Life itself
minus Satan is war. Plus Satan is trouble. John 16: 22, 33 ‘in this life, you
will have troubles. As long as you are alive, there will battles to fight. A
victory in one is a preparation for the next. These troubles are hardship,
famine, nakedness, sickness and death. If you are going through any of these
right now, you are not alone. 1 Peter 5: 9 say your brethren all over the world
are confronting these issues. 1 Peter 4: 12 says it is not a strange thing
happening to you. What matters is winning. Life is about winning, you must win.
Don’t be a loser.
But God is
faithful, who will make a way out that we may be able to bear it. There is a
way out of any challenge. There is a strategy out of any tragedy. That’s what
makes us a conqueror. Your job is to confront your challenges and face your
fears. If you run from issues, you will live to face it another day. Don’t run,
don’t stop, and don’t fear. Face it. What you don’t confront you cannot
conquer.
A conqueror is one who conquers and keeps
conquering. To be more than a conqueror
means to conquer on all side. It means not to be defeated. It means not to lose
a battle. We serve a God who has never lost a battle before. Our connection to
him qualifies us to win the battle of life and any satanic assault against us.
We are members of God’s family and are overcomers. If you are born again, you
qualify to win.
Please
remember that;
·
God
is good and evil does not proceed from him.
·
From
time to time, Satan request and seek permission to sift us e.g. Job, Peter.
·
There
is a limit to what Satan cannot go beyond permission he received from God
·
That
Satan cannot affliction us without permission
·
Satan
can only have access to us when the hedge of God around our life and ours is
broken by sin, fear, doubt or disobedience.
·
That
as long as we are in the will of God, whatever we confront will eventually work
for our glory
·
That
for every trouble permitted by God has an expiry date for weeping may endure
for a night but joy comes in the morning
·
Finally
that God will never permit us to be tested beyond what the ability he has given
us to bear. That every test is permitted because God trust us that we can bear
it
Please
remember also that Satan uses your challenges…because he is after your love for
God, faith in God, confidence, knowledge of God and understanding of purpose.
But God is
using it to preserve you from danger, prepare you for the next assignment,
bring fulfillment of his promise or promote you to the new level. Whatever
Satan is doing to you God is going to use it for your good, for all
things…works together for the good of them that loves God and who called according
to his purpose. Your first way out of trouble is to be a lover of God. Number
2, is to discover and pursue his purpose for your life. To seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness and things will start turning in your
favor. The enemies will submit to you; they will make peace with you. They will
fall for your sake. But you must be a genuine and committed lover of God. Then;
o
Hardship:
your hardship is over. Every covenant with hard life is broken. Forces make
life hard for you are destroyed
o
Famine:
your famine is over. Powers breaking your economic strength are destroyed. The
anointing to prosper is coming upon you now in Jesus name
o
Nakedness:
god will clothe you with glory. He will remove the garment of shame from your
back. The beauty of the lord will be seen over you and your family. Your
covenant with rag is destroyed
o
Sickness:
every sickness and disease in your body and family is destroyed. By his stripes
you were healed and so, sickness has no place in your body from on in Jesus
name.
o
Death:
your covenant with death is broken. You will live. Your agreement with grave is
annulled. God will break the coffin the enemy planned to bury you in. the curse
of untimely death is broken over your family in Jesus name
There is a
way out of every challenge or test but my focus today is on prayer. ‘The
effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much’ James 5: 16- 17. There
is something we call the prayer of a conqueror. There is a way the heroes of
faith who had conquered before we were born prayed and got answers. Who through their prayers subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched
the violence of fire, escaped the edge of sword, out of weakness were made
strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Their women through prayers of faith received their dead back to life. Hebrews
11: 33- 34, 35a. Prayer changes things and nothing changes on earth unless men
pray.
Why are
prayers not answered?
The story
recorded in John 9 shows how through prayers an impossible and hopeless
situation is turned around. It also tells the reasons why God will or will not
answer prayers. It tells the story of a man who was born blind, with no eye
ball at all and Jesus performed a creative miracle on him. If there is anyone
here who needs a creative miracle or a supernatural surgery, the great
physician, Jesus, will do it now!
God is ready
and willing to answer all prayers.
1.
Sin in the life. John
9: 31, Ps.
66:18;
2.
Failure to spend time in the Word of God. Prov. 28:9; John 15:7; Isaiah 41: 21
3.
Failure to pray in faith
Matt.
21:22; 1 John 5:14-15; James 1:5-7; Heb.
11:6
4.
Failure to ask because of a spirit of self-dependence James
4:2
5.
Failure to ask from the right motives, without concern for
God’s will. James 4:3,
15; 1 Cor. 4:19; Matt. 6:10; 26:42
6.
Failure to endure in
prayer,
fainting under pressure (Luke 18:1; cf. 1 Sam. 27:1-3 with Isa. 40:31)
7.
Wrong relations with people, an unforgiving spirit (Mark
11:25-26)
8.
Pretentious praying, praying to impress people (Matt. 6:5-8)
9.
Religious zeal in the form of vain repetitions and cultic
ritual (Matt. 6:7; 1 Kings 18:26-29; Rom. 10:2-3)
10. Domestic
breakdown in the home (1 Pet. 5:7)
11. Inadequate praise and thanksgiving Philippians
4: 6
Prayer point: 2
Chronicles 7: 13- 15
