The goodness of God is His prosperity, riches, beauty, favour and pleasures. God is always good but you can live as though He is not. So David encourages us to perceive by tasting and perceive by seeing that the Lord is good. So how do you do that? Do you see it in the verses above?
– Do you want to be blessed? Trust God (v8) – Do you have no wants? Fear God (v9) – Do you want to lack no good thing? Seek God (v10)
Trusting God is the price you will pay for God to entrust you with His prosperity. Fearing God will keep you from evil ventures when you taste God’s prosperity. Seeking God will give you more satisfaction beyond His prosperity. Thus, you wouldn’t serve His prosperity as a master but use His prosperity to serve Him as your Master.
When Jesus made a profound statement that the poor will always be among us, He was reiterating an idea God had already established in Deuteronomy 15:11. It’s a fallen world, and the law of diminishing returns has the capacity to leave many things impoverished. Lack of money is the lowest form of poverty called material poverty. The power of poverty does more than strip a person of financial gain. Today, let’s see why we all need deliverance from poverty so we can walk in the fulness of His glorious riches.
We have already discussed spiritual poverty so let’s discuss what poverty does to the soul; our emotions, will and mind.
Emotional Depravity
Beyond the physicalities, poverty can greatly decay one’s soul. Our soul is a makeup of our mind, will and emotions in the very least. You may not always identify how poverty incapacitates your soul. Having no money in your pocket should not and does not automatically mean you should be depressed. Immediately you lack, the lack itself is not the problem. It’s the fact that you allowed it to completely override your emotions.
Once you’re emotionally distressed, you cannot hear God well. You give more room for doubt. Things become harder than it looks too. There were times you had absolutely nothing and you were completely fine. You did much better than the days you had little but were worried. I’m not lying. Never allow anything to steal your joy. If you’re only joyful when things go well, it’s risky. If your emotions rise and fall with the circumstances of life, it’s as though you’re tossed to and fro.
Let the enemy know that nothing can take your passion away. Nothing can steal your joy. If your emotions are saying otherwise, you choose to believe in God’s Word over your emotions. You’re allowed to be concerned but not allowed to be worried. You’re allowed to be sad but not allowed to be depressed. Don’t let poverty take you on an emotional rollercoaster as though the world has ended. God has come through for you before so have that assurance. Count it all joy when you go through tests and trials. Don’t allow your spirit to be crushed.
No Willingness
Poverty attacks your will. How many times have you sat in a conversation where the problems of this world was being discussed? Problems of your nation, your continent, your institution, your family, your community, etc were being discussed and what was the conclusion? Learned hopelessness. It doesn’t cost anything to be hopeful so don’t let poverty take that one from you. People condemn Nigeria by identifying its numerous problems and then conclude that nothing will ever change. Stop sharing ideas and plans with people who are always telling you what you can’t do. You have no idea the things that are possible.
If you have no willingness to fulfill destiny, don’t be surprised if you don’t. A willing man is more dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. The enemy knows in most cases, they can’t fight you boot for boot. So they deceive and scare you into not being willing anymore. There’s a curse in your family. Are you willing to have a change of story? You are stuck in an addiction. Are you willing to be free? Your marriage is fallen apart. Are you willing to fight for it? Because if you’re not willing, you cannot be helped. You have self-sabotaged your destiny.
One couple don’t have money and are willing to keep going. Another one divorced because there’s no money. It’s not the circumstances per se; it’s how you approach it. The enemy has been attacking your willingness all this while. He knows that if you give up, it’s easier for him. He is trying very hard to make you unwilling. No situation is impossible. There’s absolutely nothing in this world that someone hasn’t survived. Be willing to fight the good fight of faith. Be willing to reconcile with your spouse any time there’s a misunderstanding. Have the willingness to wake up everyday and show up at the arena of your destiny, even if your little actions today are not showing any signs of fruition. A willing man is a winning man!
Scarcity Mindset
It’s not a good thing to be poor for a long time. It changes your mindset so quickly. You view yourself as a victim. Anything can happen to you at will, and you accept it as your reality. You’re unable to think long-term because you’re trapped in a short-term survival disposition. You cannot thrive if you’re always trying to survive. You’ll think this victim mentality will make you humble but no, it will make you entitled. Anyone who can help you (which is everyone else except you) is looked upon with contempt. Scarcity mindset will make you think that someone’s success means you have failed.
If the enemy comes to take something from you, you don’t fight him. You rather thank God that at least he didn’t take everything. If your boss cheats you and decides to cut your salary in half without any pre-arrangements, you accept it as God’s Will and thank God because some people work hard and aren’t paid. It sounds humble but it’s not. How about those who are favoured and didn’t work for what they were given? If you keep comparing yourself with someone worse than you, you’ll keep getting worse off. Poverty will cause you to settle for less and still complain that there’s never enough.
Don’t walk through life as a victim. You are more than a conqueror. You’re not immune from the vicissitudes of life, yes. Things will get hard sometimes. Life could be tough. You’ll lose on some days. Good people will die, and some wicked people will never be punished. You’ll be broke sometimes but don’t be poor. Have a rich mindset although you have an empty account. Be willing although it looks like there’s no way out. Be anxious for nothing. Anxiety has never solved any problem you’ve ever had so stop confusing being concerned with being worried.
If your soul cannot be wearied by poverty, you have already stepped into the abundant life reality.
Poverty is the lack of any good thing, the depravity to not attain it and the ignorance not to detect your need for it. Ignorance itself is a lack of knowledge, a form of poverty. Poverty takes many forms. Personally, the worst form of it is having something good in abundance and not benefitting or seeing the need for it. Do you understand how complicated that is? You can have something in abundance and not see its relevance until you lose it.
See, once you identify the extent of poverty, you’ll hate it completely. In no way should we embrace or defend any form of poverty. One of the systems of the world is poverty. It’s a weapon fashioned to cause many to fail and fall. Because we live in a fallen world, limitations are everywhere. There’s always a problem, a need, a lack. There seem to be endless possibilities of evil but limited definitions of good. Thus, the spirit of poverty is a tangible part of the systems of this world. You cannot go through the vicissitudes of life without encountering poverty.
The Spirit of Poverty
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus became poor so that we can become rich. There are several dimensions of poverty and the most serious of them all is spiritual poverty. We were created to be rich towards God. We were made to have a rich relationship with God. Once we take God out of our lives, we are like fish outside water. God spoke to the earth to produce trees, the skies to produce birds, the sea to produce fish and Himself to create humans. God is our national habitat. Outside of God, we step into depravity.
In Isaiah 61, we see that the Messiah came to bring the Gospel to the poor. In God, we have all sufficiency in all things. In God, we lack no good thing. Immediately sin came into the picture, poverty became an environment. Thus, poverty has a spiritual component to it. God does not have need of anything. He is All-sufficient. That is the aseity of God. If you don’t realize your need for Him, you’re the poorest amongst all. If this kind of poverty is not what you want to first get rid of, you have no business reading on.
In Psalm 69:22-23, David prophetically prayed a deadly prayer against the wicked; the material prosperity and good health of the wicked should cause their eyes to be blind towards their need for God. The end goal of this life is to be extremely rich towards God. We need to break free from anything that seeks to deprive us of God, even if it includes good things. The enemy does not mind if you prosper as long as you don’t prosper in this area. Prosperity in every other area apart from this is meaningless.
The Mindset of Poverty
Poverty is not only spiritual, it is mental. There’s a mental component to it. If someone has lived in poverty for so long, giving them a lot of money will not solve anything. Poor people are quick to ask for money when they meet rich people. Remember this when you become wealthy; philanthropy does not solve the problem of poverty. Jesus Himself said that the poor will always be among us. It’s a mindset. Give them everything physical and they will still remain poor. Poverty has a technology of turning gold into dust.
If you want to bring someone out of poverty, it’s best you train their minds early on. Education is one of the cures of poverty. That’s why wealthy people will rather build a school in their village than to distribute cash. However, don’t ever be discouraged from helping the poor and needy in society. It’s one of the things written all over Scriptures, and it pleases God. That notwithstanding, if it’s your motive to bring them out of poverty, tackle the roots and not the fruits. Otherwise, it becomes a sinkhole for your wealth. The mindset of poverty is so strong that you don’t realize how normalized it is.
When some poor people become rich, it shows. They lack discipline. Money controls them and amplifies their weaknesses. They don’t see money as a tool. They see it as a god. They scramble for things they never had, enjoy the pleasures of sin they couldn’t afford and make mistakes they cannot repay. Then they are back to square one. This has happened to many NBA players. They grew up poor and ended up poor after retirement. You cannot have more money than your level of wisdom and financial literacy. You cannot be richer than your mindset. Eventually, your finances fall back to the level of your thinking.
The Effects of Poverty
One time I looked round at my environment, and I saw so much filth. In the midst of the filth were all kinds of food sellers. Filth is normalized in our minds because of poverty. Mediocrity is accepted in our workplaces because of poverty. Office workers can compress all their work done into one hour, and yet, they were on their phones for five. No one can complain about their work ethic because the money being paid them is not even enough. As long as artisans are paid, they don’t mind doing a mediocre job. Motivation rises and falls with money. This is all the doing of poverty.
Tell me why you save your meat until you’re done eating? Why are you not taking good care of yourself? Because you can’t afford to. Poverty. If the only thing that is stopping you from doing something you know you should do is money, it’s the mindset of poverty that’s affecting you. In our world today, we think the only reason why we go to work is because of money. Meanwhile, it has not always been so. When I wrote why the world system is all about money, I explained how the world has changed because of that. See, if someone can afford your release clause (this is a football term), they can get you to do whatever they want. Why? Poverty mindset. Don’t have a release clause!
Ghana is not a lawless country. Africa is not an orderless continent. The inability to enforce law and order is as a result of this same decadence. The police department is not paid well, so just an extra tip can cause them to overlook all sorts of offence. They have families to feed, remember? Everyone wants to become a politician, not because they have the country at heart, but it brings them closer to the national cake. The people complaining can be silenced by a few dollars, and those still making noise are doing so because they are not benefitting from the corruption. Corruption exists because of poverty, be it material or moral poverty.
The Weapon of Poverty
The ups and downs of life are many times manipulated by poverty and mammon. If money can change your theology, then poverty shaped your upbringing. The system can be designed to make the standard of living better for everyone, theoretically. It’s all a matter of distribution, and we have talked extensively about Kingdom distribution. Practically, the system is designed to keep masses poor because poverty makes one a slave. One of the few ways to rule over a fellow human is to make them poor. Once they are dependent on you, they are enslaved to the very system destroying them. A society where everyone is financially independent is difficult to manipulate. So poverty is used as a weapon by the elite to control the masses.
As long as Africa remains poor, there are many who benefit. Africa is not poor by accident. It’s by design. Many corporations and international institutions benefit from our poverty, and make sure our system is designed to keep us poor. All the humanitarian aids they lend to us is meant to destroy our industries and keep us dependent. When leaders who challenge the system come on the scene, their associates are still manipulated by extravagant amounts of money so they can destroy the system from within. This has happened countless times. Poverty is a weapon fashioned against Africa. We are not financially free as a country. We are not economically free as a continent. Our political freedom is therefore a mirage. Such a paradox; rich in natural resources, poor everywhere it matters.
If the only reason why you’re committing a sin is because you lack money, that’s the poverty system working against you. Single people sleep with married people and they know it’s wrong. They are not even enjoying themselves. It’s money they need. The systems of the world can make you a slave because of poverty. Release clause have caused girls to off pant. If not for poverty, why will you ever accept something from a stranger? Poverty sets people up for greed. Poverty fuels a lot of envy. Our efforts to avoid one sin causes to justify another sin. The love of money is birthed in many because they tasted poverty and swore to make it by hook or crook. Therefore, they became crooks.
Why will you spend all your life doing a work you hate, and is known to destroy people’s health before they reach retirement? To escape poverty. Anything that puts one in survival mode will cause them to think about today at the expense of their tomorrow. There’s a poverty you can taste and selling your soul to the devil becomes a valid temptation. Do you think it’s normal to sacrifice your loved one for money? Poverty is a weapon fashioned against your destiny. It coerces people to make many wrong choices because they were trying to avoid many wrong choices.
So you see? Poverty is one of the underlying causes of many sins. What is enjoyable about sleeping with a man old enough to be your grandfather, if not for poverty? That man will rather marry a woman from a rich family and think that by that choice, they have escaped the hard life of poverty. The reason why money has so much power in our world today is because of poverty. Money is man-made, remember? Poverty has indeed become the sole reason for critical decisions of life; it’s determining what courses children should do, who they marry, where they stay etc. all in an effort to escape the decadence of poverty.
We have more to discuss for the whole month of May… The habits of poverty The control of poverty Moral poverty Emotional depravity Lack of will & willingness The victim and slavery mentality
It is so easy to create a platform via social media. You can do that with zero resources, zero credibility, zero track record and zero backing from Heaven or even hell, and be deceived by the little traction you get and conclude that you’re doing something. Thus, the average person is most likely to suffer from main character syndrome, even in Christian circles. Not everyone is a Moses or an Elijah or a Samuel. Not everyone is going to be a CEO, the next hottest thing in town or a household name. In fact, there’s a 1% chance you’re going to be the face of a generation. Yet, everyone seems to think that that’s their destiny.
It’s the disease of the world, the pride of life. Every footballer starts their career wanting to be the new Messi and have the kind of career he had. Meanwhile, Messi himself did not even start life with that mindset. There’s a thin line between being courageous and being arrogant. Being arrogant will only cause God to resist you rather than exalt you. That’s the kind of pride that brought Lucifer crushing down. It’s not a blank cheque to dream big. There are many things outside of your boundaries you should never seek. If you do, it is covetousness.
If you read the Scriptures, all the “main characters” “shied away” from being the main character. David was just a shepherd boy in the field of Bethlehem. Moses was trying to convince God he shouldn’t be the one to deliver the people of Israel from Egypt. Jeremiah was looking for an excuse not to be a prophet to the nations. Jesus chose fishermen and made great destinies out of them. Everyone chosen did not count themselves as qualified. Today, we are the ones desperately telling God what He should do when He has already predestined our lives before time immemorial.
Remember, God did not use Joseph until he died to the main character syndrome. In the dispensation of the church, the focus of God is to raise a people as one person who has reached the full stature of Christ. “We all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”. That notwithstanding, a few predestined people have been chosen to sit in particular offices to equip the rest of the saints in the work of their ministry. They are not mediators. They are servant leaders. They are not celebrities. They are frontrunners.
Heaven will be full of surprises. Why? The woman who sweeps the church, who was never in the spotlight, will be wearing a glorious crown. Anna the prophetess, the one who looked like she was wasting her life away in the temple, will be rewarded tremendously for standing in the gap for a generation as she prayed the Messiah into birth. It’s not about being in the spotlight, but about following the light on your path. As great as Elijah and Elisha were, they were not predestined to be authors of any Scriptures. As honourable as Moses and Daniel were, they were not in the lineage of Jesus.
When men remember history, they cannot remember a team; they only need a face. So we know names like Sir Isaac Newton, King David, Diego Maradona, Shakespeare, Alexander the Great etc, but these people had men. They weren’t lone rangers. Sir Isaac Newton said, “if I have been able to see further, it’s because I stood on the shoulders of giants.” As a result, we think that the greatest are the most remembered. We forget the words of Jesus so quickly. Remember, what God calls a success (like a 33-year old dying naked on a Cross) is not what men call a success. Jesus Himself said John the Baptist is the greatest among all born of a woman. Think about it!
Heaven does not weigh men according to their fame, possessions, achievements and escapades. Heaven judges our good works according to the Will of God predestined beforehand that we should walk in. Any other thing I do outside of what is written in my books is of no use, really. Therefore, we are not here to do it all. We are here to do what God predestined for us to do. Once you find your place, your people and your purpose, pour out your best to purposely do all you can to bring pleasure to the One who predestined you. Because Heaven will not reward popularity; God will reward those who played their part even though the spotlight was never on them.
Thus, you’re here as God’s masterpiece, prepared beforehand for good works that you should walk in them. Your main objective is to please Him, not “look good” to your generation. If you are to be a missionary to a village in His books but you rather prefer to be a pastor of a megachurch, you have missed the point. We need to know this. Exploits in this Kingdom is not generic. Killing Goliath is exploits. Being thrown in the lion’s den is also exploits. Being saved from death is a testimony. Dying for the Gospel is also a testimony. It all depends on what is specifically written in your books.
The main character syndrome in the Body of Christ is as a result of how we see the purpose of our lives. We see it from an individualistic perspective. However, the purpose for your life is simply a tiny bit of the bigger purpose God is wanting to achieve. In other words, there is a purpose God wants to achieve, and you, other people, angels, events and sometimes even animals interplay to bring that purpose to life. If you have an individualistic view of your destiny, you’ll see yourself as the main character in life. Locate yourself in the cooperate destiny within the Will of God and you’ll play your role faithfully without envying what another is doing.
Andrew is the one who introduced Peter to Jesus but at the end of the day, Peter is well-known, given a more prominent role and even had the privilege of writing Scripture. If Andrew was to see it from an individualistic perspective, he can become envious, bitter and feel cheated by God. Meanwhile, Andrew is among the 12 given a special reward in Heaven. If we are all advancing the same kingdom and bringing glory to the same God, wherein lies the envy? Stay in your lane and run your race. It’s not a competition.
See, we need to redefine what we think greatness is. Yes, we are all great and will do great things, but not according to a generalized worldly view. Joseph secured a place in Egypt for Israel but Moses delivered them out. If you don’t believe me, think about Jesus’ purpose and count how many people, events, angels and even animals came together for God’s purpose to be fulfilled. From Abraham to David to Anna to Simeon to Mary to the fish with coins in its mouth to the donkey to Simon of Cyrene to Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to His 12 disciples all the way to you and I.
See the purpose of your life as part of the jigsaw puzzle. We all have individual unique callings coming together to accomplish the bigger picture of God’s purpose. Therefore, if I’m Joseph’s brother, I actually need Joseph to succeed because his success is tied to my destiny too. If I’m Esther, I need Mordecai. If I’m Ruth, I need Naomi. If I’m Ezra, Nehemiah is not my competition. He’s rather a contributor to the same overall destiny of God in my generation.
What God wants to do with you didn’t start from you and won’t end with you. If you fail, posterity will suffer because of you but God’s grand plan will come to pass regardless. Therefore, play your role wherever you find yourself. Die to the idea of becoming great in the eyes of your generation. You haven’t failed if your generation doesn’t know you. You’re not here to be known by men. You’re here to know and please Him who sent you here. May we not crave for what God never gave us.
As we have discussed this superiority complex, it’s necessary that we balance it by talking about inferiority complex. Otherwise, it may look as though greatness is a crime, thereby exalting false humility. To be continued…
Consecration is not only what you set yourself apart from. If you ‘set yourself apart from’ but do not ‘set yourself apart unto’, it amounts to nothing. It’s the purpose of ‘setting ourselves apart to’ that makes ‘setting ourselves apart from’ meaningful. If this purpose is missing, it can rather lead to sin-consciousness. Living on mountains and caves away from the activities of life will not stop sin from reaching your mind. Thus, the goal is not to distract yourself from the distraction. It is to participate in what the distraction wants to distract you from.
The true mark that something belongs to God alone is consecration. Romans 6:13 says “do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” The true mark that you belong to God is that you consecrate yourself unto Him. Not just yourself but your body, your gain; your all. Why? He gave Himself up for you so you could give yourself up for Him.
The Consecration of Christ
God did not need to do what He did for us. He wouldn’t have been out of character to destroy us because per His justice, He is justified in destroying all humanity in His wrath. However, He demonstrated His Eternal Love as never before known. Michael is a creature of His Power. Lucifer was a creature of His Light. You are a creature of His Love. It cost God to have you. Christ gave Himself up for you. He is God, yet, He relinquished His God-abilities to take on flesh. For the very first time, God could be tired, God could be hungry, God could be betrayed. All because of you.
He gave up everything and became a slave, when he became like one of us. Why won’t you give up everything to become like Him? The hefty price Jesus was willing to pay demanded that He lived a sinless life from the beginning up until the end. He was without spot or blemish so that He meets the requirements of the justice system of God. Yet, He didn’t die as a child but a full grown man with all the hormones. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. In the days of His flesh, He consecrated Himself for you.
Christ died to consecrate you unto God. He is the only way to the Father. Without Him, you have no right to stand before God, talk less of having a relationship with Him. It is the biggest sacrifice in all eternity. Jesus literally put everything on the line to reconcile you back to God, knowing very well some will even still reject His sacrifice. Will you? Make up your mind and heart to live wholeheartedly for Him without shame or compromise. He died naked on the Cross, beaten and crucified and despised by the very people He came to die for. He gave His all for all of you.
Your Consecration is the Only Reasonable Response
You’re not doing God a favour by consecrating yourself to Him. The life of Adam died and the only life you have is the Eternal Life you have in Christ. The only power you have in this equation is the power of choice. Worship cannot be authentic if there was no other choice. You have to see that the only reasonable choice you have is to dedicate your living to God so His Spirit can live His life through you. You’re not indebted to the flesh because death no longer holds any legality over your life.
God has every right to tell you what to do. He has the right to place a demand on you at any time. He is your Lord. Of course, He has that right as your Creator, God, Father and Lover. Don’t use your power of choice as a leverage to think there are no legal demands and expectations of God upon your life. You’re literally His servant. Just because He is not forcing you doesn’t mean it’s not required of you. The life you have in Adam is dead. The only life you have now is Christ’s. You are eternally indebted to Him and He didn’t force you. That’s why you willingly gave your life to Him.
Winning the Battle Against Desecration
We have three main battles that we have overcome and need to practically sustain victory over in this life; the flesh, the world and the devil. If you have not overcome your flesh practically, you are no match for the systems of the world practically. A man who has not conquered himself cannot conquer the world. If you have sin in you, the god of this world has something on you. His goal is not to fight you boot for boot but to desecrate you. My prayer for you is that when the god of this world comes, he will find nothing of him in you.
When you wage war against the kingdom of darkness, they will simply exploit your weaknesses. If you love anything at all above God, that will be your downfall. Christ literally condemned sin in His flesh so stop using sin as an excuse not to consecrate yourself unto God. Sin is not more powerful than the life you have in Christ. Make up your mind to please God and live a life consecrated unto Him. The life He gave you is a holy life. The Spirit He gave you is the Holy Spirit. The Word He gave you is the Holy Scriptures. If it were not possible to live a holy life, He wouldn’t have commanded you to.
You are made holy and accepted so make up your mind and heart to live holy and acceptable. It takes intentionality to live a life of sin as a born-again believer. That same intentionality is what is used in living a holy life. By holy life, I not only mean setting yourself apart from but also setting yourself apart unto God. We are called to live a sinless life. If we do sin, our Advocate speaks for us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to make us sinless again so we can continue on our journey of pleasing God.
Forget about satan for a second. Consecration is an eternal disposition. When Lucifer abandoned his consecration, he became satan. God doesn’t accept just anything. No! He only accepts what is consecrated to Him. If He puts you in an office, gives you a gift or blesses you in any way, there is a level of consecration expected of you to sustain it. The day Lucifer looked at himself instead of God, iniquity was found in him. Even if sin wasn’t in the equation, the ordinance of consecration will still exist because it existed before sin.
Covenanted Consecration
Consecration is never by accident or automation. It is intentional and must be ordained on the premise of the testament. We all have one covenant with God in Christ. It is called the New and Eternal Covenant. Every other personal covenants is tied to and realized in this One. By being eternal, it means it has no end. By being eternal, it means everything it makes available is equally eternal. The backend of the blessing is consecration. Whatever God gives is holy and must be dedicated to Him. Consecration reminds you that you’re a steward and God is the true owner of it all, including your very body.
In practical terms, if God wants to make you a kingdom financier, there are special consecrations expected of you as so sustain that blessing. As a kingdom financier, giving is your consecration. Consecrated giving means you cannot support God’s Kingdom and the other kingdom. It means your income shouldn’t be made by or given to vices. Your giving should be out of love and must kill pride and greed out of you. It’s not as fun as we make it seem. Anything that thrills the flesh abhors the Spirit. Your giving will make your flesh squirm, stretch your faith and leave you waiting on God most times. Because indeed, you are a channel, a vessel, a partaker.
Your consecration should not be haphazard. It must be structured. In the beginning, you’ll think you’re doing well because you decided to wake up at night to pray. Actually, God is the One who placed that demand on you. You’re not doing it out of performance or because your prayer is what sustains your blessings. No! That mindset will let you think God is now against you on days where you fail. However, you’re doing it out of covenanted love. Thus, you have decided; on days you feel like or don’t feel like, when you have enough or don’t have at all, when it’s convenient and when it’s not, in good times and bad times, you are dedicated.
How to Daniel in Babylon
Your consecration ought to be part of your everyday routine. The systems of this world have already made sure that your desecration is part of everyday life. Consecration demands that you come out from among them. You have to leave Egypt and Egypt has to leave you. Goshen, as good as it is, is not the Promised Land. From Isaiah’s vision in Isaiah 6, Isaiah realized that the people he lived amongst was part of the reason why he was unworthy to dwell amongst the divine beings in the courts of Heaven.
However, you’re not always going to have the comfort of a consecrated conclave. Mount Zion is dedicated to God but the likes of Nehemiah, Esther, Joseph and Daniel did not have the luxury of living in such a place. Christians have been known to desist other Christians from taking up such positions in high places because of the level of corruption that dwells around it. That’s true. That notwithstanding, those called to sit those high places as holy servants of God should be mindful of the kind of consecration that ought to sustain.
Esther had a Mordecai. Daniel had the three Hebrew boys. Joseph had no one for a long time until his family arrived. If possible, have someone. You’ll need a company of people. Your surroundings may be evil but your environment must be holy. Your inner circle will keep the holy fire. There’s a level of wealth that goes beyond your input. There’s some kind of money that when you get, mammon will come and look for you.
There’s some level of influence that when you about to attain, satan will be attracted to you. There’s a kind of political power that if you’re able to sustain by your own strength, a secret society will approach you. Life has always been spiritual. It will shock you to know that in board rooms where the destinies of nations are on the line, everyone shows up with supernatural backing.
If you’re not backed, you’ll be unexplainably eliminated without trace. A Daniel in Babylon should be aware of this. An Esther should never attempt to approach the king without having fasted and prayed with her kindred. Life is a battle. Those who avoid battles will not reach anywhere and will settle for a mediocre life.
What Must I Do?
Having understood what Christ has done for you and having reasonably responded and understood that you ought to live a life of consecration, you are asking what it practical things you have to do in your everyday life to live a consecrated life. I only talked about kingdom financiers and Daniels in Babylon. You may be a singer or a career woman etc. Jesus is the template for living. The Holy Spirit is the instructor for personal living. The life you have is unique to you. God’s purpose for your life is as unique as the consecrated life you ought to live.
John the Baptist could not drink wine but Jesus’ first miracle was wine. There’s what generally cuts across but there are perculiar things God will outrightly tell only you to do or not do. You can’t copy and paste someone else’s consecration. That’s why I always desist from giving detailed prescriptions. Follow Christ as your template and heed the Holy Spirit’s clear instructions. In this season, as you intentionally make up your mind to live a consecrated life, may the Holy Spirit reveal to you on a daily basis how to ought to live your life to please the Father.
In a bid to talk about consecration, let us first talk about one silent pandemic that is eating up destinies.
Experts speculate up to 10 per cent of the total Christian population in the United States have a sexual addiction. If true, this means that in a congregation of 500 members, 50 are sex addicts. And this percentage may be increasing. In one study, two-thirds of all Christian men admitted to “struggling” with pornography. In another study, 40 per cent of pastors surveyed confessed to looking at pornography. Christians who struggle pray ceaselessly, read the Bible constantly and consult countless pastors, but still can’t stop.
You may think you don’t know a sex addict. Sex addicts, however, do not fit the popular stereotypes. They are otherwise gentle and kind. They care deeply for others. To fellow church members, they appear to be ideal Christians. But a secret side of them does evil and harmful things, sexual things, some of them too horrible to fully describe. Their sexual activity is uncontrollable and they can’t stop. It is an addiction.
Sexual sin is not news to the church. Voices among us have consistently protested this immorality and called for repentance. Yet sexual sin remains a difficult topic to talk about. When “one of us” commits sexual sin, the rest of us are shocked and embarrassed by the apparent hypocrisy and massive failure of faith. In response, we turn inward to our own shame, fears, and confusion, and try to keep the situation as quiet as possible.
Those who come out to say they suffer from sexual addiction have been ostracized, scorned and persecuted. Too consumed by shame to ask for help, they have been confined to lives of loneliness and isolation. Addiction thrives in isolation, darkness and shame. The cycle is not only spiritual; it is psychological, mental, physical, emotional etc. It consumes your entire being and your entire life until you are reduced to a piece of bread.
Sexual addiction is about trying to control behaviours…and failing. Just like alcoholics, sex addicts tell themselves they can quit tomorrow if they want to. They like to think they are in control, but they are not. Until they want to finally stop and realize they can’t. Addiction distracts addicts long enough to take your entire will from their control. Indeed, their inability to give up the illusion of control is precisely what prevents sex addicts from healing. It is the same with any sin. Our attempts to control our lives prevent us from trusting God to care for us. The sad reality is, anyone who has tasted any sex addiction can suffer from a love addiction unbeknownst to them.
The Root Cause
Sin is the lack of a relationship with God and the destructive behaviours committed as a result. Unmanageable and causes people to distrust God, to control their own lives, and to commit behaviours destructive to themselves and others, sin causes shame and leads to death. Unmanageability, escape, shame, and addiction make up the very fabric of sin.
Addiction is living a lie because, although you think you think you’re enjoying yourself because your body feels so good, you are sad deep within. Being pierced in the soul by many sorrows is a reality that is now distracted by further additive activities. Addiction provides an escape from feelings; feelings of discomfort, disdain, shame, abandonment, neglect, rejection, low self-esteem, and what have you. After you commit the sexual act, you have to come to the real world and face your problems.
Every single tool man invents will be used to perpetuate evil to the next level. From the Internet to social media to AI, every new level of accomplishment of man is used to orchestrate evil to a level never seen hitherto. That’s because the problem of man is in his heart. When sin rules a man’s heart, every tool is a weapon for evil, be it a knife, car, platform or even the mouth. Thus, God transforms a person from within. We live from within. A good tree produces good fruit. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good fruit.
The advancement of the Internet age has propagated a lie that has censured many Christians today from living the reality of the truth common to all Christians in past generations. If there is one thing that united all Christians at any point in history, it was the dedication to live a holy life. The rampage of lust alone – as it is being shoved in our faces everywhere we turn our head via media – has, at least, caused the average believer to think living a holy life is theoretically right but practically unrealistic. However, the Eternal God has unchanging standards.
Since it’s the same race the great cloud of witnesses ran, God is not going to lower the standard to accommodate the culturalized and “technologized” perversions that defines our era. Take courage! You are the best person in your bloodline to be alive in this point in time. You were predestined for such a time as this. If we think God is not being fair when He doesn’t adjust the standard to accommodate our beguiled reality, then it shows we don’t understand the potency of God’s redeeming power. Christ’s redemption is eternal. That means it is the same power that will continue to make us the redeemed of the Lord in the age to come when this present world is long gone.
There’s hope ❤
If you want to read more on this silent pandemic, kindly read Theologian Mark Laaser’s book on Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction
This is an excerpt from the message of God’s servant Prophet Andy Obeng-Kwakye preached on 1st March, 2026 at 10am GMT. Prophet Andy is the head pastor of GloryMount Nation in Accra, Ghana.
1. Thanksgiving Brings Deliverance
You will receive the deliverance of God when you give thanks to God. When you give thanks to God, you will see the deliverance of God. That is the story of Jonah. Jonah 2:9 to 10. As soon as he began to give thanks to God, he got his deliverance from the belly of the fish. The story of Lazarus. When Jesus Christ got to the tomb, the first thing He did was give thanks. He said, “Lord, I thank You that You always hear Me.” John 11:41. Lazarus was caged in the tomb, but by thanksgiving, after that, He declared, “Lazarus, come out,” and he came. Thanksgiving gave him deliverance.
When you find yourself in an addiction, tell the Lord, I know this thing I am doing is not good, but despite the years that I have done this, You have still kept me. I want to say thank You. And with this thanksgiving, I want You to deliver me from this thing. You will find yourself being delivered from it.
Paul the Apostle and Silas. Acts 16:25. At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns, and the prisoners were listening to them. They were locked in prison, but at midnight they were praying and singing hymns. Suddenly there was a great earthquake. Thanksgiving will bring you deliverance. When you have pain in your body and it has been there for years, you can tell the Lord, I know the devil planned evil with this pain, but for these years You have kept me. I want to say thank You. Thanksgiving will bring you deliverance.
2. Thanksgiving Brings Multiplication and Increase
Thanksgiving to God brings multiplication and increase. Show me a man who knows how to give thanks and I will show you a man who is living a life of abundance. When you have little, give thanks to God for it.
I shared in an online meeting about a man who went to give thanks for a testimony of 500 naira that somebody gifted him. After that testimony, he had over one million naira. He was cleaning the church and somebody was touched and asked for his account details. The person sent him 500 dollars. He had never received that kind of money before. He was grateful. During testimony time, he went forward and said he wanted to give thanks that somebody blessed him with 500 dollars.
As he lay on the floor thanking God, the man of God said, the way you are thanking God, I want to add another 500 naira to it. Then another person added 500. Another added 500. At the end of the testimony, he left with over one million. Thanksgiving brings multiplication. Jesus Christ lifted up the bread and blessed it. In other words, He gave thanks, and it multiplied.
Jeremiah 30:19. “Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish. I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.” After thanksgiving proceeds, He says, I will multiply them. When disappointment happens, tell Him, Lord, it was not easy to receive it, but since we have life, I want to say thank You.
3. Thanksgiving Brings Complete Restoration
Thanksgiving brings complete restoration. The leper in Luke 17:15 went back to give thanks. He was healed, but after he went back to give thanks, he was made whole. He received complete restoration. Thanksgiving will bring restoration. The enemy fears the one who has caught the revelation of thanksgiving. Mark a man who knows how to give thanks to God and I will show you a man who is walking in abundance. Our thanksgiving cannot be at the same level because what God has done for one person may be different from what He has done for another.
Sometimes we start giving thanks because we were told to do so. We do it for three or four days and stop. The Lord asked, when you are working, how many days does it take to receive your salary? Thirty days. You do not receive salary in four days. Can we be consistent for the next thirty days and see if He will not move? Be consistent in thanksgiving.
When you are a thankful person, you attract God. When you attract God, everything around your life becomes attractive. If God is for you, who can be against you? Your degree of gratitude defines the greatness of your journey. David was someone who gave thanks. The more grateful you are to God, the more colourful your life becomes.
Show me a man addicted to thanksgiving and I will show you a man whose life is not empty. The more you give thanks to God, the more your tank becomes full. Thanksgiving is not something you do only when you feel like it. It is something you owe God always. As long as you have life, there is something to thank God for.
A man of God shared a story about a woman who came to give thanks that she was kidnapped and delivered. There was another woman standing by the roadside whom the kidnappers considered taking. They argued about it and decided to leave because time was going. She would get home and say God has done nothing for her, not knowing she had been spared.
One day, as I walked home, the Lord said, do you remember the last gutter you crossed? You should have fallen into that gutter, but I held your leg. That is why you did not fall. Every day, as long as you have life, give thanks to God. You have no idea what He has kept you from. Thanksgiving will qualify you for favor. The leper who returned was made whole. The child who danced for the king and they killed John the Baptist. She danced, and the king was pleased, and every request she made was fulfilled.
Let your life be a life of thanksgiving. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus.
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2 Corinthians 4:13 NIV It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same Spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak.”
The way to bring a spiritual reality into the physical is by believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth. Even God operates by this principle. The first time words were used, it was used to create. Literally everything we see and has been made was first a thought. The thought was believed and voiced out, before anyone even got to work on it. From trees to buildings to businesses. Think about it!
Confessing with your mouth but not believing in your heart carries no weight and substance. That is why we need revelation before we can make effective confessions. Imagination is how the enemy can get you to believe something so you can confess it into reality. Whatever you continually set before you becomes your reality. Because spirits know that unless something becomes so real to you inwardly, you cannot confess it outwardly for it to come to pass.
See, one of the major reasons why demons prefer to possess humans is because we legally possess the right to speak things into our realm. If the enemy can speak in the spirit and cease your vocal cords to speak hurtful words on your friend, he can destroy your friend’s self-esteem continually by your words, legally. Not every thought should come out of your mouth. He Spoke, therefore I Speak! The Greek word for confession is homologeo. Homo means one. Logeo is Logos; the word. One Word! This is why we listen to hear God speak a Word. When we hear, we believe and then speak. One Spirit, one mind, one faith, one Word.
The truth about believing in our heart is that whatever you really believe in your heart, you will naturally and eventually confess it. It is also possible to simply believe in your mind without believing in your heart. This is why we meditate on God’s Word until the Word becomes real to us. That’s what we call Rhema. At that point, you begin to proclaim and confess and declare the Word of God by the inspiration of the Spirit.
James 1:6/Mark 11:23 teaches us that we shouldn’t doubt in our minds when and after we confess. Confession is not magic. It’s an act of faith, not spells. Whether it unfolds immediately or years later, you are not moved because you have evidence of things not seen. Whether you believe it or not, you are where you are today because of some confessions you made in the past. We confess to confirm. Whatever we confirm, we become a witness of. If we are witnesses unto Christ, we ought to confess Christ and confirm His Word to the nations.
Confession is always in past tense. It is agreeing with what God has said. That means God has to speak first before we can confess what He has said. Proclamation, on the other hand, is giving an announcement. Once you give an announcement and your word falls to the ground, that means you didn’t have the right or authorization to give such an announcement. An announcement is how people are ushered into their destinies or their next level, and how seasons and eras are changed.
You can proclaim praise for creation to follow suite. Declaration is affirming what has been established by authority. We decree to declare. If nothing has been decreed, nothing can be declared. Psalms 2:7 says “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me…”.
By confessing, you acknowledge and align to God’s provision and truth. Confessions are to God while proclamations are about God to others. By declaring, you enforce what God has already established concerning you. Rebellion is what characterizes the kingdom of darkness. They are stubborn. They don’t care about what God has said about you as long you don’t know. Even if you know, they will still try you. You will need to declare what has been decreed. Declare God’s truth in the face of temptation, opposition and contradictions to overcome.
Now that you know this, how can you keep quiet? Confess! Proclaim! Declare!
The main reason for prayer is intimacy – let’s not miss that. Prayer is also important for alignment and agreement. Prayer is a technology by which we agree with what God has predestined in our lives, and it gives God the legitimacy to align us for its manifestation. Let me tell you a story: My boss issued the printer on Friday, but the lights were out, and the printer was off. When I came to work on Monday and turned on the printer, guess what? The command was issued, and the printouts came. Then I caught the revelation.
I can submit my requests before God, no matter the season. When the set time comes and the gates are opened, my requests will become a reality. It doesn’t matter how long it takes…as long as that command has been issued, it will come to pass. Just as printers are so stubborn that once you issue the command, it will continue to print even while you try to stop it, that answer to your prayer cannot be stopped.
My dear, no prayer made according to the Will of God goes to waste. You made a petition to an Eternal God who remains the same generation after generation. This is the Kindness of God. He gives us more than we ask for, and gives us all that we ask for in His Name so that we lack no good thing. This technology is not only for things. It is for everything in God. Anything God can give by His Omnibenelovence, you can ask according to His Will.
In Revelation 6, we see martyrs in Heaven reminding God of their prayers. No prayer according to His Will falls to the ground. It may not come to pass while you’re alive, but it shall all surely come to pass. The LORD told me, “There comes a season where every seed you have sown in prayer will bear fruit in its season. Sow more seedlings“. Let God send His angels ahead of you; pray for your children’s children. Pray for your future. Pray for your children’s marriage. Be proactive in prayer; don’t wait for something to go wrong or be missing before you react in prayer.
If I had known that prayer had this technology, I would have started praying at the age of 3. It’s not too late. Pray ahead. Let your prayers go ahead of you. Pray for your children’s workplaces. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have children now. Pray for your retirement. You can pray ahead of time. Every effectual fervent prayer of the righteous shall come to pass. Every single one of them. Agree with God with what He wants done in your life and in the earth, and behold His faithfulness in answering when you call.
You may not know this but you’re walking in the prayers of old. About one-fifth of the Bible is prayer. Many if not all directly apply to you. You can take it as a receipt, send it before God and cash out. After that, you put in as many requests as possible so you can continually cash out always at all times. In fact, the measure of the supernatural in your life is directly proportional to your prayer input.
This year, we have discussed the Wisdom of the devil and the Jurisdiction of the devil. The third of that series is the Morality of the devil. The enemy is evil. However, his evil is not just the opposite of righteousness but a counterfeit of it. From his perspective, that’s his embodiment of righteousness. Where he establishes his kingdom, he changes the system of morality. He has already been able to counterfeit every aspect of every system God has already established and righteousness is obviously one of them. Let’s delve in!
One of the ways to check if a society has been overwhelmingly influenced by the systems of the world of darkness is to check the moral standards. Righteousness is God’s way of being and doing right. It is simply having a right standing with God and doing what is pleasing in the sight of God. Thus, all laws and morals of a community is based the governing laws of God. Once God is erased from society, the moral standards of such a society will fall. People think morality is based on what majority agrees to be right. How flawed such a logic is. If we all agree that rape is not bad, it will not automatically stop rape from being bad.
In the series of altars, we have come to understand that humans were naturally created to be ambassadors. Whatever we do, we will have a master lording us from the higher realm. Thus, any society void of God’s moral standards has already adopted the morality of the devil. There’s no sitting on the fence. Take the family for instance; God’s moral standard says “male and female created He them”. The morality of the devil brings in many evil variations = queers, gays, trans etc, who cannot even be fruitful and multiply. This is just one example in one area. The truth is, many variations of lies can be generated from one truth although they are all are lies. Selah!
Not all moral standards of the Kingdom of darkness appear evil. The devil is not only a liar but a deceiver. He is not only interested in establishing a lie but twisting it so it’s accepted as gospel truth. There are certain sins people are involved in although they know it’s evil. Yet, there are others people will defend as good even though it is evil. That’s the major difference between a lie and a deception. One of the ways of living a deceitful life is what Jesus called the leavens of the Pharisee. It’s a hypocritical life of doing good in public but doing evil in secret. Another variation is being legalistic on little matters while denying the weightier matters.
In the kingdom of darkness, it is not only necessary to be evil but it’s a must to be self-righteous. Remember that the tree is called good and evil. The kingdom of darkness have their own definition of good. This good goes with evil. It “lightens” the weight of the evil you commit. You commit murder but give to the poor? Good! You drink blood and donate blood? Better! You are a leader in a coven and in a church? Awesome! Good and evil. It sears your conscience into feeling you’re doing evil for the greater good while deceiving those who see your good and not your evil. In fact, the devil prefers people who serve on both camps. After all, he used to serve in Heaven too. This is the wisdom of the devil = he didn’t need to create anything; he just created counterfeits of everything God did.
When you go to the villages where they still worship idols, you will see an established moral standard that seem upright. They worship satan and yet, incest is banned. They sacrifice their children to the idol and yet, stealing is dangerously prohibited. It’s as though sins of greed are allowed but sins of lust aren’t. Where sins of lust are permitted, sins of pride is banned. The devil is so cunning. When someone commits a prohibited sin, the people sinning differently (in the sin that’s celebrated) burn with self-righteousness against that person and serves them with justice. The establishment of righteousness is necessary for the appropriation of justice. Without righteousness, there’s no basis for justice.
Remember that one thing that is so important to the devil is justice. When you read the Jurisdiction of the devil, you’ll understand what I mean. Righteousness and justice are the very foundation of God’s throne (Psalm 89:14). His role as accuser of the brethren is tremendously tied to seeking justice against you. He understands justice so well that he has never broken any law outside of the jurisdiction God has held him. This same understanding of justice is how he secures a person or territory legally. It is also responsible for the purpose of desecration.
Desecration works the same way as consecration, only in the directly opposite way. Just as godly altars need to be serviced, so do demonic altars. Just as God’s priests must continually consecrate themselves so they can continually minister before the Lord at their altars, so do the ungodly priests. They must continually desecrate themselves for the justice of the altar to keep speaking. Just as there are generational blessings, there are generational curses. Many think generational curses are more effective because you don’t have to do anything for it to work against you. No, that’s not it.
There are generational blessings and curses but it doesn’t affect everyone. Those who enjoy the generational blessings in their family are those who consecrate themselves in alignment with the godly altar that was raised in the family. So Isaac and Jacob, you can’t marry anyone from anywhere and think the covenant of Abraham will still work for you. Obey the consecration. On the other hand, generational curses are more conversant because people obey the desecration that makes it possible for the generational curses to affect them. It may be drunkeness or fornication. Whatever it is, even if you’re a born-again Christian, justice demands that you inherit from the altar you keep servicing. Serious!
You cannot claim you’re the righteousness of God and yet, the self-righteous in the kingdom of darkness have more works of righteousness than you do. Exhibit the nature of righteousness in you by your words, works and walk. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is basically the tree of death. Do not be deceived by the morality of the devil and the self-righteousness in the kingdom of darkness. Let your righteousness go forth as brightness and the LORD shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
Caring is the most human thing to do. There are many words for “care” in Greek. Two of them are used in 1 Peter 5:7 and give the perfect difference between them.
“casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].”
1 PETER 5:7 AMP
Cast all your cares because He cares. Wow. Should we actually cast all our cares? Will that make us careless or care less? Will that make us carefree or not care anymore?
Psychology says one of the most difficult tasks in life is to convince yourself that you do not care. You will have to repeat it over and over to yourself and others and you will still not find peace. No matter what you are in the world; liberal, criminal, realist, atheist, even the worst person on earth, there is someone or something you care about because that is how you were designed; to care. This orchestration to care reaches its max when one becomes a parent, biologically or logically.
What about faith? When I have an issue at hand, isn’t it normal to worry about it? Real faith is not denying the existence of a problem. It simply denies the problem a place of influence. My substance of faith is not based on my circumstances but on the reality of what isn’t yet seen. Real faith does not cause me to deny that I don’t have money or that I need money; it makes me emotionally stable in my financial crisis because my conviction is not based on what I see. That is just beautiful. The vicissitudes of life is no justification to be worried.
Worrying doesn’t mean you care. Worry is the sin of leaning on your understanding instead of trusting in God. Jesus said in Matthew 6:27, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”. Worrying is anxious care. The Greek word for the word “worrying” has the same root word for the word “cares” in the verse “casting all your cares”. It means solicitude. It has an idea of distraction. Any form of care that makes you anxious is called worry. Beloved, let us not normalize worry. Worry is a problem that has never solved any problem. As humans, are we supposed to worry sometimes? The answer is in 1 Peter 5:7. Worrying is pretending you care more than the God who said He’ll take care of it.
Worry is one of those sins that is so subtle. It can show up in your own words to curse your life. We speak 150-300 per minute. That is about 50,000 words a day. 70% is subconscious. Research says we have a negativity bias and tend to value negative thoughts over positive ones. 95% of what we say is repeated most of the time. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” (Prov 23:7). What have you been thinking about and saying to yourself in the loneliness of your thinking? As Joyce Meyer would say, “Think about what you are thinking about”. Have you brought negative thinking from your distant past into your immediate future?
Matthew 13:20-21 says “the seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.” Worry comes to attack the Word of God you have. If the Word has no root in you, you will let go of the Word. We can all say nice words until hard times hit. When worry attacks you, do you hold on to God’s Word in your heart or the Word was simply in your head so what is planted in you wilts under the heat of the sun?
Worry does nothing but pull you down. When you’re worried that something may happen, worry doesn’t stop it from happening. It doesn’t make you human. It makes you a prophet of doom over your own life. It breaks you down. It distracts you and distorts your reality towards negative aspects. Worry is a burden. It is burdensome. It changes your focus. It makes you focus on your problem instead of your solution. It magnifies the problem with increasing attention. If you give in to worry every time life becomes hard, worry will control your life in hard times where you need peace and joy the most.
It all starts with denormalizing worry in your mindset. Realise that you don’t have to worry for a single moment in your life, because Jesus is your rest. Worrying is not planning. Worrying is not caring. Worrying is not thinking. Worrying is stressful. I can think about what I will eat, drink and wear tomorrow without worrying about it. Whenever you begin to worry, think about God’s Truth concerning the matter and cast it ALL on Him. You will realise that many of the things we worry about are actually petty petty things. No problem is ever bigger than God. We have a Father who is willing to take care of us all the way. Put your trust in Him. He knows your end because He planned it.
Worry can be used as an English word but should not be tempered emotionally. You were made to care, not to worry. Language may mix it but don’t mix it emotionally. Care is heartfelt love. Worry is a mind disturbance. Jesus’ yoke is easy and His burden is light. He gives us rest for our souls. Read Matthew 11:28-30. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Care because you do. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
We all get tired. Even the strongest believers sometimes feel drained. Some feel stuck. Others begin to gradually lose interest and give up. Many get sick and tired of being tired and sick. Even leaders and pastors who spend their lives strengthening others can often find themselves empty. God, in His wisdom, has built a spiritual system to keep His people from collapsing in the vicissitudes of life. He designed a divine rhythm for the soul; edification, exhortation, and comfort. It is God’s healing system for the whole person (spirit, soul, and body) and the whole Body. It is how He keeps His family standing, growing, and enduring until the end. Next week, we will talk about the Mystery of Encouragement but for now, let’s establish the doctrinal side of it.
Edification: Increasing Our Capacity
The word edify comes from the Greek oikodomeō which means to build up. It is the act of strengthening, forming, and maturing until a life becomes stable. Spiritually, edification is God’s way of stretching our capacity to carry His life. When you are edified, something within you expands. Your faith deepens, your understanding widens, and your endurance strengthens. You become more capable of carrying divine weight.
“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up.” (Acts 20:32)
God builds us through teaching, truth, and time. Like a master builder laying one stone after another, He establishes your inner man until you can contain more of His strength, more of His wisdom, and more of His people. We do not grow by accident. We grow because the Spirit keeps laying stone upon stone, truth upon truth, grace upon grace. Edification is how God turns the fragile into giants.
Exhortation: Increasing Our Expectation
Once you have been built up, you must be stirred up. Exhortation comes from the Greek paraklēsis which means to call near, to urge, to appeal. It is the voice from Heaven that says, “Do not give up. Lift your eyes again.”Sometimes you know the truth, but you no longer expect it to happen. You are built up but not stirred up. That is when the Spirit exhorts. He calls you near, speaks courage into your heart, and rekindles anticipation for what God will yet do.
“Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works… exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24–25)
Exhortation raises your expectation. It awakens the dormant parts of your faith. It moves you from “I know” to “I believe again.” Through a message, a friend, or the quiet whisper of the Holy Spirit, God exhorts His children to rise. The fire may be small, but exhortation breathes upon it until it burns bright again.
Comfort: Increasing Our Threshold
Comfort is not about removing pain. It is about raising the threshold to endure it. Comfort comes from paramuthia, meaning to speak closely, to console, to strengthen. It is the tender voice of God in the midst of trial.
“Blessed be God, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation.” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4)
When life feels unbearable, the Comforter sits beside you. He does not scold you for weeping. He stays with you through it. Comfort increases your threshold, your ability to face tomorrow without collapsing today. The comfort of God is not sentimental. It is strengthening. It restores your equilibrium, renews your peace, and brings sanity back to your soul. Comfort does not make life easier. It makes you stronger.
God’s System for the Prosperity of your Soul
This threefold process of edification, exhortation, and comfort is God’s divine therapy for the believer. It is how He balances spiritual maturity with emotional wellbeing. It is how He keeps your spirit sharp, your faith alive, and your heart tender. Built up, stirred up, and held up. That is the full rhythm of what I call God’s architecture of Grace.
God never intended anyone to walk alone. From Eden to the early Church, His answer to human needs has always been another person. He builds through teaching and discipleship. He stirs through encouragement and prophecy. He heals through companionship and compassion.
> “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” (Proverbs 27:17) “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
When you isolate yourself, you disconnect from this system. Isolation dries the soul. Even pastors need edification. Even prophets need exhortation. Even apostles need comfort. God’s love often comes disguised as a friend who refuses to give up on you, a mentor who speaks correction where you don’t see one, or a circle of friends who simply sits with you in silence. His help usually comes with a human face. A true Word from God will always carry this triadic essence. It will build, stir, and heal. When you stay in fellowship, you stay within God’s healing cycle. The Church is not a club of perfect people but a living organism through which grace circulates. Each believer is both a receiver and a dispenser of Grace.
“Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
You are God’s instrument of renewal to someone else. Your word, your prayer, your listening ear may be Heaven’s hand to a weary soul. And in your own day of need, that same grace will return to you through others.
God’s Architecture of Grace
Edification increases your capacity to grow. Exhortation raises your expectation to believe. Comfort strengthens your threshold to endure. Together, they form the architecture of grace, the system by which the Spirit constructs, energises, and heals His people. When God builds you, He does not only strengthen your spirit. He heals your mind, renews your emotions, and strengthens your endurance. We are built to last, established to be immovable and in a system that will preserve until you finish your race.
So when you feel weary, do not withdraw. Do not hide your pain. You may be tired, but you are not alone. The same Spirit that builds, stirs, and comforts is reaching for you still to help you stand until the end.
