Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, today if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, they do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God’ (Hebrews 3: 7-12) It is possible for a Christian to have a heart of unbelief. Some may find this statement provocative.
When we read the book of 2nd Corinthians, we would always assume that scripture is speaking concerning unbelievers whereas it is intended for Christians. When a person is in unbelief, it means that the mind of that person is blinded. That is the person facing a particular challenge cannot see a way out. The minute a Christian is in situation and they cannot see an alternate route out it means they are ‘blind’. We have generally assumed that once you get born again, the blindfold goes off but in reality it does not. The word ‘lust’ means you have arrived at a time in your life where you have the sentence of death on you. You do not see a way out the god of this world has blinded our minds from God’s intent in any particular matter. In all situations, there is always a way of escape, but what satan does is to blind our eyes from it so we cannot see the way; Then people conclude that God is unfaithful. Why then does the scripture tell us that we will be transformed by the renewing of the mind, if the mind is without its inadequacy? Once you understand this, you will crack the power of satan, you will get to the place where Paul says “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty” (2nd Corint 3:17). There is no limit to what we can do. The question is are you really seeing things from God’s point of view.For the scripture says “who is as blind as my messenger and as deaf as my servant”.When Joseph was in jail,and he had no choice, the works of his hand prospered. So if you have “toiled all night and caught nothing”, when the blindfold is removed you will see how to catch. When you get into a situation, what God wants to do gets veiled but people do nothing about the veil that is an hinderance yet they say they are born again. This is where the challenges set in. If the blindfold is not removed, no matter what is said to them and it may burn in their hearts, they will not see Jesus. People can look at bible promises and try to translate it into life, yet they will not see it unburden their minds until the blindfolds is taken off then they will begin to see. Someone once said that the notion that says “When you are running your organization, and people say focus on your area of strength and in your area of weakness hire people’” is an absolutely wrong ideaology. She emphasized on “hiring people in the area of your strength and taking up for yourself the area of your weakness” God said “…My grace is sufficient for thee; For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon  me” (2nd Corint 12:9) She discovered by experience that when you do not know how to do something and you have no knowledge about it, you can never really hire the right person for the job. That is why families that retain wealth over the generations, tell their children to start at the bottom; be the janitor, go to every department and be trained,this is to ensure that they are properly equipped with things going on in the organization as even their fathers worked from the bottom up. Some other person said “you do not know what is right until you start doing business”; most people that buy from the internet are traders and not the high class people as expected. If you do not have the insight to focus on marketing to traders in Agege and you go to Lekki to market and people start closing their doors on you, then you will understand what Jesus was talking about when He spoke about you calling a feast and try to call only rich people. The point then is when you get into a fix and you don’t see a way out of a situation do not resolve to pouting out, complaining and cursing yourself or others, that will be when there is death in that situation. Just like when the Israelites got to the wilderness and at times it seemed God was doing nothing, the people lamented that their end had come and they were going to perish in that dessert. God said “… As I have heard you say so shall it happen” It is essential that you remain calm and quiet and not destroy the God process through unbelief. Do not say your confessions are not working because they are as long as you are saying the right things. It is at the crucial place that you will know the power of words that when there was emptiness you maintained your confession. There are no shortcuts , you have to go from the teaching to the experience before you break it out with your words. You stand empty before a mirror and declare that all things are working together for your good, you will not utter one word that will disrupt or reverse what the angels are doing. You taking a stand and announcing is where confessions start to work; You will find out negative situations are like that. If you immerse your confession (a positive thing) it ignites life and therein lies a secret law. When things do not work accordingly and you are being ‘stoned off the stage’, know that a breakthrough is about to happen. Do not say anything that will jeopardize it just hold on to your confession.
I understand that there may be things you cannot say again because it brings back memories but do not say the wrong thing just say “God is faithful”. You may not be able to say ‘the job is mine’ again because it has been taken. Instead you say ‘through my prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus, according to my earnest expectations and hope, in nothing shall I be ashamed but as always right now Christ shall be magnified in my body for I know that this shall turn to my salvation… and ”… when men say there is a casting down I declare there is a lifting up…”
Pastor ‘Poju Oyemade