RESHAPE YOUR DESTINY

GOD’S WORD IS SPIRIT AND LIFE

Prophet T. B. Joshua advised the congregation to open their Bibles to John 6 as he unravelled his topic tagged: God’s Word Is Spirit And Life. Faith is a spiritual force that grows and develops in the heart or spirit of man. Faith is not of our mind or flesh. It is not an intellectual agreement or mental assent. Mental assent recognises the truthfulness of God’s Word but it does not act upon it. God’s Word is Spirit and life and, as such it is the very life of God in those words that heals, delivers, saves and blesses.

God’s Word has the ability to produce a spiritual force within our heart called faith. Every time we act on the Word, something enters our heart that increases our assurance. We are the righteousness of God; we are not struggling to be righteous or to have faith. We have the Word; we have faith. If I say, ‘Be healed’, and healing takes place, such healing is brought about by the life of God in our word. One can speak and preach without the life of God in one’s word.

The evidence of the life of God in our message is that it changes situations. It is the very life of God in those words that changes situations. The Word of God changes situations and moves impossible mountains. Galatians 5:6 – faith works by love. It takes love to make faith operate. The Bible is God’s Word in the lips of love and faith. It is the Word that establishes; it is the Word that builds. It is the Word of His grace that builds faith in the heart of the believer. The heart must be rooted and grounded in the Word and love.

Acts 3 – If you do not use the name, Jesus Christ, in love and faith, the name can do nothing. The name, used in the absence of love and faith, will lack the ability to change situations – from sickness to good health; from poverty to breakthrough.

PASTOR AND FAMILY DELIVERED FROM EVIL FORCES

At the instance of the Prophet, a video clip was shown of an incident last week where Wise Man Racine was laying hands on the congregants. As he laid hands on one man, the evil spirits in the man, who was a pastor, reacted violently and began to speak through him. After the encounter, Wise Man Racine delivered him in the name of Jesus.

At the end of the video clip, Pastor Chris Praise Duru mounted the platform, accompanied by his nuclear family. He thereafter recounted the story of his deliverance and the story of his life under the evil influence. As he put it, his father initiated him 12 midnight into a cult when he was 20 years at a nearby river with three chalks of different colours. After an incantation, they threw all that they used for the ritual into the river and departed.

One afternoon after the initiation, three black ostriches appeared to him, entered him and caused his entire life to change. Part of the change was that he sold all that he had and went to the village where he resorted to acquiring cultic books and materials.

Travelling to Abuja, he met a pastor for prayer and after joining the church, decided to also establish himself as a pastor. He enrolled for a correspondence course with a theological school to train as a pastor. With this background, he opened his church where he prayed and laid hands on people. However, the demon that was still inside him only compounded the problems of those he feigned to deliver. When he lay down, he would go into astral projection with his father in which they visited some countries where they attended occult meetings.

The demon inside him would not allow his church to prosper because his members would see a lion that scared them away at the entrance of the church. The skull and lion inside him destroyed his children who consequently never made any headway in life. He begged to feed his family because there were no returns from his collapsing church.

Pastor Duru confessed that his deliverance by the prophet the previous Sunday ushered him to peace of mind and a good night’s rest. The prophet urged the children to hug their father for his deliverance, adding that their father was in no way responsible for his past life and nothing should be counted against him. On his part, Pastor Chris Praise Duru thanked God for his deliverance and restoration to normal life.

DELIVERED FROM AN UNUSUAL ADDICTION: EATING SOAP

A lady, Mrs Osuji mounted the platform, accompanied by her ten year old daughter, Princess Osuji whom she said had been afflicted with a contrary spirit that made her eat soap and clothes. The effect was that she had lost appetite for normal food and become anaemic. She revealed that when her daughter watched the deliverances of people with similar afflictions, she persuaded her to bring her to The SCOAN for her own deliverance. Princess herself was given the opportunity to tell her story at the end of which she appealed to the prophet for her deliverance. She also chewed a piece of soap and told onlookers that it was tasty.

The prophet drew close to her and laid his hands on her head and then chest, declaring her free in Jesus’ name after that. When she was given soap to taste after the deliverance, Princess said it tasted bad and proceeded to clean her mouth immediately. The prophet however advised the mother to take more care of Princess, adding that the daughter God gave to her was not with such addiction.

FATHER REUNITES WITH CHILD HE ABANDONED EIGHT YEARS AGO

A clip revealed the drama following the laying of hands on one of the congregants in the previous Monday service. As he laid hands on the man, Prophet T. B. Joshua told him that he could see trouble over a child and that the man’s life had been that of economic woe because of that very child whose ownership was yet to be established. The man in question acknowledged ownership of a daughter to the prophet and for the first time to anybody. He had hidden this fact from his wife and from anybody else because he impregnated the mother as a girl friend and he never wanted that fact to affect his marriage with his current wife. He was advised by the prophet to look for the child and her mother before the following Sunday service and he did that.

At the end of the video clip, Mr Emmanuel Kujo and his Ghanaian wife mounted the podium to tell the congregation that the clip referred to them. They had been cold to each other as a couple since the confession because her husband had concealed the child issue from her over the years. Emmanuel told the story in all its grim details to the congregation once more. As a couple, they had been looking for a child since they married but without success. Their life in Dakar, Senegal had been very frustrating in terms of child bearing and material progress. Their businesses always hit the rocks, causing disaffection between them as the man always accused his wife of being the cause of their problems. The wife also recounted the same details about their marriage and said her husband had concealed the issue of the daughter by the girl friend from her all their marriage.The mother of the child told her listeners that Emmanuel was her husband who made her pregnant before he travelled to Spain for better fortunes. He promised that when he got there he would send her money to care for the baby and also marry her when he came back but she never heard from him before and since she delivered. The man of God, sensing the sensitiveness of the issue, resolved to settle it out of public glare. Emmanuel however appealed to the prophet to convey apologies to his wife for the despicable manner he had hidden the facts of his earlier relationship and child bearing from her.

LETTER FOUND IN HUSBAND’S POCKET

The next video clip unravelled a prophecy issued by the man of God in which he said a woman discovered a letter in her husband’s trousers and since then she was confused whether to void the marriage or stay . The prophecy also advised her against any rash action, as she could not tell yet whether the whole scenario was the handiwork of an enemy who never wished their marriage well. She was urged to wait for God’s opinion. At the end of the clip, Francis Odoom a Ghanaian and his Nigerian wife, Ruth emerged to tell the congregation that they were the subject of the prophecy.

ANOINTING WATER BREAKS NEW GROUNDS

The Anointing Water and its miraculous feats all over the world had been a subject of interest. The congregation were shown more feats in India and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where pastors of different Churches made use of it for crusades and deliverances. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Pastor Ashane Tassew Birtukan who had come from Ethiopia to worship in The SCOAN, Lagos humbly requested the prophet to give her some bottles of the Anointing Water for a crusade in her country. The prophet conceded her humble request like he equally honoured the request of Pastor Ankur Narula of the Church of Signs and Wonders, India some weeks earlier. In the crusade in The Millennium Centre, Addis Ababa it was miracles galore as many who had lost their health and freedom for years were healed and delivered, relieving many wheel chairs of their burdens. We thank God Almighty for the opportunity to be witnesses to these miracles. May His name be praised for evermore.