LET DAGON FALL" We don't need to fall instead"

Scripture Reading: Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained.                                    - 1 Sam 5:2-4

Do you desire change in any thorny area of your life? Is there an urgent challenge that if unsolved can cause you irreparable damage? Is it with finance, habits, relationships, career or spirituality? Then be of good cheer. Today's word shows us the power Gods presence has over strongholds. Dagon was destroyed by "contact" with Gods presence. If the idol could speak, it would have cried to be taken out of the Presence! Our challenges remain because we talk more and submit less. Once we learn how to access and deposit ourselves and our issues at the foot of His presence and lay there, the influence of His glory will break the back of the stronghold. You do not need much more than this. Contact the Presence; do not rush out of it. Stay and soak yourself in the atmosphere of worship and intercession. Take hold of the Hem of the Masters garment; contact the anointing that breaks the yoke and watch strongholds fall. For Dagon it took 2 days. It may take more than that depending on the stronghold, but stay there. Stop all the quick fixes that today's christian is known for...shallow believers running to and fro searching for the wonder pill of anointing that solves all problems. It does not exist. Feed your spirit. Grow in grace. Find the Secret place of God's Presence for yourself then take time out and soak yourself in His glory and then patiently watch your very nature and character change. Watch Satan shamed and experience real lasting freedom.

                      PRAYER CONFESSION

In Jesus Name I declare that I am the temple of the living God. The presence of God dwells within me. I am sealed with the mark of Christ. I am a covenant child of God. All powers bow before me in submission in Jesus Name. Amen.

A child of God falling back into sinful habits or lukewarmness is as a result of two major things: Careless and prayerlessness. If a child of God goes back into a particular old sinful nature or become lukewarm and cold again, it is not because he was not saved at the first instance, it is not because he has not been delivered from those sinful habits after he dedicated his life to Jesus, and it is not because Christian life is meant to be a rising and falling thing; It is due to one’s carelessness and prayer-less-ness.

CARELESSNESS
1Corinthians 10:12, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall”

When you are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ or when you rededicate your life to Jesus to start better, He sets you free from sinful habits and gives you His grace and Spirit, but you need to take heed – that is being watchful, so that you don’t fall back into sin and become lukewarm later. Carelessness comes into Christian life through different means:

(i) Overconfidence: You become overconfident when you, knowing by the Word of God and by the warning of the Holy Spirit that something may lead to sin, but too confident in yourself that you will, "take care of the situation" and that it will not lead you to sin. It is a subtle deception of Satan, and against the Word of God which warns us to always take heed. Staying or moving close to the spot of sin, and being confident that you will not fall into sin is overconfidence of carelessness.

Overconfidence has no backing of God's grace; it simply means you are on your own, because it is against God's warning and word. Many have fallen because of self confidence of "Nothing will happen, I am not a baby Christian." And when something happen it become hard to say something.

(ii) Little Foxes: other forms of carelessness are little foxes. “Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” Song of Solomon 2:15. This is a common carelessness that we all need to daily watch against. They are casual habits but cause lots of destruction, they are simple but they sink several Christian fervent faith. Little foxes in Christian life are Inconsistent Bible reading, over-talking, unbecoming jesting and exaggeration in expression, getting involve in worldly stuffs like worldly dress, makeup, worldly friendship, watching worldly movies, listening to worldly music which cannot edify your soul, reading romantic novels, browsing pornographic websites, looking at nude pictures, thinking or talking about immoral stuffs, using worldly materials, watching worldly TV shows like American Idol, African Idol, Big brother Africa, unwholesome TV Reality shows, dance competition, wrestling, etc. These habits slowly drain spiritual strength, hinder spiritual growth and the flow of the fire of Holy Spirit in one’s life, and then make a Christian spiritually week to resist temptation. Little foxes are hard to trace to one’s spiritual downfall, because they don’t cause the damage immediately, but one thing you can discover is that when you get involve in any of those habits, you feel spiritually light and empty.

PRAYER-LESS-NESS
1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”
A prayer-less Christian is a powerless Christian, period! You cannot stay long in your new dedicated life in Christ without consistent prayer life; you cannot grow in your Christian life without a growing prayer life, and it is biblically impossible to experience and maintain fervent Christian life without a fervent prayer life.

Prayer and Bible reading/study are the only sources of strength, and why prayer is very important is that it takes prayer to understand and apply the Word of God. It is in your daily prayer you ask for daily grace and strength. A prayerless Christian will be too weak to resist temptation of old sinful life. When the Spirit of God wakes you up at night to pray or moves you at any time to pray even you don’t plan to pray, if you fail to respond immediately, it will only leads to falling. Jesus prayed always and instructed us to pray always. In prayer, we take our spiritual weakness and challenges to God for grace and strength.

That is the reason it is mostly important to maintain daily and consistent personal quiet time, devotion. Satan can’t attack you directly, he has to first attack and distracts you on your daily devotion; when your daily devotion becomes inconsistent, and it will not take long time before you find your back on the ground again.

Ephesians 6:18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”

We must be watchful, vigilant and prayerful always!

1 Peter 5:8-11, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

If you will like to rededicate your life to Jesus Christ for a better and stronger start, please click on this link, read and pray as directed http://www.facebook.com/notes/evangelism-rtem/how-to-experience-genuine-salvation-in-jesus/136918606447865

THE FREE FLOW OF ANGELIC ACTIVITIES 2

There are many people who have read the word of God, have remarkable insights into the scriptures through quoting and teaching it well. But when it comes to manifestation of these scriptures within their lives, the representation of these scriptures within their lives, the representation of those things that they know and understand is not evident in their lives. We find out t

hat the amount of knowledge that they have of what is happening in their lives does not justify the amount of knowledge they have received. And in cases like this, one can conclusively say that the individual is operating either under a closed heaven or the heavens are opened partially. So there is no sufficient opening over the life of that individual to have an unhindered flow of angelic activities.

For instance, in the book of Genesis, when Jacob went into Laban’s house; Laban said to him that he has learnt through experience that since he came into his household, all his cattle have multiplied and he has prospered for Jacob’s sake. Jacob did things in Laban’s house that up till now no one can explain. The scripture tells us in the book of second Samuel 14 vs 20 that a man can possess the wisdom that only belongs to angels who know all things upon the earth. That is how far the ministry of angels can take us when we allow it. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and beholds a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land where on thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed (Gen. 28 vs 11-13). Furthermore as a result of Jacobs experience in the above scripture he had open heavens upon his life. God made some powerful pronouncement over his life. These are pronouncements that will hold in the life of anybody who understands how to keep on open heaven; where angels have the ability to go up and down. This is because if you don’t have this access the angels become hindered in their operations within your life. So theoretically speaking you can read the word of God which says he will give His angels charge over you and that scripture may not manifest in your life. Angels are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister and they hearken unto the word. When you speak the word of God and you do not have the tangible manifestation of these ministering spirits within your life.

It simply means you are experiencing closed heaven. This is a situation where you do not see your confessions coming to pass and your word being honoured upon the earth. What has happened in the life of such an individual is that he is experiencing what is called a restricted the person understanding what it means to have an open heaven over their life. Thus, there is a concept in the scripture called “open heavens’ and as Christians, we must endeavor to pray it over our lives daily. In the scriptures we are told that when Jesus was going to be baptized by John the Baptist, the heavens were opened over Him. The reason the heavens were opened over Jesus was because He was praying when he went in for His Baptism.

Prayer opens up the heaven and allows this free flow of angelic activities. And if the bible tells us the heavens were opened, it means prior to that time the heavens was obviously closed therefore, it means you can have what is called the closed heaven and the opened heaven over the life of a person. for Jesus to pray, we can see that prayer is the way and manner in which we can open up the heavens over our lives. Therefore, as believers we must take our prayer life seriously if we want to get any tangible results. For without it, nothing we want done will ever be done the way God has planned it in our lives. So in order to remain in the purpose of God for our lives we must pray it out to experience open heavens and angelic activities within our environment.

CHUCKLES, TRUTH AND FACT!!!

"HERE I RAISE MINE EBENEZER"

There is a particular line in the classic hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" that many of us probably never even realized was there. It is in the second stanza; and it says, "Here I raise my Ebenezer." Similarly, many of us may not be familiar with the single verse from which that line originated. Robert Robinson apparently not only knew of the verse but also understood its meaning and importance, for it was he who wrote those words into his beautiful and timeless hymn.

In 1 Samuel 7:12 we are told that "Samuel took a stone and set it up... and called its name Ebenezer, saying "Thus far the Lord has helped us" That stone was a reminder to the Israelites of God's faithfulness and might. It was set up so that no matter what situation they were in, they would be able to hark back to their defeat of the Philistines in which God was faithful to deliver them.

what reminders do you have of God's faithfulness in your life? It may be a picture, a song, a powerful verse that really spoke to your heart during a difficult time. Whatever it is, keep it at hand so that when you are discouraged you can not only use it to recall how God has blessed and helped you, but you can also look forward to His future faithfulness on you existence.

THE FREE FLOW OF ANGELIC ACTIVITIES

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Heb. 1 vs 14). There is no way we can enter into the salvation that God has planned for us without understanding this salvation first. We need the ministering of angels in order to obtain our salvation. Therefore, the faith teaching in the scripture that says, ‘with the heart a man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation; can only be fulfilled through the ministration of angels.

This means there has to be angels ministering on the earth at all times in order for what we are saying, according to the scriptures, to come to pass. So when Jesus said, ‘whosoever shall say to this mountain be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea’ and the mountains will obey, literally means it is the angels that go out to make it happen. For the bible tells us that they obey the commandments of God by hearkening to the voice of the word of God; angels obey and immediately respond to it.

But there is something about the ministry of angels that we have got to understand, and it deals with spiritual warfare in prayer. Many of us don’t clearly understand this, and that is why there is a lot of frustration when it comes to answers to prayer. A lot of people believe God for a season that something is done but then they are confronted with a lot of contradictory things happening within their physical environment. This creates doubts and fear inside their hearts and they lose grip of what they are persuaded in their heart God has done for them. This type of issue has a lot to do with spiritual warfare and in order to be able to understand and flow in the ministry of angels; we have got to understand this warfare within our heart, inside our spirit and how to deal with it. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael said unto him, whence knowest thou me”?

Jesus answered and said unto him, before that Philip called thee, when thou was under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered, and said unto him, because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. And he said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, here after ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man. (IJN 1vs 47-51)

What Christ was saying in the above scripture was that because Nathanael was able to recognize him through his word he will see greater and mightier things within his life. Through this scripture we are given a remarkable insight into the spiritual realm; that when we see great work and powerful manifestations in the life of a person, it is because the heavens are opened over the life of the person. This means, there is a free flow of angelic activity over the life of that individual. So, when you find a great man of God doing massive things on the earth, it is not because of his ability to brand or market, or ability to steal the ideas of people but simply because the heavens are opened over his life, and angels are able to ascend and descend.

That is why immediately after Jesus spoke to Nathanael He went into the marriage feast and performed the miracle of turning water into wine, demonstrating the power of the ministry of angels to them. What Christ showed us in this miracle is the ability of what a man can do when the heaven is opened up to him.My song: Prayer freestyle