PROPHETIC ALARM: As The Day Draws Near

 My motivation for the things I am sharing:

- I fear God. (Eccl. 12:13)

- I will not cease to pray for you and tell you the truth. I’m committed to it. (1 Sam.12:23)

- I exercise myself to have a conscience void of offense towards God and men. Thus, if I truly love you and are interested in your welfare, I owe you the truth even if it is at the detriment of your liking me. (Acts 24:16)

I’ve been privileged to see into the coming days. What I want to share is applicable to you wherever you are based.

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes”. (Judges 17:6), “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes”. (Judges 21:25, see also 1 Cor. 14:33,40) As long as everybody does whatever is right in their own eyes, satan will take advantage and there can’t be progress.

This was the state of the Israelites, they did what they liked. There was no order. You can be born again but still living your own life. (Prov. 16:25)

Please note these points as I received from the Lord

- We have to deliberately prepare for the coming days because it’s getting closer and closer than we think. There are character and structures that cannot accommodate the coming days. You have to upgrade and improve.

- Don’t be taken unawares

- Don’t settle for regrets of what you could have done and being but did not

“…but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth”. 1 Timothy 3:15

From the above scripture, we can deduce the following;

- How you can function with or without supervision

- How that all your years of being in church and coming to church will not be in vain.

“For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established”. Romans 1:11

What is the way out?

“Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey”. The words of this song are very true and ever relevant. What you are facing is not the problem, the real problem however is in your attitude toward God.

- Trust, obey fully and willingly God’s word-the principles of scriptures, be committed to it without any reservation because God is faithful, reliable, dependable, follow the dictates of the Spirit

- The only place of safety, deliverance, salvation, preservation, is in Christ Jesus. Be deliberate in partnering with God, be intimate with Him. Don’t be selective (in obedience, participation), withdraw or compromise because that’s the easiest thing to do in these times. It is the time to walk with God and cooperate with Him.

- This is not the time to be independent or isolated but to be totally dependent on Him. Every time God allowed Israel to go through difficult and terrible times, it was for one purpose only, to walk intimately with Him.

Some practical steps as it applies to us

- When service or program is going on and you are not around. How do you feel? What you feel is a pointer to your state.

- What do you do when you miss a service or program? Do you get the message to listen?

We mustn’t lose sight of the real parameter to measure and what we truly are.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching”.  (Hebrews 10:23-25) As the day is getting closer, it will be getting harder and harder and becoming more difficult to gather but we must.

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart”. As we are getting closer and closer to the due season, weariness will be setting in. (Gal.6:9, see also Matt. 24:12)

The system of this world was not designed to make serving God easy.

There are certain cultures we must outgrow now and those we must grow into and imbibe, such as;

- You cannot come to church only when it’s convenient for you. You mustn’t lose the culture of coming to church regularly and early. We must revive it. You have to forbid the spirit of Sunday, Sunday Christianity. Weekday service is no less important.

- Make attendance and punctuality a must

- Pay attention to the message, listen again and again. (Romans 10:17). If the enemy succeeds in stopping you from coming to church and listening to the message, He has succeeded. Fulfilling your destiny is tied to the message.

- Deliberately apply the message to your life. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves… But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does”. (James 1:22-25) The blessing is in doing the work that the word demands of you. “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all”. (1 Tim. 4:15, see also Acts 2:41, Luke 6:46-49)

To take what God is saying for granted is to take God for granted.

The focus, tenacity that this ministry is known for, should be evident in your life also.

“Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct”. (Heb. 13:7)

Thus, in running your home, life, business, who are you following?

- As a member of this Assembly, you have the liberty of participating in the Kingdom activities

going on in this house, the prayer structures, e.g. prayer watch, units etc.

- Where is your commitment in all the various openings in this house concerning giving? When you

are not giving to the things of God the way you ought, you are cheating yourself.

- It is spiritual to honour genuine men of God. In giving, let’s come to the reality of the work.

Don’t behave as if we are handling change here or that we are not doing anything here. The work

is growing. It demands some good money.

On the Issue of Tithing, if you claim not to believe in tithing and you are not giving regularly,

then you are wicked and hindering God’s work. But if you claim not to believe in tithing but

everything about your life is God’s and He tells you how to apportion what comes into your hand,

that is good. Give regularly, consistently and gladly.

We don’t levy because we are emphasizing spirit-led giving as it entails in the Bible.

The fact that we are not talking doesn’t mean there are no needs.

 “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance

“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14) If you will not rise and take your place, God will send help from another place.

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is

unjust also in much”. (Luke 16:10)

You are blessed to be a blessing and not to be comfortable. And it is on His terms not on

yours.

(Read Deut. 8:1-20, Mal. 2:1-2, mind what you are saying about your time, money, your

life.)

Every greatness has a genuine history.

Remember the ten virgins- five were wise and five were foolish.

God expects faithfulness from us. (Matt. 24:44-46)

Prayer

- May your testimony not be in the past

- May you not know a better yesterday

- And may another not take your place nor wear your crown.

(All of these scriptures is a call for us to serve God. Romans 12:11, Isaiah 1:19 & 20, Job 36:11,

Exodus 23:25)

"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor

about your body, what you will put on. Matthew 6:25-34- Amp) If you stay in obedience with God

today, tomorrow is taken care of.

Concluding scriptures

(Read Hebrews 3:1-19, Job 22:21-30, Acts 3:19, Revelation 2:4-5, 3:11,19-20, Hebrews 12:22-

29, Luke 12:45-49)

Prayer

I have ears and I hear what the Spirit is saying to me. Revelation 2:7

SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS

Only the living can praise God. If a man is alive and sees no reason why he should praise God that person is a walking corpse already. May we not reduce our life to naira and kobo. If these are the reasons why a man will not thank God, then he has missed it.

Thus says the LORD on this day to us: “SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS”

It is a privilege to be a Christian. One of the things Paul preached was that we should always thank the LORD. All the letters of Paul were introduced with THANKSGIVING. Man in his natural state is ungrateful. We always complain about what we don’t have but are blinded to what we have.

*MAN IN HIS NATURAL STATE IS VERY ARROGANT AND BLINDED TO THE REALITIES OF THE GOODNESS OF GOD

We pay for what we do not know. The more we know the less we pay for what we know. To be a Christian is an honour: to know God is the greatest privilege we can ever have.

THE GREATEST THING GOD DID FOR HUMANITY WAS TO RESCUE US FROM CONDEMNATION AND TO GIVE US PEACE

We ought to be grateful for the peace God has given us and if we will not be GRATEFUL, we will not see whatever we think we do not have. God says to us to serve Him with gladness because we are in a privileged position.

SATAN ENVIES US

IT IS A PRIVILEGE TO BE A CHRISTIAN

Actually, Satan is very envious of us. He’s regretting what he did but just that he cannot reverse it. Satan is envious that you are a Christian, and that he lost grip over your soul, therefore, “SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS”. If we didn’t have such an opportunity, then we can be excused, but we cannot have such an opportunity then throw it away. To be a Christian is not a burden but a privilege. Nothing can be more honourable than being rescued from eternal condemnation.

DON’T REDUCE THE VALUE OF YOUR LIFE TO THINGS. THE VALUE OF YOUR LIFE IS WORTH THE BLOOD OF JESUS

If we won’t serve God, we will serve Satan. Anything we do not handle carefully we will lose carelessly. It is folly to be in honour and not to know. When we serve the LORD with gladness we will never need any motivation to do what we ought to do for God.

Psalm 49:12,20, Psalm 100:2, Acts 2:41-42, Psalm 107:21-22

Serve the Lord with Gladness; serve Him as one who has an understanding that it is a privilege to serve God. The fruit that those who received the LORD served God with gladness was that they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayers. None of them was forced or coaxed but served God gladly.

TO BE GRATEFUL IS A CHOICE

What we do with whatever God has given to us shows to us whether we are grateful to God or not. We must thank God with a sacrifice. It is not a sacrifice if it does not place a demand on us. The first thing God looks at first when it comes to thanksgiving is the HEART. The heart must be grateful. Thanksgiving must be offered joyfully in dance and in singing. Our dance, our singing, our substance is all part of the sacrifice (Hebrews 13:15, 1Peter 2:5,9)

OUR OBEDIENCE IS PART OF SACRIFICING TO GOD

Let's be deliberate about thanking the LORD. Make it an eternal commitment!

ADD TO YOUR FAITH: INTEGRITY

THUS SAYS THE LORD! By all means, keep your joy! Refuse to be weighed down. It is with joy you draw waters out of the well of salvation. Don’t let 2021 end with complaints in your mouth. Refuse to be irritated by joining the company of those who are complaining. The fact that God has not done what you believe He should have done does not mean God has failed. By all means, keep your JOY.

Meditate on these scriptures to keep your JOY

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice”! Phil. 4:4

“Then he said to them, go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength”. Neh. 8:10

“For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”. Rom. 14:17

“Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation”. Is. 12:3

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls; Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills”. Hab.3:17

Summarily, refuse to be deceived, distracted and discouraged.

 “…But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble”. 2 Peter 1:1-10

INTEGRITY

There are many people who profess to be Christians but their life does not match their profession. Many Christians tell lies a lot. We are supposed to look like our Father. If He says something, He means it. God is looking for people He can trust. Sometimes, even the angels get confused by our multiple personalities. It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to work on yourself. Integrity is much more than not lying.

Your character (Integrity) is one sure way to measure your maturity/growth in Christ.

As Kingdom Distinguished Citizens, we should be seen as people of integrity.

What is Integrity? It means whole, complete. It is soundness, sincerity of heart, having strong moral principles, consistent in your character. Steadfast in keeping to a deep moral code. You are consistent, uncompromising in the principles of God’s word. We ought to be like our Father;

- Our Father does not change.

- God does not lie. Heb. 6:18

- His word does not change.

God expects us to be consistent. God expects that we are the same everywhere we go, who we say we are and more. Can God even count on you? If you have a measure of integrity, work at making it a hundred, work at adding more.

Someone said that a single lie can destroy a whole life of reputation. Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on the values of the kingdom.

What are your motives? Being a person of integrity does not mean you are perfect but you are working at it. It is not judged by what everybody sees but rather on what nobody knows or sees. Just telling the truth is not enough, what is your underlying principle?

Some practical ways we can be persons of integrity

- Be true. “But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one”. Matt. 5:37. In whatever you are doing, let your intention and action always match.

“In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the LORD; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change”. Psalm 15:1

- You say what you mean, you mean what you say. You can do nothing against the truth.

Some Things Integrity Does

- Ps. 25:21. Integrity preserves.

- Prov. 11:3. Integrity will guide

- Prov. 20:7. If you walk as a person of integrity, God Himself will work for you. Dan. 6:1-4.

Integrity is a criterion for promotion.

“Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens”. Exodus 18:21. This scripture gives an insight into what God looks out for when He wants to promote men.

Make up your mind to walk in integrity.

Prayer

LORD, I lift up my hands before you that in You I will stand true and sure 

2021 SCHOOL OF PRAYER

School of prayer is all about prayer. If prayer is ever important, it’s much more important now. Anybody playing with prayer right now is toiling with his eternal destiny. You cannot successfully navigate through this season upon us without being prayerful. It is not your crying that moves God but your faith in God that does. There is nothing you can use to replace prayer.

(Heb. 12:1-3, 1Pet.2:21, Heb.7:25, Mt.24:1-4, 1Pet.4:7, Mk.13:32-33, 14:38)

Jesus came to model a life of prayer to us. The busier you become, the higher you go, the more prayerful you should become. Jesus called His house (The Church) a house of prayer. The Church is the body of Christ and He is the Head of the Church. Praying did not end with Jesus on earth. He is currently at the right hand of the father making intercession and as His body, we ought to be engaged in what He is doing also.

Be serious and watchful in your prayers. The end of all things is at hand. If we will not miss the time and the flight, we must be watchful in prayers. It is the only way to escape the temptations of the times.

These times are meant to cause men to be drawn to prayers rather than be regulated by circumstances and events. This is not the time to sleep or settle for alternatives. A sign that we believe in God is that we will be praying to Him.

There are two things the Lord is saying now;

1. BUILD PRAYER STRUCTURES both at personal and corporate levels. To do this, you have to answer three questions;

When do you pray? (The hour)

Where do you pray? (The place)

What do you pray about? (The kind of prayer)

The least of your commitment to God is that He will have your time in prayer.

2. MAKE PRAYER INVESTMENT – Make prayer DEPOSITS for the days ahead. God is saying we should increase, spend, and put in quality time in prayer. Deliberately make prayer deposits because you will need them in the coming days.

BRIDGING THE GAP: Virtue

 “…But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble” 2 Peter 1:1-10

Growth doesn’t come unknowingly or unconsciously. The devil is scheming every day to cause you to stumble. Very few people are actively working to ensure that they are growing, maturing. The fact that you are getting older in age doesn’t mean you are maturing.

The summary of this text is that, if we will not fail, we have to be very deliberate in growing and developing. Thus, if things will not deteriorate in your life, if you will not miss ‘well done, thou good and faithful servant’, you have to be very deliberate. If you will not fail, stumble, fall, become unfruitful, you have to make every effort to add to your faith. If we are going to remain standing, we must keep developing and adding. Being born again is simply the beginning. There are things we ought to outgrow and things we ought to grow in, praying, reading and studying the Bible etc.

Don’t live life unconsciously, to chance or on sentimental grounds.

The only way to secure your calling and make your election sure is to keep adding to your faith.

The word ‘Add’ means to improve, minister, nourish, build-up, develop, supply.

The word of God that comes to you is a pointer to what God is saying and what He is showing to you.

Do not wait until God’s word makes sense to you before you respond, just take Him at His word.

Your life cannot attract more than the level of development you’ve given yourself.

If you ignore your spiritual state, you are ignoring your life.

If you want to go higher, you have to make higher sacrifices. The sacrifices are the things we have to keep making every day in order to follow Him-it is the sacrifice of our obedience to God’s word. When we are not passionate to keep adding to our lives deliberately, we are being deceived. When we can make a genuine physical assessment but cannot make a genuine spiritual assessment we are being deceived. If you become desperate for God, the things you are desperate for will be given to you by God.

Anybody who is casual in the things of God is already deceived. Jesus said there will be high-level deception in these times and He admonished us to take heed that we are not deceived. (Matt.24:4)

In other words, we ought to be more deliberate about the amount of food (spiritual) we are eating. Job declared that he has esteemed God’s word more than his necessary meal, Jesus also said, man, cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

“…Add to your faith virtue” (moral excellence, modesty, purity, goodness, good character).

Virtue means the inherent power of a good or other supernatural being.

Now that you’ve proclaimed Jesus, let your life reflect Him. You cannot claim to owe allegiance to Him and be doing something else or become something else other than Him.

The first thing we are to address in our lives is our character. Our lives should show men what it means to be a Christian, a husband, wife, Christian worker. Your title shouldn’t introduce you but your life. We are to ‘add’ the character of the person (Jesus) we pledge allegiance to.

If we will not fail, the first thing we have to do is ‘add’ to our faith character. You cannot be living contrary to the lifestyle of Jesus and expect to bear the fruits of Jesus/Spirit.

This call is to glory and virtue, it is not a call to shame and mediocrity.  What Jesus is demanding of us is so that we can be more like Him.

“Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby… But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”. 1 Peter 2:1-9

 The word ‘praise’ in verse 9 also means virtue, letting us know that our lives should bring praises to God. Your good works are only relevant because it brings glory to God. His calling of us is so that through us praise can come to God. We are here to show forth the praises of Him and not ours. Instead of labouring to be praised, we should labour that He be praised through us.

The way we become conscious of important dignitaries, we ought to be much more conscious of God in our everyday life.

When it comes to your character, even your thought is inclusive. (See Phil. 4:8) You should not just allow anything to take root in your heart and stay. Let’s be very conscious that our lives ought to give God praise in everything we do.

Prayer

I give God my lifetime

BRIDGING THE GAP: What do you believe?

  “…But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble”

2 Peter 1:1-10

What exactly are we adding on?

You will not stumble, fall or fail only on the condition that you do ‘these’ things. This is simply how our calling and election is made sure and it is not done unconsciously or for you. The devil has caged a lot of people and held them bound by making them reject the gospel that places responsibility on them. The gospel that removes responsibility from you appears to be more enticing.

All God requires from us is faithfulness and it is not possible to be faithful if you are not diligent or consistent.

The word ‘Add’ means to minister, to nourish, to improve, to build upon.

If a man truly embraces the faith and is in the faith and knows what he has embraced, it places a new demand on you. And naturally, it will make you want to pursue moral excellence. The pursuit of one leads to another. And since your source is the faith, you are not going for earthly knowledge but the knowledge of the faith you have embraced. When one of these ingredients is in place, the others naturally unfold. Whenever God itemizes things like these, once you miss one, you’ve missed all.

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy; meditate on these things” (Phil. 4:8)

From the above scripture, any time your thoughts doesn’t align with one of the above, you’ve failed all. It is impossible for it to be of praise to God and not be of virtue. None of these ingredients functions in isolation. That is God’s pattern.

Add to your faith, your faith in Christ Jesus. Who do you believe? What do you believe? You may have been in church for years but why are you a Christian? If you are asked, have you given your life to Christ, what does it mean? If you really gave your life to Christ, it is Christ that will be ruling you and not you doing your own thing. When you say you’ve given your life to Christ, it means your life is run and governed by the principles of Christ, it also means you are no longer your own. When you have given your life to Christ, it means Christ is the one living through you.

1 Cor. 15:1-5, Rom. 10:8

What you confess with your heart is what you believe with your mouth. What makes the difference is what you believe. What you believe in your heart should be that Jesus died, was buried, resurrected and it’s on that basis you declare Him Lord and Saviour. You have to believe that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is also at work in your life and because that’s what you believe, that’s what you’ll begin to see-if you believe, you will see the glory of God. This is the takeoff point, this is what brings salvation. There are people who have been in Christ for years and have no clue as to why they are born again, some were born again but later became unborn again.

Somehow, it appears we are doing God a favour by serving Him. Your coming to church, studying/reading your bible is for your good and not for anybody else’.

“Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences”. 2 Cor. 5:11.

There is a terror we must escape. It is real. God came down in a bodily form, leaving glory, laid down his life! And yet, we do not see the seriousness of that act! The greatest thing you could ever do in your life is to know that to be a Christian is a privilege, it is an honour and we should live with such an attitude. This attitude will translate to every aspect of your life.

“For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer”. 2 Cor. 5:13-16

This is the meaning of giving your life to Christ. If you are to live for someone, you have to know the person. You will have to know what He wants because you will be living according to His dictates and principles. It will no longer be what you like or what your culture says.

The question is, have you given your life to Christ? There is what to add on when there was something there already. If you’ve given your life to Christ, then you know that for anything that concerns your life, you are interested in what He is saying and run your life according to Him.

If you’ve truly given your life to Christ, you will not struggle with His principle or His structure. When you struggle with it, it shows something is wrong with your faith. When a man gives his life to Christ, He ‘kills’ you so He can live through you.

“But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." Luke 6:46-49.

The difference with these men was simply their response.

Summarily, to bridge the gap, we must make our calling and election sure but we cannot even do this when what to add to is not in place-our FAITH. Our faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ and what do we believe? He came, died, resurrected and is right now seated at the right hand of the Father. And before He left, He promised He will come back. And because we believe that process in our heart, we declare Him as Lord with our mouth, which means we have surrendered to His Lordship, we have given our lives to Him and thus, we will live for Him by His principles which are found in the scriptures.

The house that will not crumble is the house that is built on the Rock-Jesus (the one who hears His sayings and does them) and that house is you and me.

Know this: Every saying God brings to us is binding on us whether you were present when it was been taught or not.

To stay fruitful, this is the way.

Are you living for Jesus or for yourself?

If you believe in Jesus, the power of God is released on your behalf

JUDGMENT

 God set up Israel as a model for the nations of the earth. We are to watch His dealings with Israel and know this is how He wants to deal with every nation on the earth. If God can become the Lord God of Israel, He can become the Lord God of any nation that chooses to serve Him. If He’s not the Lord God of Nigeria, you don’t know the implication of it in your own life.

 

As believers, we have the God-given right and responsibility to hand over our nation-Nigeria back to Him.

“… With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Let grace be shown to the wicked, Yet he will not learn righteousness; In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, And will not behold the majesty of the LORD... Isaiah 26:1-10

God is the God of judgment. If He doesn’t judge, He’s not righteous. It is only the wicked that ought to be afraid of judgment. If a man is righteous, he knows judgment time is a time of vindication/reward.

Over time, we’ve allowed satan to give us a distorted picture of who God is and when a man does not want to serve God with all of his heart, he is also comfortable with this distorted view, so that keeps him in his comfort/compromising zone.

God is love but is also a consuming fire. God has not changed who He is-He says, “I am God, I change not”. God is consistent in His way, nature, acts and pattern.

- The judgments of God are real. However, there are levels and dimensions of judgment. When the judgments of God are in the earth, the inhabitants will learn righteousness; that is, they learn to fear and acknowledge that there is God and He’s calling for attention. There are many things we’ve attributed to the devil but are really from God. There are certain things God allows in the midst of His people; and until they come to the end of themselves, God’s judgments will remain. This played out in the nation of Israel, God withdrew from them at certain times and returns only when they cry for His help. When we see God’s judgment, we must be careful to learn the right lessons, it is for a purpose.

- Jesus learnt obedience through the things He suffered (Heb.5:8). He could have chosen to be rebellious but He chose to learn the right things. Whatever becomes your state and outcome is your choice. It was not imposed on you. Whatever you become in life is a product of the lessons you’ve learnt. As long as you are making excuses for whatever you are doing, you will never be delivered.

- As a people/nation, what lessons have we learnt? The sufferings of the time can either draw you away from God or closer to Him. The real deliverance is in the lessons learnt. In these times, we have to learn how to prioritize.  These sufferings are to bring us closer to God and not far from Him.

- What lessons have you learnt? A cycle does not break until there’s a change of lifestyle until you’ve learnt your lessons. With the kind of intercession that’s been pouring in for Nigeria, there’s no way Nigeria can escape from it, it is obvious the true Nigeria we are trusting God for will emerge sooner than we think. Where we are now is not the concern but after now. When God takes us through this, what kind of life would we live? Are we going to go back to our old way of living and functioning or we will maintain the momentum and pace? We’re crying for peace and stability, when we do have it, what are we going to do with it?

- The drills you put yourself through when you are going through difficult times are not supposed to lessen but are to be maintained and increased. That’s how victories are sustained. To what intent is the peace we want? The bible says Solomon had peace roundabout (1Kings 4:24), but this peace was not used to the glory of God. The peace we believe God to give us is not for enjoyment but for work. God expects more from us when He increases us. He expects more.

- We need to ask ourselves these questions…what have we learnt? What are we learning? How did we get here? Why do we want peace and prosperity? Nobody can learn your lessons for you. At every level, it has to be personal. God does not bless your plans but His. You have to find out the reason why certain things are present in your life, why you are where you are, etc.

“Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity…Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths”. Isaiah 59:1-9

From the scriptures above, you will notice that there is a progression. It didn’t start with the shedding of blood. It started with an attitude, action, thoughts. God is simply saying it is the things the people have committed that have hindered Him from showing up.

It is the generation that seeks God that can command the gates to open up to the King of glory. Psalm 24.

- Pride, Prayerlessness can also hinder God from showing up on our behalf. Our comfort has the ability to make us pray less but humility and coming to ourselves will bring God in. (See 2 Chron. 7:13-14, Matt. 13:25)

The devil will use different means to come at us but how clean are our hands? (See Num. 23:21, James 3:16, 1 Tim.6:10)

- The first goal is to receive grace and the help of the Spirit to live above board. We ought to project genuine faith.

The problem of Nigeria/individuals is not money. Our problem is a problem of righteousness. It is a problem of living according to God’s standard and measuring scale. God does not and will not compromise His standards for any reason. Serving God on your terms is as good as not serving Him at all. We attract the wrath of God when we begin to drop His standards. “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people”. Prov. 14:34

We cannot be embracing and accommodating sin and expect glory. If we are claiming to be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and walking in sin, there’s no way we can see the glory. Being the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus makes us act righteously and makes our righteousness count.

There’s a cleansing going on and judgment will begin first from the altar (the church). When we pray such prayer as “there shall be no peace for the wicked”, (Isaiah 8:22, 57:21) we must be sure that we are not a part of the wicked because God will answer such a prayer. The judgment of the Lord will begin from the house of God-the altar, to the congregation and eventually to the outside world.

Hear this: The only way out for the wicked in these times is repentance. If you don’t repent, you will perish.

Before any place is destroyed, it’s as a result of a lack of men who will take responsibility to keep and spare the place with righteousness. (See Genesis 18:23-24)

The call: As we pray and journey towards this new Nigeria, who will make a commitment to say, Lord, I commit to righteous living, to righteous acts, to upholding Your standards come what may, that my domain and territory be spared?

If we are making this pledge, then we must repent of our sins and iniquities. We must rigorously pursue righteous living. Being prayerful is a part of righteous living, fellowship with the saints is also a part of righteous living. It doesn’t just start in Church, but also at home, place of work, righteous thoughts, acts, etc, all conducted according to God’s standard uncompromisingly.

This is the need of Nigeria right now. God says “I sought for a man…” He’s always looking for men, a type.

THE PLEDGE

I choose to be one of the righteous persons because of whom God will spare Nigeria

I repent of my sins and iniquities

I turn from my wicked ways

I will, by the grace of God and the help of the Holy Spirit vigorously pursue righteous living

I will do my best under God, by His grace, by the help of the Holy Spirit to institute righteousness all the days of my life wherever God places me within my sphere of influence all over Nigeria in the name of Jesus. Amen.

ENLARGE YOUR CAPACITY -Pastor Bibi Courage Ode

Please, I encourage you to listen to the series on "making your calling and election sure".

There can only be manifestation when we truly know and have a revelation of the word.

To bridge the gap between information and revelation takes time.

Many believers do not even have the right information. It is only the right information that can translate to revelation. Make sure the information you have is the correct and right information that aligns with scripture because that’s what will translate to the right and correct revelation and knowledge of God.

Somehow, we get information on whatever we focus on. 

Often, the knowledge you seek is tied to your pursuit.

We need to walk conscious of the fact that our ultimate destination is Jesus Christ.

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”. (Eph. 4:11)

Our final destination is not heaven at last. Really our destination is God Himself. “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”. Phil. 3:7-14

There is no arrival in this race.

Making your calling and Election sure is to the end that;

-  You reach home. You secure your in eternity with God.

- You will fulfill your call/assignment here on this earth.

God usually brings His word because of the things ahead. We need to develop the character, the structural formation for the vision, mandate, expectation, challenge, blessing ahead. We have to prepare for what is coming.

In a nutshell, to develop the character and structural formation means you need to enlarge your capacity for what is ahead.

What is capacity?

- It is the actual or potential ability to perform, withstand, or yield.

- It is also the ability to receive, contain or to hold something.

- The maximum amount something can contain or produce.

To truly enlarge your capacity, you have to start from the inside.

Your increase is tied to the prosperity of your soul. 3 John 2.

It is the spirit of a man that sustains his infirmities. (Prov. 18:14)

We have to be deliberate in building capacity to handle the issues of life.

Don’t be content sitting down. Isaiah 52:1-2. Make a decision to rise up and leave the low levels.

Just like no one can eat for you, it is your personal responsibility to see you increase your capacity.

How much pressure can you take?

If God increases you, can you contain it?

In the face of trials, will you stay true to God and His word or will you compromise?

To enlarge your capacity;

- Be ready and willing to keep learning.

Remember, it all starts from the spirit, so give attention to the word of God

Challenge yourself, read, study and meditate on God's word. Read books, listen to messages.  When you come to church, pay attention to the word, participate in worship.

Naturally, as you grow, your capacity grows in certain areas. 

Growing spiritually enlarges your capacity.

There is nothing you give attention to and pray about that will not turn.

Jesus emphasized the need to give attention to His word.

Only one thing is needful. Luke 10:41-42. Your inheritance is in the word. Acts 20:32, Prov. 11:9, Psa.119:105

- Pray, Pray, Pray!!! Pray about anything and everything.

Your constant communion with the Lord in prayers brings about growth and development. When you give yourself to praying, the Lord can entrust more to you-A man that can stand in the gap. Eph. 6:10. As you get results and answers to prayers, faith rises, you can believe God for more and withstand more. Deliberately spend time praying in the Holy Ghost. It builds up. Jude 20.

- Allow the process of God in your life. Believe God through your challenges and keep your joy at all times. We are trained and enlarged through the trials of faith.

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way”. James 1:2-4 (MSG)

“Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything”. James 1:2-4 (NLT)

Do right, stay committed to the word in your trials. Besides, as soldiers, we are meant to endure hardness. 2 Tim. 2:1-4, 2 Cor. 6:1-13. Even in lack, be enlarged, give.

- Put everything you know to use. You mature by reason of use.  (Hebrews 5:11- 6:1)

Who are you discipling, who is getting better because of you?

Share what you know with others, put what you know to work, learn to give, to love, teach, encourage.

Prayer

Lord, help me.

Lord, I take grace that I might be enlarged