SERMON:PURSUING YOUR DESTINY

         By Charles Ejoh

 The New Year 2021 came with a lot of expectations in the minds of many people.To some they want to experience new grounds, possibilities and above all a positive change for good in all ramifications of their lives. I decided to rejigged this topic, though I have previously preached it in 2019 but I felt constrained to repeat it again but with little modifications as the Spirit of God leads me.

We all know that each time another new year comes one major desire of believers has always been that God should grant us directions in our pursuit of destiny because without God’s direction we are always confronted with myriad of ideas and goals. The account of King David gives us a better picture of how to approach destiny, more so when we do not have a clearer direction of many issues that pertains to our lives.

Sometimes when we peruse the out gone year, it sometimes create some feelings of nostalgia in our lives which makes us to approach the new year with a sense of new vigour. We see the new year as new opportunities to recover lost grounds. In our Ministry-CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION MISSION our theme for the season is HIGHER GROUND.It is a prophetic declaration of God’s supernatural intervention for our lives this year,just the way He manifested in the lives of the Israelites in Exodus 14 vs 29.

 “But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.” King James Version (KJV).

The above declaration is a fallout of God’s revelation to me about the year 2021 that it is going to be one of the most difficult year the nation will ever experience. But the good news is that God is determined to protect,provide and preserve His people. No matter how much you wish the year 2021 its going to be a difficult year in the area of the economy and security till President Muhammadu  Buhari led APC government in Nigeria vacates the seat of power. It is a bewitched administration that has lost favor with God and men .Nigerians and other suffering African countries should turn to God for their deliverance.

I urged all and sundry to go into intensive prayers and fasting this year not cosmetic prayers but heavenly bound prayers for God’s miraculous intervention.God does not move by mere wishes because faith is not wishful thinking.Like someone aptly remark:”if wishes were horses beggars will ride’

How exciting and glorious it’s when we all experience recovery in our pursuit to our destiny. In 1samuel 30 vs 8, we read the account of how King David inquired of the Lord for direction, “Saying shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And He answered him, PURSUE: for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail recover all’.

The above scripture was the fall out of David’s predicament as encapsulated from the earlier narratives in verse 1 to 7 where he (David) was distressed as a result of the calamity which befell him and his people from the hands of the Amalakites. We were told from the scriptures that the enemies of Israel had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and Smitten and burned it with fire while also taken the women captives (1 Sam 30:1,2). It was at the instance of these challenges that David became distressed because the people thought of stoning him as a result of anguish in their spirit.

Permit me to state categorically that in order for us to Recover All that pertains to our destiny, we must recognize the Destiny place of pursuit. To pursue means to be offensive to the devils scheme in our life. But before we can pursue, sons and daughters of God, three basic things must be considered:

It must be on God’s directive. We see this clearly in 1 Samuel 30 Vs 8, where it states that David inquired of the Lord. To inquire here suggests that “Mighty” David, a man of wars, a veteran, a  general but in all these paraphernalia, he understood that “by strength shall no man prevail”. He had to seek the face and direction of God.

You may be going through financial problems, delay in marriage, Barrenness, Sickness,joblessness,poverty etc . Be rest assured that you can still recover all. Scenarios abound in scriptures where many people despite all odds even against the predictions of ‘tokens of liars’ have recovered all.

I repeat again, in order to recover all you must pursue your pursuers, that’s you must be offensive in prayers, faith, fasting, study, waiting on God’s promises and having a quality relationship with your God. It is on the premise of this that you can confidently tune your ‘spirit man’ to get direction and help from God. Why not borrow from the sweet Psalmist of Israel, King David when he echoed in Psalms 40 Vs 1 “ I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry” I prophesy to you, God will hear your cry. In Jesus name.

Secondly, our pursuit must be predicated on God’s method. What I mean is that it is God that must give you the strategy of how to pursue. There are different methods of fighting even in the physical realm of life. For some He said, sing round the walls of Jericho and the walls fell.But to King David,the scripture declared:

“For David pursued, he and 400 men; for two hundred men abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook besor”. 1 Sam 30 vs. 10.

 Not everybody goes to battle with you in life. In your journey to destiny you don’t need everybody. You will have to leave some people behind. Please, don’t be emotional or sentimental about that.

Finally, do not despise some of your enemies or oppositions. You may need them in your pursuit to destiny because God can use anything to give you victory. (1 Sam 30 Vs 11-16).

We see this pattern even in the life of David as enshrined in 1 Samuel 30 Vs 11-16: it is one of God’s strategies. He used Satan to take Jesus Christ to the Cross in order for Christ to receive a crown.

People of God I admonished you to be on God’s camp this year because it is only those that do know their God that will be exempted from the calamity that will befell the earth and its inhabitants.

Daniel 11:32b “… but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” (KJV).

The Bible declares, “The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” That is a great promise and this is one of the most courageous verses in the Bible. This is referring to a courageous family within Israel, who lived between the Old and New Testaments—the Maccabees, who in 167 B.C. rebelled against Syria and gained freedom for the nation of Israel for the first time, since the Babylonian invasion and for the last time, until 1948.

The Jewish people have experienced some fierce persecutions through the centuries, but none worse than under Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian king who reigned from 175 to 164 B.C. He assumed the name Theos Epiphanes, which means “the manifest God.” But the Jews changed one letter in his name (in their language) and called him Epimanes, which means “mad man.” And true to type he was mad ! His hatred for the Jews was literally insane.

Let me pause here a bit sons and daughters of God.It doesn’t matter who hate you.I declare to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom Apostle Paul preached, in this new season God will raised a Daniel in your life.

Daniel anticipated his reign prophetically in this eleventh chapter of the book. And he did exactly what Daniel predicted. He ordered the Jewish sacrifices to cease and polluted the temple of God by offering swine’s flesh on the altar. In addition, he prohibited the observance of the sabbath and the circumcision of children, ordered all copies of Scripture destroyed, set up idolatrous altars, commanded the Jews to offer unclean sacrifices, and insisted that they eat swine’s flesh. Anyone who disobeyed his edicts was sentenced to death. It was an ancient holocaust. As Daniel anticipated this atrocity, he asked himself how these people would ever be able to survive. The answer was not long in coming: “the people who know their God will display strength and take action” (11:32).

And that is exactly what they did. A group of courageous men, called the Maccabees, led a heroic revolt against Antiochus. Their exploits, against insuperable odds, were nothing short of phenomenal. They knew their God, laid hold of His sovereign power and might, took action, and broke Antiochus’ grip on Israel. Their story is an expression of strength, the mighty power of people who know God.

God is counting on His remnant in this perilous days that is characterized by WICKEDNESS and UNGODLINESS to make an indelible mark on the earth.

My closing remark is will you be counted among the defenders of the faith.

Till I see you next time.

Shalom!   

Charles Ejoh is a Revivalist and a true witnessed of Jesus Christ. A contemporary writer,historian and Activist.

He is the Presiding Minister of Christian Foundation International a Non-Denominational Restoration Ministry based in Jos ,capital of Plateau State,North-Central,Nigeria.

Ejoh can be reached@christianfoundationintl@gmail.com or  Whattsapp 09033227058