PRAYING TO ENCOUNTER THE GOD OF SUDDENLY

Text:
1 Chronicle 4:9

“And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.”

We serve a God that does wonders. We have a God of the suddenly. We serve a God that can change things in a moment. The God that can transform things. He is that same God that was with Joseph and transform him from being a prisoner to become a prime minister. Divine Encounter made Esther, a house girl, to become a queen. It is that same God who lifted David from being a shepherd to become a King. It is that same God that defended Daniel to the extent that the king ordered everyone in his domain to serve the God of Daniel.  I prophesy into your life today, the miracle that will make men and women to serve your God shall manifest in your life in the name of Jesus.

The Lord encountered Hanna, a woman who had no child and was mocked according to the Bible. When God changed her story, she began to sing and praise God. I am praying for divine encounter that will make your father’s house celebrate you in the name of Jesus.

When God meets a man, He does not leave him the way He met him. He changes him and makes him a different person. In 1 Samuel 2:1 the Bible says “And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. 2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. 3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. ” in verse 6 the Bible continues “The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. 7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them.” This is the kind of God we serve. The life of Hanna never remained the same.

What do we mean to encounter God?

To encounter mean to transform; to make a man a transformed person.
To meet at a point where a person will be translated.
To encounter means to experience God
To have a relationship that will change a person’s story. Such changes take place suddenly.

·         When God want to transform or encounter a person, in most cases, God on His own performs miracle. Miracle is something that happens without a person’s effort. It happens without you struggling for it.

·         When God wants to encounter a person, God can change rules to the benefit of that person. He makes things that are not normal to become normal. I heard the testimony of that our brother; they asked him to vacate his accommodation and later on they came back and told him they have changed their mind - that is what we are talking about. God will make things not relevant to be relevant for the person. He makes somebody who is not known to be seen by everybody. I see God changing someone’s story in the name of Jesus.

·         When God wants to encounter a person, he can send someone to him. He makes him to meet his divine helper – an helper that will help him even beyond what he hoped for. This reminds me of the story of this young boy. He came to church that morning and while going back home, he met a man. It was very unusual; the man parked his car and offered to give him a lift. He got into the car and while they were going, the man asked; how long have you been in this church? He responded; I have been here for three years. The man asked again; what do you do? And he responded; I am not doing anything. The man asked for his qualification and he told the man. The man told him you have been in this church for 3 years yet I have never seen you. He told him tomorrow he was going to give him a job if only he could do the job. The young man accepted to do the job even when he did not know the nature of the job. On the second day he got there the man told him he was starting a new company and would not have time to monitor the company so he was putting him as the manager of the place. He also asked the boy where he was living and the boy mentioned a very far distance. The man suggested that he will not be able to be coming to work early, so he changed his location.  When this brother was narrating this story, he said; ‘I don’t know God can work like this. I have been hearing this kind of story but sometimes I hardly believe.’ I am praying for you, the man that will help you shall locate you in the name of Jesus.
There are some people here, the kind of poverty they are going through, they will think it is witchcraft. It is not witchcraft. When God sends a helper to you who will meet your needs, it is then you will know that it is not witchcraft that is disturbing you. So God can send divine helper when He encounters a person.

·         When God wants to encounter a person, He gives him/her grace to do things that ordinarily he/she cannot do. Who was Daniel? He was asked to interpret a dream he was not told. What about joseph? God wanted to promote him, He gave him grace to interpret a dream that pharaoh does not know the meaning. Our God is a story changer. He is a God that transforms a person. The scripture tell us ‘…He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes,’ This explains why God raised Joseph and made him to change his prison garment and be promoted the same day. He got married and became prime minister the same day.  So divine encounter is to meet God where nobody has ever encountered Him.

There is this story of a young lady who was looking for job and God told her ‘I will give you a job today.’  She went to one establishment and saw in front of the office printed on the wall; ‘No Vacancy.’ When God wants to have an encounter with a person, He opens the ear of the person so that he can hear, He also opens the eyes of the person so that he/she can see. So the young lady entered the office and met the secretary. She told her she needed a job. The secretary asked her if she saw the inscription on the wall. While they were arguing, the director came in and asked what was going on. The lady replied that she came with her application for a job. The director collected it and look at it and said yes, this what we wanted. Divine encounter will open your ears to hear what God is telling you. Divine encounter can open a person’s ear to hear a language you have never spoken before in your life.
There was a particular man in a bus. The language they were using was the language this man has never spoken before. The men in the bus were speaking and saying; ‘who among the herbalist do we take this man to?’ meaning that they were suppliers of human beings to ritualist. The man had never heard that language before. But he heard them clearly as if they were speaking his own language. Suddenly God made them to park. The brother came down and told them he was not going with them anymore. They pleaded and pleaded with him to follow them but he refused. They did not know that he has heard what they were saying. I pray for you that the divine encounter that will bail you from trouble will manifest in your life.

·         When God encounters a person, he makes the enemy of that person to be making mistakes. God will make his/her enemies fall into errors and mistakes that will promote the person.

·         When a man encounter the God of the suddenly, he will have effortless success – success that you don’t struggle for.

·         When a man encounter the God of the suddenly, the secret of the enemy will not be hidden from him

·         When a man encounters God, he will live a life of sufficiency.

·         When a man encounters God, shame and sickness vanishes from him. Disgrace becomes a thing of the past in his life.

·         When a man encounters the God, poverty dies. I pay for you that every agenda of poverty in your life shall die in the name of Jesus.

What must we do to encounter the God of suddenly?

1.       Respectfully fear God.

2.       Study the way of God. Know that God is the friend of the upright. Know that God never forsake the righteous. I met a sister that told me about her husband. She said; when there is money and she tells her husband it was prayer time. The husband will say go and pray. When he does not have money, he will be the one asking his wife; ‘dear are we not praying today?’ She said the moment he said that, I will know there is nothing in his pocket.  She will take that advantage to make sure that all the prayer the man needs to pray even after money comes the husband does it.  Study God to know that you don’t need to go on vacation with God. He loves consistency. Know too that God loves righteousness. Anyone who wants to encounter him must be righteous.

3.       Educate yourself about God. Know what God can do. Remember the Bible says with God all things are possible. This applies to those people who know and believe that all things are possible with God. Only people that know this are the kind of people that can encounter God. Encountering God is to believe that even if something is scattered, God can repackage it again.  They brought a man to the church. He was almost dead and seven men gathered round the man and were praying. One of them said, the prayer we are praying is not relevant to this man. He told others that the man they were praying for has been shared by witches and wizards and asked them to pray like this; anyone holding the heart of this my brother, return the heart and the brother started breathing again. They continued for the other parts of the body and organs. The man that was carried to the church was able to walk out of the church.

4.       Always learn to praise God. Praise God to move God. Prayer is for us, praises is to move God. So learn to praise Him.

5.       Learn to pray aggressively on a regular basis.

6.       Work for God. Look for something you can do for God.

7.       We must learn to do what God will support. Do the things that will make God happy. Solomon encountered God because of the sacrifice he offered to God and God told he ask for anything. My brethren, when you encounter God, your story changes. The people that knew you will be asking how it happened.  When a person encounters God, such a person will be promoted. People that looked down on you before will begin to look up to you.

8.       Surrender your life to God. Many believers who come to church do not know who God is

Prayers

O Lord my father advertise your name in my life in the name of Jesus

Where others fail, I shall be celebrated there in the name of Jesus.

Anything about my life in the hand of witches and wizards, come back now in the name of Jesus

My property stolen by witches and wizard, come back in the name of Jesus.

Anything missing in my life, Holy Ghost fire locate them and bring them back in the name of Jesus.

Inherited poverty, I am not your candidate, die in the name of Jesus.

When you refuse to grow By Dr D.K. Olukoya

Text:
Galatian 4:1 – 3

“Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world”

It is important for you to grow. It is important for your life to take a new shape. It is dangerous for your life to remain stagnant. Being stagnant will result you to another school. The school of decay. That the heir, as long as he is a child is not different from a servant. The enemy can do anything they want to do with the child because he is not strong enough, not wise enough and not grown up enough to fight.  Many years ago we preached about fighting the enemy that fought your parent. Whether you like it or not, the devil that fought your parent is coming to fight you. If its not doing that yet, the person is not fat enough to be eaten up. They are still fattening the person up like a christmas goat. The devil that fought your parents will fight you. If you are still young, its because you have not grown to that level yet. It will fight you but you need to know how to fight back but the best way to fight is for you to grow up. Last week, I gave several marks by which we can measure whether you are growing in Christ or not. You could be coming to church for year but remain a spiritual baby. You could take part in activities in church but as far as heaven is concern, they see you as a baby. 

Signs to know if you are growing or not.

1.       Ability to teach others. You can teach others the way of the Lord. You can mentor others. You can take a young believer from the scratch and begin to disciple the person. This is part of why we have discipleship classes here.  So ability to teach others is a sign that you are growing. Are you unable to convert a soul, mentor a soul, then you are not growing. Have you been born again for five years and you cannot point your hand to someone you lead to Christ and you are helping the person to grow? It means you are not growing. The problem of Christianity is that there are too many babies in the house of God.

2.       Ability to eat solid spiritual food instead of milk. It is babies who drink milk. Solid food is for adult, solid food is for the mature. Failure to eat solid food indicates a lack of spirituality. It means you are not growing. If all the messages you want are prosperity! Prosperity!! Money! Breakthrough! You are not interested to learn about the state of your soul, you are not interested in heaven or hell. It means that it is milk you want to be drinking. If you are going to a church and the teach you how to make money but they did not teach you how to fight, the day the enemy will come against you to get the money away, you will have no weapon to fight because you were not taught to fight. So if you cannot eat solid spiritual food, it indicate that you are not growing. This is the truth.

3.       Ability to discern between good and evil. You know what is good. It is good but not God’s idea. Through diligent study and prayers, you are able to arrive at a  decision. You are able to know which one is God’s word or man’s word. You must have knowledge and discernment. Discernment is a mark of maturity. Rehoboam was the son of Solomon. The elders came to him and told him ‘your father chastise us terribly please reduce it and make it easier for us.’ He call the elders and they advised him. They told him to speak gently with the people. He abandon that advise and called the young ones and they told him don’t agree with them. Deal with them. Tell them; if your father used wipe, you will use scorpion. It was a mistake and that was the end of that kingdom. Ability to discern between good and evil is a mark of maturity. Ability to look and see someone standing before you, not after the manner of a man but after the manner of the spirit. That is maturity. There is no point in fighting or arguing with someone God open your eye and you see a snake inside his/her stomach because you are able to discern.

4.       Humility – colossian1:28 “Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” The humbly people receive spiritual instruction but the immature one, they know it all. Everything, they know it all. Everything – I have heard it before. The immature ones are too old to learn. That is why you see some elderly people roaming around during Sunday school because they think there is nothing to learn. The immature one do not receive correction, the mature ones are very humble. They are humble enough to recognize their short comings.  David sin, by the time prophet Nathan confronted David and told him a proverb about a man who had one sheep the other person had many sheep. One day a visitor came to the house of the rich man, he went to the man who had one sheep and took the only ship the man had and kill it and entertain his visitor. David was anger and said the person that do this should die. The prophet looked at him and said; “Thou art the man.” You took the wife of somebody and immediately, he said ‘I have sinned.’
Confession of sin is a true mark of humility. When you are not humble, you always want to be right. Everything he/she says is correct, others are not correct. When you are not humble, anytime you are criticized, you start fighting. It means you are not growing.

5.       The mark of Love. Love is the greatest mark of maturity. Maturity is to love the lovely and the unlovable. When you love, you keep more than you give. You go extra mile to assist others. If you really love a person, you will not go into sin with that person. This love is not sexual desire but Jesus kind of love. Love is a sign of maturity. Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our war fare are not carnal so all the prayers we are praying is never against human being. It is the bad spirit within them that we are confronting. So you should not hate anybody or be suspicious even of your own shadows or even scared of people. You should not say; this one is a witch, that one is a witch etc.  We do not pray against human beings but against the spirit in them that is not of God. That is what we are contesting with.

6.       Always striving to please Jesus. We should not seek to please ourselves but we should please the Lord. We should not see to please other men but we should seek to please the Lord. It is an insult for me to organize my dressing according to the child of the devil. It is an insult to have to believe that it is a child of the devil that will have to comment on how I look. It is an insult to rely on that. Beauty is internal not basically external.

7.       Not easily carried away by false doctrine. Ephesians 4:11 says “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” A lot of people roam all over the place and practices all kinds of false doctrine. We have seen situations they asked people to bring broom to church to use the broom to sweep away poverty in their house. It is a false doctrine. We have seen people who have been asked to bring leaves to church, stones cutlass etc. the Bible says we should not be children tossed by every false doctrine. There is nothing a man carries that has more power than the word of God because the Bibles say that God exalts His word even above His name. Those who are growing, you can’t just carry them away with false doctrine. They will tell you something is happening there and you rush there or there is one baba there and you run down there. They keep consulting all kinds of people all over the place. Why are you roaming around like mosquito instead of developing yourself? Strange things they are asking you to do. A man came to me and we gave him prayer points to pray but his friend said he must take him somewhere. So out of respect, he followed his friend there. When he got there, the man said; you need to undress naked and enter into that room and lie down and say o God naked my enemies. I asked him: Did you do it? He said no sir it’s not in the Bible, am not doing it. Others had done it. Then after doing it, you now go back to the prayer point and you will say the prayer is not walking. So those who are matured, they know and loves the truth and they are not easily carried away. When it comes to the things of God, they don’t take a neutral position. That is, either for God or not. One day I was so impressed by an old woman. She was our pastor’s wife. I was a small boy then. I was passing by the mission house, I wanted to greet them. As I greeted her; ‘mummy good morning’ a white garment prophet was passing. The ‘prophet ’ came and began to prophesied. He said ‘mama  hear the word of the lord, you have a daughter who is pregnant now and unless you buy seven candles and other items he mentioned. Then the girl and the pregnancy, you will lose them.’ He then said mummy, I am ready to do the work for you. I thought the woman was going to get scared but she smiled and said ‘prophet, can you do me a favour? These things you said I should bring money for you to buy, there is no money. You lend me the money, do it yourself, I will pay you back.’ To my amassment, the prophet got angry and said rubbish, you are not serious and he walked away. The bottom line is that the child delivered by that lady is still alive now and this was in the 70’s. That’s maturity. Are you growing like that?

8.       Someone who is growing is not easily moved by persecution. The mature Christian knows that you can’t have roses without thorns. Persecutions and hardships will come. Persecutions and hardships will approve or disapprove you before God. Hardship and difficulty will work patience and make you stronger in the end. Such a person who is growing will not hate correction, angry when criticized

9.       Those who are growing, they keep their heart right with God. The Bible says you should control your heart above all things. It argues us to keep our hearts with all diligence.

10.   You must strive for perfect faith and holiness. Holiness within and without. Without holiness, no one can please God.

11.   Those who are growing work towards unity. They will never support any effort to cause confusion. Every envy, strive, division quarrels are evidences of immaturity. You are in a Christian meeting; you got so angry that you walk out. It means you are not mature – you are a baby in adult clothes.

12.   James 3:2 “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.”
One sign that you are growing is that you can control your tongue.  The mature Christians control the tongue. The mature Christian understands how much damage that tongue can do. Do not say things about others that you don’t want them to hear. If you don’t want them to hear, don’t say it. When you can control your tongue, then the Bible says you will be able to control other parts of the body. Do not get engaged in verbal war, control what you are saying. Allow the Holy Spirit in you get into gear before your mouth begin to talk.

13.   You fully rely on your heavenly father. You realize that only God can help you. The happiest people on earth are those who are dedicated to God and are growing every day. It is true you have been going to church, have you defeated your anger? Have you defeated that pride? Have you defeated the lust in your heart? Have you defeated the inability to pray on your own? Have you defeated the inability to read the Bible by yourself? Have you ever said; oh Lord show me my mark in Heaven so that I can know my stand? That was the prayer my own my father prayed many years back. He heard how people were talking about heaven and he was determined not to miss it. He went on three day dry fasting with only one prayer point; ‘O Lord, I want to make heaven.’ On day 1, he did not hear anything. Day 2, he did not see anything. On day 3, he saw himself in a vision, with a white wrapper and he saw himself trapped in a very narrow road. That path was so narrow that he could only take one step at a time. Beside that road was a wide express way. And he heard a voice saying: ‘Son, many are in the broad way, this is the narrow way and few there be that fine it. You cannot bribe God with fasting and prayer, walk on that narrow way and you will make heaven.’ The people who are joyful as Christians are those who are growing everyday and are dedicated to the master.

What do you do?
What do you do so that you do not remain a spiritual baby? So that you grow the way God wants you to grow?

1.       Decide to choose a life of growth. It is a person decision or choice. You make it consciously or unconsciously every day. Have a rugged determination that I must leave this level of faith. You must be tired of being tried and sick of being sick. Take a decision today.

2.       Start growing today. Procrastination is a disease. If you are saying one of these days, I will start. Don’t procrastinate. Don’t be like that young lady that came to the crusade and they took altar call. She was the only one crying bitterly at that altar. Since she was the only one crying bitterly, the man of God has to go to her and was calming her down. The man of God asked; why are you crying? She responded ‘preach can I ask you a question?’ The pastor answered yes. She continued; ‘from what you have just told us now, that means that if I surrender my life to Jesus today, that is bye-bye to my boyfriend?’ the man answered; yes that’s the end. She held her head and refused to sign the form and ran out of the church. It was not up to 5 minutes when a trailer ran her down and she died. So the devil did not give her the opportunity to grow or to make that heaven. Procrastination is a disease, so start today. Put more fire with your Bible reading. Put more fire with your prayer life. Put more aggression into fighting sin.

3.       Be teachable. Those people who hate Sunday school, it is evident they are not growing.

4.       Make effort to develop yourself. Make effort to see that you develop spiritually. We have taken action to see that people grow.  There is foundational class, membership class, and discipleship class where you can be taught everything about how to grow and become a servant of God. So make effort to develop yourself.

5.       Do not be satisfied with your present level. One of the greatest enemy of progress is your past achievement. Don’t be comfortable with that. Tell yourself; ‘I must leave this level.’ You must not be happy with your present level now.

6.       Be a continual learner. Learn every day. No matter who is preaching, you must learn something.

7.       Develop a plan for growth. You don’t grow spiritually by accident, you make a plan. You must know where you are and where you want to be. You must develop plans to reach your goal. This means you should plan your prayer time. Plan your retreat time. Plan your Bible study. Plan your witnessing. Plan them out.

8.       Be willing to pay the price. Growth is sometimes very uncomfortable. I will be deceiving you to say growth is easy. It requires discipline and perseverance. Sometimes it requires loneliness. Sometimes people will mock you and laugh at you. Sometime they will call you all kinds of names in your quest to grow.
Spiritual growth however is not an option if you want to make heaven. It is a command and I pray that the Lord will help you in the name of Jesus.

9.       Finally you must become a Bible and prayer addict. If you have been born again for 5 years, I expect you to know a minimum of 365 verses in your head. If you learn one verse per week, at least in a year, you learn 52 verses. So that if you don’t know as much as 365 and you know 52, you now build on that. You should memorize your Bible verses and meditate on it. The power of meditation can never be put aside. Combine that with your prayer and you will become a champion all the time.

Let’s bow our heads now and talk to the Lord.  Tell him; Father help me, I must grow. I must leave this level and go to the level you want me to go.

Prayers

My Father, I am available, revive my heart in the name of Jesus.

My Father, touch my heart with your fire in the name of Jesus.

Father , I commit my life to a life of growth so that heaven can be happy with me.

WHY MANY SUFFER AT OLD AGE

Text:

Number 8: 23-26

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more: But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.”

Psalm 90:16-17

“Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”

Psalm 92:12-14

“The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;”

Proverbs 13:22

“A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.”

From the passages we have read, we see that even the Levites had a time they worked actively in the house of God. They also had a time they would stop active service; they will now be doing things that are not very stressful. That is, they will retire, why? There is a time were a person cannot perform duty anymore. The question is this; why do so many suffer at old age?

1.       Neglecting God in their youthful age. Ecclesiastes 12:1-4 says; “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,”

A time comes when a person will not be able to do anything. We are advised from that passage to remember our creator when we are still very young. Many at their youthful age, neglect God. They don’t want to know anything about God. They want to live their life riotously. They call it ‘enjoyment’ so when old age comes, those things that they could not do will begin to come before them plainly.

2.       Planlessness and lack of vision: Many do not plan. Anything they see, they finish it. Some have plans in life but they do not pursue their plans.

3.       Lack of investment or bad investment: some people invest but in things that cannot work or yield good profit. Recently a man called me.  He told me he had just retired and someone advised him to go into cocoa planting in Ibadan with his retirement benefit. He called me to seek for my advice. I told him that cocoa planting was not something he can do as a retiree because it will take up to 5 years for the cocoa he intends to plant to yield fruits if it is the ‘agric’ seedling. I advise him not to go into such investment with his retirement benefit.

4.       Lack of savings: Many people do not save. I remember a man who was asked to open a savings account and save his money. He said no that the bank will use his money for their businesses. He preferred ‘chopping it’ (spending his money on himself). He does not know the benefit of savings.

5.       Laziness: So many are lazy and therefore when they get to old age, their strength is worn out. They cannot do the things they should have done when they were young.

6.       Extravagant living and wastage: one of our brothers worked with foreign affairs commission. In foreign affairs, they post people out of the country and they pay them in dollars. By paying them in dollars, they are able to save so much money. By saving, they could have good money even in two years. People prayed for such posting. This brother started praying that God should send him there.  God answered his prayer and he was taken to one of the ‘big’ countries. Over there, the ambassador who was his boss will buy a big car, after one week, the brother will buy that type of car. He was competing with his boss. Four years after, they were to come back home. He came back the same way he went there without anything. He lived a life of wastage and extravagance. At your youthful days, when you begin to live an extravagant life, it has as a toll at your old age.  What are you doing now towards your old age? Are you still drinking and partying? Somebody had a child. He was to dedicate the child. He invited everybody from the village. There were more than 20 people and paid their transport fare because he had a male child. Even though he had female children, but because his wife gave birth to a male child, he imported 20 people from his village. The environment where he lives, he invited about 500 people because he had a male child at age 50. He did a big party. That kind of money spent on everything is wastage because those people, some of them were talking to him there wondering why he was spending such.
I heard a story of a man, when his mother died, people came for the funeral and they went to the grave yard for the interment. They were expecting reception after the burial but he return to them and said ‘thank you very much, God bless you. That's the end of the burial’. They asked for entertainment and he answered them ‘how can I lost my mother and lost my money again? So many suffer at old age because of wastage.

7.       Mismanagement of opportunities: an opportunity will always come to the life of a man once and for all. When that opportunity is mismanaged, that might be all. Opportunity seldom comes twice. Many are lucky and fortunate that opportunity will come their way again. Just like I was saying, if you see anybody saying ‘if I had known’ meaning that there are some things he/she did not do well. The question is; what opportunity do you have now and you are toying with it? Money is rolling in now and you have many friends around you saying lend me ten thousand, borrow me five thousand.  Many friends will be trooping to the house of a fool, why? They see free money to waste. Let the money finish and you will not see them again. That is mismanagement of opportunity

8.       No multiple source of income or low multiple source of income: let me tell you sincerely, very few sources of income as ‘salary’ can make a person rich in life. There are salaries that can make one rich for those working in the oil companies but for a civil servant, except he steals the money.  Therefore he needs another source of income if not; he will get to old age and be telling stories to his children.

9.       Lack of retirement plan. Many people do not make plans for retirement. Life can never continue the way it is now after retirement if there is no good retirement plan. A time is coming were that seat will be taken away from you. Therefore you must plan in case you leave that place you will have what to fall back on. I pray you will not regret your life in the name of Jesus.

How do I plan for my retirement?

What you are reading here, God is deliberately speaking to somebody.  A man, after retirement went and married a new wife. The gratuity he was receiving was thirty five thousand naira per month. He still went and married a new wife. If he had married and elderly person of his age it would have been different but at 60, he went and married a woman of 35years. That year, his new wife got pregnant and gave birth to twins. How will he care for them with 35 thousand naira?  So one must be able to plan for his retirement. If after retirement you start having children, how will you raise those children? 

So you must plan for your retirement. How do you do that?

1.       Invest in your retirement; invest ahead of your retirement. Your children are not retirement investment. Your in-laws, uncles and relatives are not dependable when you retire. Everybody has his/her own problem. So don’t invest in your children and expect them to feed you when you retire. Many have died because the children the depended on could not meet their needs after they retire. So you need to invest in your retirement and on your own, plan for your retirement. Don’t depend on your children.  On your own plan for your retirement. Start planning for retirement now.

2.        Start a hobby: start doing something during your leave or vacation. During your leave/vacation, you can go and learn something like a trade. You can begin to do poultry business, small farming or run a small shop. Have a hobby that when you retire you can go back to so that you can have something to rely on after retirement. What you do not practice now, when you retire and begin to practice it, will result to failure. So constant practice of a business now, by the time you are retiring, it has become part and parcel of your life.
Acquire marketable skills. Nothing is bad if you start learning how to sew as a woman. Nothing is bad if you start learning how to bake bread. Nothing is bad if you start knowing how to barber and when you grow and retire; you create a nice barbing salon, employ some boys there and sit down there collecting your receipt.  The boys could work for you for monthly payment or on commission basis.  You need to learn all these when you are still at work before you retire.

3.       Plan where to retire. That is, if God blesses you build yourself a home. Plan where to retire. Don’t retire and start building, don’t retire and be paying rent because very soon you will become a problem to the landlord. Start building for your retirement.  It is bad when you retire and you are still renting accommodation so plan where to retire. When you retire, except you have a place to stay or except you can afford it, it is better to leave the city so that it does not put pressure on you. The city is expensive to live after retirement. In the local area, it is still better so plan where to retire. I am not saying you should go and stay in the village but if you can afford staying in the city, there is no problem. When you retire, your income will be more minimal so if you want to still living on what you are living on now, the person will suffer. 

4.       Plan for your dependence: by the time you are retiring, if you really want to live a long and suitable life, your last dependence must be either 18 year or above that can take care of himself/herself. Plan for your dependence. Ensure that you push them to where they are supposed to be so that when you start earning that small gratuity, you can live well. It is very wrong for you to have train a child to a level and he or she is now based in Lagos and will now bring his or her children to come and live with you. While your own child is enjoying over there, he or she will be sending 20 thousand to you every month. The aged mother will be the one to take full responsibility of the children while the parent is enjoying his/her life. Your child has enjoyed you once and is enjoying you the second time. You have nurtured him to that level, now his own child which he is supposed to nurture; he is still bringing them to you. It is not right. You cannot sleep again because of your grandchildren. I am not saying you should not help your children but there must be a plan for that. How can your child be sending 20 thousand for the up keep of 4 children? The person will die suddenly. So plan for your dependence.

5.       Leave a simple life after retirement. Don’t start buying big cart at retirement except it is very necessary and it is not supposed to be an expensive car. It could be a car you use for business or to run around, it shouldn't be an expensive car. When you start buying big cars like Prado and say; ‘yes the work of God is like a miracle’. To service a Prado, you take it to a service center. The machines there will check your car and give you a bill which is not negotiable. So when you retire, buy a small car because big cars will consume big money.  If you are unfortunate as you are driving the car it give you a sign in the dashboard saying it can’t move again then you are in trouble. N35000 gratuity you receive every month will not solve it.

6.        Have properties that can be rented out.  Buy shares and equipment that you can lease out. Buy things that people can hire and it can be revolving money in your hand. Don’t start building with your retirement benefit, you might not finish it and the money finishes.  So don't start building with your retirement money

7.       Lastly, have your day of retirement in mind. Remember that you are going to retire one day.  Always have it at the back of your mind that ‘I'm going to retire one day’. Always have it at the back of your mind that a day is coming you will not be able to do some things again. That time your influence will reduce. Now you are going to the office and everyone is saying ‘good morning sir, good morning sir.’ The day you retire, that greetings will reduce. Have that at the back of your mind. Now when your staff sees you, they run up and down to see what they can do to impress you. At retirement it will end. Your office power and influence will no longer be there. So will your income reduce.  Your friends will also reduce. Loneliness will set in. So you need to have all these at the back of your mind.

Why do people die suddenly after retirement?

 Let’s talk about why some people die suddenly after retirement

1.       Lack of preparation for retirement: they don’t know how thing will play out after retirement because they did not prepare for retirement. In a particular administration in this country, some people were suddenly retrenched because they did not have a certain certificate. Some of them had 15 years, 10 years etc to retire. A lot of them were dying of different ailment because they did not plan for that.

2.       Lack of finance: at this stage there is no money again to do what they like. No money to fulfill some promises.  

3.       Worries, anxiety and uncertainty: anxiety and worries over a lot of issues like; my children are not sending any money, my friends has left me and a lot more. These are the kind of thing you will see in the life of such a person. Anxiety, worries and uncertainty; he does not even know where the next food will come from. Sometime sicknesses they don't know is in their body will suddenly wake up.  According to science, at 50 some sicknesses will begin to come into a person’s life and if the person is not careful he or she may die of such sickness.  When there is no money, to take care of the person, the person will die. A  diabetic person needs more money to take care of himself/herself than when the person is healthy because when diabetics comes, the persons food will change, the person will also spend money on drugs.  If you are 50 and you are still taking two bottles of coca cola, you are looking for trouble. Once you are 50 years, there are some foods you should not take again. Careless living will make life hard after retirement.

4.       Also, why people died suddenly is because of sicknesses that suddenly rise up at retirement. Don’t take thing for granted. Ensure you adequate care for yourself. At a particular age, your food must change. If you don't change that food, that food will change you.

5.       What again causes sudden death at retirement? Loneliness. People tend to follow someone they can get something from him/her and when they tell you that you are their friends, let money finish in your pocket and you'll know who your friends are. One of the problems of those who retire is loneliness. They are abandoned. People don't come to them again because there is nothing to gain from them. Their notes cannot carry weight anymore.

6.       Lastly lack of care: nobody is caring for you again. All those gifts you use to receive in the office, once you retire, it will stop. So all the gifts, money you are seeing now and you are not making good use of it, might be very difficult to come by after retirement. You must plan for your retirement in life. It does not matter what business you are doing, a time come were you will not be able to do it anymore. Think of what you need to correct now so that your life could be profitable at retirement.  Bow you head and talk to God. Asked God to teach you what to do now so that you do not retire into emptiness.  

Prayers.

Powers that want me to regret my life, die in the name of Jesus.
Engineers of poverty in my life, die in the name of Jesus.
Holy Spirit of God, guide my life into prosperity in the name of Jesus.
Prosperity that will make me flourish at old age, fall upon me now in the name of Jesus.
In my life, I shall not beg to eat. My God shall bless me abundantly.

MEASUREMENT OF A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE

Text:

Ecclesiastes 4:9 -12

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Proverb 5:18 – 19

Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

Proverb 3:3-4

Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

1 john 4:18-19

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us.
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

There are parameters that we see in a marriage and will say; this is a successful marriage. Many people adjudge successful marriages by seeing husband and wife outside. They feel it is a happy home because of how they behave outside. A pastor always praises his wife from the pulpit. One day a young man had issues with his wife. Believing that his pastor has a good marriage, he went to complain to him. On reaching the door post of the pastor, he heard them shouting at each other. The wife was asking the husband since I married you, when last did you give me money? The purpose of this brother going to the pastor was to report his wife complaining over money. When he heard what the pastor’s wife was saying, he quietly turned and went home to settle with his wife. Success in marriage is not in the appearance of the husband and wife. It is not the wearing of the same uniform etc. There are some things you will see and know that this is a successful marriage.

What are those things to measure successful marriage?

1.     A successful marriage is built on Gods principles and foundation.  If your marriage was not done well, that is, there was no paying of bride price or church blessing. You can adjust it. It is not too late. Go back and do the needful like paying of bride price and church blessings on the marriage. Many people use not paying of their  wife’s bride price as a reason to leave or divorce her. No, go back and pay the bride price and live well with your wife. Leaving her is not a solution but it only compounds the problem because bride price alone is not the signature for marriage. There are other things that you will see and know that truly this is a marriage.   

·        If the parents of the man and woman support the home, it means it has become a marriage.

·        If people have been seeing you two together, it is a sign that you are married.

·        If you have children together, all you need to do is a correction marriage. That is, correct your marriage. In elementary school then, when you do arithmetic and got it wrong, you are expected to do the correction. In the same way, when marriage is lacking in the issue of engagement, church blessing, paying of bride price etc. All you need to do is to go back and do the right thing. Dropping or putting the woman away is not the right thing.  A young man told me some years back that he did not pay the bride price of his wife and therefore wanted to leave her and marry another person. I asked him ‘if you have a sister and she has three children for a man. The man left your sister and went and married another person, how will you feel?’ he answered that he will feel bad. I asked him ‘what do you think of her own brother? He responded that he would not be happy’. So when you do not lay the foundation of your marriage well, what you need to do is to go back and adjust that marriage to follow Gods principles and foundation.  For those who are not yet married and you are planning to marry. The procedure in Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry is that he that findeth a wife, findeth a good thing and he will find favour before God. If a man finds a woman and intends to marry her, as a member of the church you approach the marriage committee and tell them. The marriage committee will give the person a prayer point to go and pray for a particular period and return back to them. They will interview the brother to know if God is still leading him into the marriage. After that, they will invite the sister. It is wrong as a child of God to go to the lady before the church. You must approach the church first before the lady. It is wrong for you to start exchanging gift, visiting each other, sleeping with each other before going to the marriage committee. The person has laid a very bad foundation for that marriage. So what you do you? Approach the marriage committee, they will invite the lady. After the lady has been invited, they will also give the lady a prayer point to go and pray. After she has prayed, they will now call her and call the man and show you to each other. There is a period when both persons will need to go and see their families. These are steps that the marriage committee will explain to you; you visit her parents and your parent and discus with them. When both parents accept, they will write a letter stating that they support the intention of their son to marry the sister and the family of the sister will do same. Then there will be a period of courtship. Courtship is a period of knowing one another not a period of sleeping with one another. It is a period to study one another. During this period, you don't meet yourself in a private place. If he wants to go and see her and vice versa, take somebody along. If you want to talk at all, come into the church and sit down and talk. Why? So that devil will not tempt you like it has happened in many places. Then the marriage proper, it is not compulsory to call all the church members to your wedding. Cut your coat according to your clothes. Marriage can be conducted with four persons; you, your spouse and two witnesses to sign the marriage register. You don't need to hire clothes just for the wedding.  You can come and I will wed you just as you are. So cut your coat according to your clothes. you don't need to do what they call reception, reception is deception. Even if it is five persons you can entertain, entertain them. You don't need all the elaborate wedding and noise. Right now, those who wedded last year, some of them still owe debt so you don't need to borrow money for wedding. Nowadays, nobody gives money anyhow. Don’t go into debt because you want to wed. We can wed you in my office, in the church auditorium or anywhere you want. The major thing you need to do is to satisfy the family of your wife by paying the actual bride price they demanded from you. In our church, we don't demand that you must give us to bag of rice, bottles of wine, bag of beans etc. We don't ask you for money if you have, you can bless your pastor but nobody demands anything from you because you want to wed.  So build your marriage on God's principles and foundation. This is what led us to the above explanations.

2.      A good and successful home must be prayer and Bible based home. It is a home where the word of God is preached, where they do devotion and reference God.

3.     It is a home that we have happy and faithful couple; they are faithful, you can't see them doing wrong things.

4.     It is a place that raises godly and glorious children. Children who reference God and have good manners. I had a testimony of this young boy. He was sent to a private school. In his hostel, they were four students per room. Each morning, this young man will kneel by his bedside from 4 o'clock in the morning till around 5:30am. He will pray and read his Bible. He was the only Christian among the four of them. He started praying to God that God should arrest his unbelieving roommates. One day, one of his roommate approached him and said ‘there's a group in this school I have join, that group, anything I want I will get it. I want you to join them so that you can be able to achieve whatever you want.’  The young boy told him ‘ I am the one that is supposed to invite you to my group not you inviting me to your group. I have a name that is above all names and that place you are going, if you are not careful, you will be sent out of this school because I had a revelation where I saw you crying.’ The other boy looked at him and made jest of him but the young boy pleaded with him ‘let's go to my church so that my pastor can pray for you.’ He responded ‘go and sit down.’  Two days after, he went to their meeting and the police came and arrested all 20 of them. This boy had just joined the group a week ago. The young boy while praying saw the other boy crying. On that day when he was arrested and asked to park, he was crying the way the boy saw it in the revelation. So the young boy told his friend ‘I told you to come to my side you refused. What I told you, had it not come to pass?’ I am praying for someone here; any power assigned to divert your children and families shall be disgraced. That boy cried out of the school. But the other boy, because he comes from a godly home, he was never faulted.  The other two boys in the room became members of his church because of that revelation. I want to ask you; who are your children? Do they have any impact or influence on their friends? Do their Christian lifes’ challenge those of their friends? A successful home is the home that raises godly and glorious children.

5.     It is a home where responsibility and roles are played distinctively. The father, mother and children know their roles. There is no shying away.

6.     There is no distinction between what belong to the husband or wife. There was a sister who worked with a big company. She was well paid and bought a car for her husband. She also owned the house they were living in. Any time the husband offended her, she will tell him to pack his load and leave. The man will be begging her and sometime the man has to call the church to come and beg his wife before she will be pacified and return the car key to the husband. One day, when she asked the husband to leave, the man left the house and did not return. After three days, she ran to me and told me her husband had not come back. I called the man and he told me ‘if that is what marriage is, I better remain single’ and till today the marriage cannot be resolved. A successful marriage is a marriage where you cannot distinguish between what belong to the husband or wife. They do things together. They build houses and children together. It is not a home where the husband pays school fees, the wife buys uniform and feeds the family. A home where there is roaster for feeding to be done by wife this month and husband the next month is an irresponsible home. The husband is expected to be the head of the family in everything while the wife is a helpmate.

7.     It is a home where there is respect for each other. It is not a home where the woman does not speak. In Ephesians 5:21 it says “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” It is improper for you to say your wife should not work and you are not taking care of her parents. Both of you must agree on how to take care of your parents.  The parents of your wife send her to school so that she can be a benefit to them but now her parents are suffering. The husband will discretely give his parents money neglecting her parent. It is not right. The appropriate thing is for you to ensure that your spouse parent and your parent are taken care off together.

8.     They manage and care for their parent. It is wrong to discourage your spouse from taking care of his or her parent even if his or her parents are witches or wizards. It is a sin to neglect your parent. It is wrong for your in law to suddenly become a witch or wizard after they have trained their child from elementary school to the university. After he had gotten a good job and married you, his parents suddenly becomes witches and wizard.

9.     They are husband and wife that are felt in the church, community and environment. Where ever they go, you feel their impact, hospitality, care and contribution to people. They want things to work. When they are not around, their absence is felt. Unfortunately there are some men that when they are not at home, their wives are happy and thank God. Are you a sister that whenever your husband is outside, that is when he is happy? A brother told me that he comes home very late so that his wife must have slept and before she wakes in the morning he is ready to go to work. Is that the kind of home you have?

10.  They know that happy couples do not fight. They also know that they need good communication to succeed in their home. They do not abuse each other. The couples know when to talk to themselves and how to talk to themselves. The wife knows how to serve her husband because the way to the man’s heart is through his stomach. In a successful home, they quarrel, but they know how to resolve their quarrels quickly. They do not allow their anger to take to the next day. If you believe that couples don’t quarrel, it’s a lie. They know how to resolve their quarrels

11.     They spent time together. Some men will tell their wives ‘you talk too much.’ You are to allow your wife to talk. They have so much to talk about, listen to them. Don’t shun your wife. Even your children, as they are growing up to become teenagers, there are a lot of questions in their minds which you need to listen to. If you do not listen to them, very soon he or she will see someone outside who will and they will begin to copy that person. As parent, bring your children close to you. Let them tell you their problems. Ask them at your devotion if they have any question to ask and have time to answer their questions.

12.    A successful home is a home where the couples are committed to each other. They forgive each other and are faithful to one another. They do not defraud themselves. If you are married and you are dating another woman outside, you are unfaithful man to your wife and God. If you are a married woman and you dating another person outside, you don’t have Christ. In a successful home, they don’t tell lies to themselves and they do not defraud one another. They are humble and very respectful couples even to people around them. They invest in their marriage, themselves, in their children and in their future. They share problems together. What affects the wife, affect the husband and vice versa. No secret is kept from one another. They also share their resources together and belong to one another. The wife can go to the pocket of the husband at any time. She can take the phone of her husband and use it any time. She can also pick the calls of the husband. The husband can pick the call of his wife. They are not the kind of couple that needs to go outside or to the toilet before they can pick certain calls. A man had the pictures of some ladies in his phone. One day the wife picked the phone and was going through his pictures. She saw those ladies. The husband came in and the wife asked him ‘who are these?’ the man collected the phone and dropped it inside the water, why? To destroy any evidence so that when the wife approaches me, she will not have any evidence. Is that how you behave?

13.     Successful homes are affectionate to one another. I saw a home where the wife was sick and by the next day, the husband was sick. So both of them where admitted in the same room – side by side. The man said I can’t survive without this woman and the wife said same. I pray for you that your marriage shall not be broken. God Himself will supervise the affairs of your life.

Above all my brethren, the basis for all negative things in our home is because many of us have not given our lifes completely to God. It is one thing to be in church, it is another thing to give your life to Christ. If you are coming to church and some negative things are still in your life then you need Christ. If you can still commit sin, sleep with a man or woman that is not married to you, steal etc. it is a sign that Christ is not in you. Why not repent and confess all your sin and forsake them. If you are reading this and you have not given your life to Christ, I plead with you to give your life to Christ and invite him to be your personal Lord and Saviour.

Prayers

Every evil cry against my marital life, die in the name of Jesus.

Every evil stones thrown to scatter my marriage, die in the name of Jesus.

Powers that want to cut short my life die in the name of Jesus.
O Lord my father, arise in your power, build my life and my home.