Uncommon Truths Leading To Success:

Maximizing These Benefits of Christianity in Your Life

By Jimi Akanbi

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Understanding and Strengthening Your Faith in God

Chapter 2: Ask the Holy Spirit for Help, He is Your Helper

Chapter 3: Continually Refill God’s Power in You

Chapter 4: Faith Goes Beyond Confidence

Chapter 5: How to Pray With Authority

Chapter 6: Information Taken in is Greater Than Words Spoken Out

Chapter 7: The Reasons to Renew Your Mind With God’s Word

Chapter 8: Praying Long Enough in the Holy Spirit is Vital to Hearing from God

Chapter 9: Understanding the Power of God

Chapter 10: Holy Spirit, Reveal to Me or Lead Me?

Chapter 11: Praise God Continually

Bibliography

About The Author

Introduction

As Christians, we need the power of God coupled with faith to achieve a great level of success in life.

Whether you are full of faith and the power of God or struggling in these areas, you always have room to grow your faith and power in God. Remember, there is no maximum cap to the amount of faith, power, and success that man can have in life. We can always increase these as we desire. The more you understand the ways of God, the more patience, faith, power, and success you will have. The more you experience God’s touch, the more testimonies you will have. Once all of these aspects have fallen in place, you will have become a better:

         Man / woman

         Citizen

         Student / teacher

         Husband / wife

         Son / daughter

         Lover / friend

         Leader

         Employee

         Minister

God wants all of us to live in dominion and power, and this can be achieved by having faith in God and understanding His ways. This is supported in the scripture, where Jesus says:

“Behold I give unto you power to trample on serpents and scorpions,

and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means

hurt you.”

Luke 10:19

If you carefully look through the Bible, you will see that all of God’s general armies operated with high faith and power of God. To name a few:

         Jesus

         Joseph

         Moses

         Abraham

         Jacob

         Solomon

         David

         Elijah

         Job

         Isaac

         Jeremiah.

The message in this book is to help you understand the power of God, that which leads to success in every area of your life.

In some instances, I have used things and living beings in the physical to explain things in the spiritual. When you have enough power of God and exercise it, even demons will obey you in the name of Jesus. Remember, when power of God fell on Jesus’ disciples, and He sent them out to do the work of God’s kingdom, they came back to Him amazed, saying: “Even demons obey us in your name.”

Let me say this: Christians have the highest authority ever, because the source of our authority is from God, who is omnipotent (all powerful). Our authority is more powerful than that of any government or monarchy in this world. Note, we are in this world, but not of this world.

However, most Christians do not operate at this high level of power, due to various factors, including:

         Lack of faith

         Lack of knowledge

         Lack of personally experiencing God

         Lack of time for God.

The power you receive from God can be likened to that of a computer; what you put in is what you get out, or as it is said, you reap what you sow. It follows that the more knowledge you have of God, the more power you will grow.

A believer in Christ Jesus who is full of God’s power and faith knows the extent of his or her rights in life. There are still some Christians who do not know their full rights, and thereby limit God when they pray for their desires to be met. Let me share the following scenario with you.

One very day, I asked a business owner, who happened to be a Christian, did he hope to be a millionaire someday? Guess what his response was? He said that he did not need millions of dollars, and that a couple hundreds of thousand dollars would satisfy him. Mind you, God wants us to enjoy our lives and to prosper. If you argue that money is evil, you are wrong. Love of money is what is evil, according to the word of God.

For the love of money is a root to all kinds of evil, from which some

have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced

themselves through with many sorrows.

1 Timothy 6:10

To support this point, God said in His word:

And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you

power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He

swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

Deuteronomy 8:18

From this scripture, we can see that God wants us to be wealthy, but also that there are conditions we must meet in order to get this power. To this end, we must remember God by continually fellowshipping with Him. Pay close attention to this key phrase in the above scripture: “Establish His covenant.” This shows us that God has placed a seal to our prosperity, but that we also have to play our part.

God is our source of power, and He does not want us to make money, materials, people, or any other thing our source of power. Remember, any thing or being that shifts your focus away from God has power over you and becomes your idol.

God wants us to be full of His power; if this was not the case, He would not have given us His word (the Bible), the Holy Spirit, and the name of Jesus. Thus, we are like the soldier who is going to war, and whose government has equipped him with different weapons such as:

         Guns

         Grenades

         Bullet proof vests

         Armored tanks.

Why do you think the government gave the soldier all these weapons? The same way God has given Christians spiritual weapons which gives us power, the very same way the government gave the soldier physical weapons in order to give them power over the enemy and gain victory.

As children of God, we are not created to live mediocre life; we are destined for signs and wonders.

If you just take a moment and think about the Ministry of Jesus on Earth, you will realize that even He was not exempted from continually refilling God’s power in Him. He fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights. He prayed with authority. He had faith that went beyond confidence, and He constantly took in spiritual information.

Reading and understanding the content of this book will make you see, understand and experience God’s power in a different way.

I must say that in order to understand and experience a great measure of God’s power in your life, you must:

         Understand and strengthen your faith in God

         Constantly ask the Holy Spirit for help

         Continually refill God’s power in you

         Exhibit unshakable faith

         Pray with authority

         Read the Bible and lots of anointed books

         Renew your mind with God’s word

         Pray long enough in the Holy Spirit

         Understand the power of God

         Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you or give you a word

         Praise God continually.

Chapter 1: Understanding and Strengthening Your Faith in God

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things

not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Belief is a by-product of faith. The following is a scenario that will shed light on belief and faith in God.

If there is an empty house in front of you and I tell you that the house is owned by someone, although you have not seen anyone in the house, will you not believe me? Yes, you will. This means you have faith in the law of nature. The law of nature says that if every house built is owned by someone, even if not yet purchased, then in this case the builder or the bank owns the property. In much the same way, we must believe and have faith in God.

What does it profit, my bretheren, if someone says he has faith but

does not have works? Can faith save him?

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food

And one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,”

but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body,

what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works,

is dead.

James 2:14-17

It is written that faith without works is dead. Pay close attention to what is being said. Let’s look at an example of how putting your faith to works operates.

If I show you a strange house with a vicious dog barking in it, but you cannot see the dog. You can, however, hear the dog’s aggressive barks. If I tell you to go into that house, you will certainly say No.

This shows two things:

1          Although you cannot see the dog, you can hear it bark, and this means that you believe and have faith that there is a harmful animal in the house.

2         You have put your faith to works by rejecting to enter the house.

This can be likened to having faith in God and obeying his commandments. That is, the vicious dog can bite or harm us if we enter the house. The attack from the dog is compared to the consequences we will face for disobeying God’s commandments and principles.

Believing in God’s commandments is likened to believing that the house has a dog in it. That is, we cannot physically see God, but we hear his word and commandments, which should give us faith in God.

This is the same as the case in which you did not physically see the dog in the house, but you heard its bark.

You not entering the house because you heard the dog’s bark is an act of putting your faith to work. That is, you know the dog is in the house but you cannot and did not see it. The same way you must put your faith to work by not seeing God physically, but hearing his word and commandments, and obeying them.

For example, if you see $500 in a friend’s house and you do not steal it, this is an act of obedience to God’s commandments and shows that you have put your faith in God’s law to work. You know that in actions otherwise, something negative may happen as a result of sin.

It is mostly Christians that operate under the principle of faith. To the world, there is a saying that every reality begins with thought, but to us fellow Christians, it is faith that gives birth to reality. The level or measure of your faith will determine the level of your experiences with God. As a Child of God, it is a requirement to have faith in Him. In fact, that is why God says in His word that it is impossible to please God without faith:

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to

God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who

diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6

Sometimes we are acting subconsciously when we exhibit faith in God, and at other times we are very conscious in our exhibitions of faith in God.

A good example of this case is, imagine you are planning to attend a job interview and your parents ask you: “How confident do you feel about getting the job?”

If your response to your parents is positive, (for example, “I know that I will get hired”) then we may most likely say you have acted in faith. If your response is negative, then we can say that you have unconsciously acted in doubt.

An even better and sure way to secure your faith in God in the above scenario is for you to say: “I will get the job in Jesus’ name,” or, “By the grace of God, I will get the Job.” These differences simply highlights the disparity between consciously having faith and unconsciously having faith in God. By adding “The grace of God” or “In Jesus’ name” to your statement, you are confirming your belief in God.

There are many reasons why we have faith in God, and these reasons depend on the scenario and the individual. For example, a person can have faith in God after hearing other peoples’ testimonies, or after seeing God’s power at work.

Consider the case of King Nebuchadnezzar, who had faith in God and started to worship God because he saw the great display of God’s power at work in the lives of Meshach, Shadrach and Abed-Nego:

Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach,

Meshach and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship

the gold image which I have set up?

Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute,

harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you

fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you

do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a

burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my

hands?’’

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king,

“O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If

that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the

burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.

But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your

gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their

turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the

burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king’s command was

urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed

those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego.

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, fell down

bound into the midst of the fiery furnace.

Daniel 3:14-18, 21-23

If you notice, the fire was so hot that just its flame killed the king’s men who cast the three Hebrew boys into the fire. Yet, the children of God were not hurt nor killed by the burning fiery furnace. This act of unshakable faith made God committed to act. As a result, the king converted from an idol and god worshipper, and to our God worshipper.

Other people can have faith in God after hearing a touching sermon at church. Your faith in God coupled with grace will make you soar to great heights in life. An important note: until you receive God’s elevation, you cannot receive man’s celebration.

So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:17

Chapter 2: Ask the Holy Spirit for Help, He is Your Helper

There is a time to ask the Lord for help, and there is a time to ask the Holy Spirit for help. There is a time to thank God, and there is also a time to thank the Holy Spirit.

In my journey as a Christian, before being baptized with the Holy Spirit, I never knew that I could ask the Holy Spirit for help in certain situations, and nor did I know that He would answer my pleas. As I began to pray in tongues continually, I received the revelation that this was possible.

This is the reason Jesus told his disciples that when He goes to be with the Father (God) in Heaven, He will send the comforter, who is the Holy Spirit to help them, that is to be a helper to man.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away,

for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I

will send Him to you.

John 16:7

The following is a scenario which will explain this further. One Friday afternoon as I got to the gas station, my car had a flat tire. I had to park and pull up my sleeves in order to fix it, that is, to change the tire. The tire had four nuts that had to be unscrewed.

These nuts were so tight that they were tough to unscrew. Finally, I was able to unscrew three out of the four nuts. The fourth one was so tight that no matter what I did, it was not coming off. I started to pray to God with my understanding in order for Him to unscrew the last nut. No matter how hard I prayed, it did not come off. All of a sudden, God spoke to me saying, “I have sent you the Holy Spirit to be your comforter, ask Him to assist you in unscrewing the fourth nut.”

I heard the word of God and obeyed. As I asked the Holy Spirit to assist me, I now tried to unscrew the last stubborn nut, and what seemed so tough and impossible became so easy, and the nut came off in a split second.

This only shows that our God is a God of structure and principles, and He enforces these all the time. In addition, God teaches us that the Holy Spirit makes the impossible possible. In the particular scenario shared above, I started to shout for joy and thank the Holy Spirit.

Some do not know how powerful the Holy Spirit is. He is the Spirit of the living God and therefore, the power of God.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;

and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and

Samaria, and to the end of the Earth.

Acts 1:8

In order to emphasize, the Holy Spirit was the one who raised Jesus from the dead, that is, who enabled the power of the Holy Ghost. This should show us how powerful He is, as the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most powerful miracle that ever took place in history.

But if the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal

bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:11

For me personally (I do not know if it is the same for you) after I got baptized in the Holy Spirit, it was so hard for me to pray in tongues for more than five minutes. The reason is that the devil knew that the moment I began praying in the Holy Spirit long enough, I would begin to do great damage to his kingdom. The first few days after I got baptized and started to speak in tongues, the enemy kept on telling me that what was being said in my prayer was nonsense and fake. I am saying this to let you know how powerful the Holy Spirit is.

When I became born again in Christ Jesus, it was very easy for me to pray in understanding for more than one hour. So why was it that I could not pray more than five minutes in the Holy Spirit after being baptized? It was because the enemy was fighting against this, because he was threatened by the amount of virtue that would come to me if I constantly said long prayers in tongues. The reason I know that is because I was in a battle against the enemy; the Holy Spirit is a gift from God and therefore, speaking in tongues is a gift of the Spirit. And generally as we all know, when you put your gift to work, it should be done effortlessly and excellently. However, it was initially not so. I struggled in the area of speaking in tongues; it did not flow for more than three to four minutes. Thank God for His power, for today, I am able to pray in the Holy Spirit for at least forty-five minutes on a daily basis.

Holy Spirit the Omniscient

Nothing is too trivial or non-trivial to ask the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, when I completely forget something or have a brain freeze, I ask the Holy Spirit to remind me of what it is that I have forgotten or mislaid, and He does so. In some cases, He will answer immediately, while in other cases He answers in five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, one hour, and so forth. Believe me, these scenarios have occurred more than a hundred times, and He has always answered, never failed.

On another occasion, I may have been looking for my belongings which were either lost or misplaced for several days. I then ask the Holy Spirit to help me find the items. Believe it or not, He then leads me by saying, go forward, take left, and check under there. Therefore, what I have been searching for many days is found in about fifteen seconds. This shows you that the Holy Spirit is really all knowing as God says.

The Holy Spirit Makes You Excellent

It is very important for you to know that the Holy Spirit can turn you from a failure to a success. This is because He is all knowing and all powerful. The following is an actual scenario that will shed some light.

A few decades ago when I was in the University, I had a physical condition that prevented me from performing well in school. In fact, I could not concentrate in class, memorize information, or understand anything I read. As a result, I failed most of my examinations and tests. My grade point average fell below 1.20 out of 4.0, and in order to graduate from college, I needed at least a 2.0 grade point average. Mind you, when all of this took place I was hardly a Christian. I went to church whenever I felt like, which is to say, I only went to church when I needed something from God.

One Sunday, I changed from my old church to a new church. I was led by the Holy Spirit to work in the church, and therefore I became an usher there. From this time on, I started praying and attending church regularly. Then the Holy Spirit led me to pray for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding as I went to school every day. Believe it or not, as I did this for about one month, I was able to concentrate, memorize, and understand everything I read. The following month was the examination period, and how do you think I performed in my class examinations? I thank the trinity (God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit) for helping me to score three A’s (distinctions) in all the three classes that I took. From that time on, I scored distinctions in all the classes that I took, and so I went from an “F” student to an “A” student.

Because of the revelation that I received from the Holy Spirit, I was able to make the Dean’s list in every semester afterwards. How could a boy like myself, who could not understand what he read, could not concentrate, go from scoring “F”’s in class to being nominated for valedictorian, the best student in my graduating class? I was also able to teach my classmates in subject areas they did not understand. I graduated in the top one percent of my class, and as of today, I hold a master of business administration in finance from a top business school in the U.S.

The Holy Spirit is all-powerful, and so was able to transform me from failure to excellence. The Holy Spirit is our comforter, He knows it all; ask Him and He will come to your aid. Nothing is too trivial or non-trivial to ask the Holy Spirit. Thank Him for this!

Chapter 3: Continually Refill God’s Power in You

The power given to Christians by God has to be continually recharged. This can be done by constantly praying in the Holy Spirit, fasting, renewing your mind with the word of God, and praising God. Why do you think Jesus asked his disciples to touch him in the event with the woman who had an issue of blood? Jesus felt and knew that power had gone out of Him when the lady touched him.

This can be seen in the following scripture:

Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years,

and had suffered many things from many physicians.

She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew

worse.

When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and

touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch his clothes, I

shall be made well.”

Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her

body that she was healed of the affliction.

And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out

of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My

clothes?”

But his disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You,

and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”

Mark 5:25-31

Like a new battery loses power as it is being used and needs to be recharged, the Christians’ powers need to be continually recharged as the days go by.

This scenario will give you a better understanding. Consider you are in your house which uses electricity as its source of power. In the beginning of the first month your power is full to capacity, and because of this you are able to operate your cooker in order to cook and eat, get hot water through the water heater allowing you to bathe, turn on the light bulb at night enabling you to see and turn on the fan, air conditioner, or heater in order to get a comfortable room temperature.

What happens at the end of the month after all the power has been exhausted? You will be unable to enjoy all of the benefits mentioned above. In order to be able to enjoy the benefits, you will need to refill your power by paying your bill to the power agency. All of these benefits such as eating, bathing, producing light and air conditioning which are driven by power, can be likened to the following benefits derived from the power of God in us. For example:

         Peace

         Healing

         Victory

         Prosperity

         Wisdom.

In the same way as refilling your electricity, as the days go by if you do not continually refill God’s power in you by fasting, praying, praising, meditating, then you will be reducing your spiritual ability and increasing your carnal ability.

This is one of the strategies the devil uses against children of God: he makes them too lazy or busy to continually recharge the power of God in them. Thereby, he makes Christians miss out on the benefits of the power of God in them. I used to be like this, until I had a divine encounter with God.

Another example that will shed more light on this message is: imagine that your God given gift is a good singing voice. Assume that you have been singing everyday of your life and you have been going through continuous voice training. All of a sudden, you encounter a situation in your life which prevents you from singing and voice training; if this situation goes on for a long time, the next time you try to sing, you will discover that you are not as good a singer as you were before. In some instances, you may even find yourself struggling to sing. In order to get back up to speed on your singing, you will need to start singing practice again.

This singing practice mentioned above can be compared to praying and dwelling on God’s word. That is, the more singing practice you do, the better of a singer you become. The more you pray and meditate on God’s word, the more power of God you will get.

Learn the Easy Way, Not the Hard Way

It is better to learn the easy way than it is to learn the hard way. What I mean by this is that God can force you to be in a tight spot with your back against the wall and not having anywhere or anyone to run to but to God. A perfect example of this can be found in the book of Jonah. Jonah disobeyed God and learned the hard way. You can see it in the following scriptures:

But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty

tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.

Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble

upon us?

Jonah 1:4, 8

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah

was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. And he

said:

“I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,

And He answered me.

“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

And you heard my voice.

So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Jonah 2:1-2, 10

In this situation, you will be forced to continually refill God’s power in you. The scenario above is one which makes you learn the things of God the hard way. An example is: suppose that you, as a Christian, have not been continually refilling God’s power in you through constantly praying in the Holy Spirit, with understanding, praising and confessing God’s word. Then you encounter a terrible illness for which the doctors say there is no cure. Will you not fasten your belt and start to pray continually, praise Him and meditate on His word continually in order to receive your healing? Yes, you will! Why not just make it a lifestyle to continually pray, read and confess His word, and praise Him? This will allow you to learn the easy way rather than the hard way.

Do Not Start and Stop Refilling God’s Power in You

When it comes to working with God, it is very important to keep on learning. There are some who only fast and pray when they need something in particular from God. Remember that God is our heavenly Father, and that He wants a one-on-one continuous relationship. This can only be achieved through continuous fasting, prayer, praise and meditation on His word.

We all must know by now that God knows the heart and intentions of every man, and that He cannot be deceived by man or any being.

If you fall into the category of those who only relate with God when they want something from Him, those who disappear from God’s presence once they receive their desires, it is never too late to change your ways and attitude towards God. In the natural, you do not relate with your Earthly father only when you need something or a favor from him, only for you to receive your needs and disappear from your daddy’s presence for another six months. Your Earthly father will not appreciate your acts and will see it as you only using him when you are in need. What makes you think that your heavenly father will accept you treating Him this same way? He definitely will not.

He is a God of Continuity

If you study the bible, you will see that God wants all things to be done continually. For example, He wants us to continually give our ten percent tithes and offering. He wants us to continually give to meet the needs of the helpless.

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down,

shaken together, and running over will be put into your bossom

Luke 6:38

God expects us to continually obey His commandments, not just once or twice but always.

God says in His word that with continuous prayer and supplication, we should make our requests known to Him:

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit; being

watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the

saints.

Ephesians 6:18

God has promised His children eternal life, a continuous life; when we leave Earth, life continues in heaven.

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in

Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into

judgement, but has passed from death into life.

John 5:24

Do not make your relationship with God an intermittent one. Remember, He is a God of continuity.

Chapter 4: Faith Goes Beyond Confidence

Confidence and faith do not mean the same thing, although there is overlap between these concepts. You can be confident in something, someone, or in an event, but it does not mean that you have faith in it. The way to know you have faith is to examine when you are being tested.

For example, if I teach you mathematics while you are in school and say that you will score an “A” grade.” Because you are aware that I have coached other “F” grade students and they have now become “A” grade students, you are able to have confidence that if I coach you, you will also score an “A” grade.

Imagine for some reason, rumors spread from a credible source that I am teaching you outside of the school syllabus, and you imagine that as a result of this, you are likely to fail. Will you still trust me to teach you to perform excellently? A good number of people would not, and they will question me on this. This only shows that you had confidence in me, not faith, because faith is the opposite of doubt.

This is the same way you trust God for a miracle or any other desire, but the moment the devil throws a little dart and things start to get worse, you proceed to question God, and doubt and confusion set in you. This could either mean that you initially had faith in God but the enemy stole your faith, or it could mean that you only had confidence in God but not faith, because faith does not doubt.

Some good examples of unquestionable faith in the Bible are:

God promised Abraham that He has made him a father of many

nations but yet he was about hundred years old and had no child.

Abraham believed God that he would have a child at a very old age

even though his wife was old and barren.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed as so became the father

of many nations, just as it has been said to him, “So shall your

offspring be.”

Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as

good as dead-since he was about a hundred years old-and that

Sarah’s womb was also dead.

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God,

but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.

Being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had

promised.

Romans 4:18-21

Meshach, Shadrach and Abed-Nego exhibited great unquestionable faith in God by refusing to worship the god and image that king Nebuchadnezzar made, in spite of the serious consequences to their refusal.

If you are able to have this kind of faith in God, He will definitely show up in your situation.

Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach,

Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship

the gold image which I have set up?

Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute,

harp, lyre and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you

fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you

do not worship, you shall be cast immediately in to the midst of the

burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my

hands?”

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king,

“O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from

the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O

king.

But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your

gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their

turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the

burning fiery furnace.

Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace

exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego.

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, fell down

bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace

Daniel 3:14-18, 21, 22, 23

If you read this scripture well, you will see that the burning fiery furnace which Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego were thrown into was so flaming hot that just the heat from the flame killed all of the king’s men who came close to it, yet the full of faith God’s servants were thrown in to the fire without even getting burned, let alone dying.

There are many rewards of unshakable faith in God:

Abraham had a son, Isaac, through this kind of faith. He became the father of many nations.

The King promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego through this kind of faith.

A Christian who has faith in every area of life will operate under supernatural power. I say this because a lot of Christians do not have faith in God in every part of their lives.

For example, he or she may believe that God is actually Jehovah Jireh, that is, God is his or her provider; and therefore believe the scripture that says, God will supply all his or her needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory

by Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

As a result of this, the person will experience a breakthrough in the areas of materials and finances. However, this same person may not have faith that he or she will get healed, and may assume that the person is sick and may therefore not experience breakthrough in this area until faith arrives. Although faith and confidence work hand-in-hand, what I am saying here is that there is overlapping between them. If you have faith, it means that you have confidence. But it is possible to have confidence without having faith.

Chapter 5: How to Pray With Authority

When you pray to God on your knees, you do not need to pray passively. You need to demand your rights and belongings from the devil. One way to do this is, you say: “I command you to release my possessions or whatever you need, in the name of Jesus.” Some Christians still pray for their desires or other things as if they are pleading or bargaining. Let us look at this example which may shed some light:

Suppose a thief breaks into your house and steals your car. Two weeks later, you see a young man entering your exact car with same color, model, and tag number. Will you walk up to him timidly and try to beg or bargain for him to give you back your car? No, you will not. You will most likely get aggressive with him, and may be even ready to fight. Some may even call the police to report the issue and get the man arrested. Finally, you will take your car back and drive off.

If you will do these things in the natural realm, then you should be able to fight and do the same in the spiritual realm. It is written:

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of

heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

Matthew 11: 12

If you had begged and bargained with the thief, you probably would not have gotten your possession back. In the same way, if you beg or bargain with the enemy, he will not take you seriously. He knows that you do not know your rights as a believer in Christ.

This is why Christians need to continually pray for God to strengthen their spirits. The reason is that, with weakness in the spirit, it is not as easy to stand your ground against the devil – except by the grace of God. You can also see that if you had a weak heart and you saw your stolen car with the thief, you probably would have been too scared to approach him. If that was indeed the case, you may never have recovered your car again. Well, you may argue that the thief could have a weapon on him. Then you should call the police, for they have more weapons and power than the thief. In addition, if you say, “But the devil has weapons,” remember that prayer in the name of Jesus has more power than all weapons of the enemy.

It is very paramount that we as believers in Christ Jesus do not see prayer as just mere words. Prayer is a spiritual weapon given to the children of God for pulling down and breaking the power of the enemy. It is our main means of communicating or relating with God.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for

pulling down strongholds.

Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against

the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the

obedience of Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

If you look through all the scriptures in the Bible, you will see that every time Jesus prayed, He did so with great authority. In order to be like Jesus, we must also do everything He does.

The reason God wants us to continually pray to Him is that He knows it benefits us. Note, with or without our prayers, God is still God; but without God, man is not man. Sometimes, we may feel that God is demanding too much of us, but if you think about it, you will see that it is for our own good. For example, the government of your country has given every policeman and policewoman authority to stop and fine every driver and passenger that does not put on his or her seat belt while the car is in motion. Because you feel uncomfortable wearing your seat belt, you may think that the government and the police are being too hard on you. The fact is; it is for your own good. This law was passed to protect you from accidents, injuries, and even death.

During the early years of my Christianity, I never knew that I had authority as a believer in Christ Jesus. I therefore never imagined that I had the power to exercise this authority. It is one thing to know that you have authority; it is another thing to exercise that authority. There are three different types of Christians:

1          Those who do not acknowledge that they have authority.

2         Those who know they have authority but do not put it to action.

3         Those who acknowledge their authority in Christ Jesus and enforce this authority.

An example to help explain this first type of Christian. Imagine that you own a dog, and suddenly, one day your dog goes crazy and starts barking at you. If you do not know that you have authority over your dog, the animal will continue to bark and may even attack you.

Now for an example of the second type of Christian, those who know that they have authority as a believer in Christ Jesus, but do not exercise their authority. In the previous example of the dog barking at you, if you know that you have authority over your dog but do not use it to call your dog to order, then you are as good as not knowing that you have authority. In this case, the dog may keep on misbehaving until you show some authority.

This can be comparable to a room having electricity, while you do not turn on the switch in order to light up the bulb. In this case, you are no different from someone else who has a house without electricity altogether.

The third scenario is the third type of Christian, that is, those who acknowledge their authority in Christ Jesus and exercise this authority.  In the example of your dog barking, you will most likely put your authority to work, either by yelling at your dog or even smacking it with a rod. In this case, the dog will submit to your authority and stop barking at you because you have acknowledged and exercised your authority.

You may be wondering; how do I know that I have authority? The answer is, you cannot feel that you have authority, you just know that you do by faith. Jesus says that He has given all Christians authority. Notice the key phrase, all Christians; not a few Christians, not some Christians, but all. From the day you become born again in Christ Jesus, you have authority.

You may also be wondering how you exercise authority as a believer. Authority involves you making a move or taking action in a situation with great confidence and faith, knowing that God is the power behind your authority.

When you take authority over the enemy, either in prayer or in praise, you will definitely put him on the run. The following scripture tells us how Jesus gave His disciples their power over the enemy:

Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power

and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.

He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Luke 9:1-2

After the death and resurrection of Jesus, God gave Jesus all authority in heaven and on Earth, and He has passed it on to us Christians:

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been

given to Me in heaven and on Earth”

Matthew 28:18

Remember, praying with authority always produces outstanding results. The enemy is afraid of any child of God who knows he or she has authority in Christ, and who exercises this authority.

Chapter 6: Information Taken in is Greater Than Words Spoken Out

My people perish because of lack of knowledge

Hosea 4:6

It is very imperative that Christians read and study the word of God by confessions and meditations. The reason why information taken in or read is more important than spoken word is: How do you speak without first of all hearing or reading? God knows what he is saying when he says, “My people perish because of lack of knowledge.” Imagine you are in high school or university, and the time for your exams is here but you have not studied or read your class notes and textbooks. Will your teacher not advise you that you will fail the test if you do not study? Yes, he will!

The scenario about you not studying in school and failing can be likened to that of the Christians not studying the word of God (the bible and anointed books). A Christian who studies the word of God genuinely will have the Holy Spirit reveal information from God to him or her.

Do not get me wrong, speaking the word of God is very important; but how do you speak the word of God if you do not first read, study, or hear the word of God? The measure of information you take in will determine the measure of knowledge and power you exhibit. Christians should not read the bible and anointed books as a story book. Instead, you must read and ponder on the word of God in order to receive maximum results and freedom. Ask the Holy Spirit to explain things you do not understand, and He will do so. He may not respond instantly, but be sensitive to his voice throughout the whole day. He may most likely explain to you through your inner man. This has worked for me all the time.

When God says, “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free,” how do you know the truth unless you read or hear God’s word? A student in school who studies very hard and diligently on the first test but does not study on the second test is likely to perform better on the first test. This is the same for Christians. A Christian who studies the word of God diligently in the first month but slacks off in the second month is likely to be more powerful in the first month than in the second month.

Moreover, God expects us to make studying his word a continuous effort, not an intermittent effort. As long as you are a student in college, reading and studying does not stop until graduation. As long as you are a Christian, studying God’s word does not stop until you graduate from earth to heaven.

Due to the fact that we are living in the information age, Christians have little or no excuse for failing to access God’s word. Unlike the biblical days where there were no televisions, radios, computers and iPads, the era we now live in takes advantage of technology.

Imagine if every household watched only gospel or Christian channels on their televisions, listened only to praise and worship songs on their radio, and read and studied God’s word on the computer and iPad; do you not think the world would be a better place? Yes, it would! These acts alone are enough to put the enemies on the run till the end of time.

There is another way to understand this message that says the information you take in is greater than spoken words. If you are a medical doctor, pharmacist, nurse or other specialist in the health care field, you will agree that different ingredients are used to make drugs that produce the finished products. A sick patient takes in the drug, and in about five hours they will feel well; in other words, the drug was taken in and the wellness was brought about. The point is that the drug that was taken in is more relevant than the wellness that occurred, because without the drug, there will have been no healing except through God’s touch. This stresses the fact that, even with Christianity, information taken in is greater than spoken words, as well as in the natural.

Jesus is More Important Than Our Freedom

There are numerous examples that can be used to emphasize the message of this chapter, and I want you to understand the main point. So just sit back, clear your mind as you read, and think about this: Jesus went to the cross, died for us, and was resurrected on the third day. By doing so, He gave us redemption and salvation. We can liken Jesus’ death and resurrection with the intake of information, and the redemption and salvation we receive as Christians with outtake. The point is that Jesus Christ is our source of redemption, salvation, healing, prosperity, peace, and joy. However, do we not see Jesus as more important than all of these things? Yes, we do; I hope you do?

This tells us that information taken in is the source, while spoken words are the response. We worship Jesus Christ who is our source, but we do not and cannot worship our redemption, salvation, healing, peace, protection, and joy. I hope this has shed some light on the fact that what is taken in is significantly greater than that which is spoken out. The examples have shown you that the principle of this message holds the same for both spiritual and natural matters:

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed

into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Genesis 2: 7

God breathed life into man; this is like taking in information. Following this, man became a living being; this is like speaking out words. One reason I say that words taken in are greater than spoken words is because the breath of life given to man by God is more important than our living being. That is, without the breath of life, we would not be in existence ourselves.

The last one I will share is: just imagine you have a job or a business and the income or revenue that you make can be seen as intake. You may use this intake to purchase electronics, cars, clothes or food; that is outtake. Is money not more important than all of these products? Yes, it is, because without money you can not possess them. This can also be compared to the truth that information taken in is greater than the words spoken out.

Keep on Taking in Anointed Information

If you have not started reading anointed books, start reading them now. If you have already started reading them, then keep it up. Remember, everything with God is to keep on keeping on. The results will be mind-blowing. Note: what you take in with your eyes and ears will determine what comes out of your mouth.

This will now determine what will happen to you. To inform you, your spoken words are seeds and can therefore affect you as a person. Therefore, if you can filter the information you take in, then the words you speak out shall be filtered, and your actions shall likewise be controlled.

Chapter 7: The Reasons to Renew Your Mind With God’s Word

Many believe that the main reason to renew the mind with God’s word is to be free from strongholds.

We can see this is a common reason by reading the following scripture, in which Jesus says:

“If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall

know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

John 8:31, 32

However, the main purpose we must have when renewing our minds with God’s word is to get our minds to be in agreement with our spirit, so that we may genuinely carry out the works of God’s kingdom on Earth. Such as:

         Evangelism

         Intercession

         Giving

         Praying

         Counseling

         Healing.

Renewing your mind with the word of God allows you to develop a personal relationship with the trinity. That is, God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

I will give you a scenario of when God spoke to me through my inner man. I had been fasting, praying and confessing God’s word concerning three different issues, but never received any answer for several months. One Saturday night I cried and prayed unto God, asking Him why my prayers had not been answered. On the following Sunday morning, I went to church and the pastor preached a sermon which asked: Do you see yourself as just a servant of God or a friend of God? The examples given were, if you are a servant:

You will be focused on the task

You will focus on completing the assignment

You will not know the ways of God.

If you are a friend of God:

You will focus on relationship with God

You will know God’s heart

You will understand God’s heart.

If you see yourself as a servant of God, you will say freedom from strongholds is the main reason you renew your mind.

If you are a friend of God, then you will say that the main reason you renew your mind with God’s word is to strengthen your relationship with God. During the pastor’s sermon, the Holy Spirit revealed to me why my prayers had not yet been answered. He answered my prayers from Saturday night. These are the words that God spoke to me; “God does not want you to set a time limit for your prayers and confession of His word.”

When I heard this, I was amazed because it was true; I used to set a cap on the amount of time I prayed and confessed God’s word. This only shows that I had been a servant of God, not a friend, because I had been focusing on the task and not the relationship. He further said, “You do not set a cap on time you spend on conversations with your earthly friends, so why do you then set a time limit when you pray to me?”

He told me to address him as daddy when praying. I will tell you that once you practice all of these things, you will be a true friend of God, not just a servant. You will experience greater rewards and testimonies as I have.

There are many benefits of renewing your mind with God’s word. Namely, however: you become at peace, you get healed, and become free from oppression. The Bible is not made up of mere words and statements as you would see in a physics textbook or children’s storybook. It has the power of the Holy Spirit behind it, and in order for this power to work in your life, you must acknowledge this truth. Do not try to reason it out by asking, why, who, what, when, or how. Just the same way having faith in God in every area of your life will always produce positive results, believing that the Bible (word of God) is backed up by the power of the Holy Spirit will always produce victory when you renew your mind with God’s word.

Renew Your Mind and Be Set Free

There are certain scriptures in the Bible that are meant to be meditated upon in different situations.

When I need peace I confess the following scripture:

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives

do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

John 14:27

When I need healing, I confess the following scripture:

But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

When I need freedom from oppression, I confess the following scriptures:

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for

pulling down strongholds.

Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against

the knowledge of God, bringing every thought in to captivity to the

obedience of Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:4, 5

If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:31, 32

By confessing God’s word daily, I have been set free in all of these areas. As I did this continually, I got free gradually.

There was a particular day upon which I felt a great anointing of God come upon me. It was so as I confessed His word; that is, 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5 and John 8:31, 32. I cannot explain these feelings with my words. All I know is that I felt the power of the Holy Ghost come upon me, and I knew that I had great dominion, power, and faith to move a mountain. This event occurred because my mind came to complete agreement with my spirit as I confessed the word of God.

Distractions Occur in the Mind

Every reality begins with thought. It is a fact backed by the laws of science and nature that man thinks and reasons with his mind. All the information you take in is processed in your mind, that is: what you hear on radio, watch on television, see in reality, and read in books. All modes of information have power over your mind. For example, men and women only have desires of having sex outside of marriage or before marriage (adultery, fornication) because of what they feed their minds with. To name a few sources:

         Watching pornographic movies

         Looking at pornographic magazines

         Engaging in sex talk over phone or radio.

Once these acts are processed in your mind, you will have desires to have premarital or outside-of-marriage sex. Obviously, to fulfill your desires, you often feel the need to act, and these actions may sometimes lead to rape or child molestations.

This is a good reason why we must constantly renew our minds with the word of God, while refraining from feeding our minds with harmful imaginations, intake, and thoughts.

Note, what you do not see you cannot do; what you do not hear you cannot practice; what you do not read you cannot process. If you do not do any of these, then you will not put to action anything at all.

Keep your mind pure, and you will have a good life. Remember, enjoyment in God’s way is different from enjoyment in the world’s way. You enjoy by keeping God’s commandments and abiding in His love. You are able to do this by having a pure mind.

Jesus said:

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I

have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you,

and that your joy may be full.

John 15:10, 11

Chapter 8: Praying Long Enough in the Holy Spirit is Vital to Hearing from God

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is

unfruitful.

What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also

pray with the understanding.

I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all.

1 Corinthians 14:14-15, 18

If you pay close attention to the scripture above, you will see that Paul was addressing the importance of praying with tongues to the Corinthian church. To show you the value of praying in the Holy Spirit, Paul went ahead and thanked God for allowing him to speak in tongues more than everyone else.

Do not miss the point here, as God answers both types of prayers; that is, with the spirit and with understanding. However, praying in tongues reveals mysteries in your life, builds up your spirit, gives you more of God’s power, and makes you become who God wants you to become. It reveals and manifests your destiny.

Praying in the Holy Ghost for five to ten minutes per day will not really allow you to hear from God. Talk less of dialogue with God.

I used to wonder why I was not hearing God’s divine directions and advice, until I went on my knees and pleaded with God. He said to me, pray with the Holy Spirit for at least 30 minutes a day without timing yourself or looking at the clock. And I asked Him, how is that possible? He said to me, the Holy Spirit is more than able to alert you in order to know when to stop praying.

Ever since I obeyed God and started praying with the spirit long enough, I have been in constant communication with God. He has revealed many deep secrets to me through my inner man, dreams, visions, and His word (the Bible). Some of the secrets are the great things God will do in my finances, business, ministry, marriage, and family.

Some of the specific words spoken to me by God were:

He will use my books to save souls for Christ across the world.

The way He produced fish in abundance for Peter, He will also

produce abundant customers for my business.

When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon Peter, “Launch out

into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master we have toiled all night

and caught nothing, nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”

And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and

their net was breaking.

Luke 5:4-7

God is not a respecter of a single person; what He has done for one, He will surely do for another. Do not doubt, just obey.

Many Christians still often ask pastors to pray for them every time that they hit a brick wall, which is to say, every time they encounter trials and tribulations. But the truth is that God has given us the Holy Spirit to teach us how and what to pray. The only requirement is that you have to pray continually and long enough in order to experience great results in life.

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know

what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit Himself makes

intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Romans 8:26

The following is the word of God informing Christians as to when they should ask their pastors to pray for them:

Is any among you sick? Let him call the elders of the church, and let

them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him

up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

James 5:14-15

You do not need to take every issue to the bishop or pastor of your church. If you had to do so, then you would not need to labor in God’s word, pray and fast, and so on – you would just call on your pastors when you are in need.

Let me bring some clarity to you through another scenario. Imagine that you are a student in school, and your teacher coaches you for an examination. Will you run to your teacher for help on the day of the examination, that is, during the test? No, you would not, and even if you did, he or she would not respond to you. In school, you are taught by your teacher during the sessions, and afterwards you are responsible for your success. In the same manner, we Christians are taught the word of God, prayer, and everything God requires of us. From then on, we are responsible for our actions.

You Have What it Takes to Succeed - The Holy Spirit

This is one of the greatest gifts that God has ever given mankind: the Holy Spirit. Let us put it this way; God has taught us how to fish rather than just feeding us with fish for a day. The Holy Spirit is our comforter and He is with us all the time. We have eternal access to the Holy Spirit on a continuous basis, as opposed to just being able to reach Him intermittently.

Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient God

Every day I wake up and I think of the trinity (God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit) being omnipotent, that is, all powerful; omnipresent, that is, present everywhere; and omniscient, that is, all knowing. I then thank Them for this. After praying long enough in the Spirit, I was able to receive the revelation from God about the great benefits of Him having these three powerful attributes. Pay attention as I share them with you.

         Omnipotent – Imagine if God was not all powerful. What would have happened in heaven when Satan attempted to betray God by committing treason? There might have been a possibility that the enemy could have taken over. If this had happened, what would have become of man? We would have had no redemption, no salvation, no peace, no dominion, no consecration, no blessing, and the list goes on. Imagine the havoc that Satan is causing in the world today, yet he is a defeated foe and a fallen angel. Let alone, if he ruled both the heavenly kingdom and the Earth, the question we should ask is, how bad will it be for us?

         Omnipresent – We should thank God that He is everywhere at all times. Otherwise, we Christians would have to book appointments to hear and talk to God. Imagine how tedious this will be for us, because if there are several billions of Christians around the world. Then if I need something from God, or just need to hear from Him, I may have to take a number and wait in line until God calls me. It may take several years before I talk to God.

Note, if it takes several years for God to attend to me, then if you do the math – you will see that in my lifetime, I may only access God about eight times, as opposed to the unlimited access that I currently have. That being said, what will happen to me when I have issues or requests that I want God to address, but I have to wait many years before I can talk to God? This would be chaotic for all of us. It will be no different from the Old Testament era, when God only visited His people and addressed their needs periodically. One real question to ask is, how do we develop a personal relationship with God if He is not present always to hear us and speak back to us?

         Omniscience – Bless the name of the Lord for knowing all things because He sees the beginning before the end and sees the end before the beginning. We can thank God for this, because He sees our past, present, and future before they even occur, and can therefore protect us from falling in to a pit or going astray. God knows all of the evil plans and strategies of the enemy, and is able to call him to order before he carries them out.

All of these revelations were given to me by the Holy Spirit because I prayed long enough in Him in order to hear from God. If you practice this and make it a lifestyle, you are on a smooth journey to hearing from God.

Chapter 9: Understanding the Power of God

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13

I give unto you power to thread on snakes and scorpions and to

overcome all the power of the enemy, nothing will harm you.

Luke 10:19

The power of God over the enemy and all things can be likened to the power a manufacturer of a product has over the inadequacies or faults of the product. For example, if someone or an enemy purposely tampers with a product, then it starts to malfunction. This malfunction of the product can be compared to the enemy tampering with your body or mind, with the result that you get sick.

The same way, the product manufacturer can and will fix the fault made to the product and make it start to operate normally, God can and will heal your body and mind once your part is played. This simply shows that the creator of man and the creator of a product (machineries or electronics) have the ability to fix all of man’s issues and the product’s issues, respectively.

Similarly, when you buy an electronic product or machinery, there is a manual that comes with it to allow for operating and troubleshooting instructions. This act is a transfer of knowledge from the manufacturer to the consumer. For the most part, if the product gets faulty, you can refer to the troubleshooting manual to fix it. If your problem still cannot be solved, then you go to a technician for help.

This can be likened to man being the product and the manual being, the word of God and prayer. There has been a transfer of knowledge and power from God to man, the Bible (word of God). For the most part, if man is sick or has a problem, he can refer to the word of God through prayer and meditation, and he will be restored. The technician mentioned above is compared to an anointed pastor or bishop. If man cannot be healed or restored, then he must consult a pastor of his church or another. Just as the product cannot be fixed by you, you must consult a technician.

In one way, we should see the miracles of God in awe, because we do not have any power of our own to perform these miracles. On the other hand, God performing miracles should not surprise us, because he is the creator of heaven and the Earth. He is the one who gave man knowledge to create every manmade thing.

Therefore, we can fairly say that He is the creator of all living and non-living things.

Imagine if there was one man who manufactured all of the various products in the world. Will this man not be able to fix everything wrong with all products? Yes, he will! God is the manufacturer of man and everything in the world. So will He not be able to fix all things wrong in the world? Yes, He will! For example, Jesus multiplying 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread to thousands is expected, for he is the creator of fish and bread and he thereby knows where the source is, just like a manufacturer of a product has inventory and can supply the products when they are needed.

God’s power has no boundaries, and therefore cannot be limited. He has a hundred percent belief and faith in His power to produce results. Due to this, God wants us to operate at this level of His power. Remember, when God created Adam and Eve, He gave them power and dominion over everything and every being on the Earth, until the enemy, Satan, deceived them and collected the key to power on the Earth. Thank God that He sent Jesus, His son as a sacrifice to die for us. After Jesus died, was resurrected, and ascended to heaven, all authority in heaven and on Earth was given to Him by God and His name became more powerful than any other name. Jesus has given all this power to all Christians. Notice the key phrase here; all Christians. Not a few, not some, not most, but all. However, there is a part for you to play in order to put the fullness of God’s power into operation in your life. And you can achieve this by acting on some of the discoveries and revelations that you receive when you read this book.

Honestly speaking what mostly distinguishes one Christian from another Christian (baby Christian and mature Christian) are the levels of power and experience in the things of God’s kingdom. Why do you think that United States of America is the country into which every foreigner wants to migrate, do business with, go to school at, and form allies with? The answer is very evident: this is simply because the United States of America is the most powerful nation in the world in almost every facet. I can say this confidently to you: once you tap into a full measure of the power of God, a multitude of people will be eager to know you and follow you. No one can give you celebration until God gives you elevation, but in order for this to happen and receive longevity, you need to continually refill God’s power in you.

When we receive God’s power and start doing spiritual things such as healing the sick, freeing captives, and saving souls for Christ, we are not to get arrogant and full of ourselves because we do not perform this works. We are only vessels, and are privileged to be used by God. After God led the Israelites out of Egypt through Moses, He gave Moses power when they reached the Red Sea. God said to Moses, “Stretch out your rod,” and as Moses obeyed, the Red Sea parted. Moses on his own could not have even parted a small pond, let alone a deep sea. This shows you that when you have God’s power operating in you, you will be able to do supernatural things with His help.

Chapter 10: Holy Spirit, Reveal to Me or Lead Me?

There is a difference between receiving revelation from the Holy Spirit and being led by the Holy Spirit. When you ask the Holy Spirit to reveal a word to you, He will either drop the word in your spirit, show you in the word of God (The Bible), or speak through another believer. On the other hand, when you ask the Holy Spirit to lead you, you will just find yourself performing the act which the Spirit has led you to do. Let us look at an example that will shed some light.

Let us assume that you are in the process of purchasing a house. You find that you have to choose between three houses; if you ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the best choice to you, this is exactly what He will do. He will either drop the answer in your heart, or speak through another believer. Although He may not respond immediately, He may answer in a few minutes, hours, or a few days, but He will surely do so.

However, if you ask the Holy Spirit to lead you, you just may find yourself waking up one morning calling your real estate agent and telling him or her that you will purchase home number two. Whether it is revealed to you or you are led by the Spirit of God, the choice or result is still the same. The only difference is that the time for the revelation process may be longer than the leading process, because it entails two steps. That is: you first of all receive the revelation, then you act. Meanwhile, the leading just involves action.

If time is of the essence, the leading of the Holy Spirit may be more appropriate, as it entails only one direct step. It is important for you to know that not all cases in your life need several hours or days of spiritual warfare. The Holy Spirit is on the inside of you, just ask Him and He will answer. Remember, before Jesus departed, He promised that the Holy Spirit will be our helper and He will show us all things:

But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,

He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things

that I said to you.

John 14:26

Let us explore another scenario to further explain.

Imagine you are a student in school. Asking your teacher to help you take an examination can be likened to asking the Holy Spirit to lead you in any situation in life. I confidently say this because I have experienced the Holy Spirit lead me to excellence several times in college. In a nutshell, when you ask the Holy Spirit to lead you, whether you know it or not, you are asking for excellence in the situation you are trying to address. This is because the Holy Spirit is omniscient (all-knowing) and will therefore lead you in the best path.

I likened the Holy Spirit to the teacher in school in the example above because your teacher should know every piece of coursework or material in his or her students’ syllabus. If your teacher leads you by accompanying you to take your test, most likely you will score 100 percent. In addition, if the Holy Spirit leads you, you will more than likely score 100 percent, if you play your part (study). When the Spirit of God leads you, He will alert you to let you know that He is the One leading you to take certain actions, so you need to be very sensitive to the Holy Spirit as He speaks to you. As we all know, He is a very gentle Spirit.

The Holy Spirit has suddenly gotten me out of bed many times, led me to the word of God (The Bible), made me open the book, and fixed my eyes on a particular scripture. When He does this, He confirms his actions by letting me know that He led me. I am quite sure you have experienced this, but what I am not sure of is whether you were sensitive enough to listen to the Holy Spirit informing you that He led you there. It is very imperative that you acknowledge when you are led by the Holy Spirit. One good reason for acknowledgement is that doing so will allow you to give thanks to Him; a second reason is, so that you can make it a lifestyle to rely on Him.

We have looked at asking the Spirit of God to lead you, so let us now look at asking the Holy Spirit to give you a word.

Asking the Holy Spirit to give you a word can be likened to asking your school instructor to reveal to you the answers to an upcoming examination. I say this because if you ask Him to reveal a word to you, you can be sure that it will be as accurate as accurate can be.

Delay is not denial

Sometimes, when we ask the Holy Spirit to lead us or reveal a word to us, He may not respond on our own time. In some instances, He may answer the same hour, day, a few days, or even weeks later. The most important thing to know is that He is always working to bring our requests to pass in the natural. The Holy Spirit knows it all, so He knows the most beneficial time to manifest our petitions in the physical realm.

If only all Christian men and women, young and old, could know the virtue that they have because the Spirit of the living God is on the inside them. If they did, they would get their shouting clothes on and sound the alarm.

If it were possible for man to rely on the Holy Spirit in every decision of life, do you know that man will not make any mistake or wrong choice in life, because he will be operating under hundred percent divine wisdom which has come from the Spirit of God?

The Holy Spirit has several roles in a Christian’s life, duties other than responding to our requests for revealing a word or leading him or her. He is here to comfort you, teach you how and what to pray, intercede for you, and so on. You can always count on Him.

Chapter 11: Praise God Continually

How many of us listen to more of secular songs than gospel or Christian songs? I am quite sure most people do! I fell into this same category a little while ago, but thank God that He opened my spiritual eyes to see and understand the benefits of praising Him, not just once a week, once a month, once a quarter, but as often as possible. Two examples in the Bible of God’s general army that praised God very often were, David and Abraham:

The scripture says: (Abraham) He did not waver at the promise of God

through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

Romans 4:20

Let me point out to you that one of the benefits of praising God is the obvious increase in faith. We may see such an increase in the case of Abraham. I shall touch on the other benefits later. If you pay attention to what I am about to say and understand it very well, you will take a turn from spending much of your time listening to secular songs, and instead start spending more time listening to gospel and Christian songs.

I refer back to the question I asked, how many of us listen to more worldly songs than Christian or gospel songs? I am asking this question as a rhetorical question. I am not expecting an answer, because I already know the fact of the matter. The truth is that we are more than two billion Christians in the world, but yet all gospel and Christian songs have much lower views than secular songs have on YouTube. In fact, the highest number of YouTube views I have seen for Christian and gospel songs is about three million, while secular song views have gone as high as over seven hundred million. This shows how few people listen to praise songs compared to secular songs. Let me give you something to think about; there is no singing of secular songs in heaven, only praise and worship. So if you are saved or will be saved, you might as well start getting used to continuous praise and worship while on the Earth.

It seems like one of the issues causing a lack of praise may simply be ignorance, which itself stems from a lack of knowledge. Praising God is one of the most potent weapons a Christian has in combating the enemy and it yields the fastest results. Let us visit the case of Paul and Silas, the disciples of Jesus Christ who were wrongly thrown in jail for preaching the gospel of Christ. All they did was pray and sing praises to God and their chains were miraculously broken and made loose. In other words, they were made free through their worship. If they had stayed in the prison singing secular songs all day, they would have been in the jail for a long while, or even for life.

As you can see in the following scripture:

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to

God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the

prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and

everyone’s chains were loosed.

Acts 16: 25, 26

So far, we can see how praise songs have a strong effect on our lives. What I mean by this is, think about all the time you listen to worldly songs. Don’t you start to sing the songs all day long, even all week long, either consciously or subconsciously? This same way, if you listen to praise songs, you will continue to praise God constantly. And when your praises go up, blessings come down.

Some people sing praise and worship songs to God out of formality, or because it is required in their church; or, moreover, they do not know the reason for singing and the benefits that singing this brings to their lives.

One reason I wrote this chapter is to inform you that in God’s kingdom, expectation leads to manifestation. That being said, when you praise God by singing and you do not know why you are doing so, when you do not know the benefits of praising Him, then it is likely that you will not expect anything from God. Thus, sometimes, when there is no expectation, there is no manifestation. Will you agree with me if I tell you that secular songs only make you feel good for the moment? When you are done listening and singing, you are back to the condition you were in before singing. For example, if you are lonely or depressed and you listen to a love song, you may feel relieved temporarily, but as soon as the song ends, you are back where you began, (that is, depressed again). However, sincerely singing songs of praise to God can permanently heal your depression. The point I am trying to make here is, praise songs have a lasting effect on man, but secular songs have a temporary effect on man.

One way to shed light on this is to consider the actions of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the water which the well had to offer her would satisfy her for a little while, after which time she would be thirsty again. But He offered to give her living water, which he promised would quench her thirst for eternity. This same way, praising God produces lasting benefits to man.

However, there is a great condition to receiving these benefits: you must praise God with a sincere heart. Please, do not misunderstand what I am saying; secular music is great and so are secular singers. I listen to secular songs myself, but the point I am stressing here is: do not place worldly songs above Christian and gospel songs.

Some benefits of praising God are as follows:

1          Our faith is increased

2         God’s presence is evident

3         God’s power is released

4         We receive God’s blessings

5         We recognize God’s power

6         We remember God’s mighty works

7         Expands our knowledge of God

8         Reveals God’s plans

9         Gives us joy of the Lord

10      Magnifies God’s name

These are just some of the benefits of praising God. I will share a short story with you about how I received my glorious destiny.

One evening, I asked God the Holy Spirit to reveal my destiny to me. A few hours had passed by, but still no response. The Holy Spirit then led me to sing praises to God. As I did that for about one hour, my destiny was revealed to me, and afterwards, He led me to a scripture in the Bible to confirm the revelation that was given to me.

The Holy Spirit also revealed deep mysteries about my destiny that were not easily believable with the natural mind. Nevertheless, I thank God for confirming these promises, through His word and in a dream.

Try and make praising God a lifestyle, not only when things and circumstances are good but all the time, and see what a great encounter you will have with God. I have heard a pastor once say, “When prayer does not produce for you, switch to praise.” This has proven to be true always in my situation. As a result, I have experienced breakthroughs.

Bibliography

Life Application Study Bible, New King James Version: Thomas Nelson Inc. Publishers, 1979

Holy Bible, New International Version: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973

About The Author

Jimi Akanbi is an active member of the prayer team at his church, which is located in Atlanta, Georgia USA. Jimi has served God as an usher and as a protocol officer in his previous church.

One glorious evening he received his calling from God to be in the writing ministry, and ever since, the Holy Spirit has inspired him to write. God miraculously delivered him from death a few times, and therefore, he confesses Psalm 116 to the Lord, periodically.

Jimi holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Mercer University, Atlanta, Georgia USA. He has undergone ten weeks of formal bible training.

To Contact the Author

Please Email: jimiakanbi@yahoo.com

Other Books By Jimi Akanbi

Taking Your Life To The Next Level: 7 Keys To Living The God-Kind of Life

7 Attributes That Can Make or Break You

Living a Fulfilled Life Daily

Understanding the Benefits of Man-Kind

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Understanding and Strengthening Your Faith in God

Chapter 2: Ask the Holy Spirit for Help, He is Your Helper

Chapter 3: Continually Refill God’s Power in You

Chapter 4: Faith Goes Beyond Confidence

Chapter 5: How to Pray With Authority

Chapter 6: Information Taken in is Greater Than Words Spoken Out

Chapter 7: The Reasons to Renew Your Mind With God’s Word

Chapter 8: Praying Long Enough in the Holy Spirit is Vital to Hearing from God

Chapter 9: Understanding the Power of God

Chapter 10: Holy Spirit, Reveal to Me or Lead Me?

Chapter 11: Praise God Continually

Bibliography

About The Author