I SHALL NOT GIVE MY ENEMIES THE INHERITANCE
Dr. D. K. Olukoya
The first thing I want you to do is to tell the Lord that you want to
experience His raw power, the kind of raw power that Elijah and the apostles experienced. Say, “O Lord, let me experience Your raw power, in the name of Jesus.”
The title of our message for this week is taken from I Kings 21. If you can open up your mind as you read this message, the Lord will do some deep works in your life. I Kings 21:1-3 says, “And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.”
Here was Naboth, he had a vineyard, which was beside the king’s palace. King Ahab was already a wizard because he married Jezebel who was a witch and it was his witch wife that was controlling all his activities. In fact, the havoc that Jezebel did to Israel can still be felt today. She was the woman that moved in 850 prophets of Baal and Balim. She was the one that threatened Elijah and he ran away. She manipulated the life of Ahab and got him to a terrible level. Ahab was an Israelite, the king of Israel who knew very well that it was against the law to give out the inheritance of your forefathers nevertheless, he went to Naboth and requested for his vineyard, which he had inherited from his forefathers. Naboth said, “No, I might be poor, there may be no money but God forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. Even if you are the highest king in the land, God forbid that I should hand it over to you.”
Beloved, apart from your life, the most priced gift that you have is your salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself, put Himself in a ridiculous position in order to redeem us and show us the way of life. The people whom He came to save, arrested Him like a common criminal. They came with sticks, clubs and lantern to locate the man that had come to help them. They arrested Him, bound Him up and scourged Him. They gave Him 39 strokes of the cane. They took the King of kings, stripped Him naked and mocked Him. They said to Him, “You trust in God, let Him come and deliver you. If He delights in you, let Him deliver you now. They laughed Him to scorn. When He said Eli, Eli, Lama sabachthani?” they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” They spat on His face, slapped Him and pulled His beard. You try and pull out one strand of hair from your head and you will see how painful it is then, you can understand what it is to pluck out hairs from a man’s beard. They tied His hands and pressed a crown of thorns upon His head. As they did that, the sharp things entered His skull and blood poured out on His face. They divided His garments amongst themselves and condemned Him as an unjust man. They ridiculed His mission, drove spiles into His body, hands and legs. Terrible things they did to the Master.
The life of Jesus could be divided into three sections:
1. His birth.
2. His death.
3. His resurrection.
When Jesus was born, a handful of shepherds witnessed it. The birth of Jesus, which divided our calendar into two - AD and BC had more of animals as witnesses than human beings. The Bible did not even bother to call the names of the shepherds. Angels came down and the glory shone around. The same angels predicted that Jesus was to be born, they announced His birth, protected Him as a child, and even ministered to Him in the wilderness. They also ministered to Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, rolled away the stone at His sepulchre and announced His resurrection. On His resurrection day, a couple of witnesses stood by. But on the day that He was going to die on the cross, the angels completely avoided the cross; they stayed away on that day. God the Father Himself turned His back. They ridiculed him: “You saved others now save yourself." A large crowd gathered to watch His trial, verdict, crucifixion and death. Unlike when He was born, only a few people were there. Jesus Himself shouted, “My Father my Father, why hast thou forsaken me.”
Of the three events in the life of Jesus, the one that shook everywhere was His death. That day, nature itself went into convulsion; there was darkness at unusual hours, the ground shook, tombs cracked open and dead people came out. The sky went black and the angels kept away. The question is, why? It is because of one thing - sin.
SIN
Sin means success in nothing. How can anyone who calls himself a lover of Jesus knowingly continue in sin? Why is it that we have multitude of believers today who continue to cling to lusts, bad habits, grudges and bitterness? Why do Christians come to church every Sunday to raise their hands in praises to God for delivering them, go out to witness about Christ’s power to break bondage but cling to their own sin. Sin has entangled itself around the hearts of many modern-day Christians. Sin already has full control of many lives that is why the ancient power the Bible talks about is going down. The apostles did not have to wait for Paul or Peter before they could pray for anyone. Somebody like Stephen did not even belong to the group of the apostles.
The longer we indulge in besetting sin, the stronger its hold on us becomes. The longer you stay in any sin, the tighter the hold will be on your neck. No matter how gifted you are or how talented you are, as far as sin is in your life, you are not going anywhere. Secret sins have decaying powers, which cause destruction in every area of our lives. It is a cancer that spreads throughout the entire being, defiling our thoughts and action. There are so many people around who think they are better than others. There are some pastors who feel they are the best and other pastors are inferior. Some people who are sinners, consider others as sinners too. The trouble is that sin never dies of itself. No! If it is not uprooted and destroyed, it takes over the throne of a person’s life. If it is allowed to stay for long, the person then becomes a sermon-proof Christian, meaning that the person is no longer responding to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Such a person would annoy God and his eyes would still be dry. He gets defensive when he is confronted with his sin. God’s promise to break every bondage and set the captives free is only for those who are sick of their sin. The Holy Ghost cannot release His full power on anyone who does not see his sin as a serious matter. This is why there is a scarcity of the power of God. This is why things that ought to take two minutes are taking five hours. This is also why we have pastors, ministers and teachers with no fire at all. You are deceiving yourself, beloved, if you think the Holy Spirit will release you from the grip of sin without your co-operation. The Holy Spirit is just a helper and would help you only when you are ready.
It is time for you to cry out like this: “Oh Lord, if there is any sin in me deal with it. I do not want to be a castaway, in the name of Jesus.” Sin will make a person a castaway. You need to sit down and ask questions, if not, you will eventually give the inheritance of your fathers to the enemies. You need to sit down and ask yourself questions such as: Why do I continue in my sin? Why does the evil bondage still hold me? Why am I not free?
Many Christians are still living in sin because they do not have the fear of God. Please pray like this: “Lord, if there is any sin in me, deal with it now, in the name of Jesus.” It will be a tragedy if after reading this message and your life remains the same. Without the fear of God, you cannot experience lasting deliverance from sin. Unfortunately, in many churches now, the subject of the fear of God has become a taboo. Many people do not talk about it anymore. The fear of God includes a full understanding of the danger and consequences of sin. The longer you continue in sin the more you are in danger of hardening your heart and the more you harden your heart, the more spiritual blessings flow out of your hand; the more the anointing flows away. You may make noise and jump up, that is not a problem for the devil for he can see you in and out. If anyone continues in sin, he will eventually face the wrath of God. If you continue in sin, you will experience a constant drain of peace and strength. If you continue in sin, you will lose your usefulness in the kingdom of God. It is a serious matter.
You can see what our Saviour passed through because of sin. He went through humiliation and suffering to hand over salvation to you and I. If we now begin to joke with it, it means we are looking for trouble. Genesis 25: 29 -34 says, “And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.”
Recently, I received letters from four sisters who were not married. All four were going about with married men who kept them as concubines or girlfriends. They bought them houses, gave them cars and took them to London and America. They kept their lives on a shelf. But when they came to our meeting, they heard the word of God and were convicted in their hearts. I expected that the next thing they should have done was to leave the relationships. Instead of going ahead to do that, they wrote letters telling me that the houses they were living in were given to them by their men friends, including their cars and drivers, shops, etc. Now, if they break the relationships, they would die of hunger. The bottom line is that these women have sold their birthright without knowing it and the longer they stay in it, the longer the devil would keep them in slavery. They must get to the level of Esther who said, “If I perish, I perish. I will not sell my birthright.”
WHAT IS A BIRTHRIGHT?
A birthright is the privileges you are entitled to from birth. What is your spiritual birthright? They are spiritual and physical privileges you are entitled to as a born again Christian. There are so many things attached to birthright. For example now, Esau was entitled to the following things as his birthright:
1. His family inheritance.
2. The ruling head of his family.
3. The right to collect his father’s blessings first.
4. The spiritual leadership and priesthood of his family.
5. The best of all the family land.
6. A special providence meant for him alone.
7. A special party to the Abrahamic covenant.
This birthright belongs only to the first son and that is why he was entitled to a double-portion of the inheritance. Unfortunately, he sold it away for some pottage. If you pick an ant and say that it should be picking all the sand from the barbeach in Lagos to Abuja one by one by trekking, the day the ant succeeds in evacuating the whole of the sand cannot be compared to eternity. It is a tragedy for a person to use his life here on earth to destroy his eternity, even if the person lives 150 years. Unfortunately, Esau sold his birthright; he exchanged his inheritance for a pot of pottage, which is a temporary thing. Anyone who sells his birthright, which Jesus Christ suffered and died for, would be lost for ever. To trade this important thing for worldly things is sad indeed.
Sometime ago, a certain man offered me a Mercedes V boot car. He smelled of adultery and the chain on his neck was almost touching his belly button. I said, “I am sorry, I don’t want. The reason for a vehicle is for me to move from one place to the other. You are not born again and broken and you are giving me a Mercedes Benz car. The day I preach what you do not like, you would ask for your car. I prefer to tell the truth without the car than to have it without being able to preach the truth. The day I see that your life changes and you are broken, I will take it from you so that you can be blessed. But if you are not broken and you are not a child of God and I take things from you, I am a transgressor like yourself."
It is a dangerous thing for you to have an important material and not realize it. Before you give your life to Christ, God has attached some blessings to your life. When you now give your life to Jesus, more blessings are attached. Many do not know what it means to be born again. Being born again means to be begotten from above. The reason many people are undergoing deliverance now is because they are in trouble for selling cheaply, their birthright to their enemies.
Some years ago, we were at a crusade and people were divided into different groups depending on their needs. There was a group for those who were possessed by witchcraft spirits. There was another one for those who were looking for employment. I was moving around. I got to the group of those possessed by witchcraft and familiar sprits and found that many of them would qualify for Miss Nigeria and some of the men too, would qualify for models you see in magazines. All of a sudden, one girl opened her mouth and vomited three birds; red, black and white. The birds were very ugly. The evangelist who was conducting the meeting moved back and pointed at me to do something about it. The girl now pointed at a pastor in a far corner who was calling prayer points for those who were experiencing failure at the edge of breakthrough and said, “You see that one, he slept with me yesterday.” I was shocked. I said, “Well, if he slept with you what is the implication?” She said, “The prayer he is calling there are curses because already I have polluted his life.” This man of God had sold his birthright for a cheap price.
There are sisters who sell alcohol, attachment, jewellery and things that are Jezebelian in nature because they are looking for money; may God have mercy on them because they are trading their birthright cheaply. Many have sold their birthright to their enemies like the pastor I told you about and they are busy rejoicing. The foolish man did not even know that he had sold it just like Esau. Esau’s problem started with a small appetite. The appetite for food has destroyed so many precious souls that is why the Bible says that the belly of some people is their God. The reason you find so many churches in every corner is because the belly of many people has become their God. If they can tell lies to one or two people and get money from them, they are okay. I pray that your belly will not kill you, in the name of Jesus. Stealing or cheating to buy what you cannot afford is selling your birthright. Why do you want to eat what you cannot afford? It is better to die of hunger than for you to sell your body because of food. Many so-called believers do not want to leave their boyfriends because they are afraid of starving. They are just selling their birthright. Have you sold your birthright because of food? You better repent today. Many sisters and brothers have missed God’s will for their lives by being too greedy. A lot of people sold their birthright cheaply through sex. They need to pray so that God will deliver them and restore their inheritance, which they have sold to the enemy.
OTHER WAYS OF SELLING YOUR BIRTHRIGHT
1. Self-centeredness: Putting yourself first before others or exploiting and using others to accomplish your selfish goals, is a way of selling your birthright. You should pray for your inheritance to come back if you are like that. If you give because you expect something in return, you have sold your birthright and need to buy it back. If you do good only when you will be given praise for it then you have sold your birthright. If you like self-display; you want people to know that you are the one there, you have sold your birthright. If you are primarily concerned with what others are thinking about you then you have sold your birthright.
2. Doubt and unbelief: If you are full of doubt and unbelief then you have sold your birthright.
3. Sin: If you enjoy sinning but hate the consequences, then you have sold your birthright. If you are always thinking of covering your sins instead of repenting them, you have sold your birthright. If you are so self-conscious that you can commit sin in order to please others, then you have sold your birthright. If unfortunately you are one of those who prefer to spend money for burial ceremonies than to pay your children’s school fees, you have sold your birthright. If you justify your sin instead of saying, “Oh God, I am a sinner, deliver me,” then you have sold your birthright.
4. Hypocrisy: All hypocrites have sold their birthright. If you refuse to admit that you are what you are and need to change, you are only caging yourself which amounts to selling your birthright. God forbid that I should give my enemies the inheritance of my fathers. Rejoicing when other are failing, pretending to be loyal, using your mouth to pull others down and backbiting are ways of selling your birthright.
5. Being revengeful: If you are always looking for somebody as a scapegoat instead of facing your own sin, it is selling your birthright.
6. Impatience: If you who have been born again for one or two years and you still act before you think and take rash decisions then you have sold your birthright.
7. Unteachable spirit: If you cannot really listen to others and you are not teachable then you have sold your birthright.
The greatest inheritance that Jesus gave to us is our salvation. It will be very sad for anyone to sell it to the enemy. The church is a place where you find the highest number of hypocrites. The heathens worship their idols with all seriousness. They dance and roll on the floor with all their strength. But in the house of God, you find people who are lazy and unserious.
The fact that somebody is a pastor does not mean that he is born again; the fact that somebody is a house fellowship teacher does not mean that he has encountered Christ. The only thing is that he has a label. At the end of the age, all the labels of pastor, deacon, G.O., bishop, etc shall be taken away and we shall see what people are inside. A bachelor who is sleeping with a woman outside marriage is already dead, likewise a spinster who sleeps with a man she is not married to. Such people are the ones disturbing the power of God from moving in a place. They are inside the church but the church is not in them.
It is important to pray that whatsoever is making the devil to rejoice in your life should go, no matter how much you like it. It is also important to pray that whatsoever is making your enemies to rejoice in your life should go out whether you like it or not. What I am talking about is both preventive and curative. Some prayers are called curative prayers while some are called preventive prayers. Do not feel unconcerned. You better pray. Paul said, “We have no confidence in the flesh,” “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
Review your life in the last one week. Does it glorify Jesus? Is there no malice in your heart? Have you not been telling lies? Have you become a habitual sinner? Have you been entertaining the thoughts and imaginations of sin? Have you lost your vision of heaven?
Are you neglecting the calling of God upon your life? Have you lost the presence and anointing of God upon your life? Is the peace and joy of the Holy Ghost still in your heart? Is your birthright still there or have you sold it on the altar of sex, food, money, malice or anger? Have you sold your inheritance to your enemies? It is time to review your life.
The God of MFM is the God of holiness and power: He will by no means welcome people who want to live in sin and experience power. Why should He send His Son to die for you and you want the death to go in vain. Look at what Jesus went through. Do you think He would be happy with anyone who wants His suffering and death to go in vain? Please, tell the Lord to remove any sin that is demoting you out your life, repent of them, and possess your possession.
The Bible says, “Narrow is the path that leads to life, few there be that find it," meaning that not many will find it. You may be a bishop’s wife or daughter, son of priest, you may have gone to apostolic this and that, Elijah this, gospel that and every where but all you did while going around was to collect arrows that would demote you further. Will you not cry to the Lord today from the bottom of your heart so that He can rescue you from the well of the enemy? Open your mouth and pray like this: “O God, deliver me from this wicked generation, in the name of Jesus. This generation must not mess me up. I will not sacrifice my destiny on the altar of this wicked generation, in Jesus' name. I shall not surrender to my enemies, in the name of Jesus. If I have sold my birthright to the enemy, blood of Jesus, buy it back for me, in the name of Jesus. I refuse to be wasted, in Jesus’ name. The enemy shall not waste my life, in Jesus’ name.”
The first problem of Peter started when he began to warm himself in the fire of the enemy; and of course temptation came and he fell flat. He got too close to what he should run away from. Make the following declarations: “I shall not warm myself in the fire of the enemy, in the name of Jesus.” “I shall not surrender my inheritance to the enemy, in the name of Jesus.
Samson died with his enemies. Although he killed them, the place was also his burial ground. “I shall not die with my enemies, in Jesus' name.
PRAYER POINTS
1. The arrow that fly by day shall not locate my destiny, in the name of Jesus.
2. O Lord, sweep away anything that does not glorify You in my life, in Jesus’ name.
3. I shall not be a worker of iniquity, in the name of Jesus.
4. My life will not cooperate with the enemies of God, in the name of Jesus.
5. Holy Ghost fire, purge my life, in the name of Jesus.
6. I shall not be an unprofitable servant, in the name of Jesus.
7. My legs, hear the word of the Lord, you must not walk the path of destruction, in the name of Jesus.
8. Every stronghold of sin in my life, I pull you down, in the name of Jesus.
9. The sin of my ancestors shall not cage my life, in the name of Jesus.
10. O God, arise and kill every iniquity in my life, in the name of Jesus.
