₦airaland Forum

Isaiah 6:1-3 tells us that the Almighty God, even though He is all-powerful, loving and glorious, wants to be known for one thing above all others and that is that He is holy. He is a holy God and that makes it impossible for Him to lie. Numbers 23:19 says God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent. Psalm 119:89 says His word is forever settled – in other words, you can rely on His word. Psalm 33:8-9 says once He speaks, it is done.

Why must we believe in Jesus Christ? John 14:6 says He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. If you believe in God the Father and God the Son, it automatically follows that you will believe in God the Holy Spirit. This is because John 15:26 says the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father. 2 Peter 1:20-21 says the Bible is written by the hands of men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. In other words, your Bible was written by the Holy Spirit, using the hands of men. Since 1 John 4:6 says the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, then it follows that everything you find in Scripture is the truth.

Unless you believe the entire Scripture, you are not even saved. John 1:11-12 says:
He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 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 are truly saved and you believe the entire Scripture, then you can go ahead and claim your healing because it is written in 1 Peter 2:24 that by His stripes we were healed – past tense. All that God is waiting for you to manifest divine health is simply your willingness to obey every word of His. You can also claim your deliverance if only you would believe. John 8:32 and 36 says you shall know the truth, the truth shall make you free and whosoever the Son sets free shall be free indeed. There are lots of blessings available to the believer. All you have to do is believe in God, believe in His word, and everything He has promised in the Bible will be yours.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There are some people who go beyond worrying about the basic things of life, to fearing the unknown. They worry about all they have disappearing because Proverbs 23:5 says riches can develop wings and fly away. The Almighty God says “Don’t worry at all” because He is the All-Sufficient God (Genesis 17:1). The One who gave you what you have now has much more in store for you. Philippians 4:19 says you should not worry because He will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory. Do you know how rich He is in glory? Isaiah 6:3 says the whole earth is full of His glory. He is extremely rich in glory and since He has promised to supply your needs according to His riches in glory, then you know that supply will never run dry. Proverbs 10:22 says: “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”

If your riches are from God, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about; otherwise, understand that money gotten from any other source outside God will come with sorrows.

You can be very rich and have many servants, but when you have grown old and feeble, you can call them and they may not answer. In fact, the Bible calls old age the evil days (Ecclesiastes 12:1-3). Some people, even though they are surrounded by friends, grandchildren, servants and everything they need, still worry. They worry about what is going to happen when they die. They worry about where they will spend eternity. In Psalm 37:25, David said, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have l not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” The same David told us in Psalm 34:10, “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.” He concluded Psalm 23 by saying that there is only one thing for you to look forward to if you are on the side of the Lord and that is goodness and mercy all the days of your life (verses 5 and 6). As long as you are on the side of the Lord, put your mind at rest, God will take care of you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In John 14:1, the words “Let not your heart be troubled” simply mean “Don’t worry”. Whenever the Bible says “Don’t worry” it means there is something that could cause a person some anxiety. Whenever you hear God say “Fear not” it means there is something frightening around. The Bible says in Matthew 6:31 that you should not worry because that is what the heathens do. If you really have faith in God, if you really believe He loves you, then you should not worry about anything. The God that feeds the birds in the air is capable of feeding you too. The God that clothes the lilies in the field so beautifully will clothe you too. If you are sure that He is your Father indeed, then you have no reason to worry. The son of a billionaire is never worried about what to eat or what to wear. Your Father is not just a billionaire – all the gold and silver in the world is His (Haggai 2:. He promised in John 14:14 that if you ask for anything in His name, He will give it to you; anything means ANYTHING.

While He has promised to give us whatever we ask of Him, we must however, not be lazy. I have discovered that many Christians are lazy. There are jobs I have given to Christians to do and they charge much higher than the normal fee, yet didn’t deliver on time and did the work shabbily. A similar job given to an unbeliever would not only cost less but would be thoroughly done and delivered within the agreed timeframe. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says God does not support laziness and anyone who is lazy should not eat. Anyone who calls himself or herself a Christian and is lazy is not a child of God, and so the Lord is not under any obligation to provide for him or her.

There are many people who sit around all day saying they haven’t found a job, that is why they are not working. What a lazy attitude! Get up and find something productive to do with your time. Look within you; there must be one skill you have that you can use to meet other people’s needs. If you remain focus and continue to improve yourself, you will definitely begin to have some income from it sooner or later. Years ago, there was a man who didn’t find a job so he started frying akara (bean cakes) by the road and within months, had bought two motorcycles and was earning income from them. God has promised to bless the work of your hands (Deuteronomy 28:12), but you must first show Him the work.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Whether you realise it or not, people are watching you and tagging you with an identity. The tag they give you is dependent on their observations about what you do regularly.

If the people around you are to be honest with you, there is something in particular that they know you for and you need to know what it is because that thing is likely a reflection of who you are. You may not like what they call you, but if everyone agrees that a tag or identity fits you, rather than fight them for tagging you that way, you can just take it as feedback and change your character.

It could be offensive when you can remember your positive attributes, but people seem to only pick out your negative attributes and tag you with it. Don’t be offended; God is only using them to sharpen you and make you a better person. Rather than complain, saying, “Can’t you see all my positive behaviours?” take the feedback and use it to improve yourself. Don’t mind the fact that they are not commenting on the things you thought were good about yourself; you just take whatever negative thing they say and turn it to positive so that you can be a better person.

Now, since people will most likely notice the negative traits of a person before the positives, if you want to be known for the latter, you have to do it so much that it will be impossible for them not to notice it. Improve on your strengths. I have always wanted to be known as the man constantly winning souls for God, so I do that at every opportunity and today, people know that if you give Pastor Adeboye the microphone just to greet the people, he is likely to tell them to give their lives to Christ. I love to praise God and I want people to know me for that, so I am not ashamed to carry my tambourine around with me everywhere I go.

Begin to repeatedly exhibit those good behaviours that you desire people to identify you with. Do it so much that if anybody mentions your name, that is the trait that will come to mind immediately.

The people mentioned in Hebrews 11:4-11 were known for their faith in God. What are you known for?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There is one thing that many people take for granted and that is the power of taking notes. I see many people who do not take notes while listening to sermons and I wonder if they know what they are missing.

There is a popular saying that the faintest pen is smarter than the sharpest brain. You miss a lot when you don’t take notes. My professor of Mathematics who got his PhD in the year 1928, told us that you have to read something ten times to remember it all. If you did not take notes, how will you read it over again in order to remember?

Some messages are not very easy to swallow at the time you are hearing them, but one day, the Holy Spirit may take you back to that note and then open it up to you on a deeper level. It is a matter of even more concern when ministers of the gospel who expect the congregation to be taking notes when they are preaching don’t take notes when other ministers are preaching. If you don’t have an actual notebook with you, at least you can use a note taking app on your smart phone or tablet. When a sermon is going on, the Holy Spirit is likely to whisper some things into your ears; they could be prophecies or instructions. You need to write those things down so that you don’t forget. Also, as the preacher is speaking, to help you practice what is being preached, you may need to write down one or two actions you will take in line with the sermon. You need to also write down aspects of the sermon or passages of the Bible that you would like to conduct deeper study on.

You must understand that these notes are treasures from which you and others coming after you can gain from. At the Open Heavens International Centre, there are some of my old sermon notes from over 30 years ago; they are treasures for many who visit the gallery to draw lessons from.

In Revelation 1:19, God told John to write the things he was seeing down as a treasure for us today to know what is to come in the end time. We also saw similar instances from Isaiah 30:8 and Jeremiah 30:1-2. Beloved, you should take notes whenever you are listening to or studying the Word of God.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Acts 27:21-25, when Paul was in a storm and had a visitation from an angel, he said to those around him:

And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.
Acts 27:22

I tell people that I have three kinds of children: tertiary children, secondary children and primary children. Generally, especially in Nigeria, most people call me Daddy. I’ll categorise such people as my tertiary children. A very notable leader of another religion once wrote me a letter and started the letter by saying, “Dear Daddy”. If a Pastor is Daddy to leaders of another religion, clearly, such people are tertiary children. I also have secondary children. These are General Overseers of other denominations who love me. Finally, I have primary children: these are members of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, and I always boast that the same divine insurance policy that covers me covers them. The same angelic protection I get is what they get too, just like Paul when he was in the storm we read about in Acts 27:21-25.

A few years ago, while in Zambia and on our way to a programme, a police escort rode ahead of us to help clear the traffic, but got hit by a car that crushed the motorcycle beyond repair and flung the rider across the road. He was picked up dead from the road. I felt terrible. I said, “My Daddy, this young man is with me; he is on my team, clearing traffic for me. Please save him”. If it were our own Church programme, I would have turned back, but I didn’t want to disappoint the people who invited me all the way from Nigeria, so I went on to the programme. All the while, my mind was on the policeman. After the programme, I enquired after the policeman and was told that he had come back to life – no broken bone or scratch on his body at all. That day, I saw clearly, God’s group insurance policy in action.

If the devil tries to touch any of your loved ones, call on God to cover them with the same insurance policy with which He covers you and He will answer you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Intimacy with God should be your greatest heart’s desire. The desire for power to work miracles must be secondary compared to the desire to be intimate with Him. Believe me honestly, if you focus on intimacy with God, signs and wonders will follow effortlessly.

In Luke 10:19-20, after Jesus had given His disciples authority over all the powers of the enemy, He told them not to rejoice in that fact, but rather that their names were written in Heaven. God prefers for you to be close to Him than that you have power to do His work.

In Luke 10:38-42, when Jesus went to visit the two sisters, Martha was occupied with serving Him, while Mary sat at His feet, spending quality time with Him. Martha thought she was doing the right thing and told Jesus to instruct her sister to join her, but He told her that Mary had done the one needful thing, which is to spend time at His feet. He said further, “Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Someone can take a position in Church away from you or even deprive you of the opportunity to serve God in a particular area, but no one can take your intimacy with God away from you. That is what you should guard more than anything else. According to Jesus Christ Himself, that is the one needful thing.

When Jesus was on the cross in great pain, and being mocked by people who hated Him, He kept hanging on to life. When He no longer felt the presence of God, at that point, even with all the pain, He cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46-50). He bore all the pain and shame, but could not bear to be separated from God.

Beloved, intimacy with God must be your priority above all else. God desires to build intimacy with His children. He is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24) and not just those who are seeking what they can get from Him.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Romans 8:29.

The scripture above tells us that God gave His only begotten Son to be crucified so that He could become the firstborn of many brethren. It is because God gave His only begotten Son to be crucified that there are Christians everywhere you go in the world today. Furthermore, Jesus stated this key to multiplication plainly in John 12:24 where He said, unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it will not bring forth much fruit.

If you really want to multiply, you must be willing to sacrifice the most precious thing that you already have. Proverbs 11:24 says when you withhold more than is necessary, you will tend to poverty, but when you scatter, you increase. Increase is good, but multiplicaton is better. When you give, you increase, but when you sacrifice, you multiply.

In Genesis 22:1-18, When God asked Abraham to surrender his only son and he was willing to do so, God said, ‘In blessing I will bless you.’ What Abraham did was significant, but what Isaac did was also trememdously significant. Isaac had only one life, yet did not struggle with Abraham. I believe it wouldn’t have been very difficult for him to escape if he wanted to, but he consented to being bound and placed on the altar like an animal. God therefore said He would bless Abraham who gave, but multiply Isaac who sacrificed.

I have sowed my personal cars for the sake of the gospel, and had to resort in public transport to get around. God responded to these sacrifices by blessing me with so many car gifts that at a point, I had to announce that people should stop giving me cars. Today, I travel in a Private jet He provided for me.

Beloved, sacrificial giving is the key to divine multiplication.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Philippians 2:10-11, the Bible says:

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus has dominion in heaven, on earth and underneath the earth. All knees only bow to a king when he is in his domain. The moment he enters another king’s domain, he becomes subject to the laws of that kingdom. For Jesus however, the domain given to Him is in heaven, on earth and underneath the earth. That is dominion so mighty that everywhere He goes, He is the King because all other kings must bow to Him. That is why He is the King of all kings.

Our Bible reading for today says Jesus has made us kings and priests unto God. Thus, for every child of God, there is a domain that is given to you to rule over. If you are in finance, you must rule the finance industry; if you are in entertainment, you must rule the entertainment industry. Whatever industry you are in, you are to rule as a king there.

Many people think it is only in ministry that you are to represent God – that is not true. You are to represent God in your profession as well. You are to be a king there, doing the will of God. We cannot leave these industries for other people to rule, and then complain that they are not doing things God’s way. We must get up and take our domains for God. To become the king of your industry, you must be the most hardworking person in that industry. You must be so good that you become a force to be reckoned with in your industry. This way, you will keep growing until you reach the top, until you become the king or queen of that industry. Only then would you have taken your domain for God.

Enough of mediocrity amongst Christians; enough of staying away from leadership positions because we consider the people vying for these leadership positions as ungodly. Remember, salt is required when food is tasteless, and light is only useful where there is darkness. You are the salt and light of the earth (Matthew 5:13-14). Go into the world and take over your territory.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Over the past two days we have discussed conduction and convection as methods of transferring anointing. Today, we will discuss a third method called ‘radiation’. Radiation in this context refers to when anointing is transferred through the air without any form of physical contact. This is the highest form of transferring of anointing.

We see the transfer of anointing by radiation in Acts 5:12-16 where Peter did not touch the sick at all; they were only laid on the floor and his shadow healed them. Anointing can be transferred from the preacher on the altar to someone sitting in the congregation or even through a television set, radio, phone and so on.

With the millions of people who attend our programmes in the Redemption Camp, it is impractical to lay hands on everyone, so God increased His anointing upon me and made it possible for me to just wave my hands from the altar and even people at the back of the auditorium would be healed. As the crowd grew even more, God increased the anointing so that it could be transferred through a combination of both radiation and conduction. Now when I wave my hands and pray on people’s handkerchiefs, those handkerchiefs become anointed and the Lord works miracles through them.

There was a fellow who came to one of our programmes during which, as led by the Lord, I said, “Whatever garment you are wearing today is anointed”. The following week, the man was going to work in his car and there was a crowd blocking his way, so he parked to find out what happened. He saw that a vehicle had knocked someone down and the fellow was dead. He suddenly remembered that the jacket he was wearing was the one he wore on the Holy Ghost night, so he pushed the people aside, took off his jacket, laid it on the dead man, and the fellow got up. Anointing was transferred to the cloth by radiation, then the cloth transferred the anointing to the dead fellow by conduction.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Another way by which the anointing can be transferred from an anointed person to someone who needs it is by convection. Just think of how car batteries are charged. Dead batteries absorb enough power to supply electricity to your car. In the same way, an anointed man or woman can pray on a handkerchief or oil, send it to the place where the anointing is needed, and miracles would begin to happen through that medium. This is because it has become charged with anointing. In Acts 19:11-12, we see a very good example of transfer of the anointing by convection. Handkerchiefs or aprons that had contacted anointing from the body of Paul were used to heal many sick people and to drive out evil spirits.

I remember the first time I transferred anointing by convection. I had just returned from a journey overseas and was tired. One of my daughters came to me asking that I come and pray for her grandmother, who had just been operated on, but because of old age, the wound refused to heal. I was too tired to go with her to the hospital, so I prayed on a handkerchief and gave it to her to lay it on her grandmother. She did as I said and by the following day, not only was the grandmother healed, the doctors could not even find the scar from the surgery. The handkerchief transferred the power of healing. You must note, however that this is a higher form of transfer of anointing than conduction.

If you have just been newly anointed, you may need to spend quality time praying on the medium through which you want to transfer the anointing. As you grow in the anointing, you would get to the point where you can just pray a simple prayer on the medium and it would become anointed. You can reach the point where the medium becomes charged just by touching it. In Acts 19:11-12, the Bible did not say that Apostle Paul prayed on the handkerchiefs and aprons; he only touched them while using them and they became charged, but that was when he had gotten to the point where God was doing special miracles by his hands.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Anointing, just like electricity, obeys certain natural laws and can be transferred by way of conduction.

Transfer of anoiting by conduction is when the anointed fellow has physical contact with the person who needs the anointing. This can be through a handshake or laying on of hands. For example, in Acts 3:1-8, the lame man at the Beautiful Gate didn’t walk until Peter grabbed him. The anointing flowed through Peter’s hands into the lame man. Jesus Christ said in Mark 16:18: “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover”. Jesus was saying that when we lay hands on the sick, the anointing in us will be transferred to them and the sickness will be gone. Sometimes, it may even be unintentional. For instance, the moment you step on a naked wire, knowingly or unknowingly, the electricity running through it will run through you too. Similarly sometimes, anointing can be transferred by conduction without both parties even trying to initiate the transfer. For example, in 2 Kings 13:20-21, when the dead man’s body accidentally fell into the grave of Elisha, the fellow came back to life.

A few years ago, I was abroad and decided to go shopping in a bookshop. A man came into the bookshop and made a joke about the large number of books I was buying. He stretched his hand to shake me and I shook his hand without trying to transfer anointing to him. Suddenly he shouted, “Who are you?” because the back pain he had been suffering from for many years suddenly disappeared as I shook his hand. That is transfer of anointing by conduction. Beloved, whenever you have the opportunity to shake hands with an anointed fellow or have them lay hands on you, don’t take it for granted. Your life can change just by that simple contact. This is not to say you should go around trying to touch every man or woman of God you see by force; be respectful and decent about it because the same anointing that heals can kill also, if grieved.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The power of God does not come cheap. I remember asking God to give me power to work miracles and He answered, “Start where Jesus started”. I was excited, thinking I would repeat Jesus’ first miracle until the Lord pointed Matthew 4:2 out to me — where Jesus started with forty days of fasting and prayers. If you want power from God Almighty, you must be ready to conquer your flesh. When you are ruled by the Spirit, not the flesh, then God can trust you with power. If you can get addicted to fasting, prayer, studying the Bible and holiness, then you are a candidate that God can consider for the possession of divine power. When I talk about holiness and living above sin as one of my major secrets of power, some people think I am only being legalistic, but when you read Hebrews 1:9, you will see that you must love righteousness and hate iniquity for God to anoint you.

Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27 that he put his body under subjection. He said also that he fasted often (2 Corinthians 11:27). What was the result of all these? Acts 19:11-12 says that when demons saw his handkerchiefs, they ran; that is power. When I am fasting and emphasising holiness everyday, I know what I am doing. I am seeing the results in my life so I will not stop. Several years ago, the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International invited me to preach on ‘The New Anointing’. By the time I had finished speaking, I had to sneak away into the car because everybody wanted to touch me. There was a man running after me with a handkerchief in his hand. Fortunately, he was able to reach the car and he rubbed his handkerchief on it before I drove off. Back at home, there was a little girl who was so demon-possessed that it took six men to hold her down. He arrived on the scene, touched the girl with the handkerchief and she became normal again.

If you want this type of power, you must be willing to pay the price. You must learn to put your flesh under subjection, and God will give you power to do great things for Him.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When Jesus died and rose again, God gave Him great influence such that at the mention of His name, every knee bows and every tongue confesses that He is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). When you read Philippians 2:5-8 and see how Jesus Christ humbled Himself, even to the point of dying on the cross, one thing you will see clearly there is meekness – that is, being so powerful yet acting so weak for the good of others and the fulfilment of God’s will. This is what led to God exalting Him so highly and giving Him such great influence. Matthew 5:5 says: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth”. It is the meek that will inherit the earth; they are the ones who will reign and have influence on the earth.

When you look at the story of Elisha closely, you will see that he was a successful farmer who willingly became the servant of a Prophet (1 Kings 19:19-21). Because he was willing to go so low for the fulfilment of God’s agenda, God gave him so much influence that even the king of the land called him “Father” (2 Kings 13:14).

I told my children a few years ago when they asked me to talk on The Pains and Gains of Change, that one of the gains is influence. When I joined the Redeemed Christian Church of God, God told me to submit to the General Superintendent who wasn’t even educated, and I did it with all joy. When my Father-in-the-Lord later died and I was to go into full time ministry, it wasn’t a joking matter. I had known the worst kind of poverty and then worked my way through to getting a doctorate degree. I may not have been wealthy, but at least I had enough money to take care of my family and pay my bills. Now God was calling me into full time ministry to head a Church with little to no income. I went through the pain and today, at least if only in Nigeria alone, I can introduce you to many people of influence; above all, I can introduce you to the King of kings.

Influence comes with meekness. If you can genuinely submit to authority and put away all your achievements, then God will give you authority and influence.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There are different types of promotions. When a human being promotes you, don’t rejoice too much because it is temporary. However, when God promotes you, you are really promoted. Even though you become the president of a country like America, you can only hold the position for a maximum of eight years. When man promotes, it is temporary; only God gives real promotion that no one can interfere with.

Since we know now that the only way to really make progress in life is to be promoted by God, then we need to find out His criteria for promotion. God promoted David from being a shepherd boy to becoming the king of Israel for one simple reason – David was sold out to the will of God (Acts 13:22). David was not a man to argue with God. With David, God’s wish was his command. The reason God gave Jesus a name that is above every other is what He said in John 4:34: “…My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work”.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus wished the cup of suffering for the sins of the world could be taken away from Him, but He said to God, “Not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). When Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, one of the prayer points He mentioned was: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

God wants His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Therefore, when He sees someone willing to do His will, He promotes that fellow to a position of authority. If God promotes somebody because the fellow started in humility and submission to Him, but along the line begins to disregard His instructions, that fellow would be demoted immediately. That is what happened to Saul in 1 Samuel 15:24-28. Saul started out well, but somewhere in-between, he preferred to please the people over doing God’s will. Some people have been asking God to promote them, but they have no regard for His will. Promotion will only come when you surrender completely to God’s will.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Following yesterday’s study, the second kind of fire God uses to purify His children is the fire of affliction. Let us take Job, for example. When you look at Job 30:1, you will be shocked to discover that Job had that little contamination called Pride. After he lost everything, he discovered that God has a way of making a fellow humble by fire. God used the fire of affliction to remove pride from his life.

Some people have asked me why I am always saying ‘Yes, Sir’ and ‘Yes, Ma’am’ to everybody. I wasn’t like that before. I was one of the proudest persons you could ever meet – even though I was poor, but God taught me a lesson that settled the issue of pride in my life forever. When I got born again, one of the greatest blessings I received from God early on was the ability to hear Him. I was also the interpreter for the General Superintendent of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. One day, for whatever reason, one of the Pastors came to me and asked me to interpret for him during his ministration. I felt offended. “Who does this man think he is? Doesn’t he know that I am the General Superintendent’s interpreter?” I interpreted quite all right, but I was very upset. After the Service, as I was going to my car, I heard God say clearly, “So you are now too big to interpret for my servant”. I stopped hearing from Him and everything became silent. As soon as the devil discovered that I was no longer hearing from God, he tormented me. I prayed, wept and fasted, but God was silent all through. Believe me, honestly, it is better not to have heard from God at all than for Him to stop speaking to you. God will not leave you alone, in Jesus’ name.

The period God stopped talking was a terrible time for me. In desperation, I told Him, “Lord, I make a covenant with You: if I am going to offend you tomorrow, take me away today”. And then He started to speak to me again. Thus, when you see me saying “Yes, Sir” to the driver or the cleaner, it is because fire burnt pride out of me.

If God is to use you, one way or another, He will have to Purify you because only those pure in heart will see Him on the last day.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When gold is found, it is in its raw state. It is undesirable and filled with impurities. Raw gold must first be purified with fire before it reaches its full potential and becomes useful. Ezekiel 36:24-26 says that after God has taken you out from the heathen, He will pass you through the process of purification. When you met Christ, you were in your raw state. God cannot leave you in that contaminated state because you can only be useful to Him after you’ve been purified. To purify you, He will need to introduce fire. There are two types of fire God usually uses to purify. The first one is the fire of the Holy Ghost.

Peter was one of the first people called by the Lord Jesus Christ in Mark 3:13-19, but he had one little problem: he was always afraid, and the devil discovered this weakness. That is why, on the day Jesus was arrested, the devil brought three people to test Peter, knowing that he would be too afraid to identify openly with Jesus. Indeed, Peter denied Jesus three times. The devil was happy that he had gotten Peter but thankfully, Jesus had prayed for him so he repented and found his way back to God. Now, if Peter was going to be useful to God, Jesus needed to do something about the fear contaminating his heart, so He purified him by fire. On the day of Pentecost, when the fire fell on all the disciples, Jesus was purifying them to make them useful. Immediately that fire sat on the head of Peter; it consumed the fear in him (Acts 2:1-47). The man who used to be afraid suddenly became very bold. The contamination was removed by the fire of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Ghost Baptism is a refining fire that takes away impurities in the life of a believer. If you are truly baptised – that is, after sanctification (setting oneself apart for God), then that fire will burn off all impurities in you. Note that a person may speak in tongues, but if he is not yet fully surrendered to Christ, if his heart is still after the things of this world, he cannot be purified. Sanctification must happen first before the fellow can truly be purified by the fire of the Holy Ghost.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

I would like to give a clear illustration of what we I discussed yesterday with the story of Moses. Numbers 12:3 describes Moses as the meekest man on earth, but he had the problem of anger. The devil discovered it in Exodus 2:11-12. Moses saw an Egyptian beating up an Israelite and because he couldn’t control his temper, Moses killed the man. Many years later, while leading the children of Israel to the Promised Land, the devil started hitting on this weak spot. In Exodus 14-15, we see the children of Israel complaining about different things; this was the devil throwing blows at Moses to get him angry, but he dodged all of them. However, in Exodus 17:1-7, when there was no water to drink and they turned to Moses to complain again, he said in verse 2, “Why are you chiding with me?” The devil said, “Good, blow number 1 has landed, he is now beginning to respond”. In Exodus 32:15-20, Moses had gone to collect the 10 commandments from God; by the time he returned, the children of Israel were already worshipping an idol. When he came and saw them worshipping the idol, the temper in him rose and he took the two tablets of commandments that God gave him and smashed them. At that point, the devil knew his punches were now landing.

In Numbers 11:10-15, when the children of Israel were complaining that they wanted meat, Moses turned to God and said, “God, why are you doing this to me? Am I the father of these people?” The devil said, “Good, now I have turned you against your supporter”. By the time we get to Numbers 20:2-13, the people murmured again about water, but this time, instead of speaking to the rock as God commanded, Moses was so angry that he hit it twice. God asked him to speak to the rock, but He decided to strike it. That was disobedience. At that point, the Almighty God said, “Moses, you will not reach the Promised Land”.

The meek Moses – with only one little contamination called anger, had become, after forty years of ministry, a failure.

Beloved, kill that little weakness in your life before it kills you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When you want to fight a champion in a boxing match, the first thing you want to know is if he has been wounded before. If he has, you can hit him on that spot to get the upper hand in the match. When the devil wants to bring down a champion, he looks for the greatest weakness in the fellow and keeps aiming at it until the champion falls. This is why you must not allow any weakness in your life, because the devil will capitalize on it. You must destroy the weakness before it destroys you.

A hunter went hunting and killed a big leopard. He also saw a baby leopard and decided to take it back to the village because it looked harmless. The little leopard began to grow, playing with children in the village, and the hunter’s son was its best friend. Years later, the leopard had the hunter’s son riding on its back towards the village stream. The boy fell and bruised his leg on the ground. The leopard, wanting to help his friend, licked the blood on the boy’s leg. The taste of the blood drove the leopard to eat the boy up.

Beloved, if you don’t kill that little leopard in your life, it will kill you. That little contamination – that little anger or lust would later kill you, if you don’t kill it now.

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
Song of Solomon 2:15

It doesn’t matter how many good virtues you have or how strong you are in the Spirit; if there is just one weakness, it can destroy you completely. A little contamination destroys purity. Hebrews 12:1 says that you should lay aside that sin which easily besets you so that you can run the Christian race successfully. This race is a marathon. In marathons, carrying the smallest weight can cause you to fail. Once the devil sees you carrying that weakness around, he knows he now has a joker card to use in bringing you down later. Don’t give him that joker card, kill the weakness immediately.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Purity means ‘No contamination’. This also stems from the definition of purity we discussed yesterday. When something else comes into a material, it is no longer pure. All children of God must love Him with all their heart. Once any part of your heart is given to any other object apart from God, that object is a contaminant and must be removed immediately.

Every little contamination is dangerous. I gave an illustration many years ago in one of my books As Pure As Light, that if there is a big bucket of absolutely pure water that a group of people want to drink from, then a very little drop of feaces from a baby’s diaper drops into it – even if it is just a bit, would they still drink it? The big bucket of clean water becomes contaminated the moment faeces drops into it irrespective of the quantity. The water would no longer be pure and no one would want to drink from it.

In John 14:30, the devil came, examined Jesus Christ from top to bottom and discovered that He was pure; without any contamination whatsoever. That is the testimony I want to have also: that when the devil examines me, I will be able to say, “The devil found no contamination in me”. What about you?

In 1 Timothy 5:22, Paul was advising Timothy:

Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.

Don’t get contaminated by other people’s sins; keep yourself pure. You can be contaminated by other people’s sin when you partake in it. For example, anyone who watches pornography is partaking in other people’s sins. When you and some people do something wrong and one of them tells a lie to cover the entire group and you say, “After all I am not the one that lied”, you are partaking in someone else’s sin and that has contaminated you. In Proverbs 1:10, we are advised: “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” If sinners entice you to come and be a partaker of their sins, run away. There is a congregation called the congregation of the dead (Proverbs 21:16). If you are found amongst them, you are like them already.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

To be double-minded is to be a hypocrite – one minute, you act a certain way and the next, you are someone else. You say something here and something contrary elsewhere. That is double-mindedness and a sign of an impure heart, according to James 4:8: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

Matthew 5:8 says only the pure in heart will see God, so double-minded people will not make it to heaven. To be pure means to be of a single content. When people talk about pure cotton or pure wool, it means it does not contain any other kind of material. Purity, therefore, implies singleness of mind and purpose. One of the reasons I love dogs is that you can tell when they’re happy or angry. They have no pretense at all. Unfortunately, when it comes to human beings, they can smile at you and yet plan to kill you.

To be pure means no pretense (James 5:12). That is when your ‘yes’ is ‘yes’, and your ‘no’ means ‘no’. If you stand for something, stand for it all the way. In Luke 9:59-62, Jesus Christ gave us an illustration of this when He said the moment you have placed your hand on the plough, there must be no looking back. In Luke 16:13, He puts it another way: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” If you are serving one master today and serving another tomorrow, you are double-minded. Choose who your master is and stand by him all the way. If you want to serve God, then don’t serve money, or visit a witch doctor in secret; serve God and God alone.

As for me, I am serving the Lord Jesus Christ and I am going with only Him all the way.

I tell you again brethren, whatever God does not do for you, no one else can do it. Many of us have not been getting full benefits from the Lord Jesus Christ simply because we are double-minded. James 1:6-8 says the double-minded should not even expect to get anything from God. Don’t be double-minded.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There is a popular saying: ‘Dress the way you want to be addressed’. This means that how you look is an indicator of who you are. In the olden days, a mad person could be recognised by his rough and unkempt look. However, these days, it is called a style. This is deception. Simply put, it is what is inside that is coming out on the outside.

What kind of people do you see wearing torn clothes around today? Some people even cut their jeans by themselves and call them crazy jeans. Do you now see clearly where their inspiration is from? Why have you made mad people your new role models? That in itself is worrisome. As a parent, why would you allow your children wear things that portray them as people of the world, rather than of God? It is clear that some parents do not regard God highly; they would rather offend Him than discipline their children. I saw a girl dressed indecently one day; I asked her if her parents had been out when she left the house. She said they were at home and, in fact, it was her mother who had bought the dress for her. I said, “How can you walk through the streets like this? Don’t you know that your dress says that you are available and cheap?”. Surprisingly, she thanked me and said she had always suspected that her parents didn’t really care about her. Parents, teach your children to dress in a way that will glorify God.

Some husbands allow their wives to dress like harlots. I find this very hard to understand. You cannot enter a private property without an invitation because doing so would amount to trespassing. A wife is not for sale; she is already off the shelf, yet there are wives whose dressing proclaims them as cheap and available. Why would a woman dress in such a way that what belongs to her husband is exposed for the whole world to see? Some women will say they want to look ‘sexy’. Are you public property? The only fellow you should look ‘sexy’ for is your husband – no one else. The problem is that some husbands are so ignorant that they think their wife dressing half naked in public is stylish. May God deliver this generation from destructive mentalities, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday, we discussed the fact that when you are pure in heart, it will show on the outside. The state of your heart – whether pure or otherwise, will always show on the outside. For example, when people see you dressed like a harlot or hooligan, they would know what is inside. Many people parade themselves as children of God but dress and talk like people of the world (1 John 2:15). When you call yourself light but are looking, sounding and moving like darkness, we know that you are not who or what you claim to be (2 Corinthians 6:14).

2 Corinthians 5:17 says:

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Right from the inside to the outside, all things become new when a person receives Christ – not all things apart from the fashion sense or speech; ‘all things’ mean everything. When you change from the inside, it will show in every aspect of your life because the change is from the core of your being. When you see a Chinese man and a Yoruba man, you can clearly differentiate them by how they look, their language and the food they eat. You don’t need to be told; you just know based on the fruits you see. When people see you, can they recognize the DNA of Christ in you? If they have to ask whether you are a child of God or not, then check well to see if you are a true Christian.

Some Pastors think that to convert youths to Christ, they must dress and behave like them; not at all. The youths want someone disciplined enough to challenge them. They want to show youthful exuberance, with the expectation that their pastor would caution them. Unfortunately, the people they are looking up to for that discipline are the same ones coming down to their level. Check the way the seemingly unruly youths treat the disciplined ones: that will tell you that they value discipline. Why should you now want to be like the unruly ones? That must change.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Matthew 5:8 says those that are pure in heart are blessed and they will see God. What this scripture is saying is that if your purity is not on the inside, you cannot make heaven. Some people will probably jump at that and say, “What matters is the inside, not the outside.” That is untrue because whatever is on the inside will also show on the outside. When somebody is mad, he is mad on the inside, but the evidence is seen on the outside.

Many years ago, when we had just started the Redeemed Christian Bible College, I brought some Americans to teach the students, but they began to teach my people that I was too harsh and legalistic. They said God is only interested in what is inside the heart, not outside. When I heard this, I knew I was in trouble and sought the face of God for wisdom to handle the situation. Thankfully, He inspired me to buy two oranges of the same size and present to the students One was yellow and the other green. I asked them to choose one and they all chose the yellow one. I asked why and they said it would be sweeter than the green one. I asked them how they came to that conclusion as we had not cut it open; they said the outside shows what is inside. The message was passed.

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 that in the last days, there will be many people who will have a form of godliness. You may talk and dress like a Christian, but those things don’t make you one. Christianity is being like Jesus from the inside out. Your heart must yearn to be more and more like Him. You must avoid sin in order to please God. It is when your heart is aligned with Christ that every other thing on the outside begins to fall in place. You must study God’s word daily with the intention of getting to know more and more of Him. Spend quality time with Him in prayers and worship. Tell Him you want to have an intimate relationship with Him that will change you from the inside out and you would see Him reveal Himself to you like never before.

Your purity must start from within you, but it should also reflect on the outside.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Jesus Christ tells us clearly in Matthew 5:48 that we should be perfect like our Father in heaven. Unfortunately, some people have believed the lie of the devil that no human being can be perfect. That is a lie because Jesus Christ will never ask you to do something He knows you cannot accomplish.

It is painful to say, but not every Bishop, General Overseer or evangelist is going to heaven, which is why your standard for perfection must be Christ, not man (Matthew 7:22-23). The things you do must be in line with the word of God only. If someone says something that is not in line with God’s word, no matter who they are, reject it. This follows that you must know God for yourself and not only through the lens of someone else. Apostle Paul said, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” It Corinthians 11:1). In other words, Paul was saying that the moment you notice that I am not following Christ, stop following me. The only way to know if your spiritual leader is still following Christ is by knowing Christ yourself and you have your Bible to teach you all you need to know about Him.

The decision to be perfect is a personal matter. It is not something you do collectively; it is personal. You can be a part of a group of friends who fellowship with and hold one another accountable, but who knows what the others are doing in secret in the middle of the night? Who is there in your thoughts to check you when you are conceiving the wrong ideas? Joshua said, “As for me and my house”. The ‘me’ comes before ‘my house’. He didn’t say ‘As for us’. ‘As for me’, I will do the will of God, not ‘as for us’. It is written in Luke 17:34 that two people will be on a bed, one will be taken and the other left behind. In other words, a husband may go and the wife may remain, or the wife may go while the husband remains. It is a personal affair. Make your own decision today, let Christ be your standard and ignore what others are doing.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

We will progress in our study of the benefits of living holy today, as we look at how holiness can help you fulfill destiny. Nothing can stop you from fulfilling your destiny if you live a holy life. Let us consider Joseph. God revealed it to Joseph in Genesis 37:5-10 that he had a great destiny to fulfil. His brothers envied him, sold him into slavery and he found himself in the house of a rich man called Potiphar, whose wife wanted to sleep with him. Joseph refused because he did not want to do anything to offend God (Genesis 39:9). He remained holy and at the end of the day, impossible as his dreams seemed, he fulfilled them.

One major thing that has kept me holy is the fact that I know it is only God who can help me fulfil my dreams. If you really want to fulfil your dreams, then you must live holy. If God Himself gave you a destiny to fulfil, then you can be sure He is on your side, willing to help you fulfil that destiny. Romans 8:31 says if God be for you, who can be against you? Even the devil dares not. The only fellow who can be against you is yourself. When you start sinning, God will turn away from you and then the devil will come in to ensure that you don’t fulfil that destiny. King Saul was destined to be a great king and God was on his side until he started to sin. God took His spirit from him and sent a tormenting spirit to him instead. In the end, he failed in his destiny. Do you want to fulfil your destiny? Live holy.

Hebrews 1:9 says:

Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

If you want to be great, if you know that you need the anointing that will raise you above your fellows, if you want to receive a crown of righteousness at the end of your race here on earth (2 Timothy 4:, then you must love righteousness and hate iniquity. There are many people I have come across with great destinies; they started well but somewhere along the line, began to commit sin and thus never fulfilled that great purpose for which God created them.

Beloved, if you love yourself at all, you will stop committing sins and start living holy. That is the only way you can fulfil God’s plans for your life.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

I am a holiness preacher. In fact, if you were to cut me into a million pieces, each piece would keep crying, “Be holy”. The reason I keep emphasizing the need to be holy is that I have seen the tremendous benefits in living a holy life. I will share some of these benefits with you today.

First, when you are holy, you become untouchable to the devil. In Job 1:10, the devil said God had put a hedge around Job, making it impossible for him to be harmed. There is a hedge of fire around every true child of God living holy. The devil cannot harm you even if he tries. The devil tried to kill Daniel by throwing him into a den of lions. He however, failed because innocence was found in Daniel (Daniel 6:22). Throughout Jesus’ lifetime, the devil tried several times to get him killed but consistently failed because Jesus lived a holy life as we see in John 14:30 where Jesus said: “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” Jesus however, surrendered His life later so as to fulfill God’s plan (John 10:17-18).

When I was a Lecturer at the University of Lagos, one of my students came to me one day and told me she had a dream where four men pointed guns at her. When she awoke, she ran to a palm reader who told her she would die unfailingly on the 23rd of March, that year. She decided to go to a witch doctor and a so-called prophet who both said the same thing. When she told me the story, I told her, “If you give your life to Jesus, you will live and not die.” She gave her life to Jesus Christ, He washed away her sins and she left. On the 24th of March, she was still alive and I reminded her that I had told her she would not die. She however, told me that something strange happened the previous night. She said no one was able to sleep in her hostel that night as there were all sorts of strange occurrences. The spirit of death indeed came for her but couldn’t touch her because of the hedge of fire around her.

If there is sin in your life, the devil can harm you, but when you live a holy life in Jesus, he cannot touch you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Those who want to be intimate with God must love what He loves and hate what He hates. If you want to get close to God, you must know the things that He hates and stay far away from them (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Anywhere you see something that looks like sin, flee! Whenever I hear people trying to justify something sinful, I get irritated because clearly, this is something to stay away from. Apostle Paul said: All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
1 Corinthians 6:12

If you really want to be intimate with God, you will stay away from even things that, though lawful, would have a negative impact on your relationship with Him. In Daniel 1:3-8, Daniel decided not to eat the king’s meat. It was lawful, but he knew that it would defile him, so he refused. It is lawful to be intimate with your legally married spouse or eat three times a day. There is no sin in that at all, but those who want to be intimate with God know that they must fast often. They know that there is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing so that they can give themselves wholly to God (Ecclesiastes 3:5, 1 Corinthians 7:4-5). Apostle Paul – a man who desperately wanted to be intimate with God, refused to marry so that there would be absolutely nothing to distract him in his journey of intimacy with God.

The question to you now is: do you really want to be intimate with God? If you do, then there are some things you have to stay away from because they are impediments to the flow of the Spirit of God in a person’s life. You know them yourself; they make you feel filthy and draw you far from the Lord. Stay away from them. In turn, spend your time basking in the presence of God and just fellowshipping with true brethren. As you do this and get closer to God, you would begin to realise that you are becoming more and more like Him, and you will even begin to carry His power to work miracles.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

To become intimate with God, the major thing you will need to sacrifice is time. The more time you spend with someone, the more you will become like that fellow. God loves it when we spend quality time with Him, so much so that He prefers that you spend more of your time with Him than you do for Him. The difference between spending your time for Him and with Him is in Luke 10:38-42. Martha was spending her time serving Jesus and that is good, but He said Mary had chosen what was needful by sitting at His feet to hear His word. The time you spend doing the work of God is good, but what is more needful is the time you spend at His feet, hearing His word.

There are many Church workers and pastors who only read and study their Bibles, pray or hear the word of God when they come to Church. You cannot become intimate with God that way. God wants people who love spending quality time with Him, whether in Church or alone, just because they love Him. As dutiful as David was, he just loved to spend time in the presence of God (Psalm 26:. That is why God said in 1 Samuel 13:14 that David was a man after His heart.

To become intimate with God, you must never be satisfied with how close you are to Him now. You must constantly remain hungry for His word and His presence. Those who will be intimate with God will never be satisfied with how much of Him they know; they will keep studying more, praying more, fasting more, all in a bid to know Him more. Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know Him…”. You begin to wonder, with all the revelations and encounters that Apostle Paul had gotten, he was still saying he wanted to know God. Believe me honestly, the day you feel as if you already know enough of God is the day you begin to draw further from Him. You will no longer know the things you thought you knew before. If you stop growing, you start dying. If you decide not to get closer to God, you will start getting closer to the devil. This is a racetrack you are on, not a highway with bus stops. Once you stop moving, you are taken off the racetrack.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Parents usually love their children, but oftentimes, they would have favourites even among them. They may try not to make it obvious, but they know who their favourite is. In the same way, there are favorites in the family of God. These are people who please God in every way they can. One of the major life ambitions of God’s favourites is to become very intimate with Him.

Whether you become a favorite of God or not is up to you; it is a matter of what you choose to love or hate. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Paul said that in a race, there are many people running, but only one winner would emerge. The Lord wants you to be the winner. I don’t know about you, but I want to be at the forefront of this race. I used to be a runner when I was a little younger and our coach would always tell us to make sure we came first. To be number one, you must be willing to pay the price (Philippians 3:7-14). The prize you receive at the end of this race is determined by how willing you are to put your body under now.

When it comes to being intimate with God, it is more about what you do in private than in public. In Genesis 39:1-9, when Joseph was faced with tremendous pressure from his master’s wife to commit adultery, he ran away. He was very committed to honoring God, even in private. By the time you read Genesis 50:15-21, you see that his brothers came to bow before him. Those who want to be intimate with God don’t go after public approval and public image; they simply do what God loves, notwithstanding what the public thinks about it.

In Daniel 1:3-8, Daniel and his friends decided not to defile themselves with the king’s meat, contrary to public opinion. They must have looked crazy or like fanatics to some people, but they didn’t mind. As long as they were not defiling their bodies and God was happy with them, they were satisfied. In return, God made them the rulers of all the people when the time came. If you are not willing to count as loss, those things that should have been gain so that you can win Christ, you are not willing to become intimate with God.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Our relationship with God is strictly on an individual basis, not collective. Your relationship with God is yours alone- between you and Him. Therefore, the word ‘I’ is applicable in your relationship with God; it is ‘I’, not ‘we’. David said in Psalm 34:1, “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth”. Our relationship with God is personal. Salvation is an individual business.

Let me make it clear: God has no grandchildren. You are either a child of God or not. Ezekiel 18:4-20 says if your father is godly and you are ungodly, your father will live and you will die. God has no grandchildren, only children; so if you have not yet given your life to Jesus and you think that because your parents are born again, then you will go to heaven, you are deceiving yourself (Ezekiel 18:20).

Furthermore, after you become born again and get to heaven, the work you put into the Kingdom of God will also be tested individually by fire. In Romans 14:12, the Bible says: “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God”. Every one shall give account of himself or herself to God. When it comes to God assessing you, it is going to be an individual business. In 1 Corinthians 3:13, the Bible says: “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is”: Our works will be tried separately, not together.

Remember that where we are going, there is no night there, so there is enough time. The Pastor, General Overseer, and everyone else will stand alone with nowhere to hide. Therefore, when someone is discouraging you from doing the work of God now, remember that the fellow will not be there when your work is being tried. When you let someone else’s attitude affect your motives and zeal for God’s work, don’t forget that you will not be able to blame that fellow on the last day because you will be standing alone in front of God to answer for your actions and inactions.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Every now and then, God commends His children; He tells them that He is pleased with them. When this happens to you, don’t become full of yourself because He is only being gracious. The Bible says that God is perfect and He expects perfection (Matthew 5:48). Ephesians 5:25-27 makes it clear that Jesus Christ is coming back for a bride without blemish or wrinkle. Are you perfect yet? If God says, “Well done, my son, you are doing great”, He is only being gracious. In Job 1:8, He said Job was a perfect and upright man, but then in Job 30:1, Job said things that a just man shouldn’t. When God scored him as just, He was only being gracious to him. In Numbers 12:3, it is written concerning Moses that he was the meekest man on the earth, but he was well known for his violent temper. God’s commendation is only an extension of grace. You must never let it get into your head; if you do, you would soon realise that you were nowhere in the first place.

The Bible says clearly in Romans 9:15-16:

For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

It is not the works and effort you put in that will make you justified. It is true that you must put in the effort; if not, you may not even get a chance at being commended at all, but the effort does not justify you. It is only God’s mercy that justifies you. Never forget that. When God commends a person, the fellow’s efforts will yield greater results than his or her actions. When you start seeing this happening to you, you must remember that it is only because God decided to have mercy on you. Don’t begin to think that you are perfect, because you are not. Rather, thank Him for His mercy. Acknowledge your weakness before Him and even before people. Ascribe all glory to Him and not to your efforts because without Him, you can do nothing (John 15:5).
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.