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With some modifications, we will conclude the message I delivered in Jubilee Full Gospel Mission, Atlanta Georgia, US, on December 22, 2019. Please, read on.
Personal relationship with Jesus is what attracts Him to people. He was fond of visiting Martha, Mary and Lazarus – John 11:3; v.5; John 12:1; Luke 10:38. The relationship starts the day the person is born-again. The unbeliever defines prosperity in terms of financial strength, but we, the believers, do so in terms of our relationship with the Lord Jesus. This explains why the believer can withstand the attacks of the enemy.
I will illustrate this with the war Haman waged against Mordecai, as it is written in the book of Esther in the Bible. Haman was promoted by King Ahasureus to the most prominent position in his kingdom in Persia. He was also very rich. Mordecai, on the other hand, was a Jewish war captive and a security guard to the king. Haman fought him because he was not bowing down before him as other people were doing. His reason was that he was a Jew, who must reserve that honour only to God.
To destroy him for the affront, and also, all the thousands of Jews in that country, Haman pleaded with the king to pass a decree so that they would be slaughtered on a determined day, and he would pay Ten Millions Dollars into the king’s treasury for the execution. The king acquiesced and the decree was written and signed. The Persian laws were irrevocable, not even by the king that made them.
People fight with their fists and also with all sorts of weapons, but the Bible, in 2 Cor. 10:4-6, spells out the weapons of a child of God, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteths itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity, every thought to the obedience of Christ”.
With a copy of the decree, Mordecai contacted Esther, the queen, who was his adopted daughter, to make supplication to the king.
That was risky for her as no person, even the queen, could go to the king without his invitation. The penalty was death. Esther proclaimed three days of dry fasting and prayer for herself, maids and all the Jews in the Sushan, the capital city. Prayers reach where human feet cannot. Prayers do what wealth and human influence cannot. Thank God, Mordecai had what Haman did not have – God!
Impatient to wait for the due date for the execution of Mordecai and all the Jews in the realm drove Haman, on the advice of his wife, to build gallows for immediate execution of Mordecai. Joy for the impending death of Mordecai might have stolen his sleep that night.
In the morning, he raced to the palace to obtain permission for the bad job. God made the king not to sleep that night, so as to review their records. There, it was found out that Mordecai had not been rewarded for frustrating a palace coup. It was God that made the king to ask Haman the best way to reward someone, who had found favour with the king before he made his evil request. Thinking, in the manner of most selfish people, that he was the person, and buzzed over with excitement, he made a juicy proposal: “Let the royal apparel be brought which the king used to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head”, all for the fellow. The horse, which the man would sit, he said also, should be driven round the city by a most noble officer. The king told him to go and do so to Mordecai, God’s friend. A strange and eerie silence followed. He felt savaged, confused, lacerated, and though exacerbated, but he had no choice but to obey.
That episode made him to feel a whiff of his downfall, but his pride rose again by the invitations for royal dinners by Esther. Denouncing him in the most scatting terms, during the second dinner, Esther pointed at him to the king as the Jewish enemy and the one championing their execution, including her.
The king, in anger, went out. Haman went to the bed, where Esther was, to plead with her for mercy. The king returned to the room and saw him there and charged him of attempting to rape his wife in his presence. Haman was hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.
Masters must be careful how they treat God’s children, whether they are housemaids, servants, drivers, etc. It is not the person that is being fought but his God. The master may not know that his servant, he is punishing, is praying for him.
After a personal relationship with Jesus, another factor is inviting him to your need. We have noticed that most of the people he healed were on invitation. Mary and Martha invited him to heal Lazarus, their brother – John 11:3. Jairus invited him to heal his sick daughter – Mark 5: 22&23. Blind Bartimaeus shouted, pleading with Him for mercy – Mark 10: 47&48. We do it now by prayer. Jesus promised to answer us, if we pray in his name – John 14: 13&14. James says that we lack things because we do not pray – James 4:2. Prophet Isaiah says that before we pray, God will answer – Isa. 65:24. Yes, the Lord Jesus answers believers – Prov. 15:29 but the prayer of the unbeliever is an abomination – Prov. 28:9.
The challenge is that your situation cannot be as bad as that of Lazarus. You are alive but he was dead. Jesus told His disciples that he was dead – John 11:14. Martha and Mary told Jesus, when he visited them, that if he had come early, Lazarus would not have died – John 11:21 & 32. Jesus even wept because he was dead – John 11:35. When he told the people to take away the stone that covered the grave of Lazarus, Martha objected, informing him that he was already stinking, having been dead four days ago – v39. I remind you once again that your situation is better than that of Lazarus.
I love doctors for their dedication in treating their patients but once the person is dead, there is nothing they can do. Man is very daring, even going to the moon, but I have never seen where a corpse was flown to another country for further treatment. Some pastors are committed highly in prayers, but I have never heard where a astor declared one day, week or one month fasting and prayers for a man already buried.
Jesus commanded the grave to vomit out Lazarus – John 11:43. Thank God for His gift of Jesus. Imagine the world without Him! Standing in my office as a Minister of God, I decree that any spirit or power that has caused sickness, death, dwindling of your finance or business, or causing any family problems, etc, to vomit it out now, in Jesus name.
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0802 3002-471; [email protected]
