₦airaland Forum

Besides being a God of wonders who does wonders, God can also turn you into a wonder. A young man gave a profound testimony during one of our monthly Holy Ghost Services some years ago. He testified that during a prior Holy Ghost Service, the Lord instructed me to inform the congregants that the clothes they wore to that programme had just been anointed and had therefore been special. Unknown to him, some hired killers had been sent to kill him. Coincidentally, on the day marked for his assassination, he was wearing the very clothes that had been anointed during the Holy Ghost Service. As he passed by the assassins on this fateful day, he heard them say, “This is the fellow”, and immediately, they opened fire on him. Six bullets passed through the front of his clothes and came out at the back, but nothing touched him. He brought the clothes he wore and showed us the bullet holes in front and at the back. He said he could not explain how that could happen without affecting his body. Indeed, there is a God who can turn someone into a wonder! As people looked at him, they saw someone who by all standards should have been dead, but who was alive because God miraculously protected him from weapons of destruction. This season, God will turn you into a wonder! He will miraculously protect you from every weapon of death formed against you.

Moreover, God can perform wonders through you! He can turn you into an instrument that performs wonders. For instance, on one ordinary day, Peter and John were going along the way when they encountered a lame man who asked for alms, but God used them to heal him (Acts 3:1-11). This same man who had sat at a gate of the temple for years suddenly rose up, began to walk, leap and praise God. He became a wonder to everyone who knew him, and the duo that God used to perform the miracle also stood out as wonders. Acts 3:11 says,
“And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.”

Beloved, God wants you to be a wonder. He also wants to use you to perform wonders. Are you ready to cooperate with Him? Can you pay the price to become a conduit for sings and wonders to flow through? How concerned are you about God’s Kingdom? How consecrated are you? Are you prepared to give it all it takes?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Life in the Spirit is possible, even though for most believers it is still a struggle (Galatians 5:25). To grow your spirit-man, you need to earnestly seek more opportunities to be refilled with the Holy Spirit after being baptized with Him (Ephesians 5:18-19). To live in the Spirit, you need to think in the Spirit. In our thought life, many of us leave out the Holy Spirit, and this is one of the reasons why we don’t go far in our walk with God. Whenever God is left out of an equation, it never balances. This is why Proverbs 3:5-6 says we should acknowledge Him in all and not some of our ways. It is only then He will direct our paths. Some of us usually announce to God the decisions we have already reached, instead of consulting with Him earlier, so that He can help us arrive at the best decision. What is wrong with God deciding for you? Who decided that you would be born? Were you a part of that decision? Who decided your sex, nation, looks, height, complexion and the parents you would have? If He could decide all these, would it be too much for Him to be involved in the decision-making process of your life? When He is involved in a decision, He will ensure it does not fail. However, if in playing “mature” boy or girl, you leave Him out and your decisions later backfire, you will have only yourself to blame.

When there is an issue on ground and you present the issue to God, asking for His guidance or instruction on how to handle it, He will be pleased that you are giving Him His rightful place in your life. To what extent do you involve God in your personal and family affairs? Do you see Him as an intruder or as a partner? How often do you involve God in your thoughts and plans? If you really want Him to be a part of your thought life, then shun all evil thoughts. Load your mind with His word. Think often on God’s word and focus on Jesus. By doing these, it will become easy for you to think in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the only Person who can help you see things from God’s perspective. This is why 1st Corinthians 2:11 says,
“For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”

When you yield your mind to Him, you will see yourself thinking more like Jesus, and what is important to God will gradually become important to you. When this continues, His likes will become your likes, and you will hate what He hates. There will be an alignment between what He wants and what you want. Start involving God in your thought process from today.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

If you are a sheep in the fold of the Great Shepherd, you will not lack rest or what to eat. Beyond these, you will not thirst, as He leads you beside the still, calm waters.  This is another way of saying that your thirst will be quenched. The Lord in Matthew 5:6 spoke of this when He said:
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

Hunger and thirst are part of the mechanisms that have been programmed into the human body to produce growth. How you respond to these impulses will determine the quality or type of growth you experience. Prolonged starvation and refusal to eat both lead to death. Similarly, while taking only a particular kind of food, some people experience abnormal growth patterns, due to the absence of the required quantity of nutrients, vitamins, fatty acids, and so on, needed by their body. This is why children who are exclusively fed a diet full of carbohydrates tend to have oversized heads and stomachs, rickety legs and hands – a growth problem known as “Kwashiorkor”. For growth to be even and progressive, all the needs of the body must be provided.

The observed effect of food on physical growth in the natural world also applies to what happens in the spirit. Today, spiritual growth is so distorted in the Body of Christ as a result of the nature of food being fed and the attitude of believers towards spiritual food. There are different stages of growth in the Kingdom of God. 1st Peter 2:2 says baby Christians should be fed with milk, so as to grow normally. Today, you have those who claim to have been saved for 5, 10 or more years still insisting on being fed with milk. If a 10 year old child still wants to be breastfed, what kind of growth would result from this? Also, there are so many false doctrines being propagated through the airwaves and in churches today. What kind of growth will such doctrines deliver to those who receive them? In addition, a number of those who are being fed the sound, undiluted truth of God’s word do not have enough time to receive it. What kind of growth do you think will result from such spiritual eating pattern? When you do not grow as you are expected to, you become a problem to yourself and others around you. How are you growing today? What are you feeding on? How often do you feed on God’s word?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

It is one thing to serve the Lord, and another thing to submit to authority. Some people can render service to God but they cannot submit themselves to the authority of someone the Lord has placed over them. In Acts 8:12-17, after the apostles heard that a deacon was making waves in Samaria, they decided to go and see what was going on. Peter was asked to lead the delegation there. On arrival, Philip received them warmly, introduced them to the Samaritan converts as his leaders and submitted himself to their authority. There was no conflict whatsoever! If it were some people today, there would have been a rift. They would have confronted these leaders with rash words such as “Pastor Peter, where do you think you have come to? When there was no revival here, you never came to Samaria. Now that God has used me to bring revival to Samaria, you have come to take over the work and the glory. I will never allow you to do this. You may be an apostle, but I am the one God used to save these souls and perform these signs and wonders, so please return to your Jerusalem.”

Do you know that there are some pastors that God used in building up a church, who down the line defy all moves to transfer them elsewhere? They believe that since they did all the hard work of building from scratch, they should be left to enjoy the “dividends” of their labour. This only shows a lack of understanding. In the first place, whatever work we do in the Kingdom of God is done for God and not for any man. Also, the means used for the work, whether physical, financial or material, come from God. Furthermore, no human being can adequately reward you for work you do for God. Similarly, God does not owe any one who serves Him: He always rewards them here on earth and later in eternity, as promised by the Lord in Matthew 19:29:
“And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”

There should be no conflict at all on such matters. When a person is told by their authority to relocate, it should be clear to him or her that God is most likely through with using him or her in that current location. If you find it difficult to submit to your earthly superiors, it means that you are not ready for the ministry of signs and wonders. Are you under authority, or do you resist and struggle with your superiors? Repent and make amends today! 
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

While some people fall into captivity through traps set by the tempter, some others, like Joseph, are sold into slavery (Genesis 37:23-28). In some parts of Africa, when a child is born, both parents of the child or either one of them enter into a covenant involving that child and some deity or spirit-wife or husband. Such a child later grows up to find that he or she has been sold into slavery. There are many childless couples who go to some deities for help, because they can no longer wait on God to give them good children. This opens the door to satanic offspring in their lives. Later in life, such demonic children will become devourers of their resources and peace. May you never be so frustrated as to go to the devil for help! Satan’s “help” is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).

Moreover, in Exodus 1:8-12, we understand that some people enter into slavery right from birth.  When a pharaoh that did not know Joseph arose in Egypt and enacted new laws that made the Israelites slaves, every child that was born to them from that moment was born into slavery. In whatever way you have found yourself in captivity, whether by choice, design or by birth, there is deliverance for you today. The Great Deliverer is able and willing to deliver you. 1st John 3:8 says Jesus Christ was manifested in order to destroy the works of the devil. Captivity is the work of the devil, and he seeks to control and ruin lives by it. The predator runs the lives of his captives. When he wants, he whips them, pushes them into difficulties and mocks them while they struggle. He dictates what they become and where they will end. The fellow in captivity has virtually lost control over his or her life. You cannot be a captive and at the same time be free to serve God the way you want. One of the reasons why Jesus Christ came into this world was to make us free to serve God. Contained in the prophecy of Zacharias about the Lord Jesus Christ in this statement about His mission, in Luke 1:74-75:
“That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.”
This is why you have to arise in anger today and rebel against any form of captivity you have found yourself in, and ask Jesus Christ to deliver you now. You shall be free today!
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

In life, what you tolerate goes a long way to determine what you go through, and how you go through situations and circumstances. While God expects us to be tolerant of the weaknesses, character defects and inadequacies of our fellow human beings, He does not expect us to be tolerant of the devil and his tokens. For this reason, in 1st Peter 5:9, we are commanded to steadfastly resist the devil and his antics. In fact, we are even permitted to be violent in our approach towards effectively resisting the devil (Matthew 11:12). Whatever you allow in your life, stays, multiplies and may even dominate your life! Never allow anything evil to come into your life or to continue to hibernate in your life.

One of the tokens of the liar that you must not allow is sickness. You should not tolerate sickness because it hinders you from effectively serving God. Sickness hinders and makes one an ineffective witness of Jesus Christ. If you go out to preach about Christ and His power and you are sick, some people will challenge your message, saying that the power you attribute to Jesus should first be seen in your life before they can believe. In addition, sickness hinders how we praise God. Isaiah 38:18-19 says only the living can praise God and not those in the grave. It is not easy to praise God when your body is going through severe pain. Isaiah 53:5 says,
“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

Jesus has already paid the price of our healing, and so when a believer remains sick, it means that the suffering of Christ over that person is being wasted. Are you sick? You cannot afford to remain sick. Receive your healing now in Jesus’ Name! Mark 9:23 says if only you believe, your healing can be delivered to you. This means that your faith is being challenged whenever you are sick. Do you have enough faith to appropriate the sufferings of Christ over your situation in order to be healed? Beyond this, God gave me a revelation that sickness does not only challenge our faith, it also challenges our Lord Jesus Christ. Since He is the Author and Finisher of our faith, when sickness challenges our faith, then it is the Author and Finisher of our faith that is also being challenged (Hebrews 12:2). This season, your healing will suddenly manifest and you will see the tokens of sickness no more.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Sin can bring unimaginable consequences upon the sinner. Some years ago, I visited the maximum security prison at Kirikiri, Lagos, where I met a man who had been condemned to death. For 27 years, he had waited for the day the executioner would come for his head. While we discussed, I trembled at the repercussion of sin. He said to me, “Even if I am released now, where do I start from, having wasted 27 years of my life?” Do you expect such a man to be joyful during all that period of waiting? No way! He must have been sad for 27 years! Psalm 16:4 says,
“Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.”
According to this scripture, sin and sorrow go hand in hand. If you are living in sin, you cannot be separated from sorrow. If you enjoy sinning, you will be compelled to enjoy sorrow as well. If you are always sorrowful, examine your ways: it is possible your life of sorrow is the product of a sinful life.

Similarly, sin is linked with pain, struggle and tears. Job 15:20 says
“The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.”
This scripture simply means that if you sin and continue in it, get ready to suffer for a long time, possibly throughout life. These repercussions of sin did not just start today; they have been there from the beginning. In Genesis 3:8-19, after Adam and Eve sinned, the serpent was cursed above all other creatures and lost its legs. For the woman, the process of conception and childbirth became an issue of life and death, while the ground was cursed for man’s sake. Since then, it has been a struggle for man to enter into his harvest. Before you take out your harvest from the fields, you have to sweat, suffer, weed out what you did not sow, and so on. Are you going through a lot of struggle, pain and tears over your efforts to move to the next level? First crosscheck your life to find out if these are caused by sin. If there is sin, confess it to God, ask for forgiveness and beat a fast retreat. Follow after the path of righteousness, because righteousness will ensure sorrow stays far from your life.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

God is a wonder and He does great wonders. I pray that He will perform wonders in your own life, so that you can testify that you have experienced His wonder-working power, in Jesus’ Name. Beyond this however, do you know that God can turn you into a wonder? For instance, look at the mad man of Gadara. He was so mad that all hope was lost concerning his recovery; but when Jesus touched his life, he was seen not only in his right senses, but also decently dressed and even evangelising the goodness of the Lord. Many people who saw him were amazed and had their doubts as to whether he was the same person who once terrorised the community (Mark 5:20). He became a wonder! Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, also became a wonder and a tourist attraction after he was raised from the dead. John 12:9 says this about him:
“Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.”

Several years ago, during a particular Holy Ghost Service we held at the National Stadium, Surulere (Lagos), there was a man with a huge growth attached to his neck sitting beside a particular woman. The growth was so huge that it overshadowed his face. While the programme was on, the woman sitting beside him kept peeping at the protruding growth. During the sermon, the word of God came that there was someone in attendance with a huge growth around the neck and that it had gone. On hearing this, the woman sitting next to this man immediately turned to look at him and it was as if the growth suddenly grew wings, flew away and disappeared. This woman was so amazed at this wonder that after the programme was over, she had already trekked from the stadium to Palmgrove, a distance of about 5km, before she remembered that she had left her car parked in the parking lot inside the stadium. When God turns you into a wonder, even sceptics will find it difficult to doubt your testimony because it will be so profound. Also, your life will become a perpetual signpost for God’s Name to be glorified. Are you in dire need of a miracle? Beyond that need, ask God to make you a living wonder for the glory of His Name. This season, as the Lord turns you into a wonder, the same mouths that have mocked you and challenged your God will become the instruments for spreading your testimony and for reverencing your God! Worship the Almighty God who alone can make you a wonder.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

“Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.”
The above scripture is one of those very popular passages in the Psalms. When a baby Christian hears it, he will say “Amen!” Some adult Christians have even turned it into a song. A mature believer in Christ, I mean a real bone-cracker, will however react differently. When he or she hears this passage being quoted, the first thing he or she will do is to carry out a brief self-examination and introspectively ask: “I hope I am not one of these enemies?” In other words, he is not in a hurry to say amen. In 2nd Samuel 12:1-7, after Prophet Nathan told King David the story of an oppressive act committed in his kingdom, the king rose up in fury and decreed, “That fellow must die.” Then the prophet replied, “You are the man, O king.” Be very careful how you judge others because Matthew 7:2 says,
“For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
If only some people were merciful while judging others, they too would have been shown mercy when they were going through their own judgement.

Beloved, before you cry to God to arise and let His enemies be scattered, first find out if you are not that enemy. Have you even tried to find out whether God is the one fighting you? In Numbers 22:22-31, God had told Prophet Balaam not to go and curse His people. Nevertheless, when Balak invited him to curse the children of Israel and promised him a lot of money, he disobeyed God. God therefore sent an angel to block his way. The donkey he rode on saw the angel and stopped, but because his own eyes were blinded by covetousness, he could not see the angel. What will you do if you find yourself in this scenario? You perceive something is blocking your way but you do not know what exactly it is, and you say, “You demon standing between me and my destiny, move!” You get a response saying, “I am not a demon but an angel.” You then insist and say, “No problem, whatever you are, move out of my way!” He then asks, “In whose name?” You say “In the Name of Jesus Christ”, and the response is, “Oh, He is the One who asked me to block your way!” What would you do? Today, many people are busy fighting non-existent forces of darkness that they believe are blocking their way. Go back to God and find out who is really blocking your way in order to pray correctly.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

One of our benefits as the sheep of the Great Shepherd is the assurance of provision. If you are a sheep of Jesus, you will definitely be fed and hunger will be alien to you. Psalm 37:3 says,
“Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.”

If God has promised that we shall be fed, why then are some of us hungry and even starving today? Several factors are responsible for this, first of which is that some people have erroneously mistaken poverty for righteousness and wealth for sinfulness. Some people have chosen to be poor so as to make Heaven. This is a fallacy! Do you know that so many poor people on earth, after suffering here, end up in Hell, whereas many believing Christians who were rich on earth continue to swim in eternal riches in Heaven? The choice is yours. Do not choose what will destroy but what will deliver you. Abraham was rich on earth, died and continued to live in God’s abundance in Heaven. What is your choice? If you are still holding onto such negative beliefs or stereotypes, then you need to have a change of mindset.

Also, some believers are hungry today because they have violated God’s financial principles. For instance, if you are not faithfully paying your tithe, you are inviting devourers to drive you into hunger. If you fail to pay your first fruits, you will be giving the enemy legal grounds to contest your job, open doors or breakthrough, and this could lead to hunger. Similarly, when you eat up the seeds you are meant to sow after every provision that comes to you, you will lose the harvest that could keep you from starving tomorrow. Some believers are in hunger as a result of reckless spending. They want to spend everything they have in one day. If you eat up a month’s provision in one week, you may have to spend the remaining weeks in hunger. In addition, some believers do not really trust God but in the quality of their certificate, wisdom, knowledge and skill. This attitude has resulted in God stepping aside from their affairs in order to make them realise how little they can achieve by their limited strength. Hence, such people have ended up in disappointment and lack. Beyond this, others are in hunger because of laziness, as they have refused to take up opportunities to gather wealth. Lack and poverty may also be as a result of satanic manipulation and control. Are you hungry? Is it caused by your actions or inactions? Arise and put things in order today and turn away from hunger and lack! 
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Soul winning can trigger the miraculous, as seen in the lives of the apostles. If you really want signs and wonders to attend to your life and ministry, you must be prepared to declare Jesus Christ at every opportunity you have, and if you lack such opportunities, you must be prepared to create them. In Acts 5:12-16, it is recorded that through the hands of the apostles, several miracles were performed. This was a generic statement affecting all the apostles because they were all preaching the word of God (Acts 5:12). After this generic statement was made, Peter was singled out. Concerning him, it was said that he did not need to lay hands before miracles took place; rather, even his shadow was conducting deliverance and healing services while he was busy moving from place to place. Why was this so? How did Peter excel in signs and wonders? It was because he took advantage of every opportunity he had to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He could face any crowd and declare his faith in Jesus Christ to them (See Acts 2&Acts 3). God saw this attitude and was quite impressed, and He said, “Since you are unstoppable in declaring My word, signs and wonders will never cease in your life.”

Can you take the action of witnessing to such limits as you have never been before? In various life endeavours, several Christians plan, set goals and targets, and come up with strategies to accomplish them, but when it comes to soul-winning they don’t do any of these. As a marketer, you devise plans on how to reach out to a larger segment of the market and on how to get a larger market share for your products. That is how it should be for soul-winning too. What is your plan or strategy for winning more souls to Christ this year? For many individuals, couples or families, there is no plan for evangelism. No specific number of converts is being targeted daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. Due to this lack of planning, some people cannot boast of five converts in 12 months. What a shame! Several opportunities that God gave us to win souls have been lost to lack of planning. If you set a monthly target to winning 20 souls, you will take every opportunity that comes your way more seriously and exploit them in order to achieve your target. Success in evangelism can never be attained without a plan. Repent today and become more proactive in evangelism. Come up with a plan for the year and prayerfully pursue it. It shall be achieved in Jesus’ Name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Many people have been taken captive in different ways. Some have become captives of war, while some others have fallen prey to traps set by the enemy. May God deliver us from satanic booby traps! However, you really need to exercise caution if you do not want to fall prey to the devil. Watch those things you take pleasure in because sooner rather than later, they can become the very things the tempter will use in enticing you! James 1:14 tells us that temptations start with us: they emanate from what we secretly or openly long for. Some people nurse some unvoiced thoughts and ideas and do not really care whether those thoughts agree with the standard of Philippians 4:8. This standard states:
“…Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

For nonchalant Christians, the devil soon sets them up to reveal exactly what is in their heart, and thereafter they are confronted with temptations. An example here is Esau, who loved good food. He loved eating so much that the devil decided to use food to secure the loss of his destiny, and he fell for it. If you secretly admire the opposite sex, the devil will find out about it someday, and before long, you will be battling with sexual lust or some other form of immorality.

Men are drawn by their own lustful thoughts. Lust pulls the one lusting into further sin. Do everything possible to avoid lust because before you know it, it will bring you into the pit of sin. If you lust after money, before long, you will find yourself in a situation where you will be tempted to sell out on your salvation or betray someone who is close to you in exchange for money, like Judas Iscariot and Joseph’s brothers did. What do you secretly lust after? If you ignore it, you will later regret it by the time the tempter is through with you. This is the time to prayerfully check and cut off any seemingly harmless pull from lust. Where there is a pull, it continues until there is a build-up. When the build-up has become formidable, it will become too difficult to resist its compelling force to sin. Therefore, do everything possible to love only those things that are good, and feed your mind on the word of God. Also, avoid the tendency for a build up by resisting the subtle lure of lust. Prayerfully keep your thoughts in check and closely monitor what you allow into your heart. 
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

When Jesus came to Peter’s house in Matthew 8:14-15, He met his mother-in-law down with a fever. He touched her and she was healed instantly, and she then began to attend to their needs. This clearly tells us that Jesus does not tolerate sickness in our bodies. However, the question is, do you tolerate sickness? Some people are tolerant of things they should not accept. Tolerating sickness is telling that it is welcome in your body. Some people tolerate certain sicknesses that are traced to certain natural conditions. For instance, when a woman is pregnant, people expect her to go through morning sickness. While this is mild for some people, it can be very tough for some others. Nevertheless, if you know your rights as a spiritual Hebrew woman and stand in faith against any form of ill health, you will receive strength to go through pregnancy in good health and not in sickness. To do so, you must be strong in faith and tell sickness that it is not welcome because you have no room or space for it. 1st Timothy 2:15 says,
“Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”
In other words, if you are truly a godly woman, you should not be taken down by the dangers of childbirth that affect ungodly women. Stand in faith and live holy, and your conception and delivery will be most pleasant!

In the same vein, some sicknesses are attributed to old age. An elderly man who was still quite active suddenly got up one day and realised he had difficultly walking. He tried some self-medication to no avail, and so he was taken to the hospital. The doctor examined him and told him his sickness was as a result of old age. He was advised to just manage it with certain medicines. There are some people whose eyesight fail them due to old age, even as early as 60 years old. For a child of God, you can stand in faith, resist such sicknesses and enjoy good health all through your life. At 120 years old, when it was time to go to be with the Lord, Moses still retained the strength of his youth (Deuteronomy 34:7). Caleb also retained his strength at 85 years old (Joshua 14:10-11). If you stand in faith, what affects others will not be able to affect you. If you refuse to resist these sicknesses, you will become a victim just like everyone else. The choice is yours.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

As harmless as sin may appear sometimes, we should not be deceived, knowing how destructive it can be. Every act of sin comes with a sentence of death (Romans 6:23). If you do not want to die through separation from God, sin is something you must flee from. 2nd Timothy 2:19 says,
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

If you are living in sin, God cannot call you His. If you want Him to identify with you, then you must deliberately separate yourself from sin. If you are truly born again, you cannot continue in sin (Romans 6:1-2). Sin is not as trivial as people suggest; it is deadly! May God completely deliver you from the reins of sin!

Moreover, sin is a carrier of death (1st Corinthians 15:56). If you live in sin, death sets in. The death that sin brings can affect every facet of your life. Take for instance the impotent man who had been sick for 38 years, who was kept by the sheep market pool. During his second encounter with Jesus, after he had been healed, the Lord told him something fundamental in John 5:14:
“Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.”

From this statement, we know that the sin(s) this man committed brought on the paralysing sickness he suffered for 38 years. He contacted this illness as a result of sin and had to relocate from his house, family and friends to live in a colony of the sick. He tried 38 times to receive his healing, without success. Sin, through this sickness, devoured his life. Assuming he was meant to live for 70 years, what would be left after losing 38 years to sickness? Sin separated him from what God had originally planned for his life and made him completely useless to himself and everyone else. He was stagnant and in bondage for 38 years! As a result of his sin, he was forsaken by his friends and loved ones. Sin is so terrible!

Do you know that many believers are in a mess today, but instead of first looking inwards to discover if they caused it by their sins, they begin to look out for external culprits: an enemy, witch or wizard that may not even exist. Are you in a terrible state? Examine yourself and find out if your sin is the cause; thereafter turn to God, repent and surrender your life to Jesus.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Our God is not only a wonder, He also works wonders! After the Lord performed wonders by parting the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel sang a new song to the Lord in Exodus 15:11 saying:
“Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?”

Also, after God miraculously delivered Daniel from the lions’ den, King Darius passed a decree that in every domain of his kingdom, this awesome God must be feared and revered. In Daniel 6:27, he said,
“He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”
The God that King Darius spoke of is still the same today. He is full of wonders. No wonder He is called Wonderful (Isaiah 9:6). Are you in need of a miracle, sign or wonder? Call upon this great God and He will surely deliver you. He can still do great wonders in your life today.

You need to come to terms with the reality that God can perform wonders in your own life. In other words, you too can be a beneficiary of His wonders. It is a known fact that a person can be rich and yet be stingy. Where I come from, when talking to a rich and arrogant man, it is common for people to say, “Yes, I know you are rich, but you are not the one feeding me.” In other words, “your wealth is of no benefit to me, so go and perish with your money.” God can be a God of wonders who also does wonders, but if He has not done wonders in your own life, His ability may seem like fairy tales to you. In Genesis 18:9-14, He met a 90 year-old woman and said: “I know you are 90, and I know your monthly cycle stopped several years ago, but you are going to have a son.” The woman replied, “I don’t believe you!” God said, “It doesn’t matter whether you believe or not; I am the Wonder-Working God, and I will go ahead to do what I just promised.” A year later, she had her baby. God’s wonder-working ability became real to her. Beloved, you are the next candidate to benefit from this Wonderful God! This season, the God of wonders shall show up in your situation and turn things around! You shall experience the reality of His wonderful power. Call on Him today, and He will answer you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

A sound from Heaven is all you need to turn a very hopeless situation into a glorious one. We have an example of this in 2 Kings 7:1-11. One lesson here is that whenever things deteriorate to their worst level; know that a turning point is around the corner. Don’t cry, just worship God and thank Him in the midst of the difficulty, asking Him to show you what to do to turn things around. Also, from this story, we see that God can release one sound from Heaven and while His children hear something positive, their enemies would hear something else. Things were so bad in Samaria because there was no more food, to the extent that some women began to eat their own children to survive. Have things gone so bad for you that to afford a meal you would have to sell some of your property? There is a user of this Devotional, because things have gone so bad, you have virtually sold all your properties in order to survive. The Lord is turning your situation around now. Within the next 90 days, all the things you have sold shall be replaced with better ones. When this comes to pass in your life, endeavour to testify of it before the congregation of God’s people.

It was in the midst of hopelessness that a sound came from heaven through Elisha, declaring that within 24 hours, abundance would replace lack. Literarily speaking, it meant that within 24 hours, there would be so much food that it would be almost free. Responding to that prophecy which they didn’t even hear, some four lepers decided to take their chances by going to the camp of the besieging army to see if they would pity them and give them some food. As they went, the noise from their feet was taken up to Heaven, amplified and released into the camp of the enemy. So what happened? While God’s people heard that abundance would swallow up their acute lack within 24 hours, the enemies heard the sound of a very mighty army coming to surround them and wipe them out completely. They fled immediately and left behind everything they had, which became available to God’s people almost free. This season, all your enemies holding back your blessings shall hear a sound from Heaven and leave you and everything that is yours alone! I speak abundance into your life now in Jesus’ Name! If there is any siege that has surrounded your life for so long, hindering your progress, I command it to be lifted now in Jesus’ Name. Receive freedom to expand your coast from today in Jesus Mighty Name. It is will with you!
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Psalm 23:1-6 is a very powerful psalm which speaks of the relationship between the sheep and the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. God’s sheep enjoy many benefits, one of which is the entitlement of rest. If you are a bona-fide sheep of Jesus  Christ, His rest is made available to you. When the Psalmist says “He makes me to lie down”, he simply speaks about entering into God’s rest. The rest that the Good Shepherd offers His sheep can be at several levels. Some people are labouring so hard in search of the salvation of their soul. They want to be free from sin, and yet the more they labour to be free, the more entangled they find themselves. If only they can come to Jesus today, they will find the salvation they have been seeking. Jesus Christ is the final destination for everyone who genuinely desires salvation.
Another kind of rest that the Good Shepherd offers is bodily rest. Ordinarily, after a hard day’s work, by the time you hit the bed, you should fall asleep. However, do you know that there are people who find it so difficult to sleep? They stare at the ceiling all night until the following morning. This continues for days, weeks or even months. Psalms 127:2 says if you are beloved of God, you will surely have rest through sleep. Do you suffer from insomnia? Has it been so difficult for you to get a good night’s sleep? That sleeplessness is terminated today! From now on, you shall access God’s rest in Jesus’ Name!

In addition, the Good Shepherd offers rest to those who labour continuously without rest. Matthew 11:28 says,
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are laden, and I will give you rest.”
One way the devil has led some people into their untimely death is by heaping so many problems, burdens, debts and heavy responsibilities on them which they cannot carry, thereby frustrating their efforts to enter into financial freedom. The more they labour, the further they drift from success. If you are in that situation, do not give up or think of ending your life. Just come to Jesus with all your heart and He will give you rest. Finally, Hebrews 4:7-11 talks about the eternal rest that we have access to as sheep of the Great Shepherd. Nobody can enter Heaven except through Jesus Christ. If you are saved and you continue to follow Jesus Christ, obeying Him every step of the way, you will surely enter into His rest. Are you qualified to enter His rest?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

During a time of famine, the Lord instructed Elijah to go to Kerith Brook, stay there and a raven would continuously bring him food there (1st Kings 17:2-6). He said, “Yes sir” and obeyed. He did not hesitate or question God. He did not even ask God to show him where ravens ever brought food to anyone in the Bible. He obeyed instantly. Instant obedience is strong evidence of faith. Anyone who would work signs and wonders in these last days must be a man or a woman of faith. Do you have enough trust in God to the extent of obeying Him without hesitation?

Moreover, in addition of faith, the fellow who wants to operate in the miraculous must be an incurable witness for Christ. He or she must be a soul-winner. In Acts 8:5-8, Philip did not wait for Peter to come and conduct a crusade in Samaria. He went there himself because he believed in God’s command to go out and preach the gospel. People who are diligent in soul-winning usually have their prayers answered speedily. People often ask me what I do to get God to answer my prayers speedily aside from living holy. I tell them soul-winning and instant obedience. Even if you are going to kill me, I will still share the gospel of Jesus Christ with you. I do not look at faces to determine who I witness to or not. If I am attending an occasion and you make the mistake of giving me the microphone, you will hear about Jesus.
Some years ago, I received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Ibadan. It was a serious gathering with eminent personalities of the political elite, traditional title holders and academicians all gracefully adorned in their beautiful gowns. At some point, they gave me the microphone and told me I had five minutes to say something. I thanked them for honouring me and quickly added that I could not have received this honour but for Jesus. I further said that there is an honour waiting for some people in Heaven and that if they do not given their lives to Jesus, although they can be honoured here on earth, they will lose the honour of Heaven. I then gave an altar call. Beloved, witnessing for Jesus is our assignment wherever we go. Talk about Jesus everywhere you go and He will repay you with signs and wonders. When last did you win a soul to Christ? How many souls have you won to the Lord since the beginning of this year? You were saved and chosen for this reason. Are you fulfilling God’s purpose of winning the souls of the lost?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

A negative experience many people have had to contend with is captivity. Captivity can mean bondage, slavery, imprisonment, detention or a lack of freedom. Captivity also comes in various forms. It can occur as a consequence of being captured in a battle, like it happened to Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abedbnego (Daniel 1:1-7). In this particular case, King Nebuchadnezzar invaded the nation of Israel and carried away some of the people into captivity. From that moment, these captives became slaves in a foreign land. Similarly, some people enter into captivity by falling into a trap set by the enemy. For instance, in Judges 16:4-5, the lords of the Philistines used a beautiful woman as bait for Samson. Today, there are several “hunters” of destiny and life all around, setting all kinds of traps to get their prey. May you never be one of their victims!

One common trap people fall into today is the trap of adultery and fornication. The devil has several agents and means to use as bait, and believe it or not, he catches a lot of prey. He may use beautiful ladies like he did to Samson. Proverbs 7:7-23 describes how a prostitute sets a trap and catches her victim. She could also use her seductive attire which reveals her curves and exposes sensitive parts of her body. She could also use her sweet flattering words, seductive make-up, perfumes or gait just to get her prey. When he finally yields, she leads him like an ox to the slaughter slab. Proverbs 7:23 says
“Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.”

Anyone being lured or enticed into lust should realise that it can never really be for his or her own good. Today, several female students have become easy prey for sugar daddies and evil Hot lecturers because they erroneously think that they are getting something of value in return. How much can a man pay you to allow him to destroy your destiny or kill you? What score will a lecturer award you in exchange for your life? The victims of lust, immorality and adultery are usually trading their precious lives for pittance. Are you in captivity of adultery, thinking it benefits you because you are getting rapid promotion in your place of work? Don’t be deceived! You are truly paying with your life! Repent, come to Jesus and cut off all hunters from your life! Break that relationship if your partner is pressurising you for sex as a basis for friendship. It is not worth it! Ask God to deliver you from every trap of the devil.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

God is never late for any appointment. He is always on time. Looking at the experiences of different people in the Bible, this has been shown to be true over and over again. For the man who had been sick for 38 years, when his appointed time finally came and the once-in-a-year miracle platform God had put in place could not meet his need, Jesus personally picked him out from the crowd and healed him by His own will (John 5:1-6). Also, when the appointed time came for the woman who had been bent over for 18 years, the Lord healed her without her asking for it (Luke 13:10-13). Habakkuk 2:3 says,
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

One thing you should learn from this is that God has a timetable, and His timetable may be completely different from yours. He has a set time for every event in the lives of His children. It is like setting an alarm clock to a particular time; when the alarm rings, God will address the issues at stake.
Another lesson worth learning is that until God’s appointed time for a particular matter to be addressed dawns, God may appear silent on the issue, even when He has all the facts and figures of the situation at His disposal. If He knows what an individual is going through, and He chooses to watch carefully and quietly, He may just be doing so in order to see how the fellow will respond to the situation. Would he stand in faith and resist the devil, or give up his faith and cling to doubt, fear and unbelief? Would he draw nearer to God or go further away from Him? Would he down tools and stop serving God, or would he continue serving God in the midst of no divine response to his problems? When God keeps quite at such times, He may want to rest your faith to see how elastic it is. It may be very frustrating when God is silent on an issue, but never get to the point of thinking or believing that He does not know what you are going through. He knows it better than you do. He sees what you see and what you don’t see within the circumstance. Just trust in Him and hold on to Him in faith. Love Him more, worship Him more, serve Him more and keep trusting Him more. In the end, you will be victorious.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Matthew 1:21 clearly states that the reason why Jesus Christ came to this world was to save His people from sin. Many people fail to realise the horrors of sin, hence they toy with it. If only they knew how terrible sin is, they would maintain a great distance from it. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. This “death” is not limited to physical death but also extends to every area of life. Do you know that sin can lead to physical death? Going by the laws of many countries today, if a man is convicted of killing a fellow human being, he might have to pay with his own life. In this case, the sin of murder has led to physical death. Beyond physical death, sin can also bring about material death, marital death, spiritual death, and more. Do you know that for failing to comply with the divine commandment on tithes and offering, some people who once enjoyed a boom in their businesses have had to face dryness of the worst kind – almost to the point of begging for food? This is how sin can bring about material and financial death. It can also attract emotional death. A man or woman cheating on his or her spouse will bring about emotional death in that relationship. In any way you have attracted death to yourself, may the mercy of God intercept judgement and turn its sword away from you in Jesus’ Name!

As far as God is concerned, there is only one penalty for sin, and that is death (Ezekiel 18:20). It is important to note here that this death is separation from God. If you were brought before the judgement throne of God, accused of just one act of sin, you would not be made to face a sentence of three months, one year or even five years imprisonment; God’s judgement for every size of sin is the same – death. Today, we categorise sin according to our understanding. We call some sins “high crimes” while some others are seen as harmless. However, whether a sin is so light or so “innocent” that everyone approves of it does not matter to God. All sins fall short of His standard and are all punishable by death. We are created to live our lives fully connected to God, but when sin comes in, it separates us from our only Source and Sustainer. If the Blood of Jesus is not applied to wash away a person’s sins, the drift away from God continues until physical death occurs and the fellow is forever banished to Hell. In what way is your sinful lifestyle bringing death upon you today? Rise up and run to the cross of Jesus Christ, asking for forgiveness of sins and cleansing by His Blood. Invite Him to come into your heart, and thereafter keep a great distance from sin.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

“Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Exodus 15:11
One amazing thing you need to know about our God is that He is a wonder! For example, In 1 John 4:8, the Bible says that God is love, and yet in Hebrews 12:29, the same Bible says this God is a consuming fire! When you hear that God is love, you will think of embracing Him, but just then, you also hear that He is a consuming fire and you freeze, asking yourself if you want to embrace fire! Another wonder of God has to do with His size or form. The Scriptures says God is so big that the heaven and the heavens of heaven cannot contain Him (1st Kings 8:27). It also says that Heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool, meaning that as He sits in Heaven His legs touch the earth (Isaiah 66:1). Just imagine how great and long those legs are! What of His arms? The Bible says His arms are everlasting and so long they can reach any distance (Deuteronomy 33:27). When you try to picture how super-massive this God is, then you will begin to wonder how such a God can become small enough to reside inside of you. 1st John 4:4 says,
“Ye are of God little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”

God is truly awesome and a wonder we cannot comprehend. As massive as God is, He can still relate with us at our tiny, very little level. As high as He is, He can still reach down to those who are lowly placed or have a heart of humility. In fact, from the height of heights, God is able to see those who are of a humble spirit, and He relates with them while ignoring the proud. Are you like God? Is the position you occupy not distancing you from those who are not as fortunate or as privileged as you are? If you are truly of God, your privileged status will not hinder you from reaching out to those who are impoverished. Recently, the wife of one of the richest men on earth visited an African country and identified with the poorest people there by trekking a good distance to fetch water like the poor women there. She carried a bucket of water on her head and trekked all the way back. She also joined in washing the dishes in a very poor neighbourhood. That is a minute example of what Jesus did by leaving His heavenly throne and becoming a man (Philippians 2:5-. Can you leave your throne to reach out to the lowly?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

From experience, we know of a truth that God answers prayers. It is also common knowledge among those who walk with God that on several occasions, despite consistent prayers, God may take His time before intervening in a given situation. In fact, in some cases, He may allow the situation to deteriorate to its extreme limits before He steps in.  This was the experience of Mary and Martha, sisters to Lazarus (John 11:1-6). Why would God wait until you are completely helpless before He turns things around? It could be because He does not want you to tamper with what He is about to do. When a doctor wants to perform an operation, he puts his patient to sleep. When God was about to form Eve out of Adam, He put him into a deep sleep. Genesis 2:21 says,
“And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.”

Do you know that God still likes to do some great things without any contribution or interference from us? Sometimes, He may allow us to get to a point of helplessness before He moves in to begin His work. He wants you to be absolutely surrendered to Him so that when He begins to do what He wants to do, you will not consider your own ideas. If you are ever so self-willed, you may need to visit the bus stop of helplessness repeatedly, but if you are completely yielded to Him, this may not occur too often in your life. How submissive are you to God?
Similarly, God may take His time before coming to your aid because it is in those extreme moments that prayers are said from the depth of the soul (1st Samuel 1:15). When you are totally helpless, you will pray from your heart and not from your head. In Matthew 15:21-28, when the woman whose daughter was grievously tormented of the devil came to Jesus asking for help, the Lord ignored her, and the disciples asked that she be sent away because she was too noisy. The woman simply said, “You haven’t heard any noise yet. Whether you like it or not, I am not leaving here without my miracle.” Then the Lord said to her, “I cannot give the children’s bread to dogs.” She said, “Fine, I agree I am a dog, but this dog is going to get her miracle today.” Since she had no alternative, she knew she had reached her last bus stop, and she refused to give up. People who are totally helpless pray a different kind of prayer compared to those who have alternatives. Whatever your needs maybe today, as you ask God, He will answer you in Jesus’ Name. Have you reached your final bus stop? Is Jesus Christ your last hope, or do you have other alternatives.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

From Matthew 6:10, we understand that man was created to do God’s will on earth so that he can ultimately continue doing so when he gets to Heaven. Although God has a plan for everyone He created, He will not force us to do anything against our will, because He created us as free moral agents with the power of choice. After Adam sinned, he lost God’s glory and began to pursue a life of self-will (Romans 3:23). This self-will has ultimately led to self-centeredness in mankind. When you study the vices that the Holy Spirit forewarned us will be rife in the last days, you will discover that one common theme summarises them all: selfishness.

In the world of instant gratification and individualism that we live in today, it is either you are God-centred or self-centred. It is either you consider how an event will benefit God’s Kingdom or how you will personally benefit from it. If you are a lover of self, it will be difficult for you to really please God. Why? Your service will be plastic and superficial, having no depth in the things of the Kingdom. A self-centred individual cannot make sacrifices for God. All he or she is interested in is personal convenience, whether in service, worship or giving. If such a fellow gives a big donation to any kingdom project, you will discover that the motive behind the giving is to have it announced for the sake of his or her ego.

A self-centred fellow lives in rebellion against God. He loves pleasure a lot because it delights Him. Samson lived such a selfish life, even as a leader of God’s people. He could not be controlled by his parents because selfish people are in charge of their own lives, not God or anyone else. His parents warned him against marrying an unbeliever, but he refused. He went ahead because she satisfied the lust of his eyes and that of his flesh (Judges 14:1-3). Your choice in life must be God-centred. Jesus is our perfect example. While on earth, He was mainly preoccupied with doing His Father’s will (John 4:34). Any time His personal desire clashed with that of His Father, just like it happened at the Garden of Gethsemane, He subordinated His will to God’s will (Luke 22:41-42). What kind of life are you living? Are you going pleasing yourself or making God happy in all that you do? 
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Philip was a man of good report and full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:3-5). Beyond this, he was also a man of instant obedience. In Acts 8:26-38, just after concluding an extremely successful crusade in Samaria, the word of the Lord came to him saying, “Philip, leave this city and go to the desert,” What was his response? “Yes, Lord!”, and off he went. He did not even ask what he was going to do there. He did not ask what was going to happen to his converts in the city; he just moved. When he got to the desert, he saw a man in a chariot and the Holy Spirit spoke again: “Get into to that chariot.” Without hesitating, he said, “Yes Lord”, and he complied. He was indeed a man of instant obedience! Once he received an instruction and recognised the voice as that of the Holy Spirit, he immediately swung into action. How soon do you comply with divine directives? Some people hear God and they pretend it is not God speaking. When it comes to giving away something precious or something of great sacrifice: a treasured car, a mansion, large sums of money or a choice piece of land in a prime area, some people begin to pretend it is the devil speaking to them. They would begin to rebuke Satan where Satan is not even present.

Do you have this character of instant obedience? When some people receive an instruction from God, they will say they want to pray about it. Are you praying about it so that God will change His mind? Some will say they want some time to think about it. Some others will say, “Lord, I have heard You, but let me first discuss it with my spouse.” How fast do you respond to divine instructions? In the early days when I was a worker in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, being in possession of a car was a big challenge. Why? You could get to the headquarters of the church of Ebute-Metta, Lagos, in the morning, and after being greeted, you would be told, “Brother, please go to Ondo State (about 5 hours drive away) and pray with a particular brother who is sick.” Getting to Ondo, you may be told, “Sorry, he moved to his home town over the weekend”, and you would have to go there and trace his location. Nobody would give you money for fuel. When you got to church in the morning, you could not say when you would get back home. All you were expected to say is, “Yes Sir”. God is looking for those who can say “Yes Lord”, and He will use them for signs and wonders. If you can obey God promptly, you will go very far with Him.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

While some people encounter God and ask Him for nothing, some others ask for crumbs while some few ask big. Also, while some people are ready to wait until their desires are granted, some others are desperate. Even though God has the ability to do all things, how fast your desires will be granted is often determined by your level of desperation. Desperate people do desperate things to get results, and so, the attitude of their prayer is usually different from that of those who can wait. In Mark 2:1-5, when four men brought their friend who was paralysed and bedridden down to Jesus, they did not like what they saw: all the doors and windows were blocked and a big crowd surrounded the house. So what did they do? After studying the situation, these four friends observed that only the roof was free, and an idea struck their minds. They wiggled their way to the roof, tore it open, and lowered their friends into the place where Jesus was. The Lord Jesus Christ had to suspend everything else He was doing to attend to their friend. How desperate are you to receive your miracle? If you say you are desperate, where are the signs of your desperation? Desperate people break protocol! They refuse to wait where others would, and try out new measures that others may never think of. Desperate people refuse to be limited by what limits others, and they will do everything possible to get the result they desire.

When God sees desperate faith in action, He is most unlikely to turn it down. In fact, God allows such. Hence, Matthew 11:12 says
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”
If you are not desperate, you would be placed at the end of the line. If you are a bit violent, you can end up in the middle of the queue, but if you are truly desperate, you will be moved to the front, irrespective of how long others have waited to get there. Desperate people are persistent. They draw up the attention of other people in their bid to get what they desire. Although desperate people can really be a “nuisance”, they don’t care about who they inconvenience as long as they get what they want. How desperate are you for divine intervention over your situation? Cry out to God today and let Him hear the desperation in your voice and see it in your actions, and He will surely answer you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

“And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:”
2nd Samuel 17:2
The above scripture reveals one of the strategies that our adversary, the devil, uses to get at us: he seeks to attack and strike us when we are weary and weak. No matter how strong you are spiritually, you are still vulnerable, because every human being is limited and weak. Understanding your vulnerability and mitigating it is one of the keys to living a triumphant Christian life. When you feel weak and vulnerable, that is a good time to fast and pray. The truth is, when you are vulnerable, you are at your moment of least resistance to sin. In such moments, just a little pressure can make you fall into sin. However, being vulnerable reminds us that we were made from dust and reveals to us that we greatly need God’s help (2nd Corinthians 12:9). Indeed, you are most vulnerable when you need help the most and help is nowhere near. It is during such moments that you need to go to God confessing your helplessness and asking for His help lest you fall.

How does one end up in a vulnerable state? Continuous exposure to temptations can gradually weaken your defence. This is why you most avoid every appearance of evil. For example, if alcohol used to be your lord before you were saved, after accepting Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you would be wise to keep away from parties and social outings where alcohol would be served. You would also need to avoid viewing media publications promoting alcohol and sever your links with drinking pals; otherwise, if you continuously frolic around these, you will soon become vulnerable. In addition, repeatedly avoiding or neglecting spiritual tools that can build up your spiritual muscles and defences will definitely make you vulnerable. If you cannot pray, fast, study the Bible, and attend Church services with the brethren on a regular basis, you will soon become vulnerable. Similarly, if you keep bad friends or advisers, or you are a lone ranger who fails to mix, you will definitely become vulnerable. It is difficult to bend and break a broom but very easy to break a single broomstick. Before striking, the devil will usually try to isolate an individual from those who can help him or her resist temptation. This is why you need God to choose true friends for you. Lastly, failure to develop your faith spiritually will leave you vulnerable. Fortify yourself today!
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

John 15:16 says you have been chosen to bear fruits and to sustain these fruits. To bear fruit, you are required to win souls regularly. Newly saved souls are like new born babies that require a lot of care and nourishment in order to grow into adulthood (1st Peter 2:2). To sustain such converts therefore, there is a need for us to keep planting churches. No wonder Genesis 1:28 said that if you are fruitful, you must strive to multiply. Plant a parish and continue planting more. Just repeat the right things you are doing that works. Do not wait to start a church of 2000 people. You can start small churches of about 20-50 people and these will grow into churches of 100, 150 and more. The house fellowship unit can be effectively used in doing this. You can start a house fellowship with just a few people and as it grows, you can split it and have another house fellowship centre. In doing this, you are applying the principles of scattering to multiply. As these grow, you will soon have enough people to start a church parish. How effective is your house fellowship centre? Are you even a member of a house fellowship?

Another area where you can apply the principle of scattering to multiply is in the area of giving. Luke 6:38 says if you give, you shall receive in return. Keep giving and God in His own way will give you your reward. Proverbs 11:23-25 reveals that it is possible to scatter but yet increase, whereas you can hold back and remain poor. There is a particular man I know; when he goes anywhere and people get to know he is around, they would gather round and he will fling bundles of money at them; every one of them then scramble for their share of this money. Someone once asked me why this man does this, and I told him that the devil knows the principle of scattering to increase. If you go to a witchdoctor for a charm to make you rich, one of the conditions he would likely give you is that you must learn to scatter some of your wealth to the poor. This is a universal principle; so if unbelievers practice it, they will get results. So would believers if they can practice it. Consider the weeds that grow rapidly around us; they multiply so fast because they scatter their seed through the wind, water and by sticking to so many different things. In the past, those of us who were Bible study leaders went all out to meet the needs of the gospel by sacrificing our salaries and the little we had. Today, many years after, I see the same people who once lived in a room and parlour now living in their own mansions. Are you ready to pay the price of multiplication through scattering? 
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Do you know that God is a person and not a force? Because He is a person, He has emotions. His emotions are manifested in Him being pleased or displeased, happy or grieved, and so on. Those who are wise will seek to do the things that will make God respond to them with a favourable emotion. One way you can upset God is by doubting Him. According to Hebrews 11:6, before approaching God, you must believe that He exists and that He will respond to your call. It is pretty impossible to relate with God without faith. In fact, Romans 14:23b says,
“…. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

Once you give room to doubt as regards to who God is and what He can do, you have opened the door to sin. How can the One who made the heavens and earth make a promise to you and you will not believe Him? How can the One who brought water out of a rock, and the One who turned a valley of dry, useless bones into a full-bodied army not be trusted (Exodus 17:5-6, Ezekiel 37:1-10)? If He could resurrect a whole army, resurrecting you is simply a walk in the park for Him. It is a great insult to doubt that God can do what He says He will do. Are you living by faith or in doubt?

God feels personally displeased when we doubt Him. It is a worse situation when His servants who should know Him better, get caught up in the web of unbelief. It is important to know that God responds to your doubts and unbelief. When God sent Angel Gabriel to tell Zacharias that his aged wife would have a baby, he found it difficult to believe because they had both grown old. For the reason of his unbelief, he was struck with dumbness until the prophecy was fulfilled. Are you trusting God for the fruit of the womb but you are now over 40 or even 50 years old? Have you like Zacharias given up on the possibility of having a child? Do not give up on God! Always remember this: if God chooses to give you a baby at the age of 70, He will definitely renew your body and make it able to carry the baby. Your age will definitely not diminish, but your body will be renewed and made younger. Trust Him. At the point when some people already have their miracle quite close to them, they suddenly begin to doubt God and hence destroy the process. Stop doubting God! You can never get anything good from it.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

The moment you give your life to Christ, a long drawn out battle for your soul begins. While your spirit would want to begin to exercise control over your soul as it rightfully should, your body would resist it and ask you to go in the opposite direction. To be victorious in this protracted battle, you need to understand your new nature and the life of the Spirit, so that you can easily flow in it. From time to time, people ask me how I was able to grow in the Spirit, but they are never satisfied with the answer I give them. Let me share some of what helped me with you. The moment you become born again, your spirit man is brought back to life. The fish is born in water and so cannot survive outside its natural habitat – water. John 3:6 says,
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Therefore, now that your spirit man is born again, you are expected to gravitate towards the things of the spirit if you want to grow. Your new birth is a spirit experience, and only the things of the Spirit will help you grow.

One way to grow in the Spirit is to repeatedly experience being filled with the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit descended, the disciples gained their first experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4 says,
“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Later on, when they gathered to table a pressing challenge before the Lord, they prayed earnestly, and they experienced the in-filling of the Holy Spirit again. Acts 4:31 says
“And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”

Furthermore, to successfully live the life of the spirit, it is not enough to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. You must pursue a growing, personal relationship with Him and crave for more opportunities to be filled by Him. No wonder Ephesians 5:18 commands us to be filled with the Spirit. Like the disciples, if you want to be filled over and over again, be separate from the things of the flesh, have fellowship with God where you can worship Him in spirit and in truth, attend Church services together with like-minded believers, feast on His word and pray in tongues regularly.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Romans 12:2
God is a God of purpose and He is highly organised. He plans far ahead of His deeds. For instance, Ephesians 1:4 says that long before God laid the foundations of the earth, He had already chosen us to live a holy and blameless life before Him. God knows exactly what He wants and where He is going. God could not have created the world and everything in it without a definite plan and purpose for His creation (Isaiah 45:18). He has a will which is clearly revealed by His word. May God cause you to know His plan for your life and give you the grace to follow it in Jesus’ Name.

From the teaching of Jesus commonly known as “the Lord’s prayer”, one thing is very clear: only the will of God is done in Heaven where He dwells. No one can violate His will or commandment over there and continue to stay there. He cannot live with rebels; hence, Lucifer and the angels who rebelled against God were thrown out of Heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15). Everyone and everything existing in Heaven conforms to God’s will and plan, and they all make Him happy. How about on earth? Since the fall of man, Satan and his demons have done a lot to cause men to take after their rebellious path. For this reason, Jesus Christ came so that we can once again unite with those in Heaven in doing God’s will and pursing His pleasure. Matthew 6:10 says,
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

Why were you saved? God saved you so that you can join His family in Heaven in doing His will. David had this understanding, and so he said in Psalm 143:10:
“Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

You are here on earth to do His will and not to please yourself (Romans 12:2). For this reason, Colossians 1:16 says we were created by Him and for Him. You were created for His purpose. At the end of time, only those who followed God’s will diligently on earth will be translated to continue doing so in Heaven. Whose will are you following? Are you daily doing God’s will or yours?
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

God wants to change your life, but beyond this, He wants to change your final destination. Over the ages, many people have had to move from one location to another within the same country. Others have had to relocate to other countries for one reason or the other. However, at the end of the day, irrespective of where we live, we shall all arrive at a final destination. That destination is eternal and cannot be changed after we die. There are two eternal destinations: Heaven and Hell. Whether you believe it or not, you are heading towards one of these. The Bible is very clear on the truth that every sinner is heading to Hell. Psalm 9:17 says,
“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

If you are still living in sin, Jesus Christ has come to change your eternal destination from Hell to Heaven. For this change to happen, you have to accept the remedy for sin which He has made available in His Blood. If a person does not achieve this crucial change before death, all other achievements during his or her lifetime will fade into nothingness, and then fellow will be faced with an eternity in Hell.
The shocking truth about this is that God will never force a person to change his or her final destination. He won’t force you to change from the hell-bound way to the heaven-bound narrow path. He allows you to make your decision and to live with the eternal consequences hereafter. I was taking to an important personality recently about being born again. He kept arguing with me, and so I told him this: “Sir, it is not something we should quarrel about. It is not compulsory for you to go to Heaven. If you prefer to go to Hell, it is your choice.” Then he said, “Why are you begging me to be born again or to give my life to Jesus?” I laughed and replied, “Me, begging you? I am not begging you but only sounding a note of warning. If you choose to wind up in Hell, it is your choice.” Some people think that as long as they do not believe in the existence of Hell, they cannot go there. Hell is real! Many people are entering into Hell every day, and yet it is not full (Proverbs 27:20). If the only feat you can achieve on earth is to avoid Hell, it is worth the trouble. Many people were mocking those who preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to them during their life time until they ended up in Hell. Hell is worse than any type of suffering or punishment you know on earth. Do everything possible to avoid it by genuinely giving your life to Christ today.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.