Micah 7:8:“Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall it in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.”
Now, make the following confessions loud and clear:
¨ I may lose a battle, but I will win the war, in the name of Jesus.
¨ This year, if the devil tries to discourage me, I will discourage him, in the name of Jesus.
¨ I will trouble my trouble and make my doubt to doubt, in Jesus’ name.
The ability of prayer warfare or what we call fire prayer to scare the enemy away cannot be over-emphasized. When a cry of defeat and demotion came to Elijah, his answer to it was fire prayer. I remember a brother who was a store officer in a multinational company. He had a manager who harassed him everyday. If he sat down, the manager would say, “That’s not how to sit down.” If he wrote something he would say that his English was bad. Anything he did was bad as far as the manager was concerned. It got to a stage that one day, the brother, all of a sudden, remembered that he could say some fire prayers. He locked himself up in the office and for just one minute said, “O Lord, let every power that wants to trouble me in this office be overthrown, in the name of Jesus.” After that one-minute prayer, he did not know that he had caused a serious trouble. In that company there was a cold-room where they kept meat cooked in the kitchen. Five minutes or so after the brother’s prayer, that manager went into the cold-room and stole the ear of a cow and put it in a black nylon bag. Because he was a manager, the security men at the gate did not check what he was carrying. But the managing director of the company happened to have been following him, and he said to the security men: “Is this how you do your work? You don’t search everybody? How about that man going? The security men said, “Sir, but he is a manager.” The managing director insisted that they should search everybody. So, the security men said to the manager, “Please, sir, can we see what you are having in that black bag?" And they found that the manager had stolen the ear of a cow, and he was suspended on the spot. He was away for a long time and during this period, they promoted this brother to his position. I want you to know the power of God and His ability to move into your situation if you trust Him whole-heartedly.
A sister gave a testimony in Port Harcourt. She had attended a service and during the message a word of knowledge came that she would get a job she was seeking for. When she went for the interview, she took the first position and was asked to resume. But a day to her resumption, somebody who was influential in that company brought another person who was offered the job. When the sister came, well dressed to resume work, she was told: “Well, you see, somebody has brought somebody else. Though you came first, you see, it has happened.” The sister said, “Okay, excuse me.” She went to the back of the house and prayed like this: “Every power that wants to sit on my job here, be overthrown, in Jesus’ name. After this simple prayer, she returned to the office and soon somebody came and asked her: “Madam, which church do you attend?” She said, “Mountain of Fire.” This person now ran to the man who wanted to remove her and told him that the woman was from Mountain of Fire and that he should better reverse his decision, because if she should pray, anything could happen in that place. Right there, they gave the job back to her. She would have lost the job if she had not known what to do.
I pray that this particular year, whenever there is a manipulation or rearrangement in one way or the other to sit on anything that belongs to you, there shall be a reversal, in Jesus’ name.
THE THREE FROGS
If you were a very careful reader of the Book of Revelation, you would have known about the three frogs that the powers of darkness would vomit into the world in the last days. Part of the work of these three frogs is what we shall discuss briefly now. There is something called misfortune, what people of the world call bad luck. The second is something known as sorrow magnet and there is also something known as opportunity abortion. There is also something known as automatic failure mechanism. There are spirits that are bombarding and confusing men and women every day. Many are so confused that they do not understand the way forward. Some spirits go into men in these last days to cause trouble for them. Many people have been plagued by these spirits in the last two or three years.
If the spirit of misfortune or bad luck as some will call it is running after you there are some symptoms it creates:
1. You would always miss your correct timing.
2. You would notice that things always finish before they get to your turn.
3. Whenever you find somebody to help you, something bad will happen to him.
4. You would notice that your expectation does not come through.
5. You would notice that whenever you want to go to a place of blessing something must hinder you. For example, Brother Kure was supposed to go to a meeting where he was to be blessed, but the devil did not want him to get there, so he sent some mosquitoes to bite his mother and she developed malaria fever. The same devil that sent the mosquitoes now asked the mother to drink the bark of mango tree so that the fever got worse and they sent for Brother Kure to come. He quickly ran there with the hope of returning soon for the meeting. But by the time he got to the hospital, he found confused doctors who were arguing whether it was malaria or typhoid fever or what. Brother Kure was there, until the blessing at the meeting passed him by.
6. You would find out that you are always singled out for persecution or harassment.
7. You would find out that you are always punished for what you did not do.
8. You would notice that the honour and privileges that belong to you are always given to others.
9. All your life, you would be struggling and never make it to the level of your contemporaries.
10. You would always be at the right place at the wrong time.
11. You would find that people find it very difficult to help you.
12. You would notice that anywhere you work you will be sacked.
13. Perhaps, you would notice that sometimes when you need an important document for an important occasion it disappears.
Sometime ago, a fellow prayed for three years to get a visa and scholarship. Eventually, he got it. He was so excited as he was rushing back to the fellowship to give testimony that he jumped down from the taxi and forgot all his documents in the taxi. He stood on the line for the testimony, and as he put his hand inside his bag to bring out the visa and the other documents, behold the items were not there, and he started crying. That day, we raised up our voices in prayer and as we were closing the meeting, somebody rushed to us and said that it was just announced on television that a passport was found inside a taxi.
14. You would notice that you make mistakes that destroy very big things.
15. You would notice that you always have last minute disappointments.
At the age of 37, a sister found a suitor, but a week to the wedding, he came and said, “Sorry, no marriage.” She asked, “What do you mean?” The man said, “You have done nothing wrong. The only problem is that you are too short and they say that short people are very bad.” The sister continued: "Are you just noticing that I am too short?” The brother replied, “That is grammar.” At 39 she found somebody else, but again a week to the wedding, a vehicle ran over the brother at a bus-stop and he died instantly. At the age of 41, she found someone else. This one went very far, because he got to church but as the pastor read a portion of the Bible and got to the dangerous point where he said: “As we have here gathered together today to join these two in holy matrimony, if there is anyone here who has any reason why the two should not be joined in holy matrimony, let him or her say so now, or keep silent for ever,” a hand showed at the back. Again that was the end of the third attempt. The sister threw herself into deliverance and prayed. One day, God opened her eyes and she saw her mother in a maternity ward. The mother had just been delivered of a baby and as well-wishers came to congratulate her and told her she had a baby girl, she said, “I don’t want that thing; take it away.” This was because she had already had five girls and was expecting a male child. That was the end of the revelation. This means that right from the beginning she was called ‘a thing,’ and her life was not balanced. I pray that if there is any evil pronouncement anybody has made upon your destiny, it shall be overthrown now, in Jesus’ name.
Beloved, do you notice that the benefits due to you are never given to you on time? Do you notice that you work very hard but other people get the credit? Do you find that you are always blamed for other people’s faults or mistakes? Do you find that in spite of your intelligence and talent, you are always largely ignored? Then you need to pray.
An example was somebody in the Scripture who kept missing his divine opportunities. Judges 13:2-9: "And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. Then Manoah intreated the Lord, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her."
When you read through this Scripture, you will find that Manoah missed the first and the second opportunities. But in that same Scripture we read the principle of rewinding prayers. Although he missed the opportunity he prayed for it to be rewound.
WHAT ARE THE KEYS TO DEFEATING DEFEAT?
1. When it is hard to pray, it is time to pray hard. This is because at that particular time, the enemy wants to silence you, and you may be closer to your breakthrough. Don’t wait for the spirit to be moving in your heart before you pray.
2. Don’t worry yourself about yesterday. It is a cancelled cheque and is gone. Don’t worry yourself about tomorrow. It is a promised loan. Be concerned only about today. It is cash.
3. If satan does not attack you regularly it is because he is well pleased with what you are doing. Some are desirous of ice-cream Christianity, whereby they would get everything on a platter of gold. That is their dream, forget it. As long as you want to fulfill your destiny, there is war. But then, the Bible says, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” The Bible also says, “They shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail.” It does not say, “They will not fight.” They will fight, but the important thing is that they shall not prevail. And the white man says that he who laughs last, laughs best.
4. God can only mould those that He has melted. So, if you have not allowed the Lord to break you down and to remold you, the enemy will always come in through the areas that have openings.
5. Our God is awesome, available and adequate. Many of us need to pray that God will help them throw out the idols in their hearts. Idolatry is not only when you bow down to idols alone. It is not only when you manufacture an image and tie it to your neck or fist. There is another form of idolatry that believers practice. That is belittling or demoting God in your mind or in your eyes.
A missionary was sent to a village in a Franco-phone country in Africa. Anytime a missionary was sent there he would run back because of the chief priest of that village. Immediately the missionary arrived, the chief priest would invite him to an open contest. He would say, “You, come here, I will call on my god and you will call on your own. This man would take a grain of corn, put it on his palm and before your very eyes, while you are not sleeping, that corn will germinate on his palm and grow to a fully-blown maize. The missionaries always ran away after seeing all that. This continued until they sent one who knew the awesome power of God. The chief priest called the newest missionary and did the same thing with the corn, and then challenged him to demonstrate the power of his God. The missionary said, “Chief priest, is there any other plant that can grow on your palm apart from this corn? I want you to do your best. Bring out your best because this one is too small for my God to handle.” Pointing at his idol house, the chief priest said, “This is where I keep my black power. No one enters there and comes out alive. If you know that the power of your God is in your life, enter there and come out.” The villagers present were shaking because they knew that he was telling the truth, because no one had ever entered there and came out alive. But before this man finished boasting: “Nobody goes inside,” the missionary was already inside the place. And before you could say, “Jesus is Lord,” he was out and said, “Is there any other thing you want to display?” At that point the chief priest had to surrender his life to Jesus. I pray that that awesome power of God will come upon our lives, in the name of Jesus.
6. Strangers to prayers are strangers to power. If you are a stranger in the school of prayer you are a stranger to power.
7. Worry is faith in the devil. It means that if you want to defeat your enemy, worry must die in your life.
8. Every setback prepares you for comeback. Don’t take setback as something permanent.
9. Fame is a vapour, popularity is an accident, riches take wings, but character endures forever. Look after your character if you don’t want defeat. No matter how good or how talented you are, if your character is bad, you will be marginalized. What is your character? It is what you are in the dark, what you are when nobody is around, not while people are looking at you.
10. When you kill time, you are not committing murder, you are committing suicide. Number your years very well, don’t waste your time this year.
11. Anyone can make a mistake but fools practice mistakes. Don’t practice mistakes this year.
12. Keep a cemetery ready to bury unprofitable thoughts. It means that what you are going to think about this year must be according to the will of God.
13. Fear is unbelief in disguise. Somebody said that fear could mean false evidence appearing real.
14. If your way is easy, then you are going to a place of nowhere. Immediately you are going to somewhere, there will be obstacles in your way. Beloved, this year, you must pursue, overtake your enemy and recover all your lost grounds.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Every power assigned to make me fail, die, in the name of Jesus.
2. Every foundational curse in my family line, die, in the name of Jesus.
3. O God of Elijah, arise by your fire and let the world know that you are my God, in Jesus’ name.
4. Whenever any power sits on my breakthrough this year, the angels of God will bury it, in Jesus’ name.
5. I fire back every arrow of infirmity and untimely death, in the name of Jesus .
