-Bishop David Oyedepo at CHoP
*God is turning that stinking situation to a shining testimony.
*Give thanks.
*With the same tempo or even more than you prayed.
*The type of thanksgiving that gets to the ears of mockers
Let’s lift up our 2 hands to Heaven and again give God thanks for those awesome testimonies of the raw acts of God.
Give Him glory, give Him praise. There is no one like Jesus. Thank You Lord. In Jesus precious name we have given thanks.
The rod God gave to me to execute this Mandate is the Word of Faith. No matter what prayer we pray, until you receive the Word, you have no way out.
10 years, 6 months of fruitless marriage, chased out of the marriage. 11 years more and God said, “I am not done with you.” As she kept engaging with the truth that she heard, God settled her maritally and gave her a baby boy.
Grace to put the Word to work is all you need Sir. It’s all I need.
A miracle is not magic. It’s a confirmation of the Word engaged. He was working with them confirming the Word with signs following (Mark 16:20).
Prayer: Lord, grace to keep putting your Word to work, believing, rejoicing, I receive it.
Grace to keep putting the Word to work, joyfully, cheerfully, tirelessly all the days of my life. I receive it this morning.
Grace to put the Word to work, to keep putting it to work joyfully, gladly, cheerfully, believingly, I receive that grace this Morning. In Jesus precious name we have prayed.
Now listen: There is no kind of prayer – prayer of agreement, prayer with fasting that can make you harvest from a field you have not planted.The seed is the Word of God. Without the seed… (Luke 8:11).
Prayer: “Oh God…”
Seedtime and harvest shall not cease (Genesis 8:22).
Upon which Word are you calling on me to confirm?
Which Word have you put to work?
That’s what makes the difference!
Make the grace each one has prayed for this Morning be your portion for life.
Father, Lord, I pray that you speak to each one of us this morning and confirm your Word in everyone’s life. In Jesus precious name.
Give the Lord a big hand of praise.
There are no private revelations in scriptures, “what I say to you, I say to all” – Mark 13:37
At the same time, there are no private testimonies – Psalm 119:111
Every testimony is a pointer to our heritage in Christ.
There are no private revelations – Mark 13:37
“What I say to you, I say to all.”
There are no private testimonies, whatever you see Me (God) do is a pointer to what I have in stock for you (Psalm 119:111).
That man heard a testimony of someone who got his job restored after 21 years and paid all his allowances and all appropriated promotions, by engaging with the Word. And so he got his own 14 years after (documented testimony).
There are no private (testimony). Family members said, forget about that one, get something else.
He said: “things are turning for us when we came into Church but I said,” Lord, I want my job back. I want the devil to know that I had no part in what they sent me out of that job for.” God did it!
So wake up Sir. Nothing of value is free. There is always a demand to access anything of value in life. If you want his kind of testimonies, then do his kind of thing that he did from the Word of God. If you want his kind of signs and wonders and miracles, then engage with His Word that he engaged with and then you come out with the same order of results.
God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34).
There are quite a number of lazy people in the house of God. Lazy: just waiting for things to happen. No. That man was waiting for 38 years. He was wasting away.
Don’t wait, you take steps. He was waiting 38 years for a change of story. He was waiting, just waiting. Waiting and wasting!!
-That’s not you anymore!
-That will never be you anymore!
Hey man, would you like to be healed?
…I have nobody.
Stop that looking for somebody. You don’t need somebody to get saved. You don’t need somebody else to get healed. You don’t need.
You get saved one by one, so you can get healed one by one and receive your breakthrough one by one.
God is not a Democrat.
Why am I saying this?
We are just about stepping into the midst of the year: Our Season of Wonders in the Kingdom where everlasting mountains are levelled, perpetual hills are cleared. Where God’s people begin to ride upon their high places by engaging with the Word, not by counting years of membership; not by counting experience (Habakkuk 3:6).
-No one will miss it here.
Prophecies are not songs.
“You know, Papa has come again, midst of the year.”
I didn’t come, I met it, it’s in the Word. I wasn’t near this Word, I had not been formed when it was written. Ours is just to discover, to find what was written of Him and God confirms what is found. You find it, you engage with it, God will confirm it (Mark 16:20).
Now we have this prophetic alert that we have been running with:
God said, “Turn your concerns to thanksgiving and I will turn them to testimonies” – one line.
We have this very illustrative episode of the death of Lazarus. Jesus was called, “Lazarus is very sick” (John 11:3). Jesus knew he died and waited 2 days. Now let’s go and wake up our friend, he sleeps (John 11:39).
They said if he is sleeping, it’s okay. Why should we go from here to go and wake him up?
He said, “are you dull of understanding? I mean he is dead and I’m glad I was not there because of you.”
Jesus stepped in on the scene, having prayed I believe, but He didn’t meet Lazarus at home, he was in the grave and He said, “Let’s go.”
They said: there is no point going, by now he is stinking.
John 11:39
Jesus: “Let’s go, I know what to do.”
You know something about Christ, He always knows what to do (John 6:6). Jesus always knows what to do. No situation can put Him to ransom. He always knew what to do.
And what did He do?
Take away the stone my friend.
John 11:41
Faith without action is dead. Let the stench come out, let fresh breath go in.
Then He lifted up His hands, gave thanks.
“Lazarus, come forth” and he that was dead came forth. At the power and trigger of thanksgiving.
-Therefore no matter how stinking anyone’s situation may be, having prayed: GIVE THANKS! He will turn that stinking situation to a shining testimony.
Having prayed, give thanks. Give thanks with the same tempo that you prayed and even greater than you prayed and He will show up.
When God shows up, you must find a way out.
Jesus gave thanks, God showed up, Lazarus came out.
-No matter how stinking anyone’s situation may be, “is any afflicted, let him pray and after he has prayed, let him give thanks.”
Philippians 4:16
-In everything, no matter how stinking that situation is, with prayers and supplication with thanksgiving.
I have prayed, ‘Oh God hear me’: that is not what thanksgiving is all about.
I have prayed, now Lord hear me and prove that you hear me – that’s thanksgiving.
Having prayed, give thanks. He will hear and prove that He has heard.
God is able therefore to turn any situation, no matter how closed up it might be to a testimony at the instance of intense thanksgiving. Thanksgiving that gets to the ears of mockers.
Intense thanksgiving: Lazarus came forth.
Among other things, we know that thanksgiving clears the way for the outpouring of fresh oil and yokes are destroyed by the anointing. So when thanksgiving ascends to Heaven, fresh oil is poured out on God’s people that destroys the yokes around them.
Psalm 92:1,10; Isaiah 10:27
I shall be anointed with fresh oil in response to my intense, genuine, heart seated thanksgiving and by that oil, yokes shall be destroyed.
Psalm 92:1-2; 10-15
Then things will begin to turn in the right direction: the enemies will give up, you begin to flourish. The dry season will be over and you begin to grow like the cedars in Lebanon; still be bringing fruit in old age…In response to our acceptable thanksgiving which unleashes fresh oil and destroys the hold of the wicked around our lives and op
ens up a chapter of refreshing in our lives.
The more thankful we are, the greater our access to fresh oil!
The more thankful we live, the more freshly anointed we become and that destroys yokes and turns obstacles ito miracles; breakdowns to breakthroughs; turns dry lives to watered garden.
That’s the amazing power that intense thanksgiving unleashes.
This is also why the more joyful we are, the greater our access to the anointing.
Psalm 89:20
How did He find him?
I will bless the Lord at all times – Psalm 34:1
So He found Him and unleashed fresh oil in his life.
7 times a day do I praise thee – Psalm 119:164
He found him and with fresh oil, He anointed him.
No temptation, no challenge has ever come your way, my way, but such that is common to man – 1 Corinthians 10:13.
But God is faithful, He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can handle and in the same temptation, He will provide the way of escape. So He shows us the way out of our situation.
He is not a magician, He makes His ways known unto Moses and then His acts to the children of Israel – Psalm 103:7
He shows us the way out. This is how to access the way out. The Bible says, “thou will show me the path of life or the way out; for in thy presence is fulness of joy, on your right hand, there are pleasures ever more” – Psalm 16:11.
The way out of our issues is accessible in His presence and thanksgiving is a requirement to access His presence (Psalm 100:4).
You want the way out: come into His presence.
How do I get there?
Come with thanksgiving. Enter His courts with praise. Be thankful. Be genuinely thankful and bless His holy name.
Here is the way out. Here is the way out!!!
So thanksgivers don’t lack access to the way out.
Thanksgivers don’t lack access to the way out!
We had a great crusade 1983, November 21 to 28: 8 nights of wonders.
Highest attendance was 63 in the city of Kaduna. Highest attendance was 63 and after we were done on Monday morning, we were seated in the sitting room and I said, “let us give God thanks for a most impactful time all the week long.
Then that song came alive: 🎼All the glory must be to the Lord🎹
Genuinely, ‘celebratingly’, rejoicingly Sir.
🎼For He is worthy of our praise. No man on earth should give glory to himself, all the glory must be to the Lord.
Singing and making melody in our hearts unto God: for souls saved, there wasn’t a night that one person got out to give his life to Christ. Another night, two people.
🎼All the glory must be to the Lord.
If I am sent to Kaduna on Sunday night, tomorrow night, they don’t need fliers: just look he is coming to Kaduna this night.
Everybody will gather from the North to the South, to the East and West of that city. The same city where we had 63, highest attendance in a crusade. He gave it to us.
Thanksgiving!
We were somewhere in the East, in a crusade that didn’t hold. We were about to start when the people we hired the equipments from began disconnecting the equipments about an hour to the time so there was no way to rearrange another one. So the people there about 16-20, I said join your hands so I prayed and preached to them in the prayer. We went to the hotel to praise God and by the Holy Ghost I said when next we come come to this City there will be nowhere to sit and God did it.
The next time we were in that City people were sitting down at 12 noon to secure seat for a meeting of 6pm.
Thanksgiving.
Don’t let that situation destroy your life. As you turn your situation to thanksgiving He will turn them to testimonies.
Give Him a big hand of praise everyone. Thank You Jesus. God always knows what to do. Your God is never stranded so you’re not permitted to be stranded. God always knows what to do about anyone’s situation. He knows how to turn anyone’s situation into a testimony. God always knows what to do.
Lift up your two hands everyone and give Him thanks for your life. You are where you are, you are who you are today all by His grace, you’re on your feet today all by His grace. You’re still breathing today all by His grace. Give Him thanks and praise and glory and honour in Jesus precious name we have prayed.
Someone lost his job and feeding was a problem and somebody said come over here and he came and encountered God that same day and and you saw his story changed. Now get someone to come with you tomorrow. Someone has been stranded over the years, he wants a way forward. By the prophetic Word and the mandate delivered to me, everyone will find their way forward.
- It will be a next level encounter that will not be forgotten in a hurry in the life of anyone.
- The same way this Commission has never been stranded for once in 40 years no one’s life here will be stranded anymore in the name of Jesus Christ.
Remember it’s our next level banquet. God is saying you have gone round that mountain long enough now this is the way forward. I’m paving a way for your next level.
Deuteronomy 2:3 - Everyone you care to invite will respond like a dream of the night.
- God who sees your labour in secret will reward you openly.
It will be a service to be much remembered, not just for now but for many peoples entire life. You’ll be thankful to God that you came in the name of Jesus Christ.
Lift up those two hands and speak to the day. It’s Your day. Every prayer you pray tomorrow shall be answered. Everyone you pray for to come will come. Your new converts will not be left behind in the name of Jesus.
Thank Him for turning your situations into testimonies. Give Him praise, give Him glory, give Him honour.