GOD'S MAN

God is always looking for a man.

Isaiah 59:16 - And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him.

Ezekiel 22:30 - And I sought for a man among them; that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

When He created the heavens and the earth & then the earth became formless & void because of the destructive activities of the deposed archangel Lucifer; God restored it by speaking light and everything else into being, then He created a man out of Himself, gave him a body of clay and put him in charge of the earth (Genesis 1 & 2). God was God of all & Adam was god of the earth. Under God, Adam ruled. Through Adam, God ruled.

Lucifer, taking on the form of the snake, deceitfully yet legally obtained that heavenly mandate/authority from Adam by getting him to disobey God and obey him. Man no longer held direct authority over the earth, because Satan now did; but man’s authority was still in force, only being used by Satan (legally) until such a time as that authority would expire.

Since that day, God has needed a man’s cooperation, a man’s partnership, a man’s prayer, a man’s authority to operate in the earth realm. When God wanted an ark built to keep a remnant from the flood, He looked for a man: Noah. The Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8); but when God wanted to institute & preserve a lineage through which the Lamb of God (Jesus) would be born into the world, He looked for a man (Abraham). At different points in that lineage, He looked for women like Rebecca, Rahab, Ruth & Mary. In order to preserve that lineage also, He looked for men like Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samson, David & Elijah.

In Ezekiel 22, the sin of the nation of Israel was multiplied and God’s just nature required harsh judgment, yet His mercy sought for a man to intercede for the land as Abraham did for Sodom & Gomorrah (JUST ONE MAN). However, God found NO MAN, so He had no choice but to pour out judgment on the land, even though it was NOT His perfect will. How many things happen on earth & in our lives despite the fact that they are not God’s perfect will?

When it came to redeeming the world (Isaiah 59:16), God found NO MAN once again; but this time, God did something special: GOD BECAME THE MAN HE NEEDED! John 1 makes it clear that God the Word is the same One that became flesh and dwelt among us and ultimately died & rose for us and forever lives for us! God is ALWAYS looking for a man. God became a man once, He’s never going to do it again. NOW GOD LIVES IN MAN. The only challenge is that the will of man is not automatically redeemed/saved when he receives Jesus Christ. He has to begin the process by yielding his will to the Word & the Spirit of God. However, when God finds a man whose will is given over to Him, God has everything He needs!

God can pray to God through that man so that God can do what is God’s will to do in the earth realm (praying in the Spirit).

God can reach out through that man to other men to do them good.

God can channel material resources through that man for the purpose of advancing His kingdom.

God can channel divine thoughts, ideas, concepts & innovations through that man into the worlds (the worlds of fashion, music, entertainment, industry, economics, medicine, education, arts, government etc.)

God can meet people’s needs through that man.

God can execute His will through that man.

God can manifest His power & presence in the earth through that man.

YOU ARE THAT MAN.

You are God’s man where you are; yes, right there!

You are God’s man in business, government, fashion, entertainment, medicine, ministry, your school, your nation, your family.

You are God’s man, woman, boy & girl.

If you have received Jesus & you’ve received the Holy Spirit, you are the perfect candidate to execute the will of God the Father in this world. You are God’s man.

Being a “man of God” is good, but whether you’re a “man of God” or not, YOU ARE GOD’S MAN; I AM GOD’S MAN!

All God wants is your will. He wants your will, He wants your body. He wants your unreserved “YES”. He wants your attention. He wants YOU.

Will you give God what He wants, what He needs?

You can only be better for doing so. All your ambitions, aspirations, dreams & plans are nothing compared to what He wants to do THROUGH YOU on a day-to-day basis and in your entire lifetime; the temporal and eternal rewards FOR YOU.

1 Corinthians 2:9 - But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him”

The Kingdom City: THE UNGUARDED HOUR

Again and again in the New Testament, believers are commanded to "watch", "be sober" & "be on guard". Jesus said in Mark 13:37, "what I say unto you, I say unto ALL: watch!" Therefore, these instructions are as relevant to us today as they were 2000 years ago to those who first received them. We are to watch for His coming (Mark 13:35), watch against the thief, the enemy of our souls (Mark 13:36 & 1 Peter 5:8), watch against false doctrines and deception (Matthew 24:4 & Acts 20:31) and watch against the weakness & works of the flesh (Matthew 26:41 & Luke 12:15).



If indeed we are to watch for/against all these, then there is no time a believer can truly afford to let his/her guard down. Why? We do not know the hour of His coming (Matthew 24:42), the thief is always on the prowl (1 Peter 5:8), deception keeps getting worse and worse (2 Timothy 3:13) and the flesh is something we will have till we leave this earth (2 Corinthians 5:4). So, there's no holiday from watchfulness! It is in that hour, that unguarded moment when we think we have arrived, attained or are infallible that the devil easily gains a foothold (Ephesians 4:27).



One of the easiest times for a believer to let down his/her guard is...The Kingdom City: THE UNGUARDED HOUR:

SHADOWS

They saw in shadows

Darkly, looking through a veil

Secrets for tomorrow

Hidden, reserved for some other

The Spirit to them did signify

The works of Christ to sanctify

The plan: Adam made whole again

The promise: to pour out the rain

Of it they saw; for it they sought

Condemned to hope; in darkness to grope

They longed for it; thirsted for it

'Twas kept for us; only for us

For us, the darkness is lit

In Christ, the veil is slit

No longer in darkness crawling

No longer in shadows we see

The day has come; the hour is now

The promise is here; the promise is now

MY BIRTHDAY TESTIMONY

So nothing yesterday actually went as planned, but I really did have a great time. I was supposed to travel, I didn't. I went to the studio for nice shots, I got terrible shots (or maybe I'm the one that is not fine enough), hmm.....putting it all together though, I eventually had fun, thank God!

Yesterday was actually a picture of what the last 2 years have been like. Since I dropped my pen as a student for the last time on June 12, 2013, literally nothing (well, almost nothing) has gone as planned; however, at the end of it all, I have every reason to say "blessed be God!" This testimony is about God's faithfulness.

From the moment I passed my final exams, my life seems to have gone on "pause" again & again: from the sudden postponement of our induction to the wait before finally getting a housemanship placement in the Military hospital; the strike halfway through housemanship (hmmm.....strike of life!), the 6-month "home-punishment" by the the Nigerian Army authorities, especially that wonderful Major-General (bless his soul!) and the recent delay in NYSC mobilization. Through all these things, my "personal calendar" has been edited, adjusted, thrown out, picked up, reset, rewritten & ultimately (in utter annoyance) done away with!

Am I writing this to rant and rave & call a pity party? Like Paul said: God forbid! I am writing this to say that in all these things, God is faithful! I once planned to be married before 25 years, be a consultant in OB/GYN before 30 years and leave the medical field by the age of 40 years, like a boss! I became 25 yesterday and I haven't put an engagement ring on her finger yet; I have to conquer NYSC before I can even start the OB/GYN residency program. Maybe I can still do the third one, or maybe not. All that matters now is to be in step with the Master. You see the change? It's no longer about running at top speed to get to specific landmarks, it's about being in prepared places at prepared times with prepared people doing prepared good works. Do I then allow the devil to throw spanners in the works & attribute it to God? A thousand times NO! Anywhere I sense him doing his nasty deeds, I'll hammer him with the Word, because I've had enough!

So, in the last 2 years, I was supposed to finish housemanship & NYSC; I didn't, but I finally finished housemanship Mondays ago with excellent ratings, remarks and lots of favour testimonies & happy stories. Bless God, it feels so good to finally be a medical officer! I was supposed to make a certain amount of money just by going to work & being a conscientious house officer. I don't even want to start about the money, but God has been my provider. Still expecting my remaining money from the Ministry of Defence though! I know they're God-fearing & now Buhari-fearing, they will pay. Amen! I'm supposed to be married, at least according to previous calculations. Well, I'm married to Jesus! And yes, I found a rare gem this last year, I hope to be able to tell you more about her someday soon. Wink wink.

Almost nothing has gone according to my plan. I wouldn't say things went precisely according to His perfect plan either (I'm not that self-deluded). In all these things, however, I can lift up my EBENEZER to my Father, my Helper, my Succour, my Stay and say "thus far You have helped me"!

There are adventures ahead, testimonies to be shared, territories to be conquered, victories to be sung and yes, trials & temptations to face. In all these things, I am more than a conqueror. I am born of God so I have won already. The Holy Spirit, my Helper & my Friend, is in me, spurring me on, leading me into all of the Father's best.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for celebrating me yesterday! Today I celebrate you, God's special treasure; God's righteousness in Christ. I remain yours in Him. Jesutola Obafemi Adewumi (Ayanfe).

THE BLESSING 4 (THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT)

What if I told you that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, David and all the heroes of faith listed in the Hebrews 11 hall of fame did not receive the promise? What if I told you that, by believing in Jesus, you have received much more than they could ever have hoped to receive? What if I told you that you are far more advantaged than they ever were? What if I told you that you are greater than Abraham? Would I be speaking the truth? Would you believe me? What exactly does the bible say?

Hebrews  11:39 & 40 - And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, RECEIVED NOT THE PROMISE: God having provided some BETTER thing for US, that they without us should not be made perfect

1 John  5:12 - He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life

Matthew  11:11 - Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he

Each of them had peculiar dealings with God. Abraham had a covenant; Isaac, Jacob & Joseph benefited from it. Elijah was a "fireman", Samson had the Spirit of might come on him several times; David was unbeatable in battle, he also saw revelations of the coming Christ & the new creation. No matter how unique God's dealings with them, however, the one thing they never had, never could receive, was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah saw it, Ezekiel caught a glimpse of it (Jer. 31:33-34 & Ezek. 36:27); the Spirit of Christ signified to them the coming grace, but when they sought it out, they discovered it was not for them but for us. The promise of the Spirit was to perpetually remain just that: a promise.

The good news is this: God has kept the best for last! God has provided something better for you, for me, for us. We have the Spirit of God living in us now, not as a promise, but a reality! He doesn't come upon us & leave, coming & going again & again; rather, He now makes His home in us. The sovereign eternal limitless God living inside mortal man!

Once Adam committed treason in the garden of Eden and became separated from God and joined to Satan, there was no way God could indwell him, no way he could be one with God; sin had made a gap that could not be crossed; sin had transmutated his nature from life to death. Only the blood/life of a sinless man could qualify as payment for such a terrible betrayal. Only a person man with the life of God could possibly be sinless. So God became a man. The blood of the Man, Jesus Christ, became the necessary payment.

When a man is cleansed with that blood, he becomes holy enough to be God's house. Nothing but that holy blood can make him holy; not his own works, not penance, not all the tears in this world, just the blood of the Lamb of God. That blood has made you holy, now the fullness of the Godhead lives in you in the person of the Holy Spirit. To you, the promise of the Spirit is no longer a distant promise; it is a present tense reality, it has been received! It's here & now; He's here, He's now! This is what Jesus hung on the cross for (Galatians 3:14). It's the reason He died & rose. The blessing of Abraham, the promise of the Spirit!

Please note that while the promise of the Spirit primarily has to do with the Holy Spirit recreating your human spirit & making His home in you; the reception of this promise is not complete without the baptism/infilling of the Holy Spirit. Even after Jesus had breathed on the disciples and imparted the Holy Spirit to them in John 20, he kept talking about waiting for the promise until He finally poured out the Spirit on them in Acts 2. You keep saying that you have the Holy Spirit living in you and therefore don't need to speak in tongues. Who told you so?! I know for sure it wasn't Jesus! Jesus couldn't have been more clear: the Holy Spirit has to come UPON you (Acts 1:8) and you're supposed to speak in tongues in His name (Mark 16:17)! If for any reason you haven't received the fullness of the promise of the Spirit & you don't speak in tongues, I beg you by the mercies of God, don't stay there! Don't be deprived of something Jesus died for!

When Jesus breathed on them in John 20, He said "Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained". Remember, Jesus said "the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins" (Mt. 9:6); and the result in that particular instance was the healing of a paralysed man. If Jesus then says that now that I have received the Holy Spirit, I have power on earth (just like Him) to forgive & retain sins, imagine what endless possibilities there are? No wonder He said in Mt. 10:8, "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils!"

Something more than gold

Something more than silver

The Spirit of God in my heart

Something more than gold

Hey somebody, I have received the promise of the Spirit! As Jesus is, so am I in this world; I have become one with Him! I am a new creation, limitless in expression! I've got the divine nature, the very life of God in me! The world has never seen our kind before; in fact, the world is waiting for us, it just doesn't know it yet!

If you haven't received the promise of the Spirit, pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaase make sure you do today. If you have, blessed are you among men, rejoice!!!

THE BLESSING 3 (THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM)

Think with me for a moment please. Jesus became a curse for us, redeemed us from the curse of the law so that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Him, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith? What is it about the blessing of Abraham that is so vital for the Gentiles (non-Jews) to have that Jesus would sacrifice everything for us to have it? The law came with its blessings and curses (Deuteronomy 28), so Jesus could have redeemed us from the curse of the law and qualified us for the blessing of the law; but rather, what He qualified us for is the blessing of Abraham.

What is the blessing of Abraham? The few times the bible recorded what God said to Abraham in blessing him, it details such things as fruitfulness, multiplication, greatness & dominion. The few times the bible describes the blessedness of Abraham, it talks about his wealth and greatness. In a way, these things are the results of the blessing that God put on Abraham, but what is the blessing itself?

Yes, the blessing is that thing that God puts on a person, giving him the ability/power to prosper, to be healthy; to enjoy such things as Abraham evidently enjoyed. The blessing, however, goes deeper than that. For example, Romans 4 describes what it means to be blessed, using Abraham as a model: blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin (Romans 4:3&6-8). According to Romans 4, a blessed man is one unto whom God imputes/credits righteousness without works; one whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered; a man to whom the Lord WILL NOT impute/credit sin. This is what Abraham enjoyed. Despite not being righteous in behaviour by God’s standard, God declared him righteous simply because he believed God when God said “so shall your seed be” (Genesis 15:5). Ultimately, the seed He spoke of was not just Isaac or the other physical descendants but rather Christ. Abraham believed what God said about the seed (Jesus), God accounted it to him as righteousness.

This same way, when Jesus became a curse for us on the cross, He redeemed us from the curse of the law and qualified us for the blessing of Abraham: He made it possible for us to be declared righteous without having done anything to deserve it. Now, simply by believing what God has said about Jesus, we have righteousness credited to our account & no sin held against us. The blessing of Abraham is not really in the silver & gold but in the simple truth that an undeserving sinner is declared righteous simply by believing in the seed, Jesus. How then does this translate to the wealth & fruitfulness & greatness seen in Abraham?

Having legally declared man righteous through Christ Jesus, God can then legally give to him His very own nature, the life of God in his human spirit. This life is the very thing that makes everything work. Where there is life (eternal life), there is health, strength, wealth, fruitfulness. All these are the things we call blessings, they are a result of the blessing, they are a result of life. Psalm 133:3 calls the blessing “life forevermore”. Eternal life - the life of God in us, literally, is the blessing. That is why Galatians 3:14 mentions the blessing of Abraham and the promise of the Spirit in the same breath. The promise of the Spirit (the indwelling of God’s Spirit in mortal man) is the one thing that every man under the law needed but couldn’t have, but we have through faith in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 11:39 makes us understand that even Abraham (before the law) didn’t receive this promise, he only enjoyed a measure of what is called the blessing. For us under this covenant, we have the fullness of what was promised to Abraham, the completeness of what Abraham only tasted. We have the blessing, the very life of God in us; the promise of the Spirit, fully downloaded!

That is why Paul said in Romans 8:1 – the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin & death. The solution to the law-curse is the life that Jesus brought. This life is mediated through the Holy Spirit indwelling us, giving life to our spirits and even to our mortal bodies (Romans 8:10&11). He who has the Son has the Spirit of the Son (the Spirit of Christ) dwelling in him and therefore has life (Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:6 & 1John 5:12). That’s why the Holy Spirit is the agent of the blessing, because He’s the agent of life! If we have become one with Him, we have become one with life, we have become one with the blessing (1Corinthians 6:17). The blessing is not just on us, but in us. We carry the blessing, to spread it far as the curse is found. We carry the life of God, to spread it far as death is found! Death reigned through sin, now life can reign through righteousness, or as Romans 5:18 puts it: we who have received abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign as kings in life through Jesus Christ!

This is the blessing of Abraham, not because Abraham enjoyed the fullness of it, but because it was he to whom it was first promised, and to his seed (Christ). It is the promise that the prophets and kings of old saw by the Spirit, desired to have, but God reserved it for us, that they without us should not be made perfect (Hebrews 11:40). Don’t ever wish you were like Adam or David or Elijah or any of the saints of old. Come on, God has reserved the best wine for last. God has kept the best for us!

It is the blessing that we carry, the promise that we have received. It is the life that the Father wants every man to receive & enjoy. Enjoy the fullness of it, live in the fullness of it, live blessed!

THE BLESSING 2 (THE LAW-CURSE)

Imagine a set of rules & regulations that are so impossible to keep that for hundreds of years, everyone who tries, fails. A system of justice so impossible that no one can ever be found innocent under it. Even the maker of the rules & regulations says plainly that nobody is capable of keeping them all and that the whole point is to make it clear that no one is good enough to satisfy his requirements. Worse still, everybody gets punished for not keeping all of the rules & regulations laid out, and the punishment is nothing but DEATH.

 

You can probably see the parallel here already: for hundreds of years, the Jews tried to keep the law, and they failed at it again & again. The punishment for breaking the law is death. Death was dealt to the Jews in so many forms, Deuteronomy 28:15-68 lists them in painstaking detail. As ugly as that list is though, the ultimate deathblow for the Jews under the law was eternal separation from God despite their best efforts. The best any of them could get was a temporary set of BLESSINGS, not even the BLESSING of Abraham. For as long as they performed the dictates of the law and had the lifeblood of a pure animal as a scapegoat for their sins, they could enjoy the blessings listed in Deuteronomy 28:1-13, followed by an interim existence in Abraham’s bosom after physical death.

 

Before the law came, man already had the nature of sin, but actions of sin were not ACCOUNTED. Man was spiritually bankrupt & he didn’t even know it. When the law came, sin came alive (Romans 7:9). The law that was supposed to bring life brought death because it was weakened by the sin nature (Romans 8:3): man simply COULD NOT keep the law. Through no fault of the Jews, their nature made them unable to fulfil the law and, because they couldn’t fulfil the law, they were condemned to death in all its various forms. 

 

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That is the CURSE of the law (Galatians 3:13). A vicious cycle of death…..one so strong that for hundreds of years, not one Jew could escape from it.

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One might ask: why would God introduce something so damning? The answer is in Galatians 3. In giving the law, God concluded ALL under sin. Man saw that he could not help himself. Man was then ready for a saviour, not just any saviour but the God-Man who would fulfil the law in its most intricate detail and then take the righteousness that He had thus obtained & give it to undeserving men & women. From Moses to Malachi, entire generations of Jews were born, lived & died under that dark cloud of God’s judgment & wrath, only spared by the sacrifice of bulls & calves. When Jesus came, He put an end to all that! He fulfilled the law from start to finish, obtained righteousness (the key to Life) and gave it to men & women who had never known righteousness. Having given us righteousness, it was then possible for Him to give us Life. Life became the order of the day for us. Life reigned once again through us, or as Romans 5 says, we began to reign through Life. That is why Galatians 3:14 says that the reason He legally redeemed us from the curse of the law was so that He could bring on us, NOT the BLESSINGS of the law in Deuteronomy 28, but the BLESSING of Abraham; the promise of the Spirit. He did it not just for the Jews, but for all of humanity: the Chinese, Europeans, Africans, Americans; not one person left out!

 

After Jesus offered His blood as an eternal sacrifice for sin, for the very first time since Adam, man was qualified to receive the promise of the Spirit; to have God living in Him. Man was finally free to stand before God without any sense of guilt or shame. No longer was man bound under a law-curse: trying to fulfil a set of rules & regulations that were supposed to give him life, failing miserably because of the weakness of his flesh and dying eternally for a fault he couldn’t help. No longer, no longer. Man was made free to live a life pleasing to God. Made free from the sin that had sunk itself so deep into the fabric of his heart. The blood of Jesus made the eternal separation between us & sin.

 

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We have been made free. We are no longer under the law & its curse, we are under grace! Grace has freed us!

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The tragedy is that many children of God today seek to be justified by the works of the law, when the One who gave the law in the first place has proclaimed that no man can be justified by keeping it. The One with whom men seek to be justified has made it clear that there is only ONE WAY to be justified in His sight: through FAITH in Jesus, faith in His blood, faith in what He has done. No other way, no other path, no matter how right-sounding. Only one way: JESUS. This short epistle I (Jesutola) have written to you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have Life (in the Son) and that you may CONTINUE to believe in the name of the Son of God.

 

When Christ shall come with trumpet sound

Oh may I then in Him be found

Dressed in His righteousness alone

Faultless to stand before His throne

 

On Christ the solid Rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand

THE BLESSING (1)

The blessing is a spiritual tangibility but it is no less real than the clothes you wear on your body. For the blessing, men have literally sacrificed everything. The blessing has made rich, the blessing has made great. When I was in Sunday school as a child, we sang “Abraham’s blessings are mine".....it was many years later that I realised that I have no business with Abraham’s BLESSINGS but rather with Abraham’s BLESSING. Galatians 3 says that the reason Jesus hung on the cross and became a curse for us is “that the BLESSING of Abraham might come on the Gentiles (non-Jews) through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”.

 

The blessing is real brother! When it came on Abram, not only was his name changed, his life was changed. A well-to-do idolater became a force to be reckoned with both by heaven and earth. He had so much power with God that he reckoned with Him for the soul of a city (Genesis 18). He had so much wealth, influence & power on earth that with 318 men born in his household, he went after 4 kings and their armies and brought them to nothing (Genesis 14). In his old age, by the blessing, he received strength to conceive. The same blessing passed to Isaac and he was so great that the king of a whole city had to tell him “go away from us, you are MUCH MIGHTIER than us” (Genesis 26). Because of the blessing, the same city still had to come and make an alliance with him. One man; one blessed man!

 

For the blessing, Jacob schemed and lied. For this same blessing, Esau wept like a baby and was ready to kill his brother (Genesis 27) in revenge. By the blessing, Jacob crossed over the Jordan with one wooden staff and returned after 20 years as two companies, enriched and multiplied despite his scheming & cheating uncle’s tactics. By the same blessing, he became not just two companies but a nation, a military world power at a point. By the blessing, Joseph, a slave in a foreign land, became a prime minister. By the blessing on him, the Egyptian nation became an economic world power in his time.

 

This same blessing passed on to many Jews from generation to generation, making them rich (Proverbs 10:22), making them super-warriors (David and his mighty men). By the blessing, men fought battles without losing even one soldier (Numbers 31:49). Only the blessing can do that! Adolf Hitler came and tried to wipe them out, killed 3 million Jews but the blessing kept them. Till today, by the blessing, the Jews are the wealthiest, most influential people of any nationality on the face of the earth. Right now, what they carry is even a shadow, and the Arabs, through Ishmael, are enjoying a measure of it, but the fullness of the blessing passed from Abraham to Jesus Christ and on to you and to me (Galatians 3:14)! Unfortunately, so many of us are so conscious of generational curses that we hardly realise that we carry a generational blessing.

 

Yes, I came THROUGH the Adewumi lineage, but more importantly, I AM OF GOD! I am the in-Christ generation, I carry the blessing that passed from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to David to Jesus and through Jesus to me! If I live, walk, think & talk like a natural man, I will either enjoy or suffer the fruit of my natural lineage; but if I live, walk, think & talk like God, I will enjoy the fruit of my supernatural lineage, it’s about IDENTIFICATION. Do you identify with the blessing or the curse?

 

Please understand this, the blessing is real. It’s a spiritual substance, a spiritual tangibility. The blessing is what produces the many things that we call “blessings”. It was so real to Abraham & his descendants that they did everything to secure it. In Christ, we are not trying to secure the blessing, it HAS COME upon us through Jesus Christ. We are blessed, blessed, blessed! The blessing is not just on us but also in us. The agent of the blessing in this covenant is the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:14). If we have become one with Him, we have become one with the blessing (1 Corinthians 6:17). And the blessing is ALL! The blessing makes us rich, healthy, influential, uncursable, unkillable, unstoppable, strong, favoured & fruitful.

 

Come on, identify with the blessing! When you’re looking cursed, sick, poor, disadvantaged, learn to say “I am blessed, whole, rich, favoured & advantaged”! Have confidence in the blessing and say so! Jesus did everything to secure it for you, He knew what He was doing. Live in the blessing. Walk in the blessing. Always factor in the blessing in your thinking & planning. Expect the manifestations of the blessing. Enjoy the blessing!

IN JOY IS YOUR VICTORY

When you’re sad & depressed, can’t see no good, you’re defeated

When you’re just mad, oh so angry, you’re beat already
 

When you’re bitter, bent on revenge, you get oppressed

But lift your eyes, see, your victory is here

Lift your hands, receive His rest

Let joy fill your heart, let it well up from within

In you are springs of joy, drink from them and be glad

Rivers of living water, let them gladden your soul

With joy you’ll draw water from salvation wells so sweet

With joy you’ll stir the flow, and therein lies your winning

You’ve won already, the victory is yours

So rejoice, for the battle is won

The storm is gone, your victory is here

The night is over, your victory is now

So pick up your song, let your lips exalt

Pick up your dance, let your feet rejoice

The war is over, your Saviour prevailed

The night is over, your victory is now

RELAX, SATAN IS IN CONTROL?

Hey, I know you’re probably as shocked as I am at the title. Give me a few minutes and maybe you’ll not be so shocked. It’s common to hear good Christians say “relax, God is in control”, we even have stickers that say exactly those words. It’s generally accepted that since God is sovereign, King of kings & Lord of lords, He is in control of the whole world, everything happens according to His will & nothing happens if it’s not His will. There are even scriptures that seem to support this belief and can be used to argue that it is so.

 

For the sake of argument, let’s say that it really is so. Then how do you explain all the terrible things that happen in the world? How do you explain it when the wicked prosper and the righteous perish? How do you explain it when things don’t go according to the will of God clearly shown in scriptures? How do you explain it when Jesus says we should pray “thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”? If it is His will, why must I pray for it to happen?

 

A few weeks ago, two beloved Jehovah’s witnesses gave me a pamphlet and asked me a question: who is in charge of the world, God, man or someone else? With all the seriousness I could muster, I told them “Satan”. They said my answer was strange to them because almost everyone they had met had said it was God. That’s when I really began to wonder. What do we have to say in response to 2 Corinthians 4:4 that refers to Satan as the god of this world? Or what about 1 John 5:19 that says the entire world lies in the laps/grip/control (under the sway) of the wicked one? What about Jesus who called Satan “the prince of this world” in John 12, 14 & 16? Ephesians 2:2 calls him the prince of the power of the air. If all those witnesses are not enough, consider what happened in Genesis: God made Adam in His image & likeness, legally gave the earth to Adam to be in charge of it; Adam disobeyed God & obeyed Satan, Adam lost his divine nature and took on Satan’s nature. Who walked away with the title deed to the earth? God, Adam or Satan? Satan did! Satan owns Adam, Adam owns the earth (Psalm 115:16); legally, Satan owns the earth (Romans 5:14&17).

 

That is why the natural course of things is decay. That is why the natural state of things, right now, is evil. In the beginning it was not so, and, halleluyah, at the end it will not be so!!! One day, after the rapture, Jesus is going to come back to the earth, slay the wicked with the breath of His mouth, bind Satan in the bottomless pit and reign on the earth for 1000 years (2 Thessalonians 2:8, Revelations 5:10 & 20:2-4). That day is not yet here, but over 2000 years ago, Jesus bought us with His blood, and by extension, bought the earth fair and square. The fullness of this redemption is not yet in expression, that’s why the whole creation groans & waits for the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19-23). However, RIGHT NOW, we are Jesus’ representatives in the earth realm. Satan is the god of this world, but he doesn’t have the legal right to rule us or control us anymore.

 

Remember, though, Satan is no gentleman, he’s a thief. Though he has no legal right to afflict, rule or oppress the Christian, he will kick, slap & punch us around if we let him. It is left to us to stand firm against his antics & destroy his works ANYWHERE we find them. It is up to us to spread the influence of the blessing far as the curse is found. It is up to us to carry the kingdom of heaven and subdue the earth and the systems thereof under it. We are an occupation force like the world has never seen: the army of the Lord. And make no mistake about it, we are in enemy territory! But wherever we plant the flag of the kingdom, we can tell the devil: this room, house, street, town, city, state or nation no longer belongs to you, be gone!

 

If God’s will is to be done in this earth, it is up to us to pray it out and/or call it forth. When we come into agreement with God’s will this way, He is able & powerful to move in the earth realm, move in those circumstances, move in that life according to that same will. But when we fail to pray, when we fail to take authority, when we neglect our watchtower in the Spirit, terrible things happen and the world calls them “acts of God” and the Yorubas call it “amuwa Olorun” (something that God brought) and the French say “c’est la vie” (that is life). Come on, we are more intelligent than that! Even when we pray and declare God’s will and we still don’t get the desired result, we don’t take the easy way out and say “it must (not) have been the will of God”. If the Word makes provision for it, it IS the will of God! We don’t know why that loved one still died, why that sick one didn’t get healed, why that plane crash wasn’t averted, but we still know that it wasn’t God’s will, it was the devil that did that! We may not get to know some details, even by study or by revelation, but what we do not know on this side of eternity, we will know on the other side (1 Corinthians 13:9&12).

 

What we DO know right now, we can bank on & we can have confidence in is the Word of life,  it is a sure anchor. Let us not let go of the sure Word of God, let’s hold on to it, let’s stand on it, let’s believe it with everything in us. When it seems not to be working, let’s find out what is missing and add it, but be sure the Word always works. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not one jot, not one tittle, not one bit of God’s eternal Word will go unfulfilled. Embrace it. The old testament folks were not so aware of this, but there IS a devil who hates man, and right now he is the one running things in this age, but we are heavenly ambassadors with diplomatic immunity and a sovereign but simple mandate: DOMINATE!

FAITH FOR DIVINE DIRECTION

A lot of times, I have sought to be led by God’s Spirit, all the while HOPING that God would just lead me & tell me what I need to know. Other times, I have set out to receive divine direction concerning a particular issue, KNOWING that I am a son of God and God is willing to lead me, even more than I am willing to be led. The difference between the two sets of circumstances is FAITH.
 

 

It’s one thing to hope that you’ll receive divine direction as you pray, fast & wait on God, it’s another thing to KNOW that divine direction belongs to you. When I began to see scriptures like Luke 8:10 – unto me it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God – I became excited because I KNEW that I could not be confused in life. Then I saw 1 Corinthians 2:12 – I have received the Spirit of God that I might know the things of God. Wow! How can I ever say “I don’t know what to do”, how can I ever complain “I am confused”?! The Greater One lives in me! I am joined unto Him, I have become one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17)! What belongs to Him belongs to me; the mysteries that He gives me I speak in a supernatural language, how then can my future be mysterious? I may not know certain details right now, but I have an anointing inside me to teach me, I know all things (1 John 2:20&27)!

 

Yet, a lot of these things seem strange & impossible to many children of God. It seems as if being Spirit-led is the hardest thing in the world. Sometimes, what is missing is FAITH for guidance. When I get to praying, asking God to lead me, I am conscious of this truth: I am not trying to convince God to be willing to speak to me, I am only tuning in to His frequency to receive what He is only so willing to reveal. Listen, child of God, your heavenly Father loves you and is constantly thinking love-thoughts towards you, He wants you to receive or “catch” those thoughts! These things are hidden, yes, but they are not hidden FROM YOU, you ain’t the devil, you’re not the world; they are hidden FOR YOU! What eye has not seen, what ear has not heard, what has not entered into the heart of man; God wants your eye to see, God wants your ear to hear, God wants to introduce into YOUR heart!

 

When you see that you need to be led by God concerning an issue, don’t be sad, REJOICE!!! Don’t let that familiar feeling of dread settle over you like “what if I miss it?”, instead let faith rise in your heart, saying “God my shepherd is going to lead me, it will be made clear to my spirit, and then my mind will know it, I KNOW WHAT TO DO!”

 

This faith is a knowing, an assurance of things hoped for. I know that I know that I know that I am a son of God, and by His Spirit, I am led in prepared paths, even when it seems not so clear, by His light I walk through darkness. I can never be confused in life. I can never be misguided. I always know what to do. It may take some time waiting on God in His Word, in prayer, in fasting (mostly because my body and mind need to get quiet & get in line and I need to become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit and aware of my own spirit); but surely, most assuredly, verily verily, my spirit will pick it up and give my mind to know. I know this because unto me it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

 

Now, wisdom says there are some things we ought to take heed to:

1. Engage the power of tongues, use it often, give your spirit free expression (1 Corinthians 14:14)

2. Don’t seek to be led through any other means except how God has said in His word: primarily, through the inward witness (Romans 8:16 & 1 John 5:10)

3. Live consecrated. There’s no point seeking to know God’s specific will when you have refused to follow His general will already written in the Word (Romans 12:1&2). If I was God, I wouldn’t tell you nothing! But thank God I’m not God, LOL!

4. Live consecrated. Same word, but this time referring to a willingness to do whatever he says to do. Jesus was this kind of son, utterly consecrated, completely given over (John 8:29). You are too, so be.

 

When you desire to be led by God on any issue, go to prayer with this assurance from God’s Word, direction is yours, it is yours, it belongs to you, it’s your loving Father’s love-gift to you. Simply reach out in your spirit & receive it!

CONSECRATED

This is the mystery
Slave yet I’m free
I’ve been bought with a price
His blood, His very life

 

You’re my centre
Lord and Master
It’s all about You Jesus
I am forever yours

 

Your throne You forsook
My sin place you took
Forever in gratitude
My life I live for You

 

It’s no longer about me
It’s not about my needs
It’s all about Your will
The One who died for me

 

Forever in Your debt
To You my life I pledge
It’s no more I who live
You now live big in me

 

My body’s no longer mine
My mouth and ears and eyes
Now with them it’s You I please
In all I say and hear and see

 

My life is not my own
My time and thoughts You know
Love-slave is what I am
Your wish my sole command

Where You say to go I’ll go
My very paths You know
What You say to me I’ll do
My hands are Yours to use

 

I’m consecrated, I’m dedicated
You own my life, my existence
You are my source, my now, my end
It’s You alone and no one else

PRAYER DYNAMICS

I had cause to share this with a group of beloved ones and it just seems good to me to share with you as well.

 

Something Jesus said to Peter never ceases to amaze me. “Satan has asked for you, to sift you like wheat, but I HAVE PRAYED for you….and WHEN you are converted, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:31&32). Usually, we say “I am praying” or “I have prayed and prayed”, but u hardly hear folks say “I HAVE PRAYED”!

 

“I have prayed” means it’s completed, finished, settled, I’m not praying about it anymore. Moreover, He said “WHEN you are converted”, not IF, but WHEN. It takes praying by faith AND by the Spirit to say such things! By faith, you leave with an assurance of the answer, but what if there are details you don’t know about & haven’t addressed effectively? This is where praying by the Spirit/in the Spirit comes in.

 

The Holy Spirit, through Paul, told us to pray ALWAYS with ALL KINDS of prayer…..in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18). That means there are different kinds of prayer and we ought to pray them all in the Spirit. Does that mean we pray everything in tongues ONLY? Evidently not. There are prayers tongues alone cannot adequately cover. Praying in tongues is praying with YOUR spirit (1 Corinthians 14:14). Praying in the Spirit is praying as you are LED, INSPIRED & EMPOWERED by the Spirit, including but not limited to tongues. The easiest, fastest & surest way to do this, however, is still praying in tongues. That’s the door of the Spirit realm. Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 said it this way: I will pray with my spirit, I will pray with my understanding also (verse 15). He said he’d do this because “when I pray with my spirit (tongues), my understanding (mind) is unfruitful” (verse 14).

 

He put spirit first and understanding second. It means Paul would start out praying in tongues, and then his mind would catch up and then he would pray in understanding also. He did the same thing with singing. When you start out praying in tongues, it takes time for your mind to get quiet and get in tune with what your spirit is saying. When that happens, interpretation begins to flow (verse 13). Revelation flows. Sometimes, a word, phrase, scripture or picture floats into your consciousness, when you say those things in English, you begin to know more accurately how & what to pray, you know what to do etc. Other times, you simply come under a strong praying anointing, you literally can sense the Holy Spirit taking hold together with you against that infirmity, helping you (Romans 8:26). When these things happen, you become more acutely aware of the realm of God’s Spirit and of your own spirit. It seems as if the Holy Ghost just ‘came down’, but hey, He’s been there all the while! In fact, He was the One supplying the language you were speaking out of your spirit! It’s YOU that have come into a holy partnership, a holy romance with Him. You literally “hit a gusher”. If you stop praying before that happens, you’ve prayed, yes, but have you adequately engaged the power of the Holy Spirit?

 

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available that is dynamic in its working (James 5:16). It’s not just about praying so I can say I prayed. Trust me, I’ve fallen into that trap many times! It’s about praying to produce a specific effect, even when you’re simply hanging out with the Holy Ghost. There’s a place of tarrying in prayer, not because you’re trying to get God to hear you, but because there are depths in the Spirit, depths to explore.

 

Finally, this dropped in my heart: when you truly pray in the Spirit adequately, you will usually, if not always, leave with revelation concerning things you didn’t even set out to pray about. Why? Because the Holy Spirit was waiting the whole time to reveal to you the Father’s thoughts towards you & others (Jeremiah 29:11-13). So spend time in the Spirit, because that’s actually your realm. You are always in the Spirit, but there’s a way to engage Him, His presence & power, and beautify your life and the lives of many others, because the rivers that will flow out of you will satisfy the thirst of many. So drink and be filled to overflowing, because God is looking for channels, conduits, He’s looking for a man, a woman, He’s looking for you.

 

ENJOY YOUR PRAYER LIFE!

EXPERIENCE IS NOT THE BEST TEACHER

It has been said that experience is the best teacher, and one can easily understand why – human beings don’t usually “get it” until they experience it. There’s just one problem with Professor Experience’s teaching methods: his students sometimes don’t survive the lesson! Some live, but the lesson costs them way too much….an arm, a leg, an eye, 10 wasted years, lots of money, loads of pain & regret etc. Based on this, some have said that another person’s experience is a better teacher than yours. I agree, at least you don’t get the pain!

 

In spite of the advantages of learning from experience though, there’s one limitation – there are things even the great Professor Experience cannot teach. What eye has not seen, what ear has not heard, what has not entered into the heart of man….(1Corinthians 2:9). There are things human experience has not known, doesn’t know and cannot know except by the Holy Ghost! They are beyond the scope of human experience, therefore they cannot be learnt by experience, whether yours or another’s. There are things no book can reveal, no man can tell you and Google says “it is not in me”, but the Holy Ghost can & will teach you!

 

Colossians 2:3 says that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. The person that represents Christ in you is the Holy Spirit. He is the One that has come to be & do in you all that Christ is & does. All the wisdom & knowledge you need are in Him, not hidden FROM you but hidden FOR you. 1 Corinthians 2:7 & Proverbs 25:2 indicate that these things are hidden for our glory.

 

Experience is not the best teacher, the Holy Ghost is!

 

-The Father said about Him: I will instruct you and teach you…..I will guide you with My eye (Psalm 32:8)
-When the Son became flesh, He said of Him: He will teach you all things (John 14:26)
-Then when the Holy Spirit came, He spoke of Himself through the Apostle John: the anointing abides in you and teaches you concerning all things (1 John 2:27 paraphrased)

 

Three witnesses and the truth is established: the Holy Spirit is a teacher. More accurately, He is the best Teacher. If you consistently allow Him to teach you, your life will take on the very beauty of heaven. He’ll teach you anything & everything that you need to know. Don’t wait for experience to teach you, yield to the Spirit! He’ll teach you, He’ll lead you, He’ll be your Instructor and you’ll only be better for it.

 

Have you enrolled in the school of the Spirit? Are you coming to class regularly? If you’ve not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, what are you waiting for? If you can speak in tongues but it’s only a tool you use occasionally, please don’t waste it no more! If you have a stack of bibles but they’ve gathered dust, come on dust them off and let’s go back to class! The Holy Spirit is waiting, ever ready to teach, ever ready to instruct, ever ready to raise us.

REST

I heard the Spirit say:

 

“There are springs of rest, springs of comfort in your spirit, drink from these springs and take your rest in Me. Then all the cares & worries of this world will fade away and you will be made free, free in My rest. Then you will find rest, peace, joy & comfort, I AM YOUR REST”.

 

I believe this is a healing Word of peace for someone. Take your rest in this rest and be made free, made whole.

 

In intimate worship, praying softly in other tongues, singing sweet soft melodies with your spirit, in the ever-so-sweet communion of the Spirit, in His close & quiet embrace, let your heart find rest. Let His Word be your rock. In the midst of the storm, let Him be your stay. When sorrow and depression threaten to overwhelm your soul, let Him be your succour. Drink from the well of joy, let your heart find satisfaction.

 

Anxiety has no place here, sickness has no refuge, His peace like a violent river washes away all pain, fear, doubt & guilt. There’s peace, take your peace. There’s comfort, take your comfort. There’s rest, take your rest.

AYANFE

Ayanfe: beloved
Better still, chosen to be loved
The Yoruba’s seem to get it
They seem to understand Him
Chosen to be loved
Chosen for love

When I was still a sinner

Love chose me
Love came for me
Love died for me
Love rose for me

 

When I was still in sin

Still doing my thing
Love chose me
Love marked me
Love chased me

 

What love is this?
Love so so sweet!
To be called a son of His
My brother, no be beans

 

Ayanfe, a ti yan mi fe
Chosen by my Lover
Marked for Love forever
Now I call Him Father
His love my endless wonder

 

Ayanfe, a ti yan mi fe
What more can I want
Where else can I run
What more can I do
Than to share this love with you?

 

I’ve been loved, now I love
For I am love as He is Love
In Love I live, in Love I’m home
In Love I’m me, in Love I’m whole
In Love I’m loved, in Love I love

BLESS NIGERIA!

I don’t know about you, but for most folks, it seems to be “hard work” blessing Nigeria, probably because we’ve had a culture of cursing her over the years, saying things like “this Nigeria is terrible/finished/done for/going nowhere” or other adaptations of such “statements of fact”.

Or maybe folks just find it difficult to bless because our culture is more prone to cursing than blessing, so much that even the blessings are just curses adapted by the use of negatives e.g. “you will NOT die young, your enemies will NOT prevail against you, NO harm will befall you” etc etc.

If we’re going to make a shift in our attitudes & words, we’ll need to learn to bless as God blesses. We’ll need to submit our hearts, minds & mouths to the Word of God like never before. We’ll also need to PRACTISE blessing consciously. Below is my personal confession over Nigeria. Please join me in declaring today:

Nigeria, I declare the shalom of God upon you.

I call you blessed with your children.

I declare that you are arising from the doldrums to take your place among the nations.

You fulfill your prophetic destiny in this season like never before in the name of Jesus.

See, this is a field that the Lord has blessed.

I sustain you with the dew of heaven above and the fatness of the earth beneath and plenty of corn and wine and oil.

No longer shall you be desolate, ravaged and destroyed, but by my blessing, you are uplifted.

I declare that the peace of God reigns supreme in and beyond these elections, the will of the Lord is done.

Lord, let Your kingdom come today, and Your will be done in Nigeria, even as it is in heaven.

Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, and establish the just.

Let grace speak loud and clear for Nigeria.

Let the holy blood of the Lamb be her stay.

Let the sound of wailing & weeping be replaced with shouts of gladness.

Turn again Nigeria’s captivity oh God, RESTORE!!!

May God’s grace rest on you in ever-increasing measure as you bless Nigeria with your words & actions. May you prosper because you love her (Psalm 122:6).

THE REAL GOVERNMENT

Right now in Nigeria, it seems to be all about APC and PDP (seems nobody’s talking about my candidate from KOWA party)! Anyways, that’s not what this is about. This is about the real government, not the one that we’re planning to vote in or out on February 14 (happy Val’s day in advance, by the way). This is not about a government of the people, by the people, for the people (which is a great thing), but this is about a government of God, through the people (the body of Christ), for the kingdom. Hear what God said through Isaiah, prophesying about Jesus: “the GOVERNMENT will be upon His shoulder….Prince of peace….of the increase of His GOVERNMENT and peace there will be no end….” (Isaiah 9:6&7). One day, Jesus will come back physically and rule the earth from Jerusalem, that day is not yet here. Right now, however, Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4, 1 John 5:19). Yet, even NOW, the rulership, dominion and kingdom of the Prince of peace on earth is effected through His body, His Church, human beings who have become one with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17, Matthew 28:18).

 

 

I was in a meeting on Friday night and the preacher said “if you are still thinking it’s all about APC & PDP, you haven’t gotten it”. That got me thinking! Make no mistakes, we DO need to go out there on February 14 and vote, we need to do all we can to see that the right leaders are sworn in on May 29, but that is not where the real government is! The bible says in Daniel 4:32 that the Most High rules in the affairs of men, now what God has done in Christ Jesus is to seat you and I with Him and give us the authority to legislate/preside in matters that relate to the earth, therefore He says in Psalm 82:6 that we are gods (the original Hebrew language says “magistrates”), we are sons of the Most High (actually, seated with the Most High in His authority). If you did not know this before, know it now! If you had forgotten, be reminded now…..

 

 

We are IN CHARGE of this nation because God put US in charge!

 

 

We are responsible for where this nation is right now and where it will be in 2019, regardless of who wins the election (Christian or Muslim, male or female, Northerner or Southerner)! We are responsible for the way things “work out” because things don’t just “work out”, PEOPLE make them “work out” through their words and actions (or inactions).

 

 

God is not going to wave His hand and fix the problems of Nigeria, it’s THE GOVERNMENT OF FAITH that will do it. This faith is first a SPEAKING faith, then a DOING faith. By the BLESSING of the upright the city is exalted, but it is overthrown or destroyed by the MOUTH of the wicked (Proverbs 11:11). We have allowed the devil to manipulate us for far too long, tricking us into cursing our nation, our leaders and ourselves while we think we are just “saying it as it is”. BUT NOT ANYMORE! We are kings, we rule by decrees, through our words, the life of God will dominate in this nation (Romans 5:17, Proverbs 18:21). Everyday we live, we’re going to bless this country, sowing LIFE into its foundations and atmosphere, and we’re going to reap LIFE. Like I said, this faith is also a DOING faith. It’s a “boots-on-the-ground faith”. It’s a faith that wakes up every morning and takes the right actions to create a Nigeria we can hand over proudly to our children. It’s a faith that votes, it’s a faith that refuses to bribe or take bribes, it’s a faith that pays taxes, it’s a faith that gives its best at work, even when the boss is not looking. It’s a faith that treats the poor right. It’s a faith that refuses to litter or jump queues! It’s a faith that WORKS. Lest I forget, it’s also a faith that responds to God’s will, God’s call to politics.

 

 

God has put us in charge, let’s begin to think, talk and act like it. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Christ is not just Jesus, for Jesus is the head, we are the body of Christ. Jesus has bought Nigeria back with His blood, Nigeria belongs to God! And God is serious about Nigeria, God has a plan for Nigeria, I believe it with every fibre of my being. Find your place in that plan and fulfill it, let your MOUTH and your ACTIONS lift Nigeria……#BEYOND FEBRUARY (or FeBuhari?) 14

 

 

Thanks for reading, but more importantly, thanks for believing and DOING! God bless you real good.

NIGERIA'S RIGHTEOUSNESS

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach/disgrace to any people (Proverbs 14:34).

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been waiting for a long time for Nigeria to become a righteous nation (a nation full of righteous leaders and followers), and that is a valid desire that CAN be achieved if you and I (the body of Christ) fulfil our mandate as we ought. However, about the middle of last year, God began to show me that we (the body of Christ) are the righteousness that God has placed in Nigeria.

 

When Abraham stood before God in Genesis 18:22-32, God made it clear that the righteousness of a few was all He needed to preserve a nation. Proverbs 11:11 takes it a step higher: “By the BLESSING of the upright the city is exalted, but by the MOUTH of the wicked it is overthrown/destroyed.”

 

Ezekiel 22:1-12 & 25-29 is a prophecy that aptly describes the Nigerian situation (please read). In verse 30, God said that the reason He would bring judgment on the land was because He found NO MAN to make up the hedge and stand in the gap for the land. This is similar to Isaiah 59:16 where He said He found NO INTERCESSOR, so His own righteousness sustained Him.

 

 

Please understand, according to 2 Corinthians 5:21, we are the righteousness of God in Christ, but the privilege, authority and access we have are not just for ourselves but also for our families, for other people, even for Nigeria (1 Corinthians 7:14, Proverbs 11:11).

 

 

When Jesus finished the work of redemption and imparted the Holy Spirit to His disciples (John 20:22&23), He said to them “anyone whose sins you remit/forgive, they are forgiven and if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained”. For a long time, I wondered how this was possible, until I heard a teacher of mine explain it in a way I believe is applicable. We have retained Nigeria’s sins a lot of times by rehearsing them constantly in God’s hearing. We complain, grumble and lament about the corruption and injustice in the country, but we hardly pray about it or speak the blessing over the land.


It is time for us to change.

It is time for us to begin to actively use the righteousness that we are & have, to use the privilege, authority and access that we have, to exalt Nigeria. We are righteousness, we can exalt this nation or we can put it down, because God has permitted us to do so. We are responsible, we are responsible, I repeat, we are responsible for where we are today. Yes, corrupt politicians and administrators will answer for their sins, especially if they don’t bring them to the cross of Jesus, but we are still responsible. We are responsible for cursing this nation over the years, and then cursing her some more when we see the fruit of our curses. We are responsible for not taking our place in prayer as we ought, sometimes praying amiss. We are responsible for voting them in too. We are responsible for the wrong actions we have taken because of a need for self-preservation, the times we have bowed down to corruption, the times we have compromised our integrity. We are responsible for the things we have said and done. But, see God’s Word to us: “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).


I can hear someone say “we have done this many times with no results”. Well, one more thing is this: SPEAK THE BLESSING OVER NIGERIA CONSISTENTLY. We pray a lot, but our words and actions defeat us. Speak the blessing constantly! Let every single time you get hurt, offended or disappointed by “Naija” be an opportunity to speak the blessing over Nigeria! Act what you believe. Don’t compromise, walk in holiness, pay your tax, DON’T LITTER! And if God has called you into governance, take up your assignment and start running with it, don’t hide your head in the sand like an ostrich. He has equipped and will equip you for it!

This is the message: YOU are the righteousness of God in Christ for Nigeria. Use your righteousness and your mouth right, not just in this period, but even after the elections, no matter the outcome of the elections! GRACE be with you.

THE ANOINTED POLITICIAN

The words ANOINTED and POLITICIAN hardly sound compatible, especially to a Nigerian ear, and understandably so. We have heard, seen and experienced terrible things where politics and politicians are concerned; from money laundering, rituals, bribery and rigging to blackmail, kidnapping, murder and extortion. Because of these facts, we have come to a popular conclusion: politics is a dirty game. As true as this may sound though, Romans 3:4 affirms “let God be true but every man a liar”. The truth is that our experiences cannot define or redefine the truth of God’s Word.
 

 

Jesus’ instruction was to go “into all the world and preach the gospel to every CREATURE” (Mark 16:15). A brief study of Romans 8:19-23 shows that God’s grand plan of redemption is not only for humans but for the whole CREATION. Literally, God, through the body of Christ (you &I), is reconciling ALL THINGS to Himself (Colossians 1:18-20 & Romans 8:19-23). That includes human beings, material things, systems and, yes, governments! 1Corinthians 12:28 talks about some that God has set in the church (the body of Christ) called “governments”. These are administrators, but their assignment is not limited to the four walls of any church (local assembly) or church organisation. The same God who raised people like Joseph, Esther, Mordecai, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego under the old covenant is still in the business of raising anointed politicians today.
 

 

As sure as there is an anointing for the five-fold ministry, there is an anointing for politics/governance. Daniel and Joseph particularly operated in this anointing. This anointing is peculiar, defined by a number of things. One is FAVOUR. Favour so intense that it made slaves and prisoners of war to become rulers in foreign lands (Genesis 39:4&21, Daniel 1:9). It marked Esther, Mordecai and the 3 Hebrew boys too. Another is WISDOM. Again and again, Daniel and Joseph were recognised as reservoirs of unusual wisdom (Genesis 41:39, Daniel 1:17, 5:11&14). Thirdly, they both operated in SPIRITUAL GIFTS like the word of wisdom and word of knowledge. There were no tongues to interpret but they interpreted dreams!
 

 

 
 

Two more remarkable things about people who are truly called into this office: INTEGRITY and a genuine CARE/CONCERN for others. It’s not so much an anointing as it is a character component. Both Daniel and Joseph exhibited high-class integrity every time they were tested by men and by God. Sex, rich food and drink, money, death…..no temptation did they allow to compromise their integrity. Joseph cared enough for fellow prisoners to notice that the butler and baker woke up sad. He did something about it. Daniel was genuinely alarmed that the wise men of Babylon would be massacred. He did something about it.
 

 
 

 

When you’re staring down the barrel of a hired assassin’s gun, as you probably will if you’re a Nigerian politician, favour and wisdom might not be the solution. Character might not be much succour. In that moment, remember Daniel in the lion’s den (Daniel 6:22). There’s a strong angelic detail attached to the anointed politician! If the Median invasion and the lions could not tear Daniel, Joseph’s brothers could not end him and the fiery furnace could not consume Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, how can bullets, grenades, car bombs and machetes touch you, the Lord’s anointed politician in the new covenant?
 

 

 

It is time, church, for us to take our place. The whole creation waits expectantly, groaning! The problems we see today in Nigeria and other nations are simply groans. The social order is groaning “where is the church, where are the sons, where is the Lord’s anointed politician?!” There’s a response from the heavens. God has set in the Church, men and women of noble character, anointed with unusual favour and wisdom, empowered with the gifts of the Spirit to take the reins of this country, this continent, this world. But some are busy doing other things, saying “politics is dirty”, some are even completely unaware, some are in politics, but they don’t know their God or they don’t know they’re called, so they’re falling flat on their faces.

Oh, but there is a new generation, there’s a move of the Spirit, there’s a work that God is doing: God is raising anointed politicians who KNOW that they are the Lord’s anointed!

Don’t mistake them for ordinary men, they are not! They are gods in human flesh, they are sons of the Most High God; they will take over, not by hook or crook, not by the wisdom/methods of this world, but by divine arrangement, by the supernatural power, favour and wisdom of God. Are you one of them? Don’t be slack, take your place, put on your strength and take this mountain for God! God bless you.

AUTHORITY UNUSED

If called on to cast out a demon, would you find the nearest exit? Would you stay but keep one eye on the door? Are you excited by the prospect of sweating for 3 hours to cast out 2 demons or have you learnt to cast out demons like Jesus did: with a word (Matthew 8:32)? Some believers look at you askance when you dare to command rain to cease. Some, however, will agree with you. Still some have become experts at locking and unlocking the heavens. I’m yet to see any Christian lock up the heavens for three years like Elijah though, probably because we don’t need that. Lol!

As I go through the bible, I keep seeing that we’ve got so much authority we’re not using. Let’s leave demons & rain for a moment. Look at Daniel in the lion’s den, exercising Adam-like dominion over the animal kingdom (Daniel 7:22). Look at Joshua in the valley of Ajalon, commanding the sun & moon, suspending the natural order of earth’s rotation for a whole day (Joshua 10:12). Elijah was a fire man. Fire answered to him (1Kings 18:38, 2Kings 1:10 & 2:11), even his exit was by fire! This same Elijah exercised authority over water and death (1Kings 17:22 & 2Kings 2:8), so did Elisha (2Kings 2:14&22; 4:35). Elisha took it to another level, over the animal kingdom (2Kings 2:24), the plant kingdom & poison (2Kings 4:40-44), wood & metal (2Kings 6:6) and the leprosy-causing Mycobacterium leprae (2Kings 5:10&27).



Jesus came and showed us the picture of the new creation.

He exercised authority over sin (Matthew 9:6 & John 20:23), sickness, fishes, bread, money (Matthew 17:27), plants, demons, rainstorms, the wind, the sea, distance (John 6:21) and death during His earthly walk as a man. When He ascended, the apostles carried on. Peter stopped death & disease in their tracks (Acts 5:15 & 9:40); when a snake bit Paul, he shook it off (Acts 20:5). History has it that John was thrown into hot oil but came out unhurt; the Roman government had to exile him to Patmos!



When the 12 apostles left the scene, others carried on. There came a dark period, however, when this authority lay unused for centuries because the Holy Spirit, His power and His works were literally kicked out of the Church. Once again, God raised men and women who were not too ashamed or politically correct to move in His power. Where power flowed, authority became evident once more. John G. Lake exercised this authority over sickness so much that the city of Spokane was declared the healthiest by the American government in recognition of his work. John Knox’s authority uprooted Queen Mary of Scotland from her throne. Smith Wigglesworth and Archbishop Benson Idahosa made nonsense of the entity called death. The archbishop also put witches to utter embarrassment on national TV. Aimee Semple McPherson made a weekly appointment of emptying ambulances of their sick passengers for years. In the Indonesian revival of the 1970’s, Christians exercised authority over water, walking on it just like Jesus and Peter. A number of them in this 21^st century have also reported miraculous deliverances from Tsunamis that laid waste to the entire regions.

Today, it is my turn; it is your turn to exercise our authority over all. Jesus has given us His name as a staff of authority to use as His representatives in the earth (Mark 16:17, John 14:12-14 & Acts 3:6). He has also given us power by His Spirit to help enforce that authority (Acts 1:8). Angels are standing at alert, ready to sweep into action as we give voice to God’s Word (Psalm 103:20). Get this, child of God: EVERYTHING, EVERY BEING in heaven, on earth and in hell is designed to respond to the authority of the name of Jesus (Philippians 2:9-11). That name is yours to use like Peter did in Acts 3:6. I have seen little children join their faith with mine to stop rain. I have seen a tree fall by itself within a day of releasing the spoken word. Demons have screamed out of their hiding places, sicknesses and situations have given way. I look forward to exercising this authority more: over weather, money, bullets, nations, animals, water, death, sickness….EVERYTHING. And I am unapologetic about it!

You need things to respond to you? Speak to them!

Speak to that mountain, speak to your body, speak to the rain when necessary, speak to money, speak to sicknesses, speak to dead bodies, speak to anything and everything, they’re designed to hear and obey. Use the authority you have in the name of Jesus. It’s yours to use, so use it!

UNKNOWN ANOINTINGS

The apostle, the prophet, the teacher, the evangelist, the pastor. These are ministries/anointings that are largely recognised within the body of Christ, commonly referred to as the five-fold ministry gifts. However, one truth that is coming into recognition more than ever before is that these do not make up the entire church (1Corinthians 12:14). They are a portion that Jesus has set in the church to help the entire church fulfil its purpose: reconciling the world to God (Mark 16:15, Ephesians 4:11-13).

In the same body of Christ where the five-fold ministry gifts are, we also have those called to be minstrels, businessmen/women, administrators (including politicians), intercessors, career people (professionals and craftsmen), ushers, entertainers.....the list is endless. Now, not only are they called, they are also anointed for these callings/assignments. Unfortunately, many don't know that they're called, talk less of being anointed to function in these places. As a result, when considering the anointing, what usually comes to mind is the five-fold ministry. The truth is that as much as there is a pastoral anointing, there is a minstrel's anointing, there's a businessman's anointing, an administrator's anointing, an intercessor's anointing, a craftsman's anointing etc.

The minstrel's anointing enables him/her to "download" songs from the Spirit to bless the body of Christ and draw sinners to Jesus, usher in an atmosphere of God's glory (an atmosphere under which ANYTHING can happen!), among other things (see the Psalms, 1Samuel 10:5 & 16:23, 2Kings 3:15, 2Chronicles 5:13&14, 1Corinthians 14:15&26, Colossians 3:16). David, Asaph, many old time hymn writers and many music ministers today operated/operate under this anointing.

The businessman's anointing enables him to do business with supernatural wisdom and the gifts of the Spirit, especially the revelational gifts (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits) so much that he prospers in business beyond human understanding and is a financial powerhouse for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus and a blessing to the poor and the society at large. Solomon & Job walked in this anointing. It seems John D. Rockefeller and some of the American industrialists of the 19th and 20th centuries also did. It has not been so obvious in our days, but God is raising men and women that will consciously walk in it!

The administrator's anointing is what Christians need to operate with to make a difference in politics/governance today. The office called "governments" in 1Corinthians 12:28 has a dimension within the operations of the church, but also has great relevance in secular governance. This anointing enables those called into governance (with divine wisdom, favour and the gifts of the Spirit) to attain positions of great influence without compromising holiness. It also enables them to administer justly and effectively. Joseph, Esther & Daniel operated in this anointing. Some children of God have operated in it to certain extents, but God's desire is that a lot more people will arise and move in this anointing to deliver nations.

There's an anointing that makes the intercessor's ministry effective. It's called the Spirit of grace and of supplications (Zechariah 12:10). The gifts of the Spirit also commonly accompany an intercessor's anointing. There's an anointing that makes the usher's face, smile and greeting communicate God's grace (Proverbs 15:30). There's an anointing that makes the entertainer effective in entertaining and still directing people to Jesus. The Spirit of might can rest on the sportsman/woman to grant speed as He did to Elijah (1Kings 18:46) and/or sharpen talents and abilities.

The craftsman's anointing endows him with supernatural wisdom, understanding, knowledge and ability to produce amazing masterpieces (Exodus 31:2-6) and attracts favour to him. The professional's anointing enables him/her to come up with super ideas and undeniable results by the wisdom of God. This same anointing causes him/her to operate under a cloud of favour that makes for promotion and increase beyond human comprehension. Many great artists, writers, scientists and other inventors have attributed their best works to divine inspiration. That's what this anointing is capable of (Proverbs 8:12, 1Kings 4:32-33).

From 2Corinthians 4:4 and 1John 5:19, it is clear that Satan is the god of this world/age until Jesus will come again, but before Jesus comes back physically, He is establishing His rule/kingdom in this world through us, His body (Matthew 28:19-20, Isaiah 2:2) and it is through these anointings that He has placed in His body, the church, that He is enabling us to do it. So don't shy away from your assignment, whatever it is. Wherever your battlefield is, use your weapons rightly, let Jesus be seen and glorified. Be conscious of the anointing that you carry, and let it flow, let Him manifest through you. You'll be glad you did!