Lord, we worship you this evening. We worship you this evening, Lord. We give you glory, Daddy. We give you honor. We give you adoration. We exalt you. We adore you. There is no one like you. You alone are God. You alone are worthy. We give you praise, Lord. Blessed be your name, oh God. Be exalted forever in the name of Jesus. Thank you for this evening. Thank you for another opportunity given to us to be together in this program. Holy Spirit, I call upon you this evening that you have your way. Do that which only you can do. Let your name alone be glorified. Manifest your glory. Manifest your power. Glorify Jesus tonight. Blessed be your name, oh God. Holy Spirit, have your way this evening and do that which only you can do. I pray that you will heal the sick, liberate the captive, set the oppressed free, oh God. Let the souls of sinners be saved tonight. Manifest your power. Thank you, everlasting Father. Lord, glory be to your name.
There’s somebody connecting with this program this evening. You are feeling serious heat from your insight. This is not just an ordinary feeling of natural heat in the environment; this is serious heat from your inside, and you are getting weak day by day because of this. You know this feeling. The Lord is just touching you right now in the precious name of Jesus. Wheresoever you are, I rebuke whatsoever is causing that heat from your inside. I rebuke it in the name of Jesus. Whatever is causing it is destroyed right now in the mighty name. I command calmness and peace upon your body right now in Jesus’ wonderful name. Thank you, Holy Spirit.
There’s somebody here; you are having serious headaches for the past three days. You’ve been having this headache, and it has refused to go. The Lord is just touching you right now in the name of Jesus. Receive the touch of God right now in Jesus’ name. There’s somebody in this program; you feel terrible. You are feeling terrible; you can’t really explain what is happening, but there’s this terrible feeling all around you. You’re having this serious premonition that something bad is about to happen. In the precious name of Jesus, whatever the enemy has supposed to carry out soon, it is silenced now. It is rebuked and destroyed right now. It will never be in Jesus’ wonderful name.
Thank you, Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, we have prayed. Hallelujah! With great joy, once again, I welcome you to this program this evening here in Nigeria and in any other part of the country where you are. It’s my great pleasure to welcome you, whether you are in the morning, evening, or night. I welcome you in Jesus’ wonderful name. We are still looking at our topic, “Flourishing in Famine.” Hallelujah! We started last week, and we tried to establish the fact that famine means lack, scarcity, and starvation. This is what is happening today; it is a reality happening here in Nigeria and also inflation is everywhere in the world. But I said last week that God is able to take care of His own. Hallelujah! God has made provision for us all; we just need to discover the provision of God for this season and then just key ourselves into it. And I tell you that it can never fail; every other thing may fail, but God’s provision will never fail. No matter what happens, may fail, God’s provision will never fail. No matter what happens, Hallelujah! Glory be to your name. God is able to take care of you; He is able to take care of His own. The Bible says when men are cast down, thou shall say there is a lifting, and that will be your portion in Jesus’ name. The Lord says that He will deliver you in the time of famine; He will preserve your soul. This is the word of God that can never be broken. Hallelujah! Glory be to the name of God. It also says that in the day of famine, you’ll be satisfied. Oh yes, we are going to be satisfied; the Lord will meet you at the point of your need miraculously. All you just need to do is just to keep looking up to God. The Bible says they looked up to Him, and their faces were lightened, and they were not put to shame. You will never be put to shame in the precious name of Jesus. No matter what happens, no matter how hard the situation becomes, the Lord will always show up for you. The scripture says, “I was once young, but now I am old; I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread. Your seed will never beg for bread in the name of Jesus Christ. That bread doesn’t have to do with food alone; it means begging for good things, good things of life. The Lord will provide for you and your household in this season in the precious name of Jesus Christ.
Arise and shine for the light has come, and the glory of the Lord is rising upon you. Oh yes, darkness will cover the Earth, and gross darkness the people, but in the midst of this darkness, the word of God says that the glory of the Lord will be revealed upon you, and men and women will come to the brightness of your shining. I told you last Sunday, last week, that famine is one of the manifestations of the darkness that will cover the world. But I want you to understand, you will shine in this season of famine; your business will shine; you will go from strength to strength, from glory to glory, in the precious name of Jesus.
I want to start today by sharing with you the secret of flourishing in famine. The number one secret is righteousness, the fear of God. Righteousness exalts a nation; sin is a reproach to the people. I tell you what is happening today here in Nigeria and in some other parts of the world; if care is not taken, it can make one who has been faithfully serving God before begin to think to cut corners and to delve into things that one ought not to. Never be tempted to do that. When you begin to do that, you are just godly and unrighteous at the same time. Don’t ever cut corners; don’t ever cheat anybody. Remain righteous. The Bible says in Psalm 92:12-14, “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.” The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. A palm tree doesn’t know dry season. It never dries up during the dry season or winter. Every tree will drop its leaves, but not the palm tree. It never lacks freshness; it never lacks. Wonderful things happen to a palm tree all throughout the year. It’s an exceptional tree, and that is what the Bible says, that the righteous will flourish like the palm tree. Hallelujah! They shall grow like cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing. Hallelujah! Glory be to the name of God. So I want to encourage you; righteousness is a key at this time. Righteousness still works; righteousness still pays, and you will never be disappointed by being righteous, by being upright in a situation like this. Hallelujah! Christ is our righteousness, but you have to be holy, you have to be upright. You have to be straightforward. That is exactly what I’m saying; you have to be holy, you have to be straightforward.
Another thing is right mindset. You need to have a right mindset in a situation like this. And by right mindset, I mean you have to go with right confession. There are so many people who confess positively, but their mind is not the same thing with their mouth. In a situation like this, your mouth and your mind have to agree together. So as you are saying positive things, so also your mind also has to agree together with you. Whatsoever your mouth is saying, so also your mind also has to agree together with you. Whatsoever you see and confess and believe in a situation that we find ourselves will be your portion. So you don’t have to be moved by sight. What you are seeing around you is awful. What you are hearing around is terrible. You keep hearing prices of things increasing day by day here in Nigeria and elsewhere. Every day, it’s just going down and going down, but you don’t have to. Hallelujah! Glory be to the name of God. Your knowledge of God in a time like this will turn things around for you. The Bible says, “They that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” You need to know God; you need to understand who God is, and you will be blessed tremendously.
Number three is to trust in the Lord. Hallelujah! Trust in the Lord. The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:7-8, “Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” Hallelujah! When you put your trust in the Lord, that will be your portion. When you fix your eye on the Lord, God is faithful. Hallelujah! God is faithful; He will never disappoint you. So be connected to God, and I see God helping you in Jesus’ wonderful name.
Tonight, I want us to look at a case in the Bible when there was famine, one of the cases in the Bible when there was famine in the land of Israel. Let’s see how Elijah, the man of God, was able to survive it, and some other people around him, like the woman of Zarephath. I want us to use this as a case study, and if God could meet Elijah’s need and the need of the widow this way in those days, God has never changed; He’s still meeting people in a very miraculous way. Hallelujah! Thank you, Holy Spirit. The Lord says there is somebody here; you want to invest, and you are afraid seriously. Your mind is not sure; should I invest, should I not invest? As we tell you that you can go ahead and invest the money, and the money will not get lost. You need a word like that in a time like this. You need a word for now. The fact that God spoke to you yesterday does not mean there is a word for now, for every situation, for every time, for every moment. So you need the word of God. The Lord said to Elijah, “Go to Brook Cherith.” That was the word for that moment. Hallelujah
Christ, thank you, Holy Spirit. So, God is always willing to speak in a time of crisis, but the question is, how many people hear Him when He speaks in a time like this? Many people don’t hear when He speaks in a time of crisis like this because, at times, what God speaks may look foolish, it may not seem sensible, and many already have their own predetermined decisions that they hold higher in their minds than what the Holy Spirit is saying. But I want to encourage you to free your mind and let God lead you; you need Divine guidance. You can’t afford not to be spiritual. You need spiritual people around you, people who can encourage you, people who can speak life into your life, people who can receive guidance from the Holy Spirit and relate it to you. This is what happened to Elijah in 1 Kings 17:2-4. The Word of God came to him again, saying, “Go to Zarephath.” God will speak to you, and you will be able to hear and understand in the mighty name of Jesus.
When your life is based on the Word, you can never fail because the Word can never fail. The Word of God will lead you beside still waters. God knows where there is still water in the time of famine, just as He led Elijah to Cherith and later led him to Zarephath. Hallelujah!
Another thing you need is divine guidance, which can come through the Word of God, intuition, or instruction from your pastor or godly spiritual counselor. You need to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, just as Elijah was. When God guides you, there will be specific instructions and guidance. You need to be spiritually sensitive to pick up what the Lord is saying for the moment.
In conclusion, I want to encourage you not to underestimate what God can do in this season. Don’t play down on the ability of God. Just as God sent ravens to deliver breakfast and dinner for Elijah, He can turn His angels into men to visit you and bring provision. Be sensitive to the move of God, and you will hear His instruction for your life. In the mighty name of Jesus, I declare that you will hear the word of God and receive divine guidance for every step you take. Amen.
Certainly! Here is the text in paragraphs without summarization:
“Some people, God has left where they are, and God has gone far, and they are still on that spot because that was where God asked them to stay yesterday. And God has moved, God has already moved, and they are still there, and that is why they’re not making progress anymore, that is why they’re not making any impact anymore. It is true that God spoke to them the other time, ‘Stay here,’ but when God said, ‘Move because I am moving,’ they couldn’t hear. And when God is done with a place, when God is done with certain things, He moves to the next level. Hallelujah, I see God helping you in the name of Jesus Christ.
So, you have to be up to date with what God is saying. Part-time, you ought to be up to date. Number four, you have to be flexible with the current move of God. Don’t be rigid, don’t be too wise. The Bible says in all your ways acknowledge God, don’t be wise in your own concept, don’t be too wise. So many people are too wise, so many people are too wise, that is why they are in the situation they find themselves. You have to be flexible, you don’t have to be rigid, you are not wiser than God. The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man, and the weakness of God is wiser than the foolishness of man. You don’t have to be too wise, you don’t have to be too wise, it is good to be foolish, so to say, in the sight of people around you, and follow God, than to be wise and miss God. Hallelujah.
Some people are wise, that is why they have missed God. Some people believe that they know the right thing, the best thing, that is why they are in problems today. Elijah was a man who was very flexible in the hand of God, hallelujah. He was very flexible when God asked him to move. He was able to understand that this is God asking him to move. He didn’t stay there and begin to bind and loose when he saw that the brook was drying up. Hallelujah, when he didn’t see the raven, of course, when God asked him to leave that place and go to Zarephath, the raven stopped coming because the raven was coming by the instruction and commandment of God.
And the day this same God told Elijah, ‘Go to Zarephath,’ the raven stopped. He has started, the raven stopped going to B Cherith to deliver her food. That chapter is closed. I want you to understand the move of God, people of God. Some things are meant for a period. Some moves of God are meant for a period, some instructions are meant for a period, for a time. It doesn’t have to be forever, though there are some that may be forever, but there are some that look so good, so fantastic, you’re getting results, things are working fine, things are moving on fine. God can just stop it when He’s done with it. So, if God is done, please, it’s good to just move. Don’t say, ‘No, this is where I will be.’ How will I go to Zarephath to go and stay with a widow? What will people say about me? To go and stay with a woman that has no husband? God asked him to go, and he went. Elijah did not begin to look at it, ‘Ah, what would people say? What would my associates say? How will I explain to people?’ Because, frankly speaking, you have to look at that instruction. It put a question mark on the integrity of Elijah, so to say, humanly speaking, a man of God that has no wife now going to live with a widow that has no husband, people will query him. But in the instruction of God is because of his integrity. Whatever you have that you are trying to protect, hallelujah, you can’t be jealous about it because that is for the glory, it’s not for your glory. Of course, that which you are trying to protect, you see, ‘Oh, my integrity.’ You have to follow the instruction of the Holy Spirit, you have to forget about what people will say about you, you have to forget about your feelings, you have to commit seriously. That was Jezebel, and God commanded him to go to a region that belonged to her. And that was the region where Jezebel’s king’s men and women were, and that was the region where my archenemy came from. You know Jezebel was seriously looking for Elijah, she said that when she was going to cut off his head. But God said to him, ‘Go to a region where she came from.’ Beyond this period and know what God is saying to you.
How willing are you to obey the instruction of God? How willing are you to do the commandment of God? Hallelujah, Elijah knew that he can’t protect himself. He went, that was another thing I want us to look at. He was a man that was flexible in the hand of God, always willing to obey the instruction of God, always willing to do the bidding of God, always willing to do whatsoever God asked him to do. Elijah was a man that had no will of his own, his own will was God’s will. Elijah did what God liked, you know, his will was the will of God, hallelujah. He went, and you know, to that woman, hallelujah, glory be to the name of God.
So, I want to encourage you, people of God, don’t be too rigid in the hand of God in a time like this and beyond. Don’t be too wise, don’t be too wise. Elijah had more than enough reason why he should not go to the widow of Zarephath, but he went, hallelujah, he went. I pray God will help us in Jesus’ wonderful name, hallelujah. To live supernaturally, you have to forget about your surroundings, you’re going to live a supernatural life, you have to forget about what people say, what people feel about you, what people are looking at you. You need to forget about calculations if you’re going to live a supernatural life. I see God helping us in Jesus’ wonderful name, hallelujah.
So, you need to be simple, you need to be simple. The Bible says, ‘So he arose and went to Zarephath.’ And when he came, that is verse 10, it says, ‘When he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering sticks.’ And he called to her and said, ‘Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.’ And she said, ‘As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse. Behold, I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.’ You will not eat and die in the mighty name of Jesus.
“First, I want to tell you at this point, this is the best time to make God first in your decision in whatsoever you do. Don’t allow the situation of things around you now to make you bring God to second class or take God out of your priority. She did God’s own first; she did loyalty in giving; she showed whatsoever you are doing for God, make God your priority. This is very, very important.
And finally, this is the time to sow. The best time to sow. Throughout the time that Elijah was in the house of this woman, the barrel of meal did not waste, and the cruse of oil did not fail according to the word of the man of God.
I want to encourage you, womanly speaking, time of famine is not a good time to sow. I believe for some people, God will be giving specific instructions. I want to encourage you, don’t ignore it. Don’t ignore it. She provided for them their daily bread. God is a provider. The Bible says about Isaac in the Book of Genesis 26, it speaks; it is foolishness the time of, and he was able to reap a hundredfold that same year.
I don’t know what God was saying to you to sow. If you hear from God, if God is inspiring, if God is leading you, I want to encourage you, go ahead and do that. It may not really make sense at this time, but I want to let you know that you are not going to regret it. I see God helping us in Jesus’ wonderful name.
I pray for you once again; the Lord will help you. The Lord will do a mighty work in your life. The Lord will make a way for you where there is no way in the mighty name of Jesus. I pray for divine instruction. I pray for divine guidance. I pray for the grace to be simple in the hand of God, the grace to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is saying by time in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Receive grace to flourish in the time of famine in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. I pray that your business will flourish at this time in the mighty name of Jesus. You will not lack anything good. The Lord will lead you to where there is still water, and you will enjoy your life now more than ever before in the mighty name of Jesus.
The Lord will make a way for you where there is no way in Jesus’ wonderful name. For everyone that is sick out there, I pray for you this evening; receive your healing now. I rebuke sickness in your body; I command peace upon your life right upon your body right now. I encourage you at this point before I sign off; I want to encourage you wherever you are. It is very, very essential for you to give your life to Jesus Christ, and it’s very simple. Jesus has paid the price for it with his own life on the cross of Calvary. All you just need to do is just to confess him and accept him as a lord and savior. He will surely forgive your sins. So, wherever you are this night or this morning, this evening, whatever the time may be, wherever you are, just pray this simple prayer with me.
Say, ‘Father in Heaven, in the mighty name of Jesus, today I confess that I am a sinner. Please have mercy on me; forgive me my sins. Today, I accept you, and I confess you as my personal Lord and Savior. Amen.’
Friday night on here, I mean A.M. tomorrow, 12 midnight and 1 A.M., is a night of Victory where it’s going to be a night of total turnaround. That is what we are looking at. God of turnaround will visit you; it will turn around your situation. In fact, you need a turnaround in a situation like this, and I see God meeting you tomorrow in a very special way. Don’t forget 12 midnight is the time. God bless you in Jesus’ name. Amen.”