Minister: Pst. Laide Olaniyan
We are in constant warfare. A Yoruba person would ask, “Is life full of warfare?” Life indeed is full of warfare. However, warfare is not the way Yoruba movies portray it. We are not called to live in suspicion.
The reason we understand that life is full of warfare and that we must remain on the offensive is so that we can stand in the light and obtain salvation. If we do not understand warfare this way, we can fall into many errors.
An error the Church has fallen into is the idea of being a militant Church. Some believe that they must ascend into heaven to tear down Satan’s works in the heavens. This is the reason some people hold prayer vigils: not to enter into the will of God, but to wage war against Satan.
If we do not understand the essence of prayer, Satan can deceive us into embracing something that looks spiritual but is contrary to Scripture. As Hagin emphasised, we pray from victory.
We pray from the understanding that Jesus has already accomplished the work. Our approach to the works of Satan must not come from a defeatist mindset, as though we are helpless against his schemes. We are not helpless against the assaults of the devil.
Satan is a lawless person. This isn’t derogatory; It’s an obvious fact. He is lawless, and that is what iniquity represents. It is a manifestation of what is in him and his cohorts.
One of Satan’s strengths is ignorance. He counts on our ignorance of the things available to us and our ignorance of the ways to please God. Because of where he has fallen from, he knows the way in an inverted form, and he has sworn to prevent people from finding it by creating contrary ways. He has tutored man in ways that are contrary to God.
One of the greatest deceptions is the belief that merely calling the name of Jesus means we are engaging in proper spiritual warfare. No. The, the seven sons of Sceva mentioned the name of Jesus, yet the demon attacked and dealt with them.
Philippians 2:7–10
The power is in the name, not merely in its mention. What makes the name efficacious is not simply the nomenclature but the fact that a person is standing in truth and believes what the name represents.
Mark 16:17
It is not just about the name. First and foremost, a person must believe in it and walk in truth. We must hold as true what the Lord has commanded.
We may find someone who does not yet know the truth but believes because the light has not dawned on that person. Mercy can be shown to such a person, not because of personal merit, but because the person believes in the name.
However, when someone believes, and the truth has come, the requirement goes beyond simply believing. We must hold on to the truth we have come to know and affirm it by living it out. The truth of our faith is evidenced by our lives.
Many times, we pray not because we want to do the Word or please the Lord, but because we want to attack Satan. We see prayer primarily as a weapon of warfare.
However, prayer is more about communion than warfare. Even before sin appeared, communion had already been taking place. After sin came, prayer became the principal means by which men could commune with God.
Prayer is efficacious. We may become militant in prayer, thinking that our prayers are what procure victory for us, instead of discovering what Jesus has done and cooperating with His finished work so that His victory can be made manifest in us.
If Satan succeeds in pushing this militant mindset on us, we may fall into the error of bringing railing accusations against him. This is fuelled by an understanding that is not born of the Spirit but comes from a sensual and satanic opposition.
There is warfare, and Satan is a fierce adversary. The Bible says that he is a roaring lion, walking about and seeking whom he may devour. He and his cohorts are described as spiritual wickedness.
How do we overcome him? Through truth.
We cannot undo Satan’s work without light. Truth is very important in spiritual warfare. The distance between us and the life of God is our ignorance. This is the idea conveyed in Ephesians 4:18. Ignorance alienates us from the life of God, and the blindness of the heart sustains that ignorance.
It is not merely a question of our understanding, but of the understanding we must come into. There is a particular understanding that Satan does not want us to attain.
Satan may not fight our understanding of things that help us prosper in this world because such understanding may not necessarily separate us from the life of God. However, there is an understanding that, when we break into it, brings us into a deeper experience of God’s life.
This was what Paul prayed for concerning the Ephesian Church.
Ephesians 1:18
The eyes of our understanding must be enlightened so that we can come into this understanding through the knowledge of God.
1 Corinthians 14:15
Satan does not want us to come into this understanding. Therefore, our prayer must be directed towards attaining it.
Oftentimes, we exercise ourselves in the Spirit so that we can break through into understanding. Then, we can pray with our understanding because we are now standing in a place that has been enlightened. We have broken into light and moved beyond ignorance concerning matters we were previously unsure about.
When we begin to pray in the Spirit, we enter into a spiritual sense that goes beyond our natural sense, clarity, or understanding. We gain divine insight into God’s understanding concerning the matter at hand.
We may receive an impression in our spirit, or an utterance may come forth. There may even be tongues and interpretation that we recognise as coming from the Spirit concerning the matter. A rhema might come forth.
As we begin to speak and remain with that word, the influences that were working towards an alternative outcome can be challenged, and another reality can be established. By leaning into the Spirit, something that fosters the advancement of the Kingdom and the fulfilment of God’s will concerning us is birthed.
That outcome does not necessarily serve our own will. However, many people have learned to use tongues to serve their personal will.
The intention of the Spirit when we pray in the Holy Ghost is not to serve our will but to serve the will of heaven. Yet, we have sometimes been taught to use tongues to establish our own will and desires.
Romans 8:26–27
Prayer, predominantly, is not an expression of our own will. It can be an expression of our desire. We bring our desires, but we remain subject to His will.
That is the principle of prayer. We have our desires, but we know that God knows much more than we do. His plans are better than our plans. His ways are better than our ways, and His thoughts are better than our thoughts.
Oftentimes, believers come to the place of prayer with their conclusions already made. They come with an answer and simply say, “God, stamp it.”
There is no posture of inquiry, submission, or correction. Satan likes it that way because he knows that all our spiritual activities may still lead to the coronation of man’s will.
Prayer is not about establishing our own will. It is a place where our will should die so that the will of the Lord can be established. We may come into prayer with our will and desires, but we must eventually break into an understanding of His will.
One of the breakthroughs we experience in prayer is the discernment and understanding of God’s will. This is one of the beauties of speaking in tongues.
When we pray with our understanding, we may find it difficult to express our uncertainty about God’s will. We may say, “This is what I want, but Lord, I do not know Your will. Please help me.” It may seem as though we are doubting ourselves.
However, when we pray in tongues with a posture of submission, we venture into the unknown beyond the limits of our understanding. We are no longer confined to the zone of our own reasoning and will. By leaning on tongues in submission, we can move beyond our present understanding and enter a place where we experience a new reality or a new discovery in God.
This is one of the reasons the Holy Ghost has been given to us: to help our infirmities. We do not know what to pray for as we ought (Romans 8:26-27). We may lack the skill and intelligence to know how to pray concerning what is before us.
There are mysteries beyond creation that we cannot discover unless God shows us mercy.
In prayer, especially when we rely on the Spirit through the instrument of tongues, we can move beyond our own will and understanding into a place where the will, thoughts, and mind of God become clear to us. Of course, this assumes that our hearts are grounded in the Word.
Romans 8:27
There is something the Spirit is thinking concerning us now. He knows what is most essential and profitable for us.
We should ask ourselves: Have we ever been concerned about what is in the mind of the Spirit concerning us?
The thoughts of the Spirit concerning us are particular because the Holy Ghost, who is the Spirit, indwells our spirit. The Bible says that no man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him. (1 Corinthians 2:11) The Holy Spirit, who dwells in our spirit, sheds light into our souls.
The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, illuminating the inward parts (Proverbs 20:27). Therefore, the Spirit knows us thoroughly.
We may think that what we need is a job, but the Spirit may know that what is holding us back is disobedience in an area of our lives.
There is a way we define the problems we face. If we ask each person to identify their problem, we may receive different answers and see different records.
In fact, some of the things we consider testimonies may be identified by heaven as problems. The very thing we are thanking God for may be something He wants us to lay down before we can move forward in life.
Psalm 107:26–27
Sometimes, for certain things in our souls to be melted away, troubles must be introduced. The psalmist describes being lifted towards the heavens and brought down again, with the winds and waves causing the soul to melt.
These experiences are intended to break something within us. God wants certain things to be shaken.
The point we often do not want to reach is the place where we have nothing else to fall back on but God. It is difficult for us to trust Him completely, even when we say that we trust Him.
We may still have backups and provisions for the flesh that prevent us from trusting God wholly. Sometimes, those support systems must be dismantled.
What we need is the anointing of the Holy Ghost to lead us in a way we do not know. He may lead us to make decisions we never imagined making. This is called subjective leading.
Sometimes, by our natural reasoning, we would never choose that path. Yet, we may find ourselves being led in a way that brings us to the end of our own wisdom.
Some things we call confusion may actually be part of the activity of the Holy Ghost. The spirit of hell may oppose that wisdom, but it cannot gainsay it.
The warfare we face is not simply a battle against our own desires. It is a warfare against the will of God.
Satan is not necessarily against what we want. He is against what God wants to fulfil in our lives. We become a problem to him when we begin to desire what God wants for us. Satan has one goal: to prevent man from fulfilling God’s desires. He wants us to remain unaware of God’s purpose, make no decisions towards it, and fail to live it out. Satan can even sponsor our ideas if they do not align with God’s will.
The will of God is progressive and unfolds in levels. We have not come to the end of God’s will, but as we attain certain measures and begin to stand where God stands concerning matters, Satan will fight us.
Satan’s mission is to obliterate the knowledge of God on the earth because that knowledge is key to eternal life. He seeks to beat man down so that man will not find God.
We are as far from God as our ignorance takes us. As long as ignorance remains, there is still distance between us and the life of God. To come into God’s life, the knowledge of God must be fully given.
John 4:22–24
We cannot truly possess the life of what we do not know. That is why Satan fights against knowledge.
Much of our warfare revolves around revelation and coming into understanding. There is an understanding that comes through knowledge, and there is another understanding that comes through use and experience.
Colossians 2:2
Love is what knits our hearts together, but that love is powered by understanding. Without truth, we cannot arrive at the place where our hearts are knitted together. It is like needlework.
Psalm 45:14
The process of love requires us to come close enough for our brethren to affect us. They may have to pass under our skin as God works on us. That is why we cannot isolate ourselves from the brethren. It is a work of love.
Tongues and Interpretation (1)
I will keep nailing and nailing and nailing.
I will keep weaving and weaving and weaving.
For indeed, there is a nature that I want to bring out of you.
There is a making that I want to produce in you.
There is a man that I have ordained you to become.
Yes, and this cannot be accomplished except you go through the process, except you go through making.
Yes, even through your brother, your sisters, the brethren, those you stay with, those you commune with, and those you communicate with.
For that is where your making lies.
You cannot be made just by staying on your own.
No, no man is an island.
You cannot stay on your own and become a made man.
Many have asked, “How can I grow? How can I become a better person? How can I change?”
Many questions have been coming.
Submit to that nailing. Submit to that process.
Submit to that brother whom you feel is always irritating you. Submit to the working.
Forbear. Suffer long. Go through the process. Ensure that you are indeed birthed.
Ensure that the works of Satan dwelling in you are brought to an end as you submit to the many challenges you will encounter.
Yes, I want to make you. I want to form you.
I want to fashion you after My manner.
I want to fashion you after My order. I want to weave you. I want to embody you.
And so I have placed you there for a reason. I have placed you there for a purpose.
Submit yourself under the mighty hand of the Lord. For indeed, you might think that this is not the Lord.
You might want to run away.
You might want to shy away.
You might want to find another way.
But I am telling you to submit yourself to this way, for in it lies your making.
In it lies your tuning.
In it lies your fashioning.
In it lies the manner of man you will become.
Submit yourself under the mighty hand of the Lord, and He will make you, saith the Spirit.
Message Continues
Sometimes, we may think we are fine, but we need the brethren to call forth the sickness hidden within us. We think we are okay until we realise that we are not. That is mercy.
God has arranged certain circumstances to deliver us. The way the world teaches a man to arrange his life may prevent him from discovering his own darkness.
Satan fights against the arrangement of doctrine because when doctrine is wrong, our lives cannot be straight. We will be arranged against God.
If we do not understand the nature of our warfare, we will fight the wrong battle.
Pawns are sheep that can be slaughtered for a greater cause. In Satan’s scheme, the greater goal is to prevent a soul from conforming to the image of God. Anything becomes expendable as long as that goal is achieved.
When we understand what it costs to get to where we are going, we will take the journey seriously.
We fight for victory, but not without truth. We need the truth that is in Christ and in God. That truth begins with God’s intention.
Romans 8:28
All things do not work together for us simply because God loves us, but because we love God. There is a difference between God loving us and us loving God.
Our greatest labour is to obey God’s commandments. One of Satan’s greatest efforts is to prevent us from obeying them.
Our obedience is a greater investment in the spirit than many of the spiritual activities Satan wants us to engage in.
We need to love God and be committed to keeping His commandments.
The Bible says that His commandments are not grievous because, although they may appear grievous to us, something is indeed dying (1 John 5:3). What we have known as our life is dying, and that is why the process can be painful.
Many times, when we demonstrate love towards God, we do not feel anointed while doing so.
Romans 8:28; 2 Timothy 1:8–14
God’s purpose, as described in Romans 8:28, is connected to the purpose He established before the world began, as revealed in 2 Timothy 1:8–14.
Romans 8:29–30
Obedience is key, but it is not something we begin by ourselves.
The Lord foreknew us. He saw us in Him and saw the possibility of our finishing well. There is no one whom He has brought this far who does not have an end in Him or the possibility of finishing. However, we must obey His instructions to arrive where He intends us to end.
When we understand that God desires to bless us even more than we realise, more of our prayers will become thanksgiving.
We cannot obey God for something He has not provided for us. We have something to obey because He has positioned it for us. The abundance of His riches has given us the opportunity to journey towards a place where we can lay hold of life.
The thoughts of the Spirit concerning us are directed towards helping us obtain what the Father wants for us. He wants us to end where God intends us to end.
Jeremiah 29:11
Our expected end is in God.
God had faith in us before the foundation of the world and saw that we could make it. This should give us courage and renew our spirits.
God’s love is the foundation of our love because He loved us first. If we do not realise His love, we cannot begin to love Him.
His love is the foundation for our love, which then opens us to another dimension of His love.
We must learn to talk back to Satan. This does not mean bringing railing accusations against him. It means opening our mouths and standing against his suggestions with the truth.
Satan can speak to us until our strength withers if we do not resist his suggestions.
It was necessary for there to be many sons who would be brought to glory. Otherwise, the work of Jesus and His suffering would be wasted.
This is not merely something we say. We affirm it because obedience is required. Our affirmation fuels our conformity, and that conformity requires obedience.
Our warfare is not outside the truth. It is the truth of God in Christ. Truth is not merely knowledge; it is also love.
1 Corinthians 8:1; Ephesians 3:18–20
The love of Christ is beyond knowledge. If all we have is knowledge, we will become puffed up.
There is a delusion that can come with knowledge. It is like a swamp we must pass through. We must move beyond knowledge into doctrine.
Isaiah 28:9
It is necessary to move beyond knowledge to lay hold of the Spirit, which is what makes faith work.
Ephesians 3:16–19
All the saints must comprehend. This is not merely an understanding that comes through knowledge, but one that comes through love. Our understanding must be awakened, and this is the portion of all the saints.
Satan does not want us to come into this understanding. It goes beyond the understanding that comes from knowledge. It is a higher understanding that emerges when love has been wrought in us and we have been altered by that light.
The comprehension spoken of here goes beyond knowledge. It is not born merely from writing a thesis or sitting down to study. It is a comprehension that comes through a life that has been fused with the truth. We then understand what it means when the Bible says that love is the end of the commandment: charity out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. (1 Timothy 1:5)
The commandment is meant to bring us into love. After we have obeyed it, the evidence that we have kept it is the love that begins to work in us. We see the fragrance of love.
That love is not merely knowledge. It is spiritual. It comes with a pure heart because the truth has purified us, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned.
Satan does not want us to see what God has prepared for us.
When God is training us for what He wants to give us, our lives may look as though they need deliverance. Some things people boast about and glory in may be absent from our lives because God wants to wean us away from them.
Tongues and Interpretation (2)
I am the God of mercy. I am full of mercy.
For mercy has prevailed over you tonight.
Yes, mercy has taken away the accusation of the enemy against you.
I do not condemn you. I am not a condemner. I am not condemning you.
For mercy has taken that accusation away.
You can comprehend Me.
You can come into all the provisions I am making available, even in this season.
You can comprehend God. You can understand God.
You can come into all the provisions of God that are available for you.
For it is your ordination to understand My Kingdom and comprehend the things concerning Me.
That is why you were created. That is why I created you.
I am taking away every warfare and battle over you.
For mercy has prevailed for your comprehension.
Where your judgement and comprehension are lacking, I fill the gap so that you can overcome the enemy along the way.
You will comprehend, saith the Lord.
You will understand, saith the Lord.
It is your ordination, for mercy has prevailed over you again.
Where you have been short-fused, I bring increase.
What I have done tonight is to strengthen your comprehension and your apprehension.
You will begin to comprehend faster.
You will begin to climb faster.
You will no longer be oblivious.
For light has come to upgrade you.
Upgrading and uplifting.
You will understand and comprehend.
I take away dullness.
I take away the activities of dullness from you.
Now you will begin to hear clearly and understand clearly.
For it is ordained for you to understand the mystery of the Kingdom of God.
It is for you. You will understand and comprehend.
For the full work of God’s mercy is in operation to bring you up.
Tongues and Interpretation (3)
It is time to climb. It is time to come up to Mount Zion.
It is time for you to begin to climb.
That is why he wants you to be lame, so that you will not have the feet to climb Zion.
It is time for you to climb.
I am bringing grace and much mercy so that your feet will be ready to climb.
So that you will be ready for this ascension.
Yes, Zion is a mountain, and you need to climb.
You need your feet to climb Zion.
That is why he is putting your gaze on the ground, on the many things you have not attained here on earth.
It is not about earthly or natural things, but they are hindrances intended to keep you from looking up.
No man puts his hand to the plough and looks back.
No man who wages war entangles himself with the affairs of this world.
For the cares of this world are the things of the ground.
When you look up to the hill, even the things of the ground will be settled.
Mercy has come to lift your gaze.
As you climb Zion, the mountain of the Lord, you will see that these things are nothing. They are fiction.
They are small; they are but for a moment.
Mercy has come for you to look up.
Up to the hill.
Look far, and you will see that you can climb the mountain.
Zion is your calling. Zion is where you need to climb.
I have come to address the issues that would prevent you from climbing.
For you are in the season of climbing.
Yes, mercy prevails.
Message Continues
This is a declaration of the goodness and mercy of the Lord. It is a reign of mercy, an administration of God that is at work for us.
What God is declaring is that the resources He has sent for us are greater than those arrayed against us. It is a wealth of resources at our disposal.
The angels God has sent for us are more than those who are against us. This should give us confidence. The angels of God are more numerous than the messengers of Satan. We say this because the Bible says they are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation. (Hebrews 1:14)
Therefore, for every demon we believe is troubling us, we must remember that God has also provided holy angels to minister to us. We should not allow Satan to boast as though he possesses everything or has the final say.
God wants us to see what He has given us. These ministering spirits have been sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.
At every point in time, we have access to the resources of grace.
It may not look like it, but we need to believe it and remind ourselves of it. We are not stranded. We cannot be stranded, tired, perplexed, or confused because those who are for us are more than those who are against us.
Sometimes, we simply need to sit down and confess, “I enjoy the ministrations of heaven.” We can trust that the angels sent to minister to us are more numerous than those who oppose us.
When the army of the Syrians came against Elisha. The Lord opened the eyes of his servant, and he saw the whole mountain filled with angels. Elisha said that those who were with them were more than those who were against them.
2 Kings 6:15–17
We must remember that heaven’s resources are available to us. We must learn to see beyond what is immediately before our eyes and trust in the mercy, grace, and provision of God.
Message Ends