BISHOP OYEDEPO SHARES HOW WINNERS CHAPEL EXPERIENCED EXPONENTIAL CHURCH GROWTH THROUGH DIVINE GUIDANCE ON THE PLATFORM OF PRAYER AND FASTING.
NO GUESSWORK HERE, THAT’S WHY THINGS ARE WORKING.
NO CHURCH SUFFERS DRY SEASON WHILE FOLLOWING DIVINE GUIDANCE!
NOT EVERY OPEN DOOR IS GOD’S DOOR; MANY ARE TRAPS IN DISGUISE.
YOU KNOW THE REASON WHY HE IS NOT LEADING US? WE ARE NOT COMMITTED!
DON’T EAT YOUR DESTINY AWAY! DON’T LIVE WITH CONFUSION!
DIVINE GUIDANCE IS AN ASSET OF DESTINY NOT JUST FOR THE CHURCH BUT FOR US AS INDIVIDUALS.
PROFITABLE ADVENTURE IN THE KINGDOM REQUIRES DIVINE GUIDANCE.
GOD’S PRESENCE IS THE CHEAPEST CURE FOR FEAR.
GOD’S PRESENCE ALLAYS ALL FEAR AND HIS GUIDANCE IS WHAT SECURES HIS PRESENCE.
-Bishop David Oyedepo on ‘PRAYER AND FASTING- THE LIVE WIRE OF EVERY GROWING CHURCH’ || 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting Day 18 || Youth Chapel || 26th January, 2023 || Part B
Prayer and Fasting enhances access to Divine guidance that provokes Supernatural Church growth. Jonah blew up the whole of Nineveh – a city that demands 3 days of trek; not a mean city. Jonah 1:2.
“Get down to Nineveh and preach to her the preaching that I bid there”.
The greatest revival in the Bible you see was recorded there where animals and livestock were involved and everybody fasted.
As greedy as the chickens were, they fasted- You know that chickens eat every moment, they don’t drop the food, they are never satisfied as they can be eating and shiting at the same time- The appetite was suspended at the preaching of Jonah that routed the whole city in three days by Divine guidance.
Guess work can be stressful! ‘But they thirsteth not when He led them through the desert- He brought forth water for them out of the rocks, He claved the rocks also and water gushed out’ Isaiah 48:21. No Church suffers dry seasons while following Divine guidance! Isaiah 58:11 is one of the outcomes of fasting- The Lord shall guide thee continually…
Divine guidance is an asset of destiny not just for the Church but for us as individuals. For I am the Lord that leadeth in the way that you should go, I am the Lord that teacheth thee to profit Isaiah 48:17.
So profitable adventure in the Kingdom requires Divine guidance. The Lord. The Lord is my guide! My Shepherd! So I shall not want! He will make me lie down on green pastures Psalms 23:2 and 6. As I follow His guidance, His Presence is domicile with me. His Presence is the cheapest cure for fear Psalms 23:4.
You can’t carry His Presence and be fearful at the same time. His Presence allays all fear and His guidance is what secures His Presence.
Now, let’s reflect a bit on what Divine guidance has done for us as a Commission. In 1984, I was in prayer and fasting with three of our co-workers asking one question, “Why is this Church not growing?” We prayed about this in a fast oo not with a bowl of garri.
We continued the second day asking the same question!- “Jesus what are you saying? Where are we missing it?
What steps are we not taking? Show up Jesus! Lead the way forward!” On the third day, the Heavens came down and gave four instructions that we call today, “Our Church growth mandate”.
That guidance received in three days brought us to where we are today! Don’t eat your destiny away! Don’t live with confusion! ‘I will instruct thee’! So God is committed.
‘I will lead there in the way thou shouldest go, I will guide you with My eyes’! So go ahead and secure His guidance for a sweatless adventure. In the course of the prayer He said, ‘Stand up’!
God loves to guide us! He said to me on 1st October 1983, ‘I’m committed to leading you if you are committed to following Me’. You know the reason why He is not leading us? We are not committed!
We have already determined where we are going, the way we are going to do it! We are just informing God saying, ‘Hello God! This and this are the agenda, stamp it’! I know that you have stamped it, Amen! Well done! You are the applicant and you are the one approving the application!
You are the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Managing Director (MD) and Chairman. Let Him lead you and you will just enjoy the flight! No struggles, you get on the eagle’s wings and He bears you up far above the storms! Great God! That was in March 1984 and the Church picked up from there with about twenty four people and then growth!-
Heavy Words as revealed by the Lord, back-to-back seminars every weekend and by July we were ninety in number. He said, ‘Eh! Is that exponential Church growth? You don’t know the meaning! A Church can be fifty for ten years and for twenty years! So the door began to open!
In the second year, we jumped to five hundred people and now we are where we are! Come on give the Lord Praise! The Lord shall guide thee continually through the platform of prayer and fasting! Ezra led the people in a fast- He proclaimed a three day fast Ezra 8:21-28.
Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast all through Judah and what was it? He said, ‘We have no power or might against this great army that came against us neither know we what to do, our eyes are now on You to locate which way out’! And then, a Prophetic Word came, you shall not need to fight in this battle 2 Chronicles 20:17. And God said, “Set yourself in praise and watch me in action!” What a solution!
They sang in the warfront and won the war without shooting an arrow 2 Chronicles 20:11-12, 2 Chronicles 20:14-17 and 2 Chronicles 20:22-24. They won the battle through Divine guidance without shooting an arrow!
Now, come back to Church!
January in the course of the fast in 2019, ‘You are planting five thousand Churches this year’. It was January in the course of the fast. That cannot be programmed, that cannot be planned, it’s far beyond projections. And we began to watch and we saw Him plant it- Five thousand and eighty two Churches within the year. Don’t mind us, we had already finished the budget for the year in terms of planning and budgeting by November of the previous year so it was not part of the budget. Okay!
Then January came in 2020, and we had already convinced ourselves that we are not doing any Church planting this coming year that we are going to be doing Church establishment. We are planting ten thousand Churches this year, it also came during fasting and prayer!
-Things that you never imagine in your life, when you release yourself to God, He guides you into it!
And then again in January 2021, He doubled the number of Cell Fellowships in every Church this year! No exemption! We were around twenty thousand Home Cells here in Lagos State, He doubled them by giving us twenty one thousand Home Cells in one year above all we knew in 27 years of Cell Ministry.
Then came January 2022, can you see that they are so recent! ‘You are entering into seventy five new nations this year’. Thank you Jesus! I never planned it! I never projected that, it’s never normal! It’s not scientific! It’s not sound! You saw what He did, He opened the door to eighty three new nations in one year. Come on, give the Lord praise!
Now! Come down to you, ask God for guidance! All these trial and error can be very frustrating and stressful, ask God for Divine guidance! I have in my fingertips now what the year is up to, I’ll be unveiling that tomorrow night.
One of the vital returns on prayer and fasting is access to Divine guidance. No guesswork here, that’s why things are working. Somebody once asked me, ‘How do you get things done so cheaply?’ We do nothing except He has commanded! No guesswork! Zero guesswork!
-May guesswork end in your life today!
Don’t just see the visa and start jumping like somebody without a bearing. Ask God what are you saying. Not every open door is God’s door; many are traps in disguise. I would have lost destiny in the United States! No! Let me pray about it! This place needs you, let me pray about it! No! Capital No!
I would have been lost out in Japan, He said although there is a need in Japan you are not the one that I am sending! Thank you Sir. That they need a hospital in your town do you go and start one when you are not a doctor? No! Not every open door is God’s door, many are traps in disguise! So stop leaning on your own understanding! Stop!
There are some ordained to be the President of their nations but they are crying for daily bread in another nation. Some of them are to be celebrated as employers of labour, but they are jumping from one office to another working three jobs in a day like they are under the bondage of Egypt they won’t let God lead them! And they are too proud to receive corrections.
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