GOD CAN TRANSFORM DESTINY FROM GOOD TO BAD AND FROM BAD TO GOOD. IT’S ALL IN YOUR HANDS AND AS GREAT AND MIGHTY AS GOD IS, HE GIVES MAN THE OPPORTUNITY TO DECIDE.
DON’T MESS WITH GOD. GOD IS LOVE BUT HE IS ALSO A CONSUMING FIRE. HE CAN MAKE AND UNMAKE, HE CAN WRITE AND ERASE.
THE HIGHER YOU GO THE MORE CAREFUL YOU MUST BE. THE HIGHER GOD RAISES YOU, THE MORE HUMBLE YOU MUST BE.
WHEN GOD HAS PROMOTED A PERSON, IF HE DROPS THAT PERSON, YOU DON’T JUST GO BACK TO THE GROUND, YOU GO BELOW.
- Pastor E.A. Adeboye at RCCG February Thanksgiving Service / Special Prayers for Firstborns and their families.
Almighty God, the Most High, the one who speaks and it is done. The one who said let there be light and there was light. The one who can raise the dead, The one who made dry bones live again. Glory be to your Holy name. God of miracles accepts our thanks in Jesus name. Thank you for what you have done for us since the beginning of the year. Thank you for protection, thank you for defense, thank you for preservation, please accept our thanks in Jesus name.
Today my Father and my God we commit all firstborns and their families into your hands, let it be well with them. Let them excel, let them serve you. Father I commit all your children who have been faithful in the giving of their offering and their tithe, Father this month surprise them. Bless them in such a manner that they will say this blessing is too much. Lord on a daily basis this month give us miracles, help us more than before and give us the grace to shine for you in Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Amen!
Numbers 3:11-13
This morning I have been asked to speak on TRANSFORMED DESTINY. What a powerful topic, let’s define the topic. Let’s begin by looking at the word ‘transformed’. It is a combination of two words – ‘trans’ and ‘formed’. ‘trans’ means changed. That is where you get other words like transition. When you talk about ‘transport’ we are talking about changing port, changing from Apapa Port to Warri Port. Church Gist. When you talk about ‘translate’, you are talking about changing from one language to another. Trans means change. Form means make (Genesis 2:7), shape, create something. We have certain things that we can learn from the word ‘form’. When you talk about inform, it means you are adding something to what has been made. That’s why we send our children to school so they can be informed, so they can be added to and become more than they were already.
Deuteronomy 6:4
When you find out that something is not exactly the way it should be, you call it deformed. Something formed has been destroyed or affected. For example, in Mark 3:15 the Bible talks about a man with a withered hand. His hand was deformed, that’s why the one who formed the man when He saw him with a deformation. He immediately stepped in to bring things back to order. Church Gist. Which is why I am saying straight away that anyone of you with any form of deformation, God will step in straight away. When you talk about reformed you are talking about something so badly damaged you have to redo it afresh. You have to go back to the drawing board. Like 2 Kings 5:1-14, in the case of Namaan his body was so damaged he had to undergo a reformation by dipping himself seven times into the River Jordan and his skin was restored like a newborn baby.
The word we are interested in is ‘transform’ because we are talking about transformed destiny. Transformation means changing from one form to another. I hope my little lecture in English is okay. You might not know it but when I was in Secondary School my best subject was English Language. I ended up doing Mathematics because that was the only place where I could get money to go to the University. Nobody wanted to do Maths, so when they said they can only sponsor someone who wants to do Maths, I said I am not bad at Maths either. Destiny is a word that has the same root as destination. Destination means where you intend to end on your journey. Another word that has a relationship with destiny is what we call predestination. When we talk about predestination we are talking about destiny. If we want to put it in modern language destiny is a programmed destination. I am sure we know what that means. Ask the pilot when they want to fly from Lagos to London, they go into their Computer and they program London from Nigeria here, the route that the plane should go. After they have done the programming, the rest is easy. As soon as they climb to the sky, they go into what they call cruise control. They are just up there in case of turbulence, they go higher or if they need to go lower. Most of the time they are just enjoying the flight like you because the destination has been programmed. That is what destiny means. Destiny is where you are supposed to end.
Jeremiah 1:4-5, 29:11
God says “I want you to end well”. I pray for all of you listening to me today, you will end well. God is a good God but He is absolutely supreme ( Psalms 115:3). Whatever He wants to do that is what He does. Revelation 4:11 says that God created all things for His pleasure. When we are talking about destiny, God designed the expected end as He pleases. Romans 9:10-14 talks about Esau and Jacob that before they were born God had already said Jacob I love, Esau I hate. The elder will serve the younger. Church Gist. God said so. The Bible went further to say how can God do that? Are you big enough to query him? You better thank Him that He didn’t make you a snake. He would have done so and there would be nothing you could have done about it. People will be looking for a cutlass to cut your head when they see you. It pleases Him for example that you should be alive today, better shout Hallelujah.
Somebody was reporting an accident not too long ago, a plane crashed into some houses. The people were sleeping on their beds and the plane came and killed them. Who are you to query God? You better understand that everything is programmed by God to please Him otherwise you won’t enjoy your life. Church Gist. I believe it has pleased the Almighty God to make the future of certain people glorious. If you read Romans 9:17-18, God said concerning Pharaoh. The reason I made you the most powerful king of your time, the reason I promoted you, is so that when I drown you everyone will know there is someone called the King of Kings. Which is one of the reasons if God is elevating you, you better humble yourself. Why? The elders have a saying that if a cockroach falls nobody hears the sound. If an ant falls, the ground doesn’t shake but when an elephant falls, they will feel the tremor not only in the bush but in the hut.
- My God will promote you.
When He is promoting you, be careful. If an ordinary messenger dies, they don’t announce it in the news. If a president dies, the world will hear the news. - God will promote you.
Remain humble, don’t struggle with the Almighty. He does as He pleases.
Everybody has a destiny, a good one, He wants you to end well that is what the Bible says. For those who are first born, your own destiny is special. All firstborns belong to God, that is what the Bible teaches. That is the reason why many firstborns are very difficult children. You don’t believe me ask parents. It just happens. Why? Because they belong to God and you are claiming them to be yours. Church Gist. That is why those who are wise, those who know spiritual matters do what we call Redemption of the Firstborn. They come to the Almighty God with a special offering and all of a sudden they change. That is not what I want to discuss with you today. I have been asked to talk on transformed destiny. God says all firstborns are mine. He also says their portion will be double. Deuteronomy 21:15-17.
Fortunately, destiny could be transformed. It could be transformed for the better or for worse. In 1 Samuel 2:30 God said to Eli I have changed my mind and He gave the reason. You know the proverb that it is the white man who made pencils that also made erasers. Don’t mess with God. I am talking as a Father to his children. God is love but He is also a consuming fire. He can make and unmake, He can write and erase. Firstborn, your destiny is to be great and to get a double portion. That is what Elisha asked Elijah for. Elijah said a double portion is a difficult thing to ask because Elisha is not actually the biological son of Elijah, he was just an adopted son and he was asking for the right of the firstborn. Adopted or not adopted, Elisha was the only one Elijah had. Thank God he got what he wanted. I pray for every firstborn here today, God will give you double portion blessings.
You have some cases like in Genesis 49:1-4, Jacob was about to die, he gathered all his children together and said let me tell you what is going to happen in the future. He said “Hey Reuben, you are my firstborn, you are supposed to get a double portion but you will not excel”. Your destiny is transformed, why? Because Papa had a second wife and Reuben when Papa wasn’t looking decided to help Papa. He felt Papa wasn’t doing justice to the new wife. Church Gist. Papa heard it and kept quiet and waited for the day he was going to die and said “you did that to me, you are supposed to be number 1 you will number nothing”. Firstborn listen, this morning is not a morning for jokes. If there is anything you have done that will cause God to change his good plans for your life, may God forgive.
1 Samuel 15:1-28
God picked up a farmer’s boy called Saul incidentally He happens to be the first son of his mother. God picked him up and promoted him to become king. The first king Israel ever had and God sent him on an errand and he got there and began to do as he pleased. God said no problem, God took the kingdom away. Occasionally God will put you in a position that you will know you don’t deserve, when that happens, be careful. The higher you go the more careful you must be. The higher God raises you, the more humble you must be.
- The plan that God has concerning you will come to pass in Jesus name.
I told you the story of what happened after Lekki ’98, you remember that great gathering. Millions of people gathered at Lekki for the first Holy Ghost Congress, crowds as far as the eyes could see. Decision cards filled by those who gave their life to Christ were so many, a car couldn’t carry it. After that occasion, one night I was in the camp thanking God because I had never seen anything like that before, you are a great God for something like this could happen in Nigeria of all places. Suddenly, I heard between 2am and 3am in the night. “Son, bend down” I bent down quickly because I didn’t know why He will ask me to bend down by 2am in the night. The camp was a jungle then. The camp whether you know it or not was built in a place that used to be the Headquarters of witches and wizards, maybe one of them was flying past. I bent down and He asked me to draw the figure of a man and I did, zero for head, one line for the body, line here line there for legs and hands. He told me to stand up and clean what I had drawn. Church Gist. By this time I was trembling because I knew God was about to say something serious. He said “Son, you are thanking me for what I have done, if you ever forget who is in charge I will wipe you out like you wiped out what you have drawn. Nobody will even remember that you ever came into this world”. So when people say to me “Daddy you are so humble” do you think I am mad, you think I want to be wiped out? I hope you are listening? God said to King Saul ‘you were nothing. I made you King and I sent you on an errand, you went there and began to do what you like. Okay, go back to where you are coming from’. When God has promoted somebody and He drops that somebody, you don’t just go back to the ground. You go below. Before God picked up King Saul, at least he was a normal farmer’s boy. As soon as God dropped him, an evil spirit came into him. He became a mad person.
- What you will do to cause the Almighty God to drop you, you will never do it again.
Let me just take one special case so that you can see what we are saying when we talk about transformation of destiny. In Genesis 48:11-20, the Bible talks about two boys who were children of Joseph. Manasseh is the first born, Ephraim is the second born, Joseph brought them to his father to pray for them before he dies, Papa was old. Because Papa’s eyes were now dim Joseph placed the first born where the right hand will land and the second at the left hand. All of a sudden, Papa crossed his hand and placed his right hand on the second born and the left hand on the first born. Joseph said no! Papa said I know what I am doing. I can’t see with my physical eyes but I am being guided by the Spirit. The Bible says He placed Ephraim before Manasseh. He switched their destinies. By the time you get to Deuteronomy 33:17, Ephraim had prospered 10 times more than Manasseh. We are talking about thousands for Manasseh and ten thousands for Ephraim. What followed? Suddenly Ephraim became proud and looked down on his elder brother and began to do all kinds of funny things. God kept on sending warnings, sermons like that of this morning. Church Gist. Prophets after Prophets came to Ephraim, he wasn’t paying attention. Until finally we got to Hosea 4:17, God said Ephraim has joined himself to idols, leave him alone. In the same book of Hosea Chapter 5:9 God said Ephraim shall be desolate. Nothing left. Revelation 7:4-8. We see the final result, Ephraim has become completely forgotten. Manasseh has been restored. Not only was he completely restored he was promoted above his father. God was selecting people from each tribe, 12000 from each tribe to form 144,000 – a special group at the end of the age. He mentioned Manasseh long before He mentioned Joseph. God can transform from good to bad and from bad to good. It’s all in your hands. As great and mighty as God is, He gives man the opportunity to decide. Deuteronomy 30:19-20. That is what God said, He said take my advice that you might live. The choice is yours. The Bible says in Revelation 3:20 behold I stand at the door and I knock, if you open I will come in. You have the right to say I am not opening my door and God will leave you alone. A day is coming when you will knock at the door in heaven and God will not open because you didn’t open your door on earth. God is the Alpha and Omega.
If you read Genesis 49:5-7,Jacob told Levi I am going to scatter you because Simeon and Levi did something that grieved their father. Then a day came Exodus 32:25-26 when God was looking for people that will assist Moses in dealing with a rebellious group of people and Moses said “who is on the Lord’s side?” every child of Levi said “we are on the Lord’s side”. Church Gist. God looked down from heaven and said “Levi you are on my side? Therefore I am on your side too. From this day onwards, Levi you become my firstborn”. The Lord is asking all of you “on whose side are you?” The choice is yours. God is calling you again now to cross over to His side. God controls destiny, he can transform it.
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