Many of our relationship issues stem from the fact that we do everything to draw close to people that we love who may not love us. Just because you love and care for someone does not mean they consider you equally. We show ourselves friendly and make lots of sacrifices and this is not always reciprocated. It’s like making an investment that yields no returns or limited returns. 

While there are times when God is calling us to pour into others in relationships where we will not get anything back, we must ensure that such one sided connections are only done as service to God under divine instruction. For example, as a Pastor, you will love on many people who may never love you back but who may take and draw continuously from you. This is perfectly fine because that is what is expected as a Pastor. Outside of our divine assignments to pour into others, we must be careful in how we navigate one sided relationships. When God connects people in relationships, I believe that there is always something that both parties are assigned to contribute to the relationship. It should not be one sided!

Sometimes we remain in relationships that do not regard us the same way no matter how much we sacrifice or love on them. We sometimes experience situations in which we serve selflessly but the service does not just go unnoticed but is also minimized. Sometimes we are blind to the fact that a friend is only in our lives for what they can get. Other times we are not blinded but we do not believe that we can survive outside of such relationships because we think we need them in our lives. In some cases, we may not realize timely that a parental figure, Pastor, mentor, boss is not providing the opportunities that may be required to get us to our next level. Sometimes we watch others get promoted while we work hard to acquire the skills needed for a promotional opportunity and when our turn comes we are overlooked while others are appointed. Being in a position where you are bypassed can cause disappointment, hurt, anger, frustrations and regrets but we must always remember that God is ultimately our source. Most of the time, our rejection was simply a recalibration from God although those who treated us unfairly did not intend it for our good. Rejection typically comes to lead us into a season of promotion by God Himself without our dependence on man. In these times we are reminded that God is able to prepare a table for us through people we may have never known or given to. Here are some steps to surviving those relationships in which we gave our all and came out feeling drained and disregarded:

• Draw closer to God and trust God.
• Be reminded that human beings are not God. Everyone does disappoint others. We all disappoint others!
• Let not your heart be broken. Do not allow the disappointment and hurt you feel become a stronghold of the enemy and lead you into sin.
• See God’s purpose in every disappointment. If God allowed it, He has a plan for your elevation in spite of those who cheated you or dealt you wrong.
• Cut your losses and find the courage to move on. Sometimes this means ending the relationship, leaving the church, ministry, job or other environments and look to God for direction on a new place or person that will be a blessing in your next season.
• If you are moving on, do not create a scene. What would Jesus do! As much as is within your power, keep the peace!
• For everyone who rejects you God has many who have been mandated to help you and usher you into your new season. Do not be afraid of what lies ahead without the people who let you down.

While we must be careful not to leave our process prematurely, we must also know when to call it quits!  Many have outstayed their purpose in places or relationships where they were not wanted causing them to remain bitter. Many never rose to their full potential because their season of manifestation went past as they continued to pursue relationships that were no longer tied to their purpose. In some cases God allows us to remain in such situations for our development and maturity for a season. David found himself in this situation with Saul and showed great character. It is important to seek God when you find yourself at such crossroads so that you are led in every decision you make.

If you find yourself today in a place where you made many sacrifices and it now appears to be a dead end, do not lose hope. God is the rewarder of every sacrifice made and sees you. Encourage yourself in the Lord. There is a principle I apply in my own life; what God does not give me is not mine. What God has for you will come to you if you continue walking in obedience to His Word. Know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Rom 8:28). Your rejection was redirection by God. Do you see it now? Wipe your tears and follow the new instructions for your brighter future with many new possibilities. #Aetta

For those who complain about electronic Bibles, please note that the power of the Word of God is not based on a paper format nor on an electronic device. The Word is Spirit and is hosted on paper, on electronics or in a human vessel. When the Word finds a home in a human and it collides with faith, it comes alive and amazing things happen. The key is that the Word finds a way into a human vessel and is applied in faith. I dare say that God does not care if it came from a paper Bible or an electronic Bible as long as it is in the human vessel otherwise known as a living soul. So if your preference is a paper Bible, I beseech you to go ahead and be blessed by the Word in that format without complaining about those who may have a preference for the electronic format. Let’s be careful not to make a doctrine out of our personal preferences because no where in the Bible does it say it must be read only on paper.

The Word was written on paper because paper was the format used in written communication in the times of old. Today we have available to us paper and electronic devices as communications media. There are environments where your hard copy Bible cannot go but your phone can go. There are places you cannot carry a hard copy Bible into but you have access to a computer for other purposes and you can use the computer to access an electronic Bible. I believe that God expects us to use whatever is in our hands to know his Word and do his work. On judgement day, Jesus will not ask us if we read the Bible on paper or on a phone or computer. It’s ok to have a preference but let there be no condemnation within the body of Christ on trivialities such as this. Both Bible formats are acceptable as long as you are getting the Word in you and being transformed into the nature of Christ. We have bigger fishes to fry in the 21st century church such as getting ready for the return of Christ. Let’s focus on getting the church ready to be the bride without spot or wrinkle and our heavenly crown will be assured.
All in love ❤️

Proverbs 3:9-10 says Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.

Brethren wether or not we believe in tithing, first fruits or special offerings, we cannot deny the Word of God when it speaks. I was meditating on this verse and felt like sharing. There are some principles in the Word that transcend the Mosaic Law, the Old Testament and even the New Testament. Giving to God is one way of honoring God. I am convinced that when we love God, we will not be lost in the debates about whether tithing or first fruit offerings are still required in this dispensation. I tithe to honor God, I give a first fruit offering because I love God and it is honorable to give Him the first of what He has blessed me with. It has nothing to do with what my Pastor or my church thinks.

When we understand that God owns everyone of us and the whole earth that we live in, it truly changes our perspective. This means that nothing in essence belongs to us regardless of how hard we may think we have worked to earn what we have. God simply allows us to have earthly things for a period of time. It therefore behooves us to give not just the first fruit and not just the tithe but as much as God may direct us to give at any time. If I make you a guardian of my estate, surely I can ask you to give to others from my estate at any time in any value I desire. When we execute financially or in kind as directed by the Holy Spirit, it will surpass the first fruit and tithe. When God sees that we obey financially, he opens the floodgates of resources and we become a channel through which God provides so both we and others can be blessed.

Psalms 24:1-2 The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the floods.

Giving to God out of what we produce is the gift that keeps giving. Apart from my love for God being the reason for giving generously, I noticed that God makes us a promise. He says if I honor Him this way, “then your barns will be filled with plenty”. Could it be that some of us are suffering lack because we have not understood this Biblical principle of honor through our finances? I have grown to love God such that even if He did not bless me in return, I will still give of my self and of my produce but how much more when He has promised to give me so much more? I don’t know about you but I definitely want my vats bursting with wine! This is a promise of an overflow, of fruitfulness, of abundance, of the type of productivity that yields results beyond what we worked for, pressed down shaken together and running over. It is a promise of getting more than I need such that there is enough to be a blessing to others because I have an overflow, I have extra. Aaah the mathematics of God is fascinating and I could not keep this to myself. Do you catch the revelation? Your act of honor with your first fruits is simply a loving father’s way of bringing you and I into an inheritance beyond what we can produce for ourselves. Boy oh boy, let me go find an offering to give!

For years many church leaders have taught the people how to use Jesus as a means to their own selfish ends. We have taught people to come to Jesus as a way of getting things and not as a way of giving and sacrificing of ourselves like Jesus did on the cross. We have built a church worldwide filled with majority of believers who don’t know how to love God and love fellow brethren. We are on a race for who will amass the most materially and gain the biggest anointing to show others what God has done for us. When all is said and done, it was about me myself and I all along wanting to place Mr, Mrs or Miss Ego on the throne. As a pastor, my heart bleeds for the church. We church leaders must repent for misleading the flock and pray for the wisdom to know how to reorient the people of God back to God and away from the desperation for material aggrandizement. Ask yourself today:
If Jesus never blesses me can I still love Him?
Can I sacrifice my all for the sake of the Kingdom even when it is not comfortable?
Can I stay in that Church or ministry to build rather than tear down even when I don’t get my way?
Can I give my gift of singing, playing instruments, preaching, prophesying, healing, administration to the church or ministry for free even when I am in hardship?
Can I serve God and His people even when I don’t understand why God has not answered my own prayers?
Can I intercede for my enemies instead of praying “die by fire” warfare prayers so they can be transformed and brought into the kingdom?

I could go on but let the Holy Spirit put a check in your spirit today and reveal the selfishness in your service to God. Jesus is coming soon and we must preach the undiluted gospel that points people to Jesus and not to houses, cars, life’s luxuries, personal comfort and the many lusts of the world. Blessings are good and Jesus came that we would have life abundantly but above all else, true life is in Christ alone and not is the religion called materialism!

We the Christians are responsible for the rise of many false and fake prophets. When we call for a teaching of the word, Bible studies, fasting, prayer sessions, very few people come. When a charlatan posing as a pastor or prophet calls for a miracle crusade, a Facebook prophetic flow or fake deliverance meetings, Christians come out in large numbers ready to donate large seeds, offerings and shout “I receive”. We refuse to study our Bibles and walk in obedience to God so that we can be truly blessed. We do not care who is dishing out so called miracles, prophecies and deliverance. Even many MOG and WOG cannot recognize truth anymore. The more dramatic the fake/false pastor/prophet is, the more we gather and promote their activities to our friends and family. The more flamboyant and loud they are, the more we believe they are anointed. Who ever fooled us that anointing and true power from God is in showmanship, eloquence and large crusades and churches?

Did we see Jesus do a flamboyant performance before casting out devils? Did Jesus ever shout out “Can I prophecy” before speaking over someone’s life? We the Christians are pushing even true servants of God to flow in pride and theatrical style showmanship because those are the people we mainly celebrate as powerful servants of God. We push those who are truly called to incorporate some lies, fake healings, false prophecies and even false deliverances so that they too can be recognized.

Church of God we must repent for chasing after dramatic performances rather than a genuine seeking after God in the secret place. Then we must spend more time in our Bibles and in the prayer closet before God. We must desire to grow so that we too can be used by God to truly prophecy, heal the seek and deliver the captives. Only then can we distinguish a charlatan from a true servant of God. Church of God let’s wake up and stop creating a conducive atmosphere for breeding wolves in the Church!

Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Some of us may not know this but Denzel Washington is a believer and many of us Christians may discount him just because he is in Hollywood. For those who know, he has obviously been successful in Hollywood; a place where most of us Christians would run away from because it is obviously filled with many things from the kingdom of darkness. This is probably one of the most serious messages I will share with you all this year. Watch this video by Denzel and pay attention to the lessons he is sharing.

We are to subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28), not hide from the world and remain in our convenient churches. How do we subdue without hard work and consistent action? To subdue means there will be resistance and it will require continuous counter resistance on our part. We are to learn how to get out of our comfort zones and allow God to stretch us by doing new things that we may not have thought to do for ourselves, doing things that we may not have seen as good for us yet these things are in God’s divine plans for us. We may have to learn to make non Christian friends and network in the business community, allowing God to use these people as divine connections that must cross our paths on the way to our dreams.

Until we as Christians work just as hard as the world, if not harder and become fearless in the face of the world, yes even in the darkest places, we will not have dominion (Genesis 1:26). We are to have dominion over all the earth and everything in it, not just dominate our churches, ministries, families and things to do with other believers. This includes dominion over Hollywood, over corporate America, dominion over the business and academic world and so forth.

Last month I taught about prayer at our ministry’s T2 Mentorship Academy, and yes miraculous things do happen sometimes when we pray, generational curses get broken and demons flee when we pray, healings take place when we pray and God does change things when we pray. But let me say this; God never intended for miracles to be the way by which we live daily, we are to work hard and subdue the earth and have dominion. We can pray for a provisional miracle and God may intervene but trust me, manna will not fall from heaven every day of our lives. We must get up, work hard, be committed, be consistent, be disciplined, be friendly towards others regardless of how we estimate them, be resilient, be bold in the face of challenges and do whatever is biblically and legally necessary to achieve our goals.

Many of us Christians attend various services, conferences, prayer sessions and so forth. Many of us expect God to deliver the requests we pray about yet we do not want to inconvenience ourselves to make things happen. Many of us have not yet shown commitment and consistency in doing the simple things required of us but we are wondering why we have not yet had our breakthrough. Many of us sometimes get jealous of someone who may be successful in our eyes yet we are not willing to make the kind of sacrifices that person made to get what they have. We need to stop some of the prayers we are praying and just get up from slumber and take action. Sometimes we gather in a prayer meeting asking God to provide for a sister or brother yet we will not inconvenience ourselves to help that person practically or even contribute financially. Worse still some of us will pray and fast for weeks rather than put in 20 job applications per day, going to work at Macdonalds to pay the bills in the interim, or start a small business selling basic items from around the house. Are you too proud to do whatever work is necessary for your advancement while you expect others to help you with money they worked hard to earn? While we may be waiting for God to answer our prayers, God is waiting for us to take action. John 5:5-8 shows that you can be in an unfavorable condition for 38 years and even though the water is stirred up for your breakthrough, you are not finding a way to get up and jump in. This man did not get well until he got up and walked.

I challenge you today to get up from your prayer closet and get to work! We must get comfortable with hard work no matter how much we pray and fast. Majority of successful people got to the heights of the world through hard work, sheer drive, resilience, networking and consistency while we believers were in our prayer closets waiting for God to activate manna from heaven a second time. The formula for wealth is simple; after you pray, God gives you the grace, wisdom and energy to get up, get up again and get up some more to work hard, harder, hardest before you see results. God gives the ability to make wealth (Deut 8:18), so we humans must use ABILITY GIVEN and MAKE the wealth for ourselves. This is a key that many of the wicked have understood and that’s one reason why the wicked are ruling the world, subduing and having dominion.

You may be reading this and praying for God to change your condition. What action have you taken? Are you committed where God has planted you? Have you been consistent? Have you made unthinkable sacrifices to get what you want? Have you done things differently? Have you been open to partnering and collaborating with those who don’t seem to be your kind? Have you tried over and over with resilience despite your previous failures and despite being mocked and laughed at?

Or: are you throwing a pity party waiting for easy help to fall from heaven? Are you blaming others? Are you waiting for hand outs? Are you giving excuses? Are you inconsistent? Are you undisciplined? Are you looking for a prophet or pastor to pray for you while you do nothing and make no sacrifices?

This word was burning in my spirit and yes I know it’s a tough word but it is a needed word. Like Denzel Washington says, comfort and convenience will not get us anywhere. Nice words will not get us anywhere. Oftentimes, our loved ones may not get us much further in life but our haters and enemies will push and challenge us into our destiny. Hard words will wake us from passivity into action. Our conferences, prayer sessions and discipleship classes will not help us if we just listen and remain inconsistent in our works. We are the change we have been praying for! Many of us Christians have been lazy for too long waiting for prayer to do miracles but I pray this message helps us get up and be the miracle by demonstrating our faith through our actions.

James 2:17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Call to action:

• What will I commit to doing?
• In what ways do I need to exhibit greater discipline?
• What am I doing now that lacks consistency? In what ways can I become consistent?
• In what areas of my life am I being lazy and reliant on others to do all the work for me?
• How can I get out of my comfort zone and do new things?
• What destiny partnerships do I need to build?

www.facebook.com/1429551754/posts/10223598593499466/

Are you praying out of fear or from a place of faith? Many believers do not realize that if your fear is what is backing your prayer, you are simply empowering the enemy and like Job, that which you fear will come upon you. We must be faith driven if we are to fuel our prayers for the results we seek.

Faith is a word we throw around often in Christian circles. The word faith is even used to describe our Christian denominational affiliations. It is often asked “What is your faith”? For many believers, it is a hypothesis that is yet to be tested and proven. A proposition which we all would like to place before every Red Sea challenge in our lives but one which seems to keep eluding us. Many of us end up on a road of secret frustration which we dare not express for fear we would be described as lacking faith.

Let us take the lid off this tight box in which we have been hiding our doubts about whether God does indeed answer when we pray in faith. I believe He is indeed a faithful God who does what He says. What then could be the issue?

I remember being in a season in which nothing seemed to work in my life. I prayed, fasted, stayed in the word, worshipped, waited on the Lord, remained in my process, called on true prophets of God to stand in the prayer of agreement with me and even did cast out a few devils but things appeared even worse than before. I thought I had faith and could not envisage how this scenario of so many failures in the the midst of prayer could be possible. I will not lie, I doubted God! I wrestled with God! I was confused and the enemy had me exactly where he wanted. A repeat of the story of mother Eve was playing out in my mind. Like Eve, I had a question to answer. Did God really say if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can tell this mountain to be cast into the sea and it will obey?

I did not realize that fear rather than faith had set in my heart and even though I was praying with what looked like godly authority, I really was walking in unbelief. Seeds of discouragement were in full bloom and the only fruits I could reap were those of fear. I was praying out of my fear and not from a place of faith. I was praying from a place of defeat and not of the victory that was already given to me at the cross some 2000 years ago. Many of you reading this have walked this same road. Ask yourself today “Am I gripped with fear even as I confess that I am more than a conqueror”? Are you robotically telling the devil to die by fire because you heard someone else do so or do you really see the finished work of Christ which gave you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions?

I have news for you. Unless you have truly encountered the Jesus who disarmed the enemy of our soul, it will be near impossible to pray from a standpoint of faith rather than fear. Colossians 2:15 says “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” We need to believe this verse when faced with circumstances that seem insurmountable and reject the spirit of fear when we pray or when we make confessions of victory. If we pray while being afraid of what may happen, we may not get the desired results.

It is time the church learns to seek Jesus by not just making empty confessions that we have a personal relationship with Christ, but by looking past our Pastors and Prophets and spending quality time in the secret place where we can encounter Jesus. Only out of an encounter can we boldly pray with the assurance that we are victorious. Only in intimacy with Jesus can His perfect love cast out all fear from our hearts and give us a knowing of His faithfulness that cannot be shaken by the storms of life. When you encounter the Lion if the tribe of Judah, you will roar at every enemy that attempts to stand in the way of your faith knowing without a doubt in your heart that your Daddy is the King of this jungle!

Right now rid yourself of all fear, put on the garment of faith and Roar at COVID 19 for Jesus already defeated him on the cross. #AEtta