The Slow Learners

© 1st Edition - April, 2001

Dr. D. K. Olukoya

eISBN: 978-978-8021-01-8

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MOUNTAIN OF FIRE AND MIRACLES MINISTRIES

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OTHER PUBLICATIONS BY DR. D. K. OLUKOYA

1. "Adura Agbayori" (Yoruba Version of the Second Edition of Pray your way to breakthroughs).

2. Awon Adura Ti nsi Oke Nidi" (Yoruba Prayer Book)

3. Be Prepared

4. Breakthrough Prayer For Business Professionals

5. Brokenness

6. Comment So Delivrer Soi-meme (French Edition of 'How to Obtain Personal Deliverance')

7. Criminals in the House of God

8. Dealing with Unprofitable Roots

9. Deliverance by Fire

10. Deliverance of the Head

11. Deliverance from Spirit Husband and Spirit Wife

12. Drawers of Powers from the Heavenlies

13. The Holy Cry

14. Holy Fever

15. How to Obtain Personal Deliverance (Second Edition)

16. Let God Answer by Fire (Annual 70 Days, Prayer and Fasting)

17. Limiting God

18. Meat for Champions

19. Overpowering Witchcraft

20. Paralysing The Agent of Shame

21. Personal Spiritual Check-Up

22. POUVOIR CONTRE LESS TERRORISTES SPIRITUELLES (French Edition of Power Against Spiritual Terrorists)

23. Power Against Destiny Quenchers

24. Power Against Local Wickedness

25. Power Must Change Hands

26. Power Against Spiritual Terrorists

27. Power Against Marine Spirits

28. Power Against Coffin Spirits

29. Pray Your Way to Breakthroughs (Second Edition)

30. Prayer Rain

31. Prayer Strategy for Spinsters and Bachelors

32. Prayers to Destroy Diseases and Infirmities

33. Prayers that Bring Explosive Increase (Annual 70-days Prayer and Fasting)

34. Prayers to Mount Up With Wings as Eagles (Annual 70-days Prayer and Fasting)

35. Prayers that Bring Miracles (Annual 70-days Prayer and Fasting)

36. Prayers for Open Heaven, New Beginning and Fresh Fire (Annual 70-days Prayer and Fasting)

37. PRIER JUSQU'A REMPORTER LA VICTOIRE (French Edition of Pray Your Way to Breakthrough)

38. PRIERES DE PERCEE POUR LES HOMMES D'AFFAIRES (French Edition of Breakthrough Prayers for Business Professionals)

39. Release From Destructive Covenants

40. Revoking Evil Decrees

41. Satanic Diversion of the Black Race

42. Smite the Enemy

43. Spiritual Warfare and the Home

44. Students in the School of Fear

45. The Evil Appetite

46. The Fire of Revival

47. The Great Deliverance

48. The Internal Stumbling Block

49. The Lord is a Man of War

50. The Spirit of the Crab

51. The Serpentine Enemy

52. The Slow Learners

53. The Tongue Trap

54. The Vagabond Spirit

55. Unprofitable Foundations

56. Victory Over Satanic Dreams (Second Edition)

57. Violent Prayers Against Stubborn Problems

58. Wealth Must Change Hands

59. When you are Knocked Down

60. When God is Silent

61. Your Foundation and Your Destiny

ALL OBTAINABLE AT

MFM PRESS - 13, Olasimbo Street, Off Olumo Road, Onike, Yaba, Lagos, 11, Gbeto Street, off Iyana Church Bus Stop, Iwaya Road, Iwaya, Yaba, P.O. Box 12272, Ikeja, Lagos.

Also, at all MFM Ministries Branches worldwide or any other leading Christian bookstore.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Title Page

2. Other Publications by Dr. D. K. Olukoya

3. Copyright & Permissions

4. Chapter One: The Slow Learners

1. WHAT ARE THESE LESSONS THAT MANY OF US ARE SLOW TO LEARN?

2. PRAYER POINTS

5. Chapter Two: Adult Crawlers

1. THE POWER OF LIGHT

2. WHO CONVERTS ADULTS TO CRAWLERS?

3. PRAYER POINTS

6. Chapter Three: Are You There?

1. PRAYER POINTS

Chapter One

THE SLOW LEARNERS

A lot of people do not know why they are not growing spiritually. Many people too, do not understand why they do not seem to be getting anywhere after so many years of Christianity. One thing you must know and which remains the truth is that men seem to understand physical things more than the spiritual. Even in the Bible, people misinterpreted the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ because they understood the physical things more than the spiritual. The same thing is still true today. For example, when Jesus said, "Destroy this temple and I will build it again in three days," they looked at Him and must have thought, "You are a mad man." This temple took forty-six years to build and you say we should destroy it and you would build it in three days." They did not understand that He was talking about the temple of His body. They were thinking of the earthly temple. When Jesus said to Nicodemus: "You must be born again," he got confused and asked, "How is that possible? Can a man enter his mother's womb again?" He did not understand. Likewise, when Jesus said to the woman at the well, "If you know the person talking to you now, you would have asked him for the water of life, and when you drink that, you would never thirst again." The woman said, "Ah, give me, so that I will not come here to fetch water anymore." She did not understand. When Jesus said, "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed," the Jews said, "We are not in bondage." They did not understand. And when He said, "Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no part in me," they said "Ah, is He going to cut his flesh and give us to eat?" They did not understand what He was talking about. So many people who come to church are like that too. They are slow to understand spiritual things.

In II Corinthians 4: 3-4, we read about another group of persons. It says, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the 'glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them". Some people are completely deaf, dumb and blind to spiritual things. At the same time, you will discover that a large number of people who are willing to learn more about Jesus are not growing as fast as they should. The main reason for this is that many believers are slow learners when it comes to spiritual things. Many will not grasp spiritual truth until it is repeated many times, and the understanding of many would not be opened until they have passed through some bad experiences.

Jesus was with His disciples for three and half years and He taught them many things. They were members of His secret school because in some cases, He would call them aside and teach them certain important things that He wanted to make known only to them. He kept telling them before He died that as Jonah was in the belly of the whale, so would the Son of man be below the ground for three days. They did not understand. He told them that the Son of man would go just as it is written of Him, but they were slow to believe all these and that led to confusion. Luke 24: 13-27 says, "And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them. What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk, and are sad? And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and how the chief priest and the rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain woman also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre. And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him, they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself".

Jesus referred to them as those who were slow in their hearts to believe all what the prophets had spoken. In spite of all the things that Jesus told them, they did not believe. So, instead of them to go to Galilee, they went, looking for His dead body. Even when some people told them that His dead body was no more there, they did not believe.

Today, many are like that. They are slow to understand spiritual things. When somebody learns slowly, then the rate of his spiritual growth would be slow too. This is why you should know that spiritual" things have nothing to do with age. They have nothing to do with time of conversion, for God is no respecter of persons. Spiritual things are not judged by academic qualifications or by seniority. If somebody gets converted today and exercises more faith than those he met in the church, he would receive more miracles than they. If a new convert prays more than an old member he will get closer to God than the old member who does not pray enough. If a new member studies the scriptures more than an old member, he will grow faster than the old member.

It is high time we stopped playing slow motion with God. God is not an author of confusion but a God of orderliness. He takes one step at a time. If God gives you lesson number one and you have not passed it, do not expect that you will move to lesson number two. Some people have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, yet they want to see visions and interpret tongues. Some have not received complete salvation from sin and they want to be praying for the sick. God does not move that way. It is one step at a time. This is why many people are spiritually stagnant. They repeat the same class everyday. Two years after they have been born again, they still have to be told all the time that believers do not fornicate, smuggle, smoke, or get angry.

Sometime ago, in an evangelistic outreach in the university that I was in England, some white boys got converted and one of them was put in a Bible study group that I was teaching. That day, our topic was the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This new convert noticed that we were looking at many scriptures and because he was not conversant with the Bible, he was surprised and felt a bit handicapped. He then took a decision that he would read the Bible before the following lectures. And truly, by the time he got to the class the following week, he had read through the whole Bible and did better than some people in the class who had been born again for many years. It showed that God does not welcome lazy people.

There are so many great spiritual truths that we are slow to learn. This is what disturbs our Christian race and sometimes brings untold hardship to us. Are you a slow learner of spiritual things? You need to talk to God today because the level of what you learn determines how you grow. When you do not learn what God wants you to learn, you will be in trouble because God is a perfect teacher. Any teacher who promotes a person when the person does not pass, is either unserious or does not know his job. God taught Jonah some lessons. He told Jonah to go to Nineveh but Jonah said, "No, I am going to Tarshish." He had not learnt that it is wrong to disobey God. On his way to Tarshish, there was a great storm in the sea and everybody in the ship was in trouble because of him. This means that a single sinner can bring suffer in to a whole family or a nation. They threw Jonah into the sea and a fish swallowed him. Then Jonah began to cry unto the Lord right in the belly of the fish. He was there for three days without food. He did three days dry fast compulsorily. God kept him there for three days until the fish vomited him in the place where he did not want to go. It became clear to him that nobody can run away from the presence of God. Jonah did not need to pass through all that if he learnt quickly. He learnt the hard way. My prayer is that you will not learn the hard way, in Jesus' name. When we are slow to learn, we put ourselves to trouble just like Jonah did.

WHAT ARE THESE LESSONS THAT MANY OF US ARE SLOW TO LEARN?

1. Our lives are made up of choices

Daily we take decisions and we get results on the basis of these decisions. In every decision that you take, you are making a choice and it must yield result. Many of us are slow to learn that God is interested in the smallest things about our lives, starting from the cap on our heads to the shoes on our feet. A songwriter says, "O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer." Perhaps, the stomach trouble you developed after eating a particular bean pudding would not have occurred if you had prayed and asked the Lord whether or not to buy it. Maybe the Lord would have told you to buy something else.

We all make our choices daily, and in the Bible we can see how some men made their choices and the results they got. There is a contrast between Abraham's choice and Lot's choice. Abraham's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen were quarrelling and Abraham said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between me and you You pick one area while I take the other side." One expected that Lot would have said, "No sir, you are the senior please choose first," since it was Abraham that brought him up and looked after him. But the Bible says that Lot surveyed the environment, looked at the area that was fertile, and picked that place. Abraham did not mind The Pace Lot picked turned out to be Sodom and Gomorrah and he eventually lost everything. He was able to take only his two daughters out whom he got pregnant by himself all because of bad choices. Abraham chose the dry land and the Lord made it fertile for him.

Moses had a choice to follow the Israelites or enjoy the benefits of Egypt. Joseph chose to go to prison rather than commit fornication with his master's wife. It is an a matter of choice. Daniel chose to feed poorly than eat the king's sumptuous meals which were dedicated to idols. Yet, he was better than all those who ate the king's food. Paul chose to go with the early Christians. Christ chose to go to Jerusalem and the Garden of Gethsemane even though He knew that He was going to face death. Likewise, we make our choices daily.

In the word of God, you will discover that a single wrong decision put people into untold hardship all their lives. Maybe if you had prayed well, you would not have married the husband or wife that you married. Maybe if you had waited on the Lord, you would have made different choices. It was Adam's choice that cost him the Garden of Eden. It was Esau's choice that cost him his birthright. Achan's choice to steal cost him his life. Lot's choice cost him his home and his cattle. Absalom's choice cost him the kingdom. Saul's choice cost him his kingdom. And that rich young ruler that came to Jesus and Jesus instructed him to go and sell all that he had and follow Him, preferred his riches to the salvation of his soul. He abandoned his salvation for riches. It was Judas's choice that cost him his position as an apostle. And of him, it is written, "Let his habitation become desolate. His office, let another take." That was the result of a wrong choice. Ananias and his wife chose to tell lies to the Holy Spirit and it cost them their lives. In the Bible too, you find two men, Caleb and Joshua, who made the right choice and were blessed. Caleb and Joshua made their choice and they never regretted it. Now, you must choose to change. You must examine every decision of yours by the leading of God. What makes our lives good or bad is the accumulation of the choices we make. The small decisions that we do not think are important pile up and make our lives what they are.

When Jonah saw that his first choice was going to cost him his life and the lives of those in the ship, he changed his choice. Then he chose to listen to God. So the quicker you learn to do this, the better it is for you. Unfortunately, this is a lesson that most people learn slowly. Sometimes it is more favourable to keep your mouth shut than to open it and get into trouble that would last for 20 years. Proverbs 3:5 6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Do not trust in your brain.) In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil."

2. Move only when God is moving.

Exodus 13: 21 22 says, "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." Exodus 14:19 - 20: "And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night."

God was leading them by the cloud and by the pillar of fire. When the pillar began to move, the children of Israel would rise up and move. When the pillar of fire stopped, they also stopped. You must follow God that way. You must move when God is moving. If the Israelites did not follow that cloud of fire, the host of the Amalekites would catch them. Some people sit at home on Sundays and when you ask them why they did not come to church, they would tell you that they were not happy and that they would come when their mood changed. Such people have been caught by the Amalekites. Those who have one excuse or the other for not coming to church have been caught by the Amalekites. Some people miss services which God may have ordained to bless them because they are busy enfertaining friends that the devil sends to them to distract them.

3. The reason we come to church is to seek God.

People are slow to learn that they come to church to seek God, and that their attention should focus on Jesus alone who is the author and finisher of our faith. If you come to church and focus your attention on human beings, you will fail. It is only when people remove their attention from God that they begin to find faults with people. If you take your attention away from God; you will not even see Him when He is moving. People are quick to follow distractions instead of facing what they have come for. Whenever the children of God are gathered together, the people of darkness always come around to see the serious and the unserious ones. A certain demon possessed person confessed at a revival that when agents of darkness came to a prayer meeting, they moved around to see those that were not praying seriously or those that were standing and saying nothing. He also said that they made sure that the sicknesses that came out of people who got delivered entered into these unserious ones and they took them back to their houses. So whenever you come to church, face Christ. Do not lose sight of God. Know when He is moving.

4. Christians have anointed mouths.

Believers who pray, speak in tongues and speak God's words have anointed mouths. So, one of the hicks of the devil is to use our own mouths against us. Believers must choose their words very carefully. If you mistakenly make a wrong statement, withdraw it very quickly and say the correct thing. Colossians 4: 6 says, "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." Titus 2: 8 says, "Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you." That is the type of word God wants you to be speaking. Sometimes, to speak good words require hard work and training because many people are used to speaking bad words. If somebody has ever complained that you do not know, how to talk; you must really pray and ask God to touch you. This is why somebody said, "Let your brain and your spirit get into gear, before your mouth begins to speak" When you apply this to the Bible, it means that you should listen to your spirit before you talk. Many people are saying that Nigeria is bad. If Christians do not join them with their anointed mouth to say that Nigeria is bad, it would not be bad. But if we do with our anointed mouths, it will remain bad.

Christians often forget that the Lord tells them that if any of them shall say unto the mountain, "Be thou removed and be cast into the sea," it shall be so. You should be careful about what you say. When you are angry, it is better to close your mouth. Whenever you do not give anger expression, it has very little effect on those around you. What you say with your mouth during the period of anger will also happen to you unless you learn how to control it. Our mouths have power to create things for us. So if you are speaking the wrong things, you will be creating the wrong things for yourself. When you open your month and say, "This business is not moving," it would not move. If you say, "These prayers, I do not know, they are not being answered. The prophecies are not coming to pass. Things are not going on well. Life is not good," they will be so. If you point at your husband and say, "You are a bad husband," you are using your mouth to make him bad. Or you point. to your child and say, "You this child, you are as wicked as your daddy," you are using your anointed mouth to create something for that child. As a Christian, you should know that there are certain things you do not say. Wrong speech is a strategy of the devil to make people destroy themselves. This is a lesson many people have failed to learn. My prayer is that you will learn the lesson today, in Jesus' name.

5. You do not compare yourself with others.

It is wrong to compare yourself with other people. Psalm 73 tells us that the progress of unbelievers will lead them into hell fire. But many believers fail to understand this. Brother A is comparing himself with Brother B. Brother A's name is Shola, Brother B's name is Evans. They come from different families and different backgrounds. Brother Shola's mother is a witch while Brother Evan's mother is a prayer warrior. They have different terms of conversion. They have different stands with God and yet Brother B is comparing himself with Brother A. It is foolishness.

It is not how fast you do a thing that matters, but how well it is done. It is not how people see you that is important but how God sees you. It is not what people think or say about you that really matters, but what God says about you. If everybody says that you are nice and God says that you are wicked and dirty, your being nice is meaningless. God deals with us individually. Some people concentrate on other people's affairs just like Peter who abandoned his own thing and was talking about another person's own. The Lord then told him that the plan of his own life was different from that other person's. No matter what your case is, it is not the worst in the world. There is no kind of problem that God has not solved before. There is no problem anybody has now-that somebody else has not had before, which God has not solved. Some people never feel free to praise God because they think that their situation is bad. So many people compare themselves with others, and this is the reason for the sadness of many believers. If you look unto God and stop comparing yourself to this and that, you will notice that you will be happier and in that your happy state, God will be ready to work more miracles. The Bible says that with joy shall you draw water out of the well of salvation.

6. The amount of spiritual gifts you receive depends on how receptive you are.

In John 16:12, Jesus told His disciples, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." God is looking for vessels to fill. He will fill you with what you are able to receive. A certain man read the Acts of the A pasties for the first time in his life and was amazed to discover that it was possible for him to be filled with power from on high. So, he decided to pray for at least an hour everyday for this power. He prayed for two months and nothing happened. The devil was trying to discourage him. But one day, in a dream, he saw himself kneeling down and an angel of the Lord came to him and said, "Do you want the baptism of the Holy Ghost?" He said, "Yes" and the angel laid his hands upon him and he began to speak in tongues right there; and he woke up speaking in tongues. He was very surprised. Why did God keep him that long? He was not receptive yet. When you are ready, you must then receive. So, prepare yourself to receive from the Lord.

7. The devil picks up the word of God from people's heart.

This is why people forget scriptures. Matthew 13:19 says, "When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side." This is why it is difficult for people to retain the word of God in their hearts.

Beloved, to move up to the mountain-top, where God wants you to be, you must reject every spirit of slumber.

PRAYER POINTS

- Any arrow fired into my life in the dream, I fire you back now seven-fold, in the name of Jesus.

- Spirits contrary to my peace, I command you to go away and I forbid you to return, in the name of Jesus.

- For me, there shall be rivers in the desert and honey from the rock, in Jesus' name.

- Every yoke of financial problem, I break you, in the name of Jesus.

- O Lord, send out the host of heavens and let them fight for me, in Jesus' name.

- Father Lord, I will not assist my enemies to fight against me, in Jesus' name.

- O Lord, quicken my spirit with your fire, in the name of Jesus.

Chapter Two

ADULT CRAWLERS

In these last days, many mighty men are falling. Many that were walking before have been converted to crawlers, and those who were managing to crawl have been completely paralysed. Those who are supposed to be eating bread are drinking milk, and those who were drinking milk before are now taking water. These are the last days and the Bible says that they would be perilous times. The word perilous means difficult to restrain, dangerous, mad, etc. The Bible also says that at this time, evil men shall wax stronger and stronger. They shall be cleverer in their evil design. The Bible says there shall be intense satanic revival because the devil will put in his best possible in his work of destruction. As Christians, we cannot afford to sit down and allow the enemy to be having a field day pulling Christians down, paralysing their prayer lives and throwing away their Bibles in the dream. We must declare to him that enough is enough. Therefore, I would like you to take these prayer points:

a.

I receive the anointing to disgrace every satanic arrow, in the name of Jesus.

b.

I refuse to follow the pattern of Samson in my spiritual life, in the name of Jesus.

When your life becomes the electric current of the Almighty, anyone that touches you for evil purpose shall be electrocuted because it is written: "Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm." Pray again like this:

c.

Every strange hand that has touched my life, wither, in the name of Jesus."

d.

Every contrary wind blowing against my life, be silenced permanently, in the name of Jesus."

In view of the seriousness of the period we are in, we are considering what I call "The adult crawlers." Habakkuk 1:6-10 says, "For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgement and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every stronghold; for they shall heap dust, and take it."

Our God is a King, and kings are fond of raising armies. Here you can see the kind of army that was raised up by the Lord. It was the kind of army that was not ready to take no for an answer. A part of the passage says," ...they shall deride every stronghold...," meaning that they will laugh at the enemy.

Men are supposed to be walking while babies crawl. But now, evil powers have converted many men to adult crawlers and have even made many adults to retire and expire. So, if you must walk and not crawl; you must be violent spiritually. As far as God is concerned, no matter your age, as far as you are born again and you are available, He can use you. God is not looking for ability, He is looking for availability. However, if you do not become violent, the enemy can make you to retire and expire.

A certain woman was made the principal of one of the best secondary schools in this country. Everything was going on well until one day, a student came into her office and asked her if she was the new principal and she said yes. The girl further asked her whether she was aware of what happened to her predecessor and before she could say a word, she said to her, "Let me warn you. The person who left this place did not pray this sort of prayer you are praying. You know that you do not have fire and you are praying this kind of prayer. You have to be very careful." Before she could stand up to respond, she started feeling dizzy. The whole office started to turn around in her eyes and she fell on the floor. By the time she opened her eyes, she found herself on a hospital bed with drips. All she could remember was that she was in her office talking to a student. After sometime she was discharged from the hospital and she went back to school. But right from that day, she started seeing a wall anytime she went out. This wall would suddenly appear an she would try to push it away, and she was the only one seeing it. Even when she wanted to cross the road, the wall would appear and she would stay in the middle of the road trying to push it away, thereby constituting herself a nuisance to other road users. Her enemies wanted to make her retire and expire before her time. Make the following confession: "I refuse to expire and the enemy will not retire me, in the name of Jesus." That was the prayer point the woman prayed and the Lord delivered her. If she did not know what to do, she would be pushing an invisible wall all her life.

Many years ago, I had the privilege of meeting a very important person, in this country. He came to me crying. I asked what was the matter and he said: "My wife travelled abroad and before she left, she had been warning me about womanising but I never listened. I wish I had listened to her." What happened? He picked up a girl at a party, took her home and committed immorality with her. In the middle of the night as he wanted to go and ease himself, he discovered that the girl had her two legs on the wall. He tried to remove the legs but they were so heavy that he could not lift them. Then I asked him what he did when he could not lift the legs off the wall. He said, "I broke down and wept because my wife had warned me." Nobody needed to tell him that he was already in trouble. Eventually, he went for deliverance and God in His mercy, delivered him. He was lucky that he knew the right place to go. He would have been tired and would have expired.

There are so many men who have been retired by powers of darkness. The devil does not respect or know gentleness. Unprofitable gentility must go. You must refuse to make your life a playground for your oppressors, in the name of Jesus. Let me share a testimony with you. Three sisters from the Eastern part of this country noticed that seven people out of the thirteen living in their family died within three months. Only three of them were born again. They ran to a man of God to find out what was happening. The man of God prayed and saw, in a revelation, that there was a tree planted in their compound from where they plucked vegetables for food. But a fetish object was planted underneath the tree. The idea was that anyone who ate its leaves would die. The man of God prayed again to know why the tree was poisoned and the Lord told him that somebody with whom they were fighting over a land did it because he wanted to eliminate everybody so that he would take over the land. The man of God then asked the Lord what would be done to save the situation. The Lord told them to pray that the fetish object planted under the tree should be uprooted. The other three people who were not born again went to a herbalist who told them that it was because they did not give a thorough burial to their grandfather that people were dying in the family. He told them to do a thorough burial and the problem would stop. They were thoroughly deceived. As they were running around looking for money for the burial, the people of God prayed and the tree dried to the root and the problem stopped. Nobody died again. If they were not born again and had gone to do a thorough burial, they would have ended up strengthening their enemy. Pray like this:

- Every satanic material buried for my sake, be roasted by fire, in the name of Jesus.

- Any power carrying about sacrifices against me, be disgraced by the sacrifice, in the name of Jesus.

THE POWER OF LIGHT

If you will walk and not crawl, you must become violent. The Bible says that light shines into darkness and darkness cannot comprehend it. Light will always prevail over darkness. Shadows cannot drive light away. When the sun rises, there is no power of darkness that can go against it. So, in a sense, light is more aggressive than darkness. Christians are meant to be militant and the most aggressive force in the whole of the world. Most often, until you identify what you are fighting and deal with it aggressively, it stares you in the face. Pray this prayer: "I release myself from every demonic ignorance, in the name of Jesus."

WHO CONVERTS ADULTS TO CRAWLERS?

1. SATANIC VESSELS: If God has a duty to perform, He looks for proper vessels to use. Moses was a vessel. was a vessel and Paul, too, was a vessel. These three men collected spiritual power from on high and transferred them to men. This is why the Bible says "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. When a man who preaches the gospel of peace enters a place, his presence ushers in many good things into the place. Likewise the devil has vessels that he sends to people. He puts dangerous weapons in their bodies to use against the children of God. He sends them to cause confusion in the house of God and even in marriages. Some of the people who come to church are actively working for the devil. For example, gossips, backbiters, liars, etc. They are all working for the devil. I feel sorry for such people because they can receive what is known as friendly fire. In military terms, friendly fire means an accidental shoot-out against somebody who is in the same camp with you but is looking like an enemy.

There are satanic vessels planted all over the place. They are sent to homes to break them. A woman brought some materials to us to be burnt. Among the items was a broom which caught my attention. I asked her what it was for and she said that before she got born again she was a husband snatcher. When she used the broom to sweep the front of any house she wanted to take over, any woman in charge there would surely leave. These evil vessels are sent to places to cause problems.

It is a pity for a human being to submit himself to be used as a vessel by the devil. Vessels of the enemy would cause problem somewhere and when the problem starts, they would be the first sympathizers to arrive at the scene. Whereas they were the ones who engineered it. God will save you from every false friend, in Jesus' name.

A brother thought that he had friends. He was the only one that had a car among his friends. He did not know that they were not happy. One day he gave them a lift and dropped them off one by one at their various destinations. Unknown to him, one of them put something in the car. As he was passing through a railway crossing and a train was coming, his car stopped suddenly and refused to move. He tried to move the car but it refused to move, so he put the gear in free position, jumped out and tried to push the car away from the track, still the car could not go. Then he called on the God of Elijah. That was what saved him.

Some people's unfriendly friends are sitting on their books, certificates, marriages, promotion letters, academics, career, etc. As long as they sit on these things, they would not be useful to the owners. Some have friends who would smile at them but when they are not there, they would spoil and backbite them. Such friends are evil vessels and must be dealt with.

There are many people with witchcraft spirit going round looking for people they would harm. One day, at a popular bus-stop in Lagos, there was a man selling demonic wares. I watched as he advertised them one by one. He held up a padlock and said, "With this one, you can lock up anybody. If one person's life does not spoil, another person's life cannot be good, so you must spoil another's person's life for yours to become good." He went further to say, "Is it your boss in the office that is annoying you? Lock him up so that you can take his position..." I thought nobody would buy, but I was wrong, as one man put his hand up and asked how much it cost, and the vendor said N1,500.00. The man paid for the padlock and took it and was asked if there were any rules he must observe concerning it. He brought out another one, an animal horn and after he advertised it, a woman bought it and left. Satanic people selling their wares in a public place.

Some people notice that at certain periods of the night, they feel as if their heads were swelling up and they would not know what is happening. It is simply because there were evil vessels around. Some notice that they are being choked on their beds while some notice cold feeling all over their body. These are signs that there are satanic vessels around and they must be paralysed. Some of these evil vessels transfer demons into the lives of people through handshakes. We must avoid such evil handshakes. Those who have no fire in them are most affected by these wicked operations of evil vessels. Make the following declaration before you read further: "Woe unto that vessel that the enemy will use against me, in the name of Jesus." So, anyone who releases himself as a vessel for the enemy to be used will have himself or herself to blame for whatever happens. Evil vessels convert adults to crawlers.

2. REMOTE CONTROLLING POWER

There are many satanic satellites monitoring the life of millions. This is why sisters should be very careful what they put on. Anything you attach to your hats or dresses that looks like an eye of a fish must be thoroughly checked out. Most of such things are watchers which monitor people. You have to be very careful. A lot of people are being controlled from afar. Those who are directing their lives are not even living in the same town with them. They are far away in dark places doing all kinds of things. If you see the amount of satanic wickedness that goes on at night, you would be shocked. Many years ago, my family and I lived in the same environment with a man who had many wives and children. One day, we saw one of his wives with a new born baby and we asked her when she gave birth to the baby and she said it was the previous day. By the third day, we did not see her with the child again so we asked her about her baby and she said, "Daddy has used it." Used it for what?" we asked her and she said: "For juju (charms)." There are many people like that around. I know something: "My own name is not in the list of candidates for eaters of flesh and drinkers of blood. My name is not in the list of those under demonic control. What about you? There are lots of remote controlling powers operating in our environment. This is why many people fail at the edge of miracles. At the time such people are supposed to move up, the remote controlling powers press a button like that of a television set and they cannot go forward.

Beloved, if you find that as an adult you are crawling instead of walking or running, please, pray the following prayer points with holy madness to release yourself from the grip of satanic vessels.

PRAYER POINTS

1. Every remote controlling power, I dash you to pieces, in the name of Jesus.

2. Every satanic padlock working against my breakthrough, fall down and perish, in the name of Jesus.

3. Let my prayers provoke angelic violence against my oppressors, in the name of Jesus.

4. I will become all that God wants me to become, in the name of Jesus.

5. Every power hindering my advancement, fall down and die in the name of Jesus.

6. I move forward in every area of my life, in the name of Jesus.

Chapter Three

ARE YOU THERE?

We will start this message by looking at three scriptures: Genesis 3: 9 that says, "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, where art thou?" Was it that the Lord could not see Adam? No. He could see him.

I King 17:2: "And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." In verses 9 - 10 of the same passage, God continued to speak to Elijah: "Arise, get thee to Zarephath, Which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there, gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that I may drink."

II Kings 5:9-12 says, "So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him saying, go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shall be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, (Naaman was angry, like all baby Christians) and said, Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. (The sick man was becoming impatient and was also becoming the doctor). Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage." He wanted to go to Abana and Pharpar, yet the Lord had no appointment with Abana and Pharpar but with Jordan.

The first passage says, "Where art thou?" The second and the third ones talk about men who wanted to avoid the place God wanted them to be because they thought they had a better place to go. It was not that God could not see Adam, but Adam was in the wrong place. That is why I always say that a sinner in the right place and a saint in the wrong place are birds of the same feathers because both of them will not receive blessing. God was actually asking Adam the following questions: "Adam, is this your condition now? Are you in the place where I placed you? Is this our agreement? Is this what has become of you? Adam, why have you decided to wage war against yourself? When did you become a self-appointed criminal hiding yourself from the Almighty? Why have you allowed the enemy to catch you so cheaply? Why are you in this condition?" This is why one of the greatest prayer points you can pray for yourself is: "O Lord, let me be in the right place at the right time." I think you should close your eyes and pray it.

A certain sister's mother made a covenant with God that if He gave her a child she would dedicate the child to Him. This sister happened to be that covenant child. She grew up doing quite well. When she entered the university, her colleagues made fun of her because she had small breasts while they had bigger ones. They called her names and gave her lectures on how she could enlarge her breasts. They told her that the reason her breasts were so small was because she was a virgin, that if she started committing fornication, they would grow big. Unfortunately, she listened to their lectures and sold off her virginity at very cheap value. The day it happened, she had a dream in which she saw four men in white garment pursuing her. They caught up with her and began to beat her. As they were beating her, she kept hearing a voice saying, "Where art thou?" She too, started screaming until she woke up. The following night, she had the same dream but this time, she asked them why they were beating her and they said: "You are a covenant child. God has ordained that you would produce four prophets but because of what you have done, joining yourself to satanic agents, God has replaced you with someone else." At this juncture, I think you should take the following prayer points:

1. O Lord, do not replace me with stones, in Jesus' name.

2. Every anchor of evil replacement, be shattered to pieces, in the name of Jesus.

Beloved, this is a very serious matter. Where are you? If you are not able to answer this question, then you are living what I call a wasted life. There are many people in the Bible who lived wasted lives, from men like Cain to men like Samson. Are you in the place and in the condition that God wants you to be? You could be in the place where He wants you to be but not in the condition He wants you to be. Is what is written in Hebrew chapter 5 verse 12 not true of many churchgoers today? It says "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat."

There are a lot of babies in the house of God. They ought to have grown pass the stage they are now but they are still there. The babies who came to the house of God are only interested in miracles and breakthrough. They hate any ministry that talks about holiness within and without. They do not like it at all. The reason you see people flocking to where they can dance for hours is because they want the flesh to enjoy forgetting that the Bible says that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak and that the same flesh battles against the spirit. Those who hate the ministry of holiness rush to where there is no discipline. Where art thou?

There are many people who went to Bible colleges but the Bible College is not inside them. Such people have the Bible only in their brains. There is a difference between having the Bible in your brain and having it in your spirit. The Bible in the brain can get you a Ph.D. in theology but cannot make you to be born again. Whereas the Bible in the spirit can make you to be born again and you will have power over the host of darkness, which is what God is looking for. I was talking to a woman who graduated from a Bible college. I said to her, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and she said, "No. That is wrong. According to the theory of so, so and so; there are five view points on that issue." Since I did not have time to argue with her, I said, "Madam, you don't believe that you can receive the Holy Spirit, but if I pray with you now and that power falls upon your life, will you not believe?" She said, "That will be good." I said, "Okay let us pray." Then we started praying. As we prayed, she not only received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she also started to prophesy. When she finished, she exclaimed, "What a wonderful experience!" That made nonsense of all the Bible theory she had learnt. After the baptism of the Holy Spirit, God showed her the true position, which hitherto she had not known in a vision. She saw a staircase containing 14 steps and on step No.14 was written, "1994." God meant for her to be on step No. 14 by 1994, but that year, she was on step 3. She said, "Ha, what is this? I do not understand this." Then suddenly, she heard the sound of a trumpet and before she knew it, rapture had taken place. People were flying. She saw them going but found that she was not going anywhere. She tried to Jump, believing that if she jumped, something would carry her up, but she could not go up. She thought it was because she was fat but when she looked at the sky she saw fatter people going to be with Jesus. She broke down and cried. Suddenly, an angel appeared and showed her a score, which read 22 per cent For the first time in her life, she knew where she was. She did not need anybody to tell her to sit up. She did a five-day dry fast to catch up with the 11 steps to be in her rightful position.

Where art thou? Do you know where you are in the time-table of the Almighty? Where are you in the spiritual thermometer of the Holy Spirit? Are you a spiritual diabetic patient dancing to unclean praises? In some churches now, you find those leading praise/worship dressed in skimpy things. Unclean praises. Or are you a spiritual malaria patient, running between hot and cold? Today, you are hot and tomorrow you are cold, just like somebody having malaria fever. Or are you spiritually anemic, no spiritual blood, that is, no fire? Or are you suffering from spiritual malnutrition, that is, no word of God inside, no prayer and no holiness? If your case is like that, then you are suffering from spiritual kwarshiokor. Or are you a spiritual masquerade? You are just masquerading. Nobody knows what you are inside. Or are you a spiritual chameleon changing your colour according to the weather or environment? Where art thou?

The spiritual life of many people can be likened to the case of two men who went to a bar and drank beer until they were so drunk that they forgot that they came to the place by boat. Eventually somebody reminded them that they came there with their boats. They entered into their boats, but because they were drunk they completely forgot that they had tied the rope of their boats to the harbour. They paddled and were surprised that the boats were not moving. There are many people like that whose sins have stagnated their spiritual lives. That is why you see a lot of people prophesying but they manifest very little of other gifts because the other gifts need more concentration and much more seriousness. When such people prophesy, "Thus says the Lord," and nothing happens, they go home and say, "Sorry, it is because people are not ready to consecrate themselves and pay the price."

If you are going to listen to human opinion, I tell you, you are never going to be useful to God at all. That is why I am asking the question, "Where art thou?" The story was told of a man who was running ferry-boat across a river. One day, a gentleman entered his boat and as they were chatting, the gentleman asked him if he could swim. He said, "Do not ask me foolish questions." The gentleman repeated the question and he said again, "Do not ask me a foolish question". What kind of stupid question are you asking me?" The man said, "In case this boat capsizes, how will you get out?" He said, "It is not going to capsize." The next day, he died. Why? He was relying on false confidence instead of listening to what the gentleman was trying to tell him. Sometimes you find somebody who has just commited a sin declaring boldly: "I know that I shall trample upon serpents and scorpions and over every power of the enemy and I know that Jesus has overcome principalities and powers for me. Nothing shall by any means hurt me," when he is already hurting God Himself. Where art thou? If you are not able to answer the question, you will become a waste.

The devil is already wasting people. In fact, the greatest demon harassing Nigeria is the demon of wastage. Human beings are wasted. Many things are wasted. A person could decide to waste his own life. A person could inherit wastage and a person could be wasted by powers of darkness. You must refuse to submit yourself to be wasted.

It is a disaster to look at one's life and discover that one has wasted it. It is a disaster to come to the house of God and find that you are not really doing much and you do not act on what you are being taught. If God gives you a big truth and tells you to follow it and you find it difficult to follow, He will fold His hands and wait for you. He will continue until you finish with that one. That is how God operates. The reason many people are not moving ahead in their spiritual lives is because they sift the messages and choose and pick the ones they want. They forget that the totality of the word of God must be taken seriously whether it is convenient or not. This is why it is an important prayer point when somebody says, "I refuse the activities of the wasters in my life, in the name of Jesus."

The greatest waste that can happen to a life is for it to be wasted at the end of the day, when you would stand before the judgment throne of God and the Lord would not recognise you even with your Christian name. You may fell Him that you were the chairman of the harvest committee of your church and He would say: "Yes, but that harvest has no value here. I don't know you." You may say, "But Lord, I worked miracles." He would say, "Get away from me, you worker of iniquity." That is the greatest wastage.

Let us consider the case of Elijah. The raven could not have fed Elijah anywhere else except where the Lord said he should go. Likewise, the widow would not have appeared anywhere else, except at Zarephath where the Lord commanded him to go. The Lord did not tell Elijah to just be moving about aimlessly like a vagabond. He directed him to the places He wanted him to be. Those were the places of God's will for him. They were the places of God's power and provision for him. A person could dance away from the place of God's will or God's provisions. God has a place for everyone. He has something He wants you to be. He has somewhere He wants you to be and He has something He wants you to do. It is tragedy for a person to decide to go out of where God wants him to be.

Sometimes what God wants you to do may be completely inconvenient or may not make sense, but you have to do it. That is why the Bible says: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (Proverbs 14: 12)

Nobody can be truly happy when he is outside the will of God. One of the most horrible things that can happen to a person is when the person is outside where God wants him to be and he does not realize it until he gets to the grave. Such a person would have ended up end up living a wasted life. You can never please God anywhere else but where He wants you to be. You may be popular amongst people and anytime you are around, they praise you, but if you are not where He wants you to be, you would have chosen the second best for your life. Whatever our achievement, we must not miss God s purpose for our lives. If you feel too big to be where God wants you to be, you would be cheating yourself. But when you are in a place of divine appointment, then you are in the flow of divine miracle. If somebody had told the little boy whose fish and bread the Lord used to feed the multitude when he was living home his provision would feed 5,000 people that day, he would have said, "No This one is just for me. How can 5,000 feed on this?"

When you are in a place of God's purpose for your life, you are in a place of power. A person may be working very hard on a very good thing but if he is in the wrong place, he would be wasting his time; and it could be said that he is rebellious. So, the question is: Are you in the right place and in the right condition? Is your present spiritual level where God wants it to be? Namaan wanted to go to Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, but God had no appointment with Abana and Pharpar. Although they were nice rivers, the divine appointment was with the dirty river Jordan. Many of us are heading for Abana and Pharpar when we should go to Jordan.

Are you where God wants you to be? An ancient hymn writer says:

"When terrible problems encircle me,

Oh sinner to enable me escape the guilt,

When the devil in his deception

raise me up to the mountain of the world,

Asking me to bow down to him so that earthly

possessions could be mine,

Say, Oh God never fail to call me as

You called Adam in the garden,

Saying, "Where art thou?"

Oh sinner to enable me escape the guilt.

So when the world's glory wants

to force me break your law

Standing solidly behind me assuring

me that all is well.

Oh Lord, never fail to call me

As you called Adam in the garden,

To enable me to escape the guilt.

Say when my trust is shifting

From God to medicine and idols

When incantations are struggling with

prayers and incantations become

morning meditations

Say, Oh Lord, never fail to call me,

as you called Adam in the garden,

to enable me to escape the guilt.

When I am about to walk in my own

self-will and my heart beat up and down,

When I am neither hot nor cold,

Say, Oh Lord, never fail to call me,

As you called Adam in the garden, to

enable me to escape the guilt.

When I am loose like a dog not hearing

the whistle of the hunter. When all hopes

are lost and sin encircles me, say,

oh Lord do not fail to call me as You

called Adam in the garden,

to enable me escape the guilt.

Now when all comforters flee, and all

Counsellors are far away, when

sadness like wails assails me and make

me to bow, Oh Lord never fail to call me,

as you call Adam in the garden, to enable me

escape the guilt, etc.

This songwriter listed several things that can remove a person from the conditions and the place where God wants him to be. In his song he prays: "Oh Lord, anytime I am going wrong, call me so that I do not go astray." It is an important prayer point.

I want you to be sincere with yourself. If you know that the Holy Spirit has been telling you that your present position is not where He wants you to be spiritually and physically, pray the following prayer points aggressively:

PRAYER POINTS

1. O Lord, if I am out of the place You want me to be, restore me now, in Jesus' name.

2. I refuse to live a wasted life in the name of Jesus.

3. Oh Lord, help me to be where You want me to be, in Jesus' name.

4. Every satanic lion moving about my environment be tamed, in the name of Jesus.

5. I wipe my name away from any satanic memory, in the name of Jesus.

6. I soak this month in the blood of Jesus, in Jesus' name.

7. Let the divine favour of God envelope my life, in Jesus' name.

8. By the divine decree that shall not fail, I receive answers to all my prayers, in Jesus' name.

9. Holy Spirit of the living God, quicken me today into the position the Lord has ordained for me, in the name of Jesus.

10. O Lord, cause me to satisfy every condition that will lead me into the position You have ordained for me, in the name of Jesus.

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright & Permissions

Other Publications by Dr. D.K. Olukoya

Table of Contents

Chapter One: The Slow Learners

WHAT ARE THESE LESSONS THAT MANY OF US ARE SLOW TO LEARN?

PRAYER POINTS

Chapter Two: Adult Crawlers

THE POWER OF LIGHT

WHO CONVERTS ADULTS TO CRAWLERS?

PRAYER POINTS

Chapter Three: Are You There?

PRAYER POINTS