Articles & Outlines

Ez. 39:8 “Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.” To every living soul, there is always a day that defines them, where the direction of life changes, when they come to a new place either by personal decision or happenstance. The day that leaves a permanent mark in their history. For example, the day of birth of individuals, is that which kickstarts the existence of the fellow; the day of marriage is another day that is unforgettable, it is the day of commencement of real adulthood, another yet unforgettable day will be the date of the birth of the first child of the new family, that it is that starts off a new meaning of life, the beginning of being responsible for another life – which is completely dependent upon yours-, the day the dynamics of your own life changes, even up to how you sleep, eat and spend your own money and leisure. There is always one day that changes a person forever. That day, regardless of how definitive it may be is however not as important as what one does going forward from then. In the case of marriage, the ceremony of the wedding day will be forgotten quickly if both parties lack the understanding that they no longer have full autonomy of how they spend their time and resources. Unless they are both willing to make the marriage work, what was meant to be a forever joy may actually turn out otherwise. The day of birth is not as important as what one does with one’s life. A definitely most important day, is the day of death, because it is the day that determines everything. The time between the day of birth and death is the time to work what will be , after one’s demise. Heb.9:27 “Every human being is appointed to die once, and then to face God’s judgment.” There is only one way to come out justified from God’s judgment room John 3:18 “So now there is no longer any condemnation for those who believe in him, but the unbeliever already lives under condemnation because they do not believe in the name of the only Son of God.” That one day is closer home than it ever was, the day when the music will stop and nothing else will matter, when what you have lived for will be the determinant of your eternal abode. Have you truly surrendered your life to Jesus and daily working out your salvation?

2Cor.4:17 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” Many of us children of God, because of our open confession and proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ suffered or are suffering one form of affliction or the other, whereas some of these afflictions are subtle, for example being denied opportunities, restlessness in the family, being an outcast amongst friends and relatives including becoming a subject of scorn, little talk and laughter. On the other hand, some of the afflictions are as evident as can be, like open and aggressive confrontation, condemnation by the powers that be, suppression of rights and intimidation etc, these things are commonplace in our present world, we cannot however be deterred by them, more so that our Lord had already given us heads up in Rev. 2:10 “Do not yield to fear in the face of the suffering to come but be aware of this: the devil is about to have some of you thrown into prison to test your faith. For ten days you will have distress but remain faithful to the day you die, and I will give you the victor’s crown of life.” I belong to the school of thought that believes that nothing good comes easy, more so, to be a winner, one must strive for mastery, getting to the top requires a climbing, and climbing is not for the faint hearted. The plan of Satan is to scare us away from lighting up our spheres of influence, (our catchment area), he knows that if we are able to achieve that, his lies will be revealed and his kingdom will crumble, therefore he deploys all his arsenal against the Christian, including using brethren in the faith 3John 1:9-10 “I wrote a letter to the church, but Diotrephes will not listen to what we say. He always wants to be the leader. When I come, I will talk with him about what he is doing. He lies and says evil things about us, but that is not all. He refuses to welcome and help the believers who travel there. And he will not let others help them. If they do, he stops them from meeting with the church anymore.” Regardless of these oppositions, threats and intimidations however, we must not cease to shine our light so as to dispel the darkness that has engulfed the spiritual eyes of the people, nor can we afford to lose our savour as salt wherein we no longer put an end to known and perceived decadence around us. We must continue to stand for and in the Truth, having the understanding that our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!]. Stand fast, stand firm, knowing that we have not been left neither can we be left without help, the Helper is with you always, the battle is long and fierce but for as many that will stay the course, there can only be one outcome, the crown of glory awaits.

John 8:36 “So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men], then you are really and unquestionably free.” Freedom is a priceless possession and everyone seeks after it. Be it freedom from debt, sickness, oppression, intimidation, injustice and disease, each one of us will give anything to have freedom. Even more so because any form of lack of freedom is a bondage! To this end, people go to any lengths to break the yoke of bondage on their lives, in the quest to free his people from bondage MosesThe Egyptian prince), took it upon himself to kill an Egyptian officer, only to soon find himself in very big trouble. The power of man cannot get him freedom. There are freedom of various categories, for example a person may have everything he needs but be under the bondage of a disease ( 2kings 5:1), another can can be under the yoke of barrenness despite having everything ( 2 Sam. 6:23), yet another can be in the bondage of poverty to the point that they have no idea if they’ll have any more meal forever (1kings 17:12), it is possibly to be free physical yet spiritually in bondage notwithstanding societal standing ( 1Sam16:14). The freedom that any man enjoy is not a freedom if it is qualified, such freedom does not have joy in it, neither does it comes peace. The freedom many have is akin to the freedom described in Exo, 8:28 “And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me.” Such conditional freedom is what the world gives, they say yes, you are free but subject to the whims and caprices, the determinate counsel of the powers that be. True and unquestionable freedom is only attainable when a life is in Christ, it is Him who has come that humanity might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. It is Him that sets free indeed, He actually revealed to us and we have come to acknowledge the truth that in the world there is strife, contention and wickedness of the highest order John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]” The only one who can give true freedom is the One who has conquered all and in control of all because all power and authority in Heaven and earth has been given to His. Luke 4:18 & 21 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Come, be committed to Jesus today and receive true and unambiguous freedom

1Kings 18:21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” The above statement is as relevant today as it was on Mount Carmel. Generally in life there cannot be a vacuum, that is why a man standing between two opinions is said to be unstable and unreliable, such people will not be given serious looking in when serious issues or tasks have to be completed, indeed the scriptures made it clear in James 1:8 (AMPC) ” [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].” To be undecided therefore actually make a person loathsome to everyone around them. It is to this end that the question get asked, whose side are you? Essentially, there are two sides to a matter, the real and the unreal, light or darkness, glory or shame. When Elijah saw the way of the children of Israel as not being in tandem with God’s , how they were standing one leg in and one leg outside of God’s instructions, worship of God had become a tradition rather than from the heart, offerings to God done according to how each person deemed fit, the Priests and Levites have abandoned their roles, agents of Satan have taken over the Palace, the alter of God had been abandoned for that of Baal, basically Israel have practically abandoned the Light of God and were in affinity with darkness! All these have therefore caused God to hands off their matter, allowing for the Heaven to be shut over them plunging them into hardship, rather unfortunately however, they did not retrace their way back to the God of their fathers. Painfully, all that Israel did is what the church of God is doing in this contemporary times. Many wolves have entered the fold, and are shipwrecking the faith of a vast majority because the people have itching ears , therefore they keep heaping teachers to themselves ( 2Tim.4:3). Where sound doctrines is being preached is considered boring, old fashioned, judgemental or intolerant. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6a)………… The lack of understanding where to stand is the cause of the whittling down of the power and move of the Holy Spirit in the church today, it is why evil can thrive easily without being discovered, the fact that the church failed over time to act decisively against Satanic agents because the church had gone to sleep. To wake the church up will take deliberate standing on the side of God by the few who are desirous of seeing His glory manifest in this end time. It will be more than mere Church meeting attendance and financial commitment ( though very essential), it will involve setting time to cry to the Lord in your closet, encouraging backsliders to return to their first love, stopping the mouth of heretic preachers and living a life that points others to God in holiness and righteousness. In the alternative, you may decide it is you’re your business , after all your own salvation is intact and do nothing to kick start a revival even though you are eminently graced to do such, you will be a classic example of those who keep quiet in the face of wickedness, your action will be tantamount to standing against the work of Christ (Matt. 25:31-46). It is profitable to stand on the side of God, the decision is yours though at the end of the day, remember that you will be rewarded in relation to whose side you are standin

Gal.3:1 ”O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?“ Today in the Church there are many forms of bewitchment going on. To be bewitched is to be enchanted or cast a spell upon, or influenced and affected especially injuriously by demonic agents. In simple terms, it is the means by which Satan through his agents is spreading falsehood and heresy in the body of Christ with the aim of derailing the faith of unsuspecting brethren. It is the teaching of alternative truth presented as the real truth, the art of turning the heart of the simple away from the way of eternal life , yet presented as the authentic message of the cross. A faith teaching that frees you from any responsibility in bringing Divine blessings is an irresponsible faith, and God is not an irresponsible Entity; such teaching is a bewitchment, selling a lie to the followers deliberately making them vulnerable. When you are told to decree it and it will happen without you lifting a finger, that can only be magic, God does not do magic but miracle. Miracles simply means “the point where the effort and power of man ends and God takes over” the matter. James 2:26 A person’s body that does not have a spirit is dead. It is the same with faith. Faith that does nothing is dead! Another kind of bewitchment that is prevalent is that which says once you are saved , you are forever saved. Unfortunately many careless fellows have been caught in this satanic manipulation and have gone ahead to continue living the riotous lifestyle they led prior to their salvation, when the position of God is clearly spelt out in 2Cor.5.17. it is only a pig that returns to the mire after being washed. Gal.5:13 For you, my brothers, were called to freedom; only do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the sinful nature (worldliness, selfishness), but through love serve and seek the best for one another. Additionally, some are bewitched by the narrative that suggests that it is of no use to fast anymore because Jesus has paid the price, and done all the fasting for the Christian, if that is so, how then can that be juxtaposed with Jesus’ clear statement that after His departure the disciples will fast? God is never the author of confusion. Phil. 3:18-19 For there are many, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, who live as enemies of the cross of Christ [rejecting and opposing His way of salvation], whose fate is destruction, whose god is their belly [their worldly appetite, their sensuality, their vanity], and whose glory is in their shame—who focus their mind on earthly and temporal things. Bewitchment is a means to bringing the bewitched under the control of the enchanter and in many cases to destroy him. Beloved, we should not be ignorant of Satan’s ministry ( John 10:10a), he has nothing good (in the past, present and future) to give anyone, therefore, whatever gift he present is a trap to destroy the relationship between God and the Christian. He has agents everywhere especially in the Church, he has been at it for many years and will continue, each one of us should be careful of what we hear and believe. Paul was so grieved in his spirit when he observed that agents of Satan were infiltrating the church that he wrote in Gal. 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we [originally] preached to you, let him be condemned to destruction! That is still the position till date, the original message of the of the Cross is still being preached, it is your responsibility to test every spirit. Deliver yourself from deception, you have a role to play, and that is beyond just praying and declarations. Maranatha!!

2Tim. 2:15 Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skilfully teaching the word of truth. The word study is either a noun or verb. As a noun, it refers to the devotion of time and attention to gaining knowledge of a subject, or a detailed investigation and analysis of a subject or situation; as a verb, it is to devote time and attention to gaining knowledge in a field or subject, it can also mean to look closely with the aim of observation and gaining knowledge. Many are Christians today that are oblivious of the responsibilities imposed on them by the virtue of being a child of God, therefore you find gross misbehaviour from those that professed to have given their lives to Jesus. It is obvious however, from our memory verse that without the understanding of our rights and responsivities as Christians, we would not be approved by the Lord neither will we be able to rightly preach the saving grace that Christ purchased for all as a gospel, nor see Him in glory. I suppose the lack of thorough study and understanding of the Word of God is the reason there are so many unstable brethren in our churches today who are easily swayed by all manner of doctrines, especially those that does not saddle them with responsibilities. Many have believed in lies, conjectures and innuendos which suggests that God is the only One that has responsibility to the Christian. Acts 17:11 They found that the Jews of Berea were of more noble character and much more open minded than those of Thessalonica. They were hungry to learn and eagerly received the word. Every day they opened the scrolls of Scripture to search and examine them, to verify that what Paul taught them was true. When a fellow studies the scriptures personally, aside from debugging what they have heard, their knowledge of God will increase as is their understanding of what they can and cannot expect of God. It is for example easy for the story of David to be referenced by a preacher and get people excited, but it takes studying the lives of people like Abraham and Job to understand that sacrificial giving and affliction are part of the package and will lead to the blessings being hungered for, just as Jesus alluded in Matt.16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If you truly want to follow me, you should at once completely reject and disown your own life. And you must be willing to share my cross and experience it as your own, as you continually surrender to my ways” Your approval to God is not based on your service, offerings, the payment of your tithe or any outward exercise for that matter,( while they are needed for the body of Christ to grow), it is premised of your personal knowledge and interaction with Him. That will help you understand that He is the God of individual and not of the multitude. Even though His call was to the whole world, a careful analysis will reveal to a studious fellow that He addressed Himself to an individual (John 3:16; John 7:37 and Rev.3:20). Anyone that understands the scriptures on the back of their personal study, knows that things happening nowadays in both the Church and world are signs of the end times, today for example, there are all manner of people professing to be preachers of the gospel, but their conduct and mannerism points to the contrary; all the world today, nations rising against each other resulting in wanton destruction of lives and properties and evil is no longer being done in secret but openly, the list goes on and on. Matt.24.11-13 And many lying prophets will arise, deceiving multitudes and leading them away from the path of truth. There will be such an increase of the sin of lawlessness that those whose hearts once burned with passion for God and others will grow cold. But hold your hope firmly to the end and you will experience life and deliverance. Are you approved of the Lord, have you studied and continues to study the Word of God including especially hearkening to the instructions therein? It will be a mere and useless exercise if all you did was to study but not hearken, for it is in following through, the Word, that ultimate approval rests

Matt.7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate because the wide gate and broad path is the way that leads to destruction—nearly everyone chooses that crowded road! The narrow gate and the difficult way leads to eternal life—so few even find it!” Every individual at one point or the other needs to make decision, these decisions in many cases are such that will forever define them, or determine their eternal location. We decide who our friend are, what career path we want to pursue, who to be married to and so on. Decision making id quite harder than it seems, if anything, it is trading in darkness, because we can only speculate what the outcomes will be. When Adam was faced with a decision whether to take the forbidden fruit from his wife or not, two decisions faced him, ie either to make the easy decision or the right decision, he chose the easy decision. Apostle Paul said if faced with decision of whether to eat meat sacrificed to idol when in company of those whose faith is not yet strong, he will defer, he would rather deny himself than indulge himself. Many people have lost the respect, integrity, even love of their spouses because at one time or the other they took an easy decision when they found themselves in dire situation. The truth is whenever a person takes an easy decision it is because they want to avoid presumed hurt for lack of understanding that there is no free lunch anywhere, at best they will have an easy passage now, only to have a difficult life down the road. Jesus said, the taking the broad way, is doing as everybody else does, seeking the approval of the world, speaking their language, dressing like the world etc is the easy way after all, you will not be castigated or even ostracised, it is the wide road whose the end lead to destructions. On the other hand, doing the right thing is hard, unpopular and seemingly an uncooperative stand, the very narrow road that only a few finds, yet the Lord says it is the good way that leads to life in eternal bliss. Beloved, prior to taking any decision, regardless of your circumstances, be sure to run it through the test easy of right. Do not ever be deceived by the “harmless” nature of doing it the easy way, it always ends in tears, make sure to do the right thing always. It is possible (Phil. 4:13

Tit.3:9 ”But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.“ We live in interesting times, when people have many different ideas about the truth or facts . A few years ago, what fact is is incontrovertible , for example what is right and wrong, what exists in the realm of fiction and reality, it is important to distinguish between scientifically proven facts and politically motivated speculation which are designed to appeal to emotions and beliefs, they cannot be held to the same scrutiny as scientific propositions. Fact is not dependent on individual beliefs but universal, what is the fact in Asia, if tested in Europe or America and Africa will be found the same. If it is not universally factual then it cannot satisfy the condition of being a fact. The claim of alternative facts about Jesus is absurd and is script from the pit of hell! There are those who believes that Jesus Christ is not the Messiah, and have come up with all sorts of theories to support their claims, however, it is absolutely clear that these theories are not only shallow but have holes all over them. For example, they say that there are many who claims to be the saviour of humanity, is Jesus Christ not the same? Others have even argued that He was not born in December, yet some says He was not born of a Holy Spirit infused pregnancy through a virgin, a few have even gone ahead to claim that He did not resurrect from death. It is not surprising that these wild tales are being bandied about and gaining traction, because Satan will do anything to discredit the plans of God. So when you are preaching salvation through Jesus to some they may allude to one of the highlighted lies, arguing same to be the fact because according to 2Cor.4:4 they are those ”in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.“ But for us children of God, we are encouraged and warned in Heb.13:9, that we ensure that ”Do not be carried away by diverse and strange teachings…… Therefore, as you embark on soul winning activities, all you need to know and tell is that Jesus Christ is the only Way to salvation and eternal glory, we must be careful to not allow ourselves to be drawn into unnecessary arguments with potential converts nor with teachings that are not in tandem with those in the Bible, otherwise you will as unprofitable as the nay sayers. Whether they believe or not, the fact was, is and remains that Jesus is Lord…… Hallelujah!!!

Is.45:1-3 ”Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.“ According to Amos 3:3, it is impossible for two people to walk together if they are not in agreement, in the same vein, it is impracticable for one person to hold the hand of another and use it for great things except they both agree to work together. In taking stock of happenings in 2023, how much can you boldly declare what God achieved through you, and how much did you achieve for God? Was your best good enough for God in the year, do you feel God sees you as an approved individual before Him? How eagerly did you seek God’s approval throughout the year? As we go into the new year 2024, bear in mind that God seeks the diligent in faith and works for Him to pour His grace into. A man who is approved by God is a man who is unstoppable by any powers that be, he has the authority of God to subdue and dominate, to stop the onslaught of the enemy. The word of God for you as you go in 2024 is that He will go before you and level the mountains. He will smash down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. He will give you treasures hidden in the darkness— secret riches. These will be done so you may know that He is the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name. That God has the capacity to do all these and more for you is not in doubt, the challenge is, does He know you by name? Our God will not give the bread of children to dogs, the quality of your relationship with Him is the basis of which God will do anything for a man. Therefore, see to it that you eagerly seek to, and develop robust relationship with God in the new year, doing so starts by becoming a member of the family of God and being yoked to together with Jesus in discipleship. The new year holds great promises for those who will be on the side of God, for they are the ones he will hold in His hands and give power and authority to, with a view to becoming unstoppable success story. Do everything within your ability to be known and recognised by God as we go into the new year

Rom. 11:33 Who could ever wrap their minds around the riches of God, the depth of his wisdom, and the marvel of his perfect knowledge? Who could ever explain the wonder of his decisions or search out the mysterious way he carries out his plans? The ways and acts of God are beyond what the capacity of the mind of man can comprehend or process, therefore, it will be unwise for any Child of His to question if their current situation can really be helped or if God can bring to pass the promises made to them. Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and replied, “With people it is impossible, but not with God—God makes all things possible! When the word of the Lord comes to you, regardless of your situation, simply believe even if it sounds ridiculous or events thereafter points in the opposite direction. His ways are not our ways, neither His thoughts as like of man. When the Lord said to Abraham (Gen.17:5), that he will become the father of many nations, he was at a point that he was not only childless but he was well advanced in age at 99 years and the wife was 89 years old, it appeared impossible, in fact Abraham supposed God was a comedian (Gen.17:17), he said to God, please let Ishmael live. He did become the father of many nations such that today anyone who is anything links themselves to him. In the case of Joseph, God told him he will become a powerful and influential ruler, but he ended up a slave in a foreign land, and to compound it, he landed in prison for no justifiable reason; he kept the faith, holding on to what the Lord showed him, and soon enough, the machination of Satan against him broke, he became a ruler and the people that sought to dim his stars eventually came a did obeisance to him. When the angel of the Lord came and said to Mary (Luke 1:28), you are blessed among women, he went on to tell her – basically, it was like sentencing her to death, that though betrothed to a man she will be pregnant but not for the man- what manner of favour? At the end, she is today a celebrated individual, the birth mother of the Saviour of the world. The crux of the matter is that, God has a way of doing His things which no man can understand, it is sufficient for a person to believe God and run with the vision even though it may tarry or appear unreasonable. Have you received a word from Him and it seems things are going in the opposite direction? Keep trusting Him, He will bring it to pass. Are you going through an impossible state in your life, yet His word says all is well, do not allow room for doubt. Cease trying to figure out how God will make it happen for you, our Lord is a specialist in making the impossible possible, and you can take His word to the bank. Remember to fix your gaze on Him and not on the circumstance/situation, He is the Author and Finisher who calls the things that be not as though they are determining times and seasons. The only responsibility you have is to keep trusting Him and being righteous, because He who promised is way more than capable to do what He has promised. He did it for Abraham, Joseph, Moses David and Mary, He is still the same God (Heb.13:8). He indeed carries out his plans in mysterious ways that are beyond human comprehension.