Transcription
It's very nice seeing you once again. And this morning, we want to share on winning the battles that come with a glorious, with a great destiny. Winning the battles that come with a great destiny. And we will share from Matthew chapter 2, [Music] verse 1 to 21. Matthew chapter 2, verse 1 to 21. I will be reading from the Easy to Read Version.
So when Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the time when Herod was king, after Jesus was born, some wise men from the East came to Jerusalem. They asked people, "Where is the child who has been born to be the king of the Jews? We saw the star that shows he was born. We saw it rise in the sky in the East and have come to worship him."
When Herod heard about these, it upset him, as well as everyone else in Jerusalem. Herod called a meeting of all the leading Jewish priests and teachers of the law. He asked them, "Where would the Messiah be born?" They answered, "In the town of Bethlehem in Judea, just as the prophet wrote: 'Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are more important among the rulers of Judah. Yes, a ruler will come from you, and that ruler will lead Israel, my people.'"
Then Herod had a private meeting with the wise men from the East. He learned from them the exact time they first saw the star. Then he sent them to Bethlehem. He said, "Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, come tell me, then I can go worship him too."
After the wise men heard the king, they left. They saw the same star they had seen in the East, and they followed it. The star went before them until they stopped above the place where the child was. They were very happy and excited to see the star.
The wise men came to the house where the child was with his mother, Mary. They bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened the boxes of gifts they had brought for him. They gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
But God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they went home to their own country a different way.
After the wise men left, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream. The angel said, "Get up, take the child with his mother, and escape to Egypt. Herod wants to kill the child, and he soon will start looking for him. Stay in Egypt until I tell you to come back." So Joseph got ready and left for Egypt with the child and the mother. They left during the night. Joseph stayed in Egypt until Herod died. This gave full meaning to what the Lord said to the prophet: "I called my son to come out of Egypt."
Verse 16: Herod saw that the wise men had fooled him, and he was very angry. So he gave an order to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem and the whole area around Bethlehem. Herod had learned from the wise men the time the baby was born. It was now two years from that time. So he said to kill all the boys who were two years old and younger. This gave full meaning to what the Lord said, what God said through the prophet Jeremiah: "A sound was heard in Ramah, bitter crying and great sadness. Rachel cries for her children, and she cannot be comforted because her children are gone."
Verse 19: While Joseph was in Egypt, Herod died. An angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child with his mother, and go to Israel. Those who were trying to kill the child are now dead." So Joseph took the child and the mother and went to Israel.
Praise hear the Lord. Like I have shared with us, there is something called destiny. And in Psalm 139, verse 13 to 16, from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible, we read that, "You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body, and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous. Of these, I have no doubt. Nothing about me is hidden from you. I was secretly woven together deep in the earth below, but with your own eyes, you saw my body being formed. Even before I was born, you had written in your book everything I would do."
So destiny is about certain things and events that God has already predetermined in the spirit realm that are supposed to subsequently take note. Supposed to. Supposed to. Because the reality of life is that only very few things in life, very few things about the future, are absolutely bound to happen. And this is inclusive of the plan, the purpose, and promises of God. It is in rare occasions that God will put his irreversible confirmation upon any particular thing that is yet to happen. And except that happens, then it means true, very desperate attempts, sometimes spiritual in nature or physical in nature, what was supposed to happen can be cut short, can be stopped, can be prevented.
So destiny is about things, events that God has already predetermined in the spirit realm that are supposed to subsequently happen here on earth in certain lives, sometimes families, locations, or locations. And we also found out in our study of destiny that some aspects of destiny are timed to happen at a certain time here on the surface of the earth. And we've given some very good examples of just some destinies of people that were revealed ahead of time, even before they were born. And some of them included something you find in Judges chapter 13, verse 2 to 5. Judges 13, 2 to 5. Also, the destiny of John the Baptist was revealed even before he was born. You see that in Luke chapter 1, 13-17. Luke chapter 1, 13-17. And then the destiny of our Lord Jesus Christ was also revealed even before he was born. You see some aspect of it in Luke 1, 31-32.
Now, you have your own destiny. You have your own destiny, and your destiny is very, very important. As a spiritual person, you must deliberately, consciously, prayerfully continue to ask God to reveal details of your destiny to you. Like I explained, some aspects of destiny are timed. So there are some aspects of your destiny, or the destiny of a child, that is not going to manifest until that child is now an adult, sometimes of a particular age, or within a particular circumstance in life. So until that context plays out, what was written concerning that person or child would not yet manifest.
But you have, you have your own destiny. And you must also take note that destinies, some destinies, your destiny is connected to the destiny of some other persons. Your destiny is connected to the destiny of some other persons. The destiny of the parents of Samson was connected to his own destiny. They had a responsibility. The parents of Samson had the responsibility to prepare the ground spiritually for the proper conception and delivery, nurturing of a child, of the child. Something also, there are some people that have been destined to walk in partnership with you.
Now, take note, someone shared, a minister of God shared a revelation that God gave him many years ago, and he said that revelation changed his attitude and perception about life. And over the years, since he had a revelation, he has found it exactly true, and it continues to play out. He said God told him that there are activities, there are opportunities, and there are people that you will come across in life. He said some are for a reason. The first one is what? A reason. Then there are some people that you will come across in life, they are for a season. The second one is what? A season. And then there are some people that you will come across in life that are for a lifetime. They are for a lifetime.
There are experiences that you will have in life that are for a reason. Some experiences you will have in life are for a season, and some experiences you have in life are for a lifetime. Then there are some opportunities that you will have in life. There are for, some are for a reason, some are for a season, and some for a lifetime. Then people, there are people you will encounter, you will meet in life. Some of them are for, your encounters with such persons are for a reason, some are for a season, and there are some people that God has destined for you in life, and your work with them is going to be for a lifetime.
Destinies can be changed. Now, one of the things, one of the reasons why in this part of the world, we give more attention to some issues, some issues, some aspects of spiritual warfare, is because of the level of wickedness that exists and prevails in our location. There is, of course, witchcraft in the western part of the world, but the dimension of witchcraft that is in manifestation there is more of white witchcraft. There is white witchcraft. There is, uh, the red type of witches, and then there are the black type of witches and wizards. And that also applies to the dimension of witchcraft they practice. The most ruthless and wicked dimension of witchcraft is black witchcraft. And unfortunately, it is, it is in the highest degree of manifestation in Africa and West Africa.
There are many people that God had ordained to be great in life, and they never ever experienced greatness. Why? Even before that child was born, somebody went somewhere. Can I tell you something? The agents of darkness can see the destiny of an unborn child as early as 21 days. 21 days of conception. 21 days of conception. So several months before a child is even born, the agents of darkness can see the destiny of that child. And in this part of the globe, we've seen, you know, great rivalries, envy, hostility play out even within the family cycle, especially in polygamous families, where someone would perhaps, one of the wives could, you know, go and approach an agent of darkness somewhere to find out the destiny of the baby in the womb of a fellow wife in that family. And once greatness is seen, out of envy, they seek to either fight. Yes, your virtue can be transferred. Your virtue for greatness can be spiritually transferred. When you see certain people going out for virgins, they deliberately always looking out to sleep with virgins. It is for, it is for a reason. It's not just for the sexual pleasure, it's for a spiritual reason. And there are many people today whose lives have been wasted, their virtues for greatness has been drained through a sexist sexual exposure before they met the Lord Jesus Christ. So we need to understand the reality of spiritual wickedness.
So the destiny of a man, a woman, can be seen as early as 21 days of conception. Destinies can be transferred. That means what you, where a particular person was supposed to become in life, can be transferred to another person through spiritual manipulation. Destinies can also be altered. They can be hindered from ever manifesting. Destinies can be frustrated from being fulfilled. And take note of this, in the process of life, you will see a classic example in the book of Numbers chapter 22. In the process of life, you are going to find a situation where the part of your destiny would be in conflict with the interest of other people. The promised land that God spoke so much about, you would normally have expected that promised land to be some virgin land somewhere. Even as of today, 2020, we still have virgin land in every, most nations of the world that has never been occupied. But so, it will interest you to know that the promised land that God spoke about right from the days of Abraham for over, and then eventually 400 years after God had spoken, it was now time for them to occupy that land, was not vacant. Some other people had moved into the land. God did not stop them, even though God knew that land was reserved for his, his precious people. God didn't stop them.
So I also want to assure someone here, something good in your life has been in the hand of someone else. I don't know. You know, when it's time for God to prove his faithfulness to you, how long they have held on to it will be relevant. When your time comes, God will step in. The strangers shall fade away. The strangers shall move out of your ordained portion. Can the Lord hear your own amen? In the name of Jesus Christ.
So these are dynamics of the realities of things that play out in the spiritual realm. So that land had been, the promised land had been occupied by different nations. So when God was now going to talk to Moses in Moses, in Exodus chapter 3, verse 7 through 8, God was describing the promised land, calling the names, calling those locations after certain tribes, the land of the Jebusites, the Canaanites. They had stayed so long in the land that was never ordained for them that the land was now being described as if it was their birthright. So these are some of the realities of life. But when it was not time for what was destined for Israel to be given to them, they had to be a battle for certain aspects of your destiny to be fulfilled. Prepare for battle. Prepare for war. And not necessarily physical battle. Prepare for spiritual battle. Prepare for, you know, deployment of advanced measure of wisdom, high dimension of intelligence for you to be able to actually take your rightful place that it has been destined for you. It is no guarantee that it will happen. There are some things you must rise up to do, some spiritual, some physical, when the time comes, in order for you to enter into what has even been destined for you in life.
But let me tell you a spiritual truth. One thing that gives you a great advantage in life when it comes to the things of the spirit is whether or not God had destined you to have that thing. Whether or not God had given that thing to you. In some of the strongest places of spiritual manipulation, when people approach them for a particular thing, it could be an office, it could be a position, the first thing they want to find out is, who was that thing destined for? A particular person. And then take note, like I've always explained when I describe and define the will of God, the second aspect of God's will, the first aspect is what God has decided should happen. But the second aspect of God's will is timing. These are, those are the two major components of God's will. Timing is the second part of it. So that we find out, has this person been destined? Who was destined for this thing, for this office, for this position? And then secondly, for this particular time? Because two, three of you could be destined for the same thing in life, the same office in life, but at different times. At different times. At different times.
But what goes on regularly is that there are people with conflicting interests to what God has destined you to be in life. There's conflict of interest. People want desperately something God has given you, even before you were born. You didn't even pray for it. You were destined to become that thing, become whatever it is. It was destined for you. But when the time comes, you are going to discover that in most instances, there are some people somewhere who are very, very desperate for that same thing. And that is where the battle for destiny begins to play out. Sometimes, some of these people would take on you, not necessarily because they dislike you. They are just after that a particular goal. And unfortunately, you are the one that that thing is originally ordained for. It's not really about you. It's not that they dislike. It's not that they hate you, but they want that thing, and they want it at a particular time. And now, that's the same thing has been ordained for you at that same time. So they are going to do what Balak did in Numbers chapter 22. Balak, the king, when he saw that Israel was advancing and taking nations, taking territories, he knew that it was just a matter of time, and his own territory will also be taken over by Israel. Was his territory ordained for Israel by God? Yes, it was part of God's promised land for them. So it was just a matter of time, and Israel would have taken over. So he quickly took a decision. That happens every day here in our environment. What Balak did in Numbers 22 has been done already against many of you listening to this message. Unknown to Israel, take note, what was happening in Numbers 22 was unknown to Israel. Unknown to you. Someone somewhere that has a conflict of interest with your destiny has taken your name. And that same person or group, they have gone, not just to a spiritualist. Balaam was not a nearby spiritualist. So there are people who are ready to travel, travel out of their country to have engaged the services of a powerful spiritualist. And what is their mission? To displace you from what God has destined for you.
Can I ask you a question? In the last 10 years, in the last five years, when last did you travel for a spiritual retreat? And if we want to maybe look at a possible alternative to that, when last did you completely shut down? No phone calls, no communication, even with anyone for at least three days, just for you to be in the spirit, to be in the presence of the Lord, meditating, not on all kinds of, all sorts of information, but just meditating on the Bible, God's word, to hear Him. When last did you do that? The people that are after what has been ordained for you in life are ready to offer money. And when I say money, I'm not talking about careless change. Serious money. Corruption did not start today. Corruption started a long time. If you read Numbers chapter 22 very well, you will see, you will see what happened there. Balak sent a word, the king sent the word to Balaam to come and help him, assist him, use his spiritual power to overcome, overwhelm Israel. And the moment he was going to consider it, God stepped in and told him no. And when he hesitated and communicated to the king, then the king sent, you know, cartons of real money in the highest denomination. I'm just using that as an illustration. Sent real money. When it was, it was called a prophet. When Prophet Balaam, when he saw, they opened, when they opened, when he saw those things, he changed his mind. He now started looking for how, how can, how can something be done as regards the request of the king.
One of the most powerful, take note of this, one of the most powerful things when it comes to the spiritual realm is sacrifice. What sacrifice are you offering to God? What sacrifice are you offering? What sacrifice are you offering to God? Because the people who are fighting with you, contending with you, are offering very, very precious, high quality sacrifice, not for any reason, but just to take hold of what you are also casually, repeat, casually looking forward to possessing.
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So.
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You.