A Rethink

The church founders had one remark, God counted me faithful putting in ministry. They were put in ministry by God and not because they were so poor, sick, intelligent or perfect. God saw faithfulness in their weakness, sickness, limitations and heart, and so directed them to serve in the ministry of Christ. I believe there must be a check and paradigm shift in ministry so as to please the One that has put us in ministry. Like · · Share · a few seconds ago ·

Vessels Unto Honour

VESSEL UNTO HONOUR 1st of May, 2009 Thank you Almighty, the only man who said; "thou anointed my head with oil and my cup runneth over"; he is also the man who said "I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth" If you want your cup to run over tonight, go ahead praise the Almighty God, bless His holy Name. Give Him all Glory, give Him all Honour, and give Him all Adoration.  The Almighty God is looking for Worshipers. Those who will worship him in spirit and in truth: Go ahead and worship the Almighty, worship the King of kings, worship the LORD of  lords, worship the I AM, that I AM, worship the Ancient of Days, worship the only one who can make you a Vessel unto Honour.  Bless His Holy Name, worship Him; The Ancient of Days, The Rock of Ages, The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, The Lamb of God, The Way, The Truth and the Life. The only one whose name is:  Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Worship Him; worship the Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and The Ending. Worship the one who is; worship the one who was, and the one who is to come. Worship the Almighty God, Worship the Ancient of Days.  Worship Him, the one who is Glorious in Holiness and He is Fearful in Praises, give Him all Glory, give Him all Honour, Bless His Holy Name.  There is none that is as holy as our God, there is none beside Him, and there is nobody like Him. Give Him all Glory, He is Higher than the highest; He is Better than the best. He is Richer than the richest.  Bless His Holy name: He is the only one who is called the I AM, He reigns Forever, Bless His Holy Name, give Him all Glory; give Him all Honour. Give him all Glory, give Him all Honour. He is Worthy to be praised, He is Worthy to be adored, and He is Worthy to be magnified. King of kings; LORD of lords. The Unchangeable Changer!  Bless His Holy Name, He reign Supreme, there is no one like Him. Heaven is His Throne, the Earth is His Footstool. Bless His Holy Name. The Heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. And yet He dwells in the hearts of men. Bless His Holy Name. Bless the Holy one of Israel. Bless the one who answers prayer. Give Him Glory today; The Great Physician, The Great Redeemer, The Great Provider. Give Him all Glory, give Him all honour. Bless His holy Name.  He is Jehovah Shalom; The Prince of Peace. He is Jehovah Rapha; The Lord that health me. He is Jehovah El-Shaddai; The Almighty God, He is Jehovah Rapha; The Great Physician. Our good Shepherd, Bless His Holy Name. He is Jehovah Nissi; He is the Banner over us, He is Jehovah Shammah; The Very Present God, give Him Glory, give Him Honour,  tell Him you appreciate Him, give Him all Glory and Honour today, Bless His Holy Name. He is Worthy to be Praised, He is Worthy to be Magnified, He is Worthy to be Glorified, Blessed be Your Holy Name! Blessed be Your Holy Name! Thank You Jesus, Hallelujah Father in Jesus Mighty Name we worship! Lift your voice to Him loud and clear and say Father, please visit me in a special way tonight, let's talk to The Almighty God…. In Jesus Mighty name we have prayed. Then you lift your voice to Him and say Father, in this month of Grace, let me find favor with you. Let's talk to The Almighty God… In Jesus Mighty name we have prayed. Then you lift your voice to Him and say Father, in all my journeys in life, let me find open doors… In Jesus Mighty name we have prayed. Then you lift your voice to Him and say Father, please for the rest of my life please abide with me… In Jesus Mighty name we have prayed. Then lift your voice to Him and say Father, all I need to serve you please provide abundantly… In Jesus Mighty name we have prayed. Lift your voice to Him and say Father, please send help to me urgently, In Jesus Mighty name we have prayed. Lift your voice to Him and say Father, don't let it be too late for me, stand up for my defense. Don't let it be late for me. Please Lord, move quickly arise for my help oh Lord.… In Jesus Mighty name we have prayed. Lift your voice to Him and say Father, speak peace to every storm in my life, let's talk to The Almighty God. In Jesus Mighty name we have prayed. Lift your voice to Him and say Father, please heal the economy of this nation. Heal our economy oh Lord…in Jesus Mighty name we have prayed. You probably have heard that there is an outbreak of a very deadly flu in some part of the world; we don't want it in Nigeria because we don't have anything to cope with it. I want you to lift your voice to The Almighty God. Say Father, because of us your children; stop this flu, let's talk to The Almighty God… in Jesus Mighty name we have prayed. Now I want you to join hands with your neighbour and pray for him or her and say Father, this your child that I am holding everything that he needs that will make his joy to be full, give it to him tonight. Let's talk to The Almighty God. Let's go before The Almighty God now and worship Him one more time. Angels are singing, you are worthy oh Lord, (worship) Hallelujah! You are worthy oh Lord. Angels are singing, you are worthy oh Lord,  Hallelujah! You are worthy oh Lord.   Thank you Daddy, Hallelujah Father, the Lord says there is someone here tonight, He said before the end of this month, the tide would have turned for you.   Father we bless your Holy name, King of kings and LORD of lords. I AM that I AM, Ancient of Days, The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, The Rock of Ages, The Way, The Truth, The Life. Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Alpha, Omega, The Beginning, The Ending, The one Who is, The one, Who was, The one Who is to come, The Almighty God, Glory be to your Holy Name.  Father, Glory be to your Holy Name, Glory be to your Holy Name. In this month of Grace, every one of us here tonight and those who are listening by television and satellite, every one of them, let us find favor with you. Send help to us urgently, heal our economy; stop the swine flu in Jesus name.  Everything your children need to make their joy full, release to us tonight in Jesus name. Tonight Father, save souls, heal the sick set the captives free, bless every one of us, visit us in a special way. At the end of it all, take all the Glory and give us the Blessing. In Jesus Mighty Name we have prayed. Amen. Let someone shout Hallelujah! Shake hands with your neighbor and say joy to the wise that means joy to me because I refuse to be a fool. And put your hands together for the Lord Almighty. Let's go on to 2Timothy2v20-21 ‘But in a great house, there are not only vessel of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth and some to honour, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purges himself from theses, he shall be a vessel of honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work' When I got born again, I first cried to The Almighty God that I don't want to be an ordinary Christian, I want to be special, I want God to use me mightily, I want God to use me throughout the world. Thank God he answered my prayer; He is still answering my prayer; because I am not what I want to be yet.  I am believing God that from now on, your life will no longer be an ordinary Christian. Last month as I travelled, from here to Spain for our European convention and people came from 21 nations, where our churches are in Europe: I saw God moved mightily. My heart rejoiced mightily. When I left Spain, and as I traveled to Australia and people gathered from all the nations in that area and I saw God moved my heart rejoiced. Now the journey from Spain to Australia took 26hours by flight, when we left Australia, we went to Papua New Guinea, even though some of you have not heard of this name before. This means you have to travel from Australia, the distance is almost like travelling from Nigeria to London and I saw God moved. My heart rejoiced. Then we travelled from Papua New Guinea to Fiji and I saw God moved, my heart rejoiced and we travelled from Fiji to Mauritius, and I saw God moved, my heart rejoiced, but then I remember you; that one day God will use you throughout the world. If that is what you want let me here you shout amen loud and clear! But then the question is: a question I am sure must be in the heart of everybody is: Can God use me? Can God use me to raise the dead? Can God use me to open blind eyes? All these testimonies we hear, all the miracles that God has been performing, is it for the GO alone that God can do him for? Can He use me too? I have good news for you tonight; if you are willing and you are obedient He will use you for His Glory. God can use the insignificant, 1Corinthians 1v 26 -29 The Bible tells us that God can use weak things, foolish things, things that are nothing, in other words He can use illiterate, He can use people that nobody will recognize, He can use somebody that nobody knows.  In 1Kings 17 v 1 the Bible said God used Elijah the Tishbite. They didn't even mention his father's name, because he came from a family that didn't matter at all, and yet God used him mightily.  In 2king5v1-14 it was a house maid that God used to bring healing to Naaman. God can use a house maid, He can use a house boy, He can use the significant, and He can use the insignificant He can use the rich too, because some people think as soon as you are rich God is going to by- passed you. And say well you already got wealth you don't need anointing.  That is not what the Bible says; in 2kings 4 v 8-17 God used a wealthy woman in Shunem as a Vessel unto Honour. In Acts 16 v 13 -15 God used Lydia a wealthy woman as a vessel unto hour. The fact that you are wealthy does not disqualify you from being used of God.  God can use the destitute; those who don't even have anything at all. In 1kings 17v8-16, God used a widow who had just one meal left as a Vessel unto Honour, to take care of His servant Elijah.  If He uses a destitute, that destitute will not remain a destitute! He can use the young; nobody is too young for God to use. In 2Samuel 3 v 1- 18, God used Samuel when he was still a child. So nobody is too young that God cannot use. He can use the old; nobody is too old for God to use. In Exodus 3 v 1-15 Moses was already 80 years old before God began to use him, so if you are less than 80 years of age, you are still a prime candidate for God to use. And God used him for another forty years. In other words if there is anybody here who is not 120 years old, God can still use that fellow. He can use the first born, Samuel was the first born of his parents and God used him mightily, how many first born are here tonight, if you are a first born let me hear you shout Hallelujah! Congratulations! Because God is going to use you Thank you Father, the Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said between two days there is always a night, but He says I should tell you, I will make your night short and make your days long. He can use the first born, and he can use the last born. David was the last born of his parents and God used him mightily; how many last born are here? I think you should stand because I am one of you. Every last born let me hear you shout Hallelujah!  God is going to use you in Jesus name. And then He can use those who are neither firstborn nor last born; Joseph was not the first born neither was He the last born of his parents and yet God used him mightily. So if you are neither the first born nor the last born let me hear you shout Hallelujah! So He can use first born, last born, second born, third born, He can use eighteenth born. It doesn't matter what born you are, He can use you.  He can use male, I mean Elisha, Elijah, many of them. And He can use female; Deborah, Elizabeth, Mary Esther, God can use male and female.  So you will see He can use the poor, He can use the rich and He can use a combination of both; a driver witnessed to his employer, and she gave her life to Jesus; she witnessed to her own sister and she gave her life to Jesus.  And that elder sister not only gave her life to Jesus Christ but she got her healing, so she decided that the Church that God used to bring me healing as well as salvation must be established in my town. So she gave one house to start the church in, when that one was not enough she gave a second house, later on she gave a third house and on and on and on. As a result of the witness of a driver, The Redeemed Christian Church of God got to Port Harcourt and today in River State, we have closed to one thousand Churches. God can use a driver. How many of you believe that God is talking to you tonight, that you are going to be a Vessel of Honour in His Hands. Let me hear you shout a big hallelujah! God can use the Righteous, in Luke1v5-6… Thank you Father, this night must be a special night indeed. The Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said I should tell you "I am The Alpha and The Omega; I will rearrange your future".  God can use the righteous, in Luke 1 v 5-6 Elizabeth was described as blameless; herself, her husband, blameless and God used them mightily. But God can use those who are formerly ungodly; in Luke8 v 1-3, the Bible said God used Mary Magdalene, she became a divine treasurer. She used to have seven demons in her. In other words it is a polite way of saying she was a chief among witches but God grabbed her, flushed out the demons out of her and turned her to a divine treasure. She was one of the three people who were actively supplying the needs of the Lord Jesus Christ.  In other words it doesn't matter how bad you used to be. God can still pick you from where you are, change you over and begin to use you for His Glory.  I am a living example of that; I have said if I were  Jesus Christ, I would not have saved Adeboye at all, but the Almighty God , looked down and saw a rotten young man, grabbed him, saved his soul and filled him with the Holy Spirit. And today we give Him the Glory. I have a friend who has gone to be with the Lord now some of you probably knew him, we called him Brother Moses. He was so bad that anytime he came home on holiday, everybody in the village will lock in their children; because Moses was a devil incarnate: The Lord saved his soul and he changed radically; with the same intensity with which he served the devil it is the same intensity he used to serve God. If you are in the same taxi with Moses, whether you like it or not you will give your life to Jesus Christ before he lets you go. If God can use Moses, if God can use Adeboye, he can use you too and he will use you in Jesus Name.  Now the passage that we read said there are some Vessels unto Honour. Vessels of Gold; Vessels of Silver; Precious Vessels in the Hand of the Almighty God. We see examples; Mary in Luke1 v 34-37 we see someone who brought to the world the Lord Jesus Christ, what a Vessel unto Honour! And then we see Philip: Acts 8 v 5-8 we see somebody who was an ordinary deacon; who turned a whole city to the Lord Jesus Christ and then we see Paul, who was formerly an antichrist, but the Lord saved his soul and he became a mighty Vessel unto Honour. I want to say Amen to this one before I tell you, the Lord says that there is someone here tonight; He said I should tell you, I am the controller of seasons and I will make your raining season to last for a very long time. The Lord said there is someone here tonight He said I will show those who try to disgrace you that I am the King of Glory. Acts19 v 11-12 The Bible says God performs special miracles by the hand of Paul, so that even his handkerchief, was casting out demons.  One miracle happened in Spain last month, those of you who were here during the special Holy Ghost service in March you will see that the Lord said we should tie some clothes with some of the shirt that I wore in December.  That people, should come and touch and received their miracles. And when we finished He said I should take one of it to Europe. During the convention, there was a time when He said we should spread out the clothe for people to touch. A woman was there who had a child. And the child was born paralyzed. The child cannot seat, cannot stand, cannot do anything just a vegetable. The child had been like that for many years. And as there were touching the clothe, she brought her child and she used the hand of the child to touch the clothe, by time she got to her seat, the child was already standing. That God who did that, He is going to solve your problem tonight.  But not only will He solve your problem, He is going to turn you into somebody who will solve the problems of others.  So there are some Vessels unto Honour and you will be one of them. But then He said there are some Vessels unto Dishonor, we are not going to talk much about that because I believe that such people are not here tonight. But you see every Vessel has its use.  God will use a Vessel unto Dishonor to be an example to others, to show others ‘this is what will happen to those who misbehave'. Take Gehazi for an example in 2 Kings 5v 20-27 here is somebody who would have become the most powerful man of the whole testament; he was a servant to Elisha. Elisha had a double portion of Elijah. If Gehazi had behaved, when Elisha was about to die, he would have transferred the double the portion his power to Gehazi, but Gehazi loved money more that anointing and so instead of becoming the most powerful prophet of the whole testament, he ended up becoming a leper, because he lied against the man of God. We will find another example in Act 5 v 1-14. It is the story of a family; husband and wife; they sold a property and brought part of the money to the Apostles. Now the fact that they brought half of the money is not the problem, the land belong to them, they sold of their own free will and they decided how much to bring. But when they came to the man of God, they told him this is all that we sold the land for. They tried to deceive the Holy Spirit and as a result they died. God was using them as a lesson, that you don't deceive God and go away scot free. Which is a lesson to all of us; many at times when we say we come to pay our tithes, what we pay is not the tithe and we think we can deceive God and get away with it, my prayer for you is that you will not be a bad example in Jesus Name.  When Ananias and Sapphira died, the Bible said as a result multitudes were added unto the church. God use them even though they were Vessels unto Dishonor, God use them for His advantage. God can use Vessels unto Honour, as we go through the scriptures; we find that each Vessel unto Honour, God used them to prove a point. For example He used Joseph to prove to the world that He is a Faithful God, that when He speaks, it is done, that when He said something, that thing will come to pass.  He showed Joseph in Genesis 37 v 5 -11 that one day all his brothers will come and bow down before him. They didn't believe him, they even tried to kill him, but by the time we got to Genesis 50 v 15-21; everything God said will happen, happened to him; and I am believing God for somebody here today, every prophesy that have come your way shall be fulfilled in Jesus name.  I want to say Amen to this one before I tell you, today will be a night of Amen, the Lord said there is someone here tonight; He said the river of opportunities is flowing in your direction, He asked me to encourage you, be on the alert so that you don't miss anyone of them. He used Joseph, as an example of His Faithfulness and occasionally He will use somebody to show the world that His laws never fail. In Genesis 26 v 12-14, the Bible said even in the time of famine Isaac sowed in the land and the law of harvest came in. The Bible says even when the famine was on; Isaac kept on reaping and reaping until he became a very great man. God used Isaac to prove a point to a whole nation; that the law of harvest will never fail. Many at times He will use someone to show His ability to make the impossible possible. In Genesis 18 v 1- 14; The Bible tells us that God paid a visit to Abraham and Sarah. Abraham was a hundred years old then, Sarah was ninety. Now God has promised Abraham twenty five years before that he was going to be the father of many nations.  At that time Abraham was seventy five, Sarah was sixty-five, humanly speaking they were even already too old then, but God wanted to make the matter even more complicated. He waited for another twenty five years, until Abraham was hundred, and Sarah was ninety and then God moved in, so that it can be recorded that with God nothing shall be impossible!  And I am encouraging somebody here today, is there any impossibility in your life? Maybe God wants to use you as an example to show the world that with God nothing shall be impossible! Tell your neighbor my own will not be impossible with God.  Some years ago, I was visiting America, unknown to me one of my daughters there a medical doctor, has been waiting for future partner for donkey years and nobody showed up. She has now passed child bearing, she has stopped menstruating. Somehow, something within her told her; you are going to have a child, and she said "how am I going to have a child without having a husband, I can't commit adultery". And that spirit inside her told her that with God nothing shall be impossible. But God "how is this going to be, how will it happen"?  The spirit of God began to guide her. She bought a car and went to the pastor; she said "please sir, when Daddy comes, let him use this car throughout the period he is here". They told her we have made arrangement, she said "please let him use this one".  I arrived I didn't know any difference between the cars; they said this is the one to use. When I left, she took the car to the garage, locked herself in, sat inside the car and began to pray to God: ‘the anointing that is on your son, let it destroy the yoke in my life, and let me become a mother of a child like you promised'  Within weeks, somebody came and said, God said you are to be my wife, within months; they were married, in a little over a year; the baby came. I don't know who I am speaking to today; it may look as if it is already too late for you, but by the auction of the Holy Spirit flowing from this altar, you will share your testimony very soon. Occasionally, He will use someone as an example of his ability to reverse the irreversible. The Lord said there is someone here tonight; He said the forces that is causing delay in your family has been scattered. The Lord said there is someone here today, groaning under a heavy burden of debt, the Lord asked me to tell you, a series of blessings will come your way that will clear your debt and you will never need to borrow again. The Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said one day, when they began to talk about laboring without reward, you would say what is so called, because that will become a stranger to you. John 11v 1-24 tells us that when Lazarus was sick, Lazarus was a friend of Jesus, they came to tell Him that your friend is sick. And He stayed where He was for four more days. Why? Because He wanted to use Lazarus as a Vessel; to prove to the world that He can reverse the irreversible. Long after the man had died and had been buried and he was already stinking, He came and raised him up. All of you that have been told your case are hopeless; I am praying for you tonight, God will use your case to prove that He can reverse the irreversible.  He can use some people as an example to heal when He's willingness to do so.  In Matthew 8v 1-3 The Bible said a leper came unto Him; now when we talk about a leper in those days, it is like talking about somebody with full blown AIDS nowadays, leprosy had no cure then.  And the leper came to him and said I know you can do it. I know you can make me clean if you are willing. He used that leper as an example.  We are still reading about Him today, He is not only able to heal, He is willing to heal. I have good news for those of you who are here tonight, who is looking unto God for healing, your testimony will show the world that our God is still the great physician.  In John 5v 2- 9 The Bible tells me that there was a man who has been sick for thirty –eight years. Jesus healed him in a single moment. He will heal you too, it doesn't matter how long your sickness is. As a matter of fact when you begin to share your testimony, you will suddenly discover that the sickness you suffered from has turned you round to be Vessel unto Honour in His Hands.  In John 9 v 1- 7 The Bible tells us about a man that was born blind, and when the disciples saw him, they asked the Lord, "Why was this man born blind? Is it because of his sin or the sin of his parents"? Jesus said "it is not because of sin, it is so that God might be glorified in his life". I want him to be a Vessel that will show the world, that God has creative powers. I have good news for somebody here today, that which the doctors said he can never do again, the Almighty God will do for you tonight. It reminds me of the first crusade we held at Road Park several years ago, there was a young man there, apparently when he was born; he was born with only one testicle. The parents in an attempt to help him, they took him to a native doctor who destroyed the only one testicle that he had.  And so this young man even though he knew the problem he had still went ahead and married. And then he came to the crusade and the power of God came down, suddenly he discovered that he now had two testicles. The day he came to share his testimony, he came with his wife and the wife was already pregnant. And he wanted to show me what God has done, I said there is no need, I can see the evidence. That which the enemy has destroyed in your life, shall be repaired tonight in Jesus name. He can use some people as example of His ability to deliver and to restore destiny. In Mark 5 v 1- 20 It took me some time for me to understand the story of the mad man of Gadarenes. One demon is enough to make a man go mad. But this man had at least two thousand demons. Almighty God, why would one man become a habitation for two thousand demons?  Until God showed me; so that when I set Him free, only God can do this  In Daniel 3 when  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said they would not bow down to the image of Nebuchadnezzar, and Nebuchadnezzar said let them hit the fiery furnace seven times, hotter than before. It is because God wanted to prove that He can deliver in any circumstance whatsoever.  That is why there is good news for those of you who are passing through fire right now, the hotter the fire, the greater your testimony shall be because you are not going to die in the fire in Jesus name. Amen, amen, the Lord said there is someone here tonight; He said by tomorrow morning, a new episode of joy begins in your life. The Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said stop touching the unclean things and I will begin to prosper everything you touch. Thank you Father, the Lord said there is someone here tonight He said very soon you will shed some tears, but it will be tears of unbelievable joy. Now let's look at the advantages: When we talked about Vessels unto Honour, that are meet for the Master's use, let us consider things like; glass with which we drink water, knife and folk, that the King use to eat. The mirror in his bathroom, these are Vessels unto Honour.  If you look at it from that perspective, and look at the advantages that these Vessels will enjoy, the first advantage there is that the King will be touching them.  If you become a Vessel unto Honour to God, the Hand of God will constantly be on you. 1 Kings 18 v 46 The Bible says the Hand of the Lord was upon Elijah and that Hand of God upon him gave him extra ordinary strength that he was able to out-run even his enemy that was riding in a chariot. I know what it is for the Hand of God to be on someone. On several occasions, I will be so tired that I will feel like sleeping for a week, when I wake up in the morning. I remember one time in particular, we were going to hold a crusade in Haiti. When you get to America, you still have several hours of flight to get to Haiti. It is only in America you can get the Visa. We went to their Embassy in America, and you know many of these small, small countries when you say you want to visit them, for some reasons I am yet to understand, they want to trouble you before they give you the Visa.  We were there from morning till almost 3pm. We just wanted to go and preach the gospel, they still delayed us, until the Nigeria Ambassador in America intervened before they gave us the Visa. And then we travelled down and the crusade was beginning that night.  I was worn out and I was going to preach, God what am I going to do now?  Thank God for Pastor Kunle Ajayi, he had to play the saxophone before I preached and; when he began to play, suddenly I felt the Hand of God upon me. Energy came from nowhere and miracles began to happen.  Every one of you here tonight, that God has never touched before, He will touch you tonight. Those of you that he has touched before, He will touch you again tonight.  But you see if you are a Vessel of Honour in His Hands, He will touch you regularly. Not only that, consider the drinking glass, regularly the glass goes to the mouth of the King and receives a kiss from the King of Kings. How wonderful will it be if you can receive a kiss form the Lord Jesus Christ!  Thank you Father, the Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said the river of fire that you are passing through now will soon become the river of power.  The Bible says God spoke to Moses mouth to mouth. He spoke to other prophets, they heard with their ears. He spoke to Moses mouth to mouth; a divine kiss will automatically change your life completely.  Now all the Vessels unto Honour on the table of the King will hear whatever the King is saying. One of the advantages of being a Vessel unto Honour is that you can hear God speak, even when He is speaking in a whisper. In 1Kings 19 v 11-12: The Bible says God was speaking in a small still voice and Elijah was hearing. One of my children came to me, he said Daddy "tell me, how do you hear from God", I said "it is difficult to say, you become a Vessel unto Honour and you will be hearing from God". And those of you who have not been hearing from God, you will be hearing from now on in Jesus Name.  Talking about Vessel unto Honour, you can also use the mirror in the bathroom, do you know that the mirror in the bathroom of the King, can see the whole nakedness of the King! What is covered in the public? It will be revealed to the mirror.  A Vessel unto Honour is allowed to see the invincible.  Thank you Father, the Lord said there is somebody here tonight; He said I will blind those who are seeking your harm. The Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said compared to others, you are already running, you are moving fast, the Lord asked me to tell you; very soon you will begin to fly. The Lord asked me to say this to someone, He said I should say it emphatically, He said stop doubting you will make it. Exodus 33v 18- 23 Moses said "Lord show me your glory" and God said nobody can see my face and live, but because you are a Vessel unto Honour, I will make an arrangement; I will put you in the cleft of a rock; cover your face with my hands, And just when I am about to pass, you will see my back. Moses saw a little bit, he didn't die; instead his face began to shine like the sun. I pray for every one of you here tonight, even before the end of this month you will see the Glory of God. One of the blessings of being Vessels unto Honour is the grace to stand in His presence. 1 Kings 17 v 1 Elijah said, as the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand…. A Vessel of Honour is given the grace to stand in the presence of God and Psalm 16v 11 says in His presence there is the fullness of Joy; that means the portion of Vessels unto Honour is fullness of joy.  Added to that is that Vessels unto Honour always dwell with the King. They live in the house of the King. They dwell in the palace of The Most High God. And when you consider Psalm 26v6… Hallelujah! The Lord said there is someone here tonight; He said your next testimony will not be easily forgotten. The Lord said there is someone here tonight; He said out of shear mercy I will turn the tide for you. In Psalm 23 v 6 David said, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Those who are Vessels unto Honor, they dwell in the house of the Lord, and because they dwell in His house, goodness and mercy follow them all the days of their life.  If you become a Vessel unto Honor in the Hand of God, the only thing that will follow you will be goodness and mercy. And of course from time to time, God rewards those who are Vessel unto Honour, He rewards them for what they have done for him, He rewards them by making sure that they finish well. Paul was a Vessel unto Honour and in 2Timothy 4 v 6 - 8 He stated categorically: He said I have finished the work and my reward is waiting for me. If you are a Vessel unto Honour in God's Hands, you will not only be rewarded in God's Hands, you will not only be rewarded in this world, you will be rewarded in the world to come. Several years ago, God showed me a vision of Heaven; He showed me a house. They were still building the house. It is difficult to describe the size of the house. If you can imagine a house the size of the city of Ibadan, that will give you a rough idea, this is a rough description.  It had so many rooms and the people building were still very busy adding more rooms. And I said what house is this? He said "Son that is your House: My house? What am I going to do with all these rooms, why are they building more"? And He said to me, "in Heaven, all your children will be coming to pay you a visit and each one will have a visit in your House". So your own room is already built in my own House. Of course you will have your own mansion too and the number of rooms will be determined by the number of lives that you saved for Jesus Christ.  And that was a long time ago, I have not seen the house again yet, maybe they will show me one more time before I go, but that is why I am always busy wining souls. I want as many souls as possible to come into the Kingdom, so that there will be somebody to fill all those rooms. And I am encouraging you too; God is going to reward every Vessel unto Honour. He said in Revelation 22 v 12 He said behold I come quickly and my reward is with me, to give to every man as his work shall be. I pray that on that day, your reward will be reward of glory in Jesus name. Please listen carefully to this next one and I would want you to write it down for record purposes; The Lord said there is someone here tonight, he said I would take you to higher grounds, He said but when you get there, don't forget me. Please write it down because if God says He is going to do it, He is going to do it. He will do it. And He added a warning to it, He said I will take you to higher ground, He said when you get there don't forget him. The Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said very soon the world will say; how come we have not heard about you before now! Conditions for being a Vessel unto Honour: If a man purges himself, God is willing to use you as a Vessel unto Honour, I have told you He can use the insignificant, He can use the poor, He can use the rich, He can use house boy, He can use house maid. He can use a driver, He can use anybody, He can use the young, and He can use the old. He can use the firstborn. He can use the last born. He can use somebody born in between.  But God is no respecter of person, Acts 10 v 34 - 35 God is no respecter of person, but in every nations, in every generation, those who fear Him and do His will are accepted by Him.  If you are willing to meet His conditions, He is willing to make you a Vessel unto Honour. In 2Corithians 6v 14-18 He says you must be separate; you must not touch the unclean thing. He said you cannot be like other people if you want me to receive you.  You cannot follow multitudes to do evil and expect that God will make you a Vessel unto Honour, but if you are willing to be separate, if you are willing to be peculiar, if you are willing to be different from others, if you don't care what they say about you, all you want to do is you want to please God, then He said I will receive you. I will be your God and you will be my people. In Isaiah 6v1-8 He made it clear that after you have been purified, then you must be available. After He has purified Isaiah, he then said who shall I send? who will go for us? And Isaiah said I am here, send me.  There are people here who say we want to be Vessels unto Honour, if I say today who will want to go and be one of our Pastors in America?  Everybody will raise their hands! But if I say who will want to be our Pastor in Iran? We have had an opening now in Iran; I am yet to find somebody who will go.  When I got to Papua New Guinea, the brother there has been there for five years, you can imagine how he was when he saw me, he was drunk with joy. Papua New Guinea is far from home. Australia is even nearer when you are talking of Papua New Guinea, but he was there serving the Lord, the church there is doing well, that is a Vessel unto Honour. Who shall I send who will go for me? If God should say that tonight, how many of you will say God here am I send me? I thought I would see hands going up? Let me assure you of one thing, because you came tonight your life can never be the same again. In 1Corithians 4v 1-2 after you have been purified, after you have made yourself available, God expects you to be faithful. It is expected of a steward that he be found faithful. You must be faithful and anyone who is going to be a Vessel unto Honour must be willing to be intimate with God.  He must be willing to spend quality time with Him, must be willing to stand in His Presence. Anyone who is going to be a Vessel unto Honour in the Hand of God must know God, not know about him but know God himself. Must know God for yourself, not just what the Pastor say, discover God yourself. Daniel 11 v 32 said they that do know their God shall be strong, and shall do exploits. One of the things that I thank the Almighty God for is that by the time I got born again, He put a hunger in my heart: I wanted to know Him!  There were people ahead of me, they talked about God and I thank them for what I learnt from them but secretly on my own, I keep on crying to God. I want to know you more, reveal yourself to me. I don't want to be an ordinary Christian. Show me yourself, show me your power, and let me understand you like nobody else.  At night when everybody is sleeping I cry to Him and if you cry to Him, He will reveal himself to you. I am believing God for everyone of you tonight, other Christians will see you and say you are different.  If you want to be a Vessel unto Honor, there is one way to start, and that is that you become a vocal witness about Him, just begin to talk about Him.  In 2kings 5 v 1-14 The  maid who brought healing to Naaman, all she did was witnessed, she said how I wish that my master will go to the prophet that is in Israel, he would have healed him, that is the only thing that girl did all her life and we are reading about her till today, don't keep quiet about him, tell others, Jesus saves, Jesus heals, Jesus performs miracles, invite them to the Holy Ghost service, let them come and taste the power of God for themselves. One thing I have discovered, those who always witness about the power of God, they end up enjoying the power of God. Finally, you must be a living sacrifice, Roman12 v1-2 says if you want to be a Vessel unto Honour in the Hand of God, you must be willing to be a living sacrifice, because the moment you say God I am available, He would take you seriously, He will grab you and send you to where you are needed.  A living sacrifice never complains; he is willing to go wherever God says he should go. When you say God empower me so that I will be a Vessel unto Honour, then you are also asking for some problems, because the more you have the power of God, the more people will come seeking for help. Some years ago, we were just trying to settle down to sleep, At 2 am a man came all the way from Abeokuta knocking at the door, if somebody is knocking at our door at 2am you know it has to be an emergency. And we opened the door to see a big man. A real big head of a family weeping profusely,  We said "what is the problem? Somebody died or what"? He said "I have worked for the government for five years and they have not paid me, I want you to pray for me, I know if you pray they will pay me". I said can't you wait till the morning? They have owed you for five years? He said I just feel that I must come to you to pray"   I said "at 2am!"  Thank God we prayed and as God will have it, three days later they paid him his money.  But the point I am making is this, if you want to be a Vessel of Honour in the Hands of God, you want God to use you to heal the sick, to deliver the captives. To use you to raise the dead, your time will no longer be your own, you will no longer be able to sit down and enjoy comfort as you used to enjoy because anointing will attract trouble. The anointing is not for sitting down, it is for healing the sick and setting the captives free, anointing will create problems, but they are good problems. How many of you are still willing to be Vessels of Honour in the Hand of God? You are willing to pay the price? Let me hear you say Amen loud and clear.  The Preacher who spoke before me said one thing, God cannot use you if you are not clean, that is why I keep crying be holy. The Bible says in Isaiah 52 v 11, He said be clean to carry the Vessel of the Lord. Thank you Father, the Lord said there is someone here, to the world you are an ex -champion, the Lord ask me to tell you will soon regain your crown. I will tell you a story that I have told you before. When I was a lecturer at the university of Lagos there was a sister  there who had been crying to God, please use me for your glory I want to be a Vessel unto Honor, empower me oh Lord, I want to be mightily used of God. God didn't  answer her until one day, she went to use the toilet and a that period there was water shortage in the campus, so she opened the first toilet everything was full, she shut the door, she opened the second one, the floor was even full. She opened the third one, it was worst.  Finally she left the toilet and then God spoke and said my daughter I thought you wanted to use the toilet,  She said "yes Lord" And you know when God is speaking to you for the first time, you won't even know that someone is speaking to you and you are answering.  "Yes Lord I want to use the toilet". "Why are you not using it"? She said because it is very dirty.  And God said, "I too wants to use you but you are too dirty. If you are here tonight, you have not yet given your life to Jesus Christ and yet you want to be a Vessel unto Honour, he can't use you when you are dirty, but if you come to Him; His blood will wash you clean.  The blood of Jesus cleanses from all sins. If you are here tonight, you have once been born again but you have backslide, you have gone back to your old ways of sinning. God can't use you when you are dirty but if you come to Him, He will destroy every yoke of sin in your life.  So those of you who want to give your life to Jesus, and those of you who have backslide and you want to return to Him, you can come to Him now. Let's together join our voices, call on Him for your salvation and your restoration.  If you want to give your life to Jesus begin to come now. If you are a backslider and you want to give your life to Jesus Christ come now. He will only use a clean vessel. As you come, begin to talk to the Almighty God and talk to him, tell him you want to be a Vessel of Honour, tell Him to wash you clean, I want to be used mightily of God, I want you to use me to win souls into your kingdom, I want you to use me to heal the sick, to set the captives free, I want you to use me to show others the way to the kingdom of God. Ask him to be merciful ask him to save your soul, ask him to cleanse you in his blood, talk to him.  And the rest of us let's stretch our hands towards these and ask the restorer. To restore them back. Call on the Almighty God and pray for this people now. Lord have mercy on me save my soul, wash me and make me clean, I want to be a Vessel unto Honour Lord, everything that will not allow me to be a Vessel unto Honour, wash it away. Call on Him, saviour save my soul, and I will serve you for the rest of my life. Wash me clean oh Lord. I have come to that fountain filled with blood, wash me clean oh Lord, was me clean, wash me clean, save my soul and I will serve you for the rest of my life. Thank you father, in Jesus Mighty Name we have prayed.  Father we want to thank you for your word, we want to give you all glory and honor. For all that you have already said to us tonight and for these your children who have come to surrender their lives to you. Father you promised that who so ever will come unto you, you  will no wise cast out, they have come to you now, please receive them in Jesus name, save their souls in Jesus name, let your blood wash away their sins in Jesus name. Write their names in the book of life in Jesus name. From now, whenever they call on you answer them in Jesus name. Every one of them, turn them to Vessel unto Honour in Jesus name. Thank you my Father, in Jesus Mighty Name we have prayed. From now on by the grace of God, from now I will be praying for you, you will soon be receiving miracles you didn't even ask for. So I am going to need your names, your address and your prayer requests. And I promise you by the grace of God every day I will be praying for you. Now the rest of us, shall we please stand, those of you who really want God to make you a Vessel unto Honour let me hear you shout a really big hallelujah! Maybe you dint hear the question; I said those of you who want God to make as Vessels unto Honour, shout a big Hallelujah! Now I want you to lift your voice to the Almighty, the Bible says "it is not by might, nor by power, but by Spirit saith the Lord". I want you to lift your voice to the Almighty God and say Father, the anointing to be a Vessel unto Honour, pour it on me now. Open your mouth and talk to Him…. In Jesus mighty name we have prayed. You are going to pray a very special prayer; you see the sick cannot heal the sick. Captive cannot be setting the captives free, so you will lift your voice to God and say Father, everything that will not allow me to serve you, take them away from my life, sickness, poverty, bondage remove them from my life. Go ahead and talk to Him…in Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Why don't you lift your hands to the Almighty God and praise Him, if He has said it, it is already done, nothing can change it, if it came from Him, it is settled.  Bless His Holy name, give him Glory, give Him honour, He said He is taking somebody to the top, He said I will take you to the top, just make sure you don't forget me when you get there, why don't you bless His Holy name.  He said someone should stop doubting, He said you will make it, what else do you want? Why don't you praise Him, why don't you give Him honour, why don't you give Him adoration? He said I will blind fold those who are seeking your hurt; why don't you magnify His Holy name?  He said this month, the tide is going to turn for some body, why don't you praise Him, why don't you give Him all honour, and give Him all adoration. Thank you Almighty God, What a faithful God you are! What a Glorious Father you are! Glory Be to your Holy Name! In Jesus mighty name we have given thanks. Father we Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Father Thank you! Accept our thanks in Jesus Name. The blessings of this night, let them last forever. Every word that has gone forth to us tonight, my Father and my God let them manifest before the sun rises in Jesus name.  Keep on blessing your children, a new season of Joy let it be forever. And I pray Father that in your Kingdom, none of us will be found wanted. Glory Be to Your Holy Name. In Jesus Name we have prayed.  Let somebody shout a big hallelujah!   Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Karp's $1.1 billion story

The easy, simple layout of Tumblr blogs has spawned diverse, quirky, blogs. An enormously popular Tumblr called '#whatshouldwecallme' features a series of animated gifs explaining the reactions to daily life of a 20-something woman.  However, celebrities like Joe Jonas and Lady GaGa also have popular Tumblr pages and companies like the shoemaker Col Haan use the site as a creative way to market their products.  Tumblr is also popular with many pornstars and features numerous sexually-explicit blogs.  Tumblr boasts remarkable loyalty among its users. Some 85percent of Tumblr users make 20 or more posts a month.  Big deal: Marissa Mayer is reportedly staking her reputation as Yahoo CEO on this Tumblr deal However, Karp - a high school dropout who taught himself how to code - had expressed grave reservations about giving up his brainchild to a Silicon Valley tech giant.  In a 2012 interview with the Guardian, he said he had been swatting away buy-out requests for years.  'Particularly in the first three years, there were a lot of (mergers and acquisitions) people who would pull you aside and you'd think "Well, s***, I could be a pretty rich 23-year-old with very little effort,"' he said.  'We stuck it out. I won't say I really knew why.' Perhaps the perseverance makes sense to Karp now that he is 'very rich' at age 26. The deal conjures images of another young man who is very rich - Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.  At $1.1billion, Tumblr's worth is nowhere near the value of $100billion Facebook, but 29-year-old Zuckerberg's success has become something of a pattern for young, brilliant tech entrepreneurs.  It is unclear how large a stake in the company Karp maintained before the Yahoo deal.  In 2008, he sold a 25percent stake to investors for $750,000.  The investor share of the company was $125million at the time of the deal, according to AllThingsD. Karp grew up on Manhattan's tony Upper West Side, the son of a music composer father who wrote songs for films and TV shows and a mother who was a teacher.  He taught himself how to code HTML at age 11 and began setting up his own consulting business shortly thereafter. His parents allowed him to drop out of high school at age 15 and complete the remainder of his education by homeschooling.  At age 17, he moved to Japan, where he cemented his skill as a programmer and began pitching his ideas to tech companies.  He moved back to New York and sold his services as a consultant. He founded Tumblr in 2007 at age 21 - and it quickly consumed all of his time.  He started up an office in Manhattan and has ardently resisted the lure of moving to Silicon Valley. He also tried to resist the money that the tech world had to offer. He told the Guardian that he wanted to remain independent - believing he could grow the company by growing ad revenue naturally. Within a year, though, he was accepting funds from venture capital investors.  He currently lives with his girlfriend in a modest apartment in Manhattan's West Village. Rachel Eakley is a chef and a graduate student studying psychology. 

Separated for Favor

This year God has ordained that we ride on the wings of favor. That means, God's favor is meant to be be our daily experience. We shall be having commotions of divine favor that will make us a testimonies before the eyes of men. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. -Psalms 102:13 It is our season season of favour . We are set apart or separated to enjoy the favor of throughout this year. The beauty of life is wrapped in the favor of God. It means therefore that until we ride on the favor of God we are sure of experiencing the ugliness of life. The chief function of the anointing oil is to set someone apart for a particular office until to God. The anointing oil is the physical medium through which God separates a man for a particular experience. This means, God is using today's anointing service to set us apart for the experience of favor throughout the year. In Exodus 30 God introduced the anointing oil and it's primary function. And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy. -Exodus 30:29 And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office. -Exodus 30:30 The anointing is to set apart or separate  a person or a thing for God's use. The anointing is to set apart a person for a particular office. The anointing is to set apart a person for a particular function or responsibility The anointing is to set apart a person for a particular experience. The anointing is a seal of approval and ordination of a person into a particular office. In those days in Israel no one assumes an office until he is anointed. The oil is not the main thing, but it is the seal of God's approval of that person into such an office. And when you are set apart for an office, you are then entitled to enjoy whatever that office contains. When one is anointed, then that person becomes heavens property and so heaven begins to pay unbroken focus on such a person. As we are anointed today, we are been separated to function in and through the favor of God. It means, only favor shall be our testimony and experience this year. Why Separated for Favor? # We are separated to favor so we should not struggle through life.  And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. -Exodus 12:36 Without favor, life is full of struggles. It takes favor to overcome the struggles of life. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. -Psalms 30:5 A man without the favor of God will always remain in struggle for life. Adam struggled for everything until he died in struggles because he lived outside the favor of God. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; -Genesis 3:17 Struggle is always as a result of not having favor. And wherever there is struggle there is sorrow.  Before this time, Adam never struggled for anything. Everything was provided. But when he missed the favor of God he was bound to struggle through. From today because of God's favor you shall never struggle through life again. # We are separated to favor so we will sweat in life. It takes favor to wipe out sweat. Wherever you see sweat, then struggle and suffering is fully present. Sweat is a prove of struggle and struggle comes when there is no favor. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. -Genesis 3:19 Until favor comes sweat will continue. And sweat will always make a man to smell. While sweat repels people and good things from you, favor attracts them. # We are separated to favor in order to experience divine acceptance  Favor is the cure to rejection. Esther was favorably accepted to become a queen in a land of captivity not because she was very beautiful but because she had the favor of the Lord. Esther 2:15-17 15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her. 16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. You can not be rejected when you walk on favor. Because favor will always provoke acceptance. I Samuel 10:3-4 3 Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine: 4 And they will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread; which thou shalt receive of their hands. Immediately Saul was anointed, he began to experience the favor if the Lord and the acceptance of men. He met three people going to God and they saluted him. Salutation here is an expression of reception. # We are separated to favor to stability in life. Without favor there is no stability in life. Wisdom is good for a start but favor will establish you for life. LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. -Psalms 30:7 You go through life as if nothing is troubling you because of God's favor. Favor makes you immovable in the face of challenges. # We are separated to favor for speedy accomplishment.  And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. -Luke 1:28 Because Mary was highly favored, protocols were broken for divine and speedy accomplishment. As you are anointed, throughout this year, what struggle could not give to you the favor of God will do for you. Be blessed.

Commanding the Blessings through Wisdom

In Christ we drink of the fountain of wisdom, for in Him is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So when we come to Christ, we have come to meet with the source of wisdom which make life profitable. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. -Colossians 2:3 It takes the hidden treasures of wisdom in Christ to live in and enjoy the blessings God. But to search the hidden treasures of wisdom in Christ we must be willing to learn from Him. It takes learning to gain access to the wisdom of Christ. This is why Jesus personally invited us to learn of Him. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  -Matthew 11:29 It takes learning to gain wisdom, and applying our hearts to the gained wisdom helps us maximizing the blessings of God. This why David prayed God to teach him His ways. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. -Psalms 90:12 Until we are ready to be taught, we are not ready to for wisdom. This because wisdom deals with knowledge and understanding. Knowledge and understanding comes through learning. This means the treasures of wisdom are revealed through learning. What is Wisdom? Before we look out how to command the blessing through wisdom, let's see what wisdom really is. 1. Wisdom is knowing what to do in order to get what you want according to the will of God.  And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. -John 6:6 2. Wisdom is applying the knowledge of God's word in order to experience the blessings of God. 3. Wisdom is knowing HOW to do things in order to achieve a desired result. The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city. -Ecclesiastes 10:15 4. Wisdom is applying the revelation of God's word in handling the issues of life. 5. Wisdom is following the leading of the Holy Spirit. So you see, wisdom has to do with knowing WHAT, HOW, of doing things. You are regarded as a wise man when you know what to do to solve the issues of life. Now, WHAT are we to do to command the blessings of God in our lives? Some persons have asked me how did get so blessed within a short time in ministry. These are my answers to them. Wisdom 1. Honor the Lord with your substance joyfully. Proverbs 3:9-10 9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. We stand qualified for the plenty and bursting out blessings of the Lord by simply honor Him with our substance. God said, he that honors Him, He will honor.  Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. -1 Samuel 2:30 You cannot honor the Lord with your substance and first fruit and He deny you His blessings. Your honor of Him with you first fruit is the wisdom path to commanding His blessings. A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? -Malachi 1:6 Until we are ready to please Him by honoring Him, we are not ready to be satisfied with His blessings. Everyone around me knows that nothing I have is too big to be given to the Lord. I have been privileged to give my first N1.8million to God and never have a feeling for. Wisdom 2. Honor Your Biological Parents Ephesians 6:2-3 2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. Whether you know it or not, your biological parents are instrument of God's blessings upon your life. God honors their pronouncement over your life. To command the blessings of God, wisdom demands that you honor your biological parents. They don't need to be rich and beautiful before you honor them. Do don't even need to be good before you do that. Just honor them according to the word of the Lord, and they will pronounce blessings upon you. With this pronouncement, God will see to it that you are truly blessed. Oh, what a blessed day when my biological father, blessed my life. It was on February 12, 2002. He said, my son, you shall be great. He said this more than seven times. And I tell you the truth, it is coming to pass. Isaac to Esau, get me some venison which love and my soul shall bless thee before I die. You must get your parents some venisons to provoke the blessing God has kept in your soul for you. The parental blessings of Jacob upon Joseph is still standing till this date. Don't be too civilized to forget honoring your parents. Wisdom 3. Honor the priest Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. -Ephesians 6:1 We are to honor God, and our parents. And also the priest of God. There is an extent parental blessings will go. But that of the priest can be go extra mile. Why should we honor the priest, God answered it Himself. And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest’s: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house. -Ezekiel 44:30 The priest has a commandment to cause the blessings of God to rest in your house. The Macedonian church had this understanding and the blessed Paul. And Paul said, my God shall supply all your needs. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:19 Whenever you sow into the life of God's servant, they pronounce blessings upon you. And God will watch to confirm the words of His servants. Boy, men of God has spoken to my life. And their blessings are really. These are wisdom path to command the blessings.

Expressing Faith Through Praise

God is always looking at our faith before He could intervene in our affairs. Wherever there is lack of faith, God is handicapped in our situation. This because God needs our faith to intervene in our affairs. It is important to know that God is not moved by our tears or our complains but our faith in Him. Because faith counts on the ability of God. And one way to express our faith in the ability of God is to render praise to God. Praise is the joyful and confident expression of our faith in the person and ability of God. Each time you render praise to God irrespective of your condition, you are simply saying, God has power to change your condition and you are restingon that ability of God. 17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. When you give into complaining and murmuring, it means you are weak in faith and can't trust the ability of God to do what He has said and promised.  Numbers 11: 1 And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. -Numbers 11:1 Each time we complain, we simply tell God that He can't help or solve our problems. Complaining deprives us from enjoying the ability of God. But whenever we stand in praise and glorify God even in the midst of our challenges we simply say, God you are bigger than our problems. Complaining means you have giving up on the ability of God. Abraham did not give up on God and hence he was called the man of faith. He did not look at his challenge but on the promise and the ability of God. Still, he did not give up faith in the undertaking of God, but was made strong by faith, giving glory to God, -Romans 4:20 (BBC) Sarah could conceive irrespective of her condition because she rested on the ability of God by through faith. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. -Hebrews 11:11 Today as we praise expect God to manifest His power in your life. 2 Chronicles 20: 21-22 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. 22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. The enemy is not an issue when engage the power of God. And one way to engage the power of God is through the expression of our faith in God through praise. Conclusively, we are told the result of faith expressed through praise in psalms 67. Psalm 67:5-7 5 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. 6 Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. With this, you should know that whenever you express your faith through faith, there is bound to be a turnaround. God bless you.

Overcoming the Challenges of Life through Wisdom

 OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF LIFE THROUGH WISDOM We are living in a world of equality. Equal challenge, equal temptations, equal opportunities, equal education, equal grace, equal time, etc. Everything is equal to everyone under the sun. But what you get in the world is determined by your level of wisdom. Ecclesiastes 9:2-3,11 2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. 3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. God is so kind that He has decided to release everything to us equally but it then depends on us to determine the result we get out of life. Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field. -Ecclesiastes 5:9 The profit of the earth is for everyone, but whether you will enjoy the profit it all depends on you. It takes wisdom to partake of the benefit that is both in the kingdom and the earth. Jesus established this fact that we all (saved and unsaved) do face the same challenge but to the believers, we have an advantage because we have access to the wisdom to turn everything to our favor. Matthew 7:24-27 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:  25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.  26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:  27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.  To stand strong, and withstand the floods of life, the winds, rains and frustration in the word, we must rely on the wisdom of God. This one reason Jesus promised us wisdom in order to stand victorious in this world. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.  -Luke 21:15 Until you go for wisdom, you are going to be flooded out by the challenges of life. The challenges of life do not have respect of persons. It either you overcome them or they beat you down. HOW DO WE OVERCOME CHALLENGES THROUGH WISDOM? 1. Take heed to the word of God. Luke 7:24-27 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:  25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.  26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:  27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.  It takes the sayings of Christ to gain wisdom. And through this wisdom, you can overcome the challenges of live. God's word is our wisdom. Ignoring the word is ignoring His wisdom for us. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. -Deuteronomy 4:6 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. -2 Timothy 3:15 You cannot get the wisdom of God by ignoring His word. And it would take heeding to a His word to overcome the challenges of life. 2. Think before you act. Luke 14:28-30 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?  29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,  30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.  Wisdom has to do with thinking. To act before you think makes you foolish. To overcome the challenges of life you must sit down to think first before you act. Someone said, look before you leap. Do not rush into doing things. 3. Learn to project into the future. A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. -Proverbs 22:3 To project means to see into the future or to have a foresight. Don't wait until challenges come before you take step. Learn to foresee them and plan your escape. Every wise person will live having the future in mind. 4. Live a planned life. The reason so many people are victims of challenges is as a result of lack of planning or inadequate planning. Proverbs 24:3-4 3 Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: 4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Until you plan, you will always lie a frustrating life. Progress is a product of a planned life. You cannot make progress without planning. 5. Stay connect to Christ Our victory is hidden in Christ.  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? -1 John 5:5 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.  -John 16:33 There is no challenge Christ has not overcome. To stay connect to Christ is to stay victorious. You cannot ignore Christ and win the race of life with His wisdom. To those who are in Christ all things including challenges work together for their good. Wisdom therefore demands that you stay connect to Him because He will guide you on the way to profit.