Defeating Redesigning Powers
Contributed by Daniel Olukoya on Apr 17, 2009
Summary: God has created everyone uniquely. Everything you need to succeed has been incorporated into your life on the day you were created .God has an original intention for your life; He has something written about you. God has a specific blueprint for all the h
DEFEATING REDESIGNING POWERS
By Dr. D. K. Olukoya
Mathew 19:12 says, “For there are some eunuchs, which were born from their mother’s womb; and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.”
This passage of the scripture makes us to understand that there are some eunuchs who did not want to become eunuchs but which were made eunuchs by men. That is, their lives were redesigned by other men.
Ecclesiastes 10:6 says, “Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich is sitted in the low place.”
Here, we see a rearrangement; the rich has been brought down while the foolish is prompted to the top one way or another .
Ecclesiates 10:7 says, “I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.”
There are so many masquerading princes around who have been redesigned to become servants.
God has created everyone uniquely. Everything you need to succeed has been incorporated into your life on the day you were created .God has an original intention for your life; He has something written about you. God has a specific blueprint for all the human beings he has created. But there are some wicked powers that redesign people. They were the powers that capture Saul. He began with prophesy but gradually these evil powers began their evil work, and by the time they finished, Saul began to consult witches. He began with prophesy and ended up with witchcraft. The redesigning powers did not stop until the prophet became a witch. When these redesigning powers begin their operation, all advices to their victims fall on deaf ears. They no longer listen to sermons. They considers counseling and warnings as foolish. When they hear message that supposed to make them break down and cry to the Lord to change them, they will not be moved because the evil designers have started their wicked operation.
These power move a person from a superior life to an inferior one. It is a disgrace for servants to capture the horses of believers. And it is not right for the enemy to move them from the front to the back. These redesigning power mar the pot in the hands of the potter in order to spoil the original design. This problem has been affecting many people right from when they are in the womb. Some of the problems that leave deliverance ministers confused are problems from the womb. A person who has been designed by these powers to become a witch as we can see in the case of Saul.
A person that has been originally designed to pursue an international career can be redesigned to a local champion. It could be the original design of God to make somebody the owner of a large company but if care is not taken that person could be redesigned by these powers to have a petty business. A person designed by God to be brilliant could be redesigned into a dullard by these powers. The younger brother of a certain man discovered through occult means that the man would be very brilliant so he went to a native doctor who assisted in ensuring that the man did not have a son. However, the man had a son contrary to his expectation. He ran quickly to see the native doctor who apologized and told him that there had been a mistake somewhere. The man said, "Okay, the mistake has been made, so what do we do now?" The native doctor said he would simply turn the boy’s brain into that of a goat. It was a terrible thing. So, this boy was such dullard that at the age of 17, he could not go beyond nursery school. But suddenly, there was revival in the family, the boy’s uncle that turned the boy’s brain into that of a goat got born again, his father got born again and the boy also got born again but the problem persisted. Then the uncle confessed what he did to him. They all started to pray including the boy. Through aggressively praying, the boy began to pick up his life at the age of 19. He got to primary two at the age of 19. You can see what these powers can do. His conversion to a zombie was not God’s original state plan. So, if you allow the enemy to redesign you, you can not be sure to return to the original state. This is why serious prayers are needed.
Sometime ago, a certain man was brought. Right from when he was 21, he started seeing the number 39 in the dream. He did not understand what was happening until somebody gave him a tape from MFM which he listened to and prayed the prayers therein. It was then an angel appeared to him and explained to him that he will die at 39.Then he started praying and that evil design was removed.
As a matter of fact, unless there is a divine intervention, most redesigned people die in that state. Some ladies have been redesigned as men. Some stars have been redesigned as dullards. Some time ago,in a crusade, it was discussed about these powers and asked people to bring whatever they did not want to see in their lives. After the prayer session on the paper, they were instructed to burn the papers when they get home. There was a certain woman there that had been completely redesigned and these redesigning power were very angry with her. For three hours when she got home, her paper refused to burn. The ones for her daughter and brother got burnt easily but her own refused to burn until she prayed, and prayed before it started burning slowly. And they all tour their papers from the same notebook. Beloved at this juncture, I would like you to pray the following prayer point before you read further:
1. Any power assigned to suck me like orange, die in the name of Jesus.
2. Any power stealing what will announce me to the world, die in Jesus name.
SIGNS THAT A PERSON IS UNDER THE ATTACK OF REDESIGNING POWERS
A person who is under the attack of evil designers will become a spectator in life. Such a person is consigned to the dustbin of life. The person gets leftovers instead of his entitlement. No man cares to know his name or who he is. He has talent but the talent is not recognized. It expires with him. Such person would be captured by forces of limitation. Anytime he arises and wants to move, a voice will say, "No! this is how far you will go. You cannot go further."
There will be persistent attacks from satan when a person is under the attack of the redesigners, and the person hardly get things easily. They will harm the person in all areas, swallow the virtues, bury the person alive and swallow the person’s destiny. They would waste the youth of the person and make the flower of his life to waste away. They waste flower of people’s lives and mostly by making them live wayward and sexually loose life.
Somebody in the secondary school who has procured abortions is being wasted. Some young people do not realize that the fellow who is saying, "I love you" to them is actually telling them to redesign their lives and and to waste them. That "I love you" is from the bottom of the pit. It is redesigning powers that turn breadwinners into beggars. They repackage a person contrary to how God has packaged him.
HOW TO DEAL WITH REDESIGNING POWERS
1. Release the fire and arrows of God at them.
2. Command them and carry their loads and go.
3. Feed them with their own bread of sorrow and affliction, which they have been bringing before you so that they can feed on their own food.
4. Command them to be buried in the grave they have dug for you.
5. Command their boasting to become empty.
6. Command the boiling anger of the lord to fall on them.
7. Pray for a reconstruction, a replacement of which they have stolen. That is a return to your original design
8. Pray barricading prayers so that they do not move close to you again.
However, if you have not yet surrendered your life to Jesus, you can now invite God to redesign your life. You cannot ask for devine intervention. But there is power in the blood of Jesus to set you free. If you want to give your life to Christ, please say the following prayer.”Father,in the name of Jesus, I come before you now. I acknowledge that I am a sinner. Forgive my sin and cleanse me with your blood. I renounce the devil and all his works. Come into my life Lord Jesus and take control of my life, in Jesus’ name.
1. Every secret thing that is oppressing me scatter, in the name of Jesus.
2. Every power knocking down my life, die, in the name of Jesus.
3. Every spell placed upon my life, backfire, in the name of Jesus.
4. Good doors that have refused to open, open now, in the name of Jesus
5. Giants opposing my breakthroughs, your time is up, die, in Jesus name.
6. My enemies, hear me well: I refuse to be a defender, I pursue you to death, in the name of Jesus
7. Waters of marah, pass over me; dry up, in the name of Jesus.
8. Every power that attacked me in the womb, what are you waiting for? Die ,in the name of Jesus.
The Cry Of The Spirit
Contributed by Daniel Olukoya on Jul 8, 2009
Summary: The Spirit of the Lord is crying unto us this day, that is why the Bible says, “He that has ears let him hear what the Spirit is saying.” It means that the fact that we have something representing ears does not mean that we hear. It is only those who have
THE CRY OF THE SPIRIT
Dr. D. K. Olukoya
Father Lord, do a deep work in our spirits this week, touch us at the points of our needs. Let our lives no longer remain the same, in Jesus’ name. This week, we are looking at what I call, “The Cry of the Spirit.” Hebrew 12: 25 – 27: “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”
In that passage, the Spirit of God is promising that He is going to shake the earth again. And when He starts, so many things would not stand. Every shakeable would be shaken away. It is a very sad thing for a person to build his or her life on shakeable things. Such a person would have come to the world in vain. The Spirit of the Lord is crying unto us this day, that is why the Bible says, “He that has ears let him hear what the Spirit is saying.” It means that the fact that we have something representing ears does not mean that we hear. It is only those who have spiritual ears that can hear the cry of the Spirit.
Ezekiel 21: 27: “I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him.” This overturning and shaking is happening now. All you need do is to look closely and you will see how the whole fabric of the human society is being shaken and many things are being turned upside down. The Scripture has already warned us about these things because God usually warns us before He does anything. Disobedience to God’s warning is the father of all disasters. Before the flood came in time of Noah, God warned the people for 120 years. Many of them thought it was a joke. Just as many people believe that God who is so good and has created all things cannot clear them away. Right now, mankind as a whole is sitting on what is called a time bomb, which can explode at anytime, and the voice that once shook the earth, is going to shake it again. Unfortunately, many people do not still understand. As you are reading this message, there is a cry of the Spirit ringing in your ears that this is the last hour and you have to be more serious than you are now.
When God sends warning signals, it is to prevent people from getting into trouble. The aftermath of some dangers are repairable while some are not.
One could be in the church and not even hear what the Spirit of God is saying through his pastor or house fellowship leader. Consider the following questions: “Why did God bring you to a particular church? Is it just to collect miracles or to learn a few things? What is your duty in the church? Certainly God is not in the business of messing about. He plans His things and does them. He means what He says and says what He means. So the fact that He has put you in a place means that He has a duty for you. The fact that He has designed that you will pass through a certain place, means that you must make a mark there. You cannot be a spiritual rolling stone and expect to be blessed.
WHY IS THE SPIRIT CRYING?
The Spirit is crying so that no one will have any excuse when he stands before the judgment throne of God. All men, no matter their position will stand up before God. So, this is the time to convince God that you are serious. God will never accept excuses. What would you say when you get before His throne? If you have been coming to Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries for one year and you have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I submit it to you that you are not serious. Every Christian as a matter of compulsion must make sure he or she gets filled with the power of the Holy Ghost. A lot of people have been going to church for several years yet they remain bench warmers.
God has not called us to entertain people but to prepare an army for the Lord going to heaven and in their preparation as soldiers of the cross, they will be experiencing their breakthroughs.
A time will come when the Spirit will cry no more. Whatever you call yourself, that cry is ringing in your ears now. Even if you have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, there is another cry asking you to go higher. No matter what level you are now, there is a cry telling you, “son, daughter, keep moving, don’t stay where you are.”
The Spirit is also crying because of the existence of hell fire. The issue of hell fire is a horrible fact to which the Bible gives a prominent place. Our tender, lowly, forgiving, merciful, healing, and comforting Jesus was the man who referred most to hell fire in the Bible. He talked about it more than any other person because He knows that it is real. But it is most sad to note that many people by their actions are heading there. It is also unfortunate that some of those who carry Bibles will also find themselves in hell fire even with their big Bibles because they refused to pay attention to the cry of the Spirit.
No matter how clever you are at committing sin, if you encounter the fire of the Holy Spirit, it will expose you. You may hide for a long time but the day the Holy Spirit fishes you out, everybody will know the kind of person you are. And if your life has been a stumbling block to others, it is even more terrible because the Bible says, they ought to tie a millstone around your neck and throw you into the sea.
The devil tries to hide the facts of hell from people. He does not want people to know there is such a place because he knows that once they know about it, they would not want to be there. Even the boldest of men will melt if God shows them the picture of hell fire. Hell fire is eternal suffering. So why should somebody get into that kind of situation?
There used to be a popular armed robber who was very effective in his difficult and terrible job. Normally, he had two guns, one by his side and the other one around his waist and he could shoot with both hands accurately, so he was feared by many people even the police. So the police wanted him dead or alive and placed a ransom on him. During one of his operations somewhere, a boy who was distributing tracts threw one inside his waiting car. The tract was entitled, “Where will you spend your eternity?” When the robber saw it, he was taken aback by the title and he kept it aside. But when he got home, something urged him to read it and he did after sometime. Immediately he slept he had a dream. In that dream, he saw two angels by his side but he didn’t know they were angels. They held his hands and told him that he had an appointment, which he must keep. He asked them where and they told him to shut up until they got there. Eventually, they got to a beautiful and wonderful place and as he looked around, he saw people for the first time in his life, with real joy written all over their faces. Then the angels said, “Ok, we must leave this place now.” He said, “Please, let me stay here, this place is good.” The angels said, “No, you still have another appointment,” and they took him down to hell fire. He saw his fellow robbers who had been shot by policemen, school girls, policemen, soldiers, married women who were committing adultery, etc, screaming and rolling. He was scared and wanted to leave, but the angels said he must watch the scene for about two minutes more. He did and he woke up shivering. He then took a decision that no matter what happens, he will not go to that place of damnation. This is what the tract talked about: hell fire. So he walked straight to the police station, introduced himself to the policemen at the counter and they ran away because they thought he had come to kill them like he used to do. He said, “Don’t run away. I have come to hand myself over, you can lock me up. I am no longer interested in killing people.” When they were convinced that he was serious, they opened the counter and he walked in himself and sat down. When God shows you the picture of hell fire, nobody will beg you to repent.
Most biblical information about hell fire was revealed by Jesus. It was He who said in Mark 9 : 43 that, “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.”
So, no matter how profitable your hands are doing, if it will lead you to hell fire, you better stop doing it. He didn’t say you should cut off your hand with a knife because even if you do so, and your spirit still commits the sin, your hand is still committing it. Verses 44- 47: “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter halt into life , than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.”
By the same token, if you have bleached your body, you better repent and allow it to come back to it’s rightful colour because it is better for you to enter into heaven with black complexion than for you to bleach your body and enter into hell fire where their worms die not and the fire is not quenched. Remember the parable of the rich man which says, “My soul rejoice, be glad and enjoy yourself with the harvest you have put up for many years.” And the Bible says, “You fool, today, you are going to die and all those things you have been sweating for that has taken your time from God, to whom will they belong?” That was it.
All the certificates and awards a person may gather become useless once the person is dead. These are the shakeable that shall be shaken away.
No amount of suffering here can measure up to hell fire. Sometime ago, somebody called me on the phone and was crying, saying, “Dr. Olukoya, pray for me, I don’t want to die.” “What happened?” I asked her. She said, “I used to sleep with men who give me contracts but recently, I promised God that I will never do it again and that if I do it, He should kill me. But you see, I have done it again. So, please pray for me, I don’t want to die.” I told her that she was already dead. Already she was dead in sin. I told her that I didn’t know what God would do with her since she on her own made a vow to God that He should kill her if she committed that sin. So many people are like that. It would have been better for that sister to die as a pauper and go to heaven than to be rich and go to hell fire. Although believers are not supposed to die as paupers but it is better for you to die as a pauper than to be rich and enter into hell fire. So you better think about it and do a better scriptural balancing of life’s account. It is terrible to know some people will go to hell fire. This is why the Spirit of God is crying, saying, “Let him that has ears hear what the Spirit is saying now to the churches.”
The Spirit cries because of the disappointment and unhappiness in this world. 1 Timothy 6:7: “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” The present world is a failure. This fact is not hard to prove. Marriages have failed: divorce is now a common thing. Ten years ago, one out of five marriages broke down; now it has moved to three out of five. Some people even start fighting right from the day of their wedding. Many couples live like strangers in the home. When children are brought up in that kind of environment, they rarely do well. Schools too, have failed, teachers mess up students and you see gun-toting boys going about robbing men and raping women.
A sister who is well to do and highly educated told me a pathetic story. She said on a certain day, some armed robbers trailed her home and as soon as she entered her sitting room, they entered with guns and said, “Madam, we are armed robbers in case you don’t know, so bring out everything.” So they packed all her properties and she did not resist them because she did not want to be harmed. When they finished packing all the things and she expected them to go away, one of them who was around twenty said, “Madam, remove your clothes.” That was how she was raped. With these types of cases around us, it shows that both the schools and the homes have failed. The Bible is warning us, that the world is a set-trap and we should not allow it to trap us. University lecturers carry sacrifices and put them on the doorsteps of their colleagues. Governments too, have failed. All over the world, there are cases of crime. Three quarters of people are killing one another or are being killed and the prison houses are filled up. In the hospitals, you find patients in the corridors and doorsteps. Disease, suicide, heartlessness cannot be controlled by government, all over the world. People pour acid on others who have offended them. The whole world, as far as God is concerned, is a failure. It is therefore a sad and wicked world, which offers no peace to the human mind. Rather, it puts labour on people and worst still, no one will take nothing out of it.
God is becoming more and more difficult to find now. Most Christians cannot be trusted again once it comes to monetary matters. The church in many places have turned to political set ups. People who should sit down and learn want to teach others by force. Is it wise then to plan to perish with this kind of world? This is why the Spirit is crying. It does not make sense if you come to church and you do not have sufficient fire to even put your enemy to flight, or you are still addicted to one bad habit or the other, or there is pride in your heart, or you cannot hear when God is talking to you, or your dreams are not clear or you have never seen a vision in your life. You don’t know what God is saying to you about your life. Do you want to remain like this? You have to cry to the Lord.
The Spirit cries because of the sufferings of Christ. Christ was punished because of you and me. A song writer says, “He died of a broken heart. His heart was broken on the cross for us. He was mocked, humiliated, and was crucified.” Dying by the cross was a Roman kind of punishment and anybody that was put on the cross died a “slow death” with intense suffering because the whole of the weight of his body would be supported by two hands. You know how painful it is to use an ordinary needle to prick your hand how much more when a six- inch nail is smashed into it. That was how Jesus was killed. When He was thirsty and asked for water, they gave him vinegar instead. This kind of suffering that God allowed His Son to be subjected to, should not go in vain. So, if a person does not comply with it, the person suffers. That’s why the Spirit is warning. He was despised. His face was marred. His beard was plucked out and He was badly hurt. It was sad when the same people for which He died sat there saying, “Prophesy who is it that slapped you.” Even when He called on His Father saying, “Eli, Eli- lama Sa- bach tha - ni (meaning My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?), they laughed and mocked Him. If then you neglect the issue of salvation for the sake of anything, the anger and terror of God would be great upon your life.
Another reason the Spirit is crying to you day and night is for you to depart from your valley and go to the mountain. All the excuses such as, “They are the ones looking for my trouble,” that you are giving will not exempt you from the wrath of God. For how long will they be looking for your trouble? Where did you hide the trouble they are looking for? Nobody is looking for your trouble actually, the trouble is that you are a proud person. If you are in the category of those who classify some sins as not too bad, you must be careful because there is no small sin. The Bible says that every unrighteousness is sin.
The Spirit cries because of the glory of heaven. The Bible says in John 14: 2 - 3, “In my Father’s house, there are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, ye may be also.” The Bible also says, “Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for His saints.” There is no enjoyment in this world, compared to what is in heaven. The Spirit is warning that we should not miss the place. So think about it.
If you are haunted by the same fear that used to torment you years ago, it means you are not growing spiritually. If your faith is still as rudimentary as when you first believed the Lord, it means you are not growing spiritually. If your knowledge of God is still second hand and you have not experienced personal revival, it means you are not growing spiritually. If you have never used the name of Jesus to defeat evil, it means that you are not growing spiritually. If you still cannot differentiate between your voice, the Holy Spirit’s and the devil’s, it means you are not growing spiritually. If your joy depends only on material things, there is a possibility that you would not be admitted into the kingdom of God.
Beloved, this is the last hour. Today, seek help from the Lord. Don’t rejoice that you are better than someone else. We don’t have much time left. In the Bible, you find expressions like “take heed” and “beware”, meaning that the Bible warns us about several things. For example, it says, “Don’t give your alms before men,” “Don’t give in order to be seen,” “Let not your left hand know what your right is doing,” “Beware of covetousness,” “Let no man deceive you,” “Do not allow the light in you to be turned to darkness,” “Let every man take heed how he is building, “Let him that thinketh he stands take heed lest he falls.” It says that we should not devour one another. It warns that we should not allow the ministry that God has committed to us to fail. And it also warns that one day, all of us shall arrive at the judgment seat of Christ and we shall give account of our lives. My prayer is that God should open our ears to hear what the Spirit is saying, in Jesus’ name.
Sometime ago, in one of our meetings here, there was a warning from the Lord that nobody should travel. One sister insisted on travelling even after some brethren pleaded with her not to. She travelled and never came back alive. It was her ashes that was brought back because the vehicle she was travelling in collided with a vehicle carrying fuel and that was it. So God says what He means and means what He says.
If you don’t read your Bible and follow the pattern of life God wants you to live, you will make the job of the devil easier for him.
It is very clear that a lot of people come to the house of God but not many people are planning for heaven. A lot of people find their ways to services on Sundays and come out like a sinner who gets baptized without being born again. The sinner goes into water as a dry sinner and comes out as a wet sinner.
Beloved, I hope you are not one of those that the devil is using as a stumbling block against others who want to get saved. How would your husband follow you to church when you are busy cursing and abusing him? Why should you be in a cat and mouse relationship with a person and still be smiling at the person? Why are you living a life of deception? The Bible says that no unclean thing shall enter into heaven, no matter how good it looks on the surface. No matter what you call yourself, if you are not clean, you shall not enter therein.
Beloved, search your spirit today and repent of all your wicked ways. Ask the Lord to lead you into the way of eternal life so that at the end of the age, you shall live triumphantly with Him, in Jesus’ name.
PRAYER POINTS
1. O Lord, deliver me from this wicked generation, in the name of Jesus.
2. O Lord, do not let your death be in vain upon my life, in the name of Jesus.
3. O Lord, remove the stumbling block in my walk with you, in the name of Jesus.
4. O Lord, let me be swift to hear and slow to speak, in the name of Jesus.
5. O Lord, give unto me power to mount up with wings like eagle, in the name of Jesus.
6. O Lord, instruct me and teach me the way that I should go, in the name of Jesus.
7. I refuse to be disgraced in eternity, in the name of Jesus.
Wrestling With Shadows
Contributed by Daniel Olukoya on Apr 8, 2009
Summary: Perhaps you have been having symptoms of slow progress, failures at the edges of breakthrough, marital dissappointment, disfavor despite opportunities surrounding you, this is wrestling with shadows, and unless there comes end to this, man would be subjecT
WRESTLING WITH SHADOWS
Life is something many people fail to understand because there are so many questions those men cannot answer. For example, Cain and Abel were two men born of the same parents. They had similar backgrounds, similar abilities and were headed towards the same direction but Abel was successful while Cain was overshadowed by failure and frustration. The world is exactly like that.
A lot of people are wrestling with shadows. What does this mean? Some people have done all there is to do for them to be successful, yet they remain failures. Some even have higher degrees and have done everything that qualifies them for resounding success yet success remain elusive; their children are disobedient, their marriages are unstable and sicknesses are becoming a routine affair. A person just discovers that in one particular area or in many areas of his life, he is struggling with something he cannot understand or identify. He just goes from one problem to another. He is always at the edge of good health but never really achieving good health. Sometimes the way may look clear once in a while but as some people try to go to the clear way, they stumble and fall. This is what we call wrestling with shadows. Many people cannot get a grip of what is happening. They are struggling with something they cannot understand or identify.
We are in a world of powerful forces that harass men. These powerful forces do not operate according to natural laws. There is a lamentation on this, in the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 9: 11 says, “I returned, and I saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” This lamentation proves that there are forces operating on the lives of men that men cannot understand. The forces that determine the course of our lives are both visible and invisible. The powers that confuse the lives of men most can do so through what we call the mouth gate. A lot of people are in such bondage. 1 Corinthians 10:16 talks about the kind of communion we have in the church now. It says, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” During communion service, when the cup and the bread have been blessed, the cup then has the power to transmit the blessings of the New Covenant to those who drink it. Therefore, by simple spiritual interpretation, it shows that a physical object like a cup used during the Last Supper can transmit spiritual power. Likewise in Numbers chapter 5, we read about what happens when a woman is suspected of being unfaithful to her marriage vows in those days. Numbers 5: 18 says, “And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that caused the curse.” (They would have water inside a cup and issue a curse on the water). Verses 19 - 22 say, “And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse. But if thou hast gone aside unto another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband. Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell. And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot. And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.” In this case, the cup of water is the vehicle through which the destroying power is transmitted. So, if the woman had been truly unfaithful, that water would transmit the curse and the belly would swell and explode. So, destroying powers can be transferred by physical objects. Therefore, if you have been served meals from the devil’s table, you may live your life wrestling with shadows unless you are purged. Once you get something from the table of the devil you would be wrestling with shadows and won’t know what you are fighting against unless you are purged. The reason is that what you are fighting against is inside your body and you are thinking that it is one old woman or one relative somewhere. The thing has already been deposited inside, and you are going around with it.
In our environment, wicked people succeed in making some people to be wrestling with shadows through the mouth gate. Sometime ago, I went to somebody’s office and the person said, “You are welcome. We have some meat that we have just used for a festival.” I said, “What do I do with it?” He said, “It is for consumption.” I said, “I don’t eat food from the table of the devil.” He said, “What? Table of the devil?” I said, “Jesus has been made a once and for all sacrifice. Anybody that is killing anything after Jesus death is sacrificing to the devil and those who eat it are eating from the table of the devil.” The scripture is very clear on this. It can be very frustrating when somebody is fighting an external force when the problem is internal. It can also be very frustrating when somebody has a physical object in his possession, which is the vehicle of his problem and he does not know. Sometime ago, we prayed for a sister and the demon spirit that spoke from her said, “Well, ask her to bring the cloth we gave to her.” The sister brought the cloth, which was destroyed before she could regain her freedom. It means that as long as she had that cloth in her possession, she could sing all the praise worship in this planet, and read all the psalms, but there would be no freedom.
Sometime ago, we held a revival service in a church and when an altar call was made to those who wanted to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I saw a dear old woman who came crying and saying that she could not understand why it was difficult for her to receive the baptism even after many revivalists had visited her church. So, I said, “Madam, you will be filled with the power today.” She said, “Thank you my son I will try.” I told her to pray and she prayed until she was sweating. Her clothes were soaked. I was impressed with her prayers yet nothing happened. I could only get impressed but I am not the giver of the Holy Spirit. At a stage, I left her alone and sat somewhere else to pray. I asked the Lord what was wrong with her and the Lord said I should look at her hand. I looked at her hand and saw a particular ring on her fourth finger. On the ring was the symbol of a half moon. The Lord said that with that ring on her finger, His Spirit would not enter into her life. Then I said, “Mama, open your eyes. Who gave you this ring?” She told me that she inherited it from her great grandmother. I took the ring from her and made her to understand that the half moon was the sign of witchcraft. She gladly gave it to me and did not have to pray for one minute before she received the power of the Holy Ghost. She did not know that her enemy was on her fourth finger for 25 years. She slept with it, woke up with it, bathed with it, went everywhere and did everything with it. So, she was busy wrestling with shadows instead of the real thing, which was on her fourth finger.
When you are wrestling with shadows, you would be kept away from receiving the blessings of God. God would be offering the blessings but you would not be able to get them. Sometimes you may not even realize that there is a blessing to receive. Somebody who is under witchcraft attack in our environment would be manipulated, intimidated and dominated. What do I mean by manipulation? The following illustration gives us the answer. Sometime ago, a man married a very beautiful wife, who was light in complexion. But he noticed that in the afternoons, the woman would take a knife and begin to scratch her body and salt would be coming out of her body. He got worried and decided to visit a white garment prophet. Before he got to the white garment prophet, the woman had visited the white garment prophet to inform him that her husband was coming and that he should charge him exorbitant fee. They were members of the same evil society but the man did not know. That is manipulation. How can you have a bed in your house and somebody would tell you to be sleeping on the mat, or they remove all the protein food from your diet, that is domination and intimidation. The wife of a man asked him for money to prepare soup, and he had only N20. He gave her the N20 and she took it, tore it up and said, “What do you want me to do with N20?” And the man slapped her. The woman said, “Okay, you have just slapped yourself.” Right from that day, the man started feeling as if somebody was whipping him. Even when he was in the office, it was the same thing. He would be dancing in the streets and people thought he was mad. He was in that condition until he got to a prayer meeting where the Lord sent fire on the invisible evil whip. The man was wrestling with what we call shadows. In normal wrestling matches, what we have is a physical challenge. But when your challenger is a shadow, you have a difficult task in your hands.
HOW DO PEOPLE GET TO WRESTLE WITH SHADOWS?
Idol worship: Worship and acknowledgement of false gods would cause a person to wrestle with shadows. Involvement with dark societies and occult powers would cause a person to wrestle with shadows. If somebody’s father was a secret cult member, he would be wrestling with shadows.
Disobedience: Disobedience to God’s clear command would lead to wrestling with shadows. The Bible says that at the time of ignorance, God winked at it. But if you understand it and you are disobedient to it, you are inviting shadows.
Disrespect for parents and the elderly: This makes people to wrestle with shadows.
Sexual perversion: All forms of sexual perversion, as far as the Bible is concerned, make people to wrestle with shadows.
Stealing: All kinds of stealing and also being stingy with God make people to wrestle with shadows.
Curses: Anyone operating under a curse would be wrestling with shadows.
Remote control forces: There are some forces called ’remote control’ forces. Somebody who lives in London could be ’remote-control’ the life of another person in Nigeria like somebody operating a television set. Our environment is so filled with wickedness that many people are already programmed to spend the better part of their lives wrestling with shadows! This message gives you an opportunity to strike back and recover your blessings.
SIX AREAS THROUGH WHICH DARK POWERS MAKE PEOPLE IN THIS ENVIRONMENT TO WRESTLE WITH SHADOWS
1. Attack by demon idols: The first area through which they make people in this environment to wrestle with shadows is what I called attack by demon idols. They send a demon idol to a person to attack him or her. They cut off part of people’s clothes, steal their shoes or underwear’s or collect things from people’s body such as their hair, nail, etc and give them to the demon idol to enable it identify who to fight. If you lose things like that, and fail to consider them as dangerous, you will be surprised to find out that it is not one of those things, but an attack. These demon idols which are usually short, come with big clubs in their hands. They are generally used to kill or render people useless. I knew a person who was attacked by a demon idol. The thing came into his bedroom and hit him on the right hand with its club. The hand got paralyzed immediately. If not for the fact that he knew the name of Jesus, he would have been maimed on that hand for life. A person who is spiritually blind would not be able to see a demon idol. So, if it is sent to attack such a person, he or she will not know what had hitted him or her. If you allow them to go scot free, you are giving them opportunity to stage a comeback. So, you must deal with them.
WAY OUT A
Withdraw your stolen materials or the parts cut-off from your body from them.
Issue an invitation to the demon idol to come by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and command it to go back to the sender.
Command the evil materials that have been injected into your system to be neutralized by the blood of Jesus. That is how to handle them.
If you are living in a flat where a demon idol has walked through before, whether it succeeded or not in its assignment in that place, something has already been deposited there, so, you need to clean up the place.
2. Strange touch: A strange touch is when you feel that somebody touched you but you did not see the person or even if you saw the person, certain things began to go wrong as from that moment. That is what is called a strange touch. When somebody with a spiritual poison in his hand shakes your hand or touches any part of your body, you would feel a serious heat internally or a funny sensation. That is a strange touch. Life would become meaningless as from that moment.
WAY OUT B
1. Shake off the strange touch, in Jesus’ name.
2. Ask for the fire of the Holy Spirit to saturate every organ of your body.
3. Return the strange touch to the sender.
Beloved, if you notice that someone is just looking for an opportunity to touch you, you better beware. Women who do not mind men touching parts of their bodies carelessly are playing with fire. They can receive a strange touch through that way. A believer ought to angrily give such men a stern warning, plead the blood of Jesus and shake off the evil touch. It may be the touch of wastage, which can result into all kinds of female problems like late marriage, bareness, etc.
3. Encounter with the spirit of death: Wicked people can send the spirit of death to a person. This evil spirit is generally a dark-tall shadow. It walks into the room and wants to touch the person. Or the person could be seeing another personality inside him or he could be seeing coffins, or he could be seeing himself being buried, or he could see people planning his funeral. Another evidence of the spirit of death pursing somebody is when you have masquerades running after you in the dream. A lot of people have this encounter.
WAY OUT
Bind the spirit of death and hell.
Return spiritual obituary to the senders.
Keep declaring Psalm 118: 17 which says, “I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.” If you have experienced this kind of thing before and you did not cancel it, you maybe reduced to a mere walking corpse by now.
4. Strange call: Some people have heard their names being called in the middle of a sleep, these are strange calls. Sometimes, a person could hear a familiar voice call out his name three times. If the person answers, he or she becomes a shadow fighter as from that day. A lot of people had answered such strange calls. Many times they have called us like that but God just did not allow us to hear it. He sends them back before we even have time to hear because He says, “Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm.”
WAY OUT
Ask for forgiveness for not being a proper sheep of Jesus, because He says, “My sheep know my voice and a stranger they will not follow.” If then as a child of God, you heard a strange voice and you answered, it means that something is wrong with your spiritual life. So, the first thing is to ask for forgiveness for answering the call that is not from Jesus.
Rewind the call.
Return the call back to the sender. If you had answered, withdraw your answer by this simple prayer: I withdraw the answer, in Jesus’ name.
5. Serpentine spirits attack: Serpentine spirits are very dangerous demons. They represent the dragon we read about in Revelation 12. A person under serpentine attack may be pursued by a snake in the dream. A snake may spit on the person or bite the person. The person may be playing and discussing with a snake in the dream. What are the implications of all these? They would prevent the person from achieving goodness in life. They would scare the person away from good things. If the person had received saliva from the snake, he would have an evil mark on him. But the blood of Jesus can rub it off. If a snake has bitten the person then spiritual poison has been released into his or her body. This would cause sickness and death in the person’s life. The snake venom that has been spiritually introduced into a person’s life can amputate the person’s spiritual life. If somebody plays and discusses with a snake in the dream, it means that he or she has a covenant with the snake and water spirit as well. The person may be unconscious of this.
WAY OUT
Rebuke the serpentine spirit, in Jesus’ name.
Withdraw your name from their register because they just don’t send the snake to anybody. They have a book from which they consult.
Plead the blood of Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit to neutralize the serpentine saliva and every poison injected into your body.
Release yourself from every conscious and unconscious serpentine covenant. Now you can command any obstruction to leave your way. If a snake is running after somebody in the dream, the truth is that the snake is trying to chase the person away from the blessing that is about to come to him or her.
6. Demonic signature: A certain young female undergraduate, who used to make a mockery of her lecturers who preached the gospel to her, changed her music when she woke up one morning and found a signature on her palm. The signature was written in a strange language she did not understand. She used all kinds of soap to wash it away but it did not go. Eventually, she had to go to the preachers she had mocked for help. These lecturers preached to her and prayed that the evil signature should go off and it disappeared. That was an evil signature. She was lucky to have seen it physically. People who have evil signatures on their bodies do not prosper. Whatever they lay their hands on will not work. Marks of scratches that people see on their bodies when they wake up from sleep are evil signatures. They must be rubbed off.
WAY OUT
Clean off the marks and stamps by the blood of Jesus.Invite the Holy Ghost power to burn away the demonic pen used to write them.
Release yourself from any evil linkage. Psalm 97: 10 says, “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.” Psalm 149: 5-9 says, “Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two- edged sword in their hands. To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishment upon the people. To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron. To execute upon them the judgment written: This honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord.” These scriptures give us the right to rewind or recall any evil that have been done to anyone in the past and to execute judgment on behalf of God. Colossians 2:14-15 says, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” That is the stand of scripture. 1 John 3:8 says, “…For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” You will be amazed at how many people the devil has tormented and is still tormenting with shadows. You must pray aggressively to defeat them because we know that they do not have the final say on your life. It is only God that has the final say but if you don’t bring God into the situation, He will be watching you. If you bring Him in, you can take back what has been taken away from you by violence.
PRAYER POINTS
1. I refuse death and curses, in the name of Jesus.
2. I choose life and blessings, in Jesus’ name.
3. I cancel all satanic claims against me, in the name of Jesus.
4. I shake off every strange touch, in the name of Jesus.
5. I bind the spirit of death and hell, in the name of Jesus.
6. Every strange call upon my life, go back to the sender, in the name of Jesus.
7. You snake spirit, I bruise your head, in the name of Jesus.
8. You demonic handwriting, I rub you off with the blood of Jesus, in Jesus’ name.
9. (Place one hand on your head and the other one on your stomach as you take this prayer point) Holy Ghost fire, begin to burn in my body, in the name of Jesus.
10. I break every curse of blindness, in the name of Jesus.
11. Wonderful God, I thank you, in Jesus’ name.
Liberty Without Freedom
Contributed by Daniel Olukoya on Apr 17, 2009
Summary: Lazarus was raised from the dead by the power of God. Likewise all that believe in Christ have been given a new life. They have been lifted out of the graveyard of sin and sorrow. Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.” It means that he could not go unless
LIBERTY WITHOUT FREEDOM
Dr. D. K. Olukoya
In John 11, we see one of the most interesting stories in the Bible. A friend of Jesus had been sick. They called Jesus but He did not show up until four days after the man had died. John 11: 38-44 says, “Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? (If you refuse to believe, you will see the glory of satan). Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. (He had to be specific because if He said, “come forth,” without being specific, all the dead there would come out). And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.”
Lazarus was raised from the dead by the power of God. Likewise all that believe in Christ have been given a new life. They have been lifted out of the graveyard of sin and sorrow. Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.” It means that he could not go unless they loosed him. He could not go because he was bound. Although Lazarus was raised from dead, he was still bound. He experienced liberty but not freedom. Captivity was over but he was still bound. The grip of death upon his life had been broken but he was still bound. It is a double tragedy that many believers are still walking around with grave clothes on.
There are children of God who speak in tongues but are still bound. They have their grave clothes on like Lazarus. Jesus has set them free but they are still in their grave clothes. This is the sad condition of many people today. A lot of Christians are still bound by their past failures, past sins, guilt and materialism.
Many believers are bound by traditions, that is why you see Christians going for chieftancy titles and they allow evil people to touch their heads which is the symbol of their destiny.
Many believers are still bound by bad habits. Lazarus was alive but constrained; He could see, but through a veil; he could hear but not clearly. Why? He was still in grave clothes. So, perhaps you have been born again for years and you still cannot see, it means that something has closed your spiritual eyes. You have to pray for the grave clothes to be pulled off. Remember when Saul preached in a particular place and the people fought and argued that he was speaking lies, he said, “I have one last thing to tell you before I leave. Remember that what is happening to you is what was written by the prophets that behold, you wander and you perish, for it is written I will send my words unto them, but hearing they will hear but they will not understand, they will behold but cannot see. Their heart is already hardened so that my hands cannot deliver them, so that they can perish.” With that Paul concluded the sermon. If you have read through the whole of the Bible and decided to continue to be evil, a popular passage in the book of Revelation says, “Continue,” and if you want to continue to do good, it says, “You may continue. But behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me, and my reward can be bad or good, to give to every man according to the works of his hands.”
EVIDENCE OF GRAVE CLOTHES
Many people go to churches where they do not understand the language which their leaders speak. After the meetings, they come out, bring out their cigarettes and begin to smoke. As far as they are concerned, they are serving the Lord. That is bondage. Also, sex outside marriage is evidence that a person is bound in grave clothes. A believer who is working with a fake certificate is bound in grave clothes. Obtaining sick leave papers when you are not sick is an indication that you are in grave clothes. Sleeping and pretending to be praying is a sign of being in grave clothes. If you are the worst of human beings when you are angry, you are in grave clothes. Masturbation, chronic impatience, and constant fear are evidences that there are grave clothes on. That is why Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.” The Lord said the same thing to Pharaoh. Unforgiving spirit, sexual sins and failure to break all connections with the devil are an evidence of grave clothes. You claim to be born again but still keep complimentary cards of your former boy friends, it means that the grave clothes are still on. If not, why are you keeping them? Failure to confess every sin, envy, backbiting, and not yielding every area of your life to God are an evidence of grave clothes.
If God is your lover and you believe the Bible, which says that your Maker is your husband, you will not be in a hurry to get out from His presence. So, rushing out of the service without sharing the grace is evidence of grave clothes. Not having on the whole armour of God means there are grave clothes on.
THE FLESH
The truth is that the percentage of those who are ready for the rapture is very little. Many people who have seen visions of the rapture but did not go up discovered that it was as a result of grave clothes on them. Grave clothes can be in the form of hair and other body attachments.
A certain man was in very big trouble. He was sacked from five jobs. When he could not feed his family again, his wife ran away, leaving him with three daughters. To worsen his sorrow, his first daughter became pregnant while in form three. When he tried to beat her, she said, “Daddy, all the time I did not ask you for bus fare to school. Where do you think the money I was using came from?” The man was very sad, so he cried unto the Lord in prayers. He really cried to God and you know God never rejects the cry from the heart. The Lord Jesus appeared to him while he was praying. The man was very happy. He wanted the Lord Jesus to sympathize with him. He wanted the Lord to promote him and give him deliverance from all his troubles. He wanted comfort, fairness and divine justice. But to his amazement, the Lord pointed at him and said, “Your problem is rooted in you and not in the enemy.” The Lord told him that, that was the hardest part of his Christian life. “You have not even agreed that you are your own problem. You are only deceiving yourself by blaming the devil. I am the Almighty. I am not struggling with the devil. I desire that your flesh must submit to me. I want to dethrone you from the centre of your life and be your Lord, but you have not allowed me to do so. You must contend with this power of your flesh, which is hindering my work and preventing me from doing what I want to do in your life.” The man was surprised but for the first time he got the blunt truth, which they say, is sometimes very bitter. You see, the devil is not really the issue as much as the power of the flesh. It is the flesh that is hanging grave clothes onto the body.
Galatians 5: 17: “For the flesh lust against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” The flesh is fighting against the spirit and the spirit is fighting against the flesh. Two of them are contrary so that you cannot do the things you are supposed to do. Here lies the secret of victory against any form of satanic attack. Here lies the victory for you to make heaven without anybody pulling you down. If a dry fast is declared for seven days in the church, what do you think will happen? Some people will protest loudly. Some would say, “Do you not know that we would go to work?” Some would say, “They want to kill people in this place.” Others would say, “I have been telling you about that church. You see, now they want seven days dry fast.” That is the power of flesh. They forget that there is something called the bread of heaven. Once you eat that one, you lose the desire to eat the one that is here on earth. If for example you go on three days dry fast, you find out that by the third day even if someone is abusing you, you are not able to talk too much. The secret of that is that Mr. flesh has been weakened. That is the value of fasting. It does not change God, it is you that has to change, because the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit too lusts against the flesh. The two of them are always fighting. When you begin to starve one,lets say the flesh, your spirit man now becomes stronger. That is the value of fasting. You can pray with more concentration, with more fire, and then you get result.
Scriptures: 1 Corinthians, Colossians 3, Ephesians 4, Galatians 2, Galatians 5, Galatians 5:24, John 11, John 11:38-44, John 14, Matthew 16:24, Philippians 3:3, Romans 13:14
Sermon Topics: Grace, Forgiveness, Freedom, Holiness
God has issued a death sentence on Mr. Flesh: "Dust thou art and unto the dust thou shall return.” It is the spirit man inside you that will return back to God. The flesh knows that it is not going to depart from the dust and it wants to pull you along if you allow it.
The devil comes in when we open the door to him through our uncrucified flesh. So our toughest battle is not with the devil, it is with the flesh. The devil is continually looking for open doors through which he can enter to attack us.
John 14: 30 says, “Hereafter I will not talk much with you for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” There was no place in the flesh of Jesus that the devil could have access to. Jesus was dead to Himself. He was dead to His own desires and His own agenda.
The power of darkness operates the most powerful scanning machines. As you are now, they can see you clearly in and out. They know whether any part of them is in you. They know how strong you are; they know those who are spiritual and those who are not. They know those who pray in the morning before going out, they know those who do not pray. They know those who do their quiet time and those who do not. They know those who are merely warming the benches in the church, who are not really serious with the Lord. They know those who are in the church to look for good, obedient, submissive wives, and they know those who are looking for very brilliant and rich husbands. They can detect the smallest compromise. They know the cleverly concealed sin. They know the evil habits you are covering. That is why the day of judgment would be very interesting. There are many things we do not know now, but on that day everything will be made manifest.
Jesus made one statement: "That which was done under the bed shall be proclaimed on housetops." The person will be shouting it; he will have a megaphone and will be shouting it and everybody will know what he has covered. Those things inside your heart which the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit is saying, “Son this is not good, daughter this is bad,” and you ignore His voice, those are the grave clothes. You have liberty but not freedom. How can a believer go and buy clothes on credit. And then she puts on the dress and would not pass the front of the shop of the person who sold the dress to her for fear of the person saying, “You see the dress that woman is wearing, she has not paid for it.” It is the grave clothes. Why don’t you wash the ones you have, keep them clean and wear them? The devil defeats Christians who live with uncrucified flesh. The devil defeats Christians who leave the doors of their lives open to him. He is looking for houses to dwell in. He is looking for landing spaces and any area of a person’s life can be his landing space if you submit to him.
Mr. Flesh can completely paralyze the destiny of somebody if he submits any part of his life to him. If you submit your hair, he will grab it, If you submit your head, he will grab it, if you submit your thought he will grab it. If you submit your marriage he will grab it. If you submit your sex life, he will grab it. If you submit even ordinary fingernail, he will grab it. There are some people now who have stopped cutting their fingernails and they are as long as those of the vultures and they have them painted up. Some buy and put on extra nails and paint them with mermaid colours. Then they start writing to us that they need deliverance from spirit husbands. May be you don’t know, just like physical men find some women very attractive, there are spirits that find some women very attractive. Those are the spirits who go about at night violating women and sexually harassing them. We should not make their job easy. Immediately you are dressing to make their job easy they will visit you.
The church is a house of God, a holy place, not a place you come wearing transparent dresses; or you are a man, you open your shirt and show the chain you put on for all to see. If you come before God you submit and humble yourself.
If you submit your lips to the enemy he will grab it. The number of men of God who hear from God clearly is reducing because of polluted ears. If you submit your ears to the enemy, he will grab them. If you submit your mouth to the enemy, he will grab it. If you submit your job to him he will grab it. If your kind of job requires that you tell lies every time, you better look for another job before you will end up in hell fire. Pray to God to provide you another job where you will not be telling lies. If you submit your eyes to the enemy, he will use it. If you give him your ambition, he will use it. If you give him your certificate, he will use it. If you give him your voice, he will use it. Most of those singing worldly songs that would send people to hell fire were trained by the church, but they are now used by the devil.
Galatians 5: 24 says, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affection and lusts.” So, if you find that the enemy is strengthening himself against you, the area to check is your flesh. The thief in you must die. The hypocrisy in you must die, and the iniquity in you must die, so that the Spirit of God can use your life as He wants.
They that belong to Christ must crucify the flesh with its affection and lust. That is, if you don’t belong to Christ, you can live your life the way you want. But at the end of the day, you will arrive at the gate of life and the gate-keeper will say, “We don’t have your name here. You are our enemy. Get out, you worker of iniquity.” You may say, “Well, I will be doing it little by little." The danger with little by little is that you don’t know the day the Lord will say, “Son, it is enough. Come home.” What we are saying is that Mr. death does not give you advance notice.
Somebody brought money to Peter and said, “Take this money, and give me this gift so that whoever I pray for will receive the Holy Spirit and will be speaking in tongues.” Peter looked at him and said, “Your money perish with you.” That is, there was nothing in Peter that would respond to that sensation and temptation for money.
Peter allowed God to crucify that area in his life. But this is the only area where the flesh is on the throne in many lives. The Bible says that we came to the world with nothing and that we will go away with nothing. You came to the world fasting and you will go back with an empty stomach. Why should you glue yourself to this sinking world, because you do not want to crucify the flesh.
The flesh is anything that is not energized by the Holy Spirit and is always fighting you. You want to read your Bible, it says, "sleep." You want to pray and that would be when somebody will annoy you and you spend two hours fighting. You want to pray and it is that time they bring a vampire movie and you begin to watch. Many Christians engage in activities not ordained by the Holy Spirit. To get rid of our grave clothes, the bottom-line is that God should rule our flesh. Do not deceive yourself. Do not think that the flesh will improve, it cannot improve. It is rotten to the core. Many of the problems we have as individuals are caused by Mr. Flesh. For example, inability to take the right decisions, plain disobedience to God, looseness with the opposite sex, emotional problems, bad thinking, boiling anger, etc. We must take responsibilities for our own lives. When you say, “Mr. Flesh, die,” heavens will rejoice, and they will come to your aid. If you have not pointed your finger to yourself and say: “It is you that annoyed me. You made me to say this, you made me to say that,” you are not serious yet. But the day you point accusing finger to yourself, heaven will rejoice and will come to your aid.
Our most difficult problem is facing ourselves. In 1979, one brother prayed and said that one sister was his wife. The pastor invited him and the sister and said to the sister: “This brother has prayed and he says you are his God’s chosen wife.” The lady looked at the pastor and looked at the brother from head to toe and said, “Sorry, pastor, this one that is sitting down beside you cannot carry my load.” The pastor said, “Which load are you carrying that this person cannot help you to offload.” She said, “Pastor, that is my decision. That is what I want to do and that is it.” This is year 2002, and that sister is still looking for somebody to help her carry that load.
Philippians 3:3 says, “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” There should be no confidence in the flesh, for the flesh is dangerous and has no mercy. The flesh is harder to deal with than the devil. You cannot bind your own flesh. So the flesh is the harder problem, it needs to be crucified. Self-centredness, lack of discipline, boasting and stubbornness are nothing more than the flesh refusing to submit to the Holy Spirit. Many churchgoers are very stubborn. A stubborn person will say, “I will do it in my own way.” But the Bible says, “Woe unto those that are at ease in Zion.” It also says, “If you walk with footmen and you are weary, what will you do when you are asked to walk with the horsemen?” It is the foot men that are around now but eventually they will go and the horse riders will come in, and things will get worse because that is what the Bible says. Evil men shall wax stronger and stronger and peace will disappear, unless we welcome the Prince of peace and the Lord of lords.
Everyday, we come across people who are trying to train Mr. Flesh more and more. They want to train Mr. Flesh not to overeat. They want to train their minds to think right but they cannot train the flesh, because the Bible says, “Those that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, they that are after the spirit do mind the things of the spirit.” The flesh cannot please God. It cannot because it is in enmity with God. It is in contention with the Spirit of God and cannot fight the spiritual battle which we do everyday.
HOW DO WE OVERCOME THE FLESH?
1. We are to leave no place for the flesh. Romans 13:14 says, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lust thereof.” Do not make provision for the flesh. When you plan to buy extra clothes that you do not need, when you plan to buy extra food you will not eat, when you plan to watch a video film that you know will bring lust into your life, when you are meditating on what to say to hurt another person, then you are making provision for the flesh. Make life hard for it. When next it says, “Don’t greet so and so,” go and buy a gift, look for the person, greet the person and give him the gift. When you do that, you are killing Mr. Flesh. You are not giving it provision to operate. When you, a single girl follow a man you do not know to somewhere; when you, a woman ask for lift from an unknown man, you are making provision to cause trouble for yourself. You know that you used to be a palmwine drinker. Now that you are born again, do not accompany anybody to the place again so that the smell would not enter into your spirit. If you go there it means you are making provision to commit sin again. That is what Romans 13:14 says.
2. Bring the flesh under subjection. We are to make the flesh a slave to God. 1 Corinthians 9: 27 says, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” The Bible says that no man can serve two masters. You cannot walk down two roads at the same time. You cannot walk in the way of holiness and in the way of sin. You have to put the flesh under subjection. What does it mean to bring under subjection? To ignore its advice and suggestions, tell it all the time that you are the chairman, so it has to take your own instructions. When it says, “Go and do this,” you disobey and do the opposite when it says, “Can’t you notice that when this one is passing she does not greet anybody, so any time she is coming just carry your face away,” you should now do the opposite. You greet the person very well.
3. Take off the old man and put on the new man. Ephesians 4: 22 says, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.” Put off the coat of the old man and put on the coat of the new man. You cannot put on two coats at the same time. So, the old man must go and the new man must come in. If your Christianity has not gotten to the level where somebody says, “Ah, he has changed,” you are still a joker.
4. We are to deny the flesh. Jesus said if any person would come after Him, let the person deny himself and take his cross and follow Him. Matthew 16:24 says, “If any man or woman will be my disciple let him first deny himself and then follow me.” This means that you have to put Mr. Flesh on the shelf. Whatever you have, put it aside. Put your pride aside. If Mr. Flesh says, “They have insulted you, charge at them,” you should say, “No, I will not. I have been nailed to the cross."
5. You must kill the members of the flesh. Colossians 3: 1-5 says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ, sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members, which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” If you do not mortify the members of your flesh you are an idol worshipper. You have to focus on what God has already done for us on the cross.
6. We are to regard the flesh crucified and remind it everyday that we are already dead. Galatians 5:24 –25 says, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.” Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ nevertheless yet not i live but I live now the life of Jesus, Son of God who died for me.” The old Paul had been dead many years ago, the new Paul was walking along the street then. It was the old Paul that a serpent could bite and he would die but the crucified one could not die like that.
7. The people the devil fears most are those who have crucified the flesh. He knows he cannot find any entrance in them.
8. We are to live an exchanged life. You should put one life down and take another. According to Galatians 2: 20, the new life is to replace the old one. You cannot be doing two things at a time.
When you are moving close to solution and you see your sad condition, you have started making progress. The day a mad man begins to ask questions like “Why am I wearing these clothes? What am I doing here? Why are you all starring at me?" his healing has come. But when the mad man has dirty clothes on and says, “Give me iron, I want to iron them,” then his problem has just started active service.
You should now pray like John Knox. The same God who answered his prayer and made it impossible for demons and host of hell to paralyze his destiny, is still alive.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Oh God, break me, in the name of Jesus.
2. Oh God, kill the iniquity in my life, in the name of Jesus.
3. Every hindrance to open doors in my life, give way by fire, in the name of Jesus.
4. Spiritual blindness, clear out of my life, in the name of Jesus.
5. Where others are failing, I shall succeed by fire, in the name of Jesus.
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