Ephesians 5:14;
Galatians 4:1-3; &
Hebrews 5:11-12
Notice in our scripture that Paul was talking to people whose eyes were opened, and were awake, yet spiritually, they were sleeping.
The largest number of people who are in bondage are those who are children spiritually under the elements of this world like witches, wizards, and all kinds of powers of darkness.
A lot of people will not remain in bondage if they can just grow up, if they depart from the school of spiritual kindergarten and just go high. This is a very serious matter.
God has a journey for all of us. When you get born again, you start a journey, and you travel along that journey, and God now starts to prepare His people.
So you go through your preparation period. If when God is trying to prepare you for your future assignment, you did not know about it, you did not discern it, you did not understand it, you did not take it serious when you should have, you did not pray when you were supposed to pray, you did not memorize or read the Bible when you were supposed to, you refused to cooperate with God when He was trying to prepare you.
Note that time is going and a time is coming when that time for preparation will be over, and there would be nobody to prepare you, for those who are to prepare you would have gone for another assignment.
When some people are passing through their preparation stage, they are always complaining that things are too hard, and they are being restricted, whereas it is their time of preparation. Jesus said something very profound.
He said, “I must work the works of Him that called me while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work.’
So no matter how powerful your mandate is, no matter the vision you are seeing about your life, no matter the announcement God is making about you, no matter the knowledge you are getting, it will not make any difference as long as you remain a spiritual child.
So, you have to grow. This is what I was saying the last time we were talking about this. Personal growth is the separator between those who succeed spiritually and those who fail. You may say,”But I am born again.”But growth does not allow you to stop there.
Or you say you are filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Growth does not allow you to just stand there. Or you say you know memory verses. Growth does not allow you stay there, it wants you to move higher.
The higher you move, the more powerful you become, and the more difficult it is for the enemy to come against you and succeed.
Read the Bible well beloveth. The Bible says* _”resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Have you ever thought about that scripture?
It means that you can get yourself to a level where the devil sees you and he flees; where witchcraft sees you and flees, when dark powers see you and flee.
Everything depends on the manner of resistance you provide them. So you have to grow. If not, you remain under permanent bondage.
Men and women who are suffering day and night, their properties to fake prophets who instead of making their stand solid in scriptures, are falling into all kinds of waves of doctrines all over the place.
They become children in the spirit realm. No one will give a gun to a six year old. It is too much power for a child.
As long as you are a child spiritually, let me be honest with you: you are not different from a slave. You may be a child usher, a child singer, a child pastor, but you remain a slave.
Meaning that technically, the reason people are on deliverance grounds crying for deliverance is because of lack of spiritual growth. Children remain as babies, and so the enemy treats them hard and harsh.
The Bible says God has appointed a time for your training. So you have to cooperate with that training and that junction because there is a time appointed to each of us.
Any goal you score in a match after the final whistle has been blown is a wasted exercise. So, God has envisaged and appointed that you would have grown enough at a particular time in your life. He has set a time for your growth.
He has set a time when He expects you to have moved into your life mandate. He has put down a time when you are supposed to possess what He already has in store for you.
But if at the time you are supposed to possess it, you still remain a child, you will not be able to get all that God has for you. This unfortunately is the tragedy of many Christians which requires serious praying and serious preparation.
In Hebrews 5, the Bible says that the time you are supposed to be teaching others how to find God, how to move into the things of God, how to become a friend of Jehovah, you yourself still need to be sat down and be implored not to get angry, and all those primary lectures.
When you are supposed to be a teacher, you are still a student and it is such a tragedy. You need to pray seriously and say,”Lord, do not let me miss my time. Lord, give me an unquenchable desire to grow.
*When Jesus was a child, He was growing everyday. Any time you saw Him, there would be an increase. What some do not understand is that God prepares.
But they want microwaved life. But God prepares people. When God sometimes keeps you behind the stage, it is not because He wants to punish you. He want you to grow.
When God has not exposed you yet, He is seeking for your growth. Some people seek for recognition but God says,”no, not time. You need to grow.”
But once you have grown, nobody can stop you. Nobody can take your place. So instead of grumbling and complaining when Jesus is calling you to grow, accept it joyfully.
Once you grow, even if you are locked up in the desert, the hand of God will find you there and people will find you there.
The church of God is powerless today because over 85% of those who come to church are babies.
Babies who will dress in a particular way inside, and in another particular way outside.
LBabies who will close service and begin to fight at the car park;
Babies who will be fighting with everybody; Baby husbands and wives; Babies that have to be taught to pay their tithes and offerings; &
Babies who are still taught fundamental things like this.
This is a serious matter.
What is written in your name according to the record of heaven is that you must grow beyond the level you are now, to where you have to be.
There are prayers you need to pray seriously like: My Father, ignite the Spirit of growth in me;
Create in me a hunger to grow spiritually; Deliver me from the stagnating powers in the spirit realm;
Father, I do not want people to be celebrating my childishness. Take me beyond where I am now, to where I need to be
The heir, although the owner of everything, remains a slave as long as he remains a child. You may say, What do I do now? How do I grow spiritually?
WHAT TO DO TO GROW SPIRITUALLY
- Become a learner everyday. A learning spirit will help you to grow. Be teachable. Do not just sit down somewhere.
Somebody who has been serving the Lord for 40-50 years is telling you things, and you that just got born again about 5 or 6 years ago, are opening your mouth to counter him, in what you do not understand. No. Become a learner. Be teachable;
- Develop a deep, regular, vital prayer life. Jesus said* _”men always ought to pray, and not to faint.”_ *Anybody who cannot pray cannot grow, and cannot become a friend of God.
Are you here this morning and the only time you pray seriously is when you are in church? I feel sorry for you. Have you ever planned to pray 15 minutes at a time, or 30 minutes at a time or 1 hour at a time?
- Read and study your Bible. Read it. Study it. Meditate upon it. Chew it in your mouth. Let it be like food to you. Read, Study, meditate on the Bible;
- Do not be satisfied with your present level. You now speak in tongues? We thank God. Seek now to receive spiritual gifts. You now pray in tongues? We thank God. Seek to interpret what you are saying.
You have the calling of an evangelist or a prayer warrior? Seek other gifts that can move you forward. Do not be the kind of person who will come to the house of God, and no group or house fellowship;
There is nothing you are doing to contribute to your Father’s house. All the serious things you are supposed to do in the house of God, you are running away from, because you want to put on all your worldly materials and adornments.
Do not be like that;
- Work on your weaknesses. Any area of your life you know that you are weak spiritually, work on them, so that your weaknesses can grow and your strength can return. Be a friend of God;
- Be a senior partner with the Holy Spirit. Let Him be your friend and partner. Be close to the Holy Spirit;
- Make sure that you kill and mortify your flesh. The flesh is an enemy in the camp, welcoming all kinds of attacks and enemies against us.
Make up your mind that Mr flesh must die. You must become what God wants you to become spiritually. You must say, “Father, I know this is where I was last year. I do not want to be in the same place this year. I want to move to another level.”
May the Lord move you to another level, in the name of Jesus.
PRAYER POINTS
- O God arise, wipe out the understanding of my stubborn pursuers, in the name of Jesus;
- My enemies shall bow to my glory, in the name of Jesus;
- Every traffic of witchcraft, delaying my manifestation, clear away, in the name of Jesus; &
- Strange birds, surrounding my glory, catch fire! in the name of Jesus.
- Power of spiritual stagnancy, in my life, die in the name of Jesus; &
- Holy Ghost, overshadow me with your fire, in the name of Jesus.
God bless you in Jesus name, amen
Shalom Aleichem
