Opening Prayer Homily - Day 2

HOMILY FOR DAY 2 OF THE OPENING YEAR PRAYER

SUNDAY 15^TH JANUARY, 2017.

THEME: TURNING STUMBLING BLOCKS INTO STEPPING STONES

The question how can I turn my stumbling block into stepping stone is a question a sincere Christian needs to ask himself or herself every now and then he finds himself or herself in situation of crisis?

What is a stumbling block? It is that which prevents you or serves as an obstacle to you from moving forward or achieving your dream and purpose in life. Christianity is not a jamboree, is not a one off venture, is not what you do today and say you will not do tomorrow-is a life long journey full of thorns and victories, full of persecutions, criticisms and principalities that pose a threat to your call as a believer. Been a Christian is an awareness that there is no crown without the cross. There is no glory without the suffering. There is no achievement without the process, there is no destination without the road.

For you to turn obstacles or stumbling blocks into stepping stones requires a contact-I repeat constant and steady relationship with the lord. It is only in this do you revitalize that seed of strength and authority that the Lord has placed in you. It is an awareness that in moments of crisis you are not standing alone but with the Lord as the word of God tells us in 1 Kgs 18:19-22 (the story of Prophet Elijah and the 450 Baal prophets) that one with the lord is with the majority.

It is awareness of the fact that even when everyone abandons your path-God is with you and with the lord you are victorious. You can only turn your stumbling blocks into stepping stones when you stay connected to the lord and exercise that authority in the lord over that challenge.

God has a special love for man. Psalm 8:4-6 says “what is man, that you think of him; mere man, that you care for him? Yet you made him inferior only to yourself; you crowned him with glory and honour. You appointed him ruler over everything you made; you placed him over all creation.” This passage talks about the love of God for man and the glory of man as God meant it to be. It is in fact an expansion of the great promise of God at creation in Genesis 1:28, when he said to man: “Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

The greek translation into English has it that “thou hast made him a little lower than the angels.” But the original Hebrew it is said that man is made a little lower than the Elohim; and Elohim is the regular word for God. What the psalmist is saying to us is that this man that was made lower than God is also not ordinary. There is a crown of glory the lord has given him and God has made him to have dominion over everything in the world.

But we notice that the situation with which man is confronted on a daily basis is very different from this original intent of God. Man was meant to have dominion over everything but he has not. He is a creature who is frustrated by his circumstances, defeated by temptations, bound about with his own weakness. He who should be free is bound; he who should be a king is a slave.  You may identify your stumbling blocks at this time-it could be barrenness, lack of job, unnecessary criticisms and condemnation, denial, disappoints not just one but a constant episode in your life, ill health-you who could do things before you are now bound by sickness and it has so eaten deep into the fabric of your being that you are now a shadow of yourself.

The question is who can restore me to my original state, who can bring me back to my days of glory, who can make me rise and shine once again as I use to, where is the road for me to walk on that I may come to my eternal joy? Are questions some may be asking themselves at this time-you say this not where I am I meant to be at this time. I ought to be more than this level, it’s like I take one step forward and now I am taking ten steps backwards. I use to travel to china, to Singapore, to turkey, to America to have transactions, my clientele base use to be large, what is happening to me? I am in debts now-when did this all begin? I use to be a big boy but now I am a pauper-like a house by in my own house, I use to be respected but today I am no longer respected, I am been ill- treated. I use to pray like a warrior today I am so dull when it comes to prayer-what is happening to meeeeee????

Beloved the answer is to that situation is God who has come in the flesh to redeem you, if you want to rise and shine, if you want to be victorious, if you want to have a new testimony and sing a new song this year, let go of that past useless life and cling to God. Let God arise and fight your battles, let him arise and fight that strong man or woman holding or pinning you down.

Arise like a warrior and say father, strong man/woman in my father’s compound, business environment, school, marriage, vocation, in that company, blocking my glory, blocking my promotion, blocking my joy, preventing me from been victorious, father unseat that person, father displace that person, father, show that person that I am your son-make it a prayer for yourself in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Friends, I will give you two examples in the bible of men who turned their stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

1. David: the scriptural passage tonight describes David as a young man who defeated Goliath. How did he defeat Goliath? 1 Sam. 17:16 tells us that Goliath challenged the Israelites every morning and evening for forty days. The number forty is very symbolic-it means the number of days the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, the number of days moses spent on the mountain of the Lord, the number of days Elijah fasted, the number of days that Jesus Christ of Nazareth the son of the living God fasted and lastly it signifies a generation.

That is to say that forty day they have been under threat, under siege, under bondage even when they had arrows and javelins, they had expert warriors, they had bows and swords but were unable to use it because they were under siege and afraid. They could not use what they had in their hands to fight the one who defiled them and their God.

Verse 21 says every morning, the philistines and the Israelite armies took up positions for battle, facing each other.

Verse 23 says, while David was talking to them-those he brought food to, Goliath came forward and challenged the Israelites as he had done before and David heard him. Verse 24 says, when the Israelites saw Goliath, they ran away in terror-look at him! They said to each other.

But here we have something new-a shepherd boy-David heard of this and stepped forward, he couldn’t use the King Saul’s armour. Even when King Saul disbelieved in him because he was young an unskilled, David didn’t look down on himself he reminded King Saul of his ability. Reading into his response In verse 34-37 is like he told King Saul, Oh king I may be young but not incapable, I may not be a trained army, I may not be in the legion of your army, I am in the legion of my God, I may not be a centurion or a captain but I am skilled in what God has given to me, I am a shepherd boy and I take care of my father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear carries off a lamb, I go after it, attack it and rescue the lamb. And if the lion or bear turns on me, I grab it by the throat and beat it to death. I have killed lions and bears, and I will do the same to this heathen philistine, who has defied the army of the living God. The Lord has saved me from lions and bears; he will save me from this philistine.

He boasted in the lord and in what God has given him. The stumbling block was Goliath and to overcome Goliath, he rise to shine, he had to get close to the Lord, he has to use the name of the Lord his God to contend with Goliath.

Beloved in Christ, you must believe in yourself and what God has given you, you must allow people to box you into a hole, you must allow yourself to see the good in every painful experience

In 1^st Samuel 17: 45-54 David used his sling shot to bring down the mighty Goliath who came with bow, arrows and javelin. He didn’t look at the size of Goliath, he didn’t look at the weapons of Goliath, he didn’t look at how Goliath was dressed, he simply looked at the size of his God, he looked at the size of what God has placed in his hands, he looked at the name of God which is bigger and mightier than the name of Goliath and he charged against Goliath and brought Goliath down.

He said in verse 46-47 “this very day the Lord will put you in my power; I will defeat you and cut off your head. And I will give the bodies of the philistine soldiers to the birds and animals to eat. Then the whole world will know that Israel has a God, and everyone here will see that the Lord does not need swords or spears to save his people. He is victorious in battle and he will put all of you in our power.”

As Goliath walked towards David again, David ran quickly towards the battle line and put his hand in his pocket and took out a stone which he released and it struck Goliath on his skull and Goliath fell. That single gesture took him to the position of kingship.

Tonight as you rise and pray, modern day Goliath and crowds of modern day philistines who will rise and terrify you morning and night, opposing and limiting you, harassing you day after day, night after night, not allowing you to be what God has said you should be, whether they have staged their plans against you 2 months or 5months, 1 year, 50 years or 100 years against you and your household, tonight as you release this prayer points, God shall arise and send him armies after them, they will uproot, and destroy and confuse them forever in the name of Jesus. Amen.

PRAYER POINTS:

1. (Song-worthy is the lamb) Father please heal and wash me clean of every bitter and painful experience that I had between the days of my conception to the year 2016, please father wash me with your precious blood and turn my attention from it and use that experience as a stepping stones for testimony of joy in my life in the name of Jesus. Amen.
2. Almighty father, walls of Jericho, spiritual and physical walls of denial, walls of delay, walls of setback, walls of slow progress, walls of disappointment, father, pull them down in the name of Jesus. Amen.
3. Almighty father, as I begin to pray, agents of the marine and serpentine kingdom assigned to my life to monitor my life and progress or that of my family, father spirits monitoring my progress in order to scatter my joy, creepy demons who follow me to create confusion, disappointments and scatter my proposals and cause it that when they hear my name or voice they will cancel my proposals those arrows of confusion that will follow into office where I will sign contracts that will turn my life around, father arise for my sake and destroy them and make me rise and shine this year in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Father, any kind of debt I may I have entered into whether spiritual or physical, father deliver me from it, please father open my way and provide for me that I may clear this debts in the name of Jesus. Amen.