SPIRITUAL VIOLENCE

SPIRITUAL VIOLENCE

First of all,  what is the meaning of violence?

Violence is a behavior involving physical/brutal force to hurt,  damage or kill something.

Violence is synonymous to intensity,  fierceness,  pitilessness,  attack etc.

Now does this mean we should try to kill or damage people spiritually?
Well,  no (not in this context)..

Let's go to our text for today so we understand clearly where we are coming from.

 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Matthew 11:12 KJV

From the time of John the Baptist until now, violent people have been trying to take over the kingdom of heaven by force.
Matthew 11:12 CEV

I think I've had this Scripture in my head for as long as I could memorize anything,  so many Christians have also.  It has taken me years to understand the concept of Spiritual Violence as described in this verse. So many people even use the Scripture wrongly to justify anger or some violent behavior.

What exactly does the Scripture mean by "the kingdom of heaven suffers violence"?
Who is attacking our precious Heaven? 😧😧
The violent ones take heaven by force;  does there have to be a forced entry into this heaven ?
Are we not supposed to be sweet and gentle as our darling Jesus? 🤷🏼‍♀

So many questions but we will try to break it down one after the other. 

Back to our scripture, Matt 11 vs 12, what led to this reply from Jesus?

Let's scroll up a bit.

From verse 1 ,we see John the Baptist who was in prison at that time sending his disciples to find out if Jesus was the Messiah. At that same time also,  multitudes were with Jesus listening to Him keenly.

One thing is evident here,  the people in this time were searching for something,  a prophecy given by the prophets of old,  the Messiah.  Even John was (He had to send His disciples to confirm if Jesus was the Messiah and Jesus sent them back with a prophecy concerning Him that was now evident which He was sure they knew)

The people sitting in the crowd listening to Jesus had also gone to visit John before.  One would wonder what exactly they were looking for.

As they were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John. “What kind of man did you see when you went out into the wilderness? Did you expect to see a man who would be easily intimidated?

what did you really go out to see? Was he a prophet? He certainly was. I tell you that he was more than a prophet 
Matthew 11:7-9 CEV

This same crowd listening at Jesus' feet had also been to the wilderness to see John before Jesus came.  To get to the wilderness where John was at that time according to old manuscript was a 5day journey,  one way.  So 5 days going,  another 5 days coming back (note that they were walking)
These people wanted something and nothing was going to stand in their way.  They were ready to risk it all,  they didn't mind leaving their homes for the kingdom even though they didn't fully understand at that point.

Jesus cries out to them in verse 12 saying: From the days of John the Baptist...  This means from the day John's ministry started.  John had been preaching for over a year at that time: "Repent,  for the kingdom of Heaven has come near" 
Matt 3:2 (NIV)

Now Jesus is saying from the day John started preaching that men repent as the kingdom of Heaven is near, many have been in pursuit of this kingdom.

They've been trying to get a hold of it. John had people coming from far and near, risking all just to know about this Kingdom that is near.

This kingdom of God now suffers violence

Those who heard the teaching and were touched by it seized it,  they would not let it go,  their response to it is whatever it takes,  we will find ourself inside this Kingdom.  They didn't care how forcefully they have to get there,  they will literally seize and take things by force.

 The law of Moses and the revelation of the prophets have prepared you for the arrival of the kingdom realm announced by John. And now, when this wonderful news of God’s kingdom realm is preached, people’s hearts burn with extreme passion to press in and receive it.
Luke 16:16 TPT

John was the last of the old prophets and also the one to usher in the new by being a forerunner of the Messiah.  John came to announce the arrival of the Kingdom realm. And anytime John preached about this Kingdom realm,  people's hearts begin to burn,  they are stirred,  there is a certain fierceness and intensity with which they use to pursue this realm they've heard of. They become violent spiritually.

What exactly is spiritual Violence?

To be Violent Spiritually is to pursue God intensely,  to seek Him with one's entire being.  To say enough is enough and deny self while throwing off all entangling sin.

It means to run the race with passion,  purity and perseverance.

To seek God with Violent abandonment of whatever is holding us back

And this is not starting today,  we are not the first, this started in the days of John.  Men have been reaching and violently seeking All of Heaven with intense zeal.

To be spiritually violent,  we do not care about what we lose in the process.  No! the gain of this Kingdom of Heaven is more precious than all we can ever lose.

Just as it is in this generation where people say they are chasing the kingdom and running the heavenly race but refusing to let go of their old ways,  so it has always been.

We see Jesus addressing this same crowd in Matthew about it:

 “We played the flute, but you would not dance! We sang a funeral song, but you would not mourn!”
Matthew 11:17 CEV

We see Jesus here rebuking the crowd that (some of them)  they were not dancing to the flute being played and they were not mourning even with the funeral song.  What does this mean?

The flute being played and dancing signifies celebration of God's presence and their reaction to it.
God has brought down His presence,  now He lives in us but so many of us do not dance to this new tune.  We do not walk in this new dispensation.

The funeral song being played and them refusing to mourn represents the death of sin in our lives but we as Christians still refuse to accept that we are now dead to sin.

We refuse to mourn sin and now live in this new kingdom realm.

We want to enjoy the kingdom realm but yet still have one of our feet in the world.

We consciously choose to live in sin even though we claim we are a new creature.

It doesn't work this way!

I once read somewhere : True Faith is revealed by how we chase God and earnestly seek Him

How exactly are you chasing God?
How are you seeking Him?
Is it passively or aggressively?

This thing is do or die.

It's a practical example of we die here,  if that is what it will take.

Spiritual Violence for every Christian begins in the secret place.  John spent time in the wilderness seeking God. 

The disciples locked themselves up for days in the upper room praying and fellowshipping before receiving the Holy Spirit (and they moved immediately with great power after this).

If you do not fellowship with God,  do you really seek this Kingdom realm?
Do you really wish to know Him more?

The excuse these days is we are all busy.  Know this,  if you truly want God you have to create time for Him.  You have to be ready to leave your comfort zone.

I used to have roommates when I took the decision to improve my prayer life.  I had to pray under my breath most times,  sometimes I'm in the toilet praying,  other times I'm taking a prayer walk at night during winter. 

I'd tell myself then,  "Remi,  you will die if you don't pray". I'd repeat this over and over.  It was in my notes back then.

Of a truth,  you'd die spiritually if you don't pray or fellowship with God.

And fellowshiping with God doesn't come easy,  you have to sacrifice. You have to be aggressive and violent about creating time for it. 

When God calls any man,  He first calls you to unusual dedication to fellowshiping with Him.  This is where it all flows from.

Another mistake people make is confusing Natural zeal for the things of God with fellowshiping with Him and violently seeking Him. They are very different.

Going to church always,  helping with church works,  Bible studies,  preaching etc, all these things are very good and should not be kept aside but you see,  doing these things only do not outlast watching eyes.

When you are alone,  you can't pray for 2 hours straight but you can do it in church where people are.  These things are natural zeal and it is a good start. Take it up by seeking God violently,  laying all that has been holding you back aside.

If you pray at night and you sleep off,  then start praying earlier when you are very much active.  If you start the day and get busy immediately leaving no time to commune with God,  then please starve yourself some sleep by waking up earlier to pray.

You must be ready to make any sacrifice in seeking God!
Whatever it takes,  you should be ready to give!
Radically pursue God,  without fear and without restraint.
Proverbs 2 vs 4 says we should search for wisdom (God)  as though it were a hidden treasure.

Do you know what it means to search for something that is hidden?

Who remembers Gulder Ultimate search ?  The last task is to find the hidden treasure to become the winner.  Do we see how those guys used to search like their lives depended on it? 
The money/prize was more than enough motivation.

Till someone shouts "I found it", everyone is digging sands,  scattering forests hoping they find this hidden treasure first. 

Sometimes,  it takes hours but they do not stop to rest.

The prize was the motivation.

Is this kingdom realm prize enough for you?

When the Bible said "Narrow is the way", this is what it meant,  that the path to this new life of enjoying Heaven even here on earth is difficult.  A lot of things dear to you will stand in the way,  you have to take them away yourself.

This is why Jesus said except you leave all behind,  you cannot follow me.  We must be ready to leave ALL.

As for us, we have all of these great witnesses who encircle us like clouds. So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us.
Hebrews 12:1 TPT

ACTION POINTS
As we end the teaching tonight,  I will share some Action points with you

- Get a book and write down everything that is holding you back in your fellowship with God.

- Search yourself sincerely and also write down why each of these things have been a stumbling block

-Deliberately place your communion and fellowship with God above all those things.

- Maybe just like me,  write it down everywhere you can easily see it,  make it your prayer alarm name :

"I,  xyz,  will die if I don't pray/fellowship with God"
- Earnestly pursue God.


I pray for you that as you take these steps in your pursuit of God,  the Holy Spirit who is our helper will be with you and make the walk easier for you. 

God bless you!

THE GRACE OF GOD

We've talked about Grace before so today's lesson would be a brief discussion on our understanding of grace

Grace means undeserved or unmerited favour. It's basically extending kindness to the unworthy.

Mercy is forgiving others for what they've done or God not punishing us for our sins

Grace is God blessing us despite the fact that we do not deserve it

For example Now, someone has an accident and he didn't die. Then the person says "God had mercy on me that's why i didn't die" or something like that

To be saved by Grace is means that, from the begining to the end, it's all God.  Everything we do or get, it's all God. We get this thing we've been expecting, it's grace. This poisoned food didn't kill me, it's grace.

It's not that because we are nice to people thats why bad things don't happen to us. Or if we do many good things, God's grace will continue to be upon us

It's not a bargain. We don't do 40 percent and God does 60. To be saved by grace is recognizing that we are unworthy and we have nothing what so ever to contribute to this life we are living.

Relating to this, let me tell you people what happened one time in church. There's this Anglican church I attend sometimes at home cos well, I'm an Anglican. An evangelist was invited to preach. That's how after her sermon she said "see the grace on your vicars head, if you want this kind of grace to be on your life come and drop 800k"

That's how she started till she got to 1000 naira. People were rushing out. To buy grace

Like i said before, it's not a bargain. You don't drop 100 naira to get 100 naira worth of grace. I know we know better

Ephesians 2: 8-13

The Message Ephesians 2:7-13 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. But don't take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.

Lastly, what do we understand by growing in grace? Or to grow in grace?

To grow in grace means to mature as a Christian. It takes only grace to do that. It takes God's grace to constantly fellowship with him. To stay longer praying without distractions. It's grace. Grace that helps us to overcome that bad habit

We grow in grace by reading God's Word, by fellowshiping with him and by praying.

In all of this, we shouldn't take his grace for granted and always learn to be thankful. Always.

PSALM 91

Psalm 91 happens to be a very powerful and popular Psalm.  I don't think there is any Christian household where it has not been read or recited. 

Who doesn't like protection? 

This Psalm is a very powerful one but the mistake people make is thinking it is for everyone. 

To enjoy the protection as described in this Scripture then one must understand the context and meaning of this powerful chapter.  

What we will be doing in this teaching is breaking this chapter down and explaining as clearly as possible. 

PSALM 91

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalms 91:1 KJV

First of all what/where is this secret place? 

As taught in our last sermon "The Private Place", 

It is the place where we spend time with God, the place where we have intellectual conversations with God. The place where God speaks to us and empowers us.  

It is the place where we get intimate with God,  where we get to know Him.  Where He reveals Himself to us,  where He reveals His secrets to us.  Where we learn to know and recognize His voice and walk in obedience with Him. 

The secret place is where we become friends of God.  Where we gist,  have communion and fellowship with Him. 

Secret means it is a place that has to be found.  A place that is not known to all.  A secluded place.  

Back to verse 1 of Psalm 91, it says he who dwells in this secret place,  not he who comes and go.  For most Christians,  the secret place is where they run to when life's situation arises,  or maybe when they are in the mood,  they run there occasionally.  For most,  there is no habitual residence in the secret place. To dwell is to live permanently in a place.  The word “dwells” came from the Hebrew word yashab, which means to “sit down, settle, remain, and inhabit.”

He who dwells in the secret place of the most high. The Hebrew word for Most High is Elyon and this word was derived from another meaning "to ascend". The Most High God is the one who ascends above all. 

 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
Job 22:12 KJV. 

Now he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High God shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty
We already established that the Most High God is ascended high above all,  in the heights of the heaven.  So whoever dwells in the secret place is in this same ascended space with God.  

Let me explain the significance of this. 

When scientists shoot things into the sky,  with time they get lost in the cloud.  We can't see them anymore because they've ascended higher than our sight. 

Now imagine God higher than any rocket can reach and we dwelling there with him.  We are covered.  All that can be seen is His shadow because we are very tiny and small in this space.  His presence shields and overshadows us. We become invisible to external eyes.  We are concealed by the dark clouds of His Glory.
Communion with God is safety


I'm hoping this analogy makes sense.

Back to our Scripture. 

I'd like us to read from the message translation. 

 You who sit down in the High God’s presence, spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow, Say this:
Psalm 91 vs 1 MSG

I like this translation.  It makes it clear that only those that have done the instruction here have the right to go further.  It is until you sit in the secret place that you can get the immunity and protection that comes from it.  
It is those that sit in this secret place that can say that the Lord is their fortress and strength.  

I will say that He is my God,  in whom I trust

It is in the secret place we learn to rely solely on God. It is there we get boldness and assurance that come what may He is there for us.  


And in putting our trust in Him,  we know that surely He will deliver us from the Fowler's snare and noisome pestilence.  God's truth will become your buckler and shield.  The secret place is where we get deep revelations of the word and this word comes alive and act as a shield to us,  protection. (vs4).  Safety comes from communion with God which happens only in the secret place

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday._
Vs 5-6

Communion and fellowship with God opens your eyes to the extent God can go for you so for such people there is no fear. 

Let it be known to you that,  you like it or not arrows will fly, pestilence will walk,  destruction is waiting but because you spend time with God you are not afraid. 

Vs 7 (this is the very first part that was revealed to me some time ago) 

 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Psalms 91:7 KJV

A lot of us declare this. 
We actually think it is our enemies that fall at our side. 
Lol. 
Let's have a picture of a battle (I'm sure we've seen this in movies). Is the person you are fighting against by your side or your right hand?  No. 
They come from opposite you.. The people that stay beside you in battle are fellow warriors. 

The one thousand that fall by the side and ten thousand by the right side are actually Christians

Fellow Christians fighting this fight of faith with you are the ones falling by your side.  

The arrows that are being shot will definitely put Christians down we like it or not.  The only ones these arrows won't come near are those who dwell in the secret place of God.

I want you to first take a moment and think,  
Where do you stand in all of this?

Are you the person in the middle safe from all the arrows coming or you are one of the thousand or ten thousand that has already been hit by the arrow or yet to be hit


Be truthful to yourself.

I know someone is thinking in their mind "but I'm a Christian,  I accepted Christ"

You are actually still a Christian.  Accepting Christ is what gave you salvation and that is just the beginning. 
There are so many things that comes after for our life here on earth (rest in the finished works of Christ,  fellowship etc).

See,  if you don't have fellowship/communion with God,  you will not just be among the thousand or 10 thousand,  even the arrow that wasn't being shot at you will touch you.  It will penetrate. 

Stray bullet will hit you badly. 

This is not to scare us.

A lot of Christians are going through some struggles in life because of this and they don't know. 
You've been praying for 1000 beside you to fall,  you don't know you are part.

This is a time for us to check ourselves. 
Where exactly do you stand?

Now why was David or Moses praying this prayer? 
(We are not sure who wrote this particular Psalm.  Some say it's Moses,  others David). 

He was not praying for 1000 and 10000 Christians to fall. 
He was only saying it as it is.  
That I know truly that millions of believers fighting this fight of faith with me may fall but because I have made you my hiding place,  none of these things will come near me. 

So next time you are declaring Psalm 91, vs 7 is not a prayer for those standing beside you in battle to fall.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Psalms 91:8 KJV

So many christians will die due to these arrows shot at them (spiritually). 
Sadly,  those that dwell in the secret place will see all of this take place from our place of immunity. 
And we will also see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the Lord , which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
Psalms 91:9 KJV

Vs 9 starts with the clause that leads to the assurance again,  making the Lord your dwelling place.  


The Holy Spirit just ministered something to me now.  We all have houses where we live.  Why don't we sleep on the road or streets? 

Simply because it is not safe. 

Our homes are a place of shelter and safety. 

As a Christian,  the secret place is your safe place.  You can't afford to sleep on the streets,  the enemy will steal from you.  Bad men will come and rape you. 

The Lord is telling us tonight,  we have a home and shelter in Him.  Come to that secured place.  Stop sleeping outside

Vs 10 downwards. 

I like the part where it says you shall tread upon lions and cobras. 
This shows that we are not just survivors in this war where thousands have fallen. 
Those who dwell in God's secret place,  in the midst of others falling,  they will not run back away from the battle to be saved.  They are victors.  They walk on their enemies.  

You see men of God do some things and you wonder how it happens consistently.  Like it is very evident the healing is not by chance or the answered prayers.  It comes from a place of fellowship with God.

The concluding verses:

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.  He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.  With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
Psalms 91:14‭-‬16 KJV

See,  you cannot love God if you first don't understand how deep His love for you is.  
You cannot say that you love God if you disobey Him every time. 

If ye love me, keep my commandments.
John 14:15 KJV

I've noticed in a while now that it seems like my love for God is increasing.  Like I'm understanding deeply His love for me and somehow it's increasing mine. 
It leaves me in awe. 

You can never know how much God loves you unless you get in fellowship with Him. 
This love you think you know,  it's not even half of it.

Everyday,  His love is revealed to us in more ways and it leaves us in awe.  Like,  is this me this man loves like this? 

So somebody can choose to love me this way?

When the love of God hits you hard,  the only way you can respond to it is by loving Him back

Those that spend time with God,  that fellowship with Him consistently,  they don't have to pray for 5days during deliverance. 
You see all these big men of God,  they will just stand and demons will scatter. 
See,  it is the result from the secret place you are seeing. 

When they call upon God,  they don't need to fight battle and call and call,  God answers immediately cos they've been calling upon Him privately for a long period. 
The Lord honors such people.

The secret place is for those who love God,  those who truly want more of Him.  If you want it for show,  you will get bored.

From all we've read tonight,  we can see that God owns the secret place.  He is the one in charge.  This secret place is guarded by the most powerful, supreme, and almighty Being. No one can breach its defenses. 


Whoever wants to get at the man in the secret place has to first get through God.


Same way if the rockets get lost in space without signals,  the scientist must send something into the same space to find and rescue

The safest place in the universe is God's secret place.  Stay there


Thank you!

THE PRIVATE PLACE

So today I will be talking about “The Private place”

 And the plan is for it to be interactive 😘

So the private place, obviously means a place where you are alone.

The private place here, refers to time spent with God.

You and God, alone time etc

But we will be looking at it in another dimension.

Before I go on, I will like to ask a question

How many of us have ever had to lead worship or prayer in church ? ☝🏽

So when you had to lead prayer or worship

Was it hard?

Was it difficult

Did it seem tasking?

OR

Have you seen a situation where a Christain is asked to lead a 30 minutes prayer and after 5 minutes they don’t know what to say anymore

Or what to pray for

Or how to even pray

Or has it even happened to you where you were asked to lead a 30 minutes prayer and you got tired after 5 minutes


That is a case of being overly conscious and shy and that’s totally understandable

At least you know that in your private place you flow

But I asked that question because a lot of times, people can't lead prayers or Worship because you can’t give what you don’t have

The private place

The private place is the place where you spend time with God

It’s the place where you have intellectual conversations with God

It’s the place where God speaks to you and empowers you

It’s the place where God pours his wisdom upon you

What happens in the private place

Interaction of spirits
Your spirit interacts with Gods and you get direction

You get so much details on things

What do we do in the private place
Prayer
Worship
Study
Listening
Gisting

Who is the private place for.. Everybody

It might seem like it is for only ministers but then aren’t we all ministers in one way or the other at the end of the day

The Bible shows us of times when Jesus would go away from the crowd to pray and when he comes out

He’s performing miracles and teaching

The private place is also a place of refilling

And there’s a high tendency to “want to wing” it.

At least “I read the Bible sometimes”, and I know one or two things and I can always check google

I have seen this happen to a lot of people and then they drop fire “intellectual” sermons but we are called for a more supernatural life

We are not called to just be eloquent in speech and drop plenty grammar

There’s the place for healing

There’s the place for ministering to people

There’s the place for Word of Knowledge

There’s the place for Prophesying

All of these things are things that we have access to and the ability to do as children of God.

If you are not deeply rooted, you’ll get weary

You’ll get tired

You’ll do more of eloquent speeches with no power

1Cor 2: 4-6

 “And my language and my message were not set forth in persuasive (enticing and plausible) words of wisdom, but they were in demonstration of the [Holy] Spirit and power [a proof by the Spirit and power of God, operating on me and stirring in the minds of my hearers the most holy emotions and thus persuading them],”

It’s really long sha so I don’t want to post it but please read on your own

Start from verse 1 sef

Going down into the chapter, it says that God has secrets and he will show us
Also says
No one knows what God is thinking except the Holy Spirit and we have been given this Holy Spirit

So the private place is where your spirit and Gods spirit become one

It’s where you silence the world and get empowered

 It’s where you come out from and you start to heal the sick

You can’t pour from an empty vessel

You could use google though but you too you’ll know that you’re empty

You can mentor from an empty vessel

You’ll just confuse children of God

You won’t even know who to mentor and who not to because you don’t talk to the Holy Spirit anyway

The private place requires sacrifice

It might not be possible everyday to be very honest

But once a week, move it up to twice a week

You can’t live a life short of the supernatural that God has intended for you

You are being a pauper in the land of plenty

You are human and you are not perfect

Well, Gods grace is sufficient and it has never ever stopped being sufficient

In summary sha

Get filled through fellowship with God in the private place

Then , only then can you pour out oil and minister to people

Thank you for the opportunity to teach this evening

Please read that 1st corinthians chapter 2

It also addressed being scared,bi believe 🤔

The end ❤

DESTINY

Today we'll be exploring the topic of Destiny, and I'd love for it to be as interactive as possible. We will have prayer points and areas of reflection as well. I pray that God opens the eyes of our understanding in Jesus name

So, quick one, why are you doing what you're doing?

For those who are students, why are you going to school?

For those working, why do you wake up each morning to go to the office?

Remi, why did you start this group?

Jesus is on this group too, so I'll ask him, Bros J, why were you crucified?

Answers please, as you deem fit

Okay. There is a follow up question, do you think we're doing all these things for it to end here on earth? That when we die, o ti tan or there is a reward for the things we do?

A stable knowledge for the reward of doing a thing is what can make you keep doing it

If there is no reward of a degree, why are you going to school?

If there is no reward of eternal life, why are we saved and living holy lives?

If there is no reward of your salvation, why did Jesus die

Where I'm going to with this is 'Purpose'

Which is why I asked, why are you doing the things you do? What's the purpose?

Why are you in a relationship?

Purpose is the reason God made you. Your life must be purpose driven

Look at Paul

Acts 26:16
[16]But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this *purpose*, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

Your destiny is the assignment you've been made to undertake here on earth

Trivia: do you know that there is no where destiny is mentioned in the Bible?

Your purpose is your destiny!

What is your purpose
Yorubas call it akosile, that is predestination, what has been written for you to fulfil

Gifts are those things that God placed in your life to undertake the tasks in your destiny, to fulfil your purpose

Psalms 68:18
[18]Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.

And then he fulfilled his purpose here

Ephesians 4:7-8
[7]But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
[8]Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

There are different types of people
Those that watch things happening
Those that wonder that things are happening
Those that talk about and are critiques of things happening
Those that don't care about anything happening
Those that make things happen
If you are a twitter person, you will surely have at least one person that you can place in each category

My question is, what category are you?

God designed each of us with a gift to make things happen

What is your gift?

Let's take a minute to meditate on this and say a prayer

'Father reveal to me the gift you've placed in me to fulfil destiny

Do you know that there are gifts that God gave you to fulfil destiny, and there are gifts you give to fulfil destiny?

We've already had teachings on spiritual gifts, so I won't go over that

Hope we all remember?

Those connected with the ministry of the Word (apostleship, prophecy, discerning of gifts, teaching, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues) and those connected with the ministry of practical service (working of miracles, gifts of healings, ruling, government, helps)

Remember, there is a purpose of all gifts

Quick question, when they came to ask Jesus about tax, why did Jesus instruct Peter to go catch fish ? Why not Matthew?

God will never ask you to do something without capacity

There is an empowerment for you to do what you've been sent to do

How many of us recognize our purpose?

How many of us are walking in line to fulfill destiny?

How many of us are using the gifts placed in our lives to fulfil purpose

See your gift as a key, as power. Don't live by your needs, live by your gifts.

Listen, there is no time in your life that what to give is not in you

My Sunday school teacher once said when he joined the church, he realized he couldn't forever be a chair warmer, he had to do something, but he felt he couldn't sing, so can't join choir, he couldn't teach so couldn't join teachers, so he was wondering in what capacity he would serve, So he began to clean chairs. That is service!

Many of us will go to church on Sundays, and someone will ask, how was service? We'll say fine

Eskiss me, in what capacity did you serve?

Many of us have been ministered to in church for so long, but we don't give back.

 Stagnant water does not grow, it begins to smell. So, ways of fulfilling destiny

1. Gifts - giving gifts,
2. Service

 I pray that we never miss the purpose of our creation and calling

This is a message to me too

The destiny of other people is also tied to you playing your part

 Let's pray that God should reveal our gifts and purpose to us 🙏🏾