A shrine is not a strange thing to an average person living in Africa because in many of the communities, there are shrines where people worship every time. God is in the business of disqualifying men and women when they do not meet His standard. This is because everyone has this personal shrine which he or she worships everyday. Some people spend hours in the bathroom every morning trying to worship this shrine. Some people feed this shrine at least three times everyday. This shrine complains at every little inconvenience. It hates any form of discomfort.
The most difficult thing in life is for one to know oneself. It is true that the easiest person to deceive is oneself. And the worst fraud is to deceive oneself. But it is surprising to know that many people actively deceive themselves. Some know within them that they are not on the path to heaven at all, yet they pretend.
The chief usher of a certain church came to me crying, that God had taken away his peace. He told me that any time they finished counting the offering in his church, the pastor would pick all the fifty naira notes for himself. He watched the pastor do this for about three years, expecting him to fall down and die, but found that the man was getting fatter instead. Therefore, he decided to be picking the twenty naira notes after the pastor had picked the fifty naira notes. But the first day he did it, an angel appeared to him in the dream and said, “Son, you have just started a process that your generation coming will also reap the punishment because you are stealing from the Lord.” He told the angel that the pastor too was doing it. God told him that the pastor was just a temporary staff. It was then he ran to me. What pushed that man to do that kind of thing was the shrine of the flesh.
Ninety per cent of what many people carry about are materials used to worship this shrine: a comb to comb the hair of the shrine, a mirror to watch the shrine very well, lipstick to give it read colour, and sometimes, you find a very tiny Bible hiding in their midst.
If you want an increase of Christ in your life, there must be a decrease of self. Somebody once said that madness is to increase your speed where you have already lost your way. Many are saying they want Nigeria or the world to change, but few people are ready to change themselves. The command now is loud and clear: “Lay aside the shrine called self or God will lay you aside.”
There are many people who are busy comparing themselves with others forgetting that the Bible says the battle is not to the strong, neither the race to the swift. God has an agenda for your life. You must understand that life is not about how fast you go but how well you do it. Lay that shrine aside, let God use you, so that God does not lay you aside. At this juncture, I would like you to make the following confession: "I live to die, I die to live; the more I die, the more I live." This is why Paul said, “I die daily.” The more the shrine of the flesh dies, the more of God rises up in your life. The flesh is our greatest enemy. Our greatest enemy is not the devil, witches and wizards; but this shrine, which we carry about. Temptations are effective because of our sinful nature, the sin in us welcomes them, and they start causing problems for us. Immediately you are able to put Mr. Flesh in its proper place, demons will run away from you. There will no longer be a ladder for them to climb in to work in your life.
A certain man was in big trouble and believed the whole world was against him because he lost his job five times, his wife ran away, somebody impregnated his daughter that was in the secondary school, and he became so depressed. He cried to the Lord in desperate prayer to deliver him. And the Lord appeared to him and he was very happy because he wanted the Lord to sympathize with him, promote him, give him justice and deliverance from all his troubles. But to his amazement, the Lord pointed at him and said, “Your problem is rooted in you and not your enemy.” This is the hardest part of Christian life. Many people are not willing to admit that they are their own problem. The Lord told him that he was only deceiving himself by blaming the devil. The Lord said further, “Son, listen to me well, I am the Almighty, I am not struggling with the devil. I desire that your flesh be in submission to my Spirit. I want to dethrone you from the centre of your life and be your Lord. Your flesh is doing more to hinder my work than any evil power you are praying against. So, the devil is not the issue as much as the power of your flesh.” The man was dazed because he thought the Lord would deal with witches and wizards on his behalf. But the Lord told him that he was the problem.
Our toughest battle is with the flesh. Galatians 5:17 says, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would do.” This fight between the flesh and the spirit is so serious that if the flesh is not put under control, one will not be able to fulfill one’s destiny. When there is no food for the shrine called flesh, its power goes down. And when Mr. Flesh is very weak then the spirit can rise. That is the secret of fasting. Fasting does not change God. But when you begin to fast, the flesh becomes a weak king and the spirit begins to rise. Then you are able to pray more and get results.
The devil comes in when we open the door through our uncrucified flesh. People come to programmes and get blessed but because Mr. Flesh is uncrucified, they get the miracles and lose them. Some lose their miracles right from the car park, while some lose theirs at home. After a very powerful prayer meeting, Mr. Flesh waits for people at different points. It could be at home, where he will push somebody to provoke them and they will get angry and misbehave and that will be the end of the breakthrough they have received. Some come to prayer meetings and instead of sitting down and interceding, praying that the Lord should visit them, they would be listening to the gossips of a friend, analyzing everything and everybody.
The devil is always looking for open doors. He knows the limitations of his power. Jesus said the prince of this world came and found nothing in Him. The devil had no access to Jesus because He was dead to self. He was dead to its desires and agenda. Is lust still in the laboratory of your heart? It means there is something in you that needs to die. If it does not die, you are not going anywhere. Even if God has decided to use you but your flesh is still on the throne of your life, you will be disqualified or at most be a temporary instrument or you become like a tout at the bus-stop calling for passengers while he goes nowhere. Or you become a human signboard, which does not leave where it is.
The powers of darkness operate the most powerful X-ray machines that exist. Immediately they set eyes on a person, they can tell the spiritual level of the person. That is why they said to the sons of Sceva, “Paul we know, Jesus we know, but who are you? Your names are not here, you have no authority.” No matter what powerful name you give yourself, they know you. You may be a very powerful singer, but you could be just a temporary vessel.
Sometime ago, in one of our stations abroad, as I told the congregation to rise up and sing a song, the Lord said: “Son look at that man who is going to play the keyboard very well.” I looked at him and he was very handsome man. The Lord said, “He would pollute this meeting if you do not stop him.” I thought of how I was going to embarrass the man, but I had to listen to my Master. So, I told the pastor to remove the man from the keyboard. “Ah! We hired him and we have paid,” the pastor said. “Put your church organist there,” I replied. The pastor told me that the church organist was not as good as this man. But I insisted he put the church organist there. After the service, the man came to me and demanded why he was embarrassed at the service. I asked him the following question as led by the Holy Spirit: “When last did you visit a prostitute?” His eyes blinked at my question and then he understood why I asked him to leave and he asked for help. Here was a man who seemed to be serving God but was dishonest inside. There are many like that. Beloved, if you are like that, how long will you act? Won’t you cry to the Lord that the shrine of flesh that has been controlling your life should dry up and die?
The scanning machine of darkness can detect the smallest compromise you make. They can see those cleverly concealed evil habits that others cannot see. This is why the prayers of many people are not effective. The devil will defeat any Christian whose flesh is not crucified with ease. The devil is looking for houses to dwell in and any area of your life that is not submitted to God would be taken over by him for a residence. The human life is like a large mansion. God will take residence of the room you give to Him. The one you do not give to Him, He leaves it to you; and Jesus is knocking at the door looking for serious people. The fact remains that the absence or scarcity of the power of God in this generation is not the fault of God, but the unavailability of yielded, ready vessels. Whatever area of your life you submit to the devil, the devil will use it. If you submit your hair, ears, thoughts, marriage, job, house, ambitions, certificate or voice, he will use it.
From Galatians 5:24, we understand that we need to pray some surgical prayers. Some things have to be cut down, some things have to die. Christians need to get to that level, where they no longer fall into temptation, a level where they are completely dead to temptation. If you are still blaming other people for your shortcomings, then you are not ready for change yet. But when you point the accusing finger at yourself, then you are getting somewhere. Those who are still having evil affections and lust are not of Christ, they have not crucified the flesh. That is what the scripture is telling us.
Somebody tempted Peter with money. He said to Peter, “Take this money and give me this gift also, that on whosoever I lay my hands on would receive the Holy Spirit.” Peter looked at him and said, “Your money perish with you.” Peter was able to say so to him because there was nothing in Peter that would respond to the sensation and temptation of money.
I want you to know that the enemy can detect the smallest unfaithfulness and falsehood in your life. You may tell a man of God a lie, and God may not even tell him that you are telling a lie, but the enemy knows and will use it against you. Peter had allowed God to crucify that area of his life that was yielding to money. The flesh enables a man to engage in activities contrary to the Holy Spirit. The flesh will not improve, it is rotten to the core. And most of the problems we have are brought upon us by this shrine. It is responsible for rash decisions, plain disobedience and irrational thinking. The most difficult problem of man is to point accusing fingers to himself.
THE FLESH IS VERY DANGEROUS AND HAS NO MERCY.
The flesh is a harder problem to deal with than the devil. We fight four basic enemies:
1. Sin. The Bible says, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).
2. The world. The Bible says, “In the world you shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
3. The devil. But the Bible says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
4. The shrine called flesh. To this one, there is no promise at all. You need to fight it to a standstill. That is why you must deal with all self-righteousness and selfishness. Selfishness is when self is on the throne. It breeds indiscipline, boasting, stubbornness, rebellion, covetousness, laziness, restlessness, and procrastination. If you do not pull down the power of this shrine, the Lord will disqualify you from the battlefront. He has to do that or you will become a casualty.
Many years ago, an old white man preached a message titled: “How to be miserable.” According to him, if you want to be miserable, do the following things:
• Always be thinking about yourself alone. Do not think of helping others.
• Always be talking about yourself and your achievements.
• Use the word “I” as often as possible.
• Mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others.
• Always listen greedily to what they say about you.
• Always be suspicious.
• Expect to be appreciated for everything you do.
• Be jealous and envious.
• Be sensitive to any small insult. Never forgive anyone who criticizes you.
• Love yourself supremely above others.
• Allow yourself to be on the throne of your life.
If you feed your flesh, it will get stronger and if you feed your spirit, your spirit will get stronger. Jesus said, “The flesh profiteth nothing.” You must not underestimate the power of the flesh. If you do, you would be captured before you know it.
The shrine of self is the power of sin which functions against the law of God. The shrine of self is the one that forbids the practice of spiritual good. The shrine of self is that which the Bible says cannot please God. The shrine of self is the tool the devil uses to get control of people's lives. The shrine of self is that which gives legal ground to satanic activities in our lives. The shrine of self is the empty way of life we received from our ancestors. The shrine of self is the producer of evil works within. This is why repentance destroys its work. When you repent, you destroy the works of Mr. Flesh. The shrine of self is the one that gets angry. The shrine of self is the one that engages in impure thoughts. The shine of self has the capacity to specialize in people’s lives. Beloved, do not rejoice and start saying, “I only tell lies. I don’t commit fornication," because the shrine might have decided to specialize in that area of your life. There is no difference between a witch and a fornicator. They are both students in the training school of the flesh. And the Bible says both of them shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Occasional anger is the work of the flesh. Jealousy, fighting, selfishness, tribalism etc will all lead to the same place. If you have a mango tree in your house and do not want it to produce fruits again, the solution is to uproot it. Many people have not done certain things because there is no opportunity for them to do them. Mr. Flesh can keep quiet for one week or more and you begin to thank God. But it can rise again when you provoke him. This is why a pastor can give his wife a serious beating. The reason some people do not commit fornication is that they have not found somebody who will submit to them. The day they find one, Mr. Flesh that has been lying low will come up. The reason some people are not in prison for stealing or embezzlement is that they have never worked in a place where they have access to a lot of money, the day they come across it, Mr. Flesh will come up. This is why you must not joke with the flesh. That is why drastic measures must be taken against the flesh, it has to be dragged to the cross and nailed there. The cross too like Mr. Flesh has no mercy. Jesus died on it. Once you get to the cross, you die to the flesh. The flesh is able to allow some scattered victories here and there before attacking again.
WAY OUT
You must decide that this shrine must be destroyed, and that you are not going to worship or feed it again. You must decide to pray the prayer of Zechariah who said: “That which must die, let it die.” That is, let the flesh die. Pray that God should get a good nail and nail you to His cross, so that whatever anyone does against you will not affect you. And focus on hearing the Lord say, “Well done, thou good servant, enter into the joy of your master.” Anything that will not allow you to hear this from the Lord is the shrine of self.
It is a pity that what is going to affect some people in ten years time is already in them. The sin that they will commit and annoy God is already inside their lives. You need to render the flesh dead so that if you were getting angry before, you become unprovokable. Until the flesh dies, you cannot become what God wants you to become. There are some pastors who are proud. They do not understand the word of God which says, "What do you have that you did not receive?" If you received it from God, why are you behaving as if you did not receive it? The flesh must die so that you can walk freely with the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Power of the cross, crucify my flesh, in the name of Jesus.
2. Every power of the flesh in my destiny, die, in the name of Jesus.
3. Anything in my life that has not manifested now but will manifest in the future to destroy my life, die, in the name of Jesus.
4. Any material from my body in the kingdom of darkness, disappear by fire, in the name of Jesus.
5. Every ladder used by the enemy to climb into my life, be roasted, in the name of Jesus.
