Transcript: The Captive Generation And The Way of Escape Part 2

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Just like a soldier, going to battle, Garrett himself with every armor needed for battle and for winning. So believers must guard themselves with the gospel of peace, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Join Apostle Emmanuel as he teaches God's word to equip you for a victorious life on earth. This is Believer's Equip. There is a subtle temptation as believers to be particular about new things when it comes to receiving the word of God. Do understand you what I've just said now? Yes sir. That means that you come to church and you are more particular about hearing something new. It is a subtle deception. Because we feel as though or we think that because we've heard something before suggests that we have known it.

And so what we do is that the moment something is taught to us, we begin to have this sense of I've known this one onto the next one. I've known this one onto the next one. So your spiritual life is exciting to the degree to which you hear something new, to the degree to which the man of God can impress you, to the degree to which the man of God can share rhema, you see. Deep things as we call it. Is that not so? And then you become excited in your soul. But if this is the kind of way that you build your spirituality on, you will realize that you would not really have much depth. You would not really have much what? Depth. And it would also mean that the truth of the word of God will not find expression in that soul.

So what you would be is a believer that is ever learning but never coming into the knowledge of the truth. And that is the plague, one of the plagues that we have in Christiandom. We have so many people who know something, who know truth, who can quote the word of God, but are not coming into the knowledge of the word of God. They are not becoming what they know. And these people are oftentimes the one who are mostly excited when the preacher starts to share something new. And so if we come and we have to repeat again what you have learned before, you'll find that your soul starts to see that as a strenuous exercise. In fact, your mind starts completing the bible verse before the preacher finish saying it because you're like, know this already. But the evidence that you know it already is that is in your life. Listen to me, the understanding of the word of God is not measured by how much of it you can recite. Your understanding of the word of God is measured by how much of it is in your life.

That is the accurate proof that you have known the word of God. It is not how much of it you can recite, it's not how much of it you can quote, it's how much of it is in your life. So the aim is not just to make you rich in knowledge in as much as that is very important. And you must be rich in knowledge. But the aim more than that is that this thing that we are saying is captured in your life as an experience. And one of the things that you can do for yourself and that a man of God can do for you that will beat the advantage of your destiny is to repeat the same thing you have heard over and over again until it sticks in you. The discipline to stay. The discipline to stay. Not to jump from one place to the other, not to be erratic. You see, when you come on Sunday and you listen to the word of God, what I would do if I were you is to go to YouTube and get the messages on Telegram, on AudioMac, and on Apple Podcast, and all the platforms that we release these messages on, whichever one makes life easy for you.

And then you go and listen to the same thing again and again and again and again and again. You just keep on feeding your spirit with the same thing. You just keep on feeding your spirit with it at least until the next Sunday comes. You are listening to two messages, Sunday, Tuesday, Sunday, Tuesdays concurrently like a playlist. It is finishing, starting again, finishing, starting again. You are putting these things in your spirit, and the aim is that it must stick. It must stick. It mustn't be that you come on Sunday, the next Sunday, you come again, another thing is thought. Next Sunday, you come again, another thing is thought, and then you are accumulating all of these things, and you cannot track in your life how many of these things you are becoming. So when we thought faith, what was faith?

Where was faith in your life? You see, when we thought love, where where is love in your life? If we spoke about the audacity of faith, where is that audacity in your life? We come and come to teach about something. We spoke about the Christ of God. Have you come under that revelation? Can you explain it to somebody? And more than that, do you know the impact and the import of a revolution in your own life as a person? Do you understand what I'm saying? That's what the Bible means in John chapter eight and verse 31 when it says if you abide in my word, if you abide in my word.

Listen to me believers. Go through that painful process of abiding. Don't be a careless believer. Go through that painful process of abiding. Abide. Abide. Abide. Put these things in your ears. It says, my son, Proverbs chapter four verse 20. My son, give attention to my words.

Incline your ear to my sins. You see that? Give attention to my words. Give attention to my words. Listen, if all you do is rely on the fact that you were there when the teaching is taught, you are doing yourself and your destiny a great disservice. Because from the day that you need the thing that was taught, I can promise you, you will not remember it. And what will tell you that, maybe you have been taught. Maybe you have been taught because you never stuck with it. It's why plenty people keep on repeating patterns upon patterns of which it should have come out from because they never stick with it. It says, give attention to my words.

Give attention to my words. Incline your ears to the saints. Incline your ears to the saints. Look at the next verse. Don't let them depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart. Can you see that all of this is your responsibility? That means the word of God does not stick in your heart by itself. That means in the day you need something you've been taught, In the day you need a particular principle that has been given to you, that have been handed over to you because you were there when it was being taught. In that day, when it looks as though all hell is breaking loose and you need to remember that there is joy in your spirit.

You need to remember that there is peace in your spirit. You need to remember that, ah, this is not my reaction. My reaction is meant to be divine. It's meant to be spirit work and not flesh work. In that day, you will collapse massively because the word of God will not jump out of your spirit by itself. You have a responsibility in not letting it depart from your eyes, in keeping them in the midst of your heart. It's your own responsibility. It's the responsibility of the believer. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir.

He says your word, have I hidden in my heart, Psalm one one nine, that I will not sin against you. That means that it is the believer's intentional effort in keeping... If you don't want someone to steal something from you, you've got a precious valuable and you wanna keep it in your house. Do you just keep it anywhere? Do you agree with me that there is a added care and effort and intentionality that you use to fetch out where you would hide that thing. Away from prying eyes. Is that much so? And anybody that can easily access it. Is that much so? That the kind of diligence you would use to go and hide it.

That's exactly the kind of diligence you use to hide the word of God in your heart. You can't be careless about it. This Sunday Sunday Christianity, I've been talking about it. You can't grow like that. You really cannot. You should know that we don't say these things for our own benefit. There are many things that listening to the word of God over and over again does to you. Many things. Many things. Inconsistency lies the power.

Do not do not ever feel as though when you come and you listen, oh, I was there when it was taught. Sometimes I tell people, have you listened to this message? And they say, oh, I've listened to it. How can you tell me you've listened to it and you are still coming to meet me with this problem? That means you've not listened to it. Go and listen to it. And when you are done listening to it and the problem is still there, you've done listen to it. You still not listen to it. Go and listen to it again and then again and then again and then again and then again. You do this thing.

Do it. Take your life through that process. One of my interesting young ladies came to me and said that she was going to meet people. A funny young lady. Came to me and told me that she was going to meet people who had gotten excellent results in church because she saw that she had a passion and a drive to have excellent results herself. She went to go and meet people that have these results. When she goes to meet all of them, she's asking them, give me what I can start doing. They just look at her and say, go and listen to how God helps students. Go and listen to success blueprints. Go and listen to this and that.

And then she came and said, Apostol, I'm telling them to give me something. You are saying you are going listen to message. Is it something I want? I'm saying give me something practical. I've listened to it. I love the fact that she could be very sincere with me like that. Amazing. At least I know how you think. But those people are not lying. If you have listened to the message and you still feel as though have not gotten something practical to use in your academics to be excellent, it means you have not listened to it.

Is that... That's just the... Do you understand what I'm saying? It means you have not listened to it. Let's not listen to it. I'm asking them, give me practical things. They're saying, no. Listen to method. I've listened to the method. Is it method?

Yeah. And there are many believers like that. The precious thing about young lady is that you can tell me how she feels, which is awesome, by the way. Then she can be corrected. Then she can be taught. I mean, it's better than someone that wants to feel righteous. So they have that going on in their mind, they just say, and rarely when the man of God that they come to come and meet too, now says go and listen to the same message again. Then she will now conclude everybody is a seminar. Nobody is really telling me the truth. Whereas, that's the truth.

You understand what I'm saying? Yes. You just have not stuck with it enough. That's the truth. Someone came to come and meet me about their finances, and I told the person, go and listen to this message. And I saw the disapproval and the disappointment in the person's eyes. I said, Kai, if only you knew. If only you knew that what I've told you to go and listen to is the things that we know that makes our lives somewhat better. What's the difference? How conscious we have the same truth?

And how do you become conscious? You go through the due diligence of keeping the words in your heart by exposing yourself to it again and again and again. I'm telling you, there are many struggles people go through that they should not be going through Because the word of God is just not in their heart. How many people have heard apostle Emmanuel teach that the problem is not the problem? It's your response to the problem that matters. Is that not so? And yet when the problem does come, they remember, but then they still crash in the problem. And somebody comes to come and tell them, the problem is not the problem. They say, I know, but you know, but you are still crashing. Can't you see that the word of God is only valuable to you to the degree to which you can apply it to your life?

It's not quotable quotes that makes your life powerful. It's not going on your WhatsApp status and looking for nice things to quote. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. That's not what makes your life powerful as a believer. You need the favor of God in your life. You need the hand of God in your life. Go and expose yourself to these teachings. And just keep on exposing. Pray with it.

Keep on praying. Keep on praying. Keep on praying. Keep on praying. A day comes, you will see something. And when you see it, you will know that you have seen it. It is called lambano. It is a spiritual terminology. It means to grab hold, to lay hold. There is a way with which your spirit man lays hold on something that you know.

You don't know how you know, but you know that you know that you have touched it. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. It's powerful. It's powerful. My soul will rise in your name. In your name. Laughness will tremble in your name. In your name, my soul will rise. God will help us.

You will not get to the nations like that oh, keyboardist. You won't get to the nations like that. You will not get to the nations like that. And nobody will gather around your sound like that. So even if there's a prophecy over you that the whole world should hear you, nobody will hear that. Absolutely nobody. Now somebody like this now has to go and get this on Sunday and realize that he has to listen to it again and again until it becomes a part of you. This is nonsense you have just done. Glory to God. Until it becomes a part of you.

Until it becomes you. Until it becomes your default response in every circumstances. Are you with me brothers and sisters? Until you are no longer threatened by the devices of the enemy, there are some problems that you should know in your spirit that I have conquered. Things that you are probably dealing with, that you have invested time in in the word of God, that you can say, I have escaped, like Toroso Yoh said. Do you understand what I'm saying? You can say this one is no longer my problem. I have risen above this. I've risen above this. Put the word of God in your spirit that much.

It's not automatic. It's not what? Automatic. Listen to me. There is something you must know about the excellency of the God that you serve that will spur you towards excellence as a believer. Listen to me. If you are lazy by default, there is still something you don't know. It's as simple as that. Every outcome of your life can be avoided and be intentionally programmed by knowledge. There is obviously something you don't know.

There is what you will see inside these messages that will make it obvious to you that I cannot fail. There's what you would see inside these messages that even after it has become obvious that you cannot fail, the how you cannot fail become revealed to you. Becomes revealed to you. You would know the power of consistency. Now somebody tells me, I've listened to how God helps students, but you are still reading in an inconsistent manner as a student. Preparing days before the exam. When you have twelve weeks or fourteen weeks in the semester, you start reading seriously and you tell me you have listened to the message. What then did you not hear in the message? What then did you not hear in the message? It means you have not.

You really have not. Do you understand what I'm saying? So put yourself through the arduous process. That arduous process of exposing yourself again and again to the word of God, again and again to the word of God. To the prophesying of the spirit. To the prophesying of the spirit. Is that okay? Yes, So the teaching that I started with us on Tuesday is not just a general talk about the problems of young people. No. It's a mirror.

It's a surgical table. And it's a call to discern what has been shaping the inner man of a lot of people. Because the greatest battles are not always the one that you see. Many young people are fighting battles in the mind, fighting battles in their imagination, fighting battles in their appetite, in their emotions, in the secret place, in their sense of worth even. Their ability to stay, their ability to submit, their ability to believe what God has said when culture is saying something else. And in second Corinthians chapter 10 from verse four to verse five, the Bible says, for the weapons of our welfare are not carnal but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down arguments, and every I thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. That means that the battlefield to a larger part of it is not even outside a man. The battlefield of life of many people is not even outside a man. It's not outside them as men. So they are fighting warfare, but the warfare they are fighting, they are deceived to think that it is forced external.

They are deceived to think that the battle is forced against certain witches and certain wizards that have gathered together to ensure they don't prosper, a witch in their family, a widow in their father's house, a principality, an altar, and somebody that is finding that altar, they think that this is the first layer of their warfare. But the battlefield is not only outside the man. In fact, it's not even forced outside the man. The battlefield is inside the man, inside the way that he thinks. I mean, the stronghold is not always a demon manifesting loudly. Many a times, stronghold is a thought pattern that has lived in a person for so long that it now argues against God without the person knowing it. That's what a stronghold is. It's a belief system. It's a way you see life. It's a perspective that is heavily influenced by demons.

Are you with me brothers and sisters? Yes, sir. Your interpretation of life, your appetite, the conclusion that you have reached because of pain can be a stronghold. Sometimes there is something that culture has repeated again and again until your soul have accepted that that is the truth. It can be a stronghold. There are people for instance who don't believe that they deserve any kind of love. They don't believe that anybody can love them. Genuinely and sincerely. And so they enter into wrong relationships where somebody is abusing them constantly, constantly abusing them, violating them. Yet they remain in that relationship despite they know that this thing is wrong.

But then the more they want to think about living, there is something in their mind that confuses them that if you now live now, where will you see somebody that will not love you like this? Because the moment the guy finishes abusing them, if he tells them he loves them, and that makes up for all the abuse. And so they somehow... Just you know what? It's better to endure this for the sake of the peace and the love that I get from it. Sometimes it's not even abuse as in physical abuse. Sometimes it's not the awareness that there is immorality going on that is against the wishes of God and the plan of God for my life. But they cannot bring themselves to come out of it because there is still that thought within that this is the sense of value I have. This is the way I know that I have some kind of value in me. This is what makes me feel valuable, what makes me feel useful.

Even financially, there are strongholds of the mind like that. That's why deliverance has to go beyond just a laying of hands on the head. There must be a pulling down of those arguments, a pulling down of those arguments. There must be a casting down of imaginations. There must be a bringing into captivity of thoughts. Because if a man is delivered in a meeting, but his mind is still in agreement with the age and the spirit of the age, it will return to the same bondage That he has been delivered from. And even mix religious language with it. And find a way to convince himself that that is the truth. Are you with me? Sir.

So a man that is living in constant comparison that makes him ungrateful because he feels as though nothing is moving in his life, and he views everything happening in his life from the standpoint of other people's lives and their walk with God. So whether or not God is blessing him does not really matter if it does not measure up to how much God is blessing this person. Whether or not he's making progress does not really matter if it does not measure up to how much this person is making progress. And so he will always believe that something is wrong in his life because his eyes cannot see what is moving in his life or if anything is moving in his life. And you would hear statements like nothing is working. I'm tired. Nothing is working. Now you observing from outside can point to at least five to 10 areas of his life that God has been faithful. But him that is inside cannot just see it. His conclusion is nothing is working.

Now if you pray for him that something should work and that mindset remains, nothing will still work. Do understand what I'm saying? Because it's not first a problem of witches and wizard attacking him, it's an argument in his mind that is convincing him as against the faithfulness of God in his life. So when you tell him that God is faithful, something in his mind is arguing otherwise. Nothing is working. Nothing is working. When you tell him God is faithful, something in his mind keeps on telling him otherwise. That thing, that's what is called arguments. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir.

And if these arguments are not broken down, if these arguments are not casted down, our lives will continue to be a shadow of what is really meant to be. When the arguments keep on ringing in the heart of a man, the man keeps on thinking about the same emotional slavery, the same need to be validated by men. So even when you cast out the demon or the spirit influencing the behavior, if there is still a need to be validated by men, you still have not helped the man. Are you with me? There are some people that are plagued with the fear of not being enough, The fear of being unworthy. And the cycle just continues like that. You see, God does not only want to touch the surface of the problem. He wants to invade the system that keeps reproducing the same weaknesses over and over again, and it is in the heart of a man. So the question we should ask is, who has been discipling your soul? What has been teaching your soul?

Who has been defining what is normal for you? Who has been interpreting success to you? Who has taught you that you are behind because your mates are ahead? Who taught you that correction is hatred? Or if it wasn't a person, what experience taught you that? Because experiences can teach you. Exposure can teach you. So what discipled your heart to believe that correction is hatred? To believe that because you are not at the same plane with someone means that their life is better than yours. Are you with me?

Who taught you that to honor someone means to be weak? Who taught you that submission is old fashioned? That purity is old fashioned. Who taught you that being busy is the same as being fruitful? Are you with me? Who taught you to make decisions by what you feel? That because you feel something strongly means it must be true. Who taught you that life is governed by your feelings? Who taught you that because a thing is trending, means it must be true. Means it must be wise.

Who taught you that because everybody is doing it? Means God have adjusted the standard. You see, now you want to compromise on your own value system because everybody is doing something. Who taught you that? Are you with me? Who taught you that? In Genesis chapter three, the fall of man is captured in that story. And when you read the story, you see that the fall of man began with a voice. The serpent just entered into the garden, and he began a conversation with the woman. That means what the serpent brought was not weapons.

It didn't bring an attack. It didn't bring a violent attack. It didn't bring a physical attack. It didn't come to attack her body. It attacked her interpretation of God. In Genesis three verse one, the serpent said, as God indeed said. That question was an attempt to weaken the authority of divine instruction as God indeed said. And listen, every generation has a serpent asking the same question today in different languages. Every generation. Did God really say holiness matters?

Did God really say, honor your father and your mother? Did God really say that he prospers people? Are you seeing that? Did God really say that you should flee youthful lusts? Lusts? Did God really say you should seek first the kingdom of God? Maybe he meant that you should seek it in partnership with other things. You see, when a man or a woman begins to believe that I want to marry this person, even though this person is the complete opposite of God's ideal partner for marriage as written in scripture. But then something keep on telling her that I can change him. I can change him.

I can change him. I can change him. You see, at some point, a serpent came to you and whispered in your ears, did God really say? Do not be unequally yoked. What if he meant that your life as a Christian can actually influence other people's life? Say a serpent came and you listened, and that's why your life is about to spoil. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. Did God release it? And it comes suddenly like that.

And if you look at that, that is the origin of the arguments in second Corinthians 10 verse five, casting down arguments because the devil will come severally and come and ask you, did God release it? I will not come by appearing as devil. It will come through situations and circumstances. It will come through life experiences. And when the life experiences start mounting pressure on you, the question the life experiences are asking is, did God really see? And a man who has not been taught to cast down arguments will conform to the mood, agree with the mood, and then pattern his life after the systems of his world. There are many that God really say oh now, on the pulpit, men of God who have been seduced by seducing spirit, that have brought strange doctrines to them, appealing to their own lust itself, have come bringing all kinds of versions of the gospel, all manner of versions of the gospel. And when you study very, very deeply, you find that all of them are questioning something God said. All of them. Is it the hyper grace teaching?

It is questioning something God said. Is it the hyper prosperity teaching or the no prosperity teaching or the no grace teaching? Whether you are to this extreme side or to that extreme side, the conclusion of the whole matter is that your life will be devoid of something God said. Are you with me brothers and sisters? Yes. Yes. And the moment the voice of the serpent becomes normal in a generation, what happens is that the fruit becomes attractive. The fruit becomes attractive. What do I mean by that? That means those of us that came prior to that generation who knew that this fruit is poison and avoided it.

We'll now see the generation that the serpent has successfully convinced that God did not say what God said. Now starting to admire the fruit that we were always afraid of. I will now start wondering, how do you have the audacity to speak like that, to talk like that? It is because there is now an admiration for something that God has instructed against. An admiration for an anomaly, and it does not start like that. It first starts by something entering into culture, entering into entertainment, entering into people's way of life that starts making them redefine life according to a particular pattern. And the moment they can do that, they start seeing the fruit as pleasant. I'm speaking in parables, but do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. Hopefully, you do.

Hopefully, do. Because that was what happened to Eve. The bible says, Eve saw that the fruit was pleasant to her eyes. Look at that. She saw that the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise. You see that? This was something that God called poison. By the day you eat of this fruit, you will die. But the moment did God really say succeeded in her life, she started seeing that thing as pleasant. That's why he said, if you remember last Tuesday, I said, if you have been conformed, it is difficult to see truth.

If you've been conformed, it's difficult to see truth. Are you still getting this thing I'm saying? Yes, sir. It's difficult to see truth. Correction becomes very difficult to admit and to accept. Defense becomes the first order of approach. Argument becomes the first order of approach, and it's because the voice of the serpent has been normalized. So consecration now begins to look tiresome. Having boundaries around your life as a believer is something that we used to be proud of in those days. But boundaries at some point now begin to look like bondage.

I mean, how would I not be free to express myself? Do you understand what I'm saying? Do you know that in those days, the way I was brought up was such that even putting my hands on a woman's shoulder felt like a sin. That's why I was brought up. Felt like a sin. It felt like you have offended destiny. And when you study the pattern of holiness in scripture, you'll find that it's not far from the truth. But a generation was brought up with a culture that made it look as though even kissing is not a sin. It's not just kissing. But guess what?

It's a culture. It came through movies. It came through music videos. It came through experiences. It came through what people saw, social media. It came through what they saw in SS one, SS two. The senior boy is dating the senior girl, the senior prefect is dating the senior... This one, and everybody is a gist. And there's now a community group where people come and post us gist. Senior Labaja is dating senior Kineko.

And we saw them holding hands, and then they were now smooshing. And everybody become very excited. And at Exodus one, it looks as though you are out of place. And it became a way of life. Now you come to church and the pastor is telling you, you're about to destroy your destiny. You wonder how? It's not only kissing. You see, the fruit. The fruit. What was poison to us?

It's now looking attractive. One of my young girls said, I feel like I can hold my waist now. It's not just my waist. Glory to God. But it is true. At what point does a woman not hold any kind of value to herself again? What did she hear? What did she hear? What did she hear that made the fruit pleasurable, that made poison desirable to make one wise? What did she hear?

Who told her something? Do you understand what I'm saying? At what point did the young man feel as though Yahoo Yahoo is the way to go? And scamming people of their hard earned money became pleasant to... So much so, it has become a trend on social media where somebody will post a vehicle and say, if I'm not doing Yahoo Yahoo, you cannot afford this car. And everybody would, hey, this throw is diesel. And you would see girls coming on social media to come and say, I don't think I can beat a nine to five. They can't afford my lifestyle. And you don't know that something is discipling the soul. It looks like a joke, but that's the problem.

The problem is when the joke that is wrong becomes normal. That's the problem. What is the definition of culture? It's a way of life. That means when wrong becomes the way of life, it's culture. When evil becomes the way of life, it's culture. Didn't you hear some time ago in Nigeria here that a particular ethnic group or whatsoever was celebrating their festival, and the festival was a celebration of rape. And the the idea was that they go out on the street and every woman must be locked inside. Because if you are a woman, about five guys will pin you down and rape you right there. And they'll be shouting and screaming in joy.

It's pleasant to them. You who are outside, are wondering, what is this nonsense? Those who are doing that saying, A tree desirable to make one wise. So tell me, how do you grow up in that culture? And something wrong in mistreating a woman? In manhandling a woman? How do you grow up in that culture? How about wealth and prosperity and money? And issues around money? Are you still with me?

Yes, sir. Refuse to be discipled by the world. Refuse it to. Refuse it. You are young people. Refuse it now. That's why I keep on emphasizing that it is possible to build wealth outside of that system. It is evident in scripture that it is possible. Inside the system, but not following the rules of the system, especially when it is built on wrong foundations. And there are many voices in this generation.

A lot of people, they don't even know what is forming them anymore because the guy is no longer hearing sermons. What he's hearing is just culture, tradition, entertainment. All of that is what has flooded his head. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. No longer reading scriptures or the bible or what the bible has to say. She's more engrossed in reading comment sessions. And she can stay in a comment session for one hour than she has the discipline to stay with the Word of God. Is that what is desirable to make one wise? Are you with me?

No longer listen to pastors, but the word of God itself. Now listen to strangers with charisma on YouTube and on Instagram and on TikTok who have no covenant responsibility whatsoever. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. James chapter one verse eight. What does the Bible say? It said a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Unstable in all his ways. And when the mind remains unstable, divisions are unstable. All his ways, all his ways, all his ways.

That mean everything that that man does will be unstable. What will happen to finances? Unstable. His relationships. Unstable. His career pursuit. Unstable. His prayer life? His service in church? Unstable.

His financial discipline becomes unstable. His moral values, his moral boundaries, unstable. He can love God genuinely and still keep on living in cycles because the inner life has not been trimmed into feminist and conviction. He is still unstable. There are still arguments in his heart contradicting the very words of God, unstable. Christianity is not just a conversion of faith. Christianity is a formation into the image of Christ. Romans chapter eight and verse 29, the bible says that God predestined his people to be conformed to the image of his son. So there are two conformities that are fighting a believer. Can you see that?

God predestined us to be conformed to the image of his son. Romans chapter 12 verse two says, don't be conformed. So it means there are two things that are struggling for conformity in the life of a believer. The world is trying to press you into a mood. Christ is trying to press you into a mood. Hence, the argument in the mind. Do you understand what I'm saying? Don't be conformed to this world. Be conformed to the image of his son. So the question is not whether you'll be conformed.

You will definitely be conformed. That means if you are not intentional about being conformed to Christ, what are you being conformed to? There's no neutral stand here. There's no neutral stand at all. If the world forms you, then the world will make you restless. If the world prefix you into its mold, then the world will make you sensual. The world will make you proud. The world will make you conscious about your image, about yourself. The world will make you easily offended, addicted to validation, allergic to correction, Empty beneath appearances. And all you will have is the appearance, but beneath you are empty.

If the world conforms you, this is the end of that man. So when I see people who live like that, it becomes obvious what has conformed them. It becomes obvious what mode they've been pressed into. But if Christ forms you, it will make you sound. It will make you wise. It will make you enduring. It will make you honorable. It will make you courageous. It will make you discerning. You will go against the system of his word.

It will make you disciplined. It will make you lovable and loving. Governed by the will of God. Are you with me? Yes, And this is where the church must become serious again about discipleship. Because we can gather young people and still not form them. And I've been saying this, empathizing this, that the idea is formation. That is the idea. That's the big picture. We can excite people in church and still not form them and still not equip them.

Glory to God. They can have all the music and have the lights and the activities and the event and the programs. Yet the world is not entering into their understanding. It's not changing their life. It's not changing their culture. If the spirit of God is not governing your appetite, if truth is not correcting falsehood, if fathers are not raising sons, if wisdom is not replacing the noise of this world that you hear, then we may just be gathering a generation that will still remain captive, still be educated by the spirit of the age. Because there is something, an agenda that the spirit of the age is trying to push. And I've told you the consequence of this, that they will arrive a generation that did not know the God of their fathers. Are you with me? Yes, sir.

Jesus said, go therefore and make disciples. Go therefore and make disciples. Someone who is taught, someone who is trained, someone who is corrected, someone who is formed, someone who is under the authority of the words of Christ and can do the same for others, that's a disciple. Glory to God. Amen. A disciple is learning Jesus. It's not just admiring Jesus. It's learning him, learning to become him, learning to be like him, learning to live like him, learning to think like him. It means at every point, his life is not reflecting this. He's not okay.

A disciple is not okay. He's checking again what must I correct. Every day he's praying. He's seeing areas of his life that has not yet been to the will of God, and he's intentionally praying saying, God help me in this area. And as he goes out again, he's intentional about bringing the Holy Spirit into bear in making decisions, in responding to circumstances, in making right choices. And when he made it, he knows instantly that I've missed something. I've missed something. His spirit becomes disturbed within him. He wants to make his part right with God again. That's a disciple.

He's being formed into Christ. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Hate limitations. Hate weaknesses. Deal with your weaknesses. Don't develop a doctrine around your weakness. Call it what it is and deal with it before it humbles you. If you are dealing with low self esteem, deal with it. Get out fast.

Stop creating excuses around limitations. Take the word of God and fire that thing out of your soul. Fire it out of your soul. If God did not say it, it's a lie. Is that not so? So go and confirm yourself with what God has said and stick with it. Stick with it. Abide with it. Like I said when I was starting, take yourself through the hard years process. Don't be comfortable with your weaknesses.

You're struggling with some kind of an addiction. Break out of it. It will destroy you. It will. If not now, later, but it will. Are you with me? I think one of the first captivity that we have to confront is the captivity of attention. Just stay with me, you would understand what I'm saying. You see, a man's life follows his attention. That means what you give attention to long enough will eventually get entrance into your heart.

And what gains entrance into your heart will begin to shape your desires. And what shapes your desires will begin to influence your decisions. And what influences your decisions will eventually determine the direction of your life. So when the enemy wants to destroy a generation, you now realize that it does not begin simply by making them wicked. How it begins is by making them distracted. Because a distracted man may still have good intentions, but he will not have enough inner government within his soul to bring those intentions into fruitfulness because something else has his attention. Let's draw this line again. Write it down. What you give attention to long enough will gain entrance into your heart. Write it down.

What you give attention to long enough will gain entrance into your heart. So who got it the first time I said it? What's the next one? Louder. What gains entrance into your heart will begin to shape your desires? I want you to see something. You can see this thing, your life has changed. I've written it. What shapes your desire? What's next on people that got it?

Will begin to influence your decisions. Will shape your decisions. Write it down. What influences your decisions will eventually determine the direction of your life. So you can now draw an arrow of some sort. I'm putting it like that. Attention, like a cyclical arrow, really. Attention or a straight line arrow. Goes to heart, goes to... You get it?

Do that. Do that. Are you done? You've written that, you've drawn that arrow? Now, every outcome of a man's life starts like this. What is he giving attention to? That means the outcome of your life is not dependent on your intention. It is dependent on what you give attention to. That means you might have good intentions, but not give attention to your intention. That is the idea behind distraction.

Do you understand what I'm I'm saying? Distraction solely takes your attention away from what is important so that the outcome of your life is not what you think should be there, it is what you eventually put your mind to. Do you understand what I'm saying? That means you can actually study your life and intercept prophecies because you know what area you have ended at. That means if you are beginning to have unholy desires, what does that tell you? Trace it back. Trace it back. Trace it back. What has been affected? That means if I'm beginning to desire things that I know is wrong...

And a young man came to me recently and said, Apostle, I think I have an issue. I'm attracted to same sex like myself. So that's wrong desire. Is that not so? So when you trace it back, you can tell where the problem came from. When you see wrong desires manifesting... And sometimes, it has now left desires. It has now moved to decisions. So when you are starting to make wrong decisions concurrently again and again, you can travail back again. Because if you understand that, you can stop prophecies and stop outcomes from manifesting in your life that should not.

That means a man can literally determine what must manifest in his life. What must? That means that who cost you does not matter. What you paid attention to is what matters. Who said you will not be great does not matter. If that was what you were looking at, you truly will not be great. Because what will happen is that all your divisions will start looking stupid. You will start doing things naturally that will take you off the course of greatness. And it's not because somebody caused you. Do you understand what I'm saying?

Yes, sir. So when somebody... Look at what the devil does. Oh, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. God comes to a man and tells that man, leave this place. I want to make something great out of your life. Take your family and go to Canaan. And whilst they were going to Canaan, he took his family. One of his favorite sons died. His name was Haran, I believe.

He died. And he so loved that boy that he just couldn't get his mind off that boy. Now he had a good intention. He even had a purpose. He knew where God has sent him. But something had happened to him, which was the loss of his son, that he could not get his mind off. So where was his attention? But where was he going? Are you with me? Now when something...

When you put your attention into something, what's the next stage? It enters into your heart. When it gives entrance into your heart, what's the next stage? Desire. Your desire. Even if that desire does not make sense. Doesn't matter. As long as you have given attention to it, you will begin to desire it. It's why some young women will not marry because they've given attention to a kind of wedding on social media. So there's a way...

There's a desire in their soul, and they will think it's not there. But you will just find that you are making decisions again and again and again that leads you out of the path of righteousness. Now watch this. This man started the journey. The desire of his heart at some point was no longer to get to where God had failed to get to. It was if I can just see my son again. My son has gone. My son. Son. My son.

And the moment the devil realizes that that's the desire of his heart, he said, yeah, there's no problem. There's a way we can track this guy and delay him and make him not come to the fullness of destiny realization. What do we do? The devil goes ahead of him and buys some miracle, names a city after the name of his dead son. That the name of the dead son was Iran. The name of the city was Iran. And the moment he got to the city, he just realized that, ah, Iran? Could it mean? Could it be? It doesn't have to make sense as long as your soul already desires it.

You will convince yourself that it makes sense in some way. Watch this. The moment that became a desire and he entered into a city that reminded him of that desire, what was his decision? He stayed there. That means he could no longer decide to go on the path of destiny. Even though he knew the path of destiny. He told his people where they were going. He said we are going to Canaan. That means he knew. He knew.

Unlike Abraham, he knew. God had actually told him that the end of this journey is Canaan. But he could not just make decisions that will lead him there because his desire had been compromised. His heart had been compromised. Why? Because of what he gave attention to. I'm trying to tell you that what you believe is God's will for you is not what matters. That's not what will ultimately decide whether you will enter destiny or not. If if what you are focused on is the winds and the wows around you, That becomes the areas you'll be making divisions after. So what does the devil do to a generation?

He gives you several things that can have your attention. Because now you would understand why the Bible says, my son, give attention to my words. Give what? Do not see the value of attention. Give attention to my words. Incline your yes to this thing. Don't let them depart from your eyes. Look at how many times he's emphasizing this thing because there are many things that will attempt to have your attention. He said keep them in the midst of your heart. Keep them in your heart.

That means attention is one of the gates through which your heart is either guarded or invaded. So when a generation loses control of attention, it has begun to lose control of their heart. Because many people don't know just how powerful distraction is. Distraction does not only waste your time. Distraction weakens your spiritual depth. It breaks concentration. It trains your soul to run away from anything that requires patience in God. That's why prayer feels boring. How about scripture feels too long? Studying feels difficult?

Being still and know that God is good becomes uncomfortable to you. How can I just be quiet? It makes going through a process feel like punishment. It makes a man restless even when it is obvious that nothing is pursuing him. It's one of the major weapons of this age. The devil does not mean to stop you from owning a bible if he can stop you from reading it. He doesn't mean to stop you from attending church. If it can make you sit down in service with a scattered mind. It does not need to stop you from praying if it can make your mind travel everywhere but the prayer you are praying. It is in that prayer that you start remembering everything that you ought to do.

And the way you have to cook the egusi. The football match that is coming up, the threat you have made to your friends that are who will win. The argument you had with somebody yesterday and the response you should have given the person. It is doing prayers that all of that starts coming to your soul. A business decision, a this that. And the real juice of the prayer itself is sucked out of it. Sucked out of it. Because if I can't stop you from praying, I can make the time a waste. I can make the time a waste. Imagine that you go have a conversation with someone, right, and you are attempting to make it a serious conversation.

For those who are married, say you're talking to your wife. For those who are not, say you're talking to your mother. Listen. And you are attempting to bring them into the reality of a very serious burden that you have. Say a problem you are facing or something. And whilst you are talking to them, the person just keeps on taking their phone, picking up a call, dropping their phone, saying, Sorry, I'm listening to you. And then, Mommy, so I'm having a problem. And that continues for a long time. And one hour in that conversation, that's what the person keeps on doing. Do you feel as though you have had a conversation?

Have you done anything valuable there? You rather have watched a movie. That's what prayer feels like to many people because nothing valuable comes out of it. There's no revelation. There's no death. There's no encounter. There's no relationship. There's no intimacy. There is nothing. It's just talking.

And you know, you can remove your mind from that exercise. Like your mouth is already doing it for five. Your spirit, your soul is in a football field somewhere, in an exam hall somewhere, in a field result somewhere, just everywhere. And then by the time your mind comes back to align with your lips, the first thing your mind wants to check is time. And when he says that, Kai, I've only done ten minutes. Oh, he drops it, leaves the mouth to continue, goes again on another journey. And that's the way of distracting itself from the fact that you are praying because it does not want to feel as though time is not moving fast. So the mind must give itself an excuse to travel. So that by the time you come back, ah, at least I should have spent that time. Ah, okay.

It's going. It's just going. Visiting different areas of your life, remembering your friends of secondary school, remembering somebody you have not checked out. Just you're just having fun with you. And then you come back again. So when somebody is not dealing with all kind of problems, I am now asking them, what are you praying? What would they say? He said, I'm praying. And you begin to wonder, but how can a man be praying and be going through this? It won't make sense.

Don't be clear because you are worried like the man of God that this joint is not joining. Why are you stupid of not giving us four? What kind of prayer are you praying? He dwells in the midst of the cherubim. You dwells in the midst of the cherubim, shine forth you dwells in the midst of the cherubim, shine forth I wonder if in some years time, a generation will still know what it means to wait on God. I wonder. I wonder. You don't know the reason why a lot of men of God speak the way they do about social media. And this thing that is cutting the attention of people, they say short attention span does not exist. What it does say?

So what exists? It is choice attention span. That means you choose what you want to give your attention to. And if your mind does not consider it valuable, that's when your attention becomes short. Because the same person that has short attention span watches a seasonal movie without skipping anything. And if you are watching with somebody that likes to watch movies in ten minutes and it starts keep... Hey. Hey. Stop your. They're not showing the cloud now.

Let's keep to where... Believe it. It's part of the movie. They are not showing... It's only the cloud. Let's fast forward. Let's see what... No. No. It's part of...

You must take it in. But the word of God cannot be taken in. You see. You see. You see? So how is that attention shot? Eyes are short. Do you know the amount of discipline in your mind that you must have to walk in the spirit. I was telling a group of people that I would teach them some of these things. And at some point, I started thinking like, do you know the discipline in the mind?

The stillness of the soul that it takes to discern the things of the spirit. Listen. We're stopping here. Eyes up on your feet. Amen. Are you praying tongues for one minute? One last time, shout it loud now. It is a victorious chant. Let it come from the depth of your spirit. When you are here, when you are here, when you are when are you are here, you are here, here, when this people are crazy but are only drunk this people are crazy In Jesus name we have prayed.

Thank you Jesus. You're someone to shout about. I have seen you so I start to shout I have seen you so I start to shout I have seen you so I start to shout oh. Thank you precious holy spirit. Bring out your offerings and let us give. But tithe your offerings. Thank you for listening to this message. We trust you have been blessed. You can get more life transforming messages from apostle Emmanuel Boluwatifeh on our Telegram page at DCN media channel. You can also stream the messages on Spotify, Ocho Mac, and Apple podcast.

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