Enemies of a Glorious destiny

Messages for July 2016: Our Month of Destiny

Message for Sunday the 31st of July 2016

Theme: UNDERSTANDING HOW TO FULFILL YOUR DESTINY

Topic:  Enemies of a Glorious destiny 1Cor.16:9 and Gen.49:3-4

Introduction: From our sturdies so far, we have seen that God’s desire for us is that each of us would attain to a glorious destiny [Jer.29:11]. This is why when He instructed Moses to tell the children of Israel to make a destiny choice in Deu.30:19, he suggested that they make a choice for life. In other words, they were told to choose to walk in the ways of God. However, it is evident all around us that fewer and fewer people attain this goal of God for man as the days of time draw nearer to the end. Why is this so? The reasons are not far-fetched; there are many enemies contending for our glorious destinies. These enemies are masterminded by our archenemy; the devil. Sadly, many are oblivious of these enemies as they are even instrumental in hosting some of them. What are these enemies to our glorious destinies and how can we overcome them?

1.     Ignorance of the following:

The redemption message – many people are not aware of the redemption message which Jesus came to preach and fulfill. Their minds are still blinded by the lies of the devil; so even when we preach to them, they do not see it. [2Cor.4:3-4] The only way to help people like these is to stand in the gap and be intercessors for them to see them saved. Every believer in Christ has a responsibility to deliver their immediate and extended family to Christ and the best way to do this is to intercede for them and model the love of God to them while trusting the Lord to send them any harvester of his choice to whom they would listen and be saved. See Ezek.22:30; Acts 16:31 and 1Pet.3:1-2.

The truth that liberates: The bulk of crisis among those who are saved today is borne out of ignorance of the truth. The word of God is the truth. John 17:17 Jesus Christ instructed some disciples to remain consistent in learning His ways or word and that the more consistent they are in following His word, the more of the truth would be revealed to them and with the revelations they receive, their freedom would be actualized. See John 8:31-32 and John 1:1-5. When people are set free, then the best of them would be revealed. To overcome ignorance of the truth, we must cultivate a desire for the truth and be ready to always meet its demands. See 1Pet.2:2 and 1Tim.4:13-16.

Our purpose: Like we have been discussing in this series, destiny is the pursuit of our purpose. Therefore, we cannot even begin the journey of destiny without a revelation of our purpose. When we are ignorant of our purpose, our lives will be easily abused by us and others. The result is that we would be unable to fulfill our glorious destiny. See the example of Saul who later became Paul in Acts 9. The first thing he asked the Lord when He first met him was what He would have him do. This was a purpose question. As soon as he knew his purpose, he began to run in it immediately meeting all the demands of it. See 1Cor.9:24-27.

To overcome this, we must seek God with all our hearts in prayer and fasting if necessary to reveal our individual purpose to us in God’s big picture so that we can run on an accurate course in destiny. See Hab.2:1-3 and Mt.7:7-8.

How to be led by the Holy Spirit: Being led by the Holy Spirit is an art we must cultivate because no one is born into this world saved with all the character traits of a new creation. On the contrary, we were used to living as sinners and doing all the dictates of the human nature which always conflicts with divine nature. See Rm.8:5-9; 1Cor.2:14 and Gal.5:17. For us to be able to fulfill our glorious destinies therefore, we must learn to be led by the Holy Spirit to take the right steps in life in that direction. If this is not done, we would remain ignorant of how to accurately run on our individual destiny courses. This is not where anyone wants to be because we would certainly not fulfill our destinies by guess work. To overcome this ignorance therefore, we have to learn the truth of divine guidance from the word and confirm it with the message of those who have learnt to run in theirs with proofs. See 2Tim.2:2 and Jer.6:16-19.

2.     Fear of the following:

The unknown: The revelation of the divine purpose of anyone to them enables them to commence the race on the destiny lane. However, many people do not attain to their destination in destiny because of the fear of the unknown or unfamiliar territories. Whenever God reveals a man’s purpose to him or her, it places a demand of action on the person and that action could mean going to unfamiliar territories. When this is the case, some people fear to take a step because they are not sure of the outcome. To overcome this fear, we must understand that faith always goes with an element of uncertainty because it is the evidence of things hoped for and the substance of things not seen. This explains why Abraham took action when he was called to go to a land that would later become his even though he did not know where he was going. See Heb.11:8 and also understand that faith is not based on what we see but what we do not see. This is why Abraham refused to consider the physical circumstance of his and Sarah’s bareness and became a father through his barren wife of 90 when he was a hundred years. Rm.4:1, 17-22.

Making mistakes: Some people are too self-conscious and self-respecting to take the journey of destiny. God is a God of seed time and harvest. Most of the time when he calls us, he strips us of all our ego in order for us to be able to fulfill His purpose. A rich man approached Jesus seeking eternal life but Jesus asked him to give up all he had and following him. He could not because from his story, it is evident that he had been very good at following the law to get to that point. For instance, he obeyed the law of prosperity and prospered. However, he was not conversant with the law of faith which is superior to all the laws. He must have reasoned that he would become an embarrassment if things did not work out and would lose his good name to all who knew him before. The result was that he went away sorrowful knowing he would never fulfill his destiny. Now this was a bad destiny choice and no wise person wants to make the same kind of choice. Do whatever He says. It is wisdom to do whatever He says to do and anyone who embraces wisdom would end up fulfilling their destinies. See Mk.10:17-22; Job 28:28 and Jn.2:5 

The devil and his cohorts: Many people fail to fulfill their purpose because of the fear of the devil and his cohorts. They are afraid that the enemy will come after them should they take the destiny step God is asking them to because of devil consciousness. To overcome this fear, we must understand that God who called us is greater than all and none can pluck us from His hands. We must also know that the greater of the two powers operating in the universe is in us so we really have nothing to fear. Further, all power vests with our Lord Jesus Christ and none is left for the devil. Finally, if you find fear in your heart, you can cast it out because it is an evil spirit. God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. 1Jn.4:4; Mt.28:18-19; Jn.10:27-29 and 2Tim.1:6-7.

3.     Religion: Religion is man’s way of relating with God over and above God’s choice of how to relate with him. When people choose to worship God on their own terms, the best they get is religion which has proven to be the most destructive invention of man. The founder of religion Cain committed the first murder and up till date, religious folks are still murdering innocent people just as Cain murdered the innocent Abel and the religious leaders murdered the Lord. See Gen.4:3-11 and Mt.27:16-24.

4.     Deception: The bulk of people who would never fulfill their destinies are the deceived. All those who will not get saved will not get saved because they are deceived. The onset of the pursuit of a glorious destiny is salvation which comes by faith in Jesus Christ. All who crucified the Lord did so because they did not know what they were doing; in other words, they were deceived. See the murder of Stephen in Lk.23:34 and 2Cor.4:3-4.

5.     Wrong association: When people associate with those who do not care about fulfilling their destinies, they are associating with the enemies of their destinies as evil association corrupts good manners. Ps.1:1-3 and 1Cor.15:33.

6.     Carnality: This is a state of being where one chooses to walk in the flesh rather than walk in the spirit. It is a way of life that is essentially selfish. This is man choosing to live by the fallen human nature rather than live as a new creation. People who live like this would not even be interested in God’s plan for their lives. They would make their own plans and God is only obligated to fulfill His plans for us and not our plans for ourselves. See Jer.28:11. The result of this is death because such a person cannot enjoy the flow of the life of God into him or her and so he would suffer like the world. See Ps.82:5-7 and Rom.8:5-9. To overcome this evil, we have to make a choice to walk in the spirit and do it. When we do so, we would not fulfill the lusts of the flesh and we can fulfill our destinies. See Gal.5:16-17 and 1Cor.2:14.

As we conclude this series today, if you are convicted by the Holy Spirit that you have since been making bad choices, you can change that now. If you choose to do so, it starts only one way, you must first be born again and you can do so by saying the following prayer out loud in faith:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

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Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!