PROBLEMS THAT ARE NOT FROM THE ENEMIES

Today by the grace of God I would like you to open your mind and be very attentive, as you read this message. Don’t allow the enemies to make you miss one sentence from what you are about to read now. This message discusses the problems that are not from the enemies. A careful search of the word of God will make us to understand that there are five sources of sufferings for a Christian.

1. It could be due to satanic activities: Job2: 7 confirms this, “ So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the top of his foot unto his crown” Job’s problem therefore was as a result of satanic activities. The woman in Luke13 that Jesus healed; the woman called the daughter of Abraham was bound up by the devil for 18 years. Jesus himself confirmed the fact. It is an established fact therefore that Job as well as the daughter of Abraham were both afflicted by Satan.

2. Ungodly men: 11Timothy 4:14 says Alexander the copper smith did the much evil; the Lord rewards him according to his works. It is certain therefore that a believer’s suffering could come from ungodly men like Alexander the coppersmith.

3. The world system: 11Peter2: 8: “For that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds” The world system too could constitute a problem for the righteous men. They really harass the souls and spirits of believers’ everyday.

4. A believer’s suffering could come from man’s fallen nature: Romans7: 14&15: “For we know that the law is spiritual: but l am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I would that do I not; but what I hate that do I”. Man’s fallen nature without any doubt could give him problems.

5. Carnal Christianity: Philippains1: 15&16:” Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of goodwill. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds” 11Timothy4: 10: “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world and is departed unto Thessalonica”

Beloved readers, the five sources of believers suffering as far as the bible is concerned are what you have just read. It is important to locate the source of one’s problems. Remember the story of a farmer in Matthew, who planted wheat on his farm land but from nowhere tares started growing amidst it. The farmer knew straightaway that the enemy performed the wicked task. Whenever God plants good things in a place, the enemy or Satan is usually unhappy. It does not come as a surprise therefore that the enemy will make moves to destroy, pollute or choke them. I don’t know whether you will like what I’m going to say now. It is very tempting to blame everything that goes wrong on the devil. When things go wrong, people complain bitterly and say that it is the devil that pushed them to do it. The question is why did such people supply their backs for Satan to ride on? God does not at any point in time expect you to turn your back to the enemy and run. He expects you to wage war against him.

A long time ago in England, there was a cartoon in one of the major newspapers. It was the picture of a church and of the devil. The devil was standing outside the church crying bitterly. Then somebody came to Mr. Devil to find out why he was crying. The devil responded tearfully that he was usually blamed for the entire evil taking place in the church. The devil then narrated what happened at a Christian naming ceremony. He the devil had afflicted the food to be served there. He said that a greedy brother who was supposed to have only one plate of rice collected three. As he was eating one, he kept the other two under the chair. The brother became greatly afflicted by his own greediness, he had a serious cholera. The devil said that the brother in question was responsible for the affliction that visited him. The problem in our lives in many instances are not always demonic in their sources, no matter how we sometimes claim to be innocent. The blunt truth is that most people are the cause of their problems. Many of man’s problems can disappear if he could just remove selfishness from his life. He will also get freedom if he thinks first before acting. The selfishness of a man or a woman can land the whole of his or her family in trouble. A lot of problems will disappear from your life if you remove selfishness. A lot of homes would still be standing if they had removed selfishness from the marriages. Many people shut themselves off from blessings they are concerned only about their own comfort. You must know this fact, that most of those that were blessed in the bible by God had always blessed others first, both in cash and kind. Have you ever thought of the fact that if Jesus was selfish; he would not have come to die for us. The bible says that one might even offer to die for a good man. But when a person decides to die for somebody who is evil, then there is need to think of the selflessness of that person. You andIl are saved today because Jesus was not selfish. Selfish people often harm themselves.

There was this story of a man who had an accident and was rushed to the hospital. The nurse on duty was supposed to close at 8.00 p.m, the nurse refused to attend to them. She chose instead to paint her lips and change her clothes. The fact that the situation was an emergency one did nothing to change the heart of the lady. All pleas to make her change her mind fell on deaf ears. She insisted on going home. She went home only to discover that her husband was not at home. By the time she would run round to know where her husband was the injured man she refused to give the necessary service the previous night. The man died thereafter. Now if I may ask you this question was the devil responsible for the woman’s affliction? Many Christians may not like to face this fact, but a lot of believers are very selfish. And majority of the prayers that most people are engaged in are motivated by selfishness. Most people are angry because somebody has violated their rights. Maybe you are fond of saying, “ A whole me” the big question is “who are you”? If God withdraws your breath for five minutes, where will you be? When you are bitter against somebody because he or she has done something to harm your pride, you are undoubtedly a selfish person. Although this is very difficult for many people to admit, many problems are of people’s own making and a lot of people have specialized in what is called blame shifting. Try to accept blame for your own wrong doing and stop putting blame on someone else. Many problems we bring on ourselves are as a result of our words and our deeds. When you speak words carelessly in an angry way, those words could be missiles that have irrevocable results. The principle that the Bible highlighted in Galatians 6:7 can never be defeated. It says that, “whatsoever a man soweth shall he also reap” You cannot push it aside. David sowed a seed of family destruction, took another man’s wife and killed the man. David then reaped the harvest of family destruction from his son Absalom. If you must throw mud at others you must first of all stain your own hands. You must therefore not throw mud at people. It is just a simple law of repercussion. God himself can also be the source of our problems. Therefore not all problems are bad problems. God can design problems that will make you come closer to Him and also make you more prayerful. Naaman was a proud person who didn’t get his healing until dumped his pride and moved closer to God.

The flesh is another source of problem. Our own carnal nature is sometimes the source of problem. It is the old man. The demons and the evil spirits are like vultures that eat our flesh or our carnal nature. That is why problems from evil spirits can be solved by expelling the evil spirits. But if the problem is from your own flesh, death is the only one solution. That flesh must be crucified.

I remember the story of a serious Christian who boarded a bus and somebody gave him a dirty slap. Although the other commuters wanted the brother to retaliate, he refused bluntly. He said he would not slap the man back as his hands have been nailed to the cross. In essence, the brother was saying that his hands and indeed his entire body have been nailed to the cross. Beloved readers, the question you need to answer is this, can you do what that brother did? I am quite sure some Christians would rather deal countless blows on the person involved. Such people have not crucified their flesh. Satan will always send his demons into an already bad situation, if you are not wary. All you have to do is to avoid certain things. Every bit of anger that you put up could be your problem activator. Every exercise in worry that you engage in could be your problem activator. A good prayer point is for you to know your problem activator. Sometimes by memorizing and confessing scriptures that speak to certain life’s problems, Satan and his agents will stay away from you. You have to be determined to do this or else the flesh will keep you away from confessing the scriptures. Most things posing as problems to Christians cannot withstand regular bombardments of prayers. But the flesh will not do the regular bombardment of prayers. By the time people come to church and they are able to absorb the word of God, they will be able to deal with the spirit of worry, discouragement, impatience etc. They will also be able to repent and resist temptations. The problems would then disappear. By the time you come to the house of God and you refuse to work with other people’s clock, 90% of the problems are over. It will interest you to know that not all problems require casting out demons from believers’ lives. For example if the enemy has removed a part of somebody’s body such a person does not need deliverance, he needs a creative miracle. So it is a great prayer to ask for creative miracle where it is necessary in your life. Deliverance will not restore or replace any part of the body that is lost. Somebody that is not feeding well and becomes sick as a result of this does not need deliverance. He needs to feed very well. Sometimes it is after a situation has gone bad and terrible that the devil will send his demons there, meanwhile, the demons were not there originally. A creative miracle is required in those kinds of cases. And let me tell you one big truth today, many Christians need to check what they eat. You will find that the food recommended by the bible is not expensive but the problem is that what most people need is not what they eat.

Mark 12:30-31 “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength.”

This is the first commandment. And the second is in the same manner, “thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself”. There is no other commandment greater than these. There are three groups of people for you to love; you must love God, you must love your neighbour, then you must love yourself. Many will say I don’t need a lecture on how to love myself. The truth is that a lot of people have intense hatred for themselves. God made the body, soul and spirit. God is undoubtedly interested in every department of your life. You are the temple of God. Numberless people have nonetheless become the temple of Satan. If you then start to defile the temple of God, which is your body, the Bible says God will destroy you. So if you are destroying the temple of God, which is your body, or you are misusing it, you will have problems with God. It is destruction and you will think it is witches and wizards not knowing that it is God. God is interested in what you do with your body, physically and spiritually. It will interest you to know that God is interested in what you eat. A lot of Christians consume terrible poison everyday. When you overeat flesh, sugar, butter etc they will overtax your digestive organ because your body cannot process the food fast enough and unless you use up that energy supply that you have you will begin to have problems which you will think is demonic, when there is no demon involved. A lot of Christians kill themselves daily because of what they eat. Some people have become tea addicts, soft drink addicts, canned food addicts, chocolate addicts etc. Some hate fasting in any form, not knowing that it is another way of purifying their systems. God sometimes call people fools because they don’t know what they are supposed to know. A lot of people have intense hatred for themselves. And right now even as you are reading this message, do you know that you could be your own enemy. You may be fighting actively against yourself. But one thing is certain malfunctioning in anybody’s life is not God’s fault or the fault of his words but it is the person’s fault. People don’t like facing the truth. Like I was saying before a lot of people have turned themselves into masquerades. They are the ones pursuing themselves. How long will you run away from yourself? When will you stand up and acknowledge the truth about yourself? Acknowledging the truth about you is the first step in the school of spiritual maturity. For how long will you repeat the mistake of Adam? Adam did not point at himself, he said the wife thou gavest to me, she gave it to me and I did eat’ As far as you do not want to face the truth about yourself, you will give your enemies a hiding place in your life. The person then becomes a student in the dangerous school of self-deception, and then you will be fighting against yourself. A person cannot succeed in Christian life when he or she is lazy. A spiritual sluggard cannot pray and cannot read the Bible. A lazy Christian will listen to music for three hours, watch television for four hours and pray four fifteen minutes. A lazy Christian will come to the house of God only to collect blessings and not to really do according to God’s words. So a lot of people are battling against themselves while they think they are battling against the enemy. Apart from the devil, a man has only one other enemy; that enemy is his own self. When self is at work, God’s work will cease and man’s work will continue. The enemy or the devil knows that you are doing your own will and not God’s will. The devil will then move in and contaminate you. God’s work has ceased in many people’s lives. Anything you do for God that is not energized by His spirit is of little value. So the subject with the highest mark in God’s school is deliverance from self. A lot of people are in bondage to themselves. They are spoiling themselves and pampering their own lives. The subject with the highest mark in the devil’s school is self-exaltation. Pride is exaltation of self. Every postponement of repentance is pride and tantamous to wrestling with God. The senior prefects in the school of self-exaltation will rather die than to ask for forgiveness or to apologise. Such people are fighting actively against themselves. Failure to carry out self-analysis or coming to terms with you is dangerous. It may lead to fighting against yourself. The bible says ‘examine yourself, whether you be in the faith or not’.

You need to turn searchlight of the Holy Spirit on yourself now. You need to ask yourself some questions like, am I not proud? Do I not exaggerate? Do I not tell lies? Am I not impatient? Do I really like fasting and praying or am I doing it because others are doing it? Do I not love Jesus for the bread and butter that he supplies? Do I really love Jesus? Can I die for him? Supposing ten people are asked to go for evangelism in a village that is demonic, how many will be willing to go? Am I serious with God when I am rich? Is it not when I am broke that I get serious with praying? Am I not lazy in prayers? Do I not keep malice? Do I have love? Do I like being told the truth about myself or do I avoid those who tell me the truth about my life? Do I enjoy been criticized or do l hate criticism in any form? Do I have faults? Am I fully obedient to God? Am I the kind of person who likes to be noticed? Do I really have the baptism of the Holy Spirit or I’m still relying on one funny dream I had a long time ago? Do l tell lies against God? Do I say God said, when he didn’t say anything? Do I think or meditate on immorality? What do you think when you are on your bed alone at night as a bachelor or a spinster? Face the truth, beloved, if you are fighting yourself. Except you do this, you will be making a mistake fighting against all the forces of darkness. It is like that boy who was preaching a message on putting on the whole armour of God. In order to make people understand the message, he brought physical helmet, breastplate, shoes and shield to church and was wearing them one after the other. He put on the helmet, shield and everything he brought to the people. Then he asked the members of his congregation where the devil can attack from now after wearing all that. Then one old man who was sitting told the young man that the devil could come from the inside. If you are wearing the armour of God and the devil is already inside, you are just using that armour to cover him inside. What have you done about the one inside of you? It is that one that constitutes your greatest problem. The bible says touch not my anointed; if you are being touched then carry out a self-analysis. The enemy will use your weak point and the unconfessed sin in your life to attack you. Those who don’t want to carry out self-analysis are running away from themselves, they are fighting themselves and God like sincere people. How can God invest so much in a person and the person is not bringing any fruit? What type of fruit is your life producing? Or have you forgotten that Jesus does not put value on fruitless Christians? He however does not want you to be cut down. Remember that God is continuously crying that he saved many people, filled them with the Holy Ghost brought them to His sanctuary yet; they are not bringing any fruit. It is useless for you to be fighting witches, wizards and herbalists when you are not bearing fruits for God. Things cannot move for you until you allow God to possess you and your fruits. Do you want God to replace you? My prayer is that you will not be replaced in Jesus name. I also pray that you will bring forth fruits, such that God’s heart will be filled with joy. Many Christians will get into trouble because of their families. The bible says pour your anger on the family that calls not on the name of the lord, If your own family does not come together every morning and very night to worship God and to pray to Him, then you can be convinced that you are on your own. May God have mercy on you. What fruits are you producing for the Lord with all your intelligence, academic success, good job, financial position, influential personality, capacity to communicate and your natural leadership ability. Of what use are you putting it to further the course of the kingdom? A fruitless Christians is fighting against himself. Many keep saying, “I will fully participate when the Lord solves my problem” What a pity, you cannot blackmail God. Do not allow God to push you into where there is utter darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth. God can do it if you refuse to use the talents He gave to you. If you keep on burying your talents, you are giving your enemies opportunities to destroy you. Think about it. If you engage in strife, then you are giving enemies a chance to plant a stronghold in your life. You will also be hindering your own blessings. If you are keeping demonic materials in your house you are just inviting demonic invasions. You cannot attack demons successfully when you have their properties in your body or house. All the amulets and the waistbands will only strengthen the battle against you. If you obtain partial deliverance and you are attacking the enemies, you are only attacking yourself because part of the enemy is still in you. All those engaging in sexual immoralities cannot win any war against the enemy. It does not matter whether the person is your fiancée. You may think you are enjoying yourself now, but you are actually waging serious war against your life. The bible says that children that are disobedient to their parents are only inviting short life and they are fighting themselves. Those who are seeking worldly pleasure are killing themselves because they are strengthening their enemies. Why should you be strengthening your enemies? Why should you be fighting against yourself? Why should you not face the truth about yourself? Why not say Lord here I am. I want to be free from sins. Not all problems are caused by the enemies. Many play serious roles in their own problems. Before you bind a problem, examine it carefully to ensuring that you are not binding your self. I want you to face the truth because one thing is certain, if you are blameless and you pray fire prayers, no witch from the bottom of hell fire can stand against you. If you then notice that something is hindering you, self-analysis must be carried out. Ask yourself questions and make confessional prayers. Now if you know that after reading this message, you have an adjustment to make with God, just put your hand on your chest and speak to the Lord yourself about that particular area. Face the truth, do it now and don’t allow the enemy to be using your weakness against you, so that when you spit fire in your prayers the fire will function. Make sure you do it very well. What you are doing now is tantamount to taking legal action against the devil, and he would not be able to operate successfully in you. Pray the following prayer points for the week with fire in your spirit.

PRAYER POINTS

1. Let every evil desire and expectation of the enemy concerning my life collapse now in the name of Jesus.

2. I challenge every department of my body with the fire of God (lay your right hand on the head and the other one on the stomach) in the name of Jesus.

3. Let every stolen organ from my body be restored in the name of Jesus.

4. I reject every counterfeit blessing; I claim the correct blessings in the name of Jesus.

5. O Lord reveal to me who I am (a lot of people are masquerades to themselves they don’t know themselves. Yet they want to be attacking their enemies)

6. O Lord I repent from everything that I have done to aid the enemy.

7. O Lord, deliver me from every accusation of the evil one against me in the name of Jesus.

My Pharaoh must die

The message for this week is a prophetic one. Let us look at a few scriptures. In Exodus 15:9-12, we read about Pharaoh’s vow and the reaction of God Almighty. Psalm 18:37 also says, “I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.”

Many years ago, as a woman in a labour room was about to give birth, a red bird flew into the labour ward. The bird spent a little time, looked at everyone there and flew out. The woman did not see the bird again until the day that baby who had now grown up was wedding. At the reception hall, the red bird came again, landed on the reception table, looked at everyone and flew out. The girl getting married did not know anything about the red bird but the mother remembered that she had seen the bird somewhere. It occurred to her that it was during the time she was about to give birth to the girl. Nobody saw that bird again until the girl who got married was about to give birth in a hospital. This bird flew in as usual and was looking at this woman who had just been delivered of a baby. The nurses saw the bird and wondered what it was doing in the labour ward. So they closed all the windows and used sticks to beat it to death. In their attempt to do this, they completely forgot the woman who had just been delivered of a baby. By the time they turned again to her, she had died. Something began to pursue her right from the day she was born unto the grave. That is one of the characteristics of Pharaoh.

What then is the meaning of Pharaoh? Pharaoh means the son of the sun. The Egyptian kings were regarded as gods and the name Pharaoh has to do with destruction of good things in their infancy.

1. The spirit of Pharaoh is a destiny terminator. Pharaoh was the one that gave instruction that all male children of the Israelites must die and baby Moses was going to be eliminated but for God’s intervention.

2. It is the spirit behind hardened enemies. Pharaoh’s heart was so hard that the Lord had to bombard him with ten plagues, and even after the ten plagues, he still pursued the Israelites.

3. It is the strongman leading an evil army against the people of God. If you have dreamt of a crowd coming to fight against you, the leader of that crowd is the spirit of Pharaoh.

4. It represents enemies who want to re-capture us and bring us back to Egypt. By the grace of God, we have left Egypt. Whatsoever wants to grab a Christian and take him back to Egypt is the spirit of Pharaoh, and should be resisted with all the energy at his disposal.

5. It represents enemies that are insulting our God. You know when Moses went to Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go,” Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord? I know not the Lord.” He knew the Lord when he got to the Red Sea. This is what will happen to your Pharaoh today, in the name of Jesus.

6. It represents enemies that employ sorcerers and magicians against us. They say, “Catch this person,” “spoil this marriage,” make this child dull,” “wreck this business” and so on and so forth.

7. It represents arrogant enemies that say, "I can do anything I want to do against you and there is nothing you can do about it."

8. It represents spiritual exploiters which use other people’s labour for their own advantage and advancement. Pharaoh held the Israelites for over 400 years and put them under hard labour.

9. It represents hard slave masters who convert people to captives.

A sister had a dream where somebody brought to her a big bowl of her traditional bread and soup-two things she hates so much, and commanded her to start eating them. She refused and said, “I don’t eat this. Even, if I want to, this is too much for me.” But the person folded her arms around her back and forced her to eat the food. By the time she woke up, her tummy was swollen. She did not know what to do. She went to the hospital and the doctor screamed at her saying, “You’ve had this kind of problem and you sat at home all this while.” She said, “This has just started this morning.” The doctor said it was cancer of the liver.

10. It represents powers that can draw power from the sun and from the water. You may wonder what this mean. Ezekiel 29:2-4 says, “Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt: Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.” As we read in Exodus, Pharaoh used to visit the River Nile everyday.

11. It represents stubborn pursuers. This is the totality of it, which is the area we want to work upon.

One of the lessons a minister of God who is interested in helping people should learn is that a lot of people are being pursued without them knowing it and as a result of that many things happen in their lives. They cannot grow spiritually because they cannot settle down to learn from the Lord. Such people will vow to follow the Lord only to fall flat soon after. They are not able to pray at home. Such people quarrel with their heavenly helpers and go to places where they will not grow spiritually. They prefer people who will get them excited, and they clap their hands and shout. The pursuer is quite comfortable with them and many of them are hypocrites.

One of the most interesting things is the communion service. People come forward to take the Holy Communion with very solemn faces, wearing a holy look, with their hands clasped together prayerfully. Some put their hands behind so that they do not swing anyhow. The man who just boxed his wife the previous day and the wife too who has a swollen eye would come quietly to the front to receive the communion. People with red lips use handkerchiefs to clean up the lipstick so as not to stain the sacrament cup with their Jezebelian lips, and those who have just slept with sugar daddies and boyfriends queue too to take the communion. Some have their environment electrified with emotion and divine possession only for one hour or two. Once the ritual is over, it is fun again outside. The boxing husband returns to his one-eyed wife to continue from where he left her, the gossips go back to their gossiping, the sugar daddies and uncles who go to church continue with their girls. These kinds of people are being pursued but they don’t know. They put up all kinds of activities but get little results. Nothing good lasts in their hands. Even those who do not know them oppose them. People always repay them with evil. Theirs are lives under pursuit. Death pursues them every time and they experience a lot of spiritual fatigue. Endless fatigue and inability to pray are marks of a life under pursuit.

Sometime ago, some policemen were chasing a thief. You know that when somebody is being pursued, he cannot co-ordinate very well. The thief ran to somewhere that looked like a solid ground not knowing that it was a raft and he sank. Those pursuing him turned back. That is always the character of pursuers. Once they are finished with a person or have pushed the person to a place of no return, they turn back. If you are being pursued or monitored, you will be seeing masquerades running after you in the dream. You will be seeing snakes, animals, dead relations, naked males and females, rivers, armed robbers or birds in the dream. A certain sister came for deliverance and as the prayer was going on, suddenly two birds landed at her front and started fighting. They fought until they became weak and the pastor then moved in and finished them up. What happened? The woman was being pursued from both her father’s side and her mother’s side. When she said the pursuers should start to fight themselves, they appeared and the fighting started and they fought until they died. Before she got home, news were already making rounds about somebody from her father’s side with another person from her mother’s side who died about two hours earlier. When she looked at her watch, she noticed that it was during the fight show between the two birds at the church.

Please, pray like this: “My Pharaoh shall die, in Jesus’ name.”

Under what situation does a pursuer become stubborn?

It is one thing to be pursued and it is another thing for the pursuer to become stubborn.

1. A pursuer becomes stubborn when it is an avenger. If you have done something, you must pay for it. I know of a girl who got pregnant and had a baby but she could not tell which of the seven men that slept with her was actually the child’s father. At a stage, she found a white man who wanted to marry her but with a condition that she should do away with the child. He did not want to see the child. So, the girl thought of what to do. One morning, she soaked a towel in water and pressed it upon the baby while it was sleeping and suffocated it. The blood of that child pursued her. When somebody is being pursued, the pursuer wants to avenge something. It is only the blood of Jesus that can deliver one from the avenger.

2. A pursuer becomes stubborn when it is under an evil covenant to destroy. When the enemies take a vow to deal with a person, they would become stubborn. They will not rest until the person is finished.

3. The pursuer becomes stubborn when you have its property in your possession. A sister lived in a house somewhere in the Eastern region of the country. Immediately she moved in, everything in her life turned upside down but she was praying. She noticed that her landlady used to lock up one door at the back. She never opened that door. One day, her landlady forgot to lock the door. Out of curiosity she decided to take a look into the place, and to her utter amazement and shock, she found a whole human being carrying a calabash and some money scattered on the ground. Then she understood why nothing was working for her in that house. They enemy would always come for his property.

4. The pursuer becomes stubborn when you are living in secret sins. You think no one sees you and so continue in secret sins, the pursuer will become stubborn. It knows men who will spend time praying and reading their Bibles and also knows those who frequent the nightclubs. It can see your heart.

5. Pursuers become stubborn when they operate in multiples. They station one pursuer for marriage, one for finance, one for career, etc, pursuing a person at all fronts.

6. The pursuer becomes stubborn when it has an agent inside. The outside one can therefore enter easily through the internal one. Many people have pursuers that are already inside but pretend as if they are outside. So, all the arrows they are firing outside cannot work on them because they are already inside.

7. The pursuer becomes stubborn when there is idolatry in your foundation. That is why we must review the names we bear and make sure they mean well and do not glorify any idol. If your name or surname has anything to do with an idol, you will have a stubborn pursuer on ground. If you say, “Leave me alone now,” the stubborn pursuer will say, “Are you crazy? You’ve forgotten your name, that you’re dedicated to us.” Many families worship snakes. Members of such families should not be surprised when they are harassed by serpents.

8. The pursuer becomes stubborn when one is unconsciously possessed. Many people are possessed with familiar spirits or are blind witches but do not know.

9. The pursuers become stubborn if you are one of them and you are trying to get out. They will ask you where you are going and tell you that you cannot go. They will pursue you.

10. The pursuer becomes stubborn when it is attached to a curse. When a curse is issued on a person the pursuer will be running to fulfil that curse.

11. Pursuers can become stubborn when the parents of a person have dedicated him or her to them.

12. Pursuers become stubborn if you have previously consulted them and asked for their assistance.

13. The pursuer becomes stubborn if he was formerly your sex partner. Such a partner must have taken materials from your body.

14. Pursuers become stubborn if you are living on their altar. If you put your house or shop on their altar, they will continue to harass and pursue you.

15. The pursuer becomes stubborn when you are his or her spouse, in the case of spirit wives or spirit husbands.

The Way Out

1. You have to review your past life with the help of the Holy Spirit. Review it so that your Pharaoh won’t have anything to stand upon. Have you consciously or otherwise entered into any evil covenant? Did you have sexual relationship with boyfriends or girlfriends who were possessed? Do you have a history of childhood sicknesses, and that anytime you fell ill you were taken to herbalists? Is yours like the story of a baby whom they said used to cry endlessly and so they threw her into the midst of termites for 24 hours and when they brought her out, she stopped crying, but from that time her life has been perpetually damaged? How were your parents looking after you when you were young? Have you been cursed by your parents? Have you ever gone to a diviner, a charmer, a white garment church or a herbalist, or eaten anything sacrificed unto idols? Ask yourself these questions.

2 Carry out restitution of whatever does not belong to you but is in your possession. Anything that is not yours and you are sitting tight on it you had better release it so that Pharaoh will not continue to pursue you.

3. Deal with the spirit of Pharaoh both in the heavenlies and in the water. Many people are working below their destiny, serving their enemies and drinking the waters of afflictions. Some have been converted to hewers of wood and drawers water. The pursuer ensures that such people do not move far with God. The foundational spirits are holding tight to so many lives. They want to work for God but the idol says, “Where are you going?” All kinds of things are asking them where they are going. They are being harassed and cheated. This is why you must pray with anger and aggression, with violence and holy madness, so that any Pharaoh in any area of your life will die. Your Pharaoh must die.

Prayer Points

1. My Pharaoh must die, in Jesus’ name.

2. O God, arise and let internal pursuers scatter, in the name of Jesus.

3. Every foundational Pharaoh, die by fire, in the name of Jesus.

4. Let all my pursuers fight themselves, in the name of Jesus.

5. Every Pharaoh working against my breakthrough, fall down and die, in Jesus' name.

6. O God of wonders, arise and manifest Your wonders in my life.

7. Enemies that have refused to let me go, O God, arise and scatter them, in the name of Jesus.

8. This week, I must experience breakthrough in all fronts, in Jesus’ name.

9. O God, arise and let all stubborn pursuers scatter, in Jesus’ name.

CONVERTING MISTAKES TO MIRACLES

Generally, people make mistakes in their daily lives. It may be on their jobs, finances, marriages etc. Effects of such mistakes can be devastating. It is therefore better to prevent a mistake from occurring than to start looking for remedy after it had happened. But I want to tell you that your mistakes could be converted to miracles if you are a true child of God. The basic aim of this message therefore, is to look at how this can be done. Indeed all your past failures could become future successes. Let us see what the scriptures are saying concerning this. Proverbs 24:16 “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief”.

Furthermore, Psalm 37:23-24 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighted in his way. [24] Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand”.

I don’t know what your situation is at the moment, but I know of someone who knows everything about all men, who by the words of His mouth can cause a change in any situation, no matter how serious or terrible. Get it settled in your mind that there is no human being who can claim to be hundred percent perfect all the time. The day you announce your infallibility to the world, that is the day you enroll in another school of failure and folly. However, let me correct the wrong notion that only dullards make mistakes. The truth is that as far as you plan to make progress, you will make mistakes. You may be criticized but it doesn’t matter. It is o only an indication that you are making progress. Proverbs 9:9 “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning”.

Psalm 141:5 ; Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.

The whole Bible was written for our correction and learning. It will not augur well for a Christian who refuses to admit his mistakes. If you study the Bible very well, you will definitely learn from other people’s mistakes. A good example was Eve who danced to the tune of the devil rather than God. Adam followed suit by taking to his wife’s counsel instead of God’s. Noah too committed a blunder. He found great favour in the sight of the Lord, but rather he survived the deluge, he planted a vineyard, where he got drunk. Abraham, the father of faith made may mistakes too. He had Ishmael through Hagar, who became the father of the Arab nations harassing the world today. Isaac made his own mistakes too. He was deceived into blessing the wrong person. Jacob too made a lot of mistakes during his time. He robbed Esau his brother of his birthright. He also demonstrated that he loved Joseph more than the rest of his children and this had an adverse effect on him. Moses made eleven mistakes when he was receiving call of God, one of which was when he complained that he was not eloquent enough for the kind of ministry God wanted him to undertake. His temper later because his greatest undoing in the wilderness. Christians make a lot of mistakes through negligence, laziness and indiscipline. Owing to the negligence of Eli the priest, his sons, Hophni and Phinehas messed up the temple by sleeping with women at the sanctuary and stealing meat offered for sacrifices, thus committing sacrilege. When reports on the disgraceful behaviour of his sons reached him, Eli failed to keep them in check. He was a negligent father, and as a result, he broke his neck and died. Another type of mistake that people make is that of curiosity. This mostly affects young people who are easily influenced by their peers. They form bad habits through the persuasion of others. They get introduced into smoking and drinking alcohol and finally graduate into taking hard drugs. Before they started taking these things, they must have been deceived into thinking that they could control their intake, but they eventually found out that it was not that easy. This is mistake borne out of curiosity. We have another type of mistake, which arises out of panic. People who get panicky abort any adverse situation are likely to make terrible mistakes which may cause them discomfort, severe pains and even death. Ignorance is another reason why people make mistakes. This was the kind of mistake Moses made when he killed an Egyptian and this put him into trouble. As you run through the Bible, you will find out that there are lots of God’s people who make mistakes, but recovered from them and forged ahead. They did not waste time mourning or getting discouraged. Elijah, the man of God who called down fire made a mistakes too, he got to a stage in his life time when he became so discouraged and distressed, that he made this statement in1 Kings 19:4 ; “ But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers”.

1 Kings 19:10 ; “And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away”.

He kept on repeating the same complaint and prayer, while God was asking him to do something else. He prayed in error. John the Baptist, inspite of his bold, fiery and heart-piercing messages, out of mistake doubted the messiah ship of Jesus Christ. He wavered in faith when he sent a messenger to Christ to inquire as to whether or not he was the expected Messiah of Jesus Christ. He wavered in faith when he sent a messenger to Christ to inquire as to whether or not he was the expected messiah. Peter also made a mistake when he denied Jesus Christ. However, despite the mistake of Peter, he eventually recovered. How about Paul the apostle? Whilst he was answering the charges brought against him before Ananias the high priest, the high priest commanded someone who stood by to slap him. It was an enraged Paul that said, “God shall smite thee, thou whited wall; for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commadest me to be smitten contrary to the law” (Acts 23:3) When he later realized that he was talking to God’s high priest, he quickly apologized.

HOW CAN WE CONVERT OUR MISTAKES TO MIRACLES?

1. DO not pamper your mistakes: It has been observed that an average person finds it difficult to admit his or her fault. Recognize and confess your mistakes to God. Don’t justify them for any reason. Do not allow pride to prevent you from admitting your mistake and asking for forgiveness when you have offended a person. If you are the type of person who apportions blame on others whenever there is little problem, then you are not yet serious about changing your situation. Understand that it is pride when you pamper your mistakes. A lot of people have been devastated by this attitude.
2. Identify the reasons for your past mistakes: evaluate your past life carefully to see where you had taken wrong decisions or made wrong statements. If you discover them avoid repeating them.
3. Learn your lessons: It is not the will of God for somebody to pass through a school for nothing. You must be able to show the evidence of the lessons you learnt in the school of mistakes that you have attended. Psalm 119:71 ; It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. Although, the Psalmist suffered afflictions, he learnt his lessons. God is an effective teacher, who will never allow one to move ahead until he or she has passed his promotion test. This is the reason why many people remain endlessly in the same class. The prodigal son in the Bible did not make any meaningful progress until he realized his mistakes and learnt his lessons. God sometime allows a particular thing to happen to you so that you can learn a good lesson from it. For example, if God foresees that you are going to have an accident, he can cause a vehicle to have a flat tire such that you will never arrive at the spot where the accident is bound to occur, at the time it was planned to happen.

Have you learnt lesson from your excessive talking habit? If not, you will be shocked to know how much of your secrets that have been revealed to the enemy. A sister dreamt that they made use of a Dane gun against her. She dodged the first and second shots whilst she grabbed the gun and the third time and broke it. When she woke up, she was quite perplexed. At her place of work the following day, the very person she narrated the story to was her enemy. This person ostensibly prayed that God should help her. With this information, she quickly went back to their witchcraft meeting to inform members that the gun given to her was not effective and that she needed a better one. When this was revealed to the Sister, she learnt how to control her tongue.

You have probably made mistakes that caused confusion and trouble for you and God is expecting you to learn your lessons from them. God will never build on the foundation of a person who has refused to learn lessons from past mistakes. God will maintain that He cannot build on a wrong foundation constructed with impatience. Most of the problems some people think are insurmountable can be removed easily, if they learn to be patient in all things. That indeed is what God is looking for. Therefore in the school of God, you will continue to repeat your examination until you pass it both honorably and excellently. So, stop putting ammunition in the hands of the enemy. What this means is that you should stop supplying information to the enemy. It is very unfortunate that many people are fond of this.

4. Make restitution where necessary Exodus 22:1 “If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep”.

This is restitution in the biblical sense. In the same vein Luke 19:8 “And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold”.

He was a man that Jesus decided to visit at home. Zaccheaus was a short man and a tax collector who climbed a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus, who was expected to pass through a certain place Luke 19:9 “And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, for as much as he also is a son of Abraham”. The reaction of Zaccheaus to the statement of Jesus vividly told us what restitution is all about. Check your house, do you have stolen items there? Most believers have stolen items like towels, spoons, biros, envelops etc, from their offices or hotels. Many people have stolen substantial things like cars from their employers. Restitution of such things must be done by returning them to where they belong. Those expecting miracles must correct all the wrongs in their lives as nothing must be concealed or spared. The devil being a legal expert knows the Bible in and out and will definitely capitalize on all the things you fail to restitute to accuse you.

You have to make restitution before your mistakes can be converted to miracles. Think about it. Sisters who had collected money and other gifts from their former boyfriends when they were in the world, have to do something about it quickly. I recall the message on the wicked man. In that message, the reason why some people have poor finances was probably because they once stole from others. It may sound very strange to hear that some people develop stomach problems after eating stolen foods but it does happen.

5. Be a source of blessing to others: You should always meditate and think about what you can do to help others in need. In the Bible, it was the people that were ready to help others, that God sued and blessed as well. Consider the story of the widow of Zarephath. She gave herself out to be a blessing to people and she was adequately compensated for it.
6. Count your blessing and glorify the Lord always: Learn to show appreciation, even for what you call an insignificant blessing from the Lord. Cultivate the habit of praise and thanksgiving. You should always show gratitude for the seemingly small breakthrough you have, to pave way for a big one.
7. Never give up: A lot of people give up easily. They quit at an early stage. Such people complain bitterly of not getting any result from endless deliverance and dry fast programmes. However Psalm 145:14 “ The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down”. This verse serves as an encouragement in every trying situation, Christians, therefore should never give up
8. Arrest the spirit of Error: If you are serious about converting your mistakes to miracles, then you have to bind and paralyze the spirit of error. Failure to do this will result in a drift back into the pit of ignorance. The early patriarchs of the Bible did not have any history to learn from but we do. The fathers of faith in the Bible did not witness a dead person come back to life to tell them about the reality of hell fire. But now, we have many examples to learn from. At the dispensation in question, Jesus had not come in the flesh and so the people did not have Jesus or the Holy Spirit. But in our time we have the Holy Spirit. They did not have much knowledge and information that we have now. Therefore if people who are opportune to belong to this generation refuse to learn from their mistakes then, they are committing a great sin. When someone who is regarded as a matured Christian suddenly commits a scandalous sin, it is the spirit of error that is at work. The spirit of error leads people blindly to commit sins against their will. It is the spirit of error that makes a person to fall into the same sinful trap twice. This is the reason why a person who was once on fire suddenly becomes lukewarm or cold. The spirit of error also cages the financial breakthrough of some people when they fail to pay tithes. This same spirit is at work when a believer finds out that all his efforts in the service of the Lord yield no dividend or something is compelling him to go ahead to do what he obviously knows is bad. When the person refuses to learn from the mistakes of others and therefore becomes unteachable then the terrible spirit of error will come into operation. It is the spirit of error that pushes Christians into consulting herbalists and soothsayers for solutions to their problems.

The second commandment says, “Thou shalt not make thyself any graven image nor likeness of anything whether in heaven or on earth. So the Bible forbids any pictorial representation of God, Jesus or any angel. There are many organizations where they wear uniforms in the name of serving God. Some even say that the best time to pray are as follows 9am, 12 p.m 3p.m, 6p.m and 12 midnight. Such people have been captured by the spirit of error. Have you been to a place where a so-called man of God asked you to stand on the Bible to repay? Or you have heard a false teaching about reincarnation giving the impression that a dead persons can come back to live again. It will also interest you to know that any prayer that involves sacrifices and rubbing of eggs on the bodies of people are all erroneous. Consider the religious groups that make eating of meat a taboo. Such groups even go further to replace the blood of Jesus with that of animals. They burn incense and are better described as herbalists in disguise. The ceremonial visit to the mountaintop, is undoubtedly the gateway to demonic possession. The lives of many people who visit such places have been ruined beyond repair because God does not approve of such exercises. All organizations that are baptizing sinners babies and the dead are operating under the guidiance of the spirit of error. What do you think of those who pray on alcohol for people to drink? Or those who do blood bathing and praying to God with fire. They have gone deep into error. The sit of erroneous practices are inexhaustive. Imagine those who make their followerers to drink all sorts of holy water. They make them depend on vision and thereby restrain them from exercising simple faith in God. Any Christian who goes to such people is controlled by the spirit of error. Those who strip themselves naked to pray have been captured by this evil spirit. If you had accepted revelations or prophecies from someone who gets caught way in the spirit for days, l will sincerely recommend you for deliverance. Because this kind of people travel in the spirit to the second heaven to file a case. It is quite awkward to know that some evil organizations are now merging Christiansnity, Islam and Traditional religion together. Some even go as far as leaving their hair uncut like mad people. Such people are operating in error. Those who go to them will be possessed by the same spirit. It should be clear in your mind now, that people possessed by the spirit of error will make unpardonable mistakes. Therefore, if you had got involved with any of these places l have mentioned in the course of this message, then you should really seek for deliverance there is no way you will not need it Isaiah 8:20 “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them”.

To this end, any believer who wants to arrest the spirit of error must guard against the following:

1. Don’t have confidence in the flesh: Paul the apostles says “we have no confidence in the flesh”

2. Avoid pride: To do away with the spirit of error pride must be summarily dealt with in our lives.
3. Throw away impatience: Lack of patience will make you to lose what God wants you to get. In other words, you stand to lose many good things in the store house of God if you lack the patience with which to wait on Him.
4. Avoid spiritual carelessness: Don’t trifle with your Bible reading, prayer life and holiness. Notice that as far as God is concerned they are all important You cannot replace one with another

Beloved, if you follow these steps, whatever mistakes you might have made in the past, the God of yesterday, today and forever will convert them to miracles. But if you fail to decide today, you will remain where you were. There is no point crying over your past mistakes because god has promised to raise you up again from where you have been knocked down by your mistakes. Many believers who have fallen need to rise up again, to resuscitate businesses that have collapsed and to release brains that have been caged. Many people suffer from various complex afflictions today. God will definitely convert all your mistakes into miracles as you pray these prayer points fervently.

PRAYER POINTS

1. The devil will not use my relative against me in the name of Jesus.

2. Let all my mistakes be converted to miracles in the name of Jesus.

3. Let my presence begin to terrify the enemy in the name of Jesus.

4. All evil records against me, be roasted in the name of Jesus.

5. Any power that wants to put me to shame, receive disgrace in the name of Jesus.

6. l bind and cast out every spirit of error in Jesus name.

7. l reject every evil control over my life in Jesus name.

8. Let every evil remote control system fashioned against me be consumed by the Holy Ghost fire in Jesus name.

9. I paralyze every spirit of confusion operating against me in Jesus name.

10. Father Lord, as from now onwards, let the Holy Spirit direct me in all things in Jesus name.

Principle of violent faith

We shall begin by looking at a popular passage in the book of Matthew. A lot of people always wonder how they can have faith to do exploits while many worry about how to have faith at all cost.

Matthew 11:12: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of God suffereth violence and the violent take it by force.” We can break that verse into three parts and look at each separately:

a. “And from the days of John the Baptist...” .

What is special about John the Baptist? For 400 years after the Old Testament of the Bible, there was no prophet. God was not talking to anyone. Everybody did what he wanted - there was no voice from heaven. When God wanted to start speaking again, He spoke through this man called John the Baptist. John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah. You and I know who Elijah was. He was the no-nonsense prophet of fire. John the Baptist came, dressing strangely and preaching strangely but using a very direct format. As he baptized people, he told them: “I am baptizing you now with water but somebody is coming after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not fit to untie. This person shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” This was the first time somebody began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand,” and that opened a new chapter.

b. “Right from that time, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence…” You need to be violent to possess the kingdom and all the benefits therein.

c. “And the violent take it by force.” When you become violent, then you take it by force meaning that it is not something you take on a platter of gold but something you fight to get. The Bible says, “Fight the good fight of faith.” So, faith involves a battle. You need to fight to lay hold on eternal life or else it would slip from your fingers.

If you read the Bible from the beginning to the end, you would be able to classify people into different sections according to their faith. For example, men like Abraham, Elijah and Elisha had violent faith. There were other men who though had faith but theirs could not be classified as violent. There were some too who had what you can describe as weak faith. I hope you do not belong to the class of the weak. I want to believe that you too want to experience the supernatural power of the Almighty. If that is the desire of your heart, then look at what 2 Kings 6:1-3: “And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell is too strait for us. (Revival was happening in the school of prophets. More and more students were being admitted and it got to a stage when the classrooms became too small for them.) Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.”

I want you to take notice of these short sentences - “Go ye,” “I will go.” Elisha like most men of faith was not a talkative. He went with them and when they came down to Jordan, they cut down trees. Verses 5 –7: “But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas master! for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; (into the river) and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it.” This, logically does not appear reasonable for science would tell you that a heavier object would sink while a lighter one would float. The power of miracle is what we call violent faith.

It would have been easier for them to say, “Well, let us look for money to buy another one because it will be impossible for us to bring out the iron from the river since nobody even knows where it is at the bottom of the river.” Nobody knew how to fetch it. It was not possible in the realm of the physical but now we are talking about the supernatural. When you talk about the supernatural, it means the physical laws are set aside.

Beloved, if you do not release your faith to God, your situation will become worse. Doubt has never been known to help anybody. Anything that has to do with God is supernatural and requires your faith being released to make it happen. What you do may not make sense but then faith is like that. Elisha said, “Grab the axe head.” He was saying, “Don’t let your miracle pass you by. Grab it. Grab the axe-head!”

During prayer meetings, a word of knowledge may come for just one person and you find many people catching it. This is what we call violent faith. Eventually, somebody whom it was not meant for initially would get blessed because there is an overflow. He catches what God wants him to catch. You need to do like that always. Don’t let your miracle pass you by. Grab it with both hands.

There are so many things that God cannot do. If you look at the Bible very well, you will find out certain things that God cannot do. For example, God cannot tolerate evil. Also, we know that God cannot receive a sinner into heaven. He cannot occupy a second position in your life. God cannot share you with other things. God cannot lie. God cannot change, God cannot be defeated, God cannot bless a lie. God cannot do things contrary to the Scriptures and at the same time, God cannot be pleased without faith. The Bible says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God. He that cometh unto God must believe that He is and He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) So, one of the impossibilities of the Scriptures is that somebody will please God without faith. Anytime your mind begins to doubt the word of God which you had initially believed, then you are displeasing God. Essentially, what I am trying to make you understand is that the supernatural which is the ultimate comes by faith alone.

There was a certain man of God who was a pastor in a small church where there were many rich people. He mounted the pulpit one day with his mind on the message which he had already prepared. But the Lord changed it and commanded him to talk on Isaiah 35:8:“And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” He started off that Sunday talking about holiness. His congregation did not like it at all and after the service, they warned him that if he still wanted to continue to feed, he had better drop that holiness topic by the following Sunday. He apologized to them and promised to change the topic. As he was about to start speaking the next Sunday, the Spirit of God said, “Your message today is to be based on Isaiah 35:8.” He started off again. Some of his audience walked out, while others stayed. After the service, they went to him and said: “We told you last week to change your topic and you still went ahead. We give you one last chance to make amends.” But he got to the church on the third Sunday and as he was about to deliver a message he felt his congregation would like to hear, the Holy Spirit came again and insisted that he should preach on the same topic he had talked about the previous two weeks. That day, by the time he finished the sermon, the church committee handed him a letter indicating no further payment of salary as well as temporary suspension. The man remained like that and was no longer able to feed himself. Then one afternoon, one of these rich men decided to pay him a visit. He believed by that time, whatever was worrying the pastor would have left him and that hunger would have taught him a lesson. He intended going to mock him. Although the man of God was really hungry, when the rich man came and asked how he had been feeding, he replied that he had enough food in his pantry. At that time, he had no money nor food, but he had the faith that his God would not put him to shame in the presence of this mocker. Beloved, by the time the pantry was opened by this mocker, the Lord had filled the place up with all kinds of food. That is violent faith.

The level of faith that many of us operate will not get us as much victory as we want. When you limit your God, He would decide to stay limited. If you decide to enlarge Him, He will be great in your life. This is the area where many believers are half full or half empty. Some lose the faith they had because of one or two disappointments they have had in the past. Some suffer tragedy here and there and thus conclude that the Almighty must be deaf and dumb. They would say that if God could allow this or that to happen to them, they would not serve Him again. They do not understand that the enemy is trying to destroy the little faith which they have. The situation therefore is that while some are struggling to acquire this much needed faith, others are busy throwing away the little they have. But to move mountains, we need real violent faith.

Faith is such a powerful force, that is why the Lord said that faith is able to move mountains. “If you have faith as small as the mustard seed, you shall say to that mountain, remove from there and move into the sea, it shall be so and nothing shall be impossible unto thee.” Faith will laugh at impossibility. Some people pray in the spirit, pray aggressively, pray with great joy, pray with great laughter but inside, they are still afraid and therefore results elude them.

It is like a sister who entered an aircraft and after some time they landed at an airport to take more passengers. They were served with food and just as she was about to start eating, the Holy Spirit said, “Don’t eat now, start praying because one eater of flesh and drinker of blood is just about to board this aircraft now.” So she looked up and saw some people moving in. She could not discern who the eater of flesh and drinker of blood was. Then satan ministered to her to pray after the food. So, she swallowed everything and then the plane moved up. Immediately, there was a problem. The pilot then informed them of the danger ahead. Wind, storm, everything started going wrong with the plane. It would come up and go down. People began to shake. Even men wearing business suits began to cry like babies. Then the sister now started praying. She prayed madly. You know that when death is starring you in the face, you will become aggressive. She prayed with holy anger and because of that aggression, she prophesied and said nothing would happen to anybody in the plane and that it would land, in the name of Jesus. After the prophecy, she was still afraid so she continued praying. God had mercy on them and they were able to land safely.

When you want to move beyond normal Christianity to the supernatural, the first thing you will work on is your faith. It is the foundation of everything. The Bible says that faith gives you the power to cross the barrier of what makes sense to the region of the unusual. That is faith. Faith is the ear which refuses to be troubled or harassed by questions or doubt. You can hear what other people are saying but one way or the other, you block your ears to it because that is not what you don’t want to hear.

The man of faith listens and is very attentive to the word of God and responds to it. Faith looks. The Bible says, “And they looked on Him and they were lightened and they were not ashamed.” The eye of faith turns away from impossible circumstances and looks at the possibilities. Faith would look only at the Saviour and His greatness. Faith would look at the stones that the Holy Spirit has placed in your hands instead of the height of Goliath. Faith would believe the promises of God, then the spiritual transaction would take place. Everything people are looking for is somewhere in the spirit. The trouble however, is crossing that physical line into the invisible realm and possessing your possession.

A person may know that a bank is very sound but it is only when a transfer of funds has taken place that actual transaction has begun. But if you don’t transfer money, you wouldn’t really know what they are talking about. The spirit world is like that. It remains there until a transaction takes place. The currency for that transaction is faith.

Electricity cannot communicate its energy until contact is made. It is faith that will make contact with the spirit world. It is the switch that supplies the spiritual contact. But things like unbelief will tie God’s hands, enthrone self and encourage sin. The Bible makes it clear that there are only two people to whom all things are possible. These are namely: God and the believer.

It says, “With God, all things are possible,” and "All things are possible to him who believes." It is possible to be holy and not have one iota of faith. Holy men and holy women of God abound with no faith. In fact, I will not be surprised if a search is conducted on the bags of members on church days and drugs are found there. Yet they have come to meet the Healer. So, a person could be holy but have no faith. Holiness will get him into heaven no doubt but his little faith will not move him too far into that realm.

The Bible makes us to understand that it is a sin to doubt. Romans 14:23: “And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” So, to doubt is to commit sin. Unbelief is a hindrance to the mighty works of God as it is recorded in Matthew 13:58: “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” It does not say nothing was done there. He did some but not many. Why? Because of their unbelief.

The centurion was a classical example of a man of faith. His son got healed by his absolute belief in the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. He understood that he did not need the physical presence of Christ for the miracle to take place. He also understood that the power of God cannot be hindered by distance.

The men that brought the paralytic man to Jesus through the roof exhibited great faith. The woman with the issue of blood got her healing via violent faith. The blind men that came to Jesus, the Zarephat woman, the blind Barthemeus and many others in the Scriptures exercised violent faith. So, a very crucial question to ask is, of what degree is your own faith? Is it at zero level?

There are some people who cannot believe God for anything. These are the people whose faith is at zero level. Others have very little faith. You know the category you belong. One thing is clear, if Christ could tell His disciples that they did not have faith by calling them men of little faith, then, little faith is almost equivalent to no faith.

Peter went as far as his faith could carry him. But the end result of the journey of Peter was as if he had no faith. The people who sat in the boat and made no effort to walk on the sea were even better; but he walked and sank and could have died. He cried for the mercy of God- a weak faith indeed.

When there is no pressure it becomes almost difficult to tell those whose faith is violent.

I was talking to a sister who was crying bitterly. Her problem was that she found a love letter written by another woman inside her husband’s bag. That was all. I then asked, “But you are a child of God, don’t you have faith?” She refused to agree with me that God can change things. This is just a clear example of the weak faith I am talking about.

Using God as an alternative is a demonstration of unbelief. When you keep tablets in your pocket and you are at the same time praying for healing, you are deceiving yourself for deep down in your heart, you know that should the prayers fail, you will swallow the tablets immediately. Blind Bartimaeus was not ready to give Jesus an alternative. When he found that the people around were trying to persuade him to take an alternative by asking him to keep quiet, he got mad with them and was able to arrest Jesus’ attention.

Faith without works is dead. But a living faith obeys, suffers and serves God in spite of all hardships. When you are told to lay your hands where there is problem, what you are doing is to apply work to your faith. The Bible says that faith without works is dead. So, when you move your diseased body, or do that which you were unable to do before, you are adding what is called works to your faith.

All the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 took some actions. They did not just remain stagnant. There is what we call vain faith. This means empty, worthless faith; one that is not result-oriented, faith that is not based on the Lord Jesus Christ. We need the type of faith mentioned in Luke 7:9: “When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”

The faith of the Centurion gives us an idea of what violent faith means. Let us consider the following characteristics:

1. He could discern the authority of Christ: He told Jesus that following him home would amount to ceremony. He believed that Jesus had sufficient authority to speak to the wind and it would carry the message wherever He wanted. He did not have to go there. In the same manner, there is no sickness that God cannot heal and there is no problem that God cannot solve within a short time, no matter where you are if you believe. If you believe that somebody must have to pray for you over every issue, then something is lacking in your faith and you may not go far. He understood that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow.

2. He could discern the power of Christ.

3. He understood that the power of God does not regard distance and space is not a barrier.

4. He knew that you could exercise faith for someone who is not in a position to exercise faith.

5. He understood that distant deliverance is possible. Even as you are reading this now, if you have children in far away countries, you can stand in for them; and tell the word of God to cross over the sea to meet them and it shall be so.

6. He understood that you don’t have to be physically present in a place for God’s power to move. The Bible says that Jesus sent His word, healed them and delivered them from their afflictions. No wonder, Jesus said, “Great is thy faith, I have never seen such faith in Israel.” (Matthew 8:10)

The principles of violent faith

With all the Scriptures that we have looked at and what we have discussed so far, let us put these principles together:

1. If you want to exercise violent faith, fear must not rule or change your mind. If you want to exercise violent faith, you must hold on to whatever God has promised you without wavering at all. Don’t allow fear to rule or change your mind. When people are confessing failure, the man of faith is saying something else.

When a situation confronts us the first thing that comes to many minds is fear. The mind goes to all the negative possibilities. Somebody came to see me and was shaking before me. I asked him to narrate his problems, but he was shaking and could not talk. I noticed that he had his hand in his pocket and the hand too was shaking. When he could not talk, I said somebody should put his hands in his pocket and bring out whatever was there. When the person brought out the piece of paper inside his pocket it was a Quit Notice. Why was he shaking like that? He had thought of all the negative possibilities: “Ah, you mean they will throw my luggage on the street? So all the kids will be crying outside and some people who know me as a believer will now be laughing at me.” It was obvious that he had totally lost his faith and had succumbed to devil’s lectures on fear.

Sometime ago, when the government announced that some civil servants would be retrenched, many of them started to pray and some who had never done dry fasting before, did it. All the early morning tea disappeared. Why? The enemy had shown them negative possibilities. Some believed they were finished. God cannot do anything with those who think they are finished. If you want to exercise violent faith, fear must not rule or change your mind. Once you pass that test you have passed a great test.

2. If you want to exercise violent faith, you must know that the Lord has the ability to meet your needs in a way that defies human logic. This must be clear in your spirit.

3. If you are going to exercise violent faith, you must stop working mathematics with your brain. It does not work that way. You must know that the Almighty can do something at anytime. He does not mind sacking the whole of the unbelievers in a place because He wants His children there. He does not mind sending somebody to jail if that is what will make his prayers to be answered.

A certain sister was always beaten up by her husband, so she decided to pray that God should change the man. I told her that with this prayer, anything could happen and when it did she should not be sad because when God would decide to answer the prayer, He might start in a way she wouldn’t like. Behold, a week into the prayer, the husband was arrested for manslaughter and was thrown into prison. There in the prison, man saw the uselessness of all the charms he had been relying upon. He said, “Ah! If with all these charms and fresh incisions I received everyday, I could still land in this place, then something is wrong.” It was in that prison that he gave his life to Jesus. When he eventually came out, he became a better prayer warrior than his wife. Sometimes, when God starts answering prayers, it looks strange. The people of Israel prayed for deliverance in Egypt and God started to answer the prayers by showing Moses the burning bush. What is the relationship between a burning bush and people who were praying for deliverance? That is how the Almighty operates, always in a way that defies human logic.

4. If you want to exercise violent faith, when God says something, take Him by His word. When God says He will do something, you will ignore feeling and logic.

5. If you want to exercise violent faith, you will not give the Lord any alternatives. Your attitude must not be that of, “If He fails, I will switch over to this.”

It is so easy to reach the Almighty if you come to Him with child-like faith. You don’t have to be super spiritual neither do you have to be a pastor before God can answer your prayers. You don’t even have to be a General Overseer or a superintendent. As you are reading this message, you can relate to the Almighty and remove mountains.

Lay your hand on your chest and with all seriousness pray the following prayer points:

PRAYER POINTS

1. Any power choking my faith, be uprooted by fire, in the name of Jesus.

Focus on one thing, then pray this never-failing prayer:

2. O Lord, with the power that you used to dry the Red Sea, dry this problem, in Jesus’ name.

3. You that angel dispatched from the Lord to bring my breakthrough, locate me now, in the name of Jesus.

4. Any sickness programmed into my body, go back to your sender, in the name of Jesus.

5. I refuse to marry poverty, in the name of Jesus.

6. You evil power in charge of my place of birth, fall down and die, in the name of Jesus.

7. Every evil power programmed into my dream, I bury you alive, in the name of Jesus.