This week, we are looking at the message entitled, “Wounded in the house of my friend.”
Zechariah 13:6 says, “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”
A careful look at the scripture in the foregoing gives us certain information:
1. Someone was wounded.
2. This person knew the origin of the wound.
3. The wound came from an unexpected quarter.
4. He knew that his wounds came from his friends.
Daniel 2:22 says, “He revealeth the deep and secret things; he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.”
There are certain things that are deep and secret, which can only be revealed by God. I Kings 14:1-3 says, “At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Abijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him; he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.”
The child of Jeroboam was sick and was not responding to treatment. Jeroboam did not know what to do. So, he decided to go and find out from the prophet what was wrong. He wanted to know the source of the sickness. But because he had offended the God of Israel and could not face the prophet, he asked his wife to go there in disguise. I Kings 14:4 says, “And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.”
They were so far from the God of Israel they did not even know that it was not necessary to disguise because the prophet was already blind.
I Kings 14:5 says, “And the Lord said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick; thus and thus shall thou say unto her; for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman." “Before the wife of Jeroboam could call, the Holy Spirit had revealed to the prophet that somebody was coming there in disguise.
1 Kings 14:6-13 says, “And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? For I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. Go, tell Jeroboam, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, fore as much as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee; and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; But hast done evil above all that were before thee; for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat; for the Lord hath spoken it. Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good things toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.”
So, the origin of the sickness of that child was the punishment which God had planned for the whole house of Jeroboam. And the punishment was that none of them would be buried properly except this particular little child who had some good things in him. So, God wanted to remove him out of the way before He dealt with the rest of them.
SOME STATEMENTS OF FACT
1. There are some things known as problems. Problems are universal entities. They do not recognize racial or tribal influence. They differ as you go from one part of the world to another. It could be suicide, expression, alcoholism, etc. And there are particular sets of spirits responsible for these problems. In Africa, you find a lot of poverty, witchcraft attacks, backwardness, sicknesses, etc. So, problems are universal.
2. Problems are no respecters of person. They come without anyone’s invitation. Therefore, the whole world is filled with men and women struggling to solve one problem or another.
3. Behind every problem, there is a spiritual force. Sometimes, we waste our time fighting human beings when we should be fighting the spirits behind our problems. When Jesus told His disciples that the Son of man would go to Jerusalem and die and would be buried and would rise on the third day, Peter said, “Far be it from you Lord. You are not going to die like that.” It was Peter speaking but there was a force behind what he was saying. That force was not of God. So, Jesus had to turn back and rebuke satan. He said, “I rebuke you satan.” There are voices that can speak to us, which are not backed by the power of God. Behind every problem, there is a spiritual force. The truth is that the enemy has moved, tied down, loosened and has gone from street to street, family to family, community to community, race to race and tribe to tribe in order to harass and intimidate people. He has moved to shatter, detain, afflict, and wound people.
There are people who hear strange commands and begin to obey them. Many years ago, a certain fine-looking man was brought to our meeting. He qualified as a medical doctor but some hefty men had to be beside him always because he used to run all of a sudden without anybody pursuing him. He would run until he got tired and fall down. He would rest for some time, stand up and start running again. I asked the people who brought him if he was like that before he went to the university and they said no. They told me the problem started when he got his first job. After some prayers, he regained consciousness a little bit and I asked why he was running. He told me he used to hear one voice, which would say to him, “Run!” And he would begin to run. A power was issuing an evil command to him and he could not resist it.
Apart from strange voices that issue evil command to people, there are also strange entities that follow people about. Some of the victims of these evil followers can see them, while some cannot. They follow people when they go for business to spoil things for them.
4. Every righteous man or woman will at one time or another in life, face the plot of the wicked. It happened to Joseph and Joseph triumphed. It happened to Daniel. Some people conspired against him and he was thrown into the lions’ den but he triumphed. It happened to Shadrack Meshack and Abednego but they triumphed too. So, the enemies of Joseph and Daniel only rejoiced for a while. Their joy was cut off. The lions’ den and furnace of fire were God’s instruments to bury their enemies. So, what the enemy put forward as an instrument of warfare against the righteous was used to destroy the enemy. You must understand that once you remain righteous the way God wants you to remain; you will never be defeated by the enemy. The Bible says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all.” The righteous would one time or another face the plot of the wicked but the wicked will not succeed. Their instruments of wickedness will be to their own destruction. This is the stand of the scriptures.
5. The attack of the enemy can take three forms:
i. There is something the Bible calls the fiery darts of the enemy. The enemy fires this kind of evil arrows into the life of a person to last for a while. He just punishes the person for a while, releases the person and returns again. Many people are facing these fiery darts now.
ii. The enemy can have a foothold in a person’s life. That is why the Bible says, “Give no place for the enemy.” It means you must never allow the enemy to move freely in your life. The foothold of the enemy can keep a person from moving forward.
iii. The enemy can have a stronghold in a person’s life. A stronghold can run from generation to generation. It can affect so many things. Abraham at one time in his life told Abimelech a lie. He said that his wife was his sister. Forty years later, Isaac the son of Abraham told the same lie to Pharaoh. He said that his wife was his sister. Sixty years later, Jacob the son of Isaac and his mother deceived Isaac. Eighty years later, Laban deceived Jacob. Hundred years later, Jacob himself was deceived. One hundred and twenty years later, Reuben slept with his father’s wife. One hundred and forty years later, Judah slept with his daughter in law. It went on like that. That is what is called a stronghold. This stronghold of deception, lying and iniquity was going across generations of a particular lineage. So, a stronghold is a very terrible thing. That is why the Bible says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
In military terms, a stronghold refers to a place that is fortified. It refers to a kind of area that cannot be easily penetrated. It is a place that provides sure safety for the enemy. When the enemy of a person is hiding inside a stronghold, there is a serious problem. The enemy uses strongholds to keep people from enjoying abundant life. He uses it to hinder prayers, and maturity, and to keep people from being effective for the Lord. He also uses it to downgrade or demote destinies. The stronghold of the enemy is the reason many Christians suffer from defeat over and over again even when to the best of their knowledge they are doing everything right.
6. Your parentage will determine the battle you fight. It would be foolish for anyone to think that the battles from his home will not affect him. It would be foolish to think that the enemy of your parents will leave you alone. If the Israelites did not go to Egypt, they would not have had any cause to pass through the Red sea. It was their parents that went to Egypt and that action of their parents subjected them to some hardship.
7. If there is any problem in your life, it shows that you have something worth contesting for. So, you need to fight to free yourself.
8. The solution to any crisis you are going through is embedded in the crisis itself. This is why you must pray and roar in desperate prayer like a wounded lion or a mad prophet and tell your problems to reveal their origin or source and the solution. Those are the two commands to give to them.
Many people run away from crisis point because they do not know that the place of rest is the point of victory. Until victory is complete, there would be warfare. Some also do not know that there is a treasure even in the trouble they are going through. There is a miracle in the garden of your misery. There is a treasure in the garden of your trouble. There is a possibility in the garden of your problem. There is triumph in the garden of travail. And there is prosperity in the garden of poverty. There is honour in the garden of humiliation. So, the answer to every trouble is in the trouble itself, meaning that every problem comes with its seed of solution inside it.
Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” It means that as a child of God, opposition will work for your good. That is why you need to cry out to God to show you the answer. Running away from your trouble may be running away from your breakthrough. You can turn every pressure the enemy places upon you to power. God is able to pinpoint for you the origin of your problems and the solution if you will go to Him in desperate prayers.
9. The worst thing anyone can do to himself is to wage war against himself. Unfortunately, many people an unconsciously doing that; they are assisting the enemy to fight them harder. If God opens your spiritual eyes and you see what a mermaid spirit looks like, when you see somebody who dresses like a mermaid, you will scream. Unfortunately, ignorance is no excuse. Sometime ago in Ghana, a boy came for prayers. He needed deliverance from witchcraft attacks. After the prayers, we noticed that he had a necklace on and we asked him to remove it. He refused and said he had been wearing it right from the day he was born. He said that the native doctor told him that if he removed it, he would die. But looking at him, I knew that what he had on was the instrument of his attack. I convinced him to remove it and to his amazement, he found that he was still alive after he obeyed. I told him that the thing needed to be destroyed. He first of all resisted but eventually agreed and we destroyed it. When we cracked open the pendant, we saw the following three words clearly written on a piece of paper, “I love satan.” That was what he had been wearing since he was born.
Sisters, who dress indecently in the name of fashion, need to wake up so that they will not wage war against themselves. Some people are waging war against their breakthroughs and are praying against an enemy that they are already hanging on their bodies. If God wanted people to punch their ears and wear things on them, He would punch the ears from their mothers’ wombs. Likewise if God wanted people to be smoking cigarettes, He would put chimneys on their heads from their mothers’ wombs.
The early Pentecostal fathers in Nigeria uniformly banned jewelry from their churches because it invited demons. And the most effective ministers now are those who believe in holiness within and without. The practice of ear-piercing started with slavery. In those days, if you punched one ear, It showed that you belonged to one slave master. If you punched the two, you belonged to two slave masters. So, when the slaves were being set free, it was customary for them to cover the holes in order to hide the slavery. So, ear-piercing is even bad enough because the origin is in idolatry. Decorating these holes is even worse.
We cannot serve God well when we encumber ourselves with these things. If you bake a cake and put an emblem of idolatry on it, you are partaking in idolatry. Many people hang crosses on their necks, when Jesus is no longer on the cross. Many do not know that there are different types of crosses, and that crosses with holes on top of them are witchcraft crosses called hank. Anyone who wears that kind of thing is a modern idol worshipper. The Bible says, “You shall not make to thyself any graven image” (Exodus 20:4). So, do not be the one waging war against yourself. If you are stylishly worshipping idols, you will be blocking your own breakthrough. Idol worship is not only when you physically carry idols or bow down to a particular thing. But when you design something in the shape of an idol, it is idol worship. These days, even Christians are wearing clothes designed with the eyes of serpents, stars, half a moon etc on them. All these strange objects find their way into Christian homes. Many Christians are wearing rings that carry strange patterns, and they do not understand the language the rings are speaking to them. Many of these rings and earrings are testifying even against the people wearing them. It is foolishness for a Christian to buy a vest bearing a sign he does not know or understand and wears it. Such a person may be cursing himself stylishly. Christians should avoid these kinds of things. A believer is not a wig wearer. If God has given you short hair, glorify Him for it. A believer does not put on long nails. If God had decreed that your nail would be short for you to have a breakthrough, keep it short the way He wants it. A believer does not buy extra things to attach to his or her hair. Certainly, a believer does not punch holes in the nose or mouth. If you do those things, you are waging war against yourself.
10. We do not choose our enemies, battles or struggles. But we can choose our weapons of retaliation.
The Lord is able to reveal deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with Him.
Beloved, please pray the following prayers from the bottom of your heart. Perhaps, you have been wounded in the house of your friend, who you did not know was your terrible enemy. Perhaps too, you do not even know the root of what you are going through. You have to pray aggressively.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Every power that must die for my breakthrough to manifest, die, in the name of Jesus.
2. Every enemy of my appointed time, die, in the name of Jesus.
3. O mountain that boasted against me, your time is up, scatter, in the name of Jesus.
4. My problems, face the anger of the finger of God, in the name of Jesus.
5. Every arrow of unfriendly friends, backfire, in the name of Jesus.
6. Every magnet of darkness in my life, die, in the name of Jesus.
7. Jesus Christ my deliverer, knock out every darkness in my life, in the name of Jesus.
8. Jesus Christ my deliverer, knock out every darkness in my life, in the name of Jesus.
9. Jesus Christ my deliverer, knock out every darkness in my life, in the name of Jesus.
10. Every power assigned to kill my joy, what are you waiting for? Die, in the name of Jesus.
11. Let the enemy enter into the grave he has dug for me, in the name of Jesus.
12. Every power assigned to kill my joy, what are you waiting for? Die, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
