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Let us consider Genesis 3:1-13(KJV)

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”

 Genesis 3:16-20(KJV)

“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”

The above passage is a very familiar passage to us who ministers in whatever capacity. The story of the fall of man. Satan the evil one through the serpent seduced eve and then eve seduced her husband and then mankind fell out of God’s glory and fell into the hands of the evil one. By the time God arrived the scene to assess what had happened as it were, man had so much tumbled from glory; so much metamorphosed from the glorious state that he was created into a horribly depraved state. 

 

Within that time of disobedience, Adam that was made glorious in the perfect image of God had become a man of sin, and when God began to speak to him, Adam threw the blame at God and the wife, he said, “I have disobeyed you because of the woman you gave me” in other words, “had you not given me the woman, this problem wouldn’t have been there, you and the woman are responsible”, that was what he really meant. He didn’t just say “my wife”, he said, “the wife that you gave me”, “I didn’t ask for it, I did not request for a wife; you said that you will give me a wife and you gave me a wife, she is the one who has come to change my state” and God didn’t respond immediately, God didn’t rebuke immediately. God said as it were, “hmmm” and then said to the woman, “what happened?” that depravity had already set in also. That degeneration that was working in Adam was already operational in eve, and she did the same thing “it is not me o, it is the serpent, it is not my fault, it is the serpent” and then, God began to roll out what the seed they had sown must bring as harvest, and gave to each of them their portions. Adam had so deteriorated that he couldn’t accept his wrong rather he blamed God and eve for his deplorable situation. That is the second sin of Adam. And that sin is prevalent in the present-day church. That sin of blaming others for one’s wrong is very prevalent in the church of the present day, and that sin is a trait of being a novice or being a child; and woe to that land whose king is a child. 

 

Anybody who has that trait operational, that inclination to accuse people, blame others for his or her wrong, that person is a child. Anybody that is involved in this manifestation is weak, it is an expression of weakness, the self is still very potent in the person and so the person tries to safeguard his image, and person by throwing the problem at some other person. 

 

Anybody that is strong-willed, whose self is strong, is spiritually weak. The fruits of the Spirit are expressions of spiritual strength and if you check every one of them, it will show you that each of them has to do with bringing down self. Self wants to rise but the Spirit man says no because the Spirit man is stronger. Whether it is love: the affection that goes out to all towards God and towards men, not minding the qualification of the person to whom the love is being expressed. that is the love which is the fruit of the Spirit, and for that to be, you must be strong in the spirit man. Divine love cannot be exhibited by somebody who is not born again. Joy in the midst of turbulences is also such an expression of strength; peace in the midst of turmoil is an expression; longsuffering bearing enduring in the midst of waves and pressures of life shows that the spirit man is bouncing, the flesh had been brought down because the flesh would otherwise not have allowed. Faith, trusting God not minding what you are seeing or feeling shows that you are strong because the flesh would complain. So whichever, they are all expressions of spiritual strength. The opposite would be expressions of carnal energy. So this trait is an expression of carnal energy, pushing your wrongs to others, and trying to free yourself of your own iniquity. If this trait remains in you, you cannot go far. It has stunted the growth of many that started sincerely, who got born again but along the line, because they did not extirpate this product of satan it grew to become their undoing preventing them from taking challenges; preventing them from becoming humbled; preventing them from accepting corrections since they don’t find themselves having erred and as a result, they become stunted and cannot grow to the height that God would have them attain. But the ministry that has been given to us is a ministry of giants, people that will be giants wherever they are, that hear from God and give warning to men. A ministry of distinction. A ministry of excellence, and extraordinariness, being extraordinary, being unique. This trait will prevent you because it blossoms in the realm of the flesh and will keep you in the flesh. And if the flesh remains strong, your spirit man will remain under captivity for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. If the flesh is having the sway, the spirit man will remain a Lilliput, a dwarf and the person will not be able to meet the obligations of his calling.

We shall bring the message under four short points. Viz.:

The trait. This trait that Adam and his wife manifested. We will look at it and then we will show the telltale trait signs of this trait because many a times when we are preaching generally and releasing principles of the kingdom, some people don’t benefit until you hit the point on the nail. Until we amplify and make it very simple. Then thirdly we will see the threats of the trait. And finally, the tackling of the traits.

 

THE TRAIT PROPER. 

I wish to inform that as Adam and his wife got metamorphosed from the nature of God to this fallen nature, they transferred it to their offspring. 

 

Genesis 5:1-3(KJV)

“This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. 

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth”

The things that came upon Adam following the fall came down on all his offspring. As soon as Adam disobeyed, a catalogue of processes took place before God arrived the scene. These processed brought them into a new unholy status, a status that had products of the change as they moved from glory to that debased status. There were products of that transformation and amongst the products were pride and fear. 

They saw themselves naked, then they became afraid. It was the pride and fear that led to the response of Adam when God gave his word. Pride and fear that were not there were now manifesting. And so when God spoke, fear and pride made Adam to parry away the word that came to him. He diverted it to another person, he mustn’t be found culpable, nor be seen as disobedient, and so he said, “it is the wife that you gave me…” pride and fear became operational – Pride that led to the self-defense, and the fear of what might happen as a result of the wrong that had been done. This nature was handed down to his offspring. 

This terrible trait is responsible for the breakdown of many divinely ordained relationships. This distinguishing feature is responsible for the shattering of many relationships that God supervised, be it marital, or the church at all levels. Many marriages have been plunged into the pit as a result of husband and wife not taking responsibility for their wrongs. Many parishes and districts and probably dioceses may be in trouble now because of this horrible infirmity that nobody wants to acknowledge his wrong nor accept that he’s made a mistake. Everybody points at the other, the husband blames the wife and vice versa; as a result, there is no harmony, there is no flow of affection, everybody is looking for fault in the other. The holy relationship has been soured because Satan’s property was not totally extirpated removed from the root and destroyed. Many people are held down by this horrible trait of fault finding and blame game, and many congregations have become Babel, places of confusion, partisanship taking sides in the church, envying one another and the whole place is full of commotion. But the church should be the called out ones with a divine purpose; people set apart from the world with a mission to accomplish, that is the church, “Ecclesia”, but the church has become the world. They are no longer the called out. They principle of the world and her politics hold sway. So in the churches around us, we see the world triumphing because of this horrible trait. Be informed, whether in marriages or in the church, God holds the more knowledgeable responsible for the failure of relationships. When it is understood that God would not want a relationship he established to fail, everybody will sit up to ensure that God is pleased, blame games will come to an end. Sometimes what God will require is for that more knowledgeable to take a humble disposition. And that will show the more knowledgeable to be mature, because he knows that God wouldn’t take the failure of that relationship lightly, and when he does so, God will turn and show that when one humbles himself, God will exalt him and no creature whatsoever can stop him. Many people seek the accolades of men, and exaltation from their pastors. That is human. Seek the exaltation of the almighty and that will make you to bring yourself down follow the principle of humility. And automatically, he will take you up. When the more knowledgeable understands this, every babel, every confusion will cease. But when people continue to throw punches at each other, congregation blames the pastor and vice versa, that turmoil will continue and the devils, the kingdom of darkness will be rejoicing, remember that this is the day of the Lord. We have been told that in the day of the Lord, the two sides of the Lord are made manifest. As the blessings are flowing so the judgment will also be flowing. So it is not a time anybody can afford to neglect the warning coming from the pulpit of many colors. It is a time of humility, a time of self-emptying of whatever one has achieved, playing the role of somebody that is nothing so that God himself will exalt him. Don’t seek your own exaltation. This trait has caused the stunting of growth in many. There is a principle that Apostle Paul introduced in 1Corinthians 6:7 (KJV) “Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?” Why don’t you rather allow yourself to be cheated, everything was clear that you are right but there was an agreement and then they said No you are wrong and you allowed it so for the name of Jesus sake. Why don’t you allow it? Why don’t you allow the people fault you though you are not in error, that there may be stability in the church, why? The student that takes a belligerent disposition who is given to fighting and the teacher wants to show him his error and the students refuses even wanting to fight the teacher, that student will not go far. If you take a belligerent disposition, your teacher will just leave you. And if your teacher who should give you knowledge, empower you, build you to be whom you are desiring to be if that teacher withdraws from empowering you because you are given to your own mind, you will not grow. And many have stunted. They have passed through the primary era but now they cannot go further because this trait manifested in their lives. There was somebody in the ministry of Jesus who he called a devil, 

John 6:70 (KJV) “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” So among the Apostles, “God’s sent” there was a devil “a misrepresenter”. In the ministry of Jesus there was a misrepresenter and many times this is the scripture we quote and say, “Woe unto Judas” but there are misrepresenters in the ministry. People whose life does not represent the ministry, they are in the family of Judas. If in the business arena they call you pastor but you don’t show the teachings of this church in that business arena the teachings of this church in that business arena, you are a misrepresenter of this ministry. In the parishes, districts or dioceses where you belong, if you don’t exhibit the lifestyle of the angel to the church, you have your own principles that are parallel to the principles of the angel to the church, you are a misrepresenter. You are a devil. If your attitude and actions are causing the people under you to murmur, to say, “What kind of thing is this? When will they remove this man from us?” and they are praying for God to remove you from their parish you are a misrepresenter, you belong to the order of Judas Iscariot. As a women leader controlling women and bossing it over them, shouting them down, behaving to them as if they are little kids and they have heard God’s word and as a result they keep on following you, calling you mummy and you are a boss, you are a lady over them, you are a misrepresenter, Judas is your patron. In the village where you came from, your district pastor doesn’t have access because it is far and so he chooses to just be calling you out for preview and as a result you are just doing as you like meddling with God’s offering and the people have even come to know it that the money contributed is being used for personal gains, you are a misrepresenter. And there are Judases, people leading lifestyles that don’t conform to what the angel of the church is giving out, they are all of the order of Judas. Jesus in John 7:24 (KJV) said, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” The people that don’t judge righteous judgment, who see opportunity to undo people under them, setting traps for them are emissaries of Satan on the pulpit of many colors because it is only Satan that sets trap for men. Judge righteous judgment you say, “No, I will deal with him let him fear me” these are the days of spirits, days of false anointing and somebody may be testifying of great things happening as he ministers when he is a Judas. If Judas did not work miracles under his ministry, the gospel writers would have recorded it to show his deviation, but what happened to others happened in his ministry. But a day came, he eloped in ministry and became a servant of Satan. 

 

1 Timothy 4:1-2 (KJV)

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron”

The spirit is clear on what it is saying, many will depart from the faith the church started from, giving heed, listening to and accepting messages of seducing spirits. The word seducing there is ‘planus’ impostor spirits, spirits that will act as if they came from God’s kingdom. Religious spirits belong to that category. And those spirits will give ministrations and revelation bringing God’s word with some twists and handover and people will leave the faith that was established unto another faith. As you listen to anybody, the spirits in that person will be in the person’s word and will affect you. Impostor spirits are everywhere, they can give utterances but that is not the spirit of God. And if somebody in the watchman who began well begins to accommodate sin, the impostor spirit will just take over. Remember, King Saul did not know when the evil spirit from God took over. You may be doing wonders in your parish and districts but those things are coming from impostor spirits because you are not living right. That is why we now want to come to the telltale scars of this trait.

 

THE TELLTALE SCARS OF THIS TRAIT

1 Samuel 15:1-4 (KJV)

“Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. 4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.”

1 Samuel 15:7-11 (KJV)

“And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, it repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.”

1 Samuel 15:13-26 (KJV)

“And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord. And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.”

This lines of the scripture is an account of the second opportunity given to king Saul after he had earlier on gone to sacrifice the peace offering which only the prophet should have done. He wasn’t qualified for, but because he was afraid of the enemies he did so, and thus was rebuked strongly. But then again as a man of his own will, he went and instead of going to utterly destroy he went on a rescue mission, and God’s word was destroyed. 

When he was reprimanded, he blamed the people and exonerated himself. That is the trait in families, parishes, districts, and dioceses. “It is the people”, “it is the spouse”, “it is my children”, “and I don’t have any hand in it”. A leader should take responsibility for his institution, the group or area where he is superintending. If it is a secular work, the same thing is obtainable. The parish pastor is responsible for whatever happens in the parish whether it is good or bad. But this deadly nature will only incline to good. When good things happen, the parish pastor will quickly announce it and take the glory. But when a liability comes, it is usually the people. Are there not pastors that give counsel and advice people on what to do, and when those people do according to his council, the pastor disassociates himself from the problems may arise as a result of his advice, he will say, “I don’t understand this people o”, but it was his word that was executed. “It is the people”. What a shame! What an irresponsibility! Pastors take responsibility. If you give a counsel and it fails, take responsibility, you don’t say, “It is that person”. Pride and fear are responsible for that attitude. You may be reputed for humility, but if this trait is in you, you are not. If not accepting responsibility is in you, you are proud, check it, your pride is well seated in your heart. Husbands should bear the shame of their wives when their wives have done something wrong, even though they were not involved in the wrong. Because as a husband you married the wife with all her credits and liabilities. Adam after he had pointed at his wife, accusing her, he came to his senses and turned and gave his wife (whose name had been Adam but because she was now subject to him, she had to answer a different name and he gave her) a good name, “mother of all living”. Holy pastor, you have a wife and that wife is one with you, you must identify with her humiliation or whatever it may be; as you do so, it may be that God will see your bleeding heart and that could bring conviction to her. Many people want to marry only women that are perfect and yet themselves are not perfect. Any pain that comes from the woman, will make him throw her overboard. There are men that argue with their wives or women that argue with their husbands both pointing at the others mistakes, with none accepting his errors. They separate at the end separate in anger. They seek joy in winning the argument, which thing is evident in children. Marriage is for the mature, what then is the use of the argument? The man being more knowledgeable shouldn’t argue. Many people in the quest of convincing their wives end up fighting. 

Your mental set up as a man may not be the same as your wife’s. The man should be able to look away and bear with the woman; he should say, “It is alright, let there be no problem, I see what you are saying …” leave the arguments, arguments don’t permit harmony. Agree to disagree. If your wife doesn’t see what you saw, agree to let it go; we must not solve the matter when it is not essential. Many have gone into crises because they wanted to solve a complex matter that could not be solved in the ambits of time that they had. Agree to disagree and let there be harmony. As time passes, often a time when that matter arises again, the less knowledgeable would have become more developed, you will not be struggling anymore to explain that same thing. And some times, two people may say the same thing from different perspectives or angles, this often leads to argument, but on a better occasion it becomes clear that the same thing was being implied. Pride and this tendency to parry challenges result to a cascade of argument. 

Those who have gone abroad, whose dressing taste has now conformed with that of the world when confronted, instead of saying, “I am sorry” they begin to say, “It is this place where we are, it is the culture of these people” they parry it away, their wrong is now the culture of the people. This trait is very damnable. 

A minister had just gone into sin and he begins to accuse the lady, “she seduced me, I was on my own and she came and seduced me”, it is like a father saying that his little child pushed him to sin, that means that that father is both confused and ignorant. He doesn’t know his left from his right.

Every person that comes to the church is your child, you are given to take him or her to heaven; and then you are saying that that person who doesn’t know the way to heaven pulled you out of the journey to heaven, what an irony! The man that still has life would say, “I am responsible, it is not her, it is not the woman, why should I be thrown into sin?” 

Anybody that has life in him cannot go into fornication or adultery, before you went into that sin you were already dead. When there is life in you, that horrible sin cannot bring you down. Satan has already primed you for the fall, and the life of God that was in you had dwindled; you knew but chose to remain mechanical, until you fell like a pack of cards. 

The woman will say, “He forced me, my boss forced me” a man cannot rape a woman without a weapon. It is only when the woman has submitted that he can rape her. Take responsibility for your wrongs and the things you have done that are wrong. Parish pastor shouldn’t say, “The reason I’m spending this money is that the district pastor isn’t doing anything” and then you are going against the rules stipulated by the church. If they arrest you to give account, you begin to point at people around you. Somebody goes for abortion and begins to say, “My husband warned me that if I allowed this pregnancy, he will do this and do that” and then she will submit to abortion. Or the man will say, “the reason I went into adultery is because of my wife, she doesn’t give me attention” how come you answer a pastor? You mean that if you are not married, you’d be living in fornication? What examples are you setting for the bachelors under your ministration? If your wife or husband is not satisfying you, there is grace, there is grace for the office you are holding. Don’t parry your problem or iniquity to some other person. The blame game continues, others are responsible, never me” but one must know that there is no excuse for sin. It is the bad workman that quarrels with his tools.

 

THE THREAT OF THE TRAIT. 

The real danger of this trait is that it blocks the portal of divine mercy. And when the door of divine mercy is closed, the portal of divine judgment opens automatically because the committed sin must be paid for. Proverbs 28:13 declares that he that covers his sins shall not prosper. 

King Saul covered his sins, when he was reproved, instead of repenting he said, “The bleating is by the hand of the people and they want to sacrifice to your God”. Wherefore God said, “It repenteth me”. The word repent is like a deep sigh, a sigh of change of direction, not the repentance of human beings, change of direction for something righteous. The Lord said, “I want to do a right thing now for this occasion, and the right thing is that this man does not merit this office, don’t cry for him again”, the portal of judgment for him had opened, because by the time the prophet went there, the man showed that he wasn’t penitent and then the judgment was announced. 

But look at a man like David, David did something horrible, he had gone into adultery, and from adultery into insincerity and from there into murder, after which he continued to play the hypocrite but when a parable was given by the prophet, and he was told, “you are the man that did that evil”, and immediately, as soon as he was indicted, instead of arguing or proffering reasons for what happened, he broke down in repentance before the judgment came. 

Saul waited for the judgment. We must not wait for divine judgment at this time that God is coming out in his power. Don’t wait! 

In the house, if there is any misunderstanding, don’t wait! Agree to disagree so that there can be harmony, because that equation that is so complex now, will after many days, become very easy to settle; for now let the sleeping dog lie. Accept your wrongs. If your life partner points any wrong you have done to him or her acknowledge it and apologize for it. Don’t say, “what about your own?” 

TREATING/TACKING THE TRAIT.

Remember that the threat of the trait is that judgment is around the corner anytime that trait is in manifestation. How then do we tackle this trait? Consider, what is the essence of self-preservation and polishing of self-image? That thing that erupts from you to defend your image, what benefit is it? If your immediate pastor compliments you and says great things about you but those things he is saying happen not to be true, you are undoing yourself. If you put a different image of who you are before your pastor, the image he has of you is not your true image, you are a hypocrite and insincere. There is no profit for image polishing when wrong has been done. As a human being there can be short falls and these shortfalls might have been responsible for the wrongs you have done. Don’t say those shortfalls don’t exist. Accept that you did the wrong, you will pave the way for God to come and help you out. If you don’t allow God to help you out, you will continue in hypocrisy until you die in it. People will reduce from high office in the church to hell. The man of God has told us that our titles doesn’t guarantee us for heaven. If you cover your sins you shall not prosper. But he that brings out that hidden sin, and confesses it shall have mercy. Look inwards, in the place where you came from, have people challenged you may be wrongly disrespectfully but the thing they said was true, was a fact and then you dismiss them and humiliated them, you have become a god, a deity in that your location. Everything you have done will be accounted for. Bear in mind that whatever you have achieved came from the Lord, and that should make you humble. So all that polishing of your image and covering of your sin will die naturally when you see God as the one behind your success. 

Secondly, renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, the shameful things, every shameful things say no more in my life. 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 (KJV) “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

There are things that are shameful, if somebody does wrong and begins to cover that wrong instead of confessing and forsaking begins to decorate it, begins to show that that wrong is not wrong. It is shameful, shameful to the office you are holding. It is a thing of reproach to your office. Renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, being cunny. You want to raise money for yourself, then you put a project and that project is designed to give you money but that project carries a different information from what you have in mind. That is craftiness. The people have made pledges for the project from the head office or from the diocese and then you collected the pledges they made on paper. You took it to yourself, you didn’t announce it so that as they are paying the money, you are collecting it. They don’t know how much they pledge, if it had reached what was given to them, and at the end you will squander it. Dishonesty and craftiness working together. “Yes, nobody is paying us after all, who cares for me?” hidden things of dishonesty and then he is presenting his reasons for being dishonest.

2 Corinthians 6:3-5 (KJV) “Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed: 4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,  In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned”

Love without hypocrisy, approving ourselves, first of all nothing giving room to stumbling so that people don’t scandalize the ministry. Look backwards, think about the place you came from, have you not scandalized the ministry? Have people not spoken evil of the ministry because of you? – Members of the church or people outside. They did business with you, and gave you money to buy a product, and you promised to do so. They trusted you because they saw you as a watchman pastor, “Watchman is a very credible institution, a place where holiness is highly esteemed, and so a pastor there must be a holy person”. But the pastor takes the money and uses it for his own personal things and goes to bring scraps. With the five million given, he will buy a car of 1.5million, spray it with a new paint and deliver it. And if the person looks at it and says, “But this is not what I paid for”, he begins to shout at the person. That pastor is scandalizing the church. He is bringing both name of the church and the name of the Lord that he represents to disrepute. He owes such people restitutions. 

They gave you money as you requested and then you squandered the money, only to return to say that money didn’t go through whereas you had misappropriated the fund. You are scandalizing the church. This is because you don’t know the value of the office you maintain. The human souls that you are in charge of don’t have value to you. When you come to know the value of the human souls, you will live an upright life, a life of blamelessness. 

The pastor must approve himself as a minister of God in patience, being calm and soft; at the time of pressure, he remains calm and not irritated, he does not begin to say, “why this delay? We are waiting too long…” nor does he begin to walk around, roaming the premises. Else if he does so, he does not have patience. When there is patience, there is calmness, and it is a quality that is vital in the ministry and that is one of the qualities that approves a person as a minister. 

If you are impatient, you are still a child. You are not yet a man, you are still a baby. Children at minimal discomfort begin to scream and make noise. Anybody who does not manifest patience is a child. Patience is one of the qualities that show that one is mature. In affliction we don’t compromise. In necessities, when there is lack of necessary things, we remain Christians. In distresses with pressures from both sides, we don’t blow up and lose our consecration nor lose our minds, but remain calm. 

Jesus Christ our savior admonished that we be “as harmless as doves but wise as serpents”, that is discipleship. Look inwards and check your life, have you been harmless? If people injure you, what is your response to the injury? You injure back? You are harmful. Jesus said, “Learn of me for I am meek, I react tamely when injured, my reaction to injury is mild”, that is meekness. If you are not meek, you are still a baby Christian. 

We have been told severally from the pulpit of many colors, that gifts don’t recommend anybody to God. A baby can have gifts, so let nobody think that because he can prophecy, because he can speak in tongues and can interpret, because he prays for people and they get healed, therefore he is mature. It is the fruits of the spirit that tell whether you are mature or not. When a tree is mature, it brings forth fruits. Anybody that is not bringing forth fruit is still immature, not minding the gifts he is operating with. 

There is a need for introspection because those that are champions in laying blames, pointing at other people will not likely go to heaven after they have finished their work on earth. They won’t complete their works because they will be stunted. They will not complete the purpose for which they became arrested and at the end, they may be told, “depart from me, you that work lawlessness”. Pastors that encourage people to quarrel and to rise up and support them, are workers of iniquity, workers of lawlessness. 

Finally, Romans 13:13-14 (KJV) reads:

“Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”

Blaming others is a work of the flesh, turning your hand to accuse those who are accusing you is yielding to the desire and demand of the flesh. Make no provision for it anymore. Many of us have preached sanctification, and we rattle it and tell it to others; but if this tendency is in you, you have not got the sanctification experience. You can tackle it with continual sanctification, using God’s word, prayers and by speaking to yourself; with that this terrible trait can be rooted out and won’t manifest again. This is continual, it is the working of the word of God. But in sanctification experience, with a blow, all these roots of satanic properties are ejected, all at the same time. So if this thing is still operating in you, you are yet to have sanctification experience and you can pray for it now. The man God said that in the time for Holy Ghost baptism and Holy Ghost infilling, sanctification makes the ground fertile for the infilling. Remember beloved, that Jesus our Lord loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God his God anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows. When purity is on ground, anointing comes with ease and in full force. Moreover brethren, with the manifestation of the sons of God being expected, we cannot but be sanctified. When the roots of this affliction or infirmity or poison is pulled out, we can be corrected we can grow and we can grow unto greatness. Let us rise up to say, “Death to Adam’s second sin in our lives” let us pray.

 

 

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