.

I declare once again that as you truly surrender all to Jesus and seek His guidance, you will recover all the losses you may have suffered, and it shall be well with you, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In continuation of the discussion about God’s declaration that it shall be well with the righteous (Isaiah 3:10), it is important to note that the state of a person’s health is another indicator of the fellow’s wellness. An individual that is always in and out of the hospital because of health challenges cannot say that it is truly well with him or her. I declare in the mighty name of Jesus that from today onward, you will begin to live in sound health.

The story in John 5:1-14 reveals the healing power of our Lord Jesus Christ and also shows that sin can be a source for sickness. This is the reason the Holy Spirit through the writer of Acts 10:38 said:

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

For you to live a sickness-free life in this new year, you must desist from any sin that might exist in your life. Confess them to God, ask for His forgiveness, and genuinely repent from them. If you do not genuinely repent of any sin that exists in your life, you are setting yourself up for great torment by the devil, as Jesus told the sick fellow in John 5:14.

Jesus gave a parable about putting new wine into old wine bottles in Luke 5:36-38. You cannot receive a miracle from God and remain in a sinful state; it is like putting new wine in an old wine bottle. As Jesus warned in His parable, such a person will surely be destroyed.

In John 5:1-14, Jesus pronounced healing on the sick fellow and, after a while, upon seeing him again, gave him a warning that he should not commit sin again. A lesson here for us to learn is that it is not enough for a fellow to receive his or her healing or any other miracle and go about committing sin afterwards. Such a fellow will definitely lose the healing or miracle. As I have pronounced healing and sound health upon you today, may the Lord keep you away from sin so that you will not lose your miracles to it, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today, I will continue to discuss God’s prophetic message to His children through His word in Isaiah 3:10 that says, “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.” It is God’s will that it should be well with you in all areas of your life, and this includes your finances. Unfortunately, many people still live in poverty because they have not surrendered all to God, Who is the only source of true prosperity that has no sorrow in it (Proverbs 10:22).

The Bible makes us understand that man became poor as a result of sin:

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread…
Genesis 3:17-19


Thankfully, Jesus Christ came to redeem mankind from sin and all its consequences, including poverty. The Bible says that Jesus became poor so that we may, through His poverty, become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). When a person surrenders his or her life to Jesus Christ, He will redeem that fellow from poverty and make him or her a partaker of the immeasurable riches of the Most High God.

My God is Jehovah Jireh (Genesis 22:13-14), meaning He is the Lord that provides. He is also El-Shaddai (Genesis 17:1, 35:11), meaning, He is the Almighty and All-sufficient One. He has immeasurable riches in His treasury. He declared that silver is His and gold belongs to Him (Haggai 2:. He also said, “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.” (Psalm 50:10). God’s original intention was for man to partake of and control His immeasurable riches, especially on the earth (Genesis 1:26-30).

Beloved, if you are not truly born again, surrender your life to Christ now, and He will become your provider. He will release the access to riches without sorrow to you and will give you the power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). It shall be well with your finances this year and beyond, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.