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In Mark 2:1-12, we read the story of a man paralyzed from the neck downwards. That is a situation far beyond the scope of medicine. He was incurable, but when this man got in contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Curer of the incurable, his paralysis was gone within seconds. God bless all doctors, but many a time, people go to the doctor and he or she looks at their situation and says, "Sorry, there is nothing we can do to help". There is however a Healer who is greater than any doctor and can change the medical report. On His behalf now, I am pronouncing that any negative report you have received from a doctor is changed in your favour in Jesus name.

I heard a testimony that made me want to jump and dance recklessly. The testifier said that a nail pierced his eye and the doctor told him nothing could be done to make him see with it again. The Curer of the incurable turned that report around and three days after he was told that he would never see again, he started seeing. Doctors can only try to repair body parts. My Daddy does not have to repair; He replaces body parts. Thus, when a part of the body is damaged beyond repair, the Curer of the incurable steps in with a replacement without leaving any traces that the fellow was ever sick. In the olden days, leprosy was incurable; even today, if you see a leper that has been healed, you would see traces of the leprosy because the fingers, toes and maybe even ear lobes would have been gone. However, when my God cleansed Naaman in 2 Kings 5:14, his skin came back to him like that of a newborn baby. I decree, every medical report that is contrary to your joy and well-being shall be turned around in the name of Jesus.

Jesus Christ can cure the incurable when you call on Him with a pure heart, but isn’t it better if you never fall sick at all? If the Curer of the incurable lives inside you, if sickness is coming into your body, it will be repelled by the power of Jesus Christ. Revelation 3:20 says He is standing at the door of your heart right now, knocking and waiting for you to open up your heart to Him. You may say, I have already given my life to Christ, why then has God not healed me? Check very well, are you really living holy? Are you living in complete obedience to the word of God?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Proverbs 21:1 says that the hearts of kings are in God’s hands and He turns them whichever way He pleases. This should tell you that the greatest connection you can ever have is the one you have to God. If you have God as your friend, anyone you need help from will have no choice but to favour you because their hearts are in His hands.

Many years ago, we wanted to get The Redeemed Christian Church of God registered in a foreign country. Everybody told us that it was not possible as that country does not register Pentecostal Churches. We insisted and asked them to just submit our papers. After some time, we got the registration papers. Some years later, we needed approval for a project and so we applied for it. The government officials then sent us a letter saying that we could not be approved because we weren’t even registered in the first place. We replied that we were registered, attaching our registration papers to the letter and they were all surprised, wondering how we got registered. I was just laughing because my Daddy is the one in control.

I prophesy into your life; wherever it is that you need favour, before the person in power realizes it, he or she would have favoured you already in Jesus’ name.

My God doesn’t only control kings, He controls other things. In Matthew 8:23-27, He controlled a raging storm. In Numbers 22:28-30, He controlled the voice box of a donkey. In Exodus 14:16-28, He controlled the Red Sea and made a path in between the sea for His people to pass through. The Bible says that the whole world is His footstool (Acts 7:49). In other words, you are under His feet. If you submit to His will, He will control things in your favour (Romans 8:28), but if you decide to fight Him, He can control things to go against you. Outside this world, He is also in control of the gates of heaven and hell. If you live holy, He will open the gates of heaven for you to come in but if you live a life of sin, He will shut the gates of heaven and the only other place such a person can go is hell. Which one would you rather go to – Heaven or hell?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Revelation 1:8 can be interpreted to mean that in God, the past, the present and the future coexist. As a result of this, He controls times and seasons (Daniel 2:20-21). Thus, if He wants, He can stop time like in Joshua 10:12-14. I remember when I was about to turn sixty years old and the assignment God had given me seemed to be far from being achieved. I groaned and cried to God, Lord, help me. I haven’t achieved all that You called me to do. There is still so much work to be done and now the sun is setting. He said, Son, I decide when the sun sets.

Yes, my God can stop time, but He can even do more than that; He can reverse it. In Isaiah 38:7-8, when He told a king that he was going to be healed, the king asked for a sign. The prophet said, Okay, which one do you want, should I ask the sun to move forward faster or to move backwards? The king said, Moving forward faster is easy, ask the sun to go back and the sun went backwards that day.

God can pick an opportunity that you think you have lost forever and bring it right back to you again. That was what He did in Genesis 18:9-14 when He said Sarah would have a son. Sarah must have been in menopause for about 40 years, but that didn’t matter to God because He can bring back that which appears to have been gone forever. I prophesy to you: every opportunity you have already lost shall be restored to you in Jesus name. Now, I don’t just want you to say an ordinary amen to that prayer. I want you to meditate on it for a moment. If the Almighty God could bring back the menstrual period of a ninety-year-old woman, do you think your case will be too difficult for Him to solve?

There was a lady who had given birth to children from different men before she surrendered her life to Christ. She believed that no man would want to marry her ever again but to her surprise, God brought a man to marry her and even told the man that though this lady had a rough past, He had cleansed her and given her a brand new beginning! God is still in the business of reversing the irreversible and He will bring back whatever you have lost in Jesus name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There are some differences between a prophecy and a decree. When a prophecy comes, that is a promise and when God makes a promise, He will definitely fulfill it at the appropriate time and with the proper conditions. However, when He makes a decree, the fulfilment is immediate and without any conditions. The prayer of every Christian should be that God should turn every prophecy into a decree in their favour.

Abraham had received the prophecy that he would be a father of nations, but somehow the fulfilment was taking time to manifest. The day Abraham invited God to eat, every prophecy concerning childbirth became a decree. That day, He brought what was yet to come to 'now'. In John 2:1-11, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus mother told Him the hosts no longer had any wine. He told His mother, "My time is not yet come", but not long after that, "not yet" became "now". In 2 Kings 4:8-17, when Elisha decreed to the Shunammite woman that she would have a son, even though she didn’t believe him, it came to pass.

A decree sets aside your doubts and unbelief. It goes ahead to do what was spoken while a prophecy, on the other hand, requires you to believe and even pray sometimes for it to come to pass.

There is no prophecy God has declared concerning you that He cannot bring to pass because He is the Almighty. Matthew 3:9 says He is so mighty that He can even bring children out of stones. He is so mighty that He can literally reverse the irreversible because, in Romans 4:16-19, the Bible says that the womb of Sarah was already dead. If you want to see that prophecy manifest immediately, it needs to become a decree. How do you get God to turn His prophecies concerning you into decrees? Simple: offer unto Him what He delights in. Psalms 50:13-14 says Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High.

Sing praises to God, thank Him from the bottom of your heart, do His will. If you do these so much and so well that it touches His heart, He will turn prophecies to decrees in your life.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Ephesians 2:6”

That Bible passage above is not for everybody. It is for only those who live holy. Psalms 24:3-4 says: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”

If you don’t live holy, you cannot even ascend to God not to talk of sitting with Him. Thus those who don’t live holy cannot be seated with Christ and since Ephesians 1:20-21 says that Christ is seated above principalities and powers, they cannot command principalities and powers. In a crusade, when the fellow leading prayers is asking people to bind the devil and his agents, and the ones who are still living in sin are also binding, what the devil does is torment and oppress them even more. If you don’t believe me, ask the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19:11-16). They were not children of God and they were trying to command demons. The demons taught them a lesson that day. If you want to command demons, if you want the devil to leave you alone, then you must be holy.

1 John 3:8 says:
“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

Who your father is determines who you can command. If your father is the househelp of a great man, you cannot command the great man’s children because they are indirectly your bosses. Rather, the children will command you. However, if you break free from their hold and you become greater than they, then you can command them.

I am giving you an invitation today to join those of us who are seated with Jesus Christ, far above principalities and powers. For us, the devil and his agents are our servants; we command them as we wish and they cannot oppress us.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Some Christians are so gentle that they accommodate the devil and his agents in their lives, claiming the Bible says we should be gentle as a dove. The Bible says that it is only the violent that can take the Kingdom of God by force. The devil will do everything to ensure you don’t enter that Kingdom of God; it is with violence that you will take it. If you are at peace when you should be fighting, the devil will roast you.

You must be violent when the devil is confronting you with a situation that can kill you. Any situation that can destroy your destiny or your spiritual life is not one to toy with at all.

Many years ago, I encountered a woman who was a senior official of an Examination Council in West Africa. She was married with children that were doing well. Just looking at her, everything seemed normal, but she was a habitation of demons. She came to me one day and said, “Thus saith the Lord, you are my husband”. I said, “That can’t be; I’m happily married, I’m a man of God, and you know I am committed to a life of holiness”. She said, “You are joking, I’m going to marry you”. When we couldn’t handle it anymore, the matter was reported to the police and a restraining order was issued against her, to no avail. One day, I went to London on an official assignment and didn’t tell anybody I was coming. Just as I entered the house where I was to stay, the phone rang and this same woman said, “Welcome, I have been waiting for you. I know where you are staying and I will be there in fifteen minutes”. I told her the British police would be waiting for her at the door. Maybe because she knew there was a police station less than two minutes’ walk away from the house, she did not come, but she kept on calling. Now, I knew that I had a big problem and I needed to be violent. I went on my knees and cried to God to help me. God told me, “Son, you know the meaning of whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven. You know it means that whatever you allow is allowed, whatever you forbid is forbidden”. I said, “Yes Lord”, then He said “It’s up to you”. On hearing that I said, “Okay, then this mountain must move!” and it did move. If I hadn’t been violent that mountain might have killed me.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Many at times, Christians give themselves headache over what should not be a problem at all. You have a Father in heaven who is the Almighty and owns the entire world and all that is in it, yet you bother your brain so much about your needs when you can easily ask Him and He will give you whatever you need. Many problems have lingered for too long because instead of praying, the fellow involved is worrying. The latter part of James 5:16 says:
“..The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

It did not say the effectual fervent worries will avail much. In fact, in Matthew 6:27, Jesus Christ said expressly that worrying will do absolutely nothing for you.

Don’t burden yourself with what you cannot carry; ask God and He will carry your troubles for you. He has put no limit to how much you can ask of Him. In John 16:24, He said you should ask so your joy may be full. Inversely, this also means that you cannot be filled with joy until you have asked Him.

Many people get angry with God unnecessarily. They would have gone to every human being they can reach and gotten frustrated, then turn to God and ask, Why me? Many Christians burden themselves so much because they don’t know how much God loves them and how willing He is to give them whatever they ask for. He loved you so much that He sacrificed His son for your sake; what is it that you can ask Him that will be greater than that? Why would He hold back anything from you when He did not withhold His only begotten Son from you?

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Romans 8:32”

He has given you a blank cheque. Instead of worrying and jumping around looking for solutions to your problems, go on your knees and write in the blank cheque which is found in Matthew 7:7-8.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

I have seen people experience challenges and they just keep struggling through them. They somehow find a way to survive as the challenge lingers. For such people, usually, a day will come when they will say, "Enough is enough". That day came for the widow in 2 Kings 4:1-7 when her creditors said they were coming to take her sons. Before then, the creditors must have been disturbing her and the prophet who had the solution to her problem had also been there, but she kept quiet and was just struggling with the situation. On that fateful day, she must have said to herself, "Enough is enough" then cried to the Prophet for help and it came. The day you decide to stop accommodating that problem, it will leave you alone; if you keep struggling with it, however, God will fold His hands and watch you.

Several years ago, a young couple suddenly realised that they were making money, but the money kept disappearing, thereby leaving them in poverty. They kept struggling with the problem for some time until one day when they said, "Enough is enough". That day, they prayed some violent prayers and all of a sudden, the relative that they brought from the village to help with house chores started screaming, I want to confess. He said he had instructions from the village that as soon as he got to their house, he should get one of the caps of the husband and send it back to the village. He did this and the cap in question was spiritually manipulated such that whatever money the man-made in Lagos was appearing in the cap back in the village. It was after he brought the cap back and it was set on fire that these people within a year bought their own land and built their house. They started making progress only when they said, "Enough is enough".

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of the level that I am on now; I want to move forward. Oh yes, I have achieved some success and I am grateful to God, but I am not yet where I want to be. Are you okay with being in the same spot for so long? Do you want to continue managing or do you want to break loose from the bondage of the enemy and fly? It is up to you. If you want to move forward, then pray today with great spiritual aggression.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Every athlete on the race track is always looking forward to reaching the finish line. The Heavenly race is not a sprint but a marathon. We have been looking forward to the coming of Christ now for more than two thousand years. I, in particular, have been running this race for almost 50 years now, and I am still running. I don’t know how long you have been running, but I am quite sure that you are looking forward earnestly to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, there is a way you can make Him return quickly - sharing the gospel of Christ and winning souls into the Kingdom of God. Matthew 24:14 says: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

Romans 8:19-23 says that all Children of God are waiting earnestly for that day when we will be transformed and reign with our Father in heaven, but the only way to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is to preach the gospel. Until people who have not heard the gospel hear it, Jesus will not come. If you want Him to return quickly so that you can reign with Him in paradise (that is, of course, if you are sure that you will make it to heaven), then you will preach the gospel. I am really looking forward to His return so I will win souls even in the most remote parts of the world. I have been to a country to win souls where they were so few in the whole country, everybody knew one another. Their prison inmates were allowed to go home on weekends to visit their families and come back the next Monday. That is how small the country is. I will go anywhere; as long as there is someone there who will hear about Christ and can become saved, I am ready to go.

Now, it may amaze some people that Jesus has not come yet because you think the whole world has heard about Him. I was preaching to a group of Ambassadors about God one day; after preaching for more than 30 minutes, one of them asked, What is God? I realized then that he didn’t understand all that I had been saying since. There are still people out there who haven’t heard about Christ and we will keep waiting for His coming if we don’t go out there to preach to them. Until they hear, He will not return. Thus, we must reach the whole world for Him if we want Him to return soon.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Hebrews 4:12 says the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. It says it can separate between joints and marrows. This implies that the word of God can perform surgical procedures that even the best among surgeons dare not attempt. An elderly man came to me several years ago, asking me to pray for the success of the surgery he needed to have to cure him of prostate cancer. I said to him, why don’t we pray that there will be no need for a surgery? He laughed and said, You are a young boy; you will not understand. Just pray that God will guide the hands of the surgeon. I said, Sir, I am not going to pray that kind of prayer; l’m going to pray that my Father will heal you. He responded that I should pray whichever way I wanted as he would still go for the surgery anyway. On the day of the surgery, a final check by the surgeon revealed that he had been healed and there was no need for the procedure anymore. Psalms 107:20 says:
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

The word of God is quick and powerful enough to heal you or any of your loved ones of any sickness.

In Luke 7:6-7, the Centurion said he knew that if Jesus would just send a word to his servant, the man would be healed. The Lord sent the word and his servant was indeed healed. This Centurion gave us a template on how we can get a word from God. Firstly, he knew the Word Himself and then he approached Him in faith. Do you know Jesus Christ, the Word of God? How long do you spend studying the Bible? How much of the word do you memorise? How do you expect the word you do not know or regard to work for you? Get to know God's word by studying the Bible regularly.

The Centurion relied on the word with so much faith that Jesus Christ said He had never seen such in Israel before. When the word says in 1 Peter 2:24 that you are healed by His stripes, do you believe it? When the word says in Deuteronomy 7:15 that none of the diseases that fall on the Egyptians (unbelievers) will come to you, do you believe it? If you truly believe in the word of God, then your actions will align with your faith (James 2:17). Whatever challenge you may be faced with today, I decree: you will be victorious in Jesus name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In continuation of our inquiry from yesterday into why Peter denied Jesus, let us look more closely at why he even chose to sit with those who were persecuting Jesus.

And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.
Mark 14:54

Peter sat with these people because he wanted the warmth of the fire which they had lit. Many times, the reason Christians stay in the congregation of the dead and end up denying Jesus is the warmth they get when they sit with them. The reason some people cannot stop conducting business with partners who make them deny Jesus is that they don’t want to lose certain benefits they get from those partners. Jesus however, said in Matthew 16:24
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

The one who will not deny Jesus must first deny himself or herself. If you are not willing to deny yourself of certain benefits you get when you spend time with unbelievers, you would end up denying Jesus like Peter did.

Nothing is more important than the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for you, so you should never put any benefit above identifying with Him. Remember, Jesus said in Matthew 10:33
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

If those 'benefits' are more important to you than Jesus Christ, then He will deny you before His Father on the last day and the people you are trying to please will not be there to save you from the pains and agonies of hell.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In continuation of our enquiry from yesterday into why Peter denied Jesus, let us look at Mark 14:54 again:
And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.

When Peter followed Jesus from afar into the palace of the high priest, he chose to sit with the servants. Who were these servants? Mark 14:65 gives us an insight into the kind of people they were:
And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.

These servants were the same ones striking Jesus with the palms of their hands and Peter was sitting with them. In Proverbs 21:16, the Bible talks about the congregation of the dead. This is a congregation of people that do things against the will of God. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were able to stand strong, refusing to deny their God because they were in the company of fellow believers and not unbelievers. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says:
Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

If you spend a lot of time with people who are always talking about the latest clothes and television shows, gossiping about others, planning on how to commit sin right there in front of you, 1 Corinthians 15:33 says they would corrupt you. The more of such sinful and worldly conversations you expose yourself to, the weaker your commitment to Christ would be. Eventually, you would find yourself doing things that you have earlier vowed never to do. Leave the congregation of the dead. 2 Corinthians 6:14 instructs you thus:
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Many churchgoers these days are merely paying lip service when they call themselves Christians. If you were to really check, you would discover that instead of carrying their cross to follow Jesus closely, many are only following Him from afar. The moment things get a little bit tough, they deny Him. Peter was an ardent follower of Christ; he was also very vocal about his beliefs, thus he was the last person one would have expected would deny Christ. We need to really enquire about what happened that day in Mark 14.
“And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire”.
Mark 14:54

Take note of the first clause in the passage above - Peter followed Jesus from afar. How closely are you following Jesus now? So many Christians are following Jesus from afar, hence they deny Him over and over again. Peter had boasted of how impossible it was for him to deny Jesus in Mark 14:27-31, but in Mark 14:54, he followed Jesus from afar and ended up denying Him. Why did he follow Jesus from afar? This is because he did not want to be associated with the persecutions of Jesus Christ. Are you also running away from the persecutions of Jesus? You don’t talk like a Christian in the office because you don’t want anyone to tag you with Christ. You go for business meetings and even though you are prompted by the Holy Spirit to pray before the meeting starts, you subdue the prompting because you don’t want the people you are meeting with to know how seriously you take God. You don’t preach the gospel to those you interact with daily because you don’t want them to start calling you a Christian fanatic.

When you let them know from the onset that you are a child of God, there are deals and suggestions that they would never bring your way. On the other hand, if you are following Jesus from afar, they will bring those temptations to you because they have never known you to be serious about your faith. In Church, when you are engulfed in the presence of God and boasting that you will never deny Him like Peter did, ask yourself, When I get out there in the world, would I be following Christ closely or would I be following Him from afar?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.”
Numbers 11:1

God hates murmurings. He hates it so much that in the passage above, He sent fire to consume some of the Israelites who were murmuring. He wants you to live and rejoice in the knowledge of His love and care for you, not to be murmuring. You must understand that whatever it is you are going through, He is aware of it and He will bring you out of that situation victoriously. If you don’t trust Him, then why do you call yourself a believer? As long as you have placed everything in His hands, you can be sure that He would make the best out of the situation.

Sometimes however, we may be faced with situations that would shake us and make us want to question God. Nevertheless, think about it: who are you to question the Maker of heaven and earth? Who are you to judge whether He is doing the right thing or not? Job tried to question Him and by the time God answered, he himself was frightened (Job 38:1-41). When situations get tough, the way to prevent yourself from murmuring is to remember what David said in Psalms 34:1
I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Praise God all the time because He knows what He is doing. Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord. You may not understand now, but you will soon. If you decide that the praise of the Lord will be in your mouth at all times – no matter the situation, it will be hard for you to complain or murmur about anything. Every day, keep telling Him that He is greater than the greatest; He is higher than the highest, that He is the owner of the cattle upon a thousand hills, reminding yourself that He is the One who parted the Red Sea, that He is the One who brought water out of a rock and so on. Before you know it, your faith would have risen above the situation, showing clearly that your God is greater than whatever mountain you are facing and soon you would be dancing victoriously.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Exodus 17:1-6, the children of Israel were thirsty, so God told Moses to strike a rock that water may come out of it for His children. In Exodus 17:6 the Bible says:
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

You see, the Lord our God is the Rock (2 Samuel 22:32). He was with the Israelites all through their journey in the wilderness and this further validates Hebrews 13:5 where God said He would never leave nor forsake us.

In Numbers 20:1-12, God told Moses to speak to the rock, but instead of speaking, Moses smote it and God was angry with him. The Lord is not to be smitten twice. The first time Jesus was smitten on the cross of Calvary, He gave us living water which is the Holy Spirit. After that time, we are to speak to Him. Anyone who smites Him again is inviting the wrath of God. Hebrews 6:6 says whenever you sin, you are crucifying Christ the second time. In Hebrews 10:26-27, the Bible says:
For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

If after you have gotten to know Christ and His blood has washed away your sins, you then go back into sin, you are inviting the wrath of God. Proverbs 26:11 says it is dogs that go back to their vomit and Revelation 22:15 says the place of dogs is outside. The word ‘backsliding’ denotes a gradual process backwards. Check your life: are there some things that you stopped doing when you became born again, but now you are gradually going back to them? Stop those things immediately! Don’t smite the Rock the second time! Don’t invite the wrath of God upon your life.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The boy in John 6:5-13 who gave his lunch to Jesus Christ was not named. One would expect that a boy like that who was selfless enough to share his lunch, through which over 5,000 people were miraculously fed, would have been named in the Bible, but the Scriptures are silent about his name. Not only he; many of the vessels of honour in the Bible were not named. For example, the slave girl in 2 Kings 5:1-3 who brought salvation to Syria was not named, the fellow who the disciples saw casting out demons in Jesus name in Luke 9:49 was also not named. This tells us that the work of God is not a popularity contest. You don’t have to be popular to be relevant and of great use to the Kingdom of God. When i see people struggling to be seen and recognized publicly while doing the work of God, I wonder if they understand the nature of the assignment they are called to. That’s why in Mark 1:45, when the leper who Jesus healed went around telling everyone about his healing, Jesus could not enter the city openly again. Jesus knew that the spotlight was going to distract Him from the real work which He was to do, so He stayed in the desert to carry out His assignment.

When you read Mark 1:10-13, you will see one of the dangers of being publicly recognized. The moment God bragged about Jesus Christ to the hearing of the public, Satan heard and a season of trials and temptations began for Jesus immediately. In 1 Samuel 13:14, Samuel announced that God had found a man after His heart to replace Saul. Immediately Satan heard that, he began to look out for who that man was. In 1 Samuel 16:11, when Samuel said nobody would sit until David arrived to be anointed, Satan knew it was David, so he raised Goliath against Israel so that David would not fulfil his God-given destiny. David killed Goliath and it became abundantly clear that David was loved and chosen by God, so the devil raised Saul against him and a season of trials began for David during which he resorted to hiding in caves. The moment you are hailed in public, the devil marks you for trial. Be wise; one of the prayer points in the Lord’s prayer is, "Lead us not into temptation".

Don’t bother about public recognition. Just face the work that God wants you to do, not the spotlight.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

“Watch what you watch" means, be mindful of what you feed your eyes on. Be careful of the lust of the flesh which is usually fuelled by what our eyes feast on. Be careful of what you permit to attract your attention. There are many people who have dipped their hands into sin so they can acquire material wealth simply because they have seen others in the world do the same. What do you permit your eyes to see?.

One major goal of every Christian must be to bring his flesh under the control of his spirit, as Paul described in 1 Corinthians 9:27:
“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

There is a tussle for supremacy between the flesh and your spirit (Galatians 5:17). This battle will however, be won by the stronger party. What you focus on will determine if you are feeding your spirit to be stronger than your flesh or vice versa.

If your focus is on things beneath, if all you are after are things that will gratify your flesh, then it will be stronger and will be in control of your spirit. Your mind and focus must be set on the things of God only (Colossians 3:1-2).

There are two ways by which you can tell if your focus is on the things of God or the flesh. One is about how you spend your money. When you get any amount of money, is your priority on spending for God or spending to gratify yourself? If you hear that there is a need in the house of God, do you take it upon yourself to use the resources in your hands to meet it or do you act as if the need is not your business?

Another way to know what your heart is set on is to check your ambitions. When you talk about your ambitions, are they in line with glorifying God or yourself? Why do you want a promotion in your place of work? Why do you want more money? Is it all to satisfy yourself or to advance the Kingdom of God here on earth? Check your ambitions and ensure that they are glorifying God and not yourself.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

We shall continue to examine more blessings from the victory at Calvary today. The first one we will consider today can be seen in John 15:15 which says:
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

The sacrifice and victory at calvary qualify believers to be called friends of Jesus. This also makes every believer an ambassador of the Most High on earth, as we see in 2 Corinthians 5:20:
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

The implication of the above blessing is in Mark 16:15-20. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature Jesus commanded. You enjoy the privilege of an ambassador for the Almighty God when you have a divine encounter with Jesus Christ. With this comes the assurance that He will be with us until the end of the world (Matthew 28:20). The good thing about this assurance is that the Scripture says, "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

Another blessing from the victory at Calvary is that every believer can become a vessel through which God performs miracles. This means that we can control circumstances, principalities and powers, as we see in Mark 16:15-20.

There is a lot to rejoice over in the Scripture above. While it is true that there is still a lot of evil in the world, there are, however, numerous instances of devils being cast out of people, of persons in one form of bondage or the other being set free and so on. More and more people are baptised with the Holy Spirit, and we are constantly slaying spiritual giants. Even when we eat deadly things, they cannot harm us, and when we lay our hands on the sick, they are healed.

The only way to be part of these blessings is by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. If you haven’t done so already, surrender your life to Him today, so that the blessings from the victory at Calvary can become yours, also.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Today, we started to discuss the blessings from the victory at Calvary, and we identified two out of the numerous blessings that accrued to us from it. Today, we shall be asking ourselves a couple of questions to better understand the implication of these blessings. These questions are:
(1) What is a Curse? (2) What is a Blessing?

A curse is a condition in which unseen forces that hinder progress attack a fellow, with the aim of destroying him or her. Classic characteristics of a curse are found in Deuteronomy 28:15-20, the last verse of which reads:
The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

A lot of lessons are embedded in the Scripture above. One, God does not witch-hunt anyone. He would warn before placing a curse on anyone just as He did in the case of Adam and Eve, though they still fell for the devils trick, leading to the fulfilment of the predicted curses. Two, the Lord reveals the reason for a curse disobedience to divine law, ungodliness and all wickedness associated with it.

A blessing, on the other hand, is a result of unseen forces, summoned in heaven and sent to the earth to support the beneficiary to succeed, even where others are failing. A classic example is Jacobs blessing in Genesis 27:28-29 which reads:
Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.

Beloved, if you desire the blessings of Calvary in your life, come to Jesus and truly surrender your life to Him. His blessings will indeed prosper you without adding any form of sorrow (Proverbs 10:22).
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

We should thank God for the victory at Calvary. The fiercest battle in history is the one fought by our Lord Jesus at Calvary in which He defeated sin, Satan and death. The battleground was set in Genesis 3:1-15 and the seed of the woman finally crushed the head of the old serpent and declared, "It is finished", as He paid the supreme price (John 19:30).

There are numerous blessings from the sacrifice at Calvary. The first is deliverance from the curse of the law. The Law came as a schoolmaster, according to Galatians 3:10, Galatians 3:13, Galatians 3:24-25. The law is the weapon that our accuser – the devil, uses to condemn us, according to Revelation 12:10 which says:
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”

Another beautiful thing about the battle at Calvary is that it brings the blessings of Abraham to the entire world. The blessings that had been the exclusive inheritance of the Jews became available to the gentiles also, according to Galatians 3:14 which says: “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Thus, the blessings of Calvary have given us victory over sin, over the devil and over death. However, even beyond that, the events at Calvary gave us the right to call the Almighty God Father.

Beloved, the only way to access the blessings of the victory at Calvary is to surrender your life completely to Jesus Christ. Obeying all His commandments demonstrates that you truly love Him, and this qualifies you to access the blessings of Calvary.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Psalm 127:1 says that you cannot build a house except you obtain mercy from God, neither can there be safety unless He provides it. In other words, there is virtually nothing good a man can achieve without the mercy of God which provides the platform for His help.

I received a letter not long ago from someone who said he had started building a house in 1981 and up to the time he was writing the letter (over 30 years later), he hadn’t roofed it yet. It is only by Gods mercy that you can start and finish any project successfully. Thus, it doesn’t matter how many bodyguards you have, unless God has mercy on you, your life is not protected. You can have bodyguards against hired assassins and armed robbers, but can you have bodyguards against sicknesses? Can you have bodyguards against spiritual attacks? Only Gods mercy can truly protect you.

No matter how much you labour at anything, you cannot succeed without the mercy of God. It is Gods mercy that grants us the help we need.

Many years ago, the son of a member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God had just finished his degree abroad and his father was rejoicing. He told his father something frightening that day; he said, "Dad, I know that you sent me abroad to study because you love me, but thank your God that I did not end up disgracing you because of the kind of friends I found myself amongst in school. The father was doing the right thing by sending his child to a good school, but, had it not been for the mercy of God, he would have regretted it. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 says Paul may plant, Apollo may water, but it is God who gives increase. From my personal experience I know you can get to the exam hall and just blank out. Farmers can have no harvest even though they did all that they should to get one. A hardworking fisherman like Peter can fish all night and catch nothing (Luke 5:5). That is why wise people, when they need help, ask God for mercy.

In Mark 10:47, Bartimaeus kept crying, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus had mercy on him. In Luke 17:11-19, the ten lepers saw Jesus, stood far away and cried for mercy; they were cleansed. What is that problem you need a solution to? Change your prayer point today and just ask God for mercy.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

We see clearly in Ezekiel 16:49 that one of the major problems that led to the destruction of Sodom is idleness. Idleness also caused David great sorrow. At a time when kings went to war, he stayed at home and this led to him committing adultery and murder. These sins invoked Gods anger and a curse was placed upon him and his lineage (2 Samuel 11:1-27).

Solomon also fell into the trap of idleness, which caused his heart to be turned away from God. After he had built the temple of God and a new palace, he had nothing else to do. There were no wars to fight, no territories to conquer, and so he relaxed. He started marrying women he had no business with until he ended up with 700 wives and 300 concubines. In his relaxed state, his wives began to turn him away from the Most High God, and before he knew it, he was already building temples for and sacrificing to strange gods. Solomon started with so much respect and honour for God that he gave the largest sacrifice in the Bible to the Lord. This was a man who God appeared to twice, but idleness brought him to the point where he began to serve other gods. He displeased God greatly, and this led to him losing part of his father’s heritage (1 Kings 11:1-11).

Jesus Christ said His father works and likewise Himself (John 5:17). Who then do you want to emulate by being idle? Imagine if, in your house, everyone – including the father of the house helps out with chores, yet one of the children never works but loafs around the house every day. That child would be very annoying to the parents and his or her siblings.
Beloved, there are many souls to be saved out there (Matthew 9:37); are you working to reach them quickly?

When you consider the story of the rich fool in Luke 12:16-20, you may think, what did this man do wrong? Is it wrong to work so hard and gather a large harvest? Why did God kill him? God took his life because he had decided that since he now had a large harvest, he was going to become idle. Idle people are very dangerous to the Kingdom of God and the society. No matter how much you have achieved, still strive for more. There is a lot of work to be done in the Kingdom of God. Serve Him now that you have the privilege to do so (John 9:4).
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

We see clearly in Ezekiel 16:49 that one of the major problems that led to the destruction of Sodom is idleness. Idleness also caused David great sorrow. At a time when kings went to war, he stayed at home and this led to him committing adultery and murder. These sins invoked Gods anger and a curse was placed upon him and his lineage (2 Samuel 11:1-27).

Solomon also fell into the trap of idleness, which caused his heart to be turned away from God. After he had built the temple of God and a new palace, he had nothing else to do. There were no wars to fight, no territories to conquer, and so he relaxed. He started marrying women he had no business with until he ended up with 700 wives and 300 concubines. In his relaxed state, his wives began to turn him away from the Most High God, and before he knew it, he was already building temples for and sacrificing to strange gods. Solomon started with so much respect and honour for God that he gave the largest sacrifice in the Bible to the Lord. This was a man who God appeared to twice, but idleness brought him to the point where he began to serve other gods. He displeased God greatly, and this led to him losing part of his father’s heritage (1 Kings 11:1-11).

Jesus Christ said His father works and likewise Himself (John 5:17). Who then do you want to emulate by being idle? Imagine if, in your house, everyone – including the father of the house helps out with chores, yet one of the children never works but loafs around the house every day. That child would be very annoying to the parents and his or her siblings.
Beloved, there are many souls to be saved out there (Matthew 9:37); are you working to reach them quickly?

When you consider the story of the rich fool in Luke 12:16-20, you may think, what did this man do wrong? Is it wrong to work so hard and gather a large harvest? Why did God kill him? God took his life because he had decided that since he now had a large harvest, he was going to become idle. Idle people are very dangerous to the Kingdom of God and the society. No matter how much you have achieved, still strive for more. There is a lot of work to be done in the Kingdom of God. Serve Him now that you have the privilege to do so (John 9:4).
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The problem with many Christians is that they are seated. They think they have arrived, so they rest earlier than they should. I have seen it happen now and again where a man or woman of God is doing so well for the Almighty God and the work of the Lord is prospering in his or her hands, then all of a sudden, the person decides to rest. No more prayers at night, no more Bible study, no more self-sacrifice. From the story of the young prophet in 1 King 13:1-25, we see that there are many people who God wants to take to the sun, but they get to the moon and relax. The moment a person decides to take a break from serving God and sits to rest, he or she begins to retrogress.

In Psalms 1:1, the Bible says that a Christian doesn’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of the scornful. The Bible goes from walking, to standing, to sitting; that is retrogression. To be seated means you used to be a champion, but now you are irrelevant. In 1 Samuel 10:1, Saul was captain; in 1 Samuel 16:14, he had become irrelevant (he was seated). In Luke 15:11-19, the prodigal son was wealthy, but he rejoiced too soon and things became so bad that he sought to eat with pigs.

When we moved to the Redemption Camp, we had just a few acres of land, then we bought some more and got to about thirty acres. After this, we bought a little more and by the time we got to about a hundred acres, people came to me and said, "What do you want to do with all this land?" The Almighty God woke me up one day and said, What is wrong with you; are they the ones who called you? Are they the ones who brought you here? I got up immediately. Today, the Redemption Camp in Western Nigeria alone is on about 30,000 acres of land and we have only just started.

Beloved, STAND UP! It’s not yet time to rest. You have not arrived at your destination yet, you have not reached where God is taking you to. Don’t stop praying, don’t stop working hard, dont stop making sacrifices; God still has a lot in store for you. Instead of Joshua to hear Well done, my son from God at the end of his sojourn on earth, God informed him that there was a lot he had left undone as seen in Joshua 13:1. God forbid that this will be the report you get when it is your turn, in Jesus name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Isaiah 29:8, the Bible says that a hungry man can eat in his dream but then when he wakes up, he will realise that he is still hungry. If a poor man sleeps and dreams of himself living in a mansion and having many servants, when he wakes up, he would still find himself on his little bed in his little room. The sleeping state hence can also be described as a state of unfulfilled dreams. When a fellow continually has beautiful dreams which never come true, that is a state of sleep.

When I was a lecturer at the University of Lagos, there was an engineering student who, after years of not being able to move beyond 100 level, was asked to withdraw. He then changed his course of study to architecture. After a few years, he was asked to withdraw again. He changed his course of study again, this time to fine arts. He never graduated. This is a classic example of unfulfilled dreams. If you have noticed that your dreams just never seem to get fulfilled, then you may just be sleeping. I decree that everything beyond your power, hindering your dreams from being fulfilled is destroyed today, in Jesus name.

If you have noticed that for many years, you have not been making any significant progress in your life, then you are in a sleeping state. You must wake up today. Physically, check those things that you have been doing which have not been giving you results and change your strategy. Stop moving round in circles; look for the direction that will take you to your goal and go in it. For some people it is a habit or a bad attitude that has kept them in the same spot for years; prayerfully search for the cause of any stagnation in your life and get rid of it.

Spiritually, you must pray to break every barrier to your moving forward in life. Make sure that you are not the one who is a hindrance to the fulfillment of your own dreams; make sure that you don’t have any sin in your life that is hindering your progress. Pray against that enemy that has stopped you from moving forward and you will soon begin to see progress in your life.

You will soon testify, in Jesus name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye

The statement, "Wake up" implies that the fellow being spoken to had been sleeping. Sleeping at the wrong time can be very dangerous while sleeping spiritually is even more dangerous!. In 1 Samuel 26:4-16, we learnt that King Saul slept. He was surrounded by mighty men of Israel not ordinary soldiers, but the best in the land, and they all slept too. While they were sleeping, David (the man they were seeking to kill) and his men came and took the sword of the king as well as his water bottle. Abishai, one of Davids men said to him, Let me smite him just once – not twice, just once and he will be dead. When you are sleeping, no matter how strong you are, you would be helpless and open to the attack of the enemy. That is why you must never sleep spiritually.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1 Peter 5:8

The above passage says that the devil is walking around, and his only mission is to look for people that he can devour. If he gets to you and finds you sleeping spiritually, just one stroke from him can kill you.

As strong as Saul’s bodyguards were, the moment he slept, they slept too. When you sleep spiritually, you disconnect your protective covering in the spirit. The moment you stop fasting, stop praying, stop studying your Bible and you now begin to dip your hands into one little sin or the other, the protective covering that God had put over you and your family members begins to weaken, giving a chance for the enemy to attack successfully. In Numbers 22:1-41, Balaam tried to curse the Israelites but could only bless them because of the protective covering that God had put over them. That covering was however, lifted when the people of Israel began to sleep spiritually. This led to a plague killing twenty-four thousands of them. Many Christians are suffering from the oppression of the devil today because they are sleeping spiritually. Where they should be victors, they are victims. WAKE UP!

Start praying again! Start evangelising again! Run away from those little sins! Stop being a prey to the devil! WAKE UP!
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Philippians 3:7-10, Apostle Paul told us several things that he let go of, for just one single purpose: that he might know God. When I was a younger Christian, whenever someone asked if I knew God, my answer was always a big Yes. However, something happened some years ago that made me change that answer from "Yes" to "I am just beginning to know Him". I have been born again for close to 50 years and up to now, I am still learning more and more about God. There are different levels of knowing God and you can only know Him to the extent of how much of Himself He reveals to you in line with how diligently you seek Him. In Psalms 103:7, the Bible says:
“He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.”

How well do you want to know God? Are you willing to seek Him so diligently that He would reveal some of His secrets to you? John 15:15 says that God shares deep things with His friends. His friends are those who do His will (John 15:14). His friends are those who are diligent about seeking Him. They seek Him so diligently that they are ready to let go of several pleasures just to know Him more. If fasting for only three days is too much a price to pay to know God more, then you are not seeking Him diligently. I am talking about fasting and praying when you are not asking Him for anything other than, Lord, I just want to draw closer to you. I am talking about spending hours in personal fellowship. I am talking about evangelizing and doing God’s work as if you are being paid a huge salary for doing it.

Those who seek God diligently always do so early (Proverbs 8:17).

One thing that determines if you will discover God is how early you seek Him. If you keep postponing your search for deeper things in God, you may never find Him. It is those that seek Him early who will find Him. For them, they put everything else aside just to seek Him. Are you amongst those who are desperate to know God? If so, seek Him diligently. Seek Him early.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

A man once had a tiger that he had trained not to attack humans. One day, his son was riding the tiger to the village when the tiger tripped on something and the boy fell. When the boy fell, he injured his hand and blood began to flow out from the wound. The tiger, wanting to help his friend, licked the wound to clean it and tasted human blood for the first time. As soon as it tasted the blood, that thing within it that makes it a tiger arose and within minutes, he ate the boy up. The tiger then went on to the village, killing every human being it saw. Many a time I see people who are managing their situation, living with a tiger that can kill them and their loved ones, yet are fine with it. I just hope that when they realise how dangerous what they are condoning is, it won’t be too late.

One of my sons came to me once, complaining of a neighbour of his who was a witchdoctor. I asked him to send her packing with prayers, but he responded that it wasn’t that serious. After some time, I stopped seeing my son. The next time I saw him, his body was looking all battered. He explained that it was the witchdoctor who dealt with him. His regular prayers were beginning to disturb her, so she told some of her clients who were policemen to accuse him falsely of robbery and then arrest him. After many days of torture and mosquito bites in the cell, one of the policemen in the station said, this man does not seem like a criminal. He is always praying and singing praises; he is definitely innocent, so they released him. Then I asked, "Will you send her packing now?" He responded that he would send her packing immediately.

Your situation may be a sickness that you have been managing, or just some slight financial challenges which you have been living with. You had better send that demon packing before it destroys you.

Today, I want you to pray some dangerous prayers. I want you to send packing today everything in your life that you do not want there, before it destroys you. If you haven’t eaten yet, I would advise that you fast for maybe a few days as you pray this prayer of deliverance and the Almighty God will deliver you completely, in Jesus name. look forward to hearing your testimony.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

One other major reason I am determined never to backslide is that I don’t want to cause God any heartache. In Luke 15:3-7, the Lord asked if there was anyone who would not go after one lost sheep even if they still had a flock of ninety-nine in their care. If we review this scenario described by our Lord Jesus a little more closely, we would realise that a shepherd would only know that one of the sheep is missing in the evening because a flock of a hundred sheep and that of ninety-nine sheep would look alike at a glance. The shepherd would only get to know of the missing sheep when he counts them at night, just before he rests from the day’s work. However, upon discovering that one sheep is missing, he would immediately resume work and begin to search for it. I don’t want to cause my Lord Jesus Christ any heartache; if anything at all, I want to bring Him joy.

The story in Luke 15:3-7 tells us that, until He finds that missing sheep, the Shepherd would not rest. Also, the fact that when He found the sheep, He came back rejoicing shows that when He was looking for the sheep, He was in sorrow. I don’t want my life to cause sorrow to the Almighty. I don’t know about you, but I, Adeboye, I will only bring joy to the Lord and not sorrow.

The story is even deeper than that. Luke 15:7 tells us that there is rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents. You see, there are two opposite sides in the Spirit realm Light and darkness. Each time somebody gets born again, there is sorrow in hell because the devil has lost somebody, so the devil pursues that fellow with the intention of bringing him back into his company. Each time a Christian backslides, there is rejoicing in the camp of the devil. Let me give you an illustration: If you used to be an unbeliever, constantly at the bar drinking with many friends then got born again, your former drinking partners would begin to avoid you because your life would now become a challenge to them. Just seeing you alone would make them feel condemned. Can you then imagine what would happen if one day they suddenly saw you back at the bar? They would shout for joy and drink more than they normally do that day. Each time a Christian backslides, he or she would make the devil celebrate and bring displeasure to God. I pray you will never cause God any form of displeasure, in Jesus' name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Another reason I am determined never to backslide is that if I do, the record of everything I have ever done for God would be erased. The Bible says in Ezekiel 18:24:
“But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.”

It does not matter how far you have gone in your Christian race, how many souls you have won for God or how many Churches you have planted; the moment you become a backslider, everything you have done before would not be mentioned. It means one fellow can serve God all his life and then backslide just one month before he dies and he would end up in hell. Don’t you want to make it to heaven, live in your glorious mansion and see the Lord Jesus Christ whom you have served for so long? Why would you let one little temptation deny you of that glorious experience and make you end up in the hands of the devil?

In case you are not aware, there will be many evangelists in hell; some church workers and even ministers will end up in hell. If you dont believe me, read Matthew 7:21-23. I pray you will not be one of such, in Jesus name. What is the use of serving God so much here on earth and still ending up in the same place that unbelievers will end up in? You had better put aside every sin that draws you back in your Christian race and face God squarely.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Hebrews 12:1

What is that sin that is so alluring to you? Believe me honestly, it is not as valuable as your soul. Protect your soul and run away from sin.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There are several reasons every Christian should pray and work earnestly never to backslide. One of these is that anyone who strays from the path of righteousness will dwell in the congregation of the dead (Proverbs 21:16). When we got born again, we were translated from the kingdom of darkness into light - we passed from death to life. To go back to the congregation of the dead is a terrible thing that all Christians must do everything possible to avoid. Hebrews 10:38-39 states clearly that:
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

God has absolutely no pleasure in backsliders. The moment a child of God backslides, he or she immediately becomes unfit to enter the Kingdom of God as we read in Luke 9:62.

The moment you backslide, God says, You have lost the qualification required to enter into His kingdom. The interesting thing about this is that once the devil sees that a person is displeasing God, he comes in and pushes the fellow to the point where he can make a mockery of him or her.

I know many people who backslid and first thought that they were free from all the restrictions of the gospel but soon realised that they had become objects of mockery. Their end was indeed terrible.

The prodigal son for example backslid and thought he was free from his fathers rules and regulations, but he did not know that the devil was pushing him to the point where he would beg to eat food served to pigs. As for me, I am determined never to backslide.

If you are currently considering the pleasure of this world, remember that it is just a bait for the devil to get you. Hold fast that which you have in the Lord, so that someone else does not take your place in Christ (Revelation 3:11).
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In Genesis 16:4, after Sarah’s maid had become pregnant for Abraham, she began to mock Sarah. She mocked Sarah because she left God out of the calculation. Though Sarah’s case looked impossible at the time, before long, she was carrying her own baby too. No matter how desperate your situation may be, nobody has the right to write you off yet. Just as they may be thinking of writing you off, the Almighty God will arise and change your situation for the better.

Someone once preached a message about the power of 'yet'. He encouraged his congregation that whenever they want to answer a question that seems embarrassing, they should remember to add the word 'yet'.

For example, if you are marriageable but not yet married, whenever you are asked, Are you married? your answer should be, "I am not married YET". If you are asked, "Do you have a car?" when you don’t have one, simply respond "I don’t have a car YET". This preacher went on to say that when you add the word 'yet' to your answer, you are asserting that the way things are now is not the same way they would be in the future. You are saying, in essence, "Don’t write me off; you just wait and see, my miracle will soon arrive".

Beyond adding the word 'yet' when answering seemingly embarrassing questions, you must believe it yourself. You must ensure that you are not writing yourself off. You must ensure that you are seeing yourself going higher and not remaining in that situation. Ecclesiastes 9:4 tells us that as long as you are alive, there is hope. If God has kept you alive up to this moment, then He must have a great plan for you. Revelation 3:7 says that He has the key of David, so whatever He opens is opened and whatever He shuts is shut. He has not written you off, so no matter what anybody thinks, you will be great.

I remember when things were very tough for my family. My wife and I used to share just one small piece of ponmo (cow hide) to go with our meals, as it was the cheapest kind of meat. I would tell her back then, "Darling, things will not always be like this, you know? Our tomorrow will be alright". Today, by the special grace of God, if we want to eat one cow per day, my God will provide it. Say to yourself, "Things will get better. My tomorrow will be alright, in the mighty name of Jesus".
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.