Believers' Prayer Meeting with The Saint | R 17 W 4 D 5.

Welcome to The Upper Room. So glad to have you join us.

We continue with our meditations in The Book of Daniel, as we continue to dig into verse 14 of Chapter 10. It reads,

"Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”"

What are prophecies?

Prophecies are simply the foretelling or prediction of what is to come. Period. It can also be enlightenment because of inspiration. These inspirations are not limited to God. The devil also inspires people to prophesy. We see the example of the girl possessed by an evil spirit prophesying about the Apostle Paul. [Acts 16:16-19] Other examples, in the scriptures, include divination by sorcerers. Saul's consultation with the spirit of Samuel.

Hence, the need not be so overly fascinated with or by prophecy. It hypnotizes the hearers and seekers and can easily drive them away from the will of God for their life. False prophecy seeks worship. Their adherents make a god of them, to the abhorrence of God Almighty. Just as you cannot serve God and money, you cannot serve God and a lust for prophecy.

That is what God tells us in Deuteronomy 29:29. It reads,

"“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

A lust for prophecy is a lust for the secret things, which God ONLY gives in His own time, not ours. God in His wisdom NEVER gives us the whole book of our lives. NEVER. He simply opens each at the right time, when we are ready for it. Until we are ready, the next page and or chapter will not be opened. Our lust for it only opens us up to strange and demonic spirits, who make mincemeat of us.

It is God's prerogative to give a word of prophecy, not ours to lust after it. When we miss the divine order. Abuse is inevitable, as is so prevalent in our society, and church today.

Let's pray.

The Saint.

#themandaniel #prophecies #divineorder

Believers' Prayer Meeting with The Saint | R 17 W 4 D 4.

Welcome to The Upper Room. So glad to have you join us.

We continue with our meditations in The Book of Daniel, as we continue to dig into verse 14 of Chapter 10. It reads,

"Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”"

The word "afraid" in Deuteronomy 18:22 can also be termed to mean "respect, regard or held in honor." Placed back in the text, we see God telling us not to honor those who deceive us with prophecy, which comes from their minds' vanity. They are simply gambling with possible occurrences. Empty in themselves, they seek notoriety. 

This is important, just like every other scripture. It is for our protection. A whole lot of people have taken this guidance for granted and have thus become willful captives of these false prophets. The internet is full of their abuses. Yet people, like "Sheep meant for the Slaughter," still follow. Why? They have been bewitched (hypnotized, under a spell).

God has already provided wise counsel. It is our duty to harness it. Jesus adds, "By their fruits, you will know them." That is our superpower. If we don't use it, we have ourselves to blame. God is not mocked. We each reap what we sow.

I know these false prophets use scriptures to confuse and enslave their victims. Scriptures like, "Touch not my anointed." Who is God's anointed? Only these false prophets, or God's house? What do you understand by 1 Peter 3:5? It reads,

"You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

You are the "You," not just these "false prophets." You are just as anointed as they are. Get over the fear factor, their superpower, but your downfall. Only agents of the devil use "fear" as a tool. God uses faith, not fear. Get on God's side and live.

Let's pray.

The Saint.

#themandaniel #prophecies

Believers' Prayer Meeting with The Saint | R 17 W 4 D 3.

Welcome to The Upper Room. So glad to have you join us.

We continue with our meditations in The Book of Daniel, as we continue to dig into verse 14 of Chapter 10. It reads,

"Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”"

This captures my heart, and it does not in isolation. It is particularly important considering the present-day abuse of prophecies. Moreso in my country of birth, Nigeria. We just went through our four-yearly cycle electioneering process. And, as always, it was an opportunity to see, in clear view, the immaturity of a lot of folks, even in the Christian fold. Even in the supposed leadership. Their flesh was exposed.

We had people issuing our prophecies of the electioneering result and eventual inauguration as though they heard directly from God but were only spewing out the evil imaginations of their own flesh. And they suppose that God will support their noise. Not so is the God of Heaven. And not without forewarnings. Deuteronomy 18:22 reads,

"When a man who speaks for God speaks in the name of the Lord, and what he says does not come true, that word is not from the Lord. The man has spoken on his own. Do not be afraid of him."

In my country of birth, Nigeria, there are a bunch of rascals who climb the pulpit every Sunday but are notorious for issuing a boatload of prophecies that have NEVER come to pass. Yet, they move on as though NOTHING happened. What is by far more amazing is that their followers see nothing wrong with it. Probably, that shouldn't be amazing. They gave birth to their likes after all.

When these rascals make the habit of giving prophecies that never come true, what other things are they saying that is not true? Can we truly rest our destiny in their hands? Can we rest our eternity in their hands? Can we trust them to walk in the light of their supposed calling? Ephesians 4:12 tells us the calling of a Prophet is 

"For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."

Is that what these rascals are about?

Let's pray.

The Saint.

Book Club with The Saint | Business is Personal | Chapter 13.

Welcome to our Book Club. So glad to have you join us.

We are reading our Fifth Featured Book, "Business is Personal," by Bethenny Frankel. We are reading the last Chapter, Thirteen, today: It is titled, Fewer Buckets Full.

Get yourself a seat, tighten your belt, and let us take flight.

The Saint.

Believers' Prayer Meeting with The Saint | R 17 W 3 D 5.

Believes' Prayer Meeting in the Holy Ghost with St. Akin

Welcome to The Upper Room. So glad to have you join us.

We continue with our meditations in The Book of Daniel, as we continue to dig deeper into verse 13 of Chapter 10. It reads,

"But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia."

So, what did Jesus mean when he said,

“Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” [John 11:41-42]

There are three parts to Jesus' statement. One, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me." This refers to an encounter that had taken place before the point in time of the statement. Jesus had prayed prior to this encounter. So, he was essentially giving thanks for God's answer to his prior prayer. 

Jesus' encounter with death Lazarus was not his first time talking to the Father about the incident. He had prayed prior and was confident of the Father's will and answer on the issue. He saw the Father's bend on the issue and was here following suit. He was not forcing the hand of God on the matter. He was working as he saw His Father. [John 5:17]

The second part we see in Jesus' statement is, "And I know that You always hear Me." Why? Why does God always hear Jesus, and why was Jesus confident about this? I guess it is not far from 1 John 5:14-15, John 5:17, and Matthew 6:33. Jesus was in sync with the Father's will. He was about His Kingdom, Lordship, Glory, Will, and Righteousness.

Hence, he could be confident of the Father ALWAYS hearing him. Note, "The Father" is NEVER the one in short supply. We are. [Isaiah 59:1-2] 

"Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit." (James 5:17-18)

You would suppose if God could answer Jesus and Elijah, He'll answer us also, only if we fit the billing.

Let's pray.

The Saint.

Believers' Prayer Meeting with The Saint | R 17 W 3 D 2.

Welcome to The Upper Room. So glad to have you join us.

We continue with our meditations in The Book of Daniel, as we continue to dig deeper into verse 13 of Chapter 10. It reads,

"But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia."

The Apostle John writes,

"Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him." (1 John 5:14-15)

This is the crux of the trail which got us here, "coming to a place of peace in our walk with God." A place of peace with God is where we are at the center of His will for us. So, when the scriptures tell us of Enoch walking with God [Genesis 5:22-24], it means to say, "Enoch started walking in the center of God's will for his life."

Enoch sought after and locked himself to the will of God and allowed himself to be conquered by it. It parallels Jesus' advice in Matthew 6:33. He said, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." 

"The kingdom of God and His righteousness" can easily be sufficed as "God's will." Hence, Jesus was in essence asking us to walk with God. He asked us to walk with God, and be locked into His will, for that is the key to getting all that heaven has to offer, including walking into glory.

This was what the rascals in Matthew 7 missed. [Matthew 7:14-29] They were about their own business supposedly in the name of God. They did things that looked like the will of God, but their own lives were not subjected to the will and person of God. They were more attuned to religious practice, but their hearts were far from God.

God is not calling us to religious practice. He is calling us to Himself. He is calling us to worship, true wholehearted worship. He is calling us to the holiest of all, to Himself. He is calling us to fellowship. He is calling us to be with Him. He wants to be a God who is Near to us, not one who is distant.

Let's pray.

The Saint.