AT AGE 33, THERE WAS MUCH PRESSURE ON ME TO STAY IN AMERICA FOR MINISTRY: I WOULD HAVE LOST MY PLACE IN DESTINY
I INSISTED THAT CANAANLAND WAS TOO FAR AND THEN GOD SAID: THIS IS THE PLACE (WITH YOUR SMALL HEAD)😂
DON’T BE GUIDED BY MONEY OR YOU END UP MOURNING
I WAS LESS THAN THE LEAST OF MY PEERS IN THE BEGINNING DAYS OF THIS MINISTRY AT 300 NAIRA A MONTH.
WE WERE LIVING IN THE CHURCH OFFICE. ONE TOILET SERVING THE ENTIRE CHURCH AND MY FAMILY.
I COULD HAVE FLED BUT I AM BLESSED WITH THE COVENANT SENSE OF DIVINE DIRECTION
DON’T BE JUMPING FROM ONE BUSINESS TO ANOTHER! ASK GOD! NOT ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD.
YOUR PLACE IN GOD IS YOUR PLACE OF MAKING, OUTSIDE YOUR PLACE IN GOD YOU ARE MISPLACED.
YOU REQUIRE DIVINE GUIDANCE FOR A PLACE TO LIVE, A PLACE TO SERVE AND A PLACE TO WORSHIP.
I AM ESPECIALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE JUNKETING AROUND THE WORLD
YOU CAN’T SHEPHERD YOUR LIFE, YOU DON’T KNOW TOMORROW.
EVERY DECISION WE MAKE IS EITHER TO OUR ADVANTAGE OR DISADVANTAGE, IT DOESN’T LEAVE US NEUTRAL.
EVERY STEP WE TAKE IS EITHER TAKING US CLOSER OR FARTHER FROM OUR GLORIOUS DESTINY IN CHRIST.
IT TAKES MEEKNESS TO TAKE CORRECTION PARTICULARLY WHEN YOU HAVE GONE PUBLIC
THE SHAME OF ERROR IS HEAVIER THAN THE SHAME OF CORRECTION
– Bishop David Oyedepo on UNDERSTANDING THE WONDERS OF DIVINE DIRECTION 2 at Covenant Day of Long Life Service || Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland|| First Sunday Service
Some good news just hit me here this morning. One of us here turned 109 on the 4th. God’s agenda of longevity is real. In the precious name of Jesus, no life here shall be cut short here. There are no idle words in scriptures. “With long life, I will satisfy you and show you my salvation.” To satisfy means I will ask “Are you satisfied?” You can choose what time you want to be satisfied. Church Gist. God speaks no idle words, let’s come awake spiritually to line up with his agenda for our lives. He never forces anything on any man. If you can believe, all things in the Word are deliverable. If you can believe, it is all down to a choice.
– In the precious name of Jesus, the siege of untimely death is over in everyone’s family.
– No one here today will ever bury any of their children.
– You will return today with the seal of a good old age.
UNDERSTANDING THE WONDERS OF DIVINE DIRECTION 2
Isaiah 48:21. In the precious name of Jesus, I pray that everyone’s understanding will open up this morning because nothing delivers God’s agenda like spiritual understanding. Church Gist. Lord, I pray that each one’s spiritual understanding will come alive and may the Word of today impact on everyone’s life positively.
We are redeemed to be a blessing and not a burden. God said to Abraham “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed”. Church Gist. Every child of God is a seed of Abraham. We are redeemed to be a blessing and not a burden. No one shall ever be mistaken for a burden anymore. Genesis 22:18.
We are redeemed to be more than conquerors because by salvation we are raised up to sit with Christ in heavenly places and He is far above all principalities and power. Ephesians 1:20-21. We are redeemed to be above all situations and circumstances, demonic, diabolical, What have you? That is our place in redemption but it will take being led by the Spirit to arrive at our enviable destiny in Christ. Church Gist. The Lord said to Isaac “Thou shall not go down to Egypt” and Isaac obeyed and sowed in the land God told him to be. The man waxed strong, he became very great. He had a store of servants and the Philistines envied him (Genesis 26:12-14). Our dignity and honour are in our place, our security is in our place, outside of our place we have become wanderers. May no one miss his God-ordained place in life.
We serve a God of an appointed place. Genesis 12:1-3. Simple and straightforward. Security! Verse 2 simply means God will make of thee a great nation if you get to the place. Your place in God is your place of making, outside your place in God you are misplaced. Displaced people don’t talk about prosperity, they talk about how to get back to where they are coming from. When you are displaced you are stranded.
1. There is an appointed place for you and me to live in.
2 Samuel 7:10. Every child of God in God’s predestination agenda has an appointed place, may you not miss your place. Isaiah 30:1-3. Everybody is going so let’s go. Young people hear me. Where are you going? I am just going. I was 33 when pressure came on me in America to stay there, they need you here. I said let me pray about it. I would have lost and missed my place in destiny. I didn’t belong there. “They ask no counsel of me”. Jeremiah 33:3. God was going to make Abraham outside his land but He showed him which land to go to. Church Gist. He told Isaac not to go from here. Nothing seems to be working but stay here and watch what I will do with your life. There are many people who are redeemed as wonders but they have become wanderers. Proverbs 27:8. You won’t become a wanderer. His ways are higher than your ways, so ask Him. I am trying to point to us, the place of divine direction.
2. There is also a place to serve.
Hear what the Lord said to the man, Paul the Apostle, the anointed one, full of wisdom: Acts 22:17-21. ‘This is not where you belong, I separated you to go onto the Gentiles. What are you doing hanging around here?”. In the verse that followed, he was humiliated, beaten and assaulted. Don’t because of two naira increase jump from one job to another one. Settle down, my friend. There is a place to serve. Don’t be guided by money, you will just end up mourning. I was less than the least of my peers in the beginning days of this ministry at 300 naira a month. We were living in the Church office, one toilet serving the entire church and the family. I could have fled but I am blessed with the covenant sense of divine direction. Church Gist. He never leads backwards, He leads forward. People just keep junketing about, this business is working, you jump into it. Another one is working, you jump into it also. He just crashed one business and he is going into another one to crash it. Why don’t you ask God? Not all that glitters is gold. Though thy beginning is very small, thy latter end shall yet greatly increase. Ask God, don’t jump the queue.
Peter was an Apostle, Paul was an Apostle but the Bible says that God was mighty to the Jews through the apostleship of Peter and mighty to the Gentiles under the apostleship of Paul (Galatians 2:8). Each one had his place. They are apostles, yes! But they have their place. In the same vein, you have your place. I remember saying that this cannot be the place (talking about Canaanland). Church Gist. This cannot be the place, it is too far from everybody. How can a church be far away from everybody and it is to serve people? I was arguing with my small intellect and God said to me as we have Him thanks on this ground “This is the place (with your small head)”. May you hear when God is showing you your place.
3. There is a place to worship.
Deuteronomy 12:13-14. It is God who chooses where your burnt offerings will be acceptable. Jeremiah 3:15-16. You multiply and increase under your God ordained pastors. “Abraham, take Isaac to a mountain that I will show you” He took three days to get there. If he branched anywhere else he would have wasted Isaac, wasted him completely. He had tied a ram in the thicket in that place for Abraham to pass the test. Church Gist. If Abraham had branched anywhere else He would have wasted Isaac for nothing without a blessing in return. You belong to a place to live, a place to serve, a place to worship. That is why divine direction is vital not to waste your adventure in life. I was too sure I heard God say this is the place. To show that I heard God, we shut down at His command the Church in Lagos. At His command! Then it became a church to mind globally. May you not miss your place.
I am passionate about young people who are just junketing the world. I am concerned about you. You can’t shepherd your life, you don’t know tomorrow. Allow God to lead your steps. May today be a day of a new chapter in everyone’s life. Church Gist. Every decision we make is either to our advantage or disadvantage, it doesn’t leave us neutral. Every step we take is either taking us closer or farther from our glorious destiny in Christ. Let me outline 12 devastating costs of misdirection:
1. Shame (Isaiah 30:3)
2. Evil occurrences (Isaiah 31:1-3).
You won’t see evil in your life. Endeavour to locate yourself in the centre of the centre of God’s will, things will be working in your favour on their own accord. Church Gist. It is your turn.
3. No peace.
If you miss God’s plan you will have no peace. Isaiah 59:8. When you go off His path, you lose your peace. Church Gist. You won’t lose your peace in life. Psalm 23:2-3. When God leads He leads beside still waters, no trauma.
4. Robbed and cheated (Isaiah 42:22-25).
Like David, they moved out. All the men went to the war front. They left the land unguarded. The enemies came and carried away all their wives, sons and daughters and David was greatly distressed. Depression comes along when you miss God’s direction.
5. Snared in holes (choking)
6. Hid in prison houses
7. Defenseless / Vulnerable to all kinds (depressed/distressed).
8. No one to deliver (no shepherd)
1 Samuel 22:30. A sheep is defenceless against the wolves without a shepherd.
9. Servitude.
Working and working without anything to show when you are off his plan.
10. Self captivity. Jeremiah 2:13-14. Isaiah 5:14.
11. Full of fear. Psalm 23:4. You become supernaturally fearless when God is the one leading the way. You can’t be afraid of a bully dog or a wolf when you are being guarded by a lion. Jeremiah 2:15.
12. Dethronement.
Jeremiah 2:16. So you find princes walking on foot and servants riding on horses. It is an evil in the sight of God. Church Gist. You won’t lose your crown. Hold that fast which thou hast lest another man take your crown.
So these are twelve horrible curses of misdirection, you won’t suffer it.
– No agent of the devil will break the crown of your head.
– You will not miss your steps on the journey of life anymore.
The good news is that it is never late to be right. It takes meekness to readily take correction particularly when you have gone public. We had a celebrated testimony in the Power House, I felt God was sending me to America to get prepared for ministry because all of my mentors and teachers were there. Then somebody showed up and said God told him years ago that somebody was going to travel on a mission and he was going to be there to sponsor it. Nobody asked him, so won’t that be a testimony? After everything was in place, I went to say Thank you Jesus and He said “What you are looking for is not from abroad but from above. You are not going to America.” So I told them in the powerhouse that God told me we were not going to America. Then the ministry was commissioned and we were heading to Jos. The address of Jos was there, the prayer was prayed for Jos. Church Gist. I went to thank God and God said “It wasn’t me you heard, you heard yourself.” When you have gone public to accept correction requires meekness. Church Gist. Those were public events. So I said where do we go? He said stay here. So everybody will know we didn’t go to Jos. If I had gone to Jos, we would have finished there because God won’t go with me. If God is not for you, you are finished. You better take correction. What are you protecting? It is never late to be right. God will test your meekness before He can treat you with greatness. You can’t taste greatness until you pass the test of meekness. You can be wrong, that is why you are a disciple, He is the master. None of us is master, He is the master.
All these events came after I have been hearing from God directly but there is the voice of the shepherd and the voice of the stranger. The two of them are very much alike if you are not careful. It takes meekness to access divine direction, it takes meekness to receive divine correction. If you are not there, you are not there. In the precious name of Jesus, you will not walk your way into a ditch. It is never late to be right. Psalm 25:9,12. It takes meekness to receive divine direction and embrace divine corrections as may come your way from time to time. The cost of correction is cheaper than the cost of living in error. You can’t be on the wrong road and arrive at your destination. Why don’t you reserve and arrive at your destination? Church Gist. The shame of error is heavier than the shame of correction. You are corrected, “Stupid man, he doesn’t know where he is going”. You continue in error “Well, we know he will fail before”. So you better mind yourself and let each one go with their own comment. Church Gist. Some fellows are set for marriage and they know at a point that this thing won’t work but they can’t turn back anymore, so they enter into a lifetime of troubles. That won’t be you anymore. So it is wisdom to commit your ways unto the Lord, don’t ever lean on your own understanding. No one can lead himself on this journey successfully. Proverbs 14:12, 16:25. What can we do but do what seems right to us? We can’t do any other thing but what is right to us. No one knows tomorrow like the one who created it, you won’t miss your steps.
It is also important to know that no child of God will ever outgrow divine direction in life. Isaiah 59:11. We need His guidance continually not once and for all. It is one of the things we get from prayer and fasting. Church Gist. To be guided continually and He is guiding us to our high places. Isaiah 59:14. His guidance will terminate dry seasons. You are like a watered garden whose fountains dry not.
Wonders of Divine Direction.
1. Divine Direction secures supernatural restoration.
The things you have lost on the wrong route when you are back on the right route, you get it back. The things the devil misguided you from, when you come back you get it back. 1 Samuel 30:1-8, 18. God brought restoration and David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken and added spoils to it when taken. Church Gist. So there is recovery in locating God’s direction for your life and being corrected from your wrong ways. There is a recovery that is guaranteed by God. It is never late to be right. If you discover you are wrong, get back on the right road and you will be glad you did.
2. It secures supernatural supplies.
Luke 22:35. When God sends, He guarantees supernatural supplies as you go in the direction He sends you. Don’t go on your own, let it be God that sends you. When God said He would build this Tabernacle in one year, He did and there was no budget on ground. When God sends, supplies are guaranteed. When God said He will plant 5,000 churches, it wasn’t in our budget for the year 2020. Because He told us in January and the budget was concluded in November. Church Gist. Yet He did it. He said He will get us into 75 new nations in one year, there was no budget for it. He did it. When God sends, He supplies. You won’t miss that supply in your life. Isaiah 48:21. There is a gushing of water in the desert when God is leading.
3. It secures a stress-free life.
Psalm 25:12-13. Proverbs 3:16-17. Wisdom is profitable to direct, it secures length of days, riches and honour. Church Gist. Following divine direction secures a stress-free life full of peace. It is a new day for you.
Today is our Covenant Day Of Long Life. The good news is that Jesus already captured death for us in redemption. 1 Corinthians 15:53-57. The sting of death is sin, the power of the grave is the law. God has abolished both in Christ. Death has lost its sting on us who are redeemed. The venom of death has no more effect on our bodies because Jesus already paid the price. Hebrews 2:13-15. The devil used to have the power of death, he lost it. When Christ rose from the dead, he took from him the keys of death and hell. Fear is the bait of death. Church Gist. Death does not kill, it is the bait of death that kills. They were subject to the bondage of death through the fear of death. I command every spirit of fear tormenting anyone among us here today to come out of your life forever. Revelation 1:18. The keys are now in my hands and I am holding that in your favour. You are free. Yours will be a good old age. Not breathing hard old age, not old age in rags, not old age in begging for food, not old age in feebleness but old age in strength and vigour. The sting of death is gone.
– Everyone appointed to death in this room is liberated right now.
Furthermore, a good old age is our heritage in the Abrahamic covenant. Genesis 15:15. Galatians 3:29. Whatever God said to Abraham belongs to us who are saved. So you if Jesus tarries shall be buried in a good old age, in peace, with no trauma. Genesis 25:8. God said it, God fulfilled it. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law and untimely death is one of the curses of the law. Every promise of God to Abraham was a promise of the Spirit. Galatians 3:29. By this Impartation of life, you shall enjoy a good old age.
Every provision of scriptures delivers as far as one’s eyes can see. For example, Moses saw 120 as God’s lifespan for man and departed exactly at 120. Genesis 6:3. Deuteronomy 34:7. He saw it because he wrote the first five books of the Bible. He saw God’s Covenant with Noah of 120, he believed it, he received it and he experienced it. There is no death in your case, only rapture can stop anyone here from experiencing a good old age. David saw 70 and he departed at 70 exactly. Psalm 90:10. 1 Chronicles 29:28. David went to heaven at 70. He was 30 years old when he began to reign, he reigned for 40 years and he went back home at 70. Church Gist. The Bible called it a good old age, that is what He chose. As far as your eyes can see. Genesis 13:14-15. He saw 70 and he went at 70, Moses saw 120 and he received it and left at 120. Deuteronomy 34:7. Anyone here can choose what is good old age for him or her. 70-120, good old age. You can choose any age you want in between that. Life in the kingdom thrives on choice. Deuteronomy 30:19. The fear of death in your life is gone.
The following are the demands of the covenant of longevity:
1. Be born again.
Every provision of the covenant applies only to the redeemed. God’s inheritance is limited to the saints, the saved. Acts 20:32. Church Gist. Our inheritance is not open, you don’t give the children’s bread to dogs. Proverbs 13:22. God is good and He leaves an inheritance for His children’s children. So you have to be a child of God to be a partaker of His inheritance.
2. Stay in love with God.
Psalm 91:14-16. Stay in love with God, it is a demand for long life.
3. Remain committed to serving God and the interest of His Kingdom.
Exodus 23:25-26. I am committed to your good old age if you will be committed to serving my interests as your way of life. One platform for that to happen is prayer. Anybody who can eat can pray. Old people in scriptures were praying men and women. So develop capacity for prayers. You don’t have to be on the street at certain ages, it is a risk but you can pray up and pray in converts and pray them to be established. Church Gist. You are serving God. Make giving your lifestyle, helping people and promoting the Kingdom as a way of life. When you give to the poor, you lend to the Lord. Proverbs 19:17. Develop a high taste for kingdom advancement lifestyles, serving God and the interests of His Kingdom. No devil in hell will terminate your life. It is a brand new day for you.
4. Build your faith against the fear against the fear of death, because little faith cannot handle the threat of death.
Job 3:25. He was living in fear, fear opened the door to the enemy and the devil tormented his entire family. He destroyed everybody. That will not happen to you. Mark 4:40. Zero faith cannot stand the threat of death. Matthew 8:26. You need some level of faith to rebuke the wind and the storms of death to hold their peace. Stop there in the name of Jesus. You need some degree of faith to do that. Faith has unlimited capacity for growth. Develop your faith capacity against the horror of death. I have shared with you severally that we lost one of the engines on our planes going to Kano. Church Gist. We had gone thirty minutes in the air. I saw the plane slowing down and there was no go slow in the air, so I said Captain what is going on? He said we just lost one engine. I said relax. Do you know what I mean by relax? Not that I am a pilot or an aircraft engineer but this thing can’t drop. Who are you? Ask Jesus who He is. He goes with me. I am going on His assignment, not for fun. Can the plane drop while Christ is inside it? Develop your faith capacity against the storms of death.
We heard a big bang as we were just taking off from Cyprus to Israel and I said Peace be still. That is the command of faith. Nothing shook inside me and God is here as my witness. One of our daughters who travelled with me never flew for the next two years. Church Gist. Within Nigeria, she never flew. Anywhere she goes, whether it is 24 hours by road, she will drive. She asked her husband “Is Papa still flying that plane?” Develop your faith unless the devil takes you for a ride. Ephesians 6:16. Faith has unlimited capacity for growth. 2 Thessalonians 1:3.
5. Be committed to a life of joy and rejoicing because a merry heart doeth good like a medicine but a broken spirit dries the bones (Proverbs 17:22).
Paul was a man of unusual joy, they were attacking him and he said “In that will I rejoice”. Philippians 1:15-18. In Acts 14:19-20, they stoned him and dragged him out of town for dead. They gathered around him to wonder what they would do right now, he rose up and said let’s go to our next meeting. Death surrendered to him. Philippians 1:22-25. Death was not going to determine when he left. Church Gist. Philemon 1:9. Paul described himself as Paul the Aged. I don’t know his age. That is your testimony, with joy and rejoicing you will prolong your days. All these complaining and murmuring it is tampering with your life, get out of it. 1 Corinthians 10:10. Murmuring destroys, stop it. Bitterness destroys, stop it.
6. Be committed to speaking the right words.
Proverbs 18:21. Speak lively words, don’t speak of death. Stop thinking death, you are too young to think death. It is what you think that determines what you say. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Stop thinking and talking death, not over you, not over your children. Stop thinking about death, stop talking about death. Psalm 34:12-14. Every time “I am finished”. God doesn’t know jokes. Every idle word that a man speaks he will pay for it. Oh my Gosh, nothing is working. I am gone. You just use your mouth to kill everything in your life. Ecclesiastes 5:6. Church Gist. Mind what you say by minding what you think. If you don’t mind what you think, you will see what you think. How many can see a good old age ahead of them? How many will share the same testimony with that woman at 109? He has never left Himself in this Church without a witness. In the precious name of Jesus, everyone appointed to death is today liberated. Every negative medical verdict that points to your dying is reverted today.
7. Whenever challenged, take up the name of Jesus against the spirit of death.
Proverbs 18:10. Philippians 2:10-11. Take up the name of Jesus. Jesus, I refuse to die. Yes son! No death can take you. That one doesn’t need quoting scripture, it is the name. You can’t misquote it, it is the name. Jesus! And then he steps in. Church Gist. There is no emergency that will take your life off. Jesus! Jesus! I refuse to die. This is not my portion, you already paid the price. I am in love with you. Isaiah 38:3-5. God will add to your days.
As you receive this engrafted Word with meekness, it will set a seal of a good old age on your life. Church Gist. We are making our boast in the Lord, so get excited. Your case is finally settled.
One quick advice, remain on duty. We serve a God of surprises. He shows up anytime He wants to. He does whatever He pleases on the planet Earth, He changes our stories by the Holy Spirit who comes in suddenly all the time. He arrived on the day of Pentecost suddenly. Church Gist. We are changed from glory to glory by the Spirit of God. So that spirit that changes our story comes in suddenly. Be found on duty, occupy till He comes. Keep investing in the Kingdom, your time, your energy and resources as you are enabled. Church Gist. You don’t serve God as a calling, you choose to.
– May the rewarder God who comes in suddenly, meet you on duty when he shows up.
That wise servant who chose to stay on and was met on duty when the rewarder came, He said he will make him ruler over his house. God wants your story changed but He must meet you on duty pursuing His interest. Don’t stop praying Kingdom advancement prayers, don’t stop reaching out to souls, don’t stop seeing that they are established in the faith and watch as he shows up and changes your story. He changes people’s stories suddenly. Nobody knows when He is coming but may He find you on duty when He comes. Don’t be tired, don’t be weary, you are almost at the next level change in your life. Church Gist. Keep at it. Engage passionately and diligently. Nobody is running after me and I have been engaging like this all my life and it is changing my story. Let Him meet you on duty. That is the undoing of many believers, they are on and off. They go on AWOL when He comes. Let Him meet you on duty, Christianity is not a club. He honours those who are honouring Him. Keep honouring Him by serving His interest dedicatedly. Your change of story will know no end. There are no ceilings on the destiny of believers. God only stops where we stop. May you not stop your own destiny. Receive that grace right now and the number of your days He will fulfil as He has covenanted.
– May the choice you have made today stand the choice of time and so shall it be.
– Many will share their age 109 testimony. You will walk up to the altar at the Ark and say God said it and God did it, I am 109 today. That shall be your testimony.
– The week is declared a week of divine surprises.
– The story changer of those who serve Him will visit you suddenly.
– Your story is changing from glory to glory.
– No one will ask you any more “Where is your God?”. It will be seen all over you in Jesus’ name.
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