Transcription
Apostle, I'm struggling with sickness. Go to that which is written. Open your Bible. Find out there were sick people in the Bible who were healed. What did they do?
This world is not designed for spirits. It's a three-dimensional framework of existence, a three-dimensional entity. So, in case a spirit has jurisdiction within this context, a man permitted that spirit to function. In fact, prayer is Earthly permission for Heavenly interference.
Isaiah chapter 12, just to charge our hearts on the whole idea of Thanksgiving. We're reading the first six verses. Isaiah chapter 12, it says, "And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thy anger is turned away, and thou comforted me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day ye shall say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee."
One of the mysteries of the Kingdom, you know by now now that we rise, we reign, and we excel in this Kingdom on the strength of the mysteries that we have. And we handle it. It takes more than intention to rise and to reign. Behind every exploit of the believer, behind every dimension of Kingdom exploit is number one, the presence and the backing of God, alight, mighty. But number two, adherence to the mysteries and the principles of the Kingdom. We reign in this Kingdom not just by intention, but we reign to the degree to which we have understood and engaged the mysteries of the Kingdom. Hallelujah.
In Matthew chapter 13 and verse 11, He said, "It has been given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven." In Job chapter 38 and verse 33, a question was asked. God himself was asking Job a question. He says, "Knowest thou the ordinances of Heaven?" Question. "Can't thou set the Dominion thereof in the earth?" That means, do you understand the mysteries and the principles by which Heaven uses to make Heaven look like Heaven? And can you transport those principles to make your life here on Earth become like Heaven? Do you know the ordinances of Heaven? And can't thou set the Dominion thereof in the earth?
We do not reign by mistake. We do not excel by mistake. Speed is not by mistake. Deliverance is not by mistake. Prosperity is not by mistake. Influence is not by mistake. Power is not by mistake. It is a product of working in keeping with Divine patterns. I've taught you here that the glory of God always comes as a confirmation that His patterns have been kept. Every time you see the glory of God manifest in a life, the glory of God is an attestation, His signature upon your life, upon your endeavor, that you have walked in keeping with the patterns allocated for that dimension of glory. Before Moses asked for his glory, Moses asked for His ways. "Show me Your ways." And then he now said, "Show Me Your Glory."
And one of the deep, very simple but deep mysteries of the Kingdom is gratitude that is expressed in Thanksgiving. A lavish display of gratitude coming from the heart of a believer in recognition of and recognition to the greatness and the faithfulness of God. Many believers are not grateful, or many believers are not grateful enough. I'm not teaching on gratitude, but let me tell you this, you are not truly grateful until you communicate that gratitude. To give a perception, you must allow the person who communicated benevolence to have it to heart that you are grateful enough. Otherwise, do not stop.
I give this example. If I give you 100 naira and you say thank you, and I give you 1,000 naira and you say thank you, and I give you 1 million and you say thank you, and I give you 1 billion and you say thank you. You see, there's something wrong with that. As the amount increases, so the sacrifice is that true? And your expression of gratitude over 100 naira cannot be the same as your expression of gratitude over 1,000. Is that true? There are times that people come to you and they do not say thank you. They, they almost roll on the ground before you and they allow their actions to say thanks. And notice what happens. Every time they thank you, you become indebted to them. It looks like you owe them more. You are motivated to do more again.
There are many of you who probably have begged your loved ones for recharge card. Brother or sister or father or uncle or husband or wife, can you help me with recharge card? And they give you 200 naira recharge card. And after 2 hours, you say, "Oh, I forgot. Thanks." Ask the person to give you again. Now you said thank you, but number one, you said it too late. And number two, that person did not perceive you to be grateful enough. Are you seeing now? So when you see us roll or lie down or do the things we're doing, some of you can get tired and say, "It's okay. He, God, did that." That's why many people receive one miracle per year. January, when you rolled on the ground, that's the end of it.
But there are others who have made up their minds. If you see the finger of God, you will roll as if God sat on you. And God said, "Just for my finger, I'm coming again." Are we together? God gave you tea, and you roll before Him as if He gave you a restaurant. I assure you, bread is on His way coming. God gives you bread, you roll before Him with a tea and bread. Sooner or later, He will stop sending tea and bread. He will give you a whole factory that makes the tea and bread. Then you start rolling up and down. He will say, "From today, you will not be the one mixing that tea again. I will make others to do it for you."
Let me tell you this, gratitude is very powerful. You can literally receive the prayer point of a man as a gift at the instance of gratitude. That what someone is fasting and praying for can come to you as a gift because you are grateful. One of the secrets of David, the psalmist, was not necessarily the dexterity of his exploits, but the depth of his gratitude. David would be so lavish. Look how voluminous The Book of Psalms is. There are two main main thoughts that are captured in The Book of Psalms: one is Thanksgiving, two is Deliverance. A major portion of the book of Psalms is a communication of the power of God to deliver, to save, to heal, and then a lavish display of Thanksgiving from a grateful man.
Many people are not grateful. Many of you here, you are not grateful to God, and you're not even grateful to men. God has surrounded you with all kinds of people who communicate benevolence: mother, father, sister. Some of you have never told any man of God or woman of God in your life, "Thank you." Why should I tell them? God sends them, and God is watching. Some of you have never told your parents, "Thank you." Some of you have never told your children, "Thank you." Some of you have never told your spouse, "Thank you." Never told the people, your workers, "Thank you." It's better for you to do frog job 100 times than to say thank you. It's an attack. It's a big attack. Many of you, you will serve punishment again and again, and to say thank you. Why should I say thank you? It's my father. It's my mother. Why should I say thank you? Thank you, I paid her dowry in the presence of everybody. Why should I say thank you? He married me. Why should I say thank you? I didn't ask them to give birth to me. And God is listening to that evil report as it comes from you, and you continue to cancel opportunities for newer and greater levels.
My charge therefore tonight is that God takes gratitude as proof of maturity and responsibility. Believe me, one of the indices that can measure maturity from a believer is the fortitude and the aptness to say thanks. Ten lepers were healed. Jesus was on His way passing, and 10 lepers were healed. And the Bible says only one returned. And he met Jesus standing there. What was he waiting for? And the man said, "Thank you." And Jesus would have said, "All right, you free, go." He said, "Were they not 10 lepers?" Ten lepers.
For many of you, you can call and bombard the gate of Heaven nonstop in praying and fasting over your desire to see the hand of God move in your life or your family. But as soon as the answer comes, we casually say, "Father, just to let you know, we're aware that whatever you sent was delivered. Send another one in Jesus name." Or we come to pray and, "Oh God, You're the Lion of the Tribe of Judah." And while we are saying that, it's just a preamble to push everything away. And we say, "Lord, thank you. Um, that which You sent yesterday has arrived. But that was not the only thing I asked. I asked for four things. How come You are this slow? You sent one." And imagine how, imagine how God looks at you. Imagine you are God and look at yourself under that condition. You will not be motivated to help you again.
But there are people who will thank the Lord and say, "Father, You do not owe me anything. If you, the fact that I can wake up in the morning and go to bed in the night, I owe You thanks." And God will vet their heart. If and when it is true, it comes as a sweet-smelling savor, and it says, "Because you have thanked Me for life, then I will grant you life abundant." All of the blessings that come with life. Hallelujah.
By reason of what I do, I'm exposed to all kinds of people. And believe me, there are people's conditions that when you see their conditions, force you to repent for being from being careless about the whole subject of gratitude. Did you know that there are people who? I remember one time, years ago, I went to the hospital to see someone who had a very ghastly motor accident. And I think they fractured the legs or something like that. God is my witness. We have a medical team. They hung the person's leg. I think the leg is supposed to stay there without shifting. That's the way it will heal. Well, and they hung that person's leg. And I was told he was going to be there for at least 90 days. Yes, sir. Imagine your leg, they hang it with stone. I think it was a stone or something that looked like a metal or weight lift, something like that. And they just hung that leg like that. And you could see the inconvenience.
And then I know a dear lady years ago who her friends were celebrating her birthday. You know, all this carelessness that happens in, um, campuses. And they took, I don't know what chemical it was. In a bit to celebrate and allow demons to just take over those individuals, they sprayed that thing on her eyes. And that was it. She became blind. Yes. I had the honor and the privilege of. She probably may be listening now because her eyes have opened now. Yes. She had surgery after surgery. I remember having the privilege to go to their house. Wonderful parents, loving people. And now you're looking at this lady, great, beautiful, Godly, wonderful lady whose life was cut short. I think she was in 300 level or so as at then. And that was the end of it. Where would she start learning how to, you know, there's something they do if you are blind, how to read and understand at what age? And every time you would see how inspiring and happy and joyful. I said, "Lord, if I'm to take this as a project, this eyes must open." Traveled, came back, we kept praying, praying, praying. The day I was told those eyes were opened, I, I didn't know how. You can imagine. Hallelujah.
Some of you, you lost your job one, two, three years, and yet you are not begging. You are still standing. And even those who are walking have to come to you and say, "Please, can I borrow 50,000? Can I borrow 100,000?" There are some of you, how your children are in school now, or how your children finished school is something you cannot even explain. Because quarter to shame, this God just showed up for you to wipe your tears. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. The Lord declared this year that this is a year of Victory. And look what wonderful things that God has done. I cannot begin to tell you testimony after testimony, not just in my life, but in this ministry, of the marvelous hand of God. Many of you would think it's an exaggeration or maybe it's just people manipulating or lying on stage, but it is true. I can simply tell you that God has been faithful, and to Him be all the glory in the name of Jesus Christ.
We have taken our time to thank the Lord. And let this remain a culture in our lives and in this ministry. Don't thank God only at the end of the year. All the days of your life, you must live and walk in gratitude, paying attention to the slightest communication of His love and His benevolence. You must. The, the, the hymn writer says, "Count your blessings." Then he says, "Name them one by one." He knows there are many, but he's saying, "Name them." Because when you begin to see what God has done, you name them one by one, one by one. One, you can say, "I was pregnant, and they told me my baby, I would not deliver safely." So, so, so, so. And then look at the child now, running around your house with joy. How about finances? Many of us made decisions this year that you would have been in the mortuary by now based on the kind of financial decision you made. But how God brought you out. All through today, this was what had been in my mind, just thinking about the faithfulness of God. Traveled over, just came in, and I was just thinking all through, "Lord, look how faithful, look how true, look how dependable You are."
Do you know that it is the mercy of God for you to be minding your business and then someone thinks about you for good? In this wicked and the deviled world, that you are sitting down and someone can think about you from the US, think about you enough to say, "I should come to you. How are your children? How, how, what are you doing now?" How about many people who have been delivered from demons? Demons don't know New Year, they don't know old year, they don't know recession, they don't know Nigeria. All they know is whatever is procr, procr. God is their project. And yet many of us have lived as if the devil stopped existing this year. In the midst of the pain and everything, for you, it was go. You were in a land of plenty. Your life, some of you, you have never been blessed the way God blessed you this year. In the midst of all the pain, I don't mean like by faith, the way we say it, genuinely. You can see the manifestation of the marvelous hand of God in your life. That you have a house, a roof under your, above your head. Is it above or above your head? And you can sleep in peace and wake up in peace. Many of you, you kept hearing that they were kidnapping people, they kidnapped people close to you, and yet God has preserved you.
I told you a story here about a family that they kidnapped them, and the people asked for some, some amount, irrational amount. And the man said, "Look, they can honestly kill the child because there's nowhere he's going to get that money." You think the man hates his child? How about the transformation of your mind? The literal change of state, transiting to superior belief systems that you can see the, you can understand the ways of God and see the Kingdom clearer and better. For this, we give Him all the praise. May His name be glorified in the name of Jesus. Make it, make it as a point, make it a point of duty. From today, when you get up in the morning, before you complain and say, "What kind of day is this? It's too cold, it's too hot. NEPA or Power Holding Company, no light." Let the first, the first thing that should come out of your mouth is, "Thank You, Jesus. Thank You for this day. I'm awake. Thank You, I'm alive. Thank You, I have vision. Thank You, I'm saved." Thank You. If you don't thank God for salvation, He will show you a vision of Hellfire, and then you will see the marvelous miracle that happened to you in that transition. "Lord, thank You that I'm not an arm robber waiting to steal, kill, and destroy so that I can eat." Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus Christ.
So we thank God for all that He has done in and through us. Today happens to be our last and final service. We, at this level of ministry, as God has directed us, we give breaks. So this is our last service. Now, what should you do with the remaining time that you have until a resumption? Number one, number one, you must commit to your personal growth. Just because we are on break as a Ministry does not mean your growth should be on break. It does not mean your passion should be on break. Commit to your personal growth and development.
Number two, very quickly, spend time as much as God grants you the grace with friends and family. Not gossiping, talking about people. Spend time building that relationship. Spend time loving. Do you know life is a gift? And it is important. Many of you go and spend time. If you can spend time with your parents, spend time with friends, these our loved ones. You see, no matter how we love them, for as long as Christ tarries, one day we will not see them again. Build profitable memories that become a blessing to you. Are we together? Spend time with family.
Listen to my message. Three most important things I teach that in a man's life, there are many important things, but there are three most important things as revealed from scripture. Number one is your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two, your family. Number three, your assignment. These are the three things that will last when every other thing goes: your God, your family, your purpose, and your assignment. So spend time with friends and family.
Number three, commit to doing something that brings glory to the name of the Lord. Even before the resumption, this has always been my church for many years. As God grants you grace, for some of you, it can be an opportunity to use this time now and gather a few people whose lives are scattered in pieces and help their lives make sense within those moments. It could be one day of prayer you organize in your house, your community, something for the Kingdom. Do you know believers disorganize their lives December and start repenting and start another journey by January and then continue wasting their time again up until December? For most believers, I say this respectfully, December looks like the most visionless period of the year for them. Them is where they give up God, they give up purpose, they give up everything in the name of celebration. Don't get me wrong. Am I saying don't celebrate? Enjoy yourself. Eat whatever you have to eat. But let me advise you, most people, the highest level of financial carelessness in their life comes in this, this three weeks period. You see all the wisdom, the teaching, pathway to weld, everything that God has taught is dissolved by December because people waste money on profitless things, all in the name of celebration. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying not to celebrate, but it is important. Remember my message, the law of seasons. Every dry season comes with a letter from rainy season, "I am coming," and every rainy season comes with a letter from dry season, "I am also coming back." So December has a letter from January. I must come. Make sure you don't just embrace December. Read the letter that January gave December to give you. The school fees of your children is there. Other things. December came with a letter from January 2022. Please make sure you read it. As you celebrate, read it so that you don't swallow up, you don't become the lean cows yourself that swallow up the fatted cows, and then you are left in pain and penury. Celebrate, but do so with wisdom.
Many of us make enemies is during this period because you go around being involved in matters that don't concern you. Like John the Baptist, you see, you know what killed John? John was focused on his assignment and he finished honorably. And then he dealt into matters that were not his business. The consequence, his head went cheaply for it, as though he were never anointed. Are we learning? What should you do around this period? Have a personal time for an end-of-year retreat. Please write it down. In my opinion, and I say this as an opinion, you are not a serious Christian if you actually allow this period to just pass up until resumption or next year without dedicating at least one, two, three days to spend time with God. Please write it down. A retreat is a time that you take alone. There are family retreats, there are corporate retreats, but this kind of retreat is between you and God. A time alone with God. What do you do during retreats? Please write it down.
Number one, the first thing that you do during a retreat is Thanksgiving. Personal Thanksgiving, just like we did here, but now it's between you and your Maker, your Savior. You are thanking Him personally for all that He's done.
Number two, appraisal. You appraise the year in light of scripture, in light of God's blueprint. Retreats and moments where we appraise our lives. You sit down, what assignment has God given me? How did I live 2021? Can I say I want to repeat the same thing in 2022? Are we learning something now? Most people do not go forward because they don't look back and ask questions. For many of you, as you are appraising yourself, you find out, "Ah, in March, in April, and May, I made this and that decision. Look what it's cost me now. I learn from it." The retreat is now profiting you. And let me advise you, children, couple, don't start, don't stop one another from having profitable retreat using all kinds of scripture. What God has joined together, live. Allow yourself to spend time with the Lord. Or parents and children, or children and parents. There is a corporate retreat, but there is a personal retreat where it is you and God. You can lock yourself in a room. You have the resources, you can go somewhere. There are all kinds of places where you can stay and flog it out with destiny.
There are six areas you must review. Six areas of your life. Number one, your spiritual growth and progress. Just a quick guide, and we'll pray. Number one, your spiritual growth and progress. You want to spend time having a retreat, you must review your spiritual growth and progress. Can I say I have grown spiritually? Sincerely?
Number two, your level of mental transformation. The second area you must review unashamedly. Have I sustained superior beliefs, or I still have my old, wrong, faulty thinking? Have I transited? Has there been that level of mental maturity?
Number three, your health. You may have heard it in my teachings that there was a year that I, I found out that three years in a row, the worst performing area of these six areas I'm about to list was my health. The area I did not really pay attention to. Three years in a row. After doing all this, I found out that the worst performing area in my life was my health. I took that as a warning from the Lord. You would die the death of a fool if you don't start paying attention to your health. And many people, you listening to me now, we've done a few teachings that relate to that. This is one of the things you learn during retreat. What happened this year? I ate carelessly. I did this one. I did that. How many times did you fast this year? Two times. The Holy Ghost says, "Write it. You are saved by yourself." With all the attack this year, you fasted only twice. Write it down. And you didn't even finish it. Six corporate fast, you did not. Family fast, the one you called for, you did not even do it. Can I tell you this? Your retreat is not a true retreat if it's not completely honest between you and God. This is you and God alone. You must be sincere, 100%. My health, did I take care of myself? Was I careless? Did I spend more on clothes than I did my health? Did I spend more eating all kinds of things? The sons of the prophet said, "There is death in the pot." Did I kill myself more this year than every other year combined? You write it down. You don't write it to condemn yourself. You write it because you are about to rise to a new level. Are you getting the idea now?
Number what now? Three. Number four, the fourth area that you have to, and don't rush that area, is your financial progress. Write it down. When you go for retreats, you have to sit down and look at your finances. For some of you, you will be surprised when you see how much God has blessed you with this year, and you checked, there was nothing left. Careless decisions, wrong decisions, wrong companies that ate up the glory of God revealed through your finances. Now you write it down with a view to correcting these things. Maybe you made business decisions you didn't think, you didn't seek counsel, you were rash in it, and now you paid the price, you lost money. Don't feel bad, but write it and learn. Maybe carelessness, you went for every wedding and every birthday, whether it was your own or not. You saw something in an area, you went there, you were dancing and spraying your children's school fees. Write it down. Retreats. Are we learning? Finances. And don't, don't allow people who tell you that making financial progress is not important. Sooner or later, you'll find out that you were not sincere with yourself. It's better to flog it out early so that it gives you the liberty to serve God in peace. Are we together?
And then number five, your purpose and your destiny. "Lo, I come in the volume of the book as it is written of me." Remember in the law of seasons, I taught you that there are four seasons. Life is separated into four major seasons. There is the morning stage, there is the afternoon stage, there is the evening stage, there is the night stage. 0 to 25 is your morning stage. 26 to 50 is your afternoon stage. 51 to 75 is your evening stage. Anything after 75 is your night stage. Many of us, what you would have done from 0 to 25, now you are 30 or 40 or 45 or 50, you are just getting born again. Is this year you got born again? Now I salute you for giving your life to Jesus Christ. It is better late than never. But some of you have not even received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You see, so before you start this entire journey, and then unlearning some of these wrong things that came either from culture, came from wrong background, came from wrong mentorship, and now start embracing the truth, it will take time. So you write it down. For many of us, you have not really found what you will spend your life doing as far as the Kingdom is concerned. Retreats at times when we take an honest appraisal. Can I tell you, there is nothing? Dr. Miles Daily, Red Mentor, he said this, he said that. It is not necessarily how long we live that matters, even though longevity is a blessing and it's a provision that we must press for. But that if efficiency is by far greater than longevity. Jesus spent 33 years, and within 33 years, He made a mark. Can you imagine? He spent 30 years preparing for His assignment, and in 3 years, He was done. Completely done. 3 years. Until today, the world is grateful until forever for 3 years of effective living. Dr. Munro of blessed memory also teaches that the wealthiest place is not the oil mines in Nigeria, parts of Africa, and the Middle East, or the gold mines in Congo, South Africa, and all of that, but the cemetery. He says, "Where dreams, books that were never written, that would have blessed people, books people died with, books people died with businesses, people died with anointings like Elisha, and never gave it visibility and manifestation." Can I tell you this? Whether you like it or not, no matter how you jump up and down, you are getting older every year. "I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day." Jesus is talking, not an angel. "For the night cometh, when no man, no matter who you are, once you are a man, when the night comes, you cannot walk again." You may not die, but you cannot walk again. God's servant, Bishop Oyedepo, will say, "No matter how much of a good footballer you are, if you are 50 years as a footballer, you are retired by force." Is that true? When they go to look for sport stars, have you seen people now? Even our job in, you know, in Nigeria here and parts of Africa, they say we are looking for job from maybe 20, 21, or 22, or whatever it is, till, in fact, they even consider 27 or 26 or 28. They say, "Well, we are not sure that they will give you anything." You have to settle down and know that there is timing to destiny. And then to contend for the grace for speed. Are we together?
And then the last, number six, your relationships. Relationships are very important. Advantageous connections. We rise and we thrive on the strength of the kind and the quality of relationship that we have. The Bible, we've done teachings on that here. The Bible says, "He that walks with the wise will be wise himself." But it says, "The companion of fools shall be destroyed." Say, "Retreat." This is one of the major reasons why we are giving break so that you go and spend time with God. Many of you, at the end of your retreat, you will be left with tears, not tears of condemnation, but you will be honest with yourself, and you will know that I've not been living my life effectively. The result, you will now make up your mind and say, "This issue of reading the Bible once in a while or when there is trouble, praying once in a while, fasting once in a while, I must bring a systemic dimension to my life." That means I have to put systems that ensure continuity and predictability. I must put a system that makes sure I pray all the time, whether I like it or not. I study all the time. I find all the time. I do whatever I'm doing. You have to put in those systems. Retreats are important.
And then, of course, in a retreat, you plan. You plan for the year coming. You have to plan. It is said that he who does not, he who fails to plan has planned to fail. Many of us do not plan the year. You just enter it, and whatever you meet there, you are happy to go with it. Plan your life. What is January going to be like for you? What is plan? Even if you do not achieve it, at least let it be that you set goals. Visionary people and all leaders globally will tell you that one of the secrets to their efficiency is that they don't just tumble into their days, they plan. Don't let someone just call you in the morning and say, "How is your day like today?" "Nothing, you're not doing anything." "I'm on my way coming." There's one movie I just watched, and you come and find out that 24 hours has gone like that, and you just forgive yourself, sweep it under the carpet, and do it again. You open your eyes, you are in October, you have not achieved anything. Hallelujah. Praise the name of the Lord.
Make sure that you do something that brings glory to the name of Jesus. For some of you, God has blessed you and God has helped you. I am challenging you, ensure that out of the resources God has given you, that you are able to be a blessing to someone, not for showmanship, but that at least you can reach out to someone. Some of you celebrate this season alone. You have never given anything, even one naira, to anybody, your neighbors, even those who are living with you. It is a very bad attitude. Aside from being a bad Christian attitude, it's a bad attitude for a human being. Even animals share when they kill sometimes, they eat and leave the rest for all. God knows how He designed the system. Givers will never truly lack. Are we learning?