THE YOUNG AGE IS THE STAGE FOR YOU TO PREPARE! – Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo at COZA Tuesday
- The young age is the stage of identity. Anything you do not give yourself to at this stage, you would not be able to manifest it later in life.
Ecclesiastes 12: 1
A time is coming when you are going to see rice, plantain, chicken, turkey, and you will say, ‘Bring pap’ because you want to work with your digestive system, you want more fibre. So, the Bible says a time is coming that the things that pleasure you will not pleasure you anymore. There is overcoming to be done by young people. It means you were minding your business and something came at you, you then need to overcome it. If you must overcome, you need to find out, ‘Overcome what?’, and then, ‘When must we overcome?’.
You may not be able to put this together yet, but turning your Bibles to 1John 2: 12-17, as a child, you are not able to make decisions on your own so, much is not happening in terms of the devil attacking you. This is not only about physical children; ChurchGist. It speaks about spiritual stages. There are three stages in everyone’s life; you are a child, you are young, then you become a father or a mother. Your childhood is reminiscent of choices being made for you, that’s why there is something called the age of accountability. As a child, you’ve known the father, and that’s all the credential, you’ve given your life to Christ. We have the same measure of faith given to us at the beginning but some people have worked on theirs. There are levels, there are cadres in the kingdom. I’m telling you this so you can know that where you are right now is nothing, you have to forge forward.
Fathers don’t just have a sensory knowledge of God; they have experiential knowledge of God. Bishop Oyedepo bought his first jet at age 40, and by age 44, Canaan Land started. How many 44-year-old pastors can boast of anything? Do you know what’s happening? In your minds they’ve so much told you that you are just a child and you are messing up like a child. Let me tell you what these guys did that turned their lives around. Many of us had first played, wasted time, and then came back, we are now in Christ an we’re still playing. If you see anybody who is doing something worthwhile today, they caught a fire early, no matter how much they ran, that fire keeps pulling them back. Let me tell you something about Fathers, and I’m not just talking about Pastors, I’m talking about those who have passed through the first two stages of development; Anything they did not put in themselves as children, they cannot manifest it as adults. Be careful what you like, be careful what you embrace because those things don’t leave easily. ChurchGist. Psalm 34: 11, any dry fish you saw that took a shape, that shape was formed when it was still fresh. When you try to bend it when it is dry, it will break. Anywhere you missed it, make sure your children don’t miss it. The only reason God chose Abraham was that God was He was able train his son after him.
Young people, it is the age of serious battle. Whether you are young physically or you are young spiritually, you must wait and let the Lord put some things in you before you can take on the world. The blow that destabilises a boxer is not a heavy blow, it is the one he is not prepared for. If God has prepared some things for you, you must prepare yourself for that thing. Satan’s target is for young people. How do we know you are young? Strength, you are full of zest, exuberance. Serve God at the army, at that place of identity.
1Peter 5: 8. When the Bible says you have overcome, the person you are supposed to overcome is not a chilled person, he is a wicked person. To move to a higher dimension, the person you must torpedo is a wicked person. The Bible says, ‘Be sober’, in other words, let your judgement be scriptural. The devil is not ubiquitous, he is not everywhere at the same time, he is always walking around looking for who to devour. Devour means to tear apart ferociously. ChurchGist. He is not here to play games with you. I want to show you a little portrait of this guy we are talking about. In Job 1: 6, I know that because of the blood of Jesus, Satan doesn’t have access to that place anymore, but please, don’t be deceived, when we faith-people tell you Satan is not here, we mean it is not here, but you have interacted with brethren in church, you know that this must be Satan here. That brother who lied to you, he was married in Uyo, got here and removed his ring, that’s Satan. God knew that Satan was there, so God would warn you about people.
A lady told me she met a lady in her church, and from the first time she spoke to her, her heart was hitting, she dove on, that lady started telling her that she was a snake, and when she broke off from the girl, for the next 3 weeks, she started seeing snakes in her room, snake by her window, and so many other places. Verse 7, Satan is going back and forth. ChurchGist. This enemy of yours is somebody that is attracted to wherever there is potential, where there is grace, where there is anointing, where there is future, where there is prospect, particularly where there is joy, he hates it. He is a killjoy. Verse 10 means Satan had gone to him, he didn’t see a loophole, went to his household, around everything he had on earth, this guy checked every side. There is nobody that is succeeding on this earth without belonging to one of the kingdoms, nobody keeps excelling without belonging to a kingdom, and if you are doing well and neutral, Satan will come for you.
Why was Jesus surprised that Peter knew he was the son of the living God? This is because the Jews knew that the Son is the angel of His presence, they knew that the Son was the one who wrestled with Jacob. You know what Peter was saying, ‘You are the God of our fathers, You are the God that made the universe’. Satan asked, ‘Who said that?’, they said, ‘It’s Peter’. Then Satan began his work, Jesus said, ‘I’m going to die’, the voice that was trusted, the voice anointed, the voice that was endorsed, the voice with influence was what Satan went for. If you are here, you’ve been endorsed and Satan is coming for you, you better cry out. ChurchGist. Young people please, stop playing dead, you are alive, this is the time to do evangelism, this is the time to love the Lord, your preoccupation shouldn’t be your preoccupation. I don’t know if I am to say this, I am cashless, I am point and kill, I want this, it’s done! Done! I don’t need to tell anybody. You know why? Because I focused on my focus, then God is taking care of me.
Everything I’m preaching to you tonight is what I have practiced, trust the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 8: 17, seek God at the early part of your life when your manna is still fresh. I used to fast dry to give altar call and two people will come out, I’ve gone for a birthday ceremony before and I messed up the birthday ceremony, the power of God hit the place, somebody fell and hit the food, the food poured away. Everybody said, ‘No, it doesn’t matter, souls were saved’. You see when I give altar call now, born again will reborn again because of the anointing of the spirit of God, start early, God is taking you places.
Lamentations 3: 27. A father who doesn’t put some things in himself at a certain age, will never be able to put it. Start exercising fasting, start exercising praying in tongues all-night, start exercising singing in tongues, start building yourself up from the inside. You can’t be tall on the inside and be small in life, build up. The reason you are not able to take, is that you didn’t lay down. Lay down your time, lay down your gifts now. At a young age, Satan comes for people, the prodigal son messed up at that stage of identity, Satan came for him, but you know what happened to him? Luke 15:18, ‘He came to himself’, tonight, come to yourself.
Guys, I have shot sporadically, I didn’t teach the way I usually teach systematically, I have shot sporadically tonight, whatever hits you tonight in the name of Jesus, let it make you come to yourself, no more mediocrity, in the name of Jesus.
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