BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE OF LONG LIFE
Dr. D. K. Olukoya
In the last few years, we have witnessed or heard about a lot of tragedies. People that were expected to be alive are dead. A lot of young people are dead and some of them were born again. Is it God’s will? No. We must also realize that the devil has some powers to kill but the strongest power is the power of God. Just as the Bible has principles for long life, it also outlines what could cause short life.
God’s original plan for man was life not death, health not sickness, energy not weariness,radiance and not dullness. So, if Brother Adam had not sinned, he would have lived forever. The Bible emphasizes that God is not interested in short life. One man of God said that,it is a tragedy for a plant to die at the seed stage because it can not become a plant. A situation where young people are dying shows that a lot of things are going wrong.
Deuteronomy 6:1-2: “Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it. That thou mightiest fear the Lord thy God to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.”
Here, we can see that God is not interested in short life. Job 5:26 also says, “Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season.”
Proverbs 3:1-3: “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments. For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart”.
Proverb 9:11: “For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.”
Proverbs 10:27: “The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.”
God is not interested in short life for His children.
Proverbs 16:31: “The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.”
That is, if your hair is gray, it is a crown of glory if you are in the way of righteousness.
Psalm 90:10: “The days of our years are three score years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow. For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
This verse is a curse and not a blessing. It is the minimum, which a lot of people now claim whereas, they should not claim it. But even this minimum, which is a curse, is difficult for a lot of people to attain.
Psalm 91:16: “With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.”
Isaiah 65:22: “They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.”
The Bible is telling us that it is a tragedy for somebody to sweat to gather, but before he would begin to reap the fruits, he dies.
Ecclesiastes 6: 1-2: “There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men. (The Bible calls it an evil thing). A man to whom God has given riches, wealth and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it, this is vanity, and it is an evil disease."
SIX MAJOR WAYS BY WHICH PEOPLE DIE ON EARTH
A person can die by his own hand: This is when a person just destroys himself, for example, by personal suicide,horicide etc. It is possible for a person to eliminate himself. Sometime ago, a man fainted in the street and people rushed to help him. By the time a doctor that was passing by got there, he found a packet of drugs in his pocket, which he must have taken. As a medical personnel, he found out that they were hard drugs which he ought not to have taken. But he went to the chemist bought it and swallowed it. He decided to kill himself.
A person can die by the hands of another man. It may be robbers, witches or wizards, etc
A person can die by fear, especially the fear of death.
A person can die by breaking natural laws. For example, if a person decides to jump down from the top of a 25-storey building he would die. Or if a person knows that he cannot jump swim, but decides to go and jump into the waters, it could lead to his death.
A person can die by succumbing to the aging process. When everything in the body is old, the system may stop working.
A person can die by sickness or disease.
WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF SHORT LIFE?
1. Disobedience to Parents:
Ephesians 6:1-3: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother(Which is the first commandment with promise)That it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth.”
If you don’t honour your father and mother, the reverse too will be the case, and that is untimely death. You may say that your parents are very bad, but any assignment that the Lord has given to you, you must do. We are not taught to hate any human being but if there is any evil spirit within them working against our destiny, we must contend with the evil spirit. The Bible says in Ephesians6:12:“We wrestle not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places”
Also, the Bible says that he who does not look after his family is worse than an infidel. You may say, “But anytime I give them money, they use it against me.” Anoint the money and send it. A lot of young people are dying today because they decided not to listen to their parents’ cry. Some will go out with their fathers’ cars after their fathers have warned them several times not to drive the cars. They decide to do otherwise and their corpses are brought home.
2. Not Walking in the Way of the Lord:
Failure to walk in the way of the Lord will bring short life. Deuteronomy 5:33: “Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord thy God had commanded you, that ye may live and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.”
When you walk in the part of righteousness, the Lord will prolong your life. The Lord has no obligation to protect you when He knows that your life is a disgrace to Him.
3. Failure to Teach the Word of God at Home:
If you fail to teach the word of God at home, it leads to a short life.
Deuteronomy 11:19-21: “And ye shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shall write them upon the doorposts of thine house, and upon thy gates. That thy days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.”
4. Not Fearing the Lord:
Proverbs 10:27 says, “The fear of the Lord prolongeth days; but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.”
Please, note very well that nothing happens by chance; everything is programmed in the spirit. There is nothing like a stray bullet or somebody using cutlass on you accidentally. It has been programmed in the spirit. What will make these seeming accidents not to happen are the kind of things we are talking about in this message.
The fear of God is rapidly jumping out of the house of God now. People are not afraid of God any more. They dress anyhow, talk anyhow, and insult the men of God without knowing that they are inviting curses upon themselves. When you insult a man of God, his anointing will fight you, the blood of Jesus will fight you, the angels will fight you, anything can fight against you. The fear that people had when they got born again in those days is fading out. We need to bring that fear back into the house of God. You need to fear the Lord from the bottom of your heart and know that there are certain things you cannot do. It may be convenient and comfortable for others but you cannot do them. There are certain things a Christian does not touch at all because of the fear of the Lord.These days people come to the church with chewing gum in their mouths.The Lord is not quick in punishing us. But we must not take that for granted because the devil would be doing a deeper harm.
Do you fear the Lord? If you do, then your days will be long, but if you don’t, your days will be short. Some people talk to the Lord anyhow. For example, they would say, “I am sorry Lord, that I committed that sin, this is not the first time. Any way you wrote that even if my sin is as red as scarlet it will become as white as snow, so forgive me for I am a human being.” They command God to forgive them without fear. In those days, people used to cry at the altar showing godly sorrow for their sins. There is no fear of God again, believers fall into fornication and all kinds of sins and still smile, saying that there is a limit to human endurance. These are the causes of a short life. When arrows are fired in the spirit world it goes around looking for loopholes. If they see that there is no fear of God in your life, although you are coming to the house of God, they would enter into your life.
5.Failure to Control the Tongue:
I Peter 3:10 says, “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.”
One of the greatest causes of short life is the tongue. If it were possible to padlock the mouth of human beings, a lot of people would not have died when they died. Many have gone into bondage because of their tongues. Mosttimes you just have to keep quiet. Most of the time it is better to listen. If your tongue has no control and you can speak 200 words per minute then you are writing an invitation to a short life. Some people can talk and abuse an angel of God without knowing that the fellow they are talking to is an angel of God, and they end up inviting curses because angels don’t operate like us. They don’t tolerate indiscipline and they can be easily provoked. That was why God warned the Israelites: “I will place my angel before you to go on the way that you will go but take heed that you do not provoke him. If you do, he will not pardon you. Don’t provoke him because he does not understand the word “please”. The angel did not forgive Zechariah when he doubted him and said, “Can these things be? I am old and my wife is advanced in age.” The angel said, “I am Gabriel, I came from the throne of God to give you this message and you are talking rubbish. For that, you shall be dumb.” He had to close his mouth and send him on a compulsory holiday. The tongue has killed so many people. I pray that the Lord will deliver us from the trap of the tongue, in Jesus’ name.
6.Pursuing Evil:
Proverbs 11:19 says, “As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.” If you are pursuing an evil agenda, you are doing so at your own hurt.
5. Forgetting the Laws of God:
This leads to a short life.
6. Allowing an evil step Weight on your Heart:
Proverbs 17:22:, “The merry heart doeth good like medicine:but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” So, when you allow evil weight in your heart or when you allow a spiritual wound in your heart, you will waste away. Whatever is in your heart, whether it is envy, anger, cruelty, fear, immorality, it would affect your body, soul and spirit. Many people do not understand that what goes on in the heart determines whether the body, soul and spirit will be healthy or not. Many sicknesses can be directly related to the attitude of the heart. Proverb 14:30 says, “A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.” When a heart is polluted with bitterness, anger, malice or is filled with sin, it will shorten the life span of the person. If all you are thinking about is sin and lust, it means that you want to die young. Eventually, you might develop high blood pressure.
7. Wounded heart and negative emotion:
This can cause all kinds of sicknesses. It means people are being cruel to themselves.
8. Lack of Knowledge of Spiritual Prevention:
This also shortens life. An English adage says that prevention is better than cure. God wants the totality of our being to be in good health and not for us to be seeking for healing. It is better to be immune than to have a disease and start taking drugs. The word of God shows clearly that Christians are supposed to have some immunity. To have immunity is better than having to evacuate the enemy anytime he gains entrance. So, we have to clothe ourselves with the fire of God and the blood of Jesus so that the enemy will not gain entrance.
Prevention, even in the spiritual world, is better than cure. Some people say that it is because they were living in a particular town that why were having a particular problem. But when they moved to another town, the problem continues. Some, even when they move to another accommodation, witches would still be pressing them down on their beds. Such people should realize that it is because the enemy has entered inside them. The evil dreams are being played from inside. A man may sleep and another world opens up to him. Sometime ago, we were praying with somebody and a whole human being wearing rags walked out of him. The man and ourselves saw the thing left. It waved at the man and he waved back. Later, for the first time in his life, he had a financial breakthrough. It would have been better not to allow the spirit to enter into him than for it to enter and he had to go on seven days dry fasting.
Many believers find it very hard to memorize scriptures. Some will tell you that their brains are getting older, whereas unbelievers spend quality time memorizing incantations, which they use against the children of God. The word of God says that we can build a hedge around us, which the enemy cannot penetrate.
There are some passages in the Bible that believers should know off hand, if they want prevention and protection and do not want the enemy to shorten their lives. We call them immunity scriptures
Exodus 15:26: says, “If thou will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandment, and keep all these statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee,which I have brought upon the Egyptians for I am the Lord that healeth thee.”
Deuteronomy 7:15: “And the Lord will take away from thee all sicknesses, and will put none of the evil disease of Egypt, which thou knoweth, upon thee, but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.”
Isaiah 43:2: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee, when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” This is talking about immunity against the waters of tribulation, immunity against the rivers of trouble and immunity against the fire of affliction.
Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Psalm 27:1-2: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?. When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.”
Psalm 91:1: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” This Psalm tells us about immunity against the power of the night. It might interest you to know that most people do not sleep at night. The Psalm also talks about the arrow that flies by the day. It tells us about immunity against pestilence that walks about in darkness. It tells us about the power that causes destruction at noonday. It talks about power against the lion and the dragon. It talks about immunity against evil in all its ramifications.
Psalm 105: 14-15: “He suffered no man to do them wrong, yea he reproved kings for their sake, saying, Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm.”
Zechariah 2:5: “For I saith the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire around about and will be the glory in the midst of her.” Verse 8: “For thus saith the Lord of hosts.After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations, which spoiled you for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eyes.”
Psalm 34:7: “The angel of the Lord encampeth around about them that fear him and delivereth them.”
Proverbs 3:24: “When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid; yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.”
Mark 16:18: “They shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them, they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
Luke 10:19: “Behold I give unto you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
My prayer is that your spiritual immunity will not break down, in Jesus’ name. We have so many outstanding promises that God will protect us, but if we break certain laws this immunity will break down. If you don’t know what to do or you do the wrong thing your immunity can break down. So many things can break down the immunity of a believer. For example, wrong attitude. If somebody hurts you and you harbour resentment in your heart against him the enemy can see the dark cloud in your heart and that will break down your immunity.
Following the fashion of the world is another way you can break down your immunity. When someone lets you down or disappoints you and you begin to broadcast it to the whole world, your immunity will be broken down. When you pay evil for evil, when you decide to pay people back in their own coin, your immunity will break down. When you are very angry and you throw tantrums on people, your immunity will break down. Calling people insulting names, gossiping and not forgiving those that have hurt you will make your immunity to break down. All the demonic jewelries that people put on make their immunity to break down. Demonic herbal concoctions and other terrible things that people swallow make their immunity to break down.
Leviticus 17:11: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”
For you to be healthy and move about without any sickness, your blood must be immune. All the diseases that are available actually drink people’s blood. If a person loses a lot of blood, and nothing is done to restore it, he will soon die. Malaria is a terrible disease because it sucks people’s blood and uses it to produce more of its kind. Surely every sickness came as a result of the failure of Adam and Eve.
Somebody had a fever in the Bible. Let us see what Jesus did.
Luke 4:38: “And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever and they besought him for her. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever and it left her and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.” It means that you can talk to the fever or to your blood. You may say that this is madness. That would not be strange, after all, people said that Jesus and Paul were mad.
But when you learn to pray the following prayer points, you give yourself immunity:
1. Let the blood of Jesus be transfused into my blood, in Jesus’ name.
2. I render my blood untouchable to any disease, in Jesus’ name.
When you pray like this, any disease that comes in contact with your blood will die. There are so many things you can do. For example, you can anoint your body or put the anointing oil in your cream. You must be careful of the kind of food you eat. You must always pray on your food and water. Make sure you don’t over eat things.
The children of darkness often fortify and prepare themselves because they know that they can be attacked, but sometime the children of God are so foolish that they don’t fortify themselves. In the light of this, I want you to pray the following prayer points aggressively.
PRAYER POINTS
1. (Lay your hands on your head): I challenge my body with the fire of God, in Jesus’ name.
2. Every evil eternal enemy, come out by fire, in the name of Jesus.
3. O God, establish your kingdom in every department of my life, in the name of Jesus.
