BISHOP DAVID OYEDEPO REVEALS THE REASON THERE’S ONLY ONE CHURCH IN LAGOS.
WE ARE A BUNDLE OF JOY. WE BELONG TO A KINGDOM OF LAUGHTER.
REJOICE FOREVERMORE! DON’T LET THE ENEMY R0B YOU ANYMORE OF YOUR JOY.
d£m0ns HAVE NO RESPECT FOR STATUS. WHEREVER YOU CREATE ROOM FOR THEM, THEY WILL COME IN.
STOP FROWNING ALL THE TIME AND SAYING THAT IS YOUR NATURE, IT IS NOT!
WHEN YOU ARE SAVED, YOU HAVE THE JOY OF SALVATION.
EVERY REVELATION IS A JOYFUL SOUND FROM HEAVEN THAT MAKES JOYFUL MEN ON THE EARTH.
MANY BELIEVERS LIVE THEIR LIVES IN REGRETS BECAUSE THEY WILL NOT CONSULT WITH GOD ON WHAT STEPS TO TAKE
ALLOW THE LORD ALONE TO LEAD YOU INTO YOUR HIGH PLACES NOT THE VOGUE, WHAT’S POPULAR, NOT SITUATIONS, NOT PRESSURE
WE ARE REDEEMED AS GLOBAL CITIZENS OF THE EARTH. IT’S NOT OUR AMBITION, IT IS OUR BIRTHRIGHT
WHEN YOU ARE BORN AGAIN, ACCESS TO GOD’S VOICE BECOMES OPEN AND HE SPEAKS TO US BASICALLY THROUGH HIS WORD
RECOGNISE THAT GOD KNOWS TOMORROW; YOU AND I DON’T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT TOMORROW
GOD IS COMMITTED TO LEADING US IF WE ARE COMMITTED TO FOLLOWING HIM
NO ONE WILL EVER OUTGROW THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT.
IT IS GOD’S LEADING THAT MAKES FRONTLINERS IN THE RACE OF LIFE.
ANYTHING OUTSIDE DIVINE LEADING HAS NO FUTURE.
YOU CAN’T SECURE GOD’S PEACE FOLLOWING YOUR OWN WAY.
NOTHING WORKS WHEN YOU MISS GOD’S LEADING.
- Bishop David Oyedepo on UNDERSTANDING HOW GOD LEADS at July 2024 Week Of Spiritual Emphasis Day One || LFC Canaanland || 3rd July 2024 ||
I had a very strong prompting of the Holy Spirit after we departed from service on Sunday, “I want to bring my people into their season of rewards but there is a place to stand to allow me to do it.” Depression is a great robber and has to clear the way before the things that belong to us can come through. It is not a psychological state, it is a spiritual issue. They call it the spirit of heaviness. It blocks the way to everything that belongs to us in the Kingdom, beginning from our inheritance. Church Gist. Without joy you can’t access revelation, without revelation you can’t access your inheritance. It robs us of our health. Proverbs 17:22. It keeps the barren barren. Until Hannah came out of depression, she never got her miracle. 1 Samuel 1:19. Isaiah 54:1. Sing oh barren. That is the prescription of the Great Physician. Sing so your mockers can hear.
It robs believer’s of their breakthrough right in Christ. Isaiah 54:3. As you sing you shall break forth on the right and on the left and you shall possess and inherit the Gentiles. Sing aloud, cry aloud. Sing your way out of downtroddenness. Sing your way out of defeat and frustration. Sing oh barren, you are about to break forth. Depression is a robber. So let me recommend that you please connect with last Tuesday’s Liberation Hour teaching. It is the first of its kind in this Commission since inception. ‘Towards Our Rescue From The Siege Of Depression’, so we can access the things that belong to us. It is a spirit, both kings and peasants are victims. Just like demons, demons don’t know your status. Church Gist. If you create room for them, they just come in. The rich are depressed, the poor are depressed. In that teaching, God showed the way forward. The way out of it. Please get there. Much more importantly, it robs us of our rewards of stewardship. Joel 1:12. When joy withers, rewards wither. You have laboured, God has not asked you to serve Him in vain. Isaiah 10:13. They are deaf, they are blind. They can’t tell where their trouble is coming from but they are inside. Today, God has come down to declare your rescue.
Joseph rejoiced his way out of misfortune. He was the most excited slave you ever met. A most hilarious prisoner ever found and then the hand of God located him and brought him out into destiny. Many shall be brought out into the fullness of their destiny this month. What you don’t know, you don’t and what you won’t learn, you can’t know and what you don’t know you keep suffering and paying for it. Therefore rejoice in the Lord, again I say rejoice. Rejoice evermore, don’t let the enemy rob you anymore. Rejoice evermore. I thank God we have that redemptive platform to remain joyful for life. There is the joy of salvation, there is the intoxicating joy of the Holy Ghost and we have joy of access to revelation. Jeremiah 15:16. We are bundles of joy. I speak against all assault of the spirit of heaviness to get out of its victim right now in the name of Jesus. I am a bundle of joy. I belong to a Kingdom of laughter.
A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance. So folding your face or freezing your face is a sign that there is no joy on the inside, so lose up. Don’t say it is your nature. It is not your nature. You landed a promotion and you laughed, so it is not your nature. You had a baby and you laughed. You are getting married and even the day hasn’t come, the day is coming on the way and you are laughing. Depression is not your nature. It is not. Don’t call it your nature. If you are saved, there is a joy of salvation. Are you saved? Then where is your joy of salvation? Church Gist. Are you baptized in the Holy Ghost? They said they were drunk because of the intoxicating dimension of joy in their hearts. Are you baptized In the Holy Ghost? Some are speaking in tongues and they are down. Every true revelation stirs joy. Jeremiah 15:16. Every revelation is a joyful sound from heaven that makes joyful men on the earth. Psalm 89:15. Stir up, your harvest season is now. Don’t let no devil rob you of it. In the name of Jesus, the source of that brokenness is destroyed tonight.
Sing oh barren, sing oh downtrodden, sing oh brokenhearted. That is the way to go. Your breakthrough is here. Am I sure you understand what I am talking about? Are you really joyful? Where is your joy of harvest? It takes joy to access your harvest. Where is your joy of harvest? So every time the enemy comes along your path, ask yourself “Where is the joy of my salvation?” Where is the validation of my baptism in the Holy Ghost? Where is the proof I have access to revelation? Get up! I wrote a piece the other time that you can walk out on the devil. Don’t give him room. Break forth into singing. Get off my back. Your case is settled.
A state of depression is a state of defeat, failure and despondency – no way out, no way forward, but it’s all over today!
Now, the prophetic focus for the month as read just now is, ON MY WAY TO MY HIGH PLACES. We are redeemed for the high places, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14. So it’s not our ambition, it’s our birthright. Genesis 12:2-3. We are redeemed as global citizens of the Earth. Matthew 5:14. Church Gist. Redeemed as pace setters, path finders and trail blazers. So it’s not someone’s ambition or inordinate ambition or being over ambitious. It’s not the ambition of the baby of an elephant to be big; it’s in its genes. We are children of the Most High God not Most low God and because like begets like, we belong to the Most High order of beings. So we are not there at the bottom, we carry the Most High gene of our Most High God father inside us. So on my way to my high places is not an accolade, it’s not a chorus, it’s not “let’s say something” and we have just come out of that great season of the unveiling of our destiny in Christ. So how do we get across? That’s what the month is all about. We have this glorious enviable destiny, how do we get across?
So the teaching series for our Midweek Services is captioned, “Understanding how God leads (Part 1).” Deuteronomy 32:11-12. “The Lord alone did lead him…” not circumstances, not situations, not pressure. The Lord alone did lead him so he made an eagle of him to soar the skies. The Lord alone did lead him not feasibility study. The Lord alone did lead him not what is on right now. Church Gist. The Lord alone did lead him, he made made him to suck honey out of the rock … Deuteronomy 32:13. The Lord alone did lead him into his high places not the vogue, not what’s popular. Eagles are addicted to following his leadings only not public opinion, not what everybody is doing. Economy didn’t lead him, the Lord alone did lead him and there was no strange god with him. So we can’t access our high places without his leadings. It will remain far fetched without knowing his leadings and following his leadings. Isaiah 48:21.
So the need to understand how God leads cannot be overemphasized. Proverbs 16:25. Church Gist. Many believers live their lives in regrets, they jump from one regret to another, regret to another because they will not consult with God on what steps they are taking. Ecclesiastes 10:15. John 10:27.
So we have capacity to know his voice as his children. Biologically, our children don’t go to school to learn our language; they pick it, it’s natural. So when you’re born again, access to God’s voice becomes open and he speaks to us basically or mostly through his Word. You hear a word and it stuck right there. I saw I have been redeemed as a priest and a king before I was baptized in the Holy Ghost. Church Gist. So you can hear his voice, you can understand him when you’re genuinely born again. That’s what it is. I knew that God is not slow before I was baptized in the Holy Ghost. John 10:27. That’s where the Word came in, “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him …” Psalm 25:14 – They’re not baptized in the Holy Ghost yet but… This is why learning how to be led by the Spirit is an all important subject for every believer.
The good news is: God is committed to leading us if we are committed to following him. Isaiah 48:17. “I am the one that leads you to the path of profiting in life. Allow me to.” October 1, 1983 the Lord spoke to me from that Scripture, “I am committed to leading you if you’re committed to following me.” I said, Lord I’m committed to following you – thank you Lord. Not that you’re already on your way going somewhere and say, “God can I go? Church Gist. But you know I am already gone because they said we should tell you that we are going somewhere. So I am telling you I am on my way.” They say to where? To Jamaica. Okay, Una well done, Una bye bye o. They seek to go down to Egypt without asking counsel of me. Isaiah 30:2. So they ran into crises and troubles. Proverbs 3:6. Recognise that he knows tomorrow; you don’t know nothing about tomorrow, I don’t know nothing about tomorrow. With my small head I could not imagine a Church grow here – no. But he said, this is the place. You know what it is. He knows the end from the beginning. Exodus 13:17-18. So he knows the end, so he takes them round and shut door against Pharaoh and Egypt by drowning them in the Red Sea.
Singing, “The Lord knows the way through the wilderness.”
It’s only committed followers that make the most of their adventure in the faith. No one can lead himself successfully. Too many junks going around in town, no man can lead himself successfully just like no cow can make his way from just Ibadan to Ikeja on its own. Church Gist. Very matured cow, raised by the shepherd, he now says, now you’re free. You know freedom when you do apprenticeship? They say you’re free. The day you are free is your day of bondage. The day you are free from His leading.
No one will ever outgrow the leading of the Spirit. Don’t pose to be (the) Holy Spirit, you are not. No! Just imagine first that a sheep is set free from its shepherd to go about its journey in life. Church Gist. Under one week, it will end up in the pot as pepper soup. Under one week. Some are not crying, they are frying. But it’s never late to be right. ‘Jesus, what’s going on?’ He knows the way through the wilderness.
The end time army is ordained an army of men and women of exploits, generational record breakers, the World has never seen their kind neither will there be any like them until the years of many generations. A fire burneth before them, behind them, a flame burneth. The land before them is like the Garden of Eden, behind them is a desolate wilderness. Church Gist. Joel 2:1-11. The core virtue of that army is following the dictates of divine direction. Judges 6:16. We are in the days of exploits and the pathway there is following divine direction to details.
When God sent me out to Kaduna, here is what He said “when you were the Pastor of this Church” – you know what that means? I have deposed you. You are no longer the Pastor here. Sir, I agreed wholeheartedly. I was in that Church for a Sunday Service last in 1999 that I branched there. Following divine direction to details – that’s where my blood was part of laying the foundation in terms of exertion through fasting and prayers. But He deposed me and I agreed. Church Gist. When this place had no shape. ‘When you were the Pastor of this Church’…this Church was not 500, 600 stable when He said ‘when you were.’ I was coming in from Jos (I had a meeting in Jos), coming into Kaduna and racing to meet the Service. He said ‘when you were the Pastor’ and I said, ‘who is the Pastor?’ And He named the Pastor. Okay, pastor, they said you are the one here. We will be utterly limited if we allow our senses to lead us. The first mission house ever was built there. That was where I lived and now we are going to rent a place in the place He said to go. ‘That’s okay.’ Now watch a city emerged out of a desert by following divine direction.
Some fellows are bothered ‘why do we have only one Church?’ No. It’s commanded. “As your pastor this one Church, the whole World will become your parish for I have appointed you to serve your generation.” Church Gist. Yes Sir – one Church. And then you have that facility in Lagos, I mean, we just dedicated it in 1995, December 30th and He said, “get out of the place.” I said, for what? He said, “shut it down.” Some people would put one leg here and one leg there. They just lose everything.
When we first got here, only Faith Arm (I asked everybody to come to Faith Arm) and I said, “oh,fellow brethren, we will soon start second Service here.” You can imagine (laughs). Church Gist. It’s always a laughing score when God leads. Allow God to lead you. He knows the end from the beginning. You don’t know, I don’t know.
We are redeemed as spiritual eagles but the only way there is to let the Lord alone lead you. He said, “He led them about” – allow Him to lead you about. Don’t lead yourself. But very interestingly, God only leads forward and never backward. God only leads forward, never backward or sidewards. Church Gist. He leads forward only. So if it’s not a forward movement, it’s not God. It may not look so at the beginning but that’s what it’s heading for. He leads forward.
It is God’s leading that makes frontliners in the race of life. Isaiah 45:1-3. Allow Him to lead you. He clears the barriers without your input. When God leads, everlasting gates are lifted. Church Gist. When God leads, the gate cannot be shut against you. Psalm 24:7-8. It’s amazing. Don’t attempt to lead yourself. It’s an uphill task and can be most devastating. I’m not sure anyone has ever survived it.
God led Abraham to the realm of transgenerational greatness just by following His leadings only. Church Gist. He never lost relevance by following His leadings only. He never knew a backward trend by following His leadings only.
How Do We Access Divine Guidance?
- Be born again. He leadeth His own sheep out, He goes before them. One is not eligible for His leading until he becomes one of His sheep. He goes before them. John 10:1-4. Allow Him access, open the door of your heart to Him. Church Gist. Don’t fake newbirth. It can keep anyone frustrated for life. John 3:3, Romans 8:14. We can’t manifest as sons of God without following the leadings of God in our life.
- Be clothed with meekness. Some are not ready for His leadings. ‘I know myself, I know my skill, I know my expertise, all this story (of) divine direction, nothing there. Psalm 25:9. It takes meekness to be guided. Matthew 11:29, John 5:30. It takes meekness to keep hearing and doing. Keep hearing and following, it takes meekness. Church Gist. Most of the things are not your taste, may not be your taste but it’s to give you the best of taste later. Numbers 12:3…(Moses) he was picking divine signals per second per second. “And the Lord said to Moses, and the Lord said to Moses, and the Lord said to Moses’ – what’s happening? Psalm 25:9,12. It takes meekness to go for His direction instead of your own idea.
Two Proofs of Genuine Access To Divine Direction
- Peace. Psalm 85:8. When God leads, peace accompanies that leading – the peace of God accompanies that leading. Church Gist. You can’t lose His peace following His leadings. But you can’t secure His peace following your own way.
- Supernatural favour. It’s a complement of His leading. Favour shows forth when God is leading the way. Church Gist. Isaiah 48:21, Psalm 23:1-6. Favour! Luke 22:35. Favour! When God leads, favour accompanies the led.
- My prayer again is that all through this month, you and I will settle for His leading and He’s taking us to our high places!
- We shall settle for His leading and He’s taking us to our high places!
Jesus, the Bright and the Morning Star was addicted to the leadings of the Father. John 5:29-30, John 17:18. Church Gist. So we are redeemed as stars if only we will follow His leadings as Jesus did.
- May your star never sink!
- May your star never drop!
Divine guidance is not a special gift to anybody, it’s opened to all the redeemed including you and I. You will become a sheep. Church Gist. He’s committed to being your Shepherd if you will care to take direction from Him and seek direction from Him. He’s always there.
—ALTAR CALL—
- You will never miss His leading anymore in your life!
Anointing will fail when you miss it. Favour will disappear when you miss it. Nothing works when you miss it. We were outside the Country for 6 years without any expression. What did He say? “Did I send you?” The same Liberation anointing had no expression there. We couldn’t even get what to rent. Church Gist. We couldn’t get what to buy. Haba! We had issues in those days in Satellite Churches (Chapels) in Kaduna. ‘Did I send you?’ No matter what level a man reaches in his walk with God, anything outside divine leading has no future.
- That’s why, in the name of Jesus, this month will mark the end of guesswork in our lives!
I said, “Why is nothing happening in Kumasi?” He said, I’m not there. May you never be where God is not. We were led by members of the Church that there is a need. Church Gist. So we followed the need not the leading and God said, “follow you need and follow yourself there.” He said, I am not there.
- I decree that this month will mark the end of every form of guesswork in our lives!
- Welcome to your season of unstoppable breakthroughs as you follow His leading!
- May this season of harvest of rewards speak the loudest in everyone’s life!
- May the joy of the Lord that facilitates our harvest never fade in your life!
- May that joy be on the increase forever in the name of Jesus!
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