When Women Pray …

The place of prayer is the place of communion with God. One form of prayer or the other ought to take place when man meets with God. Whether it is worship, thanksgiving or joining forces with Him to enforce the victory He already won for us; it would be prayer in various forms. It could even be God speaking whilst man listens. The point is prayer is man communing with God. Prayer is therefore, where man rubs mind with God allowing his mind to be influenced or impacted by God. No wonder no man who prays often, remains the same; he is constantly being changed to be like God. God expressed a strong desire to enjoy communion with man in Jesus shedding His blood and ensured that every regenerated man has in his DNA a yearning for communion with His maker and/or Father. So our God is never tired of hearing us as some would like to have us believe; He longs to commune with us. 

I Corinthians 3: 18 “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord-who is the Spirit-makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.”

Very often, people try to make a joke of prayer. They make it appear like believers don’t need to pray to be successful and live life to the fullest but that would be lying to ourselves. It is only to the extent that one communes with God that we have victory and live life as God ordained. The times we live in are tough; only those who know their God can do exploits. Moreover, for a believer to operate in dominion, as is our mandate, we need information that only God can give us. Our relationship with God gives us the added advantage of accessing privileged information known to God alone which the ordinary man is unable to access. Our ability to access this information is sharpened by our relationship with the Trinity.  

2 Corinthians 10: 4 “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” 

Prayer does get tedious sometimes. Sometimes just “busyness” and challenges of life make it difficult to pray; but these are all tricks of the enemy working through our flesh to keep us from our Father and the place of strength. Sometimes we are even deceived into thinking we can resolve our issues faster than God would so we would rather try instead of praying. These are all distractions, meant to frustrate us and kill our desire to commune with our maker. Also, receiving information from God places us at an advantage because information is powerful, though we must learn to correctly apply the information, so the devil works to ensure we don’t commune with God thereby ensuring that we are unable to access information which makes him seem powerful. Countries are known as powerful because they are well informed and use the information they have to their advantage. 

Luke 18: 1 “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.”

We need to pray now more than ever before. There are things happening even in this Country that make it compelling to call on He who alone can deliver us. Women, as scriptures show, have been an integral part of God’s move; it remains the same today. When women sincerely and deeply commune with God, heaven has not been known to remain unmoved. So please come out to the Standard Alliance Event Centre at No. 1 Providence Street, off Adewunmi Adebimpe drive off 2^nd Lekki roundabout by Standard Chartered Bank on Saturday 18^th October from 9am prompt to 3pm so that together we can, on a Pentecostal platform, call on God concerning our families, nation and society.

THERE IS LIFE CHANGING POWER IN THE WORD OF GOD PT 2

There is no doubt that it is in proper understanding and application of the word of God that we are able to decipher who we are. No disposition or assignment, no matter how major, would describe who God made us to be. God can use anyone for any service He decides to use them for at any point in time and make them right for the assignment if they yielded to Him; the word of God is unchangeable and also bigger than any assignment, thing or persons. Living according to the truth of God is therefore more profitable to us than we can ever imagine. Nobody can ever achieve the ultimate of what they have born to do if they do not operate as the persons they were made to be. Such persons only just struggle through life, sometimes perceiving themselves as misfits and never able to attain to their predestined heights of success. We are all written into God’s word wherein He also completed all He will ever do. 

John 19: 30 “When Jesus had tasted it, he said, it is finished! Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.”

Our part is to reach deep into the treasure chest that is His word and take the treasure that is ours so we can then flourish as we have been destined to. Every believer is made complete in His word. Power accompanies revelation of the word of God which brings the word to pass. Jesus said His word is Spirit and Life; it is living hence its ability to bring life to dead things. God’s word and His Spirit are one and the same so that to be guided by His Spirit is allowing one’s self to be guided by His word. This is the reason Jesus had to leave for the fullness of God to be able to come and indwell us in the person of the Holy Spirit; this is the reason we are able to live a life that is pleasing to God. Living a life that pleases God is beneficial to us because we are then able to access and enjoy the benefits that belong to God’s children. As we are led by His word/Spirit, we are bound to please God; walking in His fullness and the path of love. God is love, it takes walking by the Spirit to express the love that God is. Also, the Holy Spirit who fully understands the mind of God, will ensure that we end up in heaven. 

Romans 8: 14 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”

No believer can succeed outside the Holy Spirit. Human effort fails at some point and makes Christianity tedious. Human effort, at its very best can only make one nice or good but the Holy Spirit enables us please God so that we then please men; and because of Him, even our enemies are compelled to be at peace with us. Such is the power in the word of God simple as it appears to be. As long as one is dependent on the word of God, when they stumble, don’t rejoice because they will not fall; they only “stoop to conquer.” It is a Spirit led life. 

2 Corinthians 3: 16 - 18 “But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord – who is the Spirit-and makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.”

However, we must learn to approach the word of God with openness and sincerity. If we approach God’s word with any ill-motive and/or agenda, we would only get a twisted understanding and not the truth or mind of God. Man’s heart is so evil and has great potential to be so warped that it can cause good to appear evil and twist truth such that it appears to support evil. No wonder God says to be carnally minded is death. A person whose life is built on what is good by their mind, no matter how good they are, can be dangerously evil. When we turn to God’s word, we must do so honestly that the veil may be removed, for only then will we understand God’s word and then see Him therein and become more like Him, revealing His glory.  

THERE IS LIFE CHANGING POWER IN THE WORD OF GOD PT 1

Life is full of paradoxes. God expects us to mature as believers; people who know and rightly divide His word. Indeed, the extent to which we benefit from being His is tied to our maturity since we only enjoy the portion of slaves until we mature. To mature after salvation, one needs consistent counsel from the word of God which said counsel remains hidden to us if we do not approach His word as children; herein is our problem. It is not easy to be mature believers and yet approach His word with the openness, simplicity and sincerity of heart that children have. So, we are often unable to access the accurate counsel of God as well as the transforming power which accompanies revelation knowledge.

Mathew 28: 3 “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of heaven.”

It sounds so simple to be asked to approach His word as children but in reality, it is not. The adult mind, in this present world, is very colored and/or impacted by the so that despite the desire to approach Him like children, we just don’t. We are so worldly wise or set in our ways that when we approach God, through the study of His word, we often work our understanding in the way that suits our purpose and okays where we are at; but if God thought we were okay, He would not require us to be transformed. Since He did, we would be disobedient if we only tried to improve ourselves, even to the very best of our ability. 

Romans 12: 2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”

My dictionary says “to be transformed is to be given a completely different form or appearance”. This is beyond improving “you;” it is to be so different that you are no longer recognizable even by you. Such transformation only comes through the power in The Word of God. God can keep changing one, making them who He needs for a particular season as long as they yielded to Him. It is sad when we sometimes work to restore our old nature after being transformed. Of course, as soon as demons see any believer working to restore the old nature, they come with a reinforcement to facilitate such retrogression. 

We must be careful with people who want to “classify us” even if it is in the nicest of ways. Don’t even argue with them so they don’t confuse you; it is okay for them to think anything especially when they don’t mean harm. A believer who aims to be led by the Spirit can, at best, only be described as a believer. People who want to “classify others” sometimes have good intentions; that is just the way they deal and only as they grow in Christ will they understand that God is the potter who makes, unmakes and then remakes. We are God’s representatives in this world, how can He use us effectively if we insist on being defined as anything other than believers? Let us yield to Him and just be tools in His hands.

Acts 10: 14–16 “No Lord, Peter declared. I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean. But the voice spoke again: Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean. The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.”

Whatever assignment we are given by God must not be the reference point for who we are. God may choose to use differently at other times; we just need to check that we are fulfilling His will, manifesting His glory and power. If we allow ourselves to be described, we also like Peter may unintentionally resist God when He changes our assignments. We must ensure that we are open and accessible to God. Live the confusion to those who feel the need to describe you; stop trying to explain something you don’t understand yourself. If they are meant to be a part of your life, they will understand at some point.

Trust And Obey – Our God Demands Obedience

Christianity is such a simple faith but we complicate it. Believers have complicated it so badly now that we who ought to be the custodians of The Word, barely understand it. As His children, God already gifted us with the understanding of His word yet the truth of it appears to be lost on us. Even when we manage to understand it, maybe this only happens in the part of the world where I live, we don’t feel the need to be conformed to it. When we study, it is sometimes to show others that we also have a good knowledge of the word and at other times, it is so that we can be appointed to “positions of honor” in church; and some of the best of us study so we know the confessions to make to activate the release of “our blessings” because we know that making the right confessions facilitate the release of blessings but we forget that obedience to His word is also a prerequisite for receiving these blessings.  

Mathew 7: 26 “But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish

In truth, we don’t do ourselves good by being disobedient because simple as the word is; the fulfillment of most of the promises of God is firmly rooted in obedience to the accurate word of God. If we don’t obey His word, we struggle endlessly to activate these promises and are never able to. One of the things that happen when we give our lives to Christ is that we receive power to obey Him but if we receive the power and our preference is for a life of disobedience, we have a problem; a problem which isn’t fixed by having demons cast out of us but by a decision to be obedient. Sometimes we think we are better off because we are obedient in some areas but our God requires total obedience. As I heard a preacher say, “The word of God is not a buffet so we can’t pick and choose” what word we prefer to obey. This is a full meal served by God and we must obey it all.  

Isaiah 1: 19 “If you will only obey me, you will have plenty to eat.

Proverbs 7: 2 “Obey my commands and live! Guard my instructions as you guard your own eyes.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day the loss suffered from disobedience is ours. We suffer untold loss of blessings because we are obstinate. God dislikes disobedience so much He likens it to witchcraft. So why would any adult believer think it is okay? Saul lost an entire Kingdom just for partial obedience. Like a lot of us, he may have thought he had outsmarted God by obeying some of His instruction. Just like us, he may have thought after all why would God be so mean as to punish him when he obeyed most of His instructions? I am certain that Saul never thought his action would cost him his crown. Who would have thought that the loss of the Kingdom could be the consequence of his action?

1 Samuel 15: 23 “Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft and stubbornness as bad as worshipping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

We have suffered too much loss to continue like this. We either choose to obey God or leave pursuing a life in Christ. Obedience is one of the requirements of following Him and God already counsels that we must count the cost of following Him before we make the decision for Him. It is not being fair to ourselves if we choose a faith we cannot enjoy the full benefits of. God has made His desire clear; He desires to bless people who would trust Him enough to obey Him. God desires children who don’t think they are wiser than He is so they obey Him instead of attempting to modify His instructions to suit them. Such people, thinking their way is better; insult God, albeit unwittingly, and are never able to conform to His image so that they end up looking nothing like God.  We must accept to submit to the Lordship of Christ so that we can be like Him here on earth.

Adults please note; Our Decisions Have far-reaching Effects

Our lives are built on the blocks of decisions we make. If for example, one sincerely desires to go west yet their everyday decisions point East, they will end up in the East and until their decision making parameters are altered to re-route them west, they will remain on the same route going further on it despite their desire. We must therefore, pause from time to time to evaluate our decision making parameters. This is even more compelling with every new level of success. When God takes us higher, the new position may demand an adjustment to our parameters for making decisions. If also, one desires to change their person, they must alter their parameters otherwise any change experienced will not be sustainable; they will only go so far before they fall back to their old ways.   

Romans 12: 2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”

As believers, we would only make ungodly decisions if our decisions are not rooted on the thoughts or mind of God which is revealed in His word; we will not even have good success in life. Unfortunately, our decisions cannot be rooted in both God’s word and the world because they never agree. One of the challenges of having one’s parameters based on God’s word is that one may seem complicated. The bible likens such people to the wind; you neither know where it is blowing from or to so it gets tough for people to put you in a box which they want so badly to do so they can says they know you. Even your friends sometimes get dizzy trying to understand you so that unwittingly, they fight to put you in “a box” and are desperate for you to remain in it just to make it easier for them. Though they act in love, they are dangerous because they are best placed to bring you down despite that they did not intend to. You must fight to be who God made you to be.   

Mathew 16: 23 “Jesus turned to Peter and said, get away from me, satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

One of the challenges of ministers in today’s word is that though believers choose genuinely to follow them, sometimes even to the extent of excluding The God of the minister, as the minister begins to be transformed to be more like Christ, he is changing and the followers get confused. They know what they want the minister to be which is what he was when they chose him so they struggle to ensure he/she remains the same but only for their immediate benefit. Not intending to, they manipulate the minister until he dies spiritually from submitting to man instead of God. They then start criticizing him, unaware that his death is a result of their actions. Unfortunately, ministers are totally lost today because they gave in to his kind of pressure and yes! it is your responsibility to ensure that you remain yielded to God.

Acts 21: 13 – 14 “But he said, why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus. When it was clear that we couldn’t persuade him, we gave up and said The Lord’s will be done.”

God uses people differently and we are made to fit our purpose. Some believers would sometimes make decisions that would make some other believers gasp. We must respect our differences. Bishop Jakes once spoke about giraffes and turtles having different perspectives of life because they have divergent views. The turtle feeds on the ground whilst the giraffe feeds from a much higher place so that if they are ever friends, each animal must respect the fact that their views are different as most of their decisions will be. I daresay say that though the toe is just as important as the eye in the body, for their relationship to work, they must both respect the fact that their functions are different and as such would make different decisions.