Abstract Prayers don't bring results

 *PNUR Global Day of Fasting and Prayers 08/04/2021* 

 *Abstract Prayers do not bring results* 

"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him Mark 11:22-23NIV

The word abstract has more than two dictionary meanings but our focus is the definition which terms it immaterial, intangible or not physically visible or just existing in the person’s ideas. When we say that prayers are abstract, we mean that even though the prayers have many religious words, they are actually saying or asking for nothing. To go further with this, we tend to imply that even though you have said many things, neither you nor God is expecting any material answer from the prayers said.

Every religion has those kind of prayers. Roman Catholic Church has The Angelus – Hail Mary and The Lord’s Prayers. Muslims have “Ala Akhuba” sorry any for wrong spellings. These prayers are said religiously but those who say them are not expecting anything as answer when they say them.

In Pentecostal and Evangelical circles, one can have a long role of prayer collections which in some cases have more than 200 prayer topics which they are advised to say for several nights. If you take a deep look at those prayer collections, you discover that they are really saying nothing or requesting anything.

Example of such is, “Every witch in my father’s house die! Evil altars in my village die by fire!” 

A distraught woman once told me that she was done with Pentecostal deliverance ministries all her life. She narrated how she was given such long row of prayers and asked to carry out several days of vigil as she used them. At the end of the set time nothing changed.

To bring this closer, there are those who just contact us on Facebook or other Social Media platforms and passively ask us to put them in prayers over some issues. Such go about telling people that they have given their prayer requests to many men of God. They believe that those prayer ministries and servants of God are actually busy praying for them. I don’t want to hurt your feelings but I love to tell you one truth; most of those people don’t even remember what you told them after then. If you ask them some other time, they tell you that they are praying for you. In fact, for some people, “I am praying for you” is a polite way to say, “Have a nice day”.

When the Lord began to warn me about how sinful it is to accept in one’s presence to pray for him in your private prayers and yet fail to do so, I resolved to take any such promise I make serious. I began to make specific recommendations and requests on those who send us prayer requests and we cannot thank God enough for the wonderful testimonies. In some cases, my experiences are not palatable. 

A lady told me about her struggle with repeated miscarriage and specifically asked me for prayers to carry her out of that challenge. She did something most people do not even think of. She sent seed faith without being asked. So I took up the case with my team. More than two years passed and we have not heard from her and her name was still on our prayer booklet. So, I decided to call her. To my surprise, I had to remind her who I am and the subject of her prayer request.

Here is her response, “That one has passed long ago. Not today. I have two children now”. She sent her name and prayer request and has even forgotten she did.

We have instances when we went into fasting for several days for somebody and the person does not even remember that he gave prayer request somewhere. When he asked us for prayers, he sees it as one of those religious things but we are the ones that have taken it too far. 

Let me share one very painful encounter with a brother who does not know how to respect the duty of prayer. I had just moved into Port Harcourt with my family and things were difficult for us. This brother I knew in Owerri did brokerage business. We met in Port Harcourt and he brought me to his office and narrated the many troubles he was having in business. He mentioned one specific business that was to bring in about twenty three thousand Naira. He asked me to pray and possibly fast and promised to give the tithe of the sum to my ministry if the business worked. By the exchange rate then, that amount was more than twelve thousand Dollars. You can calculate the ten percent yourself.

I went home and told my wife and we went into intensive prayers. We did not know when the business clicked but one day I asked him. He told me that yes he will get to me later because, “God has done it.” Till date he has not gotten back to me and God made another way for us. The saddest side of this story was that one of his sons became very ill and he had to spend so much money in the hospitals. Most people will rather pay hash bills than pay their tithe. He later lost his wife in a fatal motor accident and many such terrible things. I don’t mean to say that God punished him because of how he treated us but I believe that when he started praying again for other problems, his outstanding credits for prayers for which he was not thankful were a barrier to his new prayers.

The bible told us that there are different kinds of or manners of prayers.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Eph 6:18NIV

Our main text told us how the Lord Jesus Christ saw prayers. If you have followed me for some time, you would have heard me repeatedly say that the Lord Jesus Christ spent much time in mid night prayers. We see here that when the Lord Jesus Christ went up the mountain or in a solitary place to pray, He did not throw up empty unguided prayer topics and then come down hoping that things will change. Far from that.

Look at His own words,

1. Have faith in God – prayer should have a platform for an attack and that is faith in God. Some just mouth prayers without asking themselves on what grounds is their request. Some say they have faith but their faith is in their fasting or the many words that make up their prayers. Most of those phrases and words are in Hebrews and Greek which they don’t know their background. Some have faith in their faith or even in the religious exercise. So if they came to fast for three days and they feel that their prayers are not yet answered, they make it up to seven days. If they are praying and fasting and somebody walks in to say something, they believe that the prayer has spoilt, so they have to start all afresh. The Lord Jesus Christ says that our faith should be in the person and character of our God. He that comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who will dare to seek Him.(Heb11:6). Can I add further that the Lord Jesus Christ means that when we start to pray, our heart should have been made up about the personality and reputation of the kind of God to whom we pray. By that we should be rest assured that if what we requested is in His will and good for us, He will surely grant our request.

2. Say to this mountain – prayer must be specifically directed to something. We should not babble like the heathen who consider prayers as religious obligation. We should have something before our eyes which is the object of our request. How would you feel if you are a king and somebody comes in to your court and is saying nothing specifically? I have had to ask some people, “Just what are you asking from me?” and that is because they were not making any point in their discussions.

3. Tell them where to go – Some things must move out of your body. Heart diseases cannot continue to live in your organs. Cancer cannot continue to feed on your organs. Fibroid cannot continue to sit where children should occupy. Depression and fear cannot continue to co-habit with your soul. The cloud of failure must be told to depart from the atmospheres of your businesses. Demons can no longer hang around your body and the life of your loved ones. Do not overlook that spirit of insanity; command it to leave now! You know what you are struggling with; tell them that they are no longer welcome. Don’t just pray and hope that they will understand how you feel about them and depart. No! The Lord Jesus Christ said that you should give them orders on where they should go. Be specific and who knows you may bring the next ground breaking testimony after today’s prayer?  

4. Do not doubt – implicit faith that does not doubt gives force to our petitions. Just why should we doubt when we know who we are in Christ Jesus; we know the kind of God we are standing before and we know that what we are asking from Him are in tandem with His good will for us? Have you not heard all those great testimonies of the great things our God has done for other people who mustered courage and prayed in faith? Why should your prayers be different? Just why should God ignore yours? Come on! Push that doubt aside and move forward in holy faith now!

Today is another global day of fasting and prayers. Remember I always tell you that prayer is the opportunity that God has given to you to say something about your life. It is a serious matter if you waste it. Worse still if you say many things but yet said nothing.

Now do what I have always advised you to do; write down specific prayer requests and when the time comes to pray, stand with them and specifically demand from your heavenly father that your request be granted.

What a great privilege that God has put your destiny in your hands today? 

If your case is like cancer, tumor, depression, fibroid or any such kinds of problems that plague people, you don’t need to ask what is the will of God about them. Turn towards them through your eyes of faith; lay hands on it where possible and then command them the way the Lord told us to,

“You mountain called …….. I command you now in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, give way now and move out! 

Get out now! In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to give way now!”

“You evil spirits hovering around here, I command you now, get ooouuuttttt!”

Are there human beings standing on your path of advancement? Maybe they should sign a paper or any such thing? The will of God about is very clear.

The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. Prov 21:1NIV

Now stand on that word of God and command the hearts of those people to be begin to turn for your favor. You can have another word of God to back your prayers;

When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him Prov 16:7NIV

Remember that no more abstract praying; call someone by name and command him or her to be at peace with you.

Pray emphatically and directedly with no flimsy of fear or doubt. The Lord has given His word that if you have faith in God and pray specifically by faith as you command these mountains, you will have what you ask for. I prefer to believe Jesus Christ than to believe my doubts.

Is it a problem with your business or your spouse or your children? Has somebody constituted himself or herself as a mountain of obstruction on your paths? The rules are the same. Turn your prayers in the direction of that person or your business and command them to bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They have to obey the greatest authority. Command them to move!

Is your office infested with demons? Is the atmosphere around your home grinding your peace of mind? Are the fortunes of everyday life bringing in misfortune on what you do for a living? The same rules should be followed; address them as mountains, whether they are spiritual or physical. Command them to move and be thrown into the sea

Why not stand up now and charge into prayers? Command the mountains to move now! In the name of Jesus Christ!

You already know that I am praying for.

I love to hear from you 

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com

How Do I Operate In the Healing Anointing 2

 *How do I operate in the healing anointing? 2* 

There are times when the anointing that rests on a servant of God is for salvation of souls; under such an anointing I will see almost all my audience answer altar call and I will begin to wonder if they understood what I meant. There are times it is for the infilling of the Holy Spirit and I have witnessed that also; people just explode in Tongues under fresh outpour of the Holy Spirit as I move from city to city. In some cases it is the anointing for revival and you can observe brokenness and people rush forward to make peace with God as if their entire life depended on it. Yet there is what I call the healing anointing; people just get healed with ease. I don’t determine how it should go but all I do is to yield myself to the Holy Spirit.

If you still don’t understand what we mean by healing anointing, please carefully read the following scripture passage

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. … He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all Luke 6:12-19NIV

Give careful attention to the following passage too.

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick Luke 5:16-17NIV

The power that was oozing out from the Lord Jesus Christ was the healing anointing and you should note the emphasis on how people took advantage of it and received their healing. Take note again that in the second scripture that one of the special guests in that meeting was, “the healing power of God”. This kind of anointing is not permanently resident on the servant of God but some men of God have learned the discipline that can keep it on for a long time and that is what I want to expose at this point, so those who want it for real will know how to connect to it.

Some have erroneously held that this kind of anointing was upon the Lord Jesus Christ because He was God incarnate. You will see why this opinion is not correct after we have gone further in this meditation. The Lord Jesus Christ did not operate as Son of God while on earth but like every other human being and that was why He often referred to Himself as son of man. It will be unfair to ask us to repeat the things He did if He did those things in His capacity as God. 

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father John 14:11-12NIV

This kind of healing and deliverance anointing is possible for anybody who will step up to meet the requirements. I was privileged to stay briefly with a man who operated under this kind of anointing; I first met Rev. Stanley Awuzie as he ministered in public programs but I came to see how he generated the anointing when I stayed with and lived in the same house with him. This point is very important because some people who know little about me claim that I am their mentor. There must be a connection between you and the one you call your mentor.

The scripture texts above leave no place for confusion as to how the Lord Jesus Christ generated the healing anointing; all night private prayers was His lifestyle. He often withdrew to pray and He invested quality time to it. That is why I mentioned earlier that the Lord did not operate with His divinity status while on earth, otherwise He would not have had need to pray for so long to manifest the healing anointing. Unfortunately some people carry bottles of olive oil around after reading some bible passages and then claim they are under the healing anointing. 

Rev. Awuzie spent many hours in night prayers. He sang praises, prayed confessional prayers and gave quality time to gain authority over the satanic forces he may have to meet by day through warfare prayers. It was a serious business for him and it is interesting to note that he still woke up early in the morning to do other things. I heard some people testify that while under the anointing his palms were as hot as electric iron. Demon possessed persons were not able to look into his face and occult people in his neighborhood saw him as their nightmare

I escorted him to a number of crusades and I saw how the “oil” he prepared over the night was put to public use. This is the problem; those who were not with him as I was will now go to mystic shops to ask for the anointing oil that will make people fall on the ground.

In my own account, I borrowed that habit from him. In fact, once he became concerned that I was over doing it but I love to operate in the genuine anointing. From my first take off in the ministry, I resolved that it is either I have the raw power anointing or I return to my business. Yes, I was and I am still very good in business. If I am going to quit my business and preach, then it will be under genuine power. I have hated ministerial titles from the beginning and that does not mean I hate those who take up such titles. Life is about your choice. I want raw power and I set my heart to it and God has been gracious.

One time a man of God had a handshake with me and looked at my face in surprise and said, “What kind of cream do you use? Your palms are so oily.”

Everybody that has stayed with me know that I rarely apply cream to my body. When you are under the flow of the healing anointing it can be felt materially on you. Another kind hearted neighbor came to ask me the name of my body lotion because she liked the color of my skin. I don’t use those things but the healing anointing can lubricate you in and out. I want to warn that you should not focus your mind on the results I want to mention here but on the lifestyles that generated the power.

It was in Assemblies of God Church, Avu, Owerri West that I was ministering and I did not even know that I was under the healing anointing. I was just leading in songs and jumping all over the place in excitement; yes, genuine anointing gets you really excited while bubbling with joy. I did not know that the woman that was sitting in my front was not walking. She was just sitting down watching me dancing and clapping her hands. I stretched out my hands to her to join me in “dance”. She just sprang up and there was uproar in the church. In another Assemblies of God Church in Obibiezena, also in Imo State, the healing anointing was so strong that any person that came close to me fell under the anointing. At one point there was no place for me to step out to and those who were still standing were afraid to come close and help me clear those blocking my paths because they knew they will join those on the floor. In Adamawa State in 2010 I walked into a church on Sunday morning and the choir and instrumentalists could not just be steady; they kept falling here and there. I was wondering what the problem with them was, not knowing that my presence was obstructing the service because of the strong presence of the Holy Spirit on me.

Under such atmosphere demon possessed people are not comfortable and demons begin to manifest here and there. In some cases I just stand in the center and watch the Holy Spirit and angels of God undertake the project of healing and delivering people. 

Anointing presence makes ministry easy. People get healed while I was still preaching and tumors disappear without me specifically praying for them. Acute headaches, heart diseases and even surface body injuries disappeared. You cannot just say which way or how the miracle will take place. I have met people testify that they came into contact with the Holy Spirit while I was preaching somewhere. They did not know how surprised I was because I was not able to remember if I ever met them. One pastor said that he was just passing by when he heard me discussing a topic and that was it; he caught the “Fire”. In my travels I have met many people who claimed that God filled them with the Holy Spirit and empowered them for ministry when they came around to my meetings. 

At times it comes as I visit a hospital to pray for the sick. Under the healing anointing, you just have faith like hard rock. You can see yourself say things that you will never say in your normal senses. I walked into Lifespring Hospital Owerri to pray for a man who was brother-in-law to a prominent man of God in that city. He was rude and uninterested. I learned it was because many men and women of God had been there to pray but he saw no difference. He said, “Prayer again? Please, let me take my breakfast.”

I told them that I will wait. When he finished, he just said, “I am ready”, while still lying on the same spot. That was when I learned that he could not stand and have not been on his feet for more than two years. In fact, the hospital had discharged him to go and wait for death at his home.

I started, “Chief, Chekwas, you just have to do what I tell you because you already had too many prayers”. He looked intently at me, showing agreement to what I said, yet wondering what I will ask him to do.

“Now I command you to get up from that bed and begin to walk in the name of Jesus Christ!” the lady that brought me looked at my face like, “Pastor, are you out of your mind? I told you that the man could not even sit up to eat, now you are asking him to stand up to walk without even touching him”

Yes, that is the way it works. When the healing anointing is upon a man, he will not likely understand why he says and does the things he will do. That is what it was like when the Lord Jesus Christ told the man besides the Pool of Bethesda to pick up his mat and walk. That was how it looked when He told the man with shriveled hand to stretch it out. That was how it was when He told the Syria-Phoenician woman to go home because her daughter was healed. That was how it was when He told the blind men to start using their eyes because their faith had healed them. There is this inner confidence that all things are possible with God and that confidence comes with the anointing

Chief Chekwas looked at his sister and then back at me and to everyone’s surprise stood up and started to walk. He even walked towards the staircase. I don’t know why he tried that but then he caused a small problem. A nurse that was coming up to give him his discharge slip saw him and ran back. She told her colleagues that Chief Chekwas had died and that she saw his ghost walking down the staircase. There was pandemonium in the whole hospital.

I love the anointing and I love to see the power of God flow and touch wounded people creating joy among the people. Let me point out to you what I have learned over the years.

The healing anointing is different from salvation. A lot of saved people are not operating in this anointing. Once in a while they can experience healing or miracles as they exercise their faith in the name of Jesus Christ but they don’t carry the healing anointing

The healing anointing is different from living a sinless life. What I mean is that you don’t just connect to it just because you are living a holy life. I have met many pure but powerless believers.

The healing anointing is not specifically based on specific divine calling. Now some people will think I have gone overboard. No matter how or who called you, if you don’t keep the principles that generates the divine healing anointing, you will not have it. 

Healing anointing is not same as infilling of the Holy Spirit. I hate to mention this but let me shock you by saying that I spoke in Tongues before Rev. Stanley Awuzie. I am not very sure that he speaks in Tongues today but I got Spirit-filled while praying in his church compound. Yet, he carried the healing and deliverance anointing years before I met him.

Healing anointing can be contacted when you are in the atmosphere where it is operating. I have already mentioned people that connected to this power by just coming around to where I was preaching.

Whatever way you go about it, the only way to source it and retain it is through prayer discipline. A man of God can lay hands on you but it will not last on you if you neglect the discipline that brings it down.  In fact, it was not resident on the Lord Jesus Christ while on earth, that was why He had to spend time in all night prayers often. When He came down from such places of prayer, the power will begin to flow. If you want this power then you must give yourself to prayer discipline. 

If you are a new comer to this realm of ministry, I love to give you this keys. Time is a great asset for those who want to operate in this realm. If you are too busy with activities here and there, it may be hard for you to operate in this realm.

You have to first withdraw for at least seven days fast. This fast should be taken in a place where people can’t distract you. I said seven but mine was thirty days. I fasted 6-6 for thirty days. Then I backed it with mid night prayers that lasted for over twenty one days.

I read books from authors who operated under this kind of anointing. Benny Hinn was very helpful; Kenneth Hagin, Derek Prince, James Mckiver’s Supernatural Power assisted me. I mentioned these ones but there are many more of such books today.

Then, you must seek for platforms to exercise the anointing in your life. That is where my contact with Bro. Menks Ifechukwu was very helpful; he taught me that I can have my own pulpit anywhere without fighting with someone for platform. So I launched out for my own gospel crusades and outreaches. My testimonies agree with scriptures.

Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. Mark 16:20NIV

(To be continued)

Emma your brother emmnjnwosu@pnurnigeria.org

Jesus Christ wants YOU to be free from sicknesses and diseases

When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." Matt 8:1-4NIV

Before the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, men did not know the exact will of God concerning those who are sick hence it was appropriate for them to pray, “Oh Lord, please, if it is your will, heal me of my diseases”.

We don’t have to pray like that today because the bible which is the word of God has shown to us that God has never intended sicknesses and diseases for humans. Sicknesses and diseases resulted when Man abandoned God and followed the ways of the devil. In retaliation, all creations began to rebel against man. 

It is easy to understand it like this; a kind hearted man handed over all he had to a stranger including other servants he had before the stranger came. At one point the stranger turned against the kind man and began to say all kind of negative things about him. The servants of the kind man are disappointed at the behavior of the stranger and so began to disobey and work against the stranger. Sicknesses, diseases, natural disasters, harsh weather conditions, over flooding seas and all other things that God created have ever since started working against man. The result is sicknesses and confusion of mind

Before the Lord Jesus Christ came to this world, man had concluded that the prevailing harsh situations around us was God’s will for us. The Lord Jesus Christ decided to correct that. The text we read expressed the clash between what man had come to believe and what the true divine position was.

The leper wished it was the will of God for him to get freedom from his leprosy but the Lord Jesus Christ made him understand that God’s perfect will is that he should be freed from his disease.

There is something else in that text; by the then prevailing Jewish Laws of Moses, people do not draw near to lepers. The lepers walked at safe distance from people. If anybody was “unfortunate” to have contact with him, the person became ceremonially unclean for seven days and needed a special religious ritual to be reintegrated into the community. But here we see the Lord Jesus Christ did not only draw close to the leper but actually touched him. The difference however was that instead of the leper defiling the Lord Jesus Christ, he was healed of his diseases. The Lord Jesus Christ then instructed him to go and show himself to those who had proclaimed him a leper to prove that he was really healed.

When we have the opportunity to pray for the sick, we should know that it is God’s will that they get well. We should never say things like the leper said because the will of God is clear about healing. We can look out for obstacles to the healing that God has already made available but should never imagine that the person was not healed because God wanted him to remain sick. Neither should we ever wonder if we are the kind of people that should pray for the sick person to get well.

The Lord Jesus Christ was clear about this; everyone who believes in Him have the potential capability to heal the sick the way He healed that leper

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12NIV

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." Mark 16:17-18NIV

Every believer has the in-borne capability to do those things that the Lord Jesus Christ did while He was physically on earth.  And that includes YOU!

If ever you get sick, prepare your mind to get healed when a believer in Jesus Christ comes around to pray for you because he has been empowered through the Holy Spirit to heal you of all your diseases. You can even call on other believers with the singular purpose to pray for you to get healed

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:14-16NIV

This passage is part of a letter written to a body of Christians and that supports my position that a believer can become sick and require healing. This is contrary to what some Christians believe and teach. They are of the opinion that once one gives his life to Christ all sicknesses and spiritual challenges disappear. Not so. A believer can be in need of healing from sicknesses and diseases

You can also bsee that it is okay to call someone to pray for your healing. There are those who claim that it's an act of faithlessness when you even tell a brother that you're sick and need healing. As long as we remain on this part of existence we will need healing once in a while

I will love to hear from you

Call this number now if you believe the word of God +2348035724526 (Whatsapp)

Emma your brother emmanjnwosu@pnurnigeria.org

God is interested in every minute details of your life

 

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows Luke 12:6-7NIV

Many still wonder why some prayers they have placed before God have not received visible response or expressible indication that God is doing something about them. This has led some people to conclude that God does not love them as much as He loves others and in some cases they begin to doubt that God actually exist. They imagine that if God really existed that, He would have hurried up to solve the problems which they consider needed urgent attention.

There are those who think that they are not important enough for God to act on their cases. They still love God and remain in the church but they have accepted a status which is not true about their position in Christ. These kind have thrown their fate to the wind and they move about mournfully

Let us piece up the text here

1.     The God who cares for common sparrows will care for anything. Yes, you are worth more than sparrows and so be assured that God cares for you

2.     Five sparrows are sold for two pennies does not make God overlook them.

3.     God does not need the sparrows to remain God, rather it is the sparrows that need God to survive. So God is dealing with the sparrows according to His benevolence, not because of the financial worth of the sparrows

4.     God does not and cannot forget us. It is not in His character to just forget.

 

This word is coming from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ says that we should accept everything He said as direct from the father because He and the Father are one. Any other spirit that tells you that God has forgotten you is from the enemy of God; the devil. Rather God is dealing with important details of your life and He is not focusing on your screaming or complaining. This is expressed in the phrase, “the hairs on your head are numbered”. That means DETAILS. When things are counted without being numbered, there may not be specific information about them. Numbering them means that each of them gets specific attention.

This means that God is dealing with every area of your life and He is careful that urgent things do not take the place of important things. Yes, this is where we make serious mistake; we often give attention to urgent things because they are screaming and jumping before us. In this way, many people have discovered only too late that marriage should have waited so they can get good education. There are those who discovered that if they only took more time to get a kind of training, instead of rushing into quick money, they would not have lost their future and children the way they did. God is dealing with us based on the whole picture and vision of what He wants to work out in your life.

The first thing God wants for you is that you secure your place in the book of life. You might have spent the past twenty years praying to go abroad but God is focused on the fact that if you don’t give your life to Christ, you will end up in eternal doom in hellfire. Unfortunately, you may see things differently and so you are working hard at other things. He is holding those things back because of the larger picture. You might have been praying for political appointment but God wants you to grow up spiritually so that you will be able to weather the spiritual challenges associated to politics. But you may think otherwise and instead of spending much time studying the word of God and to sit under sound bible teachings, you are running from one prophet to another.

One other important thing God wants every believer to have is the in-filling of the Holy Spirit. Yet, many Christians are not focused on that. They are contented with what the prophets will tell them. They are satisfied each time they are given a white handkerchief or bottle of olive oil to pray with. God lays greater importance on nothing else for the believer in Christ Jesus as He holds for our coming to be filled with the Holy Spirit. A Christian without the in-filling of the Holy Spirit is vulnerable endangered species of a human being. He is not safe! He is not secured!

God wants us to be filled with Himself. Holy Spirit is God indwelling you. He is the key and power to pursue, overtake and recover all. God does not groom thumb suckers as His children. All those thumb-sucking generation of Christians that we see everywhere are living at discount of the grace of God.

Isaac and Rebeca spent twenty years praying for fruit of the womb but God knew that they were not ready for children. Yes, that you are ripe in age does not mean that you are ripe in character. After much pestering and pleading, God gave them a pair of twin. It became clear that they were not ready because they turned Esau and Jacob into two rival political parties. The boys parted ways in a painful way and they never were able to trust themselves because of divisive parenting

Are you praying for life partner?

Are you praying for financial breakthrough?

Are you praying for a job?

Are you praying for elevation in your social status?

Are you praying for contracts?

Whatever you are asking from God, I want you to understand from today that God has no problem with blessing you but He is looking at the whole details of your life.

Pray today that God will fill you with Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Halleluiah!

We can also see that there is no way God will eventually lose us in the crowd. He knows us by our number. Yes, if we are missing the counting will not tally.

Yes, hold that firmly! No matter who God has blessed, your turn will come.

I believe that this is what the Psalmist sees about God here.

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit Ps 147:4-5 NIV

Hey! If you are serving the same God as I do, then rejoice because that is the God we are talking about.

Let me encourage you to come in faith, come trusting and pray with all the confidence you can muster.

Who knows, this may be you turn to celebrate

We have already started to pray for you.

I will be glad to receive your prayer REQUESTS.

Enjoy the day in God’s presence and believe me, God knows you are there.

I have prayed for you

 

Emma your brother emmanjnwosu@pnurnigeria.org

My father will come for us

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God Luke 12:6NIV

Some year ago, there was this account of the collapse of a school building. It was the gigantic kind of structure and some pupils lost their life in the rubble. Now there was the account of these two boys of five years who have only three months difference between them. Divine providence preserved them from being hit by any of the boulders but then they were trapped in a far side of the collapsed building in such a way that no one could hear them no matter how loud they shouted.

One of the boys sensing their predicament began to cry bitterly but his companion tapped on him and said, “Hey, stop crying. Don’t worry. My father will come and bring us out”.

The weeping boy just found solace in what his companion said and became quiet.

The account went further that those outside used tractors and whatever they could afford to try to rescue those they could trace. After two days they concluded that there will be no more survivors and so they retired to their homes. One man continued to dig with fork, hammer and shovels. Other adults tried to explain to him why he should give up the search for now and let the government authorities take their time to clear the rubble and perhaps, ”they may find the corpses of the remaining children”.

He ignored them and kept working alone. Every morning he will return to that rubble and continue to dig and shove aside every piece of block on his away. 

It was on the sixth day that he heard a voice from one end of the rubbles call out, “Daddy, keep coming. We are here”.

The sound of his son’s voice motivated him and he kept working even to the late hours of the night. It was about 11pm that he was able to create a little space that could take the boys. He reached out his hand and brought the little boys out. As he took both of them in his sweating arms, his son told his friend, 

“I told you my Daddy will come”  

These are gloomy days, no matter which part of this earth you are living; many people are depressed and worn out physically and emotionally. This year people have been beaten from one storm and tempest to another. It is only natural that everybody should feel this way.

Yet, the believer in the Lord Christ has something to take from the text we have here. The question that nags every heart now is, “Will God do anything to help me through this?”

There is something about the imagery the Lord Jesus Christ decided to use in that story; sparrows are not costly birds and their economic worth is to say the least, insignificant. Five birds for a penny; no one would want to waste money or medicine or even time on one of those birds because they are not worth it. Yet, the Lord chose to use that imagery because He knows how we see ourselves. He knows that we often think very poorly of ourselves.

It is not that God sees us as cheap sparrows but when we get depressed and start to wonder why things are not working out for us, we often conclude that it is because nobody would want to waste time on us because, we are not rich, we are not influential, we are not popular, we are too old for any man to want to marry us or we are… we are …. We are ….

Too sad that most thoughts we hold about ourselves is like the worthless sparrows. But the Lord Jesus Christ tries to heal this negative mindset by saying, “You are worth more than sparrows”.

It is also important to get a very important lesson from that text; God is not looking at us because of what we are worth. That is not so. Unlike man, who relates with other men based on what they are worth, God looks at us based on who He is. 

It is very important you get this right at this moment; we don’t have anything to give to God but He has everything to give to us. This relationship is like one of those fairy tales of a rich prince and the poor maiden. The earlier you accept this, the better it will be for you. God loves you and is out to bless you because of who He is.

Let us go back to the story of the two boys that were trapped in the rubble; the boy calmed his companion and reassured him because he knew what kind of father he had. They were able to draw hope from that assurance that the kind of father he had will never give up until he was found

What is your idea of the God we serve? The Christian has a God that has proven Himself as trustworthy and it will be for our interest to hold such view of Him. This created hope for those who have waited patiently and witnessed God’s deliverance. Hope is a life giving and saving factor. The bible said that hope does not disappoint us. All through that confinement, those little boys were able to remain alive because of the hope generated in their hearts because of the kind of father one of them had.

It is necessary that we must borrow from those boys now. God is not coming to save us or help us because we are very good and obedient children; God is not going to heal us because of the financial worth we are to him or the wonderful services which only you can give.

He is a good God that loves His children. He is love personified.

It was in 2015; precisely 7th of July that I personally sent out messages to PNUR partners that were around Port Harcourt City that I was going to die. Pastor Ifeanyi Nwokedi came and suggested that I should be taken to the hospital, so it will not be said that they did not play their part. Doctors could not say what the problem was and I could see the effect of this was getting to my wife and children

I called to my wife and children and said, “I can see that you are very worried. So I want to leave the house and go to a prayer camp. If you continue to worry about me, you may die before me. I have heard from my heavenly Father that He will come for me”.

I give God glory that he actually came for me I have been preaching ever since

We should draw strength from the truth that our God is love personified and will not surrender us to the will of the devil. From wherever you are reading this now, I want you to know that God will come for you.

Take a look at this scripture;

Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.  But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me." "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Isa 49:13-15NIV

The Lord called out that they should shout out for hopeful joy, without minding where they were, but Zion felt differently. She felt that God had forsaken and forgotten about her. Perhaps the present state of things around you says that there is no way God would waste His precious time to come for you.

The Lord went on to state why it is not possible that He could forget her. He uses an imagery only maturity and science can understand. Mothers’ breast start producing milk when they have new babies. When the milk accumulates it makes the breast heavy and could be painful unless the mother fed her baby. The baby sucking the milk makes her mother find relief. God is saying that He will not be able to rest unless he takes care of you.

He went on to say that if for some reasons the mother is able to forget the baby at her breast, God will not forget you.

Amen!

What a word of hope. It is a deep assuring word and it is from no less a person than God. 

Can you say out loud, GOD WILL COME FOR  ME! 3x

Even as you welcome this word and celebrate God’s faithfulness, I want you to think about millions of depressed people all over the world. I want you to prayerfully share this post through whatever means you can afford in  as many ways  you can.

Your heavenly Father will surely come for you.

#Godcaresforus

Emma your brother emmanjnwosu@pnurnigeria.org

Almost Saved

You will do well to read all of Genesis 19 but we will take our emphasis from 16-17.

When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!" Gen 19:16-17NIV

Remember Lot's wife! Luke 17:32NIV

The account of Lot’s wife is one of those parts of scripture I don’t like to look at more than once. Similar to this is the account of Samson and Delilah. I look at these scriptures with trepidation and always hear my heart pounding as I move from verse to verse.

This woman’s story is one terrible example of wasted opportunities and privileges.

1. Her husband was reported as a righteous man. No matter what was happening in Sodom, the presence of a godly husband covered her, hence the angelic visitors.

2. She prepared food which heavenly visitors ate and this I see as a great honor. Just like those of us who serve in prominent offices in churches.

3. She obviously shared in the food and had such close proximity with those angels. Many would give anything for such experience; to host and feast with angels

4. She witnessed raw manifestation of the power of God as those angels struck the violent men that were pressing in to break down her door with blindness and she heard them groping about as they bemoaned their misfortune. Just like those of us who have met and served under anointed servants of God

5. It was in her company that her husband left those heavenly visitors as he went out to seek other souls. In his own view, she was safe and counted as confirmed candidate for heaven

6. The angels laid holy heavenly hands on her and brought her beyond the scourge of flames of divine anger. 

7. I mean that they touched her; angels touched her hands and made sure that she was safe

8. She was not the only person so saved but her entire family; there was nothing close to her left in those cursed cities. Just like those of us from godly homes where everyone serves the Lord

9. Age was on her side to have reasoned better because her two daughters were younger. Yes, it was her place to caution her daughters to heed the instruction of the angels but she was the one that failed to listen

10. The instruction was not one hard thing to do; it was simple, DON’T LOOK BACK. God has secured everything; just keep moving forward

The Lord Jesus Christ chose to use this woman’s story to warn the Church about what the end of the age will be like. REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE

I want to state here that many people in the day of destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah did not know about the visit of the angels until fire fell from heaven. Yet, my lamentation is for the woman who had all the privileges and for whom all opportunities abounded, yet she did not make it at last. She was not destroyed with the fire from heaven but met her doom alone. Permit me to say further that her family might not have known that somebody was missing in their company until they arrived in the safe abode. 

May it not be that we will only know that you have looked back when the rest of us arrive in heaven. You are still with us and you even preach with us but….

Wasn’t the punishment too severe?

As it is, unlike us, she was not told the nature of the punishment for those who looked back; there was no bible and there was no story for them to learn from. Yet, the punishment was instant and too harsh, but then, that was the punishment and that was how she ended up. God is the one to detect, not us.

What excuse then shall we give, if we continued to live in disobedience to the commands of God?

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? Heb 10:26-29NIV

You man or woman in the church and yet you deliberately do the things that the Lord has commanded us not to do; what shall you give as excuse?

You Christian that have repeatedly argued that God is too kind to send His beloved children to hellfire, pause and REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE.

She was not a prostitute, she was not a murderer, she was not a kidnapper nor did she do any of those horrible things we scream against every day.

She only LOOKED BACK!

Yet, that sin was enough to doom her. It was just simple disobedience and it was not disobedience in a great matter.

She just moved her neck and looked back.

She was almost saved but then…..

Can you please bow your head in prayer and cry …

Lord, HELP ME!

Emma your brother emmanjnwosu@pnurnigeria.org

Holy Spirit, your heart and anointed atmosphere

 The Holy Spirit, Your heart and Anointed Atmosphere.

As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day.  When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying. When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, "What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?" 1 Sam 10:9-11NIV

It was a wonderful sight the first day I witnessed somebody filled in the Holy Spirit in my crusade. It was at Oforola, Owerri West Local Government Area, Imo State of Nigeria. Pastor Reginald Opara was the initiator of that crusade with all the churches in that community. It was a two days program but Pastor Reginald had suffered an attack that made him incapable to remain in the crusade ground. He invited me to the corner he was kept and, while struggling to breathe, he passionately asked me not to allow the crusade to fail. I was the guest speaker and much depended on me.

The territorial spiritual powers were not ready to yield their place to another and so they put up a hard fight. In the process of opening the crusade crickets filled the crusade ground and were perching on almost all the workers, from the moderator to the worship team and since the people eat crickets, children went wild running after the crickets. Pastor Silas of the Holiness Evangelical Mission, Oforola was the moderator for that first day. He was really confused as to how to face the challenge. He turned in my direction with a gaze that says, “Sir, do we just shut down for today?”

I rather signaled to him to introduce me and let me take over. One of the miracles that happened that day was that none of those crickets came close to me as I took the stage. In less than ten minutes of my message, there was not one cricket left in the crusade ground. I did not pray about them but focused on my message. I cannot remember the title of my message but at the end of my message, I made altar call for those who would want to surrender their life to Christ and more than fifty persons came forward. After leading them to Christ, I started to pray for them and there was this wonderful thing I love to observe; the Holy Spirit descended beautifully on this young woman and she slumped so beautifully to the ground and I could only watch as she lay still for a brief moment. Then, here it goes, she started very gently like some gas was leaking from a cylinder in here stomach and it started to ooze out, then it increased in momentum and then it increased and then it increased and then…….. it was an explosion. She began to pray in the Spirit with Tongue of Angels. It was a wonderful sight to behold.

I saw a similar thing at Zumbalo Ministries with Apostle Job Agyo. 

Port Harcourt to Zing in Taraba State of Nigeria was quite a far distance and the reasonable thing to do was to travel a day ahead. But constrained by the Holy Spirit, I canceled my booking by Fair Plus Transport Company in Port Harcourt. The manager was a Muslim and when I went to the park to travel the next day he called attention of people around shouting, “Come and see this man of God”. I was told that the vehicle I was to travel with had an accident and the passenger on the side of the front seat I was booked to sit was in a very bad state. Stanley was PNUR partner and was the driver that took my wife and I on the trip the next day. When we arrived Jalingo by 6pm, the army man at the check point of the city gate to enter Taraba State parked our driver and accused him of dangerous driving. The fact is that it was not scientifically possible to have arrived at Jalingo by 8pm by road. I explained to him that it was not the driver’s problem but that God had given us a miracle. When we arrived at Apostle Job Agyo’s Center, he already started preaching because he concluded that we will obviously arrive late. The gentleman he is; he handed me the microphone and I started preaching immediately.

The Lord did it again; I saw people filled again with Holy Spirit with manifestation of speaking in Tongues and it was beautiful sight to behold. A woman later testified that she was healed of AIDS that night.  

This is what I asked from the Lord, I want to be Pentecost Carrier and glory to His name, He granted my request.

What we saw in our main text was an account of how Saul, the first king of Israel was baptized with the Holy Spirit. Atmosphere matters a lot and that is why one of things I do to get people filled in the Holy Spirit is to ask those who are already filled to gather around those who want to be filled and start to pray loudly in Tongues. The result has been the same, many people were filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time. 

Atmosphere is very powerful and influential; some people’s life would have been much more resourceful if not for the negative atmosphere that they have exposed themselves to. Yet, there are those, whose life would have amounted to nothing if they had not changed the unclean atmosphere they always go to. Atmosphere remains the reason of the recurring sicknesses in some lives and overflowing healthy living of others. Children raised in healthy peaceful atmosphere have been known to achieve more than those raised under atmosphere of strife.

Even though Saul had met with, eaten with and was anointed by a respected holy man of God, he was told that his encounter with an anointed atmosphere was necessary to activate all that God has for him. 

"After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you 1 Sam 10:5-7NIV

If Saul chose to avoid the anointed atmosphere and go to drunkards and any of such negative places, they would have polluted what God had for him

It is important now that your check your atmosphere.

There is also another side of this thing; the state of heart and motive of those who enter anointed atmosphere matters too.

I have a covenant of NO CASUALTY with the Holy Spirit and that means that no matter how people fall under anointing in my meetings, they never get hurt. Yet there are these two instances where two women got seriously wounded.

One case was at Ada Palm Farm Settlement in Imo State; a woman fell several times and went outside and started rubbing her face in the grass. We later discovered that she was an agent of satan who came to challenge the power of God. Another one was in Door of Hope Christian Center Port Harcourt; the Holy Spirit struck this woman’s head to the wall several times and she left bleeding; we later learned that she had lied against her pastor and caused serious problem in his family. Then she moved over to join my church. She did not know that the God at work in my ministry, is the God of her pastor.

We saw in our main text how Saul was blessed by the anointed atmosphere when his heart was right with God. But later on in his ministry, 

So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even upon him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. He stripped off his robes and also prophesied in Samuel's presence. He lay that way all that day and night. This is why people say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" 1 Sam 19:23-24NIV

This time the anointed atmosphere disgraced and rubbished him, so that he lay there naked in public view. It was the same Holy Spirit but the difference was his heart attitude.

If you are not been blessed by anointed atmosphere, don’t accuse God, check your heart. On this last day of our seven days fast captioned, OH LORD I NEED YOUR POWER, please check your heart because the atmosphere of divine power is locating you now.

Please, cry out -

“Oh Lord, I need your power!”

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com