Transcription
Lord Jesus, thank you.
Lord Jesus, can we lift up our voice one more time and just bless the name of Jesus? Father, we bless your name. We give you praise; we give you glory. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you.
Oh [Music]! Ohana. Ohana [Music], oh. Ohana [Music], Ohana [Music], Ohana [Music], Ohana. We call you Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna [Music]! Ohana, oh [Music]! Hosanna, Hosanna, we welcome [Music] you.
Can you welcome him tonight? [Music] Ohana [Music]. [Laughter] [Music].
The son of David, we welcome you tonight with one voice; we say, "Call [Music] Him, Son of David." We welcome you; we welcome you; we welcome you; we welcome you; we welcome [Music] you.
The son of David, we welcome you tonight, the great one; we welcome [Music] you. The son of David, we welcome you tonight; we welcome [Music] you, Son of David. You are Hosanna, Hosanna, the son of David. We welcome you; we welcome you; we welcome you; we welcome you.
Can you call Him? Oh! Can you welcome Him tonight? Can you be deliberate? Call Him, the one who sits in the heavens, the one who speaks like Jesus. We welcome you [Music]! Hosanna, we welcome you now, Son of David. We welcome you tonight; we welcome you; we welcome you.
Raise your voice; welcome [Music] Hosanna, Son of David, in your own voice. Say, "You welcome the King [Music] tonight."
My Father, there is nothing you cannot do! Oh, there's no mountain you cannot move. If you have said it, then you will do it, and you are not about to stop doing it now. There is nothing you cannot do; there's no mountain you cannot move.
If you have said it, then you will do it. You have a track record of keeping your word, and you're not about to stop doing it now. You are mighty! You are mighty! You are [Music] mighty! You are mighty!
You are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty! Oh, there is nothing you cannot do. There's no mountain you cannot move. If you have said it, then you will do it. You have a track record of keeping your word, and you're not about to stop.
One more time, there is nothing to say; there is nothing you can do [Music]. There's no mountain you cannot climb. If you have said it, then you will do it. You have a track record of keeping your word. You are not about to stop.
Can we do it two more times? Say, "There is nothing we believe in you, Jesus." Hey! If you have said it, then you will do it. You have a track record of keeping your word, and you're not about to stop doing it now.
We say you are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty!
Oh, you are mighty! Oh, you are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty!
Mighty, mighty Lord! You are mighty! You are mighty! Mighty, mighty! You are mighty!
There is nothing, there is nothing you cannot do. There's no mountain you cannot move. If you have said it, then you will do it. You have a track record. You have a track record.
Can you prove Him tonight? You're not about to stop doing it. There is nothing you cannot do; there's no mountain you cannot move. If you have said it, then you will do it. You have a track record of keeping your word, and you're not about to stop.
So we say you are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty! You are mighty! [Music].
Look [Music]! The King of Heaven, we welcome you tonight. We welcome you [Music], Jesus [Music].
Where two or three are gathered, Lord, you said you'll be there, and we are here. We honor your presence one more time. Where two, we have come, Lord Jesus. We have come, Lord Jesus. We are here; we honor your [Music] presence.
We are [Music] [Music]... oh [Music] [Music]... s [Music]. Oh [Music]... s [Music] [Music], we welcome you [Music] tonight [Music].
Father to Spirit, to my Spirit, I'm lighted by your word. You are the breath of life, and that's how I call my life, and I shall not change my word.
Jesus, just breathe your name upon me. Breathe. Just breathe your name upon me. Breathe. Your head will honor your name. Breathe, Lord! Just breathe your name upon me.
You are not a man. Oh, you are not a man. You are the God that opens doors, and no man can shut. You are not a man; you are not a man; you are not a man. You are the God of everything. No one like you!
I’m the apple of His [Music] eye; the thoughts that fill His mind—can we do it together? Every [Music] morning, He loved me when I didn't care.
And was bent till I [Music] turned my life around, made me a shining... his glory to reflect.
I will worship. I will worship Him forever. Love Him forever, because this God is too good.
I will worship. I will worship you forever. Love forever, because this God is too good.
Lord, oh please! God, you are too good! Lord! This God is too good! Lord! This God, you are too good!
Oh, this God is too good! Oh! So I will worship; I will worship you forever; I'll love you forever.
Because He, God, is too [Music] good. We give you thanks and praise; we magnify your great name. Indeed, this God is too [Music] good!
We return worship; we return praises; we say be magnified in Jesus' mighty name we pray. [Music] Amen!
Can you celebrate the choir? There is just a... it's an endless river of worship that is at work in the choir!
All right, in order for us to make some progress, I would like us to really understand the subject of spiritual covering. Why do you need spiritual covering?
We need a couple of days to fully establish the issue, but we can as well begin now.
First and foremost, maybe we will begin from the book of Acts, chapter 17, verse... Acts chapter 17.
Are you there? In Acts chapter 17, I'd like to show you the nature of God. There are some things that God does that are natural to Him, and it will surprise you to notice that Satan also does such things.
One of the things that I'm talking about here is in the book of Acts, chapter 17:26.
If you will assist me with a simpler translation of the Bible, something like Easy to Read Version; NIV is as complex as King James Version. NIV is front to back; King James is back to front. It's the same thing, but one is back to front; the other one is front to back.
Now this is the point I'm trying to extract from this scripture. This is Paul trying to provide a perspective so that he can minister to a Godless people, and he brings an argument here.
He said, "And He made from one man every nation of Mount that dwells on the face of the Earth and has determined allotted periods." Oh, my! This translation is weak, change it.
Oh, go back to my King James! In fact, I don't know, but until we find a better translation, we'll stay with King James. "And had made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the Earth, and has determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation..."
You know, I took this scripture out of a long sequence of argument that Paul was trying to establish.
The reason why I chose this verse is because it indicates two areas that are affected, influenced by the sovereignty of God. One of those areas is your boundary of habitation.
Your boundary—God’s sovereignty determines your boundaries of habitation. How many of you attended Benue State University or University of Agriculture? Ok, all right, so drop your hands.
How many of you originally wanted to attend Benue University? You see, none of them, including me; none of us desire to attend that school. But something superior to our desire was what was responsible for attending the school.
So the sovereignty of God shapes the locations that you find yourself per time because that variable is critical to your molding and your shaping.
The second point I wanted to raise here, which this King James version does not seem to present in a most clear fashion, is that God also determines the times before appointed. I found a translation of the Bible that reads: "times of visitation."
Times of visitation— it means that in the calendar of God, there is a schedule of visitation that He ordained for all mankind.
And this perspective is supported by the Book of Psalms 8:4, where there is a debate, and the substance of the debate was captured in the question: "What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him?"
It means that God visits His creation. In fact, what happened in the Garden of Eden when God was in search of Adam and Adam was nowhere to be found was one of those visits of visitation that He was upon that He noticed that the fellow He was coming to meet with was displaced from the normal visiting point. So, God has a nature of visiting His own.
And Satan also copied that nature; Satan copied that way of operation, and that's what we have in the Book of John, chapter 10, verse 10.
In John chapter 10, verse 10, we see the nature of Satan revealed in a simple scripture. Do you have John 10:10 on the screen? The Bible says, “The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy...” The thief cometh not!
So it is in the nature of Satan to visit you just like it is in the nature of God to what? To visit you! That God has preordained the boundaries of our habitation, and God has preordained the schedule of our visitations.
So, God is a visiting God. God comes to check His creation just like He came to check what was going on in Babel when He saw humankind building a tower.
He’s a visiting God. He comes to check; He comes to supervise. So, Satan also is a visiting spirit.
Now what I’m saying is that you don’t need to invite Satan; he’s going to show up because it is in the nature of the thief—are you with me?—to come.
All right, so what I’m saying is that Satan visits every family. Satan visits every individual; Satan visits every nation. It's just that you are not aware, and maybe the visitation of your neighbor, you have been preoccupied by that visitation and not aware that there's a schedule for your own visitation.
The Bible says that the thief cometh; the thief will come. He is coming; he doesn’t necessarily need to be induced by prayers. You don’t need to invite him.
The thief is in his nature to what? To come. All right, and when he comes, you might find him putting on a face cap and taking a selfie, and you might be deceived to think that he’s excited. His mission is defined even before he came!
He comes to steal! So just in case you are seeing him with dark bones, dark goggles, he’s not trying to do fashion drive; he came to kill!
He will come, and that’s his nature. And so when you find that there are people in the earth that seem to thrive in season and out of season, it is a pointer to the fact that they have found a technology in the spirit by which they can ward off the effect of the visitation of Satan.
So hence the matter of spiritual covering—please help me tell your neighbor, prophesy to your neighbor, "For the thief will come!"
I know they don’t like that prophecy, but that’s what the Bible says! The thief will what? All right!
Let's take another scripture to support that point. That scripture will be the Book of Matthew, chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24.
Now meanwhile, we did not analyze the previous scripture very well. You notice that the entity that the Bible calls a thief, the Bible says he cometh—are you with me?
What does a thief do? The thief steals, right? But this thief we are talking about here, his operation is not limited to stealing alone. He does steal according to the traditional definition of a thief; but in addition to stealing, this kind of thief also does what? He kills!
This kind of thief also does what? It destroys! So, don’t limit his operation to your traditional definition of who a thief is.
And it will interest you to know that the Bible says, he will not come. But if he does come, the agenda that he’s coming to implement is to steal, is to kill, and it is to destroy.
Now, so we know his agenda! He’s not a good fellow! Whenever he shows up, it means he’s either on a project of stealing, he’s on an agenda of killing, he’s trying to destroy.
So, if we see you as a human being, surviving seasons, surviving times, surviving different circumstances—different situations—it means you have found a technology to extinguish the bitter visitation of this thief that has a schedule for all mankind.
In the Book of Matthew, chapter 24, are you there? Maybe we’ll take verse 43.
But let me check it out. Matthew 24:43… Okay.
Ah, Jesus gave this statement as an explanation. It was giving us insight about the events of the end time. Then He paused and decided to give some form of explanation, and that is what is captured in verse 43 of Matthew 24.
This is what Jesus said: "But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered or allowed his house to be broken up."
You see? So, are you there? The problem about this thief is that the thief shows up when he doesn’t give you an update, any form of intelligence about his visitation.
And because he doesn’t give any form of intelligence about his visitation, it is likely that when he shows up, you’ll not be watching.
Now, we are seeing something here that a man that is watching can actually ward off the visitation of a thief—but we’ll go into that. I’ve not started with that yet; that’s just a by-note.
We will enter into watchings as a practice to ward off visitations, but we have not reached that point yet. I’m just showing you that there is no intelligence; there’s no prior intelligence about this visitation that is given.
So if you don’t have the culture of consistent watching, you are going to be broken in upon by this thief. Hallelujah!
So, the thief cometh! The thief will come! It is in his nature to visit! He has a schedule of visitation for all mankind; his visitation is not announced!
There is no prior intelligence that is issued that he is coming! He’s hoping to break into your space at a time that you are not watching.
This is an intelligent visitor that is hoping to achieve his agenda of stealing or killing and of destruction.
So, because we have an enemy that is intending to visit with us, are you there? That is the reason why we need spiritual covering.
It’s a technology that is designed to ward off the impact of the visitation of Satan, knowing this: that Satan will visit, whether you like it or not.
The technology of warding him off when he does visit is what is summed up in the concept called spiritual covering.
Are you still with me? Okay, let’s go into the main body of the message for tonight, and we are going to find that in the book of Job. Job chapter number one.
Job chapter number one. I would have loved—okay, maybe somewhere along the line, when we continue in the spiritual covering series, I will do a 15 minutes interview with one of us that have sailed with during some grievous days of the visitation of Satan.
We’ll just do a brief interview on this stage, and then after the 15 minutes interview, we’ll continue with our teaching because we will use every form of possible enlightenment that is available to educate us on this subject.
So, turn your Bible to the Book of Job, chapter 1. Job chapter 1, and we will read from the book from verse number 6.
Job chapter 1, verse number 6. I would have loved to read from verse number 1; maybe let’s just read so that we can see the vastness of his estate and how vicious the prosperity anointing that was at work in his life really was and the things that began to find expression when Satan visited his domain.
You know, the Bible says the thief cometh not; he doesn’t have any other agenda but when he shows up, it is for to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil.
I would like us to, because there are various levels of spiritual covering that I'm going to define during the course of this teaching, and it is very likely that the teaching will take quite a long time. Hallelujah!
So, there are various aspects of spiritual covering; this is the first aspect that I’m trying to expose you to, which is spiritual covering that comes because of my personal alignment to the laws of God.
The Bible speaking about Job said he was perfect! Speaking about Job said he was upright! Speaking about Job said he feared God! Speaking about Job said he eschewed evil!
This is personal commitment to personal alignment; this is personal holiness; this is a personal walk with God; this is an alignment to the laws and the principles of God.
His description, the information about him was that was upon his curriculum vitae was that he was perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil.
Now many of us become vulnerable to Satan because we open the door to him when we decide to play with evil. The moment you begin to have dealings with sin, the moment you begin to have dealings with wickedness, the moment you begin to have dealings with iniquity, you have by your own hand opened the door to the visitation of the devil.
So there is a dimension of covering that is available to a man that is in alignment with God, that is righteous with God in his walk with Him. Are you with me?
Yes, a lot of people say, “Oh, body no be wood,” which is a classical African philosophy to provide allowance for iniquity—there’s an allowance for iniquity because body no be wood.
Now, when you are doing your body not be wood, what you are doing is that you no longer eschew evil; you are in partnership with evil. You are in alignment with evil.
And if any of these four factors are compromised in your life—are you there?—you are not covered!
So this covering, this commitment of God on the life of Job was a function of his uprightness. Are you with me?
Now, for instance, we are stewards of the kingdom of God; we are stewards of the kingdom of God. A lot of people send in offerings online, people sending offerings, you people that are on-site, you give offerings, and then it is our responsibility to manage those resources in keeping with the calling of God that we have received.
Are you there? Even though we have records—very robust records in our accounts department—for every naira that is spent, there are robust records in our accounts department.
Are you there? But you see, I say, "Are you there?" sir, we have records! Okay! Every naira that is spent, I can tell you how it is spent.
And none of it—do you know that it is possible for people to collect money from people and spend it in a way that is not consistent; it has nothing to do, no bearing upon the calling, the mission for which the people gave the money?
You know that kind of— that possibility exists! The reason why—are you there? Now, it means that we have compromised the covenant that we have with the people that are supporting.
Whereas the people may not know, but the spirit realm... I think we need to digress for me to tell you how the spirit realm is. You know when that guy came—the seven sons of Sceva—when they began to attempt to cast out the devil from the demoniac, the demoniac did not need to go check a file or a register to know their identity!
It was like a real-time access to the man’s definitions! The moment you stray away from alignment, any demon within the vicinity is aware!
There is a very powerful network of demons that exists to the last minion of darkness that is assigned to your compound.
When new developments break in the realm of the spirit, even that minion, that demon that is assigned to your compound is given an update on the status of things, so they know which territory they can enter into and which territory they have been forbidden to access.
A commitment to personal righteousness, to moral rectitude in private, than even in public is a practice that brings security.
The CV of Job reveals his perpetual practice. This is his default mode; this is how Job is in his most natural state. He is perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil.
Are you with me? I say, "Are you with me?"
Yes, sir. In ministry, there will be proposals that a lot of people will bring to you that if you are willing to attend to, you need to compromise your commitment with God in order to go through with those proposals.
And the moment you can afford to go through with something that is not accurate in the sight of God, what you have done to yourself is great disservice!
Now a lot of us have the privilege of hindsight.
Are you with me? I remember my roommates, and I—don’t know what student, our department in the university; they always put me in the midst of unbelievers.
I mean chronic unbelievers! Even when we go to arrange so that all the members of one fellowship, we can be given concession, and then we stay together, something will go wrong, and I will find myself in a zoo.
How many of you have been to a zoo before? Then you find the noise of a monkey is different from the noise of snakes—different noises in the same accommodation!
So I know how many times I would need to leave the room. I need to, because they bring women from 4:00, so I take my books to read and then to pray and come back.
They'll be with women for four hours; that's how I spent an entire session.
Today I have the privilege of hindsight, and I can look back because the people are still alive to see the outcome of that lifestyle—what did they produce?
The thief will come!
Please prophesy again to your neighbor! The thief will come! I heard somebody the other day on an airplane say he doesn’t look for anybody’s trouble; he doesn’t look for Satan's trouble; he doesn’t look for the—the he is a man of peace so that Satan will leave him.
Ah! I had no opportunity to reach him, that even now, as I speak, the thief is coming! It is prophetic that the thief is coming!
A pastor was counseling one of our appointed men. I said, "No! We don’t cast out devils." That pastor is telling our appointed man, "We don’t cast out devils because if you leave Satan, Satan will leave you!"
Which is it in the Quran that you saw that wisdom? Meanwhile, the pastor that was talking to our own appointed man, his wife just left him.
He doesn’t know that that is a sign! His territory has been breached; his defenses have been breached!
He still holds on to the philosophy when it is—there's no evidence to show that there's truth in it! His wife had left in that state of loss.
He was counseling someone and said, "We don’t fight Satan; people that fight Satan, Satan fights them!"
And he — his wife has left with the children! Are you with me?
So there's this—so we are going to look at those four factors, maybe in the next lecture, more closely.
What does it mean for a man to be said to be perfect? You understanding the Bible has its own logic; so, your understanding of what perfect is, it might be different from what the Bible calls perfect!
And I will show you what the Bible means by perfect and how that can compromise your security as we proceed in the lecture.
We'll look at uprightness! What is uprightness? There are dimensions of God's secrets that a man that is not upright can never know!
And I will show you tomorrow what benefits that you derive because you decide to subscribe to uprightness.
Okay, next verse. There was born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen; he had five hundred tractors and five hundred she asses.
Ah, Jesus! And a very great household—not just male asses but she asses! Five hundred of them!
That means each of them has the potential of producing the agricultural enterprise that this man has!
Chief Don, I heard that your father used to farm those days. How many tractors did he use? One tractor?
Now this guy had five hundred tractors! It will give you an idea of his enterprise—how vast his holdings were! A great household!
So that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East.
Next verse! And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day and sent and called their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all.
For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This did Job continually.
You see, the wealth of Job did not blind Job. Job was concerned about how God saw his household.
And there was this consistent commitment that he brought to the table to ensure that there was no offense whatsoever that would break the link of alignment with God.
You see, that's why this guy had that covering from God—that covering from God because he didn't want to violate the principles that were dear to God, to him, and to his household.
The Bible says, "Thus did Job continually."
Verse 6: "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them."
I know that this is a Bible house, and if I read a scripture like this, you want to understand what this is about because somebody in the congregation will be asking: "Is Satan that powerful? Can Satan be a part of a meeting that he was not invited?"
This is heaven! Satan was able to gate-crash and violate the authority system, the security system in heaven, so that he can partake in a meeting that he was not invited!
I know you have tons of questions, but I will not answer your questions today. If I answer them today, it will deprive me of the opportunity from linking the answer to a lesson; it will just be revelation. I want to link the answer to another lesson to open your spiritual eyes and to show you how Satan comes, how Satan operates.
Okay, so Satan was able to enter—gate crash into the meeting of the sons of God in the heavenlies.
And guess what? When Satan showed up in that meeting, God seemed to have abandoned the sons of God that were assembled before Him and began to engage Satan as if Satan was the principal subject of the meeting.
If you see that God engaged Satan so intimately in that meeting, the reason was because Satan was needed there!
Satan was one of the entities that were summoned for that meeting! The moment Satan arrived, the Lord abandoned the other sons of God that were there, bringing reports from various places in the universe, and began to attend to Satan!
This is what God said to Satan: "And the Lord said unto Satan, 'Whence comest thou?'" It's been long!
You know, those days when we left the university, and we were like two years post-university, you will know that, okay, these guys have finished with service, so the question you ask when you see your colleague on the street is, "How far?"
The meaning of how far is "Do you have a job, or are you still jobless on the street?"
So, because of the "how far" question, a lot of people stop walking on the streets so that they will avoid a situation where they are confronted with, "What? Ah!"
Now, when God saw Satan, God said, "How far?"
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, "From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it."
You know, earlier we said that Satan—it is prophetic that Satan will visit you. So when God asked Satan, "How far?" Satan said, "I've been going to and fro the earth."
That means if Satan has been going to and fro the Earth, there was a time he saw your compound—he came!
Satan didn’t say, "I sent a demon to go through"; no, I personally have been doing the rounds—going to and fro!
So I know your compound! I know the name of your husband! I know his grandfather! I used to do that oscillatory motion in the days of your husband's father’s father.
So, I’ve been going to and fro in the earth, and I've been walking up and down in the earth!
Can you see how detailed "to and fro" means? From end to end!
"Up and down" means I don’t rest! You, when you labor in the night, you go to rest; Satan goes up and down!
Meanwhile, in the economy of rest, which is one of the portions of spirit beings, spirit beings rest! It is only demonic beings that have no allocation of rest!
So, Satan has been doing 24/7 surveillance, and he passed through your compound!
Please help me enlighten your neighbor—he passed through your compound!
The next thing that God did was to draw His attention to His chief in the earth!
Verse 8: "And the Lord said unto Satan, 'Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth—perfect and upright man!'"
Can you see those qualities? That's what endeared God to the man!
And they were fourfold: He was perfect; he was upright—one that feared God and eschewed evil!
Have you seen him? This guy is living without your products! He is surviving without the things you market! He has found out how to live and operate!
He only has interactions with me! He loves me; he fears me; lives by my principles, and he hates your products with bitter hatred!
So it was God Himself that made an advertisement of Job to Satan!
But you, it will surprise you to know that when God began to speak about Job, Satan did not need to go check his file to bring Job’s details!
Next verse! Satan speaks about Job without consulting a file! His intelligence was on his fingertips!
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, "Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou not made a hedge?"
It was Satan himself that said God has developed a facility around Job called a hedge!
This was not God saying this; this was Satan saying! And according to Satan, the effectiveness and the implication of the hedge was in three dimensions.
Can you help me count? Hast thou not made a hedge about him?
That means there was a hedge about Job! Are you there?
Hast thou not made a hedge about his wife?
Then the second hedge is about his household! The first one is about him; the second one is about what? Household!
And then the third one is about what? All that he has!
A hedge about him! A hedge about his house! And a hedge about all that he had on every side!
That is—are you there? Are you there?
The spiritual covering that you access when you prioritize a life of moral rectitude, uprightness, and holiness—this is the shape of it!
And it will interest you to know that this is not the last; this is not the last of spiritual covering; this is just one among many covering substructures that God puts around the life of a man!
This one that we are studying this evening is a product of righteous living and aligning to Kingdom principles.
The spiritual nature of this covering is the hedge dimension.
And just like we have said, the hedge dimension, there are threefold: there's one that covers you, there is another one that covers your household.
So it means that your work of righteousness has implications on your household! You are not falling!
Do you know that the life of a pastor can influence the congregation that he pastors?
If that rectitude is not in place, everyone that claims to be drawing spiritual virtue from that grace is endangered!
And maybe many of you are not aware of how vicious Satan is, how wicked Satan is.
And in a situation where a householder, maybe a family head, a ministry head, a business head, a national head is not operating by these principles of moral rectitude and righteousness and the fear of God, the entire people under his watch are exposed to the activities of darkness!
So, you can now understand our situation as a nation! So, Satan confessed that it was a three-fold hedge that was around the life of Job!
He confessed, "Hedge around him, a hedge around his house, and a hedge around all that he has on every side."
All right, let’s go on with the discourse, and then you will see—there is something I want to reveal this night, just one point I want to review. There are so many points, and we’ll pick them one by one, strand by strand, and expound upon them.
But there is just one point I want to raise this night.
Next verse! Satan now recommends to God and says, "Put forth thy hand now and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face."
How many of you can relate with the recommendation that Satan just put forward?
Which of the hedges does he affect? Is he hedge number one? Because hedge number one is the hedge that covers the life of Job.
Hedge number two is the hedge that covers Job’s household. Hedge number three is the hedge that covers Job’s property.
So, are you there? Now, can you read verse 11 and tell me which hedge Satan is saying, "Let us remove this hedge and see!"
I guess you are presenting Job to me as one that is a man of uprightness and moral rectitude. My position about Job's commitment is that Job's commitment is occasioned by several good things that you have afforded him.
But put forth now thy hand and touch all he hath! That means hedge number three—remove hedge number three!
And when you remove hedge number three, and I can access the things that he has, then we’ll be able to test whether his commitment is pure!
Are you with me?
So most of the time if—if Satan, if God is bragging on you, the first symptom that we are going to see is the removal of hedge number three!
And that will prove where your loyalty lies!
I was posted to Lagos, and when I went to Lagos, my wife wanted to come with me, I said, "All right, it's okay."
So we had two vehicles; I went to Lagos with one and I gave the other one to one of our pastors. When we got to Lagos, one night, I had a dream—and in the dream, I saw that someone came and stole our car.
Then I saw one of the preachers in Nigeria, one of our fathers in the Nigerian landscape, he came to me in the dream and said, "My son, do not look for this car."
He told me clearly in that dream! I woke up and I woke my wife up. I said, "I just had a dream that our car was stolen, and so-so man of God came to me in the dream and said, 'Do not look for this car.'"
Three days later, they stole our car. After they stole the car, it became clear to me that what the man of God said was wisdom for the matter.
So we did not discuss that car again from that day, and we did not look for it.
Fourteen days after the theft of that car, I was in the bathroom taking my bath to go to work, and God spoke to me clearly in the bathroom.
Meanwhile, one of my hot spots of hearing the voice of God is the bathroom! The bathroom is a hot spot for me! I don’t know about you, but I normally, there is a great likelihood that if God wants to stumble into my world, He waits for me in the bathroom!
So, fourteen days after the theft, I came to take my bath, and then the Lord now spoke to me, and said, "Because you were not bothered about the car, you will not need to buy cars again!"
Because the argument that was going on was not about cars! The argument was about where my heart was!
And Satan had taken an accusation to God and asked him to remove hedge number three. Let us test his loyalty!
And the Holy Ghost had come into my dream to give me intelligence, all right? “Don’t look for it! Don’t bother yourself! He knows the argument that took place, the discussion that took place, how Satan bred.”
So, He came to me in the night in my dream, I said, "Okay, you just calm down; all I don't look for it."
Three days later, the thing happened! And you need to know where I was in Lagos! For a thief to come into that place to take a car, he must be mad!
That’s a place that if they apprehend you, no need for police; you are dead! We had people that were expert thief killers in that our estate.
Their job was that they are waiting for the next time a thief will just stay, Hallelujah! We watched many spectacles that we could not influence in that estate!
Strange things taking!
So, you need to be a man that is looking for death for you to say you want to come out! Somebody bought—okay, there was a bus driver.
A bus driver, I think he took inventory of a few new buses and packed it in the estate. Then at 11 in the night, those people that I said are looking for people that will stay, they are not security personnel, but they went on their own watch and checked the buses and found out that there was somebody that entered one bus waiting for it to be dark so that he can operate!
Ah! They just—how are you?—they didn’t even consult the owner! Yes!
So we had strange men in the estate, and the name of our estate was popular for those kinds of things.
So it was the chairman of our estate that now discovered that, "Okay, it was my car they took." He came to visit me to cons—I said, "We’ve moved on!"
I appreciate his coming, but let him look for when we are celebrating. When he hears that I'm promoted in the office, let him come on those issues—not on this type!
We had moved on! Fourteen days later God said, "You will not buy cars again!"
Yesterday, I was just taking inventory of the three cars in our compound. We bought none of them! None of them! Two of the cars in that compound, I'm the only one that has them in this town!
And we bought none of them! All right! Now you see, are you there with me now?
So what happened? What happened is that there was an—see, sometimes you need to be able to design your attack very well—and know whether God is bragging on your case.
As we speak about this subject, we will try to be very balanced so that you'll be able to see it clearly and know how to react under several circumstances and several situations.
So the negotiation that was on the table here was that Satan was saying, "Let us remove hedge number three and touch the things that he has—and see!"
I guess you could see that what God allowed was a demonstration of the depth of Job's heart!
He could trust Job with wealth without job’s heart getting distracted!
So, the moment Job lost everything, he proved that love for God transcends earthly possessions!
But you can tell me that it says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.”
He recognized God in each of his seasons!
He broke through in adversity! And that was the key point that God needed to clarify for Satan when he declared that Job was upright.
I was just thinking about what God said when God engraved Job's heart—when God was praising Job of his love; it’s similar to what God says concerning you, and we often tempt with the question: when our life situation gets tough at the edges of life experience.
Will I disappoint God in the things He has blessed me with?
So, you will set the tone to understand your challenges face what God permitted!
He allowed and the enemy will showcase but I do not!
You will bear witness to the love God has for you!
And nothing will fall short of, "In all things, be it unto you as perceivable to others, so be persistent!"
So, my brethren, don't miss the next part of this.
This is a summary of a journey to declare the wealth we possess with God!
Stand firm; stand tall!
In everything that God does, He paves the way for your covering!
In everything God does, don't dismiss Him!
Trust Him with the things of the day!
You, in your economy—hold dear to them!
He is set to fulfill a promise that He never acts violently!
So He entrusted you with the message He has fruits loaded upon.
He stands in your defense so you remain whole!
Lord, thank you for your promises! Thank you for allowing us this moment of impartation.
We trust him with all the revelation today!
We will demonstrate worthiness in the next steps broadly as we declare the work you're doing in our lives!
Healing of souls and the positiveness of God surpassing every trait of the negative!
In Jesus’ name, I pray!