ONLY THE STRONG....

“And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries:

but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”
(Dan11:32)

The Bible said the end time shall be perilous and I am wont to believe that
we are in such times. Things are just not looking up, every glimpse of hope
seems to be fading, and evil men are waxing stronger and harder without
any intent of repentance. In spite of the many churches and crusades, the
fear of God is fast fading from mankind and we all are just going through
motions.

We don’t know who to trust anymore, for the respected and highly placed
people have disappointed us greatly, and they do it even with such impunity
that makes you wonder if they are not as the Bible says it, “servants on
horses.” This lack of trust cuts across the home (father and mother),
government, offices, relationships (friends, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives
etc.) and even churches. Trust is now an old fashioned vocabulary. The
despair among young ones has given rise to an illusion that nothing is
absolute again, even truth.

Look around you, and all you will see is gloom. Even though they said
Nigerians are the happiest people in the world, but the people you see
everyday don’t look or talk happy, or do they? Most people are no longer
emotionally balanced. This gloomy atmosphere has given rise to increase in
tempo of religious activities. Everyone is just looking for the easiest way out,
so any goon that comes up with anything that may supposedly ease pain will
find his disciples in droves.

So the increase in religious activities is not borne out of the love for God but
for quick fix to problems. Little wonder the increase in the number of mega
churches have not brought about corresponding change to the rot in the
nation. Our emotions have become warped and we have become people of
extremes. It is either we are suppressing our anger or over reacting in
expressing it. On the other hand we try not to be too joyful or we take it to
the extreme.

But we must realise that life brings all feelings- some good, some bad. A
clinical psychologist says that emotional maturity is not the absence of
negative feelings. We all feel anger, guilt, and fear. That is normal. An
emotionally mature individual is however, one who recognises what the
feelings are, admits them, and seeks to express them in the way that would
best honour God. How much matured are you emotionally?
In spite of the picture painted which depicts the actual situation, our God is
still unchanging, His promises still stand and He is not about to change His
mind concerning you. Remember! He is God, so He is infallible; whatever He
purposes shall stand and come to pass even if the devil stands on his head.
He had not for once lost a battle to the devil before and He is not about to
start now. He is trustworthy, reliable, faithful, all power belongs to Him and
He can never fail you.

The situation around is causing us to forget about God, His ability, strength
and promises. This has given rise to so many compromises amongst those
even who profess to know Him. It is the lack of knowledge of our God that
has given birth to lots and lots of heretic teachings. It is as if we are just
looking for whom to blame and sometimes we sound greatly confused. So we
say, God is powerful enough to guarantee our salvation, yet He is not strong
enough to deliver us immediately. He keeps covenants, and our salvation
has made us Abraham’s seed and partakers of God’s covenant. Yet we are
still bound by generational curses. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for you to
know God yourself; else you will keep falling for doctrines of men.

The later part of our base scripture say ...they that do know their God.... so,
do you know your God personally? Or is He just what someone described to
you? Before we dig deeper into this truth I want us to take notice of what
was written in the preceding verse and the beginning of verse 32. “And arms
shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and
shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that
maketh desolate.” (vs31). For better understanding I shall lift out the
important points I want you to notice.

(a)Arm shall stand on his part, (b) they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength
(c) take away the daily sacrifices (d) place abomination that makes desolate
(e) he shall corrupt such that do wickedly with flatteries.

Let me start by saying we are in the end time and the devil knows his time is
short. He is fighting tooth and nail to recruit more foot soldiers because he
doesn’t want to be the only one to go down. Because of the signs of the
time, the atmosphere creates a hunger for the spiritual. Our scriptural
reference by the principle of double reference indicates the acts of the devil
in the end time. The devil is forceful in his exploits now because he yearns
more than ever before to be worshipped. So verse 31 of Daniel played the
picture of his offensive reaction to the resistance of men to worship him.

The amplified translations say, “armed forces of his shall appear in the holy
land.” The devil is infiltrating the church because he need to gain ground,
there is no need to concentrate on the world anymore because they are
already his, so he comes forcefully with money lying wonders, doctrines,
divisions, theories and many heretic revelations. Even now we have known
herbalist calling themselves Prophet Doctors. The reason for his forceful
infiltration of the church is what we see in point (b), to pollute the sanctuary
of strength. ...That ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in
the inward man... (Eph3:16b) Your inner man is your heart (spirit) and that is
where God strengthens you through His spirit. Once you heart is polluted,
there goes your strength, not withstanding your religious activities. He
pollutes your sanctuary of strength with doubts, false doctrines,
prayerlessness, recklessness, being unrepentant, and insensitivity to the
Holy Spirit etc. Simply put, he disconnects you from God and apart from God
you are powerless.

After this, your daily devotion to God is taken away, you become lukewarm
or cold, your worship of God is now just lip service, and your heart is no
longer involved. Remember John4:24 say God is a Spirit and He can only be
worshipped in the spirit (with your heart). By now your giving has become a
routine, ‘notice me’ or just to get more etc. You might even have fallen for
the deceit that says material wealth is the absolute prove of spirituality.
Having done this, the devil will leave you in permanent disconnect by self
justifications, flatteries (from the pulpit, friends or self deceit) then you
become empty yet you still go to church. Very soon you will lose the sense of
the absoluteness of the word of God by consenting to the evil tendencies
around.

All hope is not yet lost, for the later part of Daniel 11:32 says ...but they that
do know their God shall be strong.... Your strength is tied up to your
knowledge of God. By knowledge I mean, ‘To perceive with certainty; to
understand clearly; to have a clear and certain perception of truth, fact, or
anything that actually exists. To know a thing excludes all doubt or
uncertainty of its existence.’ It is not the type of knowledge you have of your
President or people in power, this knowledge is birthed out of fellowship and
interaction personally. As my senior Pastor said, the issue of life is an issue of
strength.’ Yet this strength is only obtainable through knowledge.

If you want to do exploit for God in this era, then you must equip yourself
with the knowledge of God. You cannot afford to be paying lip service to the
things of God any longer for the devil is not fighting fair neither does he care
about you. Check! The financial experts are not too sure what the future
holds, the people in government are confused. Some have been swallowed
up by the devil they are no longer rational in their action, there is so much
insecurity, pains, lack, diseases, struggles, sufferings,etc and the list goes
on.

In this dispensation, only the strong will survive, only the strong will be
announced, only the strong will do exploit; only the strong will stand out. God
is waiting on us to dare stand for Him. It is not about our own strength or
ability. As the scripture says, be strong in the Lord, not in yourself. Your
strength in God qualifies you for His best notwithstanding you personal
inabilities. This is the best time for the church, when the Lord takes pleasure
in showing forth His children, so that when others are falling you will be
rising, what does not work for other will be smooth sail for you, while others
are wondering what the future holds, you are looking forward to a glorious
future because God is on your case.

This is the time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord but since the
refreshing is from His presence, it requires your absolute dependence
upon Him. This is no time to depend on anything or anyone, rather it is
the time to be absolutely sold out for and to God so that you can
experience ease, respite, comfort, joy, deliverance, marvellous help,
God’s mercies, prosperity, repose and rains of the spirit in times of the
heat of life. This is indeed your time, I wish you a happy New Year.

"Only be strong and very courageous, faithfully doing everything in the

teachings that my servant Moses commanded you. Don't turn away from

them. Then you will succeed wherever you go.” (Josh1:7 GW)