THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD

While I was studying Ephesians 6 the other day, the Holy Spirit made a very strong emphasis on the word ‘whole’. Ephesians 6:11 says “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (NKJV). Observe the word ‘whole’. The Holy Spirit made it clear that for us to win the fight of faith, none of the armours must be missing – they are all important! It is either we have all, use them and win or we lack one and lose. God gave the Believer the whole armour to live protected in this evil world where we are pilgrims accomplishing His purpose for our lives. The only part of the Believer not covered is the back part which simply implies that the devil was never meant to see our backs – no retreat, no surrender and no backing out! It is a matter of fight or die! You must face him strongly with faith in Jesus Christ and He’s Words, thereby enforcing the victory of Christ on the defeated foe.

Remember that we are not fighting to be victorious. No! We are more than conquerors already even before the fight (Rom. 8:39). We are fighting from the stand point of victory to enforce the victory of Christ on the enemy – the devil – in every areas of our lives. So it means if we are not well armed, we become vulnerable. Even though we are already victorious in Christ, the devil would still take advantage of our unprotected areas to afflict us. You can be sure that the devil is always watching out for our unprotected areas. So we must ensure that we are always fully armed. See, because the Bible says that by Jesus’ stripes you were healed does not mean that the devil wouldn’t try to force sickness on you. You must personally and consciously take God’s Word and stand on it for yourself in spite of the opposing circumstances – that’s the fight of faith! Refuse to back out! Refuse to bow! We win in the Name of the Lord!

DIVINE INSPIRATION

There are many definitions to the word ‘inspiration’ from the dictionary. But I want to limit the meaning to ‘the divine influence on a human being’ just for the purpose of this article. In a way it also means ‘empowerment’. If you are a bit conversant with Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, you would discover that every person God ever used to accomplish things – either great or little – received divine inspiration. It is most important at this point for me to state that the Holy Spirit is God’s inspiration, influence or empowerment on the earth today to get any worthy task accomplished. Anything outside the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is fake. I’ve tried doing things in moments when I wasn’t inspired to do them; they just looked dry, unreal, powerless and mechanical. I can’t venture to even write an article when I’m not inspired – it just doesn’t work! The Psalmist says: “My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” (Psalm 45:1, NKJV). That’s Divine inspiration at work there. Prophet Isaiah says: “The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.” (Isaiah 50:4, KJV). This is Divine inspiration at work here.

Job 32:8 says “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” (KJV). Take note that man is a spirit being. Then also observe the word “inspiration”, it speaks of the Holy Spirit. The New King James version makes it clearer and particular: “But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.” The Holy Spirit is the Breath of God. (Note: The Holy Spirit is not a thing but a Divine Person. In Scripture He manifests as the breath of God – Job 33:4; John 20:22). Man is a spirit being created in the image of God Who is a Spirit (John 4:24). God breathed creativity into the human spirit – not the mind. God put it there in every man’s spirit from the first man – Adam. To be creative, you need inspiration. But the unfortunate thing is that many people seem to want to get this inspiration for creativity through devilish means (counterfeits) such as drugs, smoking, drinking, etc in order to get high enough to perform. Divine inspiration is in the recreated human spirit and it further affects the mind thereby producing mental ability to do things.

Just as there are two kinds of wisdom according to James 3:14-17, there are also two kinds of inspiration; Divine inspiration and devilish (perverted) inspiration. The difference between Divine inspiration and devilish inspiration is outlined as follows; Divine inspiration enables us to do good works, but devilish inspiration influences the world to do evil things. The saints use that Divine inspiration to glorify God by helping humanity, but the world uses theirs for selfish purposes. The inspiration that comes from the Holy Spirit produces love but that which comes from the devil is built on selfishness. Just as Believers are inspired to give the life of God through preaching the Gospel, unbelievers are inspired by the devil to steal, kill and destroy (Acts 5:20; John 10:10). For instance, terrorism is an inspired venture. No normal human being would want to consciously end his/her life for the valueless cause of destroying other people – one has to be inspired to do that – it is demon-inspired.

Therefore, it matters what you read, watch or listen to because they are inspired by someone either by the Holy Spirit or by the devil. That is why you don’t have to listen to ungodly songs, watch ungodly movies, read ungodly books, have ungodly folks as your role models etc., because they are inspired by the devil who is the god of the system of this world (2Cor. 4:4). Here is the key: whatever doesn’t edify you (build you up) as a Christian has the wrong inspiration and must be discarded. If not, you’d find yourself sowing to the flesh and reaping corruption (Gal.6:8). But when you give your attention to only those things inspired by the Holy Spirit, you’d be sowing to the spirit and reaping the zoe-life of God (Gal. 6:8). So always check the source of the inspiration. So many saints would say things like “I just like the sound and it feels good to listen to it” or “there is nothing wrong about listening to circular music” or “they didn’t really say anything bad in the song.” Whatever the excuse you must remember that there are a lot of Divinely inspired songs that could encourage and build you up. There are many good voices out there but what they communicate are demon-inspired. Don’t let the enemy fool you. Any song not based on the Word of God might sound good but are still likely to communicate the world system (ideology) into you which would make you to dwindle in your walk with the Lord. What the Lord says in Philippians 4:8 about what should be the pattern of our thought-life still applies in helping to determine what we permit into our spirits. It says “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.” (NKJV).

So then, how do we access divine inspiration? As Believers in Christ, we flow with the Holy Spirit when we are yielded to Him. It’s our responsibility to totally trust and depend on His ability to help us in our day to day walk. It is not possible for one who is absolutely yielded to the Holy Spirit to fail. The inspiration of the Holy Spirit emboldens you, it helps you know what to do at ever point in time; enlightens you, gives you spiritual and mental excellence, etc. The Holy Spirit can help you present a speech you never prepared for so articulately such that everyone is amazed at the kind of intelligence you possess. Many saints have testimonies along this line. The Lord Jesus told the disciples and us in extension that we should expect this in Luke 12:11,12 “Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (NKJV). You can stir up that inspiration from your spirit by spending time in God’s Word (studying and meditating on it), praying in the spirit by the Holy Spirit or speaking in other tongues and by fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the ever present Helper you can always count on. One of the secrets of Jesus’ ministry on earth is DIVINE INSPIRATION. So get inspired!

Word Revival

I call Psalm 119 (longest Chapter in the Bible) the Chapter of Word Revival. Whenever I to read that whole Chapter, it stirs up in me a new desire for deeper intimacy with the Word of my Father God. It’s so amazing that many people do not like reading that chapter of Scripture because it is a very long one (176 verses). We are, perhaps, too busy to spend that much time in the Word. When we start understanding that the Word of God is the only provision He has made for us to stay whole and deception-free on earth, we would give more attention to the Word. That’s the only way out – no short cuts! It is our responsibility to study the Word enough to be able to build our relationship with God because that is the only language Heaven recognises and the only material with which God works.

In Psalm 119, we see expressions that describe real hunger for Gods precepts, testimonies, statutes, judgements, etc which can be turned into prayers like the Psalmist did. He said: “Revive me according to Your Word” Vs. 25; “Strengthen me according to Your word” Vs. 28; “revive me in Your way” Vs. 37; “Revive me in Your righteousness” Vs. 40; “Revive me according to Your lovingkindness” Vs. 88; “O Lord, revive me according to Your justice.” Vs. 149; “Revive me according to Your Word.” Vs. 154; “Revive me according to Your judgements.” Vs. 156. Verse 100 hits very hard. It says “I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep Your precepts.” Meaning that the Word of God gives you experiential knowledge (the Greek is ‘ginosko’). You don’t have to practically experience things before you learn them, meaning you can avoid mistakes by simply keeping God’s precepts. The Word gives you an experiential knowledge before you get into matters which makes you successful all the way! ‘The ancients’ here refers to the aged. In the realm of the spirit maturity is not defined by age but by how much one does the Word and the results – proofs – he has to show from doing the Word. I advise that you take out time today to read Psalm 119, I believe the Lord wants to reveal something deeper to you about the relevance of His Word in simplifying your everyday life and making you more productive here on earth. Blessings!

SPEAK LIFE

If you knew that every word you ever spoke would become a reality, what would you rather speak? What would be your communication? If you knew you could create anything with your words, what would you rather speak? But that’s just the truth. Our words become reality in our sphere; our words created the things that now exist in our sphere. When God created man, He imparted the same word-ability He has in man so that he could continue the creation by calling forth those things that are not from the realm of the spirit into the physical world. So then you might be responsible for the good things or the mess in your life because of the words you have been speaking. The words we speak today create our tomorrow – that’s just how it works! The Word of God tells us in Proverbs 18:21 that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” (NKJV). Years ago when I got to see this I changed my communication and made up my mind never to voice out the devils desires to make them a reality in my life. I would rather be silent about a matter than to co-operate with the devil to wreck my life!

The first thing you must understand about words is that there are only two kinds of words; life words and death words. The Words of God are life words. Jesus says, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63). Words from the devil or from our negative experiences are death words. Words work for or against us. In every situation, we are faced with the choice to either speak life or death. It is important to know that every word you say is a tool in the realm of the spirit. When you speak life, you put angels to work on your behalf, but when you speak death, you give the devil a big opportunity to operate in your life. You get exactly what you say (Mark 11:23,24) – you harvest what you sow. Words are powerful seeds and they never die! Words are spiritual! Words are the coin of the realm of the spirit. Words are the seeds for change. If you don’t like what you are getting, change what you are saying! 1 Peter 3:10 says “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:”

Angels respond to The Word when spoken from the mouth of the saints and they see to it. Even so the devil listens for negative words to make them real. If the devil wants to attack a saint easily, all he does is to get him to talk negative so he could have a legal right to carry out his evil works in his life. The devil doesn’t have the ability to torment a saint without his permission. Many folks bind demons in their time of prayers and loose them with their words few minutes after the time of prayer. They bind sickness during prayer, then the next minute you hear them say “I am sick” – they give the devil a legal ground to afflict them. They empower the devil to work against them. They talk wrong and they are wiped! We must avoid dual confessions. When you declare: “by His stripes I am healed”, stay with that confession! Refuse to weaver or stagger at it, maintain the confession, do not cower in the face of opposing circumstances. The question you should ask is: “what informs my confession or communication – The Word or my experiences?” Philemon 6 declares “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” Always stand on The Word and make it your response to any situation. It is your responsibility to know what God’s Word says about the various areas of your life. If you are ignorant of The Word, you’d become vulnerable, you’d be limited in your faith confessions because faith begins where the will of God is known. What you say is the communication of your faith. Words build, words destroy!

In Hebrews 3:1, the Word of God tells us that Jesus Christ is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. It says: “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,” (NKJV). What does it mean? It simply means that Jesus Christ Himself is the surety that the confessions of the saints (which line up with His Word) are a reality! Jesus takes our faith confession very personal. We must take this confession thing very seriously – it is everything! We see in Matthew 28:18-19 and Luke 10:18-19 that Jesus gave the Church the authority to act in His stead here on earth. It is important for us to know that there is no other way by which we exercise this power except through our words – faith-filled words! Ecclesiastes 8:4 says “Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?” That authority is exercised through our mouth – our words! Revelation 1:6 tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests unto God. Whatever you say about your life or situation is your confession about it and that word will stand, it will greatly determine how things would turn out for you. You don’t just say what you see; you say what you want to see. When the Word of God becomes real to us we would see things differently – from God’s perspective. It wouldn’t then matter how things appear in the physical. Romans 10:10 tells us that by our confession of Jesus Christ as the Lord, we are saved. This is the way other heavenly blessings are received, we believe in our hearts and confess what we believe with our mouth then we have it.

We must also be careful about the words that are released from our mouths towards others. James equates good communication with perfection. James 3:2 says “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” Also, Colossians 4:6 admonishes thus: “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Our words can build or destroy, heal or afflict our hearers. We must think before we speak if we must always maintain good communication with people. I want to leave you with these words from Solomon: “Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?” (Eccl. 5:6). Blessings!

Life Signposts

I was passing by a Bank the other day and I saw standing signposts with this inscription: “NO PARKING, NO WAITING, NO HAWKING, NO LOITERING, KEEP MOVING!” And I thought to myself “wow! These are the instructions of life” If we keep these instructions in our lives we would be propelled to live in Today and for Tomorrow. In life we must try not to quit or be perturbed by the happenings around us. We must always remember that we are running a race. Time is attached to every thing we do in the Kingdom. Learn to forget the things that are behind and press into what God has for you now and tomorrow (See Philippians 3:13,14). You can never change anything in your past but you can always influence the future. I know you might have incurred much injuries in the course of the race of life but forward is the only option for you. God will heal your wounds as you stay on track. Hebrews 10:35-39 say: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”

TOO BUSY TO COME

In Luke 14:16-24, we read a very insightful parable given by the Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry. It was about a certain man who made a great supper and bade many through his servants to “come; for all things are now ready” All he required of them was to COME. Everything was set. All they needed to do was just COME. Few days ago while I was reading this portion of Scripture, the Lord strongly impressed these words in my heart: “TOO BUSY TO COME”. Then He further expounded it in the manner I want to share with you briefly.

The Lord Jesus went on to say that they all with one consent began to make excuses. Here are the excuses they made: “And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” (verses18–20). Jesus carefully chose His Words. He said they made – not gave – excuse. Meaning their excuses were all made up, – not sufficient enough to have kept them from attending the supper. Plainly, it wasn’t really in their hearts to attend. Let me ask you, if you had invited your friends for a celebration which, of course, is a very special one for you (maybe your Birthday, Anniversary, Wedding etc) and they give these kind of excuses, would you find them reasonable enough to have kept your friends from attending? Just A closer look at these excuses, you will discover that they weren’t concrete enough to have kept these people away from attending this great supper – too flimsy! These were things that could wait for a moment without anything actually getting spoilt or negatively affected – just one supper.

Now, here’s the point, 3 categories of people accommodate certain excuses in life which are deadly. You’d do well to see if you are represented here and make necessary adjustments:

 Those too busy to receive Salvation. In the first category, we find sinners who are too busy to be saved. So occupied with vanities that they never give a thought about their eternal destination. So chocked up with activities that they never have the time to go to Church, listen to a Preacher or even read a tract. They are so blind to spiritual realities that they haven’t yet seen the need to consider their eternal destination. These people are too occupied with various activities and ambitions that they think they are ok and don’t need anyone – even Jesus. Some of them have much of the various necessities of life and they feel so satisfied with things and ignore the vacuum calling for their attention while some even try to fill it with worldly pleasures, achievements, good works etc. They are too busy to receive eternal life.

 Those too busy to come into Intimacy with God. In the second category, we find saved and sanctified folks who are too busy to develop a lifestyle of fellowship with the Lord. They have the time for everything else but God in their everyday life. For them, time spent with God is like a waste. They never say so but they act just so. Their time is too precious for the Lord; He can have the leftovers if there are ever any. Joyce Meyer says “if you’re too busy to have time with God then you are too busy”. Having time with the Lord through the study of the Word, Meditation and Prayer are vital ingredients that make for the growth and establishment of the Believer. When we fellowship with the Lord, He helps us connect with His exact purposes for our lives. We then become useful to God here on earth, He then uses us as agents of change – impacting lives and changing destines. The presence of the Lord must never be neglected in our lives. When we fellowship with the Lord, He works in us and through us. We then become fruitful and more effective. Time spent with the Lord is never a waste – it’s a seed! Whatever it costs, be sure to have quality time with the Lord – not leftovers! When we neglect our time with the Lord we show irreverence for His presence. It is like having Jesus sit down on your dining table to feast with you, and because you are in haste, you leave him there and walk away saying “Lord, when I’m back I’d see you”. No true Believer would consciously do such a thing in the physical, but that is exactly what we do when we neglect our time with Him daily. In fact, if Jesus were to physically show up in your house, you’d cancel every appointment for the day and just want to sit with Him all day. This should be our approach to our time with the Lord Jesus daily. He is always present with us in reality. Let’s re-arrange our priorities – first things first!

 Those too busy to make and keep a Commitment. In the third category, they are saved, fellowship with the Lord everyday and are excited about it but do nothing for the Lord and His Kingdom. They are always in the ‘closet with the Lord’. They have accepted the first part of Mark 3:14 “Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him” but not the second part: “and that He might send them out to preach,” (NKJV). The Great Commission is God’s number one mandate for ever saint. Many saints claim to love the Lord but are too busy doing so many things that they ignore what matters most to Him – His heart beat. Jesus said in John 14:15 that obedience to His command is the proof that we love Him. His command is for us to take the Good news (Gospel) of His love and life to the world (Mark 16:15-18, John 3:16; 10:10). This ought to be our greatest passion and preoccupation. But we see saints who claim to love God but have no corresponding actions to that effect. They never make a commitment to the Lord to be absolutely obedient to the Heavenly vision. They make no commitments whatsoever to Kingdom matters. In these last days we are seeing so much lack of commitment to the things of God. Remember, one day we shall all stand before The Lord Jesus, our works would be judged on the basis of how obedient we have been to His commands – the Heavenly vision.

We can as well accord all these excuses to the devil’s influence over the minds of people. But we must understand that we always have the choice to make and then become responsible for our decisions. Another trick the devil uses apart from excuses is procrastination – pushing things that ought to be done today into a tomorrow that never comes. We must take our stand against the devils influence and discipline ourselves prayerfully to always put first things first. Accept God’s Salvation, Get into Intimacy with God by spending time with Him and Obey His biddings and you’d experience His fullness!

ALIVE! 2010

What a great time we had at ‘ALIVE! 2010’. ALIVE! Is an annual event for Believers organised by Zoe World Evangelism Ministry (The Evangelistic Ministry of David C. Okoye) and held on every Good Friday of the year to celebrate the risen and living Jesus, spark up a holy flame for world evangelisation among the saints and make heartfelt intercession for the salvation of souls all over the world! Last year (2009)we held the first one in Jos, Plateau State of Nigeria. It was an awesome start up of this annual event. And this year it was held in Abuja, Nigeria. Indeed it was simply a divine set up by the Holy Spirit. The atmosphere was that of true worship to the risen Christ. The Lord unveiled the Word to us in an immeasurable way which led to a renewed commitment to the Great Commission and a deluge of intercession for the salvation of souls all over the world. It was indeed an extraordinary meeting with the Holy Ghost!

I believer Good Fridays should not only be remembered with Communion services, but it should also be a time to reflect on how faithful we have been to the Heavenly vision. Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandment (John 14:15). Our obedience is THE PROOF of our love for The Master. The Great Commission must be taken more seriously especially in this historic moment when we see Bible prophecy unfold before our very eyes. This, indeed, is a prophetic age and we must not fail our Lord Jesus. This should be our most treasured moment. Now is the time to act. If we delay, we lose! Reflecting on and evaluating our level of obedience to the Supreme mandate – The Great Commission – should be a major highlight of our Easter celebrations. Isaiah 6:8 says “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” This is still the heart cry of the Lord, will you respond today? Please do!