I WROTE A CHAPTER IN MY BOOK ‘BORN TO WIN’ SEVERAL YEARS AGO:
-ISRAEL NEVER LOSES A BATTLE
FROM THE BIBLE, I KNOW AND THE WORLD KNOWS HOW THIS WAR WILL END.
THAT TINY COUNTRY (ISRAEL) IS DISTURBING THE WHOLE WORLD NOW.
YOU MAY NOT FIND ANY MILITARY INSTALLATION AROUND THE WORLD WITHOUT JEWISH INPUT.
DURING OUR 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MINISTRY, I COUNTED 25 TIMES I DIED (25 CLOSE SHAVE ENCOUNTERS WITH DEATH, ONE PER YEAR).
THERE IS NO ENEMY UNDER THE SUN THAT CAN REVERSE THE BLESSINGS OF THE LORD.
IF GOD’S BLESSINGS COULD BE REVERSED WE WOULD HAVE BEEN REVERSED A LONG TIME AGO.
DON’T PRAY “LORD, I MUST PROSPER!” INSTEAD PRAY “LORD, SHOW ME HOW TO PROSPER” (THE PRAYER TO KNOW WHAT TO DO).
I ASKED GOD TO SHOW ME THE SECRET OF KINGDOM PROSPERITY IN A FAST AND HE DID.
I HAVE SHARED THE TESTIMONY MANY TIMES OF HOW WE LOST ONE ENGINE OF OUR AIRCRAFT IN THE AIR AND I WAS NOT AFRAID, WE WERE EATING SNACKS ON THE HEAD OF THE devil.
GOD’S BLESSINGS MAKE YOU FEARLESS. WE DIDN’T BUY AN AIRCRAFT THROUGH CROOKED MEANS, HE GAVE IT TO US.
I AM SO FEAR-FREE ABOUT TOMORROW, WE DIDN’T GET HERE BY CROOKED MEANS.
ONLY THE BLESSINGS OF THE LORD GUARANTEE A SORROW-FREE LIFE.
– Bishop David Oyedepo on UNDERSTANDING THE COVENANT OF BLESSINGS at 4th Pre-Shiloh Encounter Service: Showers of Blessings || Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland|| First Sunday Service ||
Lord Jesus, we are gathered together at this Showers of Blessing Service. Let this day mark the end of every form of dry season experience in each one’s life. Church Gist. Let no one here know a setback anymore. May your blessings that make rich and add no sorrow be the portion of everyone in this service in Jesus’ name.
Remember the prophetic focus for the month is PRAISE FACILITATES FULFILMENT OF PROPHECIES. Ezekiel 34:25-26 is our anchor scripture today on the subject: UNDERSTANDING THE COVENANT OF BLESSINGS. Among the great facilitators of this agenda is praise. Psalm 67:5-6. Fearful blessings equals showers of blessings. So we are still on key but it is interesting to know that every provision of scripture delivers on a covenant platform. There is what you and I must do to commit God to do what He says He will do. Church Gist. A covenant can be defined as doing what we must do as instructed in scriptures so as to commit God to do what He says He will do. A do-nothing platform is a losing platform, it is an unprofitable platform. John 2:5. As they did it, their shame was eradicated, what they lacked was supplied. Their dignity was restored. John 2:5-11. As they did, he turned their lack to plenty. He turned their shame into glory.
Again, a covenant can be defined as doing what we must do as instructed in scriptures so as to commit God to do what He says He will do. James 1:22-25. If you won’t do what He says you will be living in self-deception. Why? The scriptures cannot be broken. Every blessing has conditions attached to it that must be met for the blessings to be released. Church Gist. We are not redeemed as crying babies, we are redeemed as kings and priests to reign on the earth. By wisdom kings reign. What is wisdom? Matthew 7:24. We are redeemed to do what He says so we can reign over situations and circumstances in our lives. Redeemed to do what He says.
What is unique about the blessings of the Lord?
1. It terminates dry seasons practically and spiritually.
Psalm 1:3. God’s blessings prosper our endeavours. Psalm 1:1-3. Psalm 112:1-3. His blessings help us to be spiritually alive and on top at all times. Psalm 112:6, 9. Church Gist. It causes dry seasons to cease both practically and spiritually. That is the blessing of the Lord, it adds no sorrow and takes care of all areas of a man’s life.
2. It secures generational order of blessings.
There is no natural blessing that has any future impact on the coming generation of the blessed, only the blessing of the Lord. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. God’s blessing is unique in the sense that it is generational. Church Gist. When God’s blessing comes upon a man, it goes down his generations. That is the kind that is coming upon your life today. Psalm 122:2. That’s your generation.
There were two individuals compared in a particular book, Jonathan Edwards and one other Duke or something. This other person was an atheist and was very popular in his days. Down the line after 150 years, we saw along his lineage prostitutes, drug addicts, criminals and all kinds of people and on the line of Jonathan Edwards, you find University Presidents, Senators, Business Moguls, the generation of them. Walking under the blessings secures you and me and our generation after us. So whatever needs to be done to put you and me under the blessings is worth it. Church Gist. The blessings of the Lord not the blessings of business and career. The blessings of the Lord make rich and add no sorrow. It transcends the individual into the generations after him. It is not a game. All this psychological preaching around town is not the case. My prayer is that everyone here will remain under that blessing in the name of Jesus.
3. It secures access to light in darkness.
Psalm 112:4. He never gets stranded, he always sees the way forward, the way upward and the way out. Righteous ways not crooked ways. Church Gist. We are coming into the age of gross darkness and gloominess. We need the blessings of the Lord to always know the way forward.
4. It enhances supernatural insight.
Psalm 112:5. Enviable IQ, unusual insight, capacity to get things done without sweat. Jeremiah 10:12. Discretion is superior to wisdom. Church Gist. It is an on-the-spot insight to getting things done, it is not calculated. Inspired insight! That is among the manifestations of the blessings in our lives. Supernatural creativity,
5. The blessings of the Lord render our enemies helpless.
Psalm 112:8-10. God’s blessings always come in enviable dimensions. Genesis 26:14. His blessings always come along with envy. They are always an ‘out of the box’ order of blessings. There are things that people would wonder how you got it, they think you must be a magician. They spur envy but the envy and the bitterness of the wicked will be of no effect. Because it is the blessing of the Lord. It renders the anger, the fury of our enemies helpless. Church Gist. That is why he said, “God has blessed and I cannot reverse it.” There is no enemy under the sun that can reverse the blessings of the Lord. There is no gang up of witches and wizards that can reverse the blessings of the Lord. Numbers 23:20. Genesis 12:3. You can’t reverse His blessings. So for those who wonder what is it about God’s blessings, you better open your eyes and your ears and see what it is. If it could be reversed we would have been reversed a long time ago. No! The genuine blessings of God are not reversible, forget about angry witches, angry wizards and angry neighbours. It is irreversible.
When we turned 25 years in ministry, I counted and I had died 25 times. So one death per year. His blessings are not destructible. Secure His blessing and be at peace in the wilderness. Be asleep on the pillow in the storm. How else can I market God’s blessings for you than to open your eyes to see the life of Abraham? Generations after generations, that tiny country (Israel) is disturbing the whole world now. You are forced to align with them. They are not human beings, they are arrows. If they tell you that they are going to destroy you, move now. Church Gist. Not that they want to destroy you but if they come, they can do it. Somebody’s story is changing. Most of the great inventions of the times were by the Jews. You may never find any military installation around the world without Jewish intervention. All by the Word God spoke to Abraham, you can’t reverse it. We know, I know from scriptures the end of this war They also know but they are just trying to fight it. Why am I at peace during war? I wrote a chapter in Born To Win, Israel Never Loses A Battle. Most people have not read it, some read it 20 years ago. Anyone fighting against God’s blessing in your life will lose his life for it.
Now briefly, keys look at some characteristics of divine blessings.
1. It is irreversible. We mentioned that earlier.
2. It is sorrow free.
Not all blessed people are sorrow free, some are sorrow filled, sorrow loaded, sorrow pregnant. Only the blessings of the Lord guarantee a sorrow free life. Someone visited me years ago and the way he was breathing, just that no one can make me fear but the breathing was bad. Church Gist. What was it? It is not that he was sick. It was the trouble of blessings. Blessings were troubling him but the blessings of the Lord make rich and add no sorrow.
3. His blessings are compassionate and liberal.
It is not hard-fisted. Abraham gave Lot all that he wanted. He said “Lot choose one side and I will go to the other side. I am your uncle but choose first and I will take the other side.” When Lot was in trouble, to show that Abraham didn’t just give him and say “You will soon see” he went to war and recovered him. Church Gist. Every true blessing from God is full of compassion not self-conceited. Psalm 112:5, 9. It is part of the characteristics of God’s blessings, you are not an accumulator. There is a flow so that the blessings can keep flowing.
4. His blessings are fear-free.
It is not death that kills, it is the fear of death that kills. Hebrews 2:14-16. One of the characteristics of God’s blessings is that it makes you fearless. Job 3:25. His blessings will make you fearless. The blessings of man can make you fearful, the man may not be there again tomorrow but God is always there. The man may be in trouble tomorrow but God is never in trouble. His blessings make you fearless. I have told you the testimony before that we were in a plane and we lost one engine and I said “Can you make a U-turn back to Lagos?” and I told the folks back there “Would you like to have some snacks?” Church Gist. They said yes and we were snacking on the devil’s head. His blessings make you fearless. We didn’t buy an aircraft through crooked means, He gave it. I am so fear-free about tomorrow, we didn’t get here by crooked means. His blessings brought us here. Somebody’s story is changing. You can’t walk in His blessings and still walk in fear.
We are trying to do this so you can know the virtue and the value of the blessings of the Lord and go all your way to come under it. Church Gist. Somebody’s story has just changed because you are coming finally under the blessings of the Lord.
5. God’s blessings confer honour.
It eradicates shame and reproach. Psalm 112:9. When God blesses a man, honour is one of the proofs of that blessing. Honour! There are people who occupy very great positions but there is no honour around them, even in their household. Is that life? Zero honour. Church Gist. Shame and reproach all around. When God blesses you, honour all around. You won’t lose honour in your life. You will not know shame and reproach anymore in the name of Jesus.
What must I do to come under the blessings of the Lord?
1. A proven new birth experience.
Proven! Because what we call new birth today is something else! A proven new birth experience is the beginning of our journey into the blessings of the Lord. Acts 3:26. Church Gist. As you accept Christ, you come under the blessings of redemption. Galatians 3:13-14. Redemption brings us under the blessings of the Lord.
2. Engage in obedience of faith to His Word.
Deuteronomy 28:1. Blessings always trail mass obedience. Blessings demand obedience for release. Psalm 112:1-3. Church Gist. Be born again and work delightsomely and tirelessly in obedience to His Word and you are up there flowing in that blessing.
3. Engage the altar of prayer to clear off barriers on the path of the blessings of the Lord in your life.
Genesis 32:24-28. He pressed his way out of struggles into blessings on the altar of prayer. What do we get there today? The altar of prayer is a platform for locating what you must do. Psalm 119:18. So it is not ‘bless me, bless me’ as you have it in the Old Testament, it is ‘Show me, Show me’ so I can be off this struggle level. I went for three days: “Jesus, show me the secret of Kingdom Prosperity”. Three days of prayer and fasting with books and the Bible in my hand. That is the prayer to pray. Not ‘Bless me, Bless me’ No! What is missing in my life? What lack I yet? It is a prayer of “Show me light.” Psalm 118:27. Psalm 36:9. It is a show me kind of prayer we are praying. It is the breaking forth of light we are talking about not crying like a crybaby. Church Gist. “Anybody who has stolen my crown, return it.” Where did you keep it that they stole it? “Lord, I must prosper!” No! Show me how to prosper. Are you the one commanding Him? Or He is the one to command you? Show me the secret of Kingdom Prosperity and He did. “My Prosperity Plan does not answer to prayer and fasting…” I heard God direct. “…It is not a promise, it is a covenant. Until your part is played, I am not committed.” The prayer is to know what to do. That is the prayer to pray. The prayer to know what to do.
I think the prayer aspect is clear now. Not Papa said we should pray and fast, then you start banging the table. No! I said Lord I am getting ready to go into full-time ministry. There are things I do not know, I am hanging on you for these five days to show me what I need to know to make the journey great. Church Gist. Not God I clear all the enemies. The enemy is not there. Your ignorance is the enemy. I came back from that mountain that I called Mountain of Transfiguration and one by one, I received seven strong pillars.
The prayer for blessings is the prayer for light. Arise shine as your light comes not as your prayer comes. Isaiah 60:1,3,8, 22. Psalm 119:18. Church Gist. Something has happened. Whatever has been tied down in your life is now untied because light is breaking forth to open a new chapter in your life.
4. Through tithing of God’s blessings in our life.
Malachi 3:8-10. All these emergency get rich in one hour, make 20 million in minutes. They are all “kalo kalo” (fraudulent) stuff. When you walk in the covenant of abundance, He takes you up step by step with unmatchable stability, you will never suffer a setback. By His grace, I am over 40 years in tithing and it doesn’t need announcement, It shows I am supernaturally in command. There is no nation I am going to that I don’t have the currency. It is consistency. The day a farmer stops farming, he will stop harvesting. If a farmer says “I have been farming now for the past 10 years, I need a break.” Church Gist. That is where his harvest stops. What must I do to come under His blessings? Be a tither. Be consistent, not pressurized, not coerced. In your church here nobody records whether you tithe or not. It is between you and God but whosoever has any issue we take it up by His grace and help in any way we can. From now on, you will be the one helping people. Hebrews 7:5-8. Jesus is the one receiving our tithes up in heaven. You won’t miss it again.
5. Through kingdom advancement givings.
When we shy away from being part of promoting the Kingdom of God, suddenly heaven gets shut up. So there are two ways to open the heavens: through tithing and kingdom advancement sacrifices. You take delight in it. It may start from buying brooms in your Zonal Centre. You see that the broom is wearing off and you bought about 5 bunches. It is part of advancing the Kingdom. That doesn’t need an announcement to come down to Canaanland to look for broom. The transportation is more than the broom. You just take delight in it. I remember me in those days changing mantles on tilly lamps. You don’t know Tilly Lamps anymore. The mantle is not the one you are carrying oh. When I see a pinch on it, I bought I packet so I will just go and change it. Church Gist. Somebody said to me “They should be announcing it.” I said “No! You can see.” So it doesn’t have to be 100,000 or one million, kingdom advancement endeavour at your levels. With delight, you are not waiting to be acknowledged or appreciated or honoured. “You know I bought those brooms. Are you aware?” As young converts, we were going to Church one time and there was no offering to give. So I told the two other folks let’s run and sweep the church so that whatsoever God will pay who sweeps the Church will be our offering. So come awake. If you read Haggai 3 down, you find how not minding the Kingdom of God can get a man stranded and keep him struggling. So you better wake up and make it part of your life.
6. Through a lifestyle of joy and rejoicing.
If you want to remain under the showers of blessing, remain joyful in serving God. Deuteronomy 28:47-48. You are looking at me as an oppressor, let me hand you over to the proper oppressor. God takes delight in cheerful stewards. Stop carrying frozen faces because you are serving God. Stop creating tension in your service group. As if they forced you to do it. Church Gist. Let your smile be attractive, let it be welcoming to others. Don’t create a situation when people avoid you because you never laugh. Cheerful stewardship! Habakkuk 3:17-19. The good news is your joy another man will not take away. Whatever breaks any man’s joy, by this anointing today, it shall be over forever.
Someone asked me years ago, Brother David do you ever have any problems? I said maybe it came and I didn’t know. My joy is overflowing. You can’t see the end of the tunnel and still be cast down. Church Gist. The good news is that whatever battle of your life has already been won. 1 John 5:4. You have overcome that battle because Christ is taking it over.
Today is our Special Monthly Anointing Service and I would like you to please know that there is an anointing for blessings. Church Gist. Psalm 23:5-6. I call that the anointing for blessing.
Anointing simply means divine enablement or empowerment. So by this anointing today, we shall be empowered to align with the demands of blessings that add no sorrow so as to remain under the showers of blessings all the days of our lives. Church Gist. It helps you and me to align with the demands that bring you and me under the showers of blessings. Let’s see the way it helps.
1. We shall be empowered for delightsome and tireless obedience through the anointing today.
That is the gateway to a world of blessings – obedience! Can I show you a game that is going on right now? You know the devil is a master robber. He has been in that business all along. He stole the Garden from Adam and Eve. He stole it. The devil has shut many people out of church and gave them a substitute called ‘Online Worship’. Psalm 65:4. “That he may dwell in thy court..,” not in his room. Nobody can sustain the grace of God without being in fellowship. In some countries, most churches are empty now because they are online worshippers. In the course of the online, they are cooking, in the course of the online, they are taking tea. In the course of the online, let me have a little nap. In the course of the online, Papa has not started preaching. Church Gist. When he is praying for people I will wake up. So they set the alarm and before he wakes up, I have finished praying. Hebrews 10:25. When you come to church you come to be spiritually serviced so that your engine will not knock. You better wake up! They go from strength to strength as they appear before the Lord in Zion, not before their device. You go from weakness to weakness until you are completely out. Psalm 132:13-16. What is Zion? The Church, the city of the Living God. Hebrews 12:22. That is where God distributes His blessings. So to rob you of it, he keeps you away from church. If they can’t see you at the storehouse where they make supplies, you can’t have supplies. You better wake up, your coming to church does not add any value to anybody, not to God. It adds value only to you and the devil wants to rob us of those values if we are not careful. Ask those who have disconnected from going to Church what they are going through. Some are in the shrine already. Church Gist. Some are now major members of a cult because darkness has overrun them. Obedience to what makes the blessings keep flowing. You won’t miss it in the name of Jesus. “Don’t pay your tithe. It is a game” You know why? He wants to ditch you financially. You can’t be paying that much. Invest it. So you robbed the individual of that great future that he couldn’t see. Ezekiel 36:27. By this anointing today, the Spirit of obedience will come upon your life and doing what God says will become a delight.
Can I tell you what God showed me in 1984? He said, “My son, there is a place for you on top if you are interested.” I said, “Lord, I am interested.” “Then whatever I tell you to do, do it.” It is the cheapest way to the topmost top in life. Deuteronomy 28:1. “I will set you above all nations by simply doing what I tell you to do.” That is why I call it the gateway to a world of supernatural blessings. Delightsome obedience! Tireless obedience! It gets you to a place where no effort under heaven can take you. Now, in all our services we have ministers from around the world that come here. Church Gist. This Church never paid a dime of our children’s school fees growing up. They are not church children. You better walk straight. I am blessed. All the devils know, all the witches know, all the wizards know, all the occult people know and they can’t do anything against it. That is how God will secure your blessings. It works all the time. As you receive this anointing today, see it as the anointing for blessings that will keep flowing all the days of your life. That will keep you in the house of the Lord forever.
Power to give! 2 Corinthians 8:3-5, 7. The anointing empowers the giving life of believers, thereby keeping them under an open heaven of blessings. It empowers the giving life of believers. May this Anointing empower each one’s giving life to another level. We need the giving grace, the giving empowerment, the giving enabling us to maintain a giving life without stress. Jesus said I have power to lay it down and power John 10:17-18. Power to lay down what creates a future receive it right now. One day God laid a demand on me and after obeying the demand, God said to me “My son, David even if you don’t want to be rich. It is too late.” 1987! The power to lay it down gets you refreshed after dropping it. Church Gist. There are some things that some people cannot give, there is no way God can give them. If they say project what you are going to do if God blesses you. More estate, more that, more this, I am going to book higher hotels, once I want I will go there. What is your kingdom dream? Kingdom dream? Leave that to Papa. Before I had the first bank account I already said, “Jesus, if you ever bless me, I want to be part of building you churches.” You know owning an account is not as free as you have it now. You need to have money to take it to the bank. The money you have, transport will take it all before you get to the bank. It was in my heart so it had to reach my hand. We are hunting for orphanages around the country. So we can distribute more blessings. Not your Church, my own. We started giving scholarships in my house since 1992. You are going places. That is what the anointing of today will do in your life.
It is the oil of joy and gladness that will always bring you into favour with God. You can’t be joyful in the Lord and run out of favour with God. Church Gist. So it is your turn. You are coming under that fearful blessing today in the name of Jesus Christ.
Isn’t it good news that when God blesses you, no devil can curse you? So every curse of the wicked is rendered null and void from this hour. There was a man by name John D. Rockefeller, he began his tithing journey from $7:50 and began to grow. He has gone to heaven but he is still alive. His foundation is still blessing mankind today. It pays to come under heaven’s blessings. It takes your obedience to come under heaven’s blessings. It pays to come under that blessing that will keep impacting your generations after you. Obedience brought us to Canaanland, it brought us higher levels of blessings. True or false? We were on 2.3 acres property here in Lagos, it brought us here and the first phase was 530 acres. Our church facility in and out, including the road, including the trees and everything could not take up to 10,000. See where He brought us to. Obedience keeps changing people’s levels, if they won’t give up. Delightsome obedience not coerced. Not let’s see what you will do, when you finish with me let me know. We moved from Kaduna to Lagos at his command. From 3,000+ to 179, the first service here was 179. You will think it is a setback. No! It is get set, on your mark, go! Obedience pays! It may be costly but the end result is priceless. If He says study, study. Meditate, meditate, obey, obey. Do what He says to do, you have committed Him already.
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