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.

In 1 Kings 19:13-18, you will see that God told Elijah to anoint three people to replace him. This is because you can see pride in Elijah’s response when he says, “And I, even I only, am left…”. There is only one “I AM” and that is God Himself (Exodus 3:14). This is why, when Jesus Christ called Himself ‘I AM’ in John 8:58-59, the Jews were furious that He compared Himself to God. Of course, at that time, they did not know about John 1:1 and 14, which says Jesus is God who became flesh and dwelt amongst us. The name I AM must be reserved for God and God alone.

When you search the Scriptures, you would discover that the words ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘my’, ‘mine’ are the languages of pride. That was the language of Satan in Isaiah 14:12-15. When you find someone always saying ‘I’, ‘my’, you know you are most likely dealing with a proud fellow. Beware of this because the higher you go, the greater the risk of you saying ‘I’, ‘my’, ‘me’ all the time.

We see an example in the strong and anointed man of God called Samson. In Judges 15:14-16, where the power of God came upon him and he killed thousands of soldiers with a jaw bone, he said, “With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men’: There was no, “Thank You, Lord” to the One who sent down the power; it was all about himself. Even when God had clearly restored his strength in Judges 16:25-28, when the enemies had caught him and plucked out his eyes and he wanted to pray just one more prayer before dying, what did he say?

And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
Judges 16:28

It was about him all the way. That is why, as strong and anointed as he was, he fell so low that he ended up blind and grinding corn for his enemies before dying with them.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Another way by which a person exhibits pride is by comparing their achievements with those of others. Our Bible reading yesterday (1 Kings 19:13–18) showed us that God asked Elijah to anoint his replacements. There is a big lesson to be learnt there. You must never have a ‘holier than thou attitude’ or feel you are doing better than others. You may be more talented or hardworking; however, you must remain humble at all times. The point at which you become proud is where your rising stops. King Saul is another example of this (1 Samuel 15:25-30).

1 Peter 5:6 tells us clearly that our humility is required before God promotes us. In other words, once you become proud, you become too heavy for God to exalt. You cannot rise without the grace of God, so remain humble, no matter how much you think you have already achieved (James 4:6).

The word of God says clearly that those who compare themselves among themselves are not wise (2 Corinthians 10:12). There is only one true judge and that is God. The teacher is in the best position to see his or her students’ mistakes. For example, if we were to ask Joshua, “How well have you done?” he most likely would have said, “Extremely well” since he achieved what Moses could not. However, God said:

Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.
Joshua 13:1

God was essentially saying that Joshua failed because he could not finish his job. Don’t ever think that you are perfect because, if we were to count iniquity, no one would be able to stand (Psalm 130:3). Just thank God for how far He has brought you and pray for others around you. Nobody is better than the other; we must prefer one another in honour (Romans 12:10).
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Death is likened to sleep in (1 Corinthians 15:51). In other words, a believer who is spiritually asleep is actually in a state of spiritual death. 1 Thessalonians 5:5-9 tells us clearly that we should stay awake spiritually, be watchful and sober. Matthew 24:42 says you must stay awake and be watchful, for you do not know what day your Lord is coming. Romans 13:11 encourages us that the Lord’s coming is nearer now than when we first believed.

Some believers keep going in and out of spiritual sleep. They feel it is normal to be cold and hot. I pity such people because their end is not usually good. A good example of this is Samson, who slept and woke up a number of times but the last sleep put him into the hands of his enemies. You may have slept a few times before and woken up again; however, you had better stop because there is always the last time a man would sleep and wake up to find himself being tortured by the enemy. If you used to love God with all your heart, but recently, other things have been competing with Him in your heart, then you are sleeping. God is saying to you like He said to the Ephesus Church in Revelations 2:4-5, “Return to your first love”. Ephesians 5:14 says if you awake, Christ will shine on you again.

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Ephesians 5:14

Beloved, get back to your first love now. Put away those sins that easily beset you. Go for a retreat, look for fellowships with genuine believers, make a habit of spending quality time daily in prayers and Bible study. Jesus is ready to shine on you again if you are willing to wake up and get back to Him. He loves you and He is calling you back home. Don’t let the devil or anyone else hinder you from going back to the One who loves you enough to die for your sins. When He shines on you, everything the devil stole during your time of slumber shall be restored and you will become a better person at the end of the day.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The sleeping state of a man is a state when he is unaware of his surroundings and unable to change things around him. The enemies usually exploit this time to do evil. When a person sleeps spiritually, the devil would use that opportunity to steal from the fellow and destroy valuable things in his or her life.

During one of our conventions some years ago, there was a heavy rain and one of my children came to me and said, “Daddy what happened? You were supposed to be on the mountain praying”. I said, “I fell asleep; it was the rain that woke me up”. At first, when I awoke and saw the rain, I asked God, “Daddy, how could this be?” He replied, “I allowed it to rain because the crowd coming tonight will be much, so I need to cool the place down in readiness for them”. While I was asleep, the Devil was hoping the rain would discourage people from coming for the programme however, he did not know that God would make it favour us.

Believe it or not, as long as you are a Christian, the devil will fight you and if he finds you asleep spiritually, he will seek to devour you. If however, you are awake, you can resist him and he will flee from you. That is why we are warned in 1 Peter 5:8 to be vigilant. Stay awake so you can fight the enemy off. In Judges 16:19, it was while Samson was sleeping in the lap of a harlot that his supernatural strength was taken from him. It is important to note that when the devil wants to make a person sleep, he would provide things to please his or her flesh and this closes the person’s spiritual eyes. Sometimes, the devil uses money or career opportunities that take people away from their first love. That is why, no matter how good things get, you must always be spiritually alert.

The reason I still go out on prayer walks at night, even at my age, is to avoid sleeping off. Sometimes, you need to get up and go somewhere uncomfortable so you can pray. Don’t allow the pleasures of this world drive you away from the presence of your Father in heaven.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
Matthew 15:8

You are in a state of spiritual sleep when you profess to love God with your mouth, but your heart is far from Him. You are sleeping spiritually when you are no longer excited to spend time with the One you call your Father. David prayed to God to restore unto him the joy of his salvation. This means he had lost the joy he used to feel as a child of God (Psalm 51:2). When material things become more important than the spiritual, when you believe natural laws more than the word of God, then you are sleeping spiritually. I believe God that you will awake from every spiritual slumber today, in Jesus’ name.

For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
Isaiah 29:10

When you see someone who keeps trying to cope with a problem instead of praying, it means he or she is already sleeping spiritually because the fellow cannot see what the devil is doing. If you make a decision when you are spiritually asleep, that decision is likely to be wrong because you would be spiritually blind. Before you decide on whom to marry or enter into a business venture with, make sure you are spiritually alert. When you sleep spiritually, you cannot discern spirits correctly. You would believe any false prophet who says things that appeal to you; you would embrace a wolf in sheep’s clothing and hand over your pearls to pigs.

A leader in the Church cannot afford to sleep spiritually because the devil can attack the people under his or her leadership and God says their blood would be on that leader’s head (Ezekiel 33:6-7). Therefore, if you are a leader in the house of God, more than anyone else, you must be spiritually alert. God forbid someone dies and goes to spend eternity in hell because of your spiritual negligence.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Prayer For The Youths

1) Father, thank You for the life of all our youths and for Your unfailing love over them.

2) Father, please draw all our youths to You. Let them love and serve You genuinely, in Jesus’ name.

3) Father, please use our youths to win their generation to You, in Jesus’ name.

4) Father, please help all our youths live holy and do not let the devil rob them of their inheritance in You.

5) Father, please grant excellent success to all our youths and bless them mightily, in Jesus’ name.

6) Father, please destroy every agenda of the enemy to turn the hearts of Christian youths away from You, in Jesus’ name.

7) Father, please give our youths the grace to honour their elders so that their days can be long on earth.

Father, please give our youths wisdom, knowledge and understanding so they can improve and not destroy what their parents will hand over to them, in Jesus’ name.

9) Father, please pour out Your Spirit on all our youths and use them to bring about a revival in Your Church.

10) Father, please drive away every evil spirit causing depression, drug addiction and so on, far away from all our youths.

11) Father, please help all our youths to fulfill Your will for their lives, in Jesus’ name.

12) Your personal prayer point for the youths in your family, Church and neighbourhood.

Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Many times we pray and it seems like God cannot even hear our prayers, not to talk of answering them. We even see other people getting their prayers answered seemingly easily and wonder what our offence is that God has not answered us. In Genesis 30, the Bible says Rachel had no child for Jacob while Leah had birthed child after child for him, even as she aged. It must have really seemed as if God was not hearing Rachel’s prayers at all, but in verse 22, the Bible says: “And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.”

One major prayer point that you must pray when it seems like God is not hearing your prayer is, ‘Remember me, oh Lord’. The first thing that happens when God remembers a person is that the fellow’s prayer would be answered. If you have been praying for one miracle or the other and there has been no answer, God will remember you this month, in Jesus’ name. Psalm 65:2 says: “O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come”.

God hears prayers but the Bible says that if He is to answer, there are certain conditions that must be satisfied. For example, in Isaiah 55:6, the Bible says you must seek the Lord while He may be found and call on Him while He is near. Thus you may have been praying for a while, not even sure whether He is near or not because you cannot see Him, but when He chooses to remember, He Himself would draw near to you.

The second thing that happens whenever God remembers someone is that doors begin to open for the fellow. You may have been knocking on some doors that have stubbornly remained shut, but the One who remembered Rachel is He who has the key of David; when He opens, no man can shut and when He shuts, none can open (Revelation 3:7). If the enemy has shut a door against you, in the name that is above every other, this very day, it will be opened. All you need is for God to remember you. The Lord will remember you today as you pray, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Barrenness can also be described as fruitless efforts. It could take different forms, some of which could include physical, material, academic or ministerial barrenness. I pray that the Almighty God will put an end to every form of barrenness in your life today, in Jesus’ name.

Physical barrenness refers to when a married couple is childless. One of my daughters was told that there was no way she could carry a child because her womb was blocked. At one of our programmes, God spoke through me that there was someone whom the doctor had said couldn’t have a child, but that the fellow would have twins. She believed the prophecy and held on to God’s word. To the glory of God, she became pregnant and went abroad to deliver through a caesarean section. To the surprise of the surgeons, she didn’t even have a womb. This was about twenty years ago. Recently, I got a phone call from this daughter of mine, and she said she wanted to bring the twins to me for a visit. I was surprised when she arrived, because she was carrying a new set of twins. The first set were now in the University and God, in His mercy, gave her another set of twins. God did what only He can do. If He could do it for that daughter of mine and you have been asking Him for a child, He will give you twins also, in Jesus’ name.

Material barrenness refers to when a person works tirelessly with nothing to show for it – like Peter, who fished all night and caught nothing (Luke 5:5). Thankfully, Peter accepted Jesus into his boat, obeyed the Lord’s instruction and got a net breaking catch (Luke 5:1-7).

An example of academic barrenness is when a lecturer works very hard but can not publish papers and as a result, does not get promoted. Such people are referred to as academically barren. Ministerial barrenness can be observed when a pastor prays, fasts and evangelises but his Church does not grow.

Whatever form barrenness might have taken in your life or in the lives of your loved ones, I declare that it shall come to an end today, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yesterday we discussed how the resurrection of Jesus Christ confirmed His Lordship. This, in essence, establishes that only the One with the power over death can be Lord indeed. Today we shall look at another aspect of Jesus Christ’s Lordship – His dominion over all calamities and sicknesses, as seen in Isaiah 61:1. Luke 4:18 also corroborates this:

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

When Jesus was confronted face to face with the madman of Gadara, for example, He demonstrated this virtue as the Great Deliverer and Miracle Worker when He cast out the demons that had held the madman captive for years (Luke 8:26-39). Jesus came to preach the gospel to the poor for all-around salvation, and rebuked with authority all who tried to oppose Him. For example, He preached: “Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). To this and many of His teachings, it was said: “And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Matthew 7:28-29).

Our Lord Jesus Christ was asked to prove His Lordship in John 10:24-25. All He did was to simply refer His ‘interviewers’ to the work that His Father had been doing through Him. He said: “the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.” (John 10:25).

As children of God, we must be able to represent Jesus Christ adequately. All you need is to give your life to Jesus and live by His commandments.

I prophesy to you today: you will graduate from being a miracle consumer to a miracle worker, in Jesus’ name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The Lordship of Jesus Christ was confirmed and established the day He resurrected from death because no one has ever done that by himself. The Bible says: “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). This was repeated with greater emphasis according to the account of Luke on the Mount of Transfiguration where God, the Father, spoke to the inner caucus who were to spread the news later. The account says:

While he hath spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
Luke 9:34-35.

Even after all these, the world still had not accepted Him as the Lord.

However, from John 8:46 when He boldly questioned, “Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?” up to His death in Matthew 27:54 when the soldiers said to themselves, “….. Truly this was the Son of God”, the Lordship of Christ was being confirmed and established. In Matthew 28:1-6, we read the account of the resurrection of our Lord:

And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Matthew 28:5-6

Apostle Paul wrote: “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14). May the Lord bless you as you exercise your faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that anyone who believes in Jesus will not be condemned however, those who do not believe in Him are condemned already because they did not believe in the name of the only begotten son of God – Jesus Christ (John 3:18).

Which group would you like to belong to?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

There was this man called Mordecai — Esther’s uncle. There was also Haman – an officer of the king, who hated Mordecai. Haman expected everybody to bow to him, but Mordecai wouldn’t bow to anybody except God. Haman decided to hang him and destroy his people completely. Haman got the king to sign the death warrant of all the Israelites.

When Mordecai heard of the decree from the king, he went to Esther, who was then the queen, for help. Esther replied in Esther 4:1-17 that they should all fast, and then she would go and see the king. They fasted for just three days and things began to change from that point. By the time we got to Esther 5:1-6, Esther appeared before the king without being summoned and the first result of the fasting was that instead of the king asking her to be killed, he spared her life. Fasting can change death to life.

The next thing that happened is that Esther found unusual favour before the king The king told Esther that though he is yet to know what she wants, but she should consider it granted already, even up to half of his kingdom. When you fast, you get more than you ask for. By the time we get to Esther 6, the king couldn’t sleep until he honoured Mordecai. A good deed that Mordecai did many years previously, which had been forgotten, made the king restless until it was repaid. When you take fasting seriously, all your past benefits that you have been denied can be brought forward and handed over to you.

In Esther 7, the enemy of the entire nation became completely uprooted, and then in Esther 8, the house of Haman was given over to Esther. Proverbs 13:22 says that the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just; do you think the wicked will let go of his wealth easily? You get it by fasting and praying. Wealth changes hands when you fast. Mordecai also got promoted because promotion comes from God (Psalm 75:6-7), and since fasting draws you closer to God, it leads to promotion.

Finally, in Esther 8:3-17, the Jews were saved from destruction, and the Bible also says all the people around became Jews because they were afraid of the Jews. Fasting is a powerful weapon of warfare. Begin to use this weapon from today.

Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When you start fasting, you will notice changes which show that your flesh no longer controls you. First, fasting will bridle your tongue. During a fast, it becomes clear to you that many a time, you don’t gain anything by talking. James 1:26 says if you say you are religious and you cannot control your mouth, you are deceiving yourself. Thus, as you fast and talk less, you also sin less.

Fasting also helps you to control your temper, particularly prolonged fasting, because you would have no energy to fight anyone. When you get angry easily, it is because you have a lot of energy; let me see how you will get angry when you have been fasting for twenty-one days and nights! If anybody offends you, you would simply say, “God bless you, just leave me alone”. Ecclesiastes 7:9 says clearly that you should control your anger because anger rests in the bosom of fools.

You should ask yourself how come your body hates fasting. Galatians 5:17 says the flesh lusts against the Spirit. In other words, your flesh wants to fight the Spirit. If we do not say there is fasting tomorrow, you can wake up and not eat until 2 p.m., but once we announce that there will be fasting, some people would eat until midnight and still wake up hungry. This is because the devil does not want you to fast; this should tell you that fasting is good for you. When you learn to fast, you will be amazed that there are certain agents of darkness in your life that you have been coping with, but they move easily when you fast. Matthew 17:14-21 tells us that there was a demon the disciples tried their best to cast out but could not, without fasting and prayer. There are certain mountains that won’t move unless you back your prayers with fasting.

In Exodus 17:8-13, when there was a war to be fought between Israel and the Amalekites, Moses went to the mountain top and lifted his hands, while Joshua was below the mountain, fighting. Whenever Moses’ hands were up, the children of Israel would be winning the battle, but when his hands came down, they would start losing. The spiritual controls the physical. The solution to that lingering problem could just be some days of fasting in addition to your prayers.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The flesh is a very powerful weapon in the hands of the devil. Galatians 5:17 says the flesh and the Spirit are always in constant war against each other. The flesh always wants you to commit sin, while the Spirit wants you to please God. If the flesh wins the battle, then ultimately, the devil has won over your soul; that is why you must put your flesh under your control at all times, and one of the major ways to do that is to fast often.

Only a few select people have fasted for forty days and forty nights. The only three recorded for us in the Scriptures are Moses, Elijah and Jesus Christ. It will interest you to know that only the three of them were there on the mount of transfiguration, glowing like the sun. Today’s message is not for the faint-hearted; it is for those who really want to grow.

Don’t let anybody tell you that fasting ended when Jesus Christ said, “It is finished” on the cross; fasting is for now. In Matthew 9:14-15, some people came to Jesus Christ and complained about His disciples not fasting. He said that after His death, resurrection and ascension, the people would fast. Fasting is for now, and we will fast until the Bridegroom returns. When He returns, there will be no need for fasting anymore because 1 John 3:2 says that when He returns, we shall see and be like Him. When the rapture comes, those who are not dead will have their bodies transformed to become like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. At that time, we won’t need food; whatever He eats in His new body is what we will be eating, but until then, while your body is still the way it is, warring against the Spirit, you must fast to remain in the light of Christ.

There are those who will tell you fasting is not for the age of grace. They are big liars. Paul – the Apostle of Grace, said in 2 Corinthians 11:27 that he fasted often. He fasted often so he could subdue the flesh, and it would not cause him to be cast aside (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). Apostle Paul said many people run a race, but only one will win. If you want to enter the Kingdom of God, then you must make fasting your lifestyle.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When a child is born, everybody is at his or her beck and call. The child is not expected to do any chore in the house. However, as the child begins to mature, he or she may then be sent on one errand or another. It is the same way in the Christian walk. When someone has just become born again, the fellow is being fed by the mature Christians. When he or she comes to Church, the workers would direct him or her on where to park the car, where to sit and attend to whatever needs he or she may have. As the fellow continues in the Church and becomes a mature Christian, he or she would no longer be comfortable with just being served, but would rather now want to serve in the house of God too.

A Christian that is growing spiritually becomes increasingly responsible. Such a Christian will sacrifice his or her time, because he or she is now living for God. There are however, those who have been attending Church for years, yet they don’t do anything else apart from attending Church services. How can you be coming to Church without being a responsible part of the running of the house of your Father? While others may be thinking of what God can do for them, a Christian that is growing spiritually will focus on what he or she can do for God.

Beyond working for God, a Christian that is growing spiritually is always willing to give to the things of the Kingdom. Just like Paul, he or she does not mind spending and being spent for the progress of the Kingdom of God. While others are arguing about whether to pay tithe or not, a Christian that is growing spiritually is willing to give 100% of his or her income to God. A Christian that is growing spiritually will not complain when the Pastor says there is a need to be met in the Church; in fact, he or she would want to be the first person to meet that need.

Many years ago, there was a rich man who regularly gave towards Church projects and still helped supervise those who, unable to give financially, contributed their labour. One day, we suddenly saw him removing his clothes and joining in the physical labour. Surprised, we asked why and he said God had just told him, “Big man, well done; the people doing the work will get the reward that you will not”. Cheerfully giving your money, time, and energy to serve God are some of the signs that you are growing spiritually as a Christian.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Some people take the work of Christ as an excuse for being lazy. They think that because of God’s many Promises, they can relax and not work. That is a big lie. Even Paul-the Apostle of grace, worked (1 Corinthians 4:12).

Anointed as he was, he laboured with his own hands. Students who refuse to study but say: “It is written; the Holy Spirit will remind us” should note that He would only remind them of what they have studied. If you don’t study, what would He remind you of? The youths in our Churches and nations must stop looking for quick money and work diligently. You have the internet and many things that have made your work easier. Those who work hard never beg. They become strong, wealthy and very great. Don’t spend all your time on social media or watching television. The people you are watching are working hard to make something of themselves.

Many years ago, I was in my uncle’s house on a visit from school. One day, there were masquerades outside the house, and everyone watched and cheered them while I was studying inside. He came to me and said, “Won’t you go and see the masquerades?” I responded with a Yoruba proverb translated, “The person who will be watched does not go around watching people”. My uncle reminded me of that day recently because now, I am being watched. If you want to be great, you cannot be spending countless hours watching videos on social media. Get out there and work. Some people only pray and fast and then complain when things don’t get better for them. Praying and fasting are not the keys to success; they can only enhance your efforts. If you put in no effort, then what will it enhance? One million multiplied by zero is equal to zero.

One of my sons says that you must pray like you will not work and work like you will not pray. As prayerful as I am, even at my age, I wake up before the sun is up every morning to work. I don’t say because I prayed for six hours last night, then I should sleep all morning today; that is not how I got to where I am now. Believe me honestly, if you are lazy, God will not use you. He needs diligent people; that is why Hebrews 11:6 says He only rewards those who diligently seek Him.

Proverbs 23:21 says: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. If you are lazy, you would end up being clothed with rags. Some people don’t want to work hard; they just want to get rich overnight. It is not going to happen. Proverbs 19:15 says clearly: “Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.” The word of God is settled; if you are lazy, you will suffer hunger.

With all humility, I know many who came out into full-time ministry around the same time I did. Today when we meet after several years, they look at me and say, “Ah, God has been faithful to you”. I say, “No doubt about that, He has been faithful.” However, I always add very politely, “Nobody can accuse me of laziness”. If you say I am a lazy man, I will look at you closely and say, “You must be related to the devil”. Someone said, “You just finished the Holy Ghost Congress – a whole week of activities. And before the Congress, you spent weeks fasting and praying. In preparation, you even inspect everything, including the toilets. You then finish the congress, and a few days later, you are going a-fishing. Why not sit at home and tell your children to go and do the work?”. I said, “Thank you. As long as God gives me strength, I will be occupied for Him “. The word of God is clear; if you are lazy, you can’t expect His blessings.

You have to learn to be diligent. Proverbs 12:24 says: “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.”

Do you know what the above passage means? It means that if you are lazy, other people will rule over you in every sphere of life. If that is not what you want, then you must give no room to laziness in your life. Only those who are diligent will rise to the level of ruling others; Those who refuse to be diligent are mean men who will be ruled and controlled by the diligent. Proverbs 22:29 says, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men”.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

One of the major benefits of being a child of God is prosperity. Deuteronomy 8:18 says that God gives us the power to get wealth. In 3 John 2, He says clearly: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

One thing is clear from these Scriptures: God wants us to be prosperous. 2 Corinthians 8:9 even says that Jesus became poor so that we can be rich. The question now is: why does God want His children to prosper?

Firstly, no father would want his children to suffer. His children suffering would make him look like an irresponsible father. God wants you to prosper simply because you are His child. Psalm 128:1-2 backs this up: “Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.”

After you have become prosperous however, God wants you to use that wealth to build His Kingdom. Zechariah 1:17 said: “Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.”

After God has prospered you, He expects you to use that prosperity to spread the gospel of His Kingdom abroad. He expects you to do things to advance His kingdom on earth and win more souls for Him. This means that if you are prosperous and not sponsoring Kingdom projects, then you need to have a change of mind. You need to be more concerned about using your money for God than for any other thing.

David wondered how he could be living in a palace, when his God is being worshipped in a tent (2 Samuel 7:2). This made him set out to build a temple for God. He was so determined to spend for God that even when God told him not to build the temple, he did not keep his money to himself; rather, he provided everything that Solomon needed to build it. If you have this kind of heart, you would see how God will promote and bless you even more than you can imagine.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When you are about to take any action, one thing that should always be on your mind is not the benefit you would get from doing it, but what the end of it would be, in line with God’s word. For example, you may see an opportunity to earn extra money by cheating someone but stop and think about what the Bible says would be the end of those who cheat, as seen in Deuteronomy 25:15.

There was somebody who sold land to us around the Redemption Camp some time ago. We had paid for the land, but then he suddenly said he was taking it back. I advised him against such an action, then he began to chant incantations, claiming that, “The vulture eats rituals with impunity”. I laughed and said, “Of all the birds in the world, you want to compare yourself to the vulture? You want your life to be like that of the vulture looking haggard and terrible?”

After some back and forth between us during which he accused me of wanting to put a curse on him, he said, “Let me tell you, I am the eagle who eats cursed meals and still becomes fat”. I told him to go and ask the elders how eagles die. Hunters normally don’t get to kill an eagle because it flies so high so they usually can’t reach it when it is young and strong. It would swoop in, pick your chicken, and no matter how much you curse it, it would not be bothered. However, when the eagle gets old and isn’t as fast as it used to be, little birds would begin to tease it. The eagle usually dies of hunger in old age. It is the end that matters.

After about four years, during which time the man had sold our land to other people and made a lot of money out of it, he developed a strange medical condition that made his stomach so huge that when he stood, his stomach could touch the ground.

Beware what you do today because, God cannot be mocked; whatsoever you sow, you will reap (Galatians 6:71). You may say, “What about the people we see around who cheat others, yet keep getting rich?” David wondered the same thing and God gave him the answer in Psalm 73:3-20.

Don’t be one of those who will have such a disgraceful end.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Psalm 50:14-15 says that when you pay your vows, you can call on God in the day of trouble, and He will answer. In other words, if you make a vow and you fail to redeem it, do not be surprised if you call on God in the day of trouble and He does not answer you. Today, many Christians just make vows casually. Many a time, even when making the vow, they have no intention of paying it. Don’t postpone the payment of your vow when you can do it now. God sees those who do that as fools.

A vow is like a deal. When you make a deal with someone and you don’t fulfil your part of it, it is like stealing from that person. It is foolish to try to steal from God because what you are keeping away was provided by Him in the first place. If you made a deal with God, fulfil your part speedily. Worse still, some people make vows because they want the Pastor to pray for them at that moment, without any intention to fulfil it. How can you lie to God to receive blessings from Him? Is that not the height of foolishness?

Once you make a vow to God and the devil sees that you want to pay that vow, he will start telling you to defer it to later, saying that you don’t have enough yet or that God understands. Don’t listen to his lies so that God doesn’t see you as a fool.

One interesting thing about fulfilling a vow made to God is that the One you made it to has the ability to give you far more than you have promised to give Him. If you fulfil your vow, He would pour His blessings on you, but if you refuse to, He would also withhold what He would have given you in return. Hannah made a vow to God that she would give Him her son if He would bless her with one. This was after many painful years of waiting, and she didn’t know if she would ever have another child again. Imagine her holding her child in her hands at last and then giving the child over to God. Going back home without her child must have been a great sacrifice. She did it because that was her vow, and God gave her five more children in return (1 Samuel 2:21). Job 22:27-29 says it is those who pay their vows that can decree a thing, and it is established. It is foolishness not to pay your vows.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

As a child matures, he or she would get to the point when the parents can hand over some of their duties to him or her. In the same vein, as we mature in Christ, we are to start doing the works of Christ. That is why Jesus said in John 14:12 that we are to do the works that He did and indeed, greater works.

Jesus was a teacher of the word. Apostle Paul said in Hebrews 5:12: “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

“There comes a time in the life of a Christian when he or she ought to have started teaching others the gospel of Christ. Many believers don’t get to this level because they only read their Bibles rather than study deeply. When you read, you read to be informed, but when you study, you study to be transformed. It is after you are transformed by the word that you begin to long to see that same transformation in others, and that longing pushes you to start teaching it. There are those who have memorised the longest chapter in the Bible, but they cannot teach the simple doctrines of faith because the word hasn’t transformed them. Don’t just read the Bible, study it. When you experience the transforming power of the word, you will be eager to start teaching it too.

Another work that Jesus did which we are also expected to do, is the working of miracles. Miracles are not the exclusive reserve of Pastors only; they are for all Christians. Jesus said in Mark 16:17, “These signs shall follow them that believe”. As long as you are a child of God, when someone is sick around you, you are to lay hands on them so that they can recover. Many Christians don’t do this because while they have been in the faith for long, they have not been deliberate about their spiritual growth. Such people don’t spend quality time in God’s presence, praying, studying His word and seeking His anointing.

You must be deliberate about your spiritual growth because our Lord Jesus Christ expects you to grow in Him and perform greater works than He did during His earthly ministry.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.