The

Tongue Trap
1st Printing - August, 1999
eISBN-13: 978-9-78294-770-3
©1999 The Battle Cry Christian
Ministries
322, Herbert Macaulay Way,
Yaba P O Box 12272, Ikeja, Lagos
Website www.battlecryng.com
email, [email protected]
Phone 2348033044239, 01-8044415

I salute my wonderful wife, Pastor Shade, for her invaluable support in

the ministry.

I appreciate her unquantifiable support in the book ministry as the cover

designer, art editor and art adviser.
All Scripture quotation is from the King James Version of the Bible

All rights reserved.

We prohibit reproduction in whole or part without written permission.
 CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright & Permissions

Chapter One • The tongue trap
THE POWER OF THE TONGUE
MAJOR DEMONS OF THE TONGUE
THE IRREPARABLE LOSS
THE CHARACTER OF THE GOSSIP
ESCAPING THE TONGUE TRAP
A GREAT LESSON
PRAYER POINTS

Chapter Two • Tongue under bondage

A PASSPORT TO HELL
HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE TONGUE UNDER BONDAGE
DEMONIC INFLUENCE
SOLUTION
POSITIVE / NEGATIVE STATEMENTS
POSITIVE CONFESSION
FREEDOM FROM BONDAGE
PRAYER POINTS

Chapter Three • Forces of self-destruction

POWER OF SELF – DESTRUCTIVE FORCES
VERBAL MURDER
EVIL WORDS BRING EVIL SPIRITS
SOLUTION
 PRAYER POINTS

Chapter Four • Power against verbal diseases

WORDS IN THE SCRIPTURES
TYPES OF WORDS IN THE SCRIPTURES
WHAT WORDS CAN DO
AFRICAN PRAISE NAMES
VERBAL DISEASES
OTHER VERBAL DISEASES
STEPS TO HEALING
PRAYER POINTS

Chapter Five • The strife of tongues

POWER BEHIND WORDS
CAUSES OF STRIFE OF TONGUES IN AFRICA
HOW TO COUNTER-ATTACK STRIFE OF TONGUES
PRAYER POINTS

Chapter Six • Holiness and the tongue

IMPORTANT FACTS
PRAYER POINTS

Chapter Seven • The tongue of power

KING UZZIAH
STEPS TO RECEIVE POWER

Chapter Eight • The madness of the mind

THE SYMPTOMS OF MADNESS OF THE MIND
SATANIC SUGGESTIONS
THE MIND OF MAN AND DEMONIC MANIPULATIONS
CONSCIOUS AND SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND
ATTACK AGAINST THE MIND
WAY OUT
PRAYER POINTS
Chapter Nine • Spiritual diagnosis of the mind
TYPES OF HEART IDENTIFIED BY JESUS
THE RIGHT MIND
HOW TO DELIVER THE MIND
PRAYER POINTS

Chapter Ten • Deliverance of the mind

CATEGORIES OF DELIVERANCE CANDIDATE
PRAYER POINTS

Chapter Eleven • This Is war

A. POWER AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF CONFUSION
B. POWER AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF MIND DESTRUCTION
C. DELIVERANCE FROM UNCONTROLLABLE THOUGHTS
D. CASTING DOWN IMAGINATIONS
E. PULLING DOWN STRONGHOLDS OF IMAGINATION
F. AUTHORITY AGAINST MIND CONTROLLING SPIRIT
G. PARALYSING THE STRONGMAN WORKING AGAINST THE
MIND
H. LOCATING HIDDEN TREES IN THE MIND
I. POWER AGAINST EVERY SPIRIT OF UNCERTAINTY
J. SPIRIT OF MIND BLINDNESS
K. SPIRIT OF DEATH AND HELL
L. SPIRIT OF MIND WASTAGE
M. DELIVERANCE FROM FRAGMENTED MIND
Other Books By Dr. D. K. Olukoya

Backcover
1
The Tongue Trap
The women fellowship of a very large church invited me to one of the
most well attended programmes in the history of that church.

The women embarked on a massive publicity drive and invited several
men and women. The women were so excited about the programme that
they put their best into the planning. Most of them succeeded in getting
their husbands to attend the programme. Although most of those
husbands were extremely busy executives who had no time for the
church, yet, they came in large numbers. The women felt that the
opportunity of having me as the guest speaker was going to be used by
God to usher peace into homes which were at the verge of collapse.

True to their expectations, God brought signs and wonders and

transformed several homes through the instrumentality of the word of
God and warfare prayers. However, God brought out lots of startling
revelations concerning the lives of the women who attended the
programme. About a dozen women came to see me for personal prayer
and counselling. They felt that they needed more help in spite of the fact
that we had spent a quality time doing aggressive warfare for the peace,
stability and progress of the homes which were represented in that
congregation. I decided to give them more personal help since they
appeared desperate concerning their needs.

The first woman came in and spent a long time complaining about her
husband and her undesirable home condition. However, I did not only
listen to her I also took time to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. I
waited patiently for her to finish her long story. What the Lord told me ran
contrary to what she was saying.
 The Holy Spirit told me that the woman was caged by her mouth. I told
her that I understood what she said. "I told her "Madam your problem is a
very simple one. Your problems will be solved immediately you run your
mouth through a session of deliverance." "I don't understand what you
are saying," she said. I called one of my assistants and asked him to
explain further to her.

The second woman came in and spent a long time expressing what
she felt was her problem to me. As usual, I listened to her long winding
story. The Holy Spirit also told me that the problem of the second woman
was her tongue.
The case of the third woman was the most pathetic. Again, her problem
bordered on her home. The Lord opened my eyes when I was praying for
her. There was a hole at the centre of her lips and a rope was attached to
it. The long rope was used to pull her by a terrible looking giant. After
praying I told her, "A wicked strongman is after your life. However, the
strongman is succeeding because of your wrong use of your mouth."

At the end of that counseling section, I discovered that most of the
women had brought problems into their homes through careless use of
their tongues.

THE POWER OF THE TONGUE

The Bible says in

Prov. 18.7: A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the
snare of his soul.
This passage shows us that the mouth can be destructive. The lips can
also become a trap, which will not only catch the body but will also catch
the soul. The Bible concludes that all those who do not know how to
make use of their mouths are fools.

 The psalmist knows the type of awesome power that resides in the
tongue. That is why he prayed, "Set a watch O Lord before my mouth.
Keep the door of my lips" (Psalm 141: 3). The psalmist called upon God
to set a watch over his tongue because he knew that the tongue is
capable of causing great damage If it is allowed to run loose.

What lesson can we learn from these Bible passages?

1. A discussion is an exchange of knowledge while an arguments
an exchange of ignorance. It becomes clear, therefore, that people will
achieve more positive results in life, If they do more of discussion than
argument. If you remove argument from the home, more than half of
family problems will be over.

2. The voice of silence is the loudest. There are times when you get
your best result by keeping quiet. There was a particular man in the
Bible, who did not want to keep his mouth shut. Zechariah would have
achieved wonderful results if he had kept quiet. His speech made the
angel to tell him that he was going to be dumb for a season. Zechariah
lost his speech and had to use his hand to gesticulate. Therefore, silence
does not make you foolish. Silence sometimes makes you wise.
Remember the Bible says, "A fool's mouth is his own destruction."

3. Your ears function better when your mouth is shut. If you are
going to spend your time talking all the time, you will not be able to hear
what others are saying.

4. Wisdom is saying nothing when there is nothing to say. It is not

compulsory that you must always have something to say. You don't have
to pass comment on everything that happens around you. I came across
two middle-aged women when I was a student several years ago. The
two women ran their mouth loose on everything they saw in the street.
They abused everyone who came across their way. They passed
sarcastic comments on everyone; either the people were friends or total
strangers.

 5. You are no longer a controller of words once the words are
spoken. Once a statement is uttered, you no longer have any control
over it. The Bible says, "Life and death are in the power of the tongue."

6. He who gossips to you will gossip about you.

7. He who speaks is sowing, he who listens is reaping. This shows

that it is better to listen than to speak.
8. A wise person talks less and thinks more. He does not waste his
words.

9. An average person spends about one fifth of his lifetime talking.

Research has shown that an average man speaks some 25,000 words
per day, while the average woman speaks some 50,000 words per day.
10. Just as a reckless driver can cause terrible damage, a reckless
tongue can also cause destruction.

11. Gossiping and lying go hand in hand.

12. If you say nothing, nobody will repeat it.

13. If you refuse to listen to gossip, no gossip will be spread.

14. The tongue can determine your spiritual health. If you are sick
spiritually, your tongue will betray the condition of your health

15. What has taken you years to do can be destroyed by the

tongue in a few seconds.

16. Many stories change for the worse when people keep on
repeating them.
17. The tongue has caused us more trouble than any other organ
in the body.
18. Your little tongue can kill or make alive. Why don't you say this
to yourself, "My tongue will not kill me, in the name of Jesus."

The tongue has destroyed a lot of people. When last did you say
something unkind to someone?
When last did you say something that turned put to be untrue of
another person? When last did you run somebody down with what you
said? When last did you regret. something which you said?

When last did you help to spread gossip? When last did you engage in
an angry outburst? When last did you exaggerate stories which you did
not confirm?
When last did you use God's name in vain? When last did you wish that
you have remained silent?

The bottom line of what I have said so far is that the tongue has
trapped many people.

It is unfortunate that many people have been trapped through their

tongues. If you try to stick out your tongue it will come out as a serpent.

Somebody asked an old sage, "Sir, what is the most risky thing in the
world?" "The tongue," he said. He was asked the second question, "What
is the most harmful thing in the world?" "The tongue", he said. The old
man, around 100 years, must have talked out of a series of experience.
He knew that the tongue is capable of doing the most terrible thing, as
well as the most wonderful thing on earth.

MAJOR DEMONS OF THE TONGUE

The tongue can be very destructive and unless you learn how to control
it, that little member of your body can set your life on fire. The tongue will
be set on fire after it has succeeded in setting the entire body on fire. You
must allow God to control your tongue.

There are some demons that make the human tongue their abode.
These evil spirits have built mansions in the tongue.

The tongue has no respect for anybody. What then are the major
demons of the tongue? I shall enumerate them.
Lying. Lying is one of the, principal demons that operate in the human
tongue. Lying has become so rampant today that many so-called
Christians are now chief liars. It was not so in the good old days. Those
days, whenever men and women were to be appointed to sensitive
positions in banks and other important establishments, they normally
approached church leaders to recommend trusted Christians to fill such
positions. Today, the story has changed. The born again man is the first
to lie, steal and cheat.

The kind of lies which some people tell today, are no longer ordinary
ones. Listen to some people and you will be sure that there is a demonic
force behind the lies they tell.

Negative speech. Another activity of the satanic demon, which

operates through the tongue, is negative speech. A lot of people today
are addicted to speaking negative words. Such people do not say
anything that is positive.

Boasting and bragging. Many people are allowing demonic spirits to
oppress them by boasting and bragging.
Talkativeness. There are people today who can surpass parrots in
talking. They are controlled by demon of talkativeness. The devil
influences them to keep on talking even when there is no reason to say
anything.

Being hasty in speech. There are people who do not think before they
speak. Such people start giving you an answer before you finish asking
your question. They are so hasty that it is clear that they are influenced
by the power of hell.
Immorality. That is another demon of the tongue. Many peoples lips
are filled with immoral words, They make all kinds of statements that
dwell on immorality.

Using Gods name in vain. That is another area of demonic influence.

Slander. A lot of people utter false statements and give false reports
about friends or neighbours. Their purpose is to destroy the reputation of
the people they are talking about.

Backbiting. Many people today speak evil against people in their
absence. The Bible says, "In many things we offend all. If any man offend
not in word, the same is a perfect man and also able to bridle the whole
body" (James 3: 1). Therefore, ability to control your tongue is a sign of
perfection.

Gossip. This is destructive. However, many people cherish it.

THE IRREPARABLE LOSS

Many people are fond of gossiping. A lot of people today are incurable
gossips. The only time such people detest gossip is when other people
are gossiping about them.

A young man went everywhere speaking against a man of God. He

became sorry, later, for what he had done and decided to make amends.
He approached the man of God and expressed regret over spreading
gossip about him. The man of God said that he would surely forgive the
young man. However, he told him that he had one assignment for him
before pronouncing total forgiveness. The young man became excited
and told the man of God that he was ready to comply with whatever he
would be told to do.

The man of God instructed him to get some feathers and go from door
to door, placing a feather at each door step until the entire community
was covered.
 The young man was eager to receive complete forgiveness from the
man of God. He ran to get some feathers and spent days adorning
doorsteps with feathers of various colours and sizes. He ran back to the
man of God and said, Sir, Ive finished the assignment. Can I now receive
your forgiveness? The man of God said, Wait a minute. Youve not
finished carrying out my assignment. Now, go and bring all the feathers
back to my house.

This young man became confused. He told the man of God that, that
will not be possible. Sir, the wind would have blown off almost all the
feathers. I dont think it is possible for anyone to gather the feathers
again. Then the young man realised that the man of God was teaching
him a lesson. He realised that just as it was impossible to gather the
feathers, it is also impossible to correct all the wrong impression which
you must have given people as a result of a gossip.

The evil seed that you sow when you gossip, the rumours you spread
when talking about things that are not edifying, cannot be uprooted. It will
grow into evil trees. It is Impossible to undo the damage which is done
when you allow yourself to be used by the devil to speak evil words.

THE CHARACTER OF THE GOSSIP

Who is a gossip? It is the person who goes around gossiping. The Bible
teaches that you must go to your brother and settle a quarrel with him
privately. If he falls to accept what you are saying, the Bible commands
you to take another believer with you and go to him for further settlement.
If he refuses further settlement you have another option. You can go
ahead and take the case to the church. If he refuses to hear the church,
the Bible still commands you to regard him as an unbeliever who needs
prayer. The Bible does not give you any allowance to gossip about
somebody who offends you.
Those who are misusing their tongues are heading towards hell fire.
The Bible commands us, Thou shall not go up and down as a tail bearer
among thy people (Lev. 19: 16).

The Bible also tells us that God does not want any of His children to go
about as a talebearer. The Bible says, "Whoso privily slandereth his
neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart
will not I suffer" (Psalm 101:5).
Gossip is for people who are not spiritually minded. It is for people who
lack brotherly love those who hate others.

Gossip is for idle people. It is a vice which must not be found among
Gods people.
This message is from the heart of God. Gossip has done untold
damage in the church and in the world. Men and women have caused
terrible damages through gossiping and backbiting.

Once the devil discovers that your tongue is loose, he will make use of
it to introduce problems into your life. The problem of the tongue is so
deadly, that all serious Christians must destroy its evil influence. You
must tame your tongue and cultivate that habit of putting it to a positive
use.

ESCAPING THE TONGUE TRAP

How then can we escape the tongue trap? Here are the steps.
Know the dangers inherent in the misuse of the tongue. The Bible
makes it very clear that liars shall end up in hell fire. Gossips shall also
end in hell fire. Lying, backbiting and slander will lead you to hell fire. It
will be tragic, for you not to get to heaven simply because you cannot
control one of the smallest members of your body. You must remember
that the Bible states that death and life are in the power of the tongue.

I once read about a white woman who was always fond of saying "O,
my poor legs," each time she woke up in the morning. That was what she
kept on saying everyday. She eventually ended up with an attack of
arthritis on those legs. She was the one who put a curse on herself with
her own mouth.

When someone says, "I can't make it." This is the worst season of my
life. "Everything around me has turned upside down." "I'm in a bundle of
affliction." "I'm tired of myself," etc. Such a person is programming evil
into his life through the spoken word.

Winston Churchill was one of the most popular Prime Ministers. He
found himself in the midst of a group of people who were gossiping about
him. They said "Winston Churchill is growing old. He has become senile.
He should leave the place in order to give room to another person."
Churchill allowed them to say all that they had in mind. Then, he turned
to them and said "Did anyone tell you he is deaf?"

People allow their tongues to become loose as a result of anger. If you

are loose with your tongue, God will not put secrets into your hands. A lot
of people complain that they are not hearing from God. How can God
speak to them when they are busy talking all the time?

Recognise that the misuse of the tongue is a problem of the heart.

The Bible says,

Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the
tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his
fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good
things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh (Matt.12:33 34).

The problem of the misuse of the tongue can be traced to the heart.

Understand why God gave you a tongue. If you do not know the use
of some equipment, you may end up misusing them. Why did God give
you a tongue? He gave you a tongue so that you can use it to glorify His
name. Your tongue should rejoice, give glory to God and communicate
His love and power to men and women.
 Confess your sins, receive cleansing and forgiveness. Settle every
sin that borders on the misuse of the tongue.

Refuse to yield your tongue to the devil. Do not allow the devil to
use your tongue to spread his evil propaganda.

Minister deliverance on your tongue. If your tongue keeps on putting

you into trouble, call the fire of God upon it in order to purify it. Ask all the
demons on your tongue to depart.
You must ask yourself the following questions before you open
your mouth to say anything:
i Is it true?
ii Do I need to say it?
iii Will it do any good to anybody if I say it?
iv Will Jesus say it?
v Is it helpful?
vi Is it edifying?
vii Is it kind?
viii Is it necessary?
If the answers to these questions are no, then you must keep your
mouth shut. If you take this as a rule of life you will not listen to any
statement made by anyone if such a person is not ready to repeat what
he has said in the presence of the affected person. If you listen to
gossips or rumour, you will end up receiving the same judgement as the
person who' is responsible for spreading the rumour.

A GREAT LESSON
A pastor who arrived in his new station decided to teach people the
greatest lessons of their lives by discouraging rumours and gossips.
incidentally, I had warned the pastor to refrain from those who spread
gossip and rumours.
 As soon as he landed in his new post, one of the members came to his
counseling office with the intention of spreading some gossips. She said,
"Pastor, I just come to share a very useful information with you. Do you
know what sister 'A' has been doing to her husband?" She wanted to
continue spreading the rumour when the pastor stopped her saying, "Let
me ask you a question before you continue? How many times have you
prayed for the sister?" The member could not answer. The pastor simply
ordered her out of his office.

Another member came to see him with another brand of rumour and
said, "Have you heard about what Brother B did?" Again the pastor did
not allow him to go far before he said How many minutes have you spent
praying for him? The person could not answer him. That was how the
Pastor walked out the second man. A number of other members kept on
coming to spread rumours and gossips. He kept on showing every one of
them the exit door.

What do you think would have happened, if that Pastor had

encouraged the members who came to spread rumours or gossips?

Do you listen to rumours and useless information? Do you speak evil
words? Do you listen to words of those who gossip? If you are fond of
speaking and listening to destructive words about other people you are
committing murder.
Do you speak when you are supposed to keep quiet? Do you speak
words, which will condemn you on the day of judgement?

You must repent today. It would be disastrous if you end up in hell fire
because you cannot control your tongue.
How terrible will it be if when you approach the gate of life you were
told, "Sorry, you cannot enter this place. Your tongue is dirty." You will
have no one to blame If you allow yourself to be trapped by your tongue.
You must repent before the Lord if you dont want your tongue to lead you
to hell fire. You must go to God in prayer and tell Him that you are sorry
for all the ungodly words, which you spoke to men and women.

PRAYER POINTS

1. I release myself form every cage of the tongue, in the name of

Jesus.
2. My tongue will not send me to hell fire, in the name of Jesus.
3. Holy Spirit, control my tongue, in the name of Jesus.
4. I reverse every curse that I issued upon my own life with my own
tongue, in the name of Jesus.
5. O Lord, let my tongue bring forth life.
6. Everything deposited against me in the ground, be roasted, in the
name of Jesus.
7. I dismantle every covenant of poverty, in the name of Jesus.
8. I am rising up, no power shall pull me down, in the name of Jesus.
(Pray this prayer point with all you heart.)
9. O Lord, rearrange failure out of my life.
10. Every power holding evil meetings against me, O God, arise and
scatter them, in the name of Jesus.
2
Tongue under Bondage
The tongue is one of the most powerful parts of the body, which is
capable of doing much good or much evil.

Mark 7:35 describes clearly the power of the tongue:
And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his
tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.

God has deposited lots of powers and ability into the lives of men and
women. Some of the most important powers include the power of
imagination, power of creativity, power of responsibility, power to labour
and get rewards, power to exercise dominion, power to subdue other
creatures, power to pursue and overtake enemies and recover what they
stole from you, power to pull down and root out all evil things and build
good things.

These are examples of the type of power which God has given to man.

When Jesus came on the scene he began to give power to teach, to

heal, to witness and to deliver men and women. Jesus specifically stated
that he came to give us power to do greater things than He did. However,
all the power which is given by God to mankind is tied to the spoken
word.

These powers become effective when you begin to speak out through
your mouth. That is why most of the problems which men and women
have today can be traced to the fact that their tongues are under
bondage.
 THE SATANIC WEAPON

Many tongues are under bondage today. Apostle James highlights the
importance of the tongue and shows us that if we are under bondage in
the area of the tongue the totality of our lives are under bondage.

I want you to pay attention to the statements which James made

through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We need to pay a particular
attention, today, to the fact that the reason many peoples prayers are
unanswered can be traced to the fact that the human tongue has been
used by the devil to lead men and women into bondage.

James 1:26: If any man among you seem to be r religious, and

bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's
religion is vain.

The Bible teaches that all those who do not know how to control their
tongues will end up with divine condemnation.
James further states:

My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall

receive the greater condemnation (James 3:1).

This passage teaches that If you are able to control your tongue, you
will be able to control the whole of your body.

Let us read further from verse 3 to 12:

Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey
us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships,
which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds,
yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever
the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and
boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire
kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the
tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and
setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of
things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
 But the tongue can no man tame; It is an unruly evil, full of
deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and
therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of
God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing.
My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain
send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig
tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can
no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

Although the tongue is a tiny member, it can start a very big flame.

The tongue has destroyed many families, wrecked companies,
destroyed nations and brought communities into utter desolation.

The tongue is the most dangerous member of the human body.

Perhaps, God knew the danger inherent in the human tongue, that is
why He gave you two eyes, two nostrils, two ears and one mouth.
Nobody will desire to have two mouths because of the power of the
single tongue, which he has in his mouth. 1m sure you already know that
you have more than enough problems with the single mouth which God
has given to you. I wonder what will happen if you begin to have two
tongues.

A PASSPORT TO HELL
Your tongue can be used to serve God and it can also be used to serve
the devil.
The tongue is a very effective passport to hell fire. If you cannot control
your tongue, it will control you. Many lives would have become wonderful
and glorious if at a particular stage in their lives they became dumb like
prophet Zechariah.

If the problem of the tongue could be removed from the lives of men
and women, such lives would become wonderful beyond comparism.
When your tongue is under the control of God you will speak godly
words. However, if your tongue is under the control of the devil you will
speak satanic words.

Human lives are shaped and controlled by the tongue.
What you are going through in your life today is as a result of the kind
of words you spoke previously. That is why God created seven openings
in the human body and restricted the seventh one to a single opening
and it has caused more problems than all the other openings put
together.

The tongue can control circumstances surrounding every human being.

The children of the devil who practice black magic depend on the
tongue to carry out their activities. That explains why they do not joke
about the power of the tongue. A lot of Christians are killing themselves
daily with their tongue.

The Bible says,

Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of
the LORD. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many
days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy
lips from speaking guile (Psalm 34:11-13).

The fear of the Lord is demonstrated by exercising restraint and control

over the tongue. In other words, the fear of the Lord starts from the
tongue. Once you exercise control over your mouth, you are assured of
the fact that you will see good days.

Provo 13:3 says,

He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth
wide his lips shall have destruction.
A lot of people's lives are as if they are ignorant of this passage. Such
people open their mouth wide and utter anything that comes to their
mind.

The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about the problems of the
tongue. Again it says,

Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from
troubles (Prov 21:23).
Exactly the same thing is said in Proverbs 15: 14:

The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge:

but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.
This passage reveals that the most dangerous activity anyone can get
into is to indulge in using the mouth wrongly.

The most powerful commentary on the subject of the tongue can be
found in Proverbs 18:21.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it
shall eat the fruit thereof.

Many people are in the dark today concerning the mystery of the tongue.
The totality of your life rises or falls on your tongue. That is why it is
important for your tongue to come under the control of the Holy Spirit.
Since the tongue is capable of controlling other members of the body you
must ensure it is placed under divine control. This explains why the
believer begins to speak in tongues when the Holy Ghost comes upon
him.

If God can control your life through your tongue, you will begin to please
God. If God is unable to control your tongue, your life will become a
bundle of sin and confusion. One secret which you ought to know is this:
what you say with your tongue will eventually happen to you sooner or
later. If you say bad things against yourself, your entire body will record it.
It will come into manifestation sooner or later.

The question you ought to answer, therefore, is "Is my tongue under

bondage?"

HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE TONGUE UNDER

BONDAGE
It is very easy to know whether your tongue is under bondage. You
must watch certain signals.

Excessive talking. If you come across someone who speaks 200

words per minute such a person has a great problem.

If you came across a group of people and only one of them
overshadows all others through her voice such a person needs the
deliverance of the tongue.
The Bible says,

In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that

refraineth his lips is wise (Prov 10:19).

If you are superfluous in your speech you have a serious problem to

solve.

Idle or careless words. Your tongue is under bondage if you speak
idle or careless words. If you spend your time gossiping and backbiting,
you are under demonic influence.
Have you become a broadcasting officer for the devil? The Bible says,

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy

people: ... (Lev 19:16).
Those who gossip are doing the devil's work.

Lying. Some people are experts in lying. It is strange that Christians
also tell lies. A lying tongue needs deliverance.
 Being hasty in speech. A lot of people operate as if they were driven
by a demonic force. They are quick to speak and slow to hear.

The Bible says,

They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill
with Moses for their sakes: Because they provoked his spirit, so
that he spake unadvisedly with his lips (Ps 106:32 -33).
Do you speak unadvisedly like Moses? Are you hasty to make ungodly
statement?

Swearing and cursing. This is an evidence of the presence of

demonic powers at the tip of your tongue. The Bible says

But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is
God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by
Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou
swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white
or black (Matt 5:34-36).

The apostle Peter also tells us,

For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his
tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: (1 Pet
3:10).

Many believers speak the language of hell today. If you use abusive
language on human beings created by God you are demonstrating the
fact that your tongue is under satanic influence. Some people curse
themselves whenever anything happens to them. Such people are under
some evil influence.

DEMONIC INFLUENCE
Through chanting of incantations. Let me make this important
statement. If your parent taught you how to chant incantations before you
gave your life to Christ, you need to go through the deliverance of the
tongue. You must allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to neutralise the effect of
the evil incantations. Those incantations made you to invoke powers of
darkness. Your life cannot be freed from demonic influence if you fail to
remove the effect of such deadly incantations from your life.

Through negative recitation of the book of Psalms. You also have a

lot of work to do if you used to recite the book of Psalms. They tell people
to recite a particular psalm seven times and call the name of the
counterfeit angels 21 times. This is a sign of being under bondage. The
Bible does not ask anyone to pray in the name of any angel.

Through singing the praise of idols. If you used your tongue to sing
the praise of idols before you became born-again, you must run yourself
through serious deliverance. That is why such people generally find it
difficult to receive baptism of the Holy Spirit. When we minister the Holy
Ghost to some people and they are encouraged to speak in tongues such
people say "I cant. My tongue is heavy." That is an evidence of being
under bondage.
Through oral sex. Some people have invited demons into their lives
by going into oral sex. Demons easily come into the lives of men and
women who indulge in oral sex.

Through drinking of strange drinks. Others have put their tongues
under bondage, by drinking strange local herbs or the so-called holy
water from white garment churches. Sharing ritual drinks with others
during demonic meetings also leads to bondage. Licking charms, eating
'holy' salt and sharing cigarettes will also lead to bondage.

Through speaking of foolish things. You speak foolish things and tell
lies as if lying has been programmed into your life. Some people are
ashamed to witness to others about Christ. They always talk about the
negative side of things. They don't say anything positive. When people
who have problems come to them, they increase the problem of their
tongues.

Some people stammer when they were not born that way. Others were
not born with the tendency to exaggerate but they begin to exaggerate
because they are under demonic influence.

SOLUTION
What then is the solution to the problem of the bondage of the tongue?

Your tongue needs healing and deliverance. Some people are under
compulsive evil habits because their tongues are under bondage. A
deliverance minister may have to lay his hand on the tongue of this
category of people.

Confession. You must recognise your spiritual need and be ready to
accept the fact that you need deliverance. Even if you are a minister or a
respected Christian worker, be truthful with yourself. One of the basic
facts of your existence is that you will obtain what you confess with your
mouth. If you speak negative words to yourself you will get negative
result. You cannot create positive things.

If you talk positively all the time, you will always be surrounded by good
things.

POSITIVE / NEGATIVE STATEMENTS

How then can you begin to use your tongue positively? What does your
attitude to life look like? Are you fond of making negative statements like
"I'm sick". "My life is filled with troubles." "I have lots of problems?" Such
negative statements must give way to positive ones. But if you continue
to make negative statements you will end up multiplying your problems.

Some of our ministers went to minister somewhere in Nigeria. A woman

came requesting for help from them. They began to pray for her. All of a
sudden, they discovered that she was not closing her eyes. They told her
to close her eyes. She said, "Pastor, my situation is beyond prayer." That
woman did not know the implication of what she was saying.

Others refuse to exercise faith in God when someone prays with them.
They say, "I appreciate the fact that you have prayed for me. However, I
want the strongest person here to pray for me. Any other prayer wont
work." Such people are making a negative confession. If you continue to
talk that way, the devil will continue to make your problems to be resistant
to prayer.
Why don't you begin from now to think positively about everything
around you? Think positively about your business, your future and
everything around you. Instead of complaining, begin to say "It is well."
"All things shall work together for my good." "I shall make it." "I have
nothing to do with failure." Begin to practise speaking positive words
about yourself and your situation for the next seven days and you will end
up with lots of testimonies.

It is easy for people to give up whenever the devil challenges their
prayers. Instead of saying, "I have been to that church and nothing
seemed to have changed in my life," you must give verbal expression to
your faith if you want it to bring results. Don't keep what you believe in
your heart, speak it out. Boldly confess what you believe in your spirit for
the devil and fellow human beings to hear.

Positive confession is an important part of the Christian life. There are

three main things, which the believer can confess:

1. You can confess what the Lord has done in your life.
2. You can confess what the lord is doing for you.

3. You can confess what the lord is going to do for you.

The Lord has done a lot of things in your life. He has made you a new
creature. He has sanctified you. He has given you the baptism of the
Holy Spirit. You must confess all these.
 The Bible says,

Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they
shall eat the fruit of their doings (Isa 3:10).

Confess the word of the Lord and disregard whatever any prophet says
to you if his prophecy runs contrary to the word of God.
The Bible says,

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD,
thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end
(Jer 29:11).
Therefore, you must make use of your tongue in a positive way.
Declare what God is saying about you with your lips.

Do not help the devil to broadcast what he is saying to you. Do not
agree with symptoms of sicknesses which you are feeling in your body.
Do not help the devil to broadcast what he is saying to you. Do not help
human beings to broadcast their evil desires concerning your life. Keep
saying what the Lord has said about you.

There is a very interesting story. Jerome was one of the most respected
pioneers of the Christian faith who lived in one of the earliest centuries of
church history. He was so vehement in his denunciation of false doctrine
that he attracted a lot of hatred towards himself.

Jerome took ill and lay on a sick bed for a very long time. The enemies,
those who were teaching false doctrines, began to rejoice thinking that he
was going to die. They sent a delegate to him asking him to reconsider
his stand. They even mocked him, saying that those of them who were
labelled as teachers of false doctrine were not attacked by that type of
sickness. They spent a long time deriding and mocking him. Jerome
allowed them to say everything they had in their minds. When it appeared
that they had concluded their funny statements, he gathered all his
strength and roared with a loud voice: "I shall not die but live to declare
the works of God." The heretics ran out of his room.
POSITIVE CONFESSION
The psalmist says, "I believe therefore have I spoken." You must
verbalise your faith.

The woman with the issue of blood got her miracle through her
confession for she said, "If I touch the helm of his garment I shall be
made whole." She took a step of faith and she became healed. Jesus
immediately felt that someone had drawn healing virtue out of Him. Jesus
told her "Thy faith has made thee whole."

You must maintain what God has said about you. Untimely death is
contrary to God's plan for your life. You have to confess this. You cannot
become a victim of satanic attack unless you allow the enemy to catch
you through sin.

Confession brings possession. Negative confession and silence will

bring trouble. There are people who avoid aggressive prayer. Such
people prefer, silent prayer, They specialise in prayers that cannot affect
the devil. Aggressive prayer is the only form of prayer that can move the
mountains of your life away.

The Bible says,

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of
Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it (Ps 81:10).
People who think they are praying quietly, are only busy meditating
upon their problems. Open your mouth wide and pray aggressively. Do
not allow your thoughts to determine what your mouth says.

This reminds me of what we used to do when I was in the primary
school many years ago. The first 30 minutes which we spent in the class,
was always the hottest. If we stood up to greet our teachers in a sluggish
manner by saying, "Good morning ... s... i..r," the teacher would ask us to
remain on our feet and close our eyes. He would ask us to recite the
multiplication table. Then, we would start in a chorus like this "2 x 1=2, 2
x 2=4, 2 x 3=6 ...," The teacher would walk round the classroom with his
cane in his hand. If you miss it the cane would land on your body, and
you would be brought out for other punishments.

The manner with which our teacher handled us compelled almost

everyone of us to master the multiplication table. Most students would
behave unresponsively if teachers are not strict with them.

If God wants you to develop yourself and you refuse, He will resort to
the use of disciplinary measures to force you to conform to the divine
shape, If you don't want to learn certain things when the situation is very
simple, God will make you to learn them in very tough circumstances.

The practice of consistently making the right confessions is both

effective and powerful. You must maintain your confession even if what
your senses were telling you seemed to run contrary to what God is
saying to you.

If you need healing from God, you must disregard what the symptoms
of the sickness are saying and hold on to the word of God.

What do you do if you have financial needs? You must confess the
word of God. You must tell yourself, "My God shall supply all my needs
according to His riches in Christ Jesus."

If the devil is trying to plague your heart with fear, you must tell yourself:
"God has not given me the spirit of fear but of love, of power and of a
sound mind.
The Bible says,

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;

(for he is faithful that promised;) (Heb 10:23).
A lot of things will try to shake you UP, but you must hold on to your
faith. Victory is sure, provided you are able to hold on to your confession.
Your tongue cannot be under bondage as long as you keep on
confessing the word of God.

The tongue needs to be changed. The only thing that can tame the
tongue is the word of God. That is why the Bible says,

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou
shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe
to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt
make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good
success (Josh 1:8).

Do not allow the word of God to depart from your mouth. If you talk
about problems, your life will be filled with difficulties. If you talk about
sickness you will get sick. If you talk about poverty you will be poor. If you
confess fear, you will continue to experience problems and failure.

FREEDOM FROM BONDAGE

Finally, you must remember that your tongue can bring you into the
best condition in life and it can also bring you into the worst condition in
life.

The Bible says,

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love
it shall eat the fruit thereof (Prov 18:21).
Again the Bible says,

Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken
with the words of thy mouth (Prov 6:2).

This passage shows that the word of your mouth can be taken and
used as a trap against you. If your tongue has been trapped, you must
seek freedom today.

 You must also go ahead to ask the Lord to enable you to tame your
tongue. Do not forget that what you are going through today came into
your life as a result of what you have been saying to yourself. If you want
to experience dramatic changes in your life, you must align your words
with the word of God.

The Bible says,

But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and
in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved (Rom 10:8-9).

What I want to say at this point is that just as you got yourself into
bondage through your tongue, you must also go ahead to lead yourself
into freedom and deliverance through your tongue.

You must cancel all the negative things which you have said about your
life. Remember that no situation is beyond repair, if you can make use of
your tongue in a positive manner. Nobody can say that you are finished
when you decide to make use of the power of the tongue positively.

I may not know what you are going through right now but I am sure of
the fact that your tongue can take you out of the worst situation into the
best situation.

You can speak and move from poverty to prosperity, from trouble to
peace, from sickness to health, from failure to success, from weakness to
strength and from the valley to the mountain top.
Cultivate the habit of speaking positive words. Verbalise the conditions
which you desire in your heart Change your life through the word of God.
Set your tongue free from all kinds of bondage. Say bye bye to physical
and spiritual bondage. let God set your tongue free. Don't allow the devil
to change your tongue into a weapon of destruction. Surrender your
tongue to God let Him convert it into a mighty instrument for your utmost
good and for the advancement of His kingdom on earth.

PRAYER POINTS

1. Father lord, let Your anointing fall upon me now, in the name of
Jesus.
2. You negative high places, that my tongue has built, I command you
to be destroyed, in the name of Jesus.
3. Father, in the name of Jesus, go back to the time that I started using
my tongue and let every negative high place I have built with it be
destroyed by fire.
4. Father, in the name of Jesus, loose my tongue from every bondage.
5. Father, in the name of Jesus, I withdraw all the negative confessions
that I have made with my mouth.
6. Every dry bone of blessings in my life, I command you to loose your
hold, in the name of Jesus.
7. Father, in the name of Jesus, promote my affairs from miracles to
wonders.
3
Forces of Self-destruction
You will agree with me that it is easier to destroy than to build. The
Bible says:

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly (John 10:10).

That devil is a destroyer. He releases the forces of destruction upon

men, women and children.

A lot of people destroy themselves by receiving the spirit of destruction
from the devil. Jesus knew that the devil had released the spirit of
destruction into the world. That was why He came to destroy such wicked
forces. The Bible says:

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from
the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that he might destroy the works of the devil (I Jn 3:8).

The word of God tells us that Jesus came to destroy the works of the
devil.

When the spirit of destruction is sent against a person, that spirit can
destroy a number of things.
Some destructive spirits attack the human mind. Those who suffer from
the problems initiated by the forces of destruction can be led into
confusion and outright madness. The mind will be so confused that the
victim will not know what he is doing. When somebodys mind is under
bondage he will not be able to enjoy wholesomeness.

There is also the spirit of destruction of finances. This spirit leads to
poverty, lack, debt, financial failure, leaking pockets and financial
embarrassment. The spiritwill gradually destroy one's finances.
There is the spirit of body destruction. It destroys the body through
sickness, mysterious diseases and all kinds of ailments.

There is the spirit of marriage destruction. This spirit leads to
arguments, hatred, bad temper, fighting and separation or divorce. That
is why three out of five marriages collapse.
We were told, sometime ago, that some witches gathered themselves
together in South Africa and decided to fast for 200 days against
Christian homes. Their purpose was to release the spirit of marriage
destruction against Christian homes. These spirits are actually desperate;
they do everything to carry out their activities.

The spirit of family destruction has also been released by the devil.
That is why the spirit of death has continued to attack many families.
There are some families where their members always die before they are
40 years old. We have had cases of families where up to five people are
buried within one month. The spirit of family destruction is at work in such
families.
This same spirit is responsible for accidents. I once witnessed a ghastly
motor accident. A bus which was moving in front of our own vehicle
suddenly somersaulted. You can imagine what happened to the people
who were inside the bus. Here was a bus that was going smoothly
without any problem. I actually saw the bus and I was surprised when I
discovered that it tumbled within a very short time.

The spirit of family destruction also makes some men to get drunk until
they can no longer find their way home. That is an evidence of the
presence of the spirit of destruction in that person's life.
 All these spirits are junior forces when compared with the spirit of self-
destruction. The spirit of self-destruction makes people to be engaged in
self-destructive activities. It is a wonder of all wonders that somebody
could sit down, organise a battle against himself and begin to fight a war
against himself.

A lot of people are actually fighting serious battles against themselves.
Perhaps you have discovered that your life history has been punctuated
by disappointments, frustrations, tragedy and many situations that have
continued to baffle and confuse you.

The only explanation which can be given to the problems of self-

destruction is that there are some invisible forces busy working, to
determine ones destiny for good or for bad. If God could open your eyes
to see the number of evil spirits which are working against the lives of
men and women, you will be surprised. You will be more careful if God
should give you a revelation of what is actually happening in the world.

A fact which many people know nothing about is that there are lots of
dead people who are still living. There are multitudes of sick but active
people. There are many enlightened men and women who are mad.

POWER OF SELF – DESTRUCTIVE FORCES

One of the greatest powers which is available in the whole universe is
the power of words. Words can build and destroy. Words can create and
pull down. If you are able to control your words you will control every
other part of your body.
The devil is a fallen angel. He has no creative power. God did not give
the power of creation to him. For the devil to do any evil or to create bad
situations in the lives of men and women he has to rely on the power of
words which was given to man. He has to influence a man to speak and
manipulate the words to his own advantage. He has no creative power.

 Self-destructive forces have led many people to impose curses upon
themselves.

The forces of self-destruction are generally hidden. The words which

you speak about yourself have frightening power that will actually scare
you, if God would reveal to you how destructive the words are.

The Bible says:
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by
thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt
be condemned (Matt 12:36 -37).

Idle words

What are idle words? Idle words are words which are spoken
carelessly, without meditation. If you allow your words to come out
unchecked you have spoken an idle word. A lot of people speak some
words without thinking about the effect they are likely to have on them
and on others. Such words are idle or careless words. Jesus said that we
should give an account of every idle word.
Therefore, if you speak 1,000 idle words, you will stand before the
judgement seat of Christ and explain why you spoke them. Many of us
joke with idle words. Do you know that the fact that you really did not
mean what you said does not cancel the effect of such words, neither
does it release you from accountability?

As far as the Bible is concerned all idle words carry weight. If you really
face the standard of the Bible, you will discover that all the words which
you speak are seriously taken by God. God has not given you any room
to say what you do not mean, or what you dont want to account for. Once
words are spoken, they are spoken. The next stage is accountability.
That is why the Bible says:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,

slow to speak, slow to wrath: (James 1:19).
 God expects us to be economical and thrifty with our words. That is
why he gave us two eyes, two ears, two nostrils but one mouth. The Bible
says:

Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken
with the words of thy mouth (Prov 6:2).
This is a serious matter. You can be trapped or snared by the words of
your mouth. You must realise, today, that idle words are very costly. If you
speak idle words you will face the consequences, sooner or later.

Marriage vows
Recently, I had some personal experiences which made me to ask the
lord some deep questions. I became concerned, as a minister, and I had
to ask God some questions concerning Christian homes. I had to ask
God why there are so many unstable homes and why there are so many
partially married couples. I also asked the lord to reveal to me the secret
behind the problem of some sisters who are physically married but
spiritually divorced.

The lord gave me a shocker. He said, "Why don't you read through the
traditional marriage vows? Why not examine the words which people
pronounce during marriage ceremonies? Initially, what the lord told me
was not so clear in my spirit, I began to look for the type of marriage
vows which people generally make on the day of their wedding. let me
give you an example.
"I brother X take you, sister Y, to be my wedded wife. To have and to
hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer and for poorer,
in sickness and in health until death do us part."

Couples have made this pronouncement on themselves from time
immemorial. People make such statements without knowing that they are
speaking evil words which will affect their marriage sooner or later. True
to their confessions, better and worse, sickness and health and richer
and poorer, will mix together.
 Instead of pronouncing, from the first day of their wedding, that they are
going to stay together and expect sickness, worse conditions and poverty
and making negative confessions, why can't they pronounce positive
words upon themselves? If you read such a vow on your marriage day,
you must cancel, through prayer, every negative aspect of it. You can
vow to stay with your spouse in health, for better and in prosperity.

You are not the only one who read that kind of vow. I also read it that
way, several years ago. But thank God I have cancelled the negative
word which was part of that traditional vow. No wonder, those who make
up their minds saying that they will stay together for better or for worse
are not finding it easy at all. Things are actually getting worse. Those who
said for richer poorer are getting poorer, while those who said in sickness
and in health are getting sick. In most cases, it is the woman that suffers.

Most couples have gotten what they read on their marriage day. God
takes our words seriously. The devil also takes our words seriously. What
the Lord spoke to me touched me. I went through the Bible but I did not
find a single case of a Christian couple making that kind of
pronouncement upon themselves. The devil is a legal expert. He uses
our words to destroy us. You may deny your words and human beings
may agree with you. However, you can be sure that God and the devil will
still hold you responsible for what you denied.

Do you know that the words which you speak can remove your name
from heaven's register? Let us take a look at a few examples:

PETER
And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of
the maids of the high priest: And when she saw Peter warming
himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast
with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied, saying, I know not,
neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the
porch; and the cock crew. And a maid saw him again, and
began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. And he
 denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again
to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean,
and thy speech agreeth thereto. But he began to curse and to
swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak. And the
second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word
that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt
deny me thrice. And when 7he thought thereon, he wept (Mark
14:66 -72).

If you look at what Peter said and the manner with which he denied the
Lord, you may think that he did not do anything which was seriously bad.
I was shocked when I discovered that the fact that Peter denied being the
Lord's disciple and went ahead to invoke curses upon himself made him
to lose his position in heaven. I received a great shock of my life when I
read the words of the angel in Mark 16:7:

But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth
before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto
you.

Peter was no longer reckoned with as one of the disciples. The angel
instructed that the disciples of the Lord should be informed that the Lord
has risen. Peter was singled just as an ordinary person; not one of the
Lords disciples. If Peter were to be on the right track, the angel would
have said something like: "Tell all his disciples, including Peter, that the
Lord is risen." By his own word, Peter forfeited his standing as a disciple.
Thank God that Peter received mercy before it became too late.

It is on record that Peter denied Jesus three times. Fagh denial was
recorded in heaven and any of them could have hindered him from
getting to heaven. Jesus had to help Peter by asking him three questions
which made Peter to give three positive answers, thereby cancelling the
three denials. Let us read the account in the gospel according to John:

So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon,

son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto
him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him,
Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon,
 son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord;
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my
sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him
the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord,
thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesussalth unto him, Feed my sheep (John 21:15 -17).

Peter was able to cancel the three denials which he had made. Thus he
was able to break the self-imposed curses.
Freedom from the bondage of self-imposed evil words

The story of Peter's denial and the cancellation of the effect of the
negative words which he spoke shows us the four steps which must be
taken if anyone wants to be released from the bondage which came into
his life through bad confession.

Repentance - Peter repented. Peter wept bitterly when he realized that
he had done the wrong thing. Therefore, the first stage is repentance.

Renouncement - Peter renounced his statements.

Cancellation - He cancelled the statements which he made previously.

Replacement - He replaced the negative statement with positive ones.
JACOB

Let us look at another example in the book of Genesis.

My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a
deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.
And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son:
only obey my voice, and go fetch me them (Gen 27:12 -13)
Jacob's mother prevailed upon him to deceive his father. Earlier on,
Jacob was reluctant. However, he later succumbed to the pressure and
accepted to carry out the evil plan. Jacobs mother, Rebecca, pronounced
a curse upon herself, let us read verse 46:
And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the
daughters of Heth: If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth,
such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good
shall my life do me?

Rebekah later got tired of life and she eventually died as a result of a
self-imposed curse.

The worst kind of destruction is self-destruction. It is very clear that
some people are suffering from problems which were invited by them.
Most of the problems which people go through today do not originate
from God, the devil or human enemies, but are self-inflicted.

For example, if you open your mouth and say, "I am tired of living," you
have succeeded in imposing a curse upon yourself. If you make negative
remarks about yourself you are guilty of self-destruction.

If you say, "I am giving up. My situation will end up on a sad note", you
are putting a curse on yourself. Those things may happen to you as
specified by you.

Can you recall what happened when Jesus was crucified? Pilate told
the people, "I found no fault in this man." They cried "Crucify him." Pilate
said, But he has done nothing." Again they cried, "Crucify him." Pilate
asked for a bowl of water and washed his hand saying, "I have no part in
the blood of this man." His blood be upon us and upon our children",
chorused the children of Israel. That was how the Israelites issued a
generational curse upon themselves.

The Jews are still passing through that problem till date. Jerusalem was
destroyed in a horrific manner. Blood flowed in the streets quenching the
fire that was burning. The blood of Jesus Christ was actually upon them.
Adolf Hitler killed six million Jews several years later. That was the most
unprecedented massacre in the history of the world.
 What the children of Israel had said (Matthew 27) has continued to
work against them.

God can protect His people from curses but not from curses which are
self-pronounced. If you issue curses against yourself, God will not protect
you unless you are able to discover the sources of your problem, repent
and cancel such curses.

This is one of the easiest ways which satan has continued to use to
capture thousands of Christians.

Let us consider this fact from the Scriptures. Twelve spies were sent to
spy out the land of Canaan. They carried out their assignments and came
back with two types of report.

And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go
up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had
searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through
which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the
inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men
of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of
Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight
as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight (Num
13:30,32,33).
Let us see what later happened.

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the
people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured
against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation
said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of
Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! Num
14:1-.2).

What was God's reaction to all these?

And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How
 long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur
against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of
Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly
as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will
I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all
that were numbered of you, according to your whole number,
from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured
against me, (Num 14:26-29).

The ten spies and their followers determined their own destinies by the
word of their mouths. Your words can determine your destiny. It can
even change Gods programme for your life.
If you continue o curse yourself when God is blessing you, you will end
up leading yourself into bondage. Many people have changed their
destinies from what God intended them to be through self-imposed
curses which came out of their mouths.

VERBAL MURDER
Do you know that people commit verbal murder, everyday? Let us
examine examples of some of the statements which people generally
make:

"I married a useless husband."

"These children are hopeless."
"I dont know why my children are very wicked."

"I always find examination very tough."

"I don't know why life is treating me badly."

"My blood pressure is rising again."
 "My migraine is coming up again."

"This situation is driving me crazy."

"I am sick and tired of it all.'

"It is running in the family line, maybe it is now my turn."
"I dont think I will ever get married."

"Maybe, I will never be promoted."

"Somebody read my palm and discovered that the line of long life does
not get to the end of my hand. That means I am not going to live long.
The same palm reader also. said, The long line in your hand was crossed
by three other lines. That means you are going to get married to three
husbands. According to the word of that man, I should get ready to cope
with three husbands and a short life."

"Something has always told me that my husband will leave me and
marry other women."

"I Just dont know why I cannot make ends meet.

My father was like that, I am sure I am going to pass through the same
problem."

"I am always broke, I dont know why."

"I dont know what is wrong, I always catch other peoples sicknesses."
"I suspect that I will soon get into trouble."

"I have not always been lucky when it comes to male-female
relationship."
"What is the use of continuing to live with all these problems?"

"Over my dead body. I cannot allow one child to kill me."
"Friends always disappoint me."

EVIL WORDS BRING EVIL SPIRITS

If you use these words, you are personally releasing some evil spirits
into your life. The kind of evil spirits which will operate in your life will be
determined by the kind of evil words which you have spoken concerning
yourself. A lot of wicked evil spirits are hovering in the air and walking
around on the land waiting for people to speak evil words which they will
bring to pass.

I had an experience when I was a student in the University of Lagos,

Nigeria. We had a very humble professor who was quite different from
other lecturers. One day, the professor came around when we were
doing a particular assignment and watched what we were doing. A
female student who did not appear to be well trained began to make
some caustic statements about him. I said to her: "Mind what you are
saying. Dont you know that he is our professor?" She turned deaf ears to
what I was saying, faced the professor and said, "Mr. Man, get away from
here. Your presence in this place has not allowed me to concentrate on
my assignment."

The professor said, "Young lady, havent you learnt how to behave from
home?" The lady became fierce and uncontrollable. "Foolish man", she
said. Then the professor said "That is exactly what I was waiting for you
to say. I was actually waiting for you to call me a foolish man so that I can
prove to you that I am no fool." Immediately, the professor sent for the
lecturer incharge of that course and said, "Tell this girl that she has failed
the course." That was how the girl failed the course without sitting for the
examination. What she said was used against her.
 Evil spirits will provoke you to say evil things. As soon you have made
those evil statements they will go ahead to use your words against you.
One of the reasons the spirits of death have continued to destroy peoples
lives can be traced to the fact that such spirits were invited by the people.

Most of what people are told to say when they want to join secret cults
is a perfect example of how people bring self-imposed curses upon
themselves. They tell them; "Will you drink this blood and say, as I am
standing on the ground now, the ground should begin to fight me if I
reveal the secrets of this cult?" The person to be initiated drinks the blood
and pronounces those words against himself. If the person runs away
from the evil society, he would be in trouble because he has imposed
those curses upon himself.

SOLUTION
If your father was a member of the Lodge, I will not be surprised if you
are living under a serious curse now. Members of secret societies
generally impose curses upon themselves and their children.

How can you release yourself from self-imposed curses?

Repentance - You must repent and acknowledge the fact that you have
been saying wrong things against yourself.
Renouncement - Renounce what you have said. You must reject and
withdraw what you said against yourself.

Revoke - You must revoke every evil statement which you uttered
against yourself.

Replacement - You must replace every negative word pronounced
against you. Replace evil words with good confessions. Replace satanic
words with the promises of God.
What you have read so far is one of the greatest secrets which can turn
your life around. It is worthy of prayer, meditation, repentance and action.
No amount of speaking in tongues, fasting, prayer and positive
confession can destroy self-imposed curses. The reason why some
people are looking older than their ages is because they impose curses
upon themselves.

Some husbands do not stay at home because their wives impose
curses upon them. The reason some peoples businesses are collapsing
can be traced to the kind of negative statements they made against
themselves.

You must release yourself from the problem of self-destruction. You

must take definite steps to set yourself free from the effect of every
negative word which you pronounced upon yourself.

Have you ever taken an oath? Were you ever initiated into secret cults?
You need personal deliverance. If you have spoken evil words against
yourself, you must repent and ask God to forgive you.

PRAYER POINTS

1. Make this personal confession: Lord Jesus, I come before You today.
I repent from every evil statement that I have pronounced on myself.
I release myself from every evil oath that I have taken and from
every evil vow that I have made. I stand on the Word of God that
Jesus has redeemed me from the curse of the law. I release myself
from every self-imposed curse, in the name of Jesus.
2. Make this statement seven times: I release myself from every self-
imposed curse, in the name of Jesus.
3. I gather together every evil word that I have spoken against myself
and I cancel them, in the name of Jesus.
4. Holy Spirit, always remind me to speak when You speak and be
silent when You are silent, in the name of Jesus.
5. I renounce everything I said against myself when I was one year old,
in the name of Jesus. I renounce everything I said against myself
when I was two years old, in the name of Jesus. (Continue to
renounce all the evil words which you spoke until your present age.)
6. All the condemnations which my mouth has invited, I cancel them, in
the name of Jesus.
7. I command every spirit making me to say ungodly things to depart
from me, in the name of Jesus.
4
Power against verbal disease
The greatest problems anyone can have on earth are those brought
about by the tongue.

The Bible makes it very clear that the human tongue is responsible for
most of the problems which men and women have today. Let us take a
look at an incident in II Kings 2. The story, centres around Elisha, that
man of God, after he had received the double portion of the power of
God.
And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going
up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and
mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up,
thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and
cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two
she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of
them (II Kings 2:23 -24).
This passage shows us the demonstration of the power of the spoken
word. The young children spoke some contemptuous words and Elisha
spoke some words against them.

Why were the children killed by wild animals after Elisha cursed them in
the name of the lord? It is clear that the children were punished for the
wrong use of their tongues. If you are a very good reader of the Bible you
would have discovered that God generally takes urgent action whenever
the issue at stake is both weighty and serious. The young children spoke
words of mockery towards Elisha. What they said was pregnant with
meaning. Their words of mockery were not only directed against Elisha it
was also directed against Elijah, who ascended unto heaven through the
chariot of fire.

Unknown to those young people, they violated a lot of spiritual

principles. They were speaking against the power of God. Every reader
of the Bible knows that Elijah was taken up to heaven through the raw
demonstration of the power of God. To speak against such a miraculous
event is an affront against the Almighty. More so, the young children were
mocking Elisha saying that he should go up or ascend into heaven just
the way his master did.

Additionally, they spoke against a man who had just received the
double portion of the anointing saying, "Go up bald head."

It is clear that anyone who speaks against the servant of God is

actually speaking against God. The fact that these young boys were from
Bethel must be noted. Bethel was formerly the house of God. However,
king Jerome had taken it over and converted it to the stronghold of
idolatry. He placed an idol there and told Israel, "Behold, Israel, your God
that delivered you from the land of Egypt." People started going to the
house of the idol to worship it. Therefore, those boys were polluted
because they came from Bethel, a place of idolatry. What they spoke with
their mouths lent credence to what was in their hearts.

I want you to take this prayer point right now.

O Lord, forgive me for misuse of words against You.

Words are vehicles of power. There would have been no war in history
if the whole humanity were dumb.

WORDS IN THE SCRIPTURES

There are three kinds of words in the Bible.
1. Words that carry positive power.

 2. Words carrying negative power.

3. Neutral words.

Words are so powerful that the Bible says that death and life are in the
power of tongue. The Bible says,
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be
acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer
(Ps 19:14).

This shows that there are acceptable words, while there are
unacceptable words.
Let us also read Job 4:4,

Thy words have upholden him that was failing, and thou hast
strengthened the feeble knees (Job 4:4).

This shows us that power to strengthen the weak as well as power to

uphold those who are failing can be found in the spoken word. The Bible
gives us further insight into the power of the spoken word in Job 8:2:

How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the
words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?

Words can be like strong wind blowing things here and there. Further
insight is given us concerning the power of spoken words:

How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with

words? (Job 19:2).

What we are told in this passage is that words are so powerful that they
can break people's lives into pieces.

The Bible says,

I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for
thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name (Ps 138:2).

Words are so important to God that He magnified His word above His
name. Proverb 18:4 also gives us more insight into the importance of the
spoken word:

The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the

wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

This passage portrays the words of a man's mouth as deep waters.

Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, who says what He means, gave us one of
the most challenging commentaries concerning the power of the human
tongue in Matthew 12:37:

For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou
shalt be condemned.
If you are a very sound Bible reader, you would have discovered that if
you are talking about blunt and straightforward speech you should read
the word of. Jesus. There is no iota of deception in His words. He also
has this to say:

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
away (Matt 24:35).

The words of Jesus brought out the fact that certain words have eternal
value. In other words, they cannot pass away.

TYPES OF WORDS IN THE SCRIPTURES

The Bible has a lot to say about words. The following types of words
are listed in the scriptures.

1. Right words (Job 6:25).

2. Vain words (Exod. 5:9; 2 Kings 18:20, Job 16:3; Isa. 36:5; Eph. 5:6).
3. Words without knowledge (Job 35:16; 38:2).
4. False words (Zech. 8: 17).
5. Pure words (Psalm 12:6).
 6. Angry words (Neh. 5.6).
7. Roaring words (Psalm 22.1).
8. Words of Iniquity (Psalm 36.3).
9. Devouring words (Psalm. 52:4).
10. Soft words (Job 41:3).
11. Smooth words (Psalm 55:21).
12. Bitter words (Psalm 64:3).
13. Words of hatred (Psalm 109:3).
14. Flattering words (1 Thess. 2:5).
15. Sweet words (Prov. 23:8).
16. Words of knowledge (Prov. 19:27; 23: 12; 1 Cor. 12:8).
17. Words of wisdom (1 Cor. 12:8).
18. Wicked words (Psalm 109:2).
19. Pleasant words (Prov. 16:26; 16:24).
20. Wounding words (Prov. 18:8).
21. Cursing words (Psalm 59: 12).
22. Pursuing words (Proverbs 19:7).
23. Words of faith (1 Tim. 4:6).
24. Enticing words (1 Cor. 2:4; Col. 2:4).
25. Wrested words (Psalm 56:5).
26. Light-giving words (Psalm 119:130).
27. Words of understanding (Prov. 1:2).
28. Words of the wise (Prov. 22: 1).
29. Multitude of words (Job 11:2; Provo 10:19).
30. Grievous words (Prov. 15:1).
31. Words of truth (Prov. 22:21; Ecc!. 12:10; Acts 26:25).
32. Hasty words (Prov. 29:20).
33. Words of vanity (2 Pet. 2:18).
34. Good words (1 Kings 12:7; 2 Chr. 10:7; Zech. 1:3; Rom. 16:18).
35. Sound words (2 Tim. 1:13).
36. Words taught by man's wisdom (Prov. 18:4).
37. Hard words (Psalm 94:4).
38. Unspeakable words (2 Cor. 12:4).
39. Wholesome words (1 Tim. 6: 3).
40. The Words of God's power (Heb. 6:5).
41. Lying words (Isa. 32:7).
42. Gracious words (Luke 4:22).
43. Words of comfort (Isa. 50:4).
44. Strong words (Job 8:2).
45. Words without knowledge (Job 38:2).
46. Words of life (Phil. 2:6).
47. Words of truth (2 Tim. 2: 15).

WHAT WORDS CAN DO

The types of words spoken by human beings are so diverse. The
influence of words is so far-reaching and powerful that it takes God to
protect us from the scourge of words. All these types of words are in the
Bible. It is Important, therefore, to know what to do if you happen to come
under verbal attack.
The havoc brought into people's lives by negative words cannot be
qualified. There is no living soul who has not been verbally harassed at
one time or the other.

Examples of verbal attacks abound in the scriptures.

Haman harassed Mordecai through the use of words. Mordecai was

arrested and he was supposed to face execution. Words were also
spoken to reverse the situation. At the end, Haman was executed. That
shows that words can kill and words can make alive.

A careless word may lead to a serious fight. Cruel words can lead
people to commit suicide. Negative words may completely wreck a life.
Wicked words can kill while gracious words can lead people to wonderful
heights.

The words, which we speak, have great potentials for good as well as
for evil for ourselves and for the people who we speak about. Therefore,
the words, which we speak from day to day, hold great value both for
ourselves and for the people who hear us.

It is unfortunate that we do not generally give sufficient attention to the
power of our words, losing sight of the fact that our words have the ability
to bless and to curse. Words can turn situations to our advantage. Our
words can clarify situations and can also confuse situations. Your words
can bring light into a place. They can also bring darkness into a situation.
God stands by His own words. He also stands by our own words.

Another great truth which I want you to consider with all your heart is
the fact that satan and his demons also pick up our words and use them
to war against us. As I said in the previous chapter, the devil has no
creative power, he relies on the evil creative words which are spoken
consciously or carelessly by men and women. Therefore, the effects of
spoken words can be devastating.

You must be careful about what you listen to, the kind of music which
you listen to as a Christian. Some music can be used as a vehicle for
blessing, cursing, or polluting the lives of men and women. A lot of people
have been enslaved through music. Best selling records have been used
by the devil to lead people into bondage.

There is a particular best selling song, which created one of the

greatest impacts in the music industry. It was entitled "My good lord." The
song goes like this:
 My good lord Hallelujah

My good lord Hallelujah

I really want to see you Hallelujah

I really want to love you Hallelujah

My good lord Hallelujah

That was what the musician was saying on the surface. However, he
took a digression along the line saying:

My good lord (mentioning the name of his idol)

If you do not listen properly you will think that the man is saying
Hallelujah not knowing that the song is dedicated to a cult. There are
many songs like that particular one today. Such songs have been cleverly
used by the devil to lead people into bondage.

AFRICAN PRAISE NAMES

There is a common practice in many African communities. Families are
given what is called praise names or praise-poems. If you are a member
of a particular community or family, you are given some special praise-
poems. This praise-poem generally eulogises the achievement of your
ancestors, the exploits achieved by your family as well as the
distinctiveness of your tribe.
Some African tribes are often proud of their praise names. The
foundation poems are so popular that most Africans are proud of them.
Words are composed and are rendered to praise men and women to
bring out their nobility, honour and dignity as members of a particular
tribe or family.

Many of us often enjoy such praise names as it brings out ego and
pride. You must not look at those words as ordinary words. Those words
are combinations of incantations, the history of your ancestors and the
list of what they have achieved. Such praise names are rendered to
make you feel that you are a member of a great race. That is part of the
vanity of life.

A sister went through deliverance for a long time without experiencing

any positive changes in her life. They prayed for her over and over again
without achieving any tangible result. The man of God who was handling
the case sought the face of God for an answer to the reason behind the
difficult encounter by the sister in obtaining her deliverance. The Lord told
him that, that sister cannot experience deliverance until some secrets,
which were embedded in her praise-name, were exposed and dealt with
by the Lord.

The man of God asked the sister. "Do you know anything about your
personal praise name?" The sister said, "Yes. I' am thoroughly familiar
with it." The man of God told her to recite her praise-poem and she did.
Her fluency baffled the man of God. The sister went ahead to explain that
she succeeded in memorizing the praise poem because it was customary
for members of her family to recite it to her each time she wakes up in the
morning.

The man of God asked her to recite the praise-poem once again. Then
he noted a particular line, which goes thus: "The tree of your family never
grows old." The man of God asked the sister. "Do you generally witness
sudden deaths in your family?" She said, "We were 16 but now only four
of us are alive." The Pastor then said: "Do you mean that you have
continued to allow them to read that praise-poem to you even when
almost all of you have died prematurely?"

At that point, the sister realised that one of the entry points of bondage
into her life can be traced to her family's praise-name.

What kind of words do you speak about your life? What kind of things
do you say about the lives of other people? When last did you say
something ungodly about somebody? When last did you speak unkind
words about other people? When last did you run somebody down
through your tongue? When last did you lash out at somebody out of
anger?

When last did you say something which you later regretted? When last
did you join others to spread a rumour? When last did you backbite?
When last did you swear using God's name? When last did you use the
name of the Lord in vain? When last did you rain abuses and curses on a
fellow human being? When last did you call somebody a derogatory
name? You must answer these questions.

When last did you call somebody an idiot? Have you forgotten what the
Bible says? That if you call someone an idiot you are in danger of
judgement? Do you still abuse people by using caustic words?

I often get surprised when I come across people who throw caution to
the winds and abuse everyone. I had a shocking experience several
years ago when a mother cursed her own little child just because he
made a little mistake. I was transfixed on the same spot when the mother
cursed his son saying, "You will never have rest just the way a door has
no rest." As if that was not enough, the mother cursed the boy the
second time. She said, "Your life will be turned to a desert just as hair
cannot grow on the palm." I had to caution her when it became clear that
she did not know the implication of what she was saying. She laughed
and said, "It is not a serious thing. I didn't really mean it." Have you ever
abused someone in that manner?
When last did you enter into a shouting match with someone? When
last did you pour acidic words on your husband or wife? When last did
you grieve the Holy Spirit by speaking when He told you not to?

I shared this with you in the first chapter. Let me repeat it as a matter of
emphasis. A man who was considered to be the wisest person in an
empire was asked an important question. "What do you consider as the
most powerful weapon, which can be used to control things in the world?"
The wise man said, "There are only three things in the entire universe.
Number one is the tongue. Number two is the tongue, while number three
is also the tongue." Those who asked the question wondered if the man
knew what he was saying. They later discovered that although the tongue
is one of the smallest parts of the body, it is one of the most powerful
members. incidentally, it is the only part of the body that becomes
sharper with constant use. Other parts of the body grow older while the
tongue becomes sharper.

The tongue causes us more problems than any other part of the body. It
can be tragically destructive. Unless the present day Christian receives
the divine coal of fire on his tongue it will continue to hurt rather than
heal.

Our words can destroy our relationships with our neighbours. Our own
words can also turn our personal life upside down. The tongue can be
likened to keeping a time bomb underneath one's bed. The result will be
devastating when it explodes.

A careful study of the word of God reveals that the whole of creation
was brought into being through the instrumentality of words. Nothing was
created without the spoken word. The Rhema of God's word was the
instrument which God used to bring the universe into existence. God
said, "Let there be" and the world was brought into existence. Have you
ever realised the fact that God transferred the same creative word to man
by giving him the power of speech?

The creative ability which resides in our world should make us to
exercise care and caution about what we speak about God, ourselves
and fellow human beings.
The secrets of speaking the right words and achieving good results
have been revealed to us by the Lord Jesus. He said,

Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the
tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his
fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good
things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart
 bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil
treasure bringeth forth evil things (Matt12:33-35).

Jesus relates our words to a tree and its fruits. What then is the
importance of Jesus' statement? The heart is the tree while the fruit is the
mouth. The tree is known by its fruit. Therefore, what comes out of your
mouth is an indication of what is in your heart. Nobody ever makes
accidental statements. Your mouth cannot declare what is not present in
your heart. Therefore, If you want to know the state of your heart you
must judge it by examining the kind of words that come out of your
mouth.

VERBAL DISEASES
The Bible teaches that there are many verbal diseases. These verbal
problems or diseases are so numerous that I may not be able to exhaust
them in this chapter. Let us go through the most important verbal
diseases.
Undisciplined tongue. This is perhaps one of the greatest problem of
man. If you allow your tongue to run loose, you will run into lots of
problems sooner or later.

Impatient tongue.

Unsympathetic tongue.

Fearful tongue.
Aimless tongue.

Unpredictable tongue.
Proud tongue.

Argumentative tongue.
It has been said that the marriage is one in which the wife is both deaf
and dumb and the husband is blind. This will prevent the women from
talking rubbish and prevent the man from seeing rubbish.
 Repetitive tongue.

Unaffectionate tongue.
Inconsistent tongue.

Revengeful tongue.

Tactless tongue.
Disorganised tongue.

Stubborn tongue.

Suspicious tongue.

Critical tongue.

Reckless tongue.
Domineering tongue.

Talkative tongue.

Loud tongue.

Rash tongue.

I have decided to run through the list of the kinds of verbal diseases
that have led men and women into hell fire. These verbal diseases have
landed many into terrible problems, stolen the blessings of millions of
people and sentenced many lives to permanent residence at the valley.

What you have read so far must have made you to know that you can
consciously or unconsciously cage yourself through the words which you
speak. I am sure you have discovered that you can consciously or
unconsciously cage other people through the words you speak.

I want you to open your mouth like thunder as you take this prayer
point:
 I cancel every negative word that has proceeded from my mouth,
in the name of Jesus.

I have an additional prayer point for you. Close your eyes and take it
with more aggression:

Let the divine coal of fire fall upon my tongue now, in the name of
Jesus.

OTHER VERBAL DISEASES

Now we shall take a detailed study of some of the verbal diseases.

Gossips. Gossips are destructive. Everyone who gossips is making

himself or herself satan's broadcasting company. One of our rules of
conduct in the ministry is this: If someone comes to tell you, "Are you
aware of what Brother A. said about you?" Respond with this statement:
"Can you repeat what you have just said in the presence of Brother A." If
he says, "No, I don't want anybody to hear about it; I'm not ready to
repeat this statement before Brother A," tell the person to go for
deliverance straightaway.

What then is gossip? Gossip is anything you cannot say before a
person, which you say behind that person. The person who gossips is not
the only one who is guilty. He who listens to gossip is also guilty. Both of
them are under the banner of judgement. One thing I have always said,
time and again, is this those who bring gossips to you will also go to other
people to gossip about you.
Christian gossips. It appears that Christians have perfected the art of
gossiping in these last days. People now gossip intelligently. They do not
want to accept the fact that they are gossiping. When such people want
to spread gossips they call Christians together saying that they are
holding a prayer meeting.

 The gossip stands up to say, "Let us pray for Sister Jane. She has a
serious problem. She lost 10,000 to fraudsters because she was
careless. Let us pray that God will forgive her for her prayerlessness.
Brethren, tell me, how can a fraudster dupe a child of God? In any case.
God will forgive her. We really have to pray that God will have mercy on
her. Who knows, God would have allowed her to be duped because she
is fond of gossiping."

"Brethren, do you know that sister Jane has been a member of this
church for five years without knowing how to pray to know the will of
God? Sister Jane is already 36. She is supposed to be married by now
but she is still single because she has always insisted on getting married
to Brother Dave who is studying Architecture in America. Anyway, don't
let me tell you a long story. Let's just pray for her."

"This reminds me, don't forget to pray that God will help her to be
submissive to the leadership of the church. Sister Jane is so stubborn
that she cannot be controlled by anyone. I don't know why she is that
stubborn. Yet we all know what brought her to this church. Was she not
the one who almost had mental problem and had to be rushed to the
prayer warriors? Anyway don't let me talk too much. The whole church
has already known that she is too close to Pastor Chukwu."

"We are going to really pray for sister Jane. We are not going to allow
anybody to destroy this church. Although people have been saying that
she is a marine agent, let us bind every spirit that is working contrary to
her life. We are going to claim her for the Lord."

"Let us not forget to pray for the senior pastors, that God will give them
wisdom to help Sister Jane. I m sure you know that the fact that someone
is a senior pastor does not mean that the person is hearing from God.
You must cry unto God aggressively today. The success of this church is
in our hands. Let us lift Sister Jane up unto the Lord. Let us tell the devil
'enough is enough.'"

"Let us destroy all the strongholds in the life of Sister Janes family. We
have heard that there is a stubborn yoke in the life of every member of
her family. They always end up destroying any church they attend".

"Let us pray that God will expose Sister Jane if that is her mission in
our church. We must also pray that God will remove worldliness from her
life. Somebody once told me that she spent 5,000 on a pair of shoes. If
any of you is in doubt, just watch her next Sunday. Only God knows why
she is that proud".

"Why is she even proud? Is she not the same person who buys second
hand blouses? We must pray for her. As you are praying for her dont
forget to mention the name of Sister Agnes. She happened to be one of
the most serious sisters in this church until she became sister Janes
friend. Do you know that Sister Agnes is fond of gossiping about
Pastors? Although some of the things she said are true. For example,
she is the one who made us to start praying for Pastor Nsikak. Im sure
you know that Sister Agnes was the one who made us to know that
Pastor Nsikak's wife is prayerless. We must spend real time to pray for all
these people".

"However, since our time is gone, let us take just one prayer point. I
bind all satanic agents sent to the church of God, in the name of Jesus.
Pray with thunder in your voice".

Do you think this picture is painted beyond the realms of reality? You
cannot know how far some so-called Christians have gone in spreading
gossips about fellow believers. Gossips have been ingrained to the lives
of many people that it has become their second nature. The evil inherent
in gossip can only be revealed when two gossip partners quarrel with
each other. Then all the words, which they spoke as partners in gossip,
will be blown into the open.

Most people who gossip find the evil habit interesting. They only detest
gossip when they are victims. The best attitude toward gossip is to ignore
it. If you know what you stand upon as a child of God, gossip will not
bother you. This is my own attitude to gossips. I rejoice when people
gossip about me. To be sure, people may not gossip about me if Im doing
nothing for the Lord. But the fact that I am busy for the Lord has made
me an object of gossip. You must expect people to gossip about you as
long as you are alive.

My father went to be with the Lord in 1994. Nobody can gossip about
him again. Therefore those of us who are alive will continue to be objects
of gossip especially when we are busy for the Lord. I feel sorry for those
who have constituted themselves into satanic "F. M. stations".

Gossip is a very dangerous activity. When you gossip about somebody
and the statement made by you turns out to be untrue, you bring yourself
under divine judgement. It is much more dangerous if the person whom
you are gossiping about is a man of God. His anointing and his angels
may deal with you severely.

Rumours. Those who gossip often act in favour of the people whom
they are gossiping about without knowing what they are doing. For
example, God has used the gossips and the rumours spread against the
Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries to give us an increase in the
numerical strength of our membership. Some pastors in other churches
have brought the awareness of what God is doing in our church to their
members when such members know nothing about the existence of any
church called Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries. They mount their
pulpits and criticise Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries. They say so
much about us that they end up arousing the curiosity of their members.

Some members who are intelligent call themselves together saying, "Is
there a place like that in town? Let's check it out. After all, they have
doors through which we can get out if what our pastor is saying is
actually true".

A pastor came to us the other day to apologise profusely for having

said negative things about us. He actually came to look for somebody in
the church. He decided to wait till the end of the service to meet his
friend. However, the Holy Spirit convicted him. He sat down and cried for
about 20 minutes, telling the Lord that he was sorry to have said negative
things about us. He had preached to members of his congregation
against coming to attend our church without ever visiting us before. He
told them that we did not preach holiness, that we were always drinking
oil, that we were not Christians.

Incidentally, we were preaching on brokenness the very day he came.
He came to us and said that he had never had a such message
throughout his 15 years of being in the ministry. Thank God he had an
opportunity to make amends. Who knows what would have happened to
him if he had died without a first hand experience in our service.

You must learn a lesson from the experience of this pastor. You must
repent of all the negative things, which you once said about men of God
and other Christian ministries.

Slander. What is a slander? Simply put, it is an intentional and open

sharing of damaging information concerning a person or group of
persons. The Bible says,

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy

people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy
neighbour: I am the LORD (Lev 19:16).

Many peoples lives have been destroyed through slander. You must not
allow or partake in slander. Refuse to listen to those who go about
slandering other people.

Lying. Lying is one of the most serious verbal diseases that destroyed
the lives of people. The Bible says,
These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an
abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands
that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked
imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false
witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among
brethren (Prov 6:16 19).
Do you notice that of these seven things, which constitute an
abomination to the Lord, three are related to the tongue?

Proverbs 12:22 further clarifies the issue.
Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly
are his delight.

The word abomination is the strongest word which can be used to

describe something hated by God. Lying is highly inconsistent with
Christian character. God expects us to speak the truth at all times.
Someone has said that sin has several tools but a lie is the handle that
picks up the tool. When you lie against the truth you are strengthening
satan's stronghold in your life.

The Bible states that satan is the father of all lies. Therefore, falsehood
or lying is the devil's language. Satan is the chief promoter of lying. A lie
is the opposite of the truth. All those who are telling lies are supporters
and promoters of satan's system. Some people are so addicted that they
can be said to possess the anointing of lying. A lie may run a race for 50
years, truth will catch up with it in one second.
Speaking negative words. The worst disease, which you can bring
upon yourself, is speaking negative words about life. Let us take a look at
a particular example in the Scriptures.

Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and
on our children (Matt 27:25).

They made a statement which has continued to affect them up till today.
Negative speaking is a popular disease. It is a respectable sin. Many
people hardly consider the fact that it is a terrible disease.

We were praying for a sister in London because she wanted to receive
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She kept on making negative confessions.
She did not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit until she changed her
confessions.

I used to have a Zimbabwean classmate when I was in England. He

had a ready answer for me each time I said "How are you?" His reply
was, "The struggle continues."

Twelve spies went to spy out the Promised Land. Ten of them made
negative confessions while Caleb and Joshua said, "We are well able."
Those who were involved with negative speaking did not enter the
Promise Land. That is how many people have cancelled their blessings
through the wrong use of their mouth.

Boasting and flattery. Those who boast generally centre

conversations around themselves. They praise and lift themselves up
beyond the level they are. Many people, including men of God, have
allowed themselves to be destroyed by flattery.

I had a funny experience when I was invited to preach in a particular
fellowship. Somebody called me and said, "Dr. Olukoya, you have really
made it." I protested: "O what do you mean by that statement? How
many people are in Lagos?" The man answered, "Between three and five
million people." I threw another question at him. "How many people were
in that meeting? " The man answered, "About 150." "What then have I
made?" I asked him.

In my own opinion you can only say that you have made it as a
Nigerian preacher if you have about 50 million people in your church.

Boasting is generally the promotion of vanity. Do you have anything to
boast of? What have you achieved that another person has not
achieved? What do you possess that others have not possessed before?
There is nothing wrong if somebody tells you, "We thank God for what
God is doing through you." That is an ordinary complement. But if
someone says, "Let's give a round of applause to one of the greatest
men of God who has ever lived." That one is flattery.

Excessive talking. Excessive talking is a doorway that leads to

multitude of sins. The Bible says
 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that
refraineth his lips is wise (Prov 10:19).

Ecclesiastics 5: 3 also says:

For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a

fool's voice is known by multitude of words.
According to the standard of the Bible a talkative is a fool.

There is an inseparable link between a reckless tongue and a reckless
heart. Those who speak without thinking can be likened to soldiers who
shoot without aiming at any targets.

I had a lecturer when I was doing my Ph.D. Who used to tell us, "Don't
use a gallon of words to express a spoonful of thoughts".

The Bible says,

Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope
of a fool than of him (Prov 29:20).

The more words you speak, the less sensible you become.

Being hasty in speech. Be slow to speak, do not say what comes to
your mind immediately you feel like saying it. Those who generally speak
hastily always make mistakes. That was Moses' sin. He spoke hastily.
God dealt with him because he was hasty.

Using God's name in vain. Exodus 20:7 says,

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for
the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain
(Exod 20:7).
To use God's name as if it has no worth or value before you is to sin
against God. If you call the name of God as if you are calling the name of
someone who is inferior to you, you are degrading God. To say, "O God",
when there is really nothing to say about God, amounts to taking the
name of the Lord in vain.

STEPS TO HEALING
What then is the solution to the problem of verbal diseases? How can
you deal with your tongue? What must you do to escape the danger of
hell?

Recognise the fact that a sick tongue shows that there is a

problem in your heart. Do you know that the heart is the barometer for
measuring the tongue? You can only have a wholesome tongue when
your heart is wholesome. If you have a verbal disease in your tongue you
can be sure that your heart is also full of diseases. It must be cleansed by
the blood of Jesus and renewed by the word of God. It must be
sanctified.

Confess your sins and ask for cleansing and forgiveness.

Resist evil and yield to God. Withdraw your tongue from satans grip.

Determine, by the help of the Holy Spirit, to use your tongue

aright. Make up your mind that you will not say anything without allowing
the Holy Spirit to sanction or condemn your word.
Let your mouth be filled with praises to God. If you commit your lips
to the praise of God at all times you will find it difficult to utilise the same
mouth to say bad things.

Be crucified. Brokenness will lead you into wonderful changes. Once
your life is broken, your tongue will begin to speak words that glorify God.

What God expects from you is a change of life. God will not judge you
on the bases of what you know. Rather, He will judge you on the basis of
what you do with what you know. The judgement of God will be greater
for anyone who knows the truth and fails to do it.

Are you ready to surrender your tongue to the Lord? Are you willing to
banish all forms of lying, boasting and flattery from your tongue? Will you
continue to spread gossips and rumours after going through this book?

Are you ready to apologise to those whom you have slandered? Will
you allow the Lord to set a watch over your lips? Will you allow your
tongue to take you to hell fire?

God wants you to make this day a turning point in your life. You must
repent of all the ways in which you have misused your tongue. This is
your hour of decision. Now is the time to cry unto God. Pray as if the Lord
is coming after this session of prayer.

PRAYER POINTS

1. I break the power of any evil word uttered against me, in the name of
Jesus.
2. I release myself from self-imposed curses, whether it is conscious or
unconscious, in the name of Jesus.
3. O Lord, do not allow my mouth to push me into hell fire.
4. Let every satanic anchor working against me be roasted, in the
name of Jesus.
5
The strife of tongues
For a proper understanding of this message we shall begin with two
powerful scriptures:

Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the
pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from
the strife of tongues (Ps 31:20).

Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my

lips (Ps 141:3).

These two passages have a lot to say about the human tongue. The
first reference borders on the importance of seeking protection from the
strife of tongues. The second centres on the importance of setting a
watch over ones lips.

There is a very dangerous door, which has caused most destructions in
our present world. The unfortunate thing about that door is that it has no
lock. The world would have been a better place if many people did not
possess that door. God in His wisdom has designed the human head with
economy. He gave us two openings each in areas that portend no
danger: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils. But there was a change when
God came to a unique area, the mouth. God gave us one month. Who
knows what would have happened if we were created with two mouths
and two tongues. The universe would have been besieged by verbal
wars.

We have a lot of messages to learn from the way God created

openings in the head. The divine economy that is displayed in the way
that the tongue is created should teach us some lessons. You must be
thrifty in the use of your tongue. You must not say anything that is
unnecessary. God wants you to hear twice and speak once. He wants
you to hear properly and see things well before you ever speak about
them. Some people talk as if they have two mouths. If a tax were to be
placed On the number of words which we speak, many of us would have
become bankrupt. Who knows, many people world have been bankrupt
but they do not know.

POWER BEHIND WORDS

Whatever God tells us is for our utmost good. God would not tell us
anything that is absolutely not necessary. Unknown to us, most of the
commandments given to us by God are for our physical and material
well-being. It is important, therefore, that we should listen to Him at all
times.

The Bible says,

Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of
the LORD. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many
days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy
lips from speaking guile. (Ps 34:11 13).

Here, the Bible tells us that the tongue plays a very crucial role in our
lives. The Bible also tells us that:

Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from
troubles (Prov 21:23).

You must keep yourself from trouble by exercising caution over what
you say.

There is a powerful secret behind the nature of words, which man has
failed to realise over the ages. Words are not just spoken. Most of what
we say are backed up by some powers. The power could be evil and it
could be good. What this simply means is that the words which we speak
have spirit beings behind them. Words do not exist in isolation; they carry
power.
How did the serpent lead Adam and Eve into bondage? He did so by
speaking words to them. He projected his lying nature through his words.
What the serpent spoke to our fathers in the Bible has continued to cause
trouble for all of us.

Words go beyond the arrangement of letters. They can be likened to a
container which can be filled with poisonous substances or things that
can grant us good health. The container can be filled with things like:
anger, malice, envy, cursing or destruction.

Most of your past and present troubles were brought into reality through
words, which were carelessly spoken by you. Just as you took some time
to speak those negative words, you must also spend quality time
reversing them.

You cannot go through this book without taking a second look at the
kind of words which you have been speaking. Words are so powerful that
once they are spoken they continue to produce all kinds of fruits. I wish it
where possible for you to record every word spoken by you and listen to
them everyday. What is happening to you today is a product of what you
said yesterday.

Your words will determine your destiny. You must weigh your everyday
conversation and learn how to keep quiet sometimes instead of talking all
the time.

Words do not die but live forever. A war of words is presently going on
in our planet.

Words can summon good or bad spirits. Those who speak evil words
can also be affected by what they say. If you curse others you will also
reap the fruits of the wicked words which you speak. Those who speak
angry words will always invite violent and wicked spirits into their own
lives. If you come across men who have spirit wives you will discover that
most of them are people who easily get angry and politicians who speak
words of deceit.

Politicians speak deceptive words to the populace. Leaders of nations,
all over the world, are speaking words of disunity, war and chaos.
Leading academics are speaking words of blasphemy against the
Almighty. Demonic musicians are speaking words that destroy the lives of
men and women.
I remember a musician who sang a song in praise of one wealthy man.
He stated in his song that the wealthy man would not die. However, the
wealthy man died only a few months later.

False prophets are speaking words of destruction and doom. Ministers

of dry cathedrals are speaking dry, lifeless words. They minister death to
dying people and speak stale words to stale ears. Satan and his agents
are speaking words of lying and destruction to unstable souls. That is
why the Bible says,
Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; (Matt 12:33).

The Bible also tells us that men shall give account of every idle word
that they speak on the Day of Judgment. It states specifically,

By thy words thou shall be justified and by thy words thou shall
be condemned.

Every ungodly word, which you speak, is recorded. Since a man

speaks out of the abundance of his heart, a carnal man will speak carnal
words while a spiritual man will speak spiritual words.

Your words reveal the type of person you are, it is the best commentary
on your personality and character. Show me a man who is dignified, God
fearing and disciplined and I will show you a man who will speak sober
words. Show me a man who is morally bankrupt, loose and ungodly and I
will show you a man who will speak words that are unreasonable, dirty
and ungodly.
You can try to cover up what is in your heart but words will soon reveal
the stuff you are made of.

A man cannot be separated from his words. Some people try to deny
their words not knowing that words go beyond the physical realm. There
is a spiritual attachment between you and your words. You cannot run
away from your words. The tongue is so powerful that God had to make a
very important statement about it.
Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the
pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from
the strife of tongues (Ps 31:20).

No doubt God must have recognised the enormity of the dangers

inherent in the strife of tongues that He has to provide a spiritual shelter
for His people. For God to hide or to protect anyone from something, that
particular thing must be very powerful.

One of the most serious wars which can ever take place on earth, is the
war of words. A lot of people are addicted to African video films because
they centre around the war of words.
Wars are preceded by war of words. If men are going to destroy
themselves with bombs and missiles, they are going to begin with the war
of words. Two nations cannot fight each other if their leaders have not
had a verbal war.

CAUSES OF STRIFE OF TONGUES IN AFRICA

What constitutes the strife of tongues in the African environment? What
can we call the strife of tongues in our local setting?

Cursing - Curses are so rampant in the African environment that the

majority terms it a plaything. The most important feature of a curse is that
it goes to the root once it is invoked. Can you recall that immediately
Jesus cursed the fig tree it dried from the roots? The roots of many lives
have been dried up through curses. Many people have accumulated so
many curses that their lives have completely withered. Some people
have more than enough curses in their lives that the possibility of
experiencing success and wholesomeness is completely ruled out.
The lives of many people were finished when they were very young.
Neighbours and parents rained enough curses on them to render them
useless for life. It is so saddening that so many people have received
curses that will restrict them to the valley no matter what they do.

It is important to note that a lot of Africans have received enough
curses from their immediate families that they do not need any external
curses again.

It is also important to note that many people in Africa might have

received curses before they attained the age of ten than a person from
either America or Britain who is 80 years old.

When an African child does something wrong, the parents would likely
make statements like "It shall not be well with you." "Your head is
cursed." "Just as the hinges of the door have no rest, your life will have
no rest." "You will suffer like the soles of a shoe." "You shall carry the evil
you are trying to do to me with your own head." "People of the world have
destroyed your life." "The god of iron will kill you." Etc.

However, if the child of a white man misbehaves he simply says, "Don't

be stupid." "Don't be naughty", and so on. This explains why most white
people are prospering while Africans find it difficult to achieve success
with ease.

The situation is even worse when Africans invoke curses on their

children in the name of their gods. Africans make statements like:
"Amadiora, (the god of thunder) will strike your head." "Sango, (the god of
thunder) will strike you." "The ground on which you stand will stand
against you." Etc.
A couple had a little domestic misunderstanding. The wife asked for
money to make soup for the family and the husband handed her 20 (an
equivalent of 20 cents in American currency). The woman threw the
money back at him saying, "What kind of soup am I going to make with
20?" The man simply said, "That's all I have. You must manage that
money." "Manager," she said. "it's okay. You are going to have problems
that will make you to spend until you begin to borrow." That was a curse.

The man thought it was a joke. He did not know that the wife had
invoked a curse on him. That was the beginning of problems in his life.
He began to have nightmares and all kinds of spiritual attacks. Some
invisible people were whipping him daily. He felt real pain but he did not
see anybody. That attack brought strange sicknesses to his body. He
spent a lot of money until he became a debtor. He kept on borrowing until
no one was ready to give him a loan. He became tired of himself and
even thought of taking his life. However, a kind neighbour brought him to
the church. That was how the yoke was broken. The man would have
died in that process if not for divine intervention.
A lot of women traders are unable to make profit in business because
of the curses placed upon them by their husbands.

Hot exchange of words - When evil words are spoken, they cause lots
of havoc because they are backed up by evil powers. That is why it is not
right to speak whenever you are angry. It is not proper to argue with
people who have authority over you. It is also not proper to argue with
anointed men of God. They might speak angry words which will do a lot
of havoc in you or in your life.

Evil words can come from angry exchange of words. All those who are
filled with the Holy Ghost should avoid hot verbal exchanges.

Incantations - Simply put, incantations are invitations given out by

human beings to demonic spirits to punish a person. It centres on the
invocation of demonic powers to destroy or harm another person.

Incantations have been handed over to succeeding generations in

Africa. The African continent was so dark that men and women destroyed
one another through the use of incantations. Those who chant
incantations go beyond the realm of ordinary words. They appeal to the
demonic realm through words that are carefully selected according to the
dictates of evil powers.

 Immediately incantations are released, evil spirits are activated. When
evil people faced anyone as their opponent they begin by chanting
incantations against the person.

Incantations are used as weapons of inviting evil spirit to participate in

the lips of men. Those who chant incantations actually do so to take the
battle beyond the physical realm.

Evil reports - Evil reports are also part of the strife of tongues.
Somebody is offended and he decides to take that case to a very
powerful fetish priest.

Cases are also taken to false prophets, occult societies and other
demonic places as a means of punishing someone who offends them.
When they get to those who are supposed to harm their opponents they
make statements like: "This is what so and so did to me. If I don't get rid
of this idiot he will continue to harass me." Many lives have been
destroyed through such evil reports.

Thousands are roaming the streets as mad men and women because
their cases were taken to evil places and evil report was made
concerning them. Thousands have had accidents, lost huge amount of
money, husbands, children, jobs and other valuable property.

Careless use of abusive language - A lot of people use abusive

language when they are playing with colleagues or family members.
Abusive language is not as simple as it appears on the surface. A lot of
evil spirits are attached to abusive words.
When you use words like, "You are stupid", "You are a goat", "Foolish
man", "You are an idiot", "You are numskull", "You are a dog," "I cannot
discuss with a toad like you," "You are an animal", "Your brain is like the
brain of a cockroach", you are into the strife of tongues.
If you play with abuses, deriding parts of people's body by saying;
"Look at his head or look at his legs", you are involved in the strife of
tongues.
Reversal of words - It is common to some people to reverse words
when they know that they mean exactly the opposite of what they are
saying. The external reversal of words that mean evil internally is another
wrong use of words. Those who say this kind of words actually know that
what they wanted to say is bad but they say the exact opposite outwardly.
Some parents say: "Who are those good children who are disturbing the
peace of the home with their noises?"

What those parents actually mean is that bad children are disturbing
the family. There is a contrast between what they meant and what they
said. That is another example of strife of tongues. The devil works on
what you mean not what you say.

Demonic charms - What do we mean by demonic charms? The Bible

says:

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have
familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter:
should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the
dead? (Isa 8:19).

Charm is a highly sophisticated method used by demonic people to

attack their victims. This method is mostly used by occult people.

I came across such a situation when I was in England several years
ago. I used to notice a particular house each time I took a walk along a
particular street. The house was always quiet. There was no sign of life
there. One day, a classmate of mine told me, "Daniel, look at that house.
Have you observed that the house is always quiet?" "Yes, I'm quite aware
of that." I assured him. There was no single person in that house.

However, it shocked me when my friends said that a Nigerian was living

in the topmost flat of the house. He said, "let me tell you a story. The man
who lives in that flat came from Nigeria to do his Ph.D. programme. I'm
sure you know that he is supposed to spend three years. Now, he has
been on that programme for eight years. That is why you have never
seen him. He locks himself indoor most of the time. Enemies have dealt
with him. He doesn't want to see anybody. His white supervisors and
lecturers are tired of him. They always picked holes in whatever he
wrote."

From that day I began to pray for him. I sought the face of the Lord and
decided to help him. I went to his house one day, knocked at the door
and struck a conversation with him. I shared the gospel with him and I
also spent time to declare the power of the deliverance that resides in the
name of Jesus. He thanked me and told me that he actually listened to
me out of much regard. He made it very clear that he does not entertain
any visitor. I thanked him and I left.
What I saw touched my heart. I decided to do everything to help him.
His situation was so pathetic. His wife drew a lot of empathy and
sympathy from me. Although she was in her early 30s, she looked like a
50 year old woman. No doubt the travails of her husband had taken a
heavy toll on her. I took his case to God in prayer and I kept on
bombarding heaven until God showed me the secret of his problem.

The Lord revealed to me that there was someone behind what the man
was going through, that a wicked neighbour was chanting his name on a
daily basis with the aim of destroying his life.

I decided that I was going to locate the demonic man who was
responsible for the difficulties encountered by the Ph.D. student.
Although what I wanted to do appeared risky, I didn't look at the risk
involved. Rather, I was bent on bringing an end to the travails of the
Nigerian student. The neighbour who was living downstairs welcomed me
in spite of the fact that he did not know anything about me. I simply told
him that I came to share the gospel with him. The man looked down on
me and said that I was too small to be a Ph.D. student. He advised me to
face my studies rather than preaching to people from house to house.

He spoke about a wide range of issues. Along the line, he veered into a
subject of much interest to me when he said, "I don't take nonsense from
anyone. If anyone falls into my trap, I deal with him mercilessly. For
example, there is a man who is living in this building who calls himself a
Ph.D. student. He went beyond his bounds. I have dealt with him. His
case is closed. As long as I'm in England, he will never finish his Ph.D.
programme. I've finished him."

I listened with rapt attention while he spoke. Everything he said

confirmed what the Lord had spoken to me. I told the occult man that he
should disregard all those powers and give his life to Jesus. I even went
ahead to tell him that I could nullify all those things with prayer. His
closing remark was "Don't trouble the powers of darkness." I thanked him
for giving me an audience and left.

As soon as I left him, I began to think about what I was going to do
concerning the situation. The Lord had made me to understand he spent
one whole year doing a sort of demonic night vigil against the Ph.D.
student. It became clear to me that night vigils must be carried out in the
house of the Ph.D. student if what was programmed against him must be
nullified.
If I decided to hold night vigils with the student and the occult man got
to know about it he would view my action as conspiracy or betrayal of
trust. I therefore decided to spend some time with the wife of the Ph.D.
student since she was not under any siege.

I drilled her in the area of warfare until she became trained enough to
handle her husband's problem. She started praying on her own, releasing
her husband from powers that are taking hold of his life. As soon as the
man began to calm down, he joined her in warfare prayers. They began
to wake up 1.00 every night praying to break the yoke which occult
powers had placed on the shoulders of the Ph.D. student. Their prayer
every night was "Every charm and occult incantations coming from
downstairs, be nullified, in the name of Jesus."

Within a few weeks, the student received a letter from his department
asking him to come and defend his thesis. He was successful and
awarded a Ph.D. degree. That was how God put an end to his problem.
Meanwhile, the occult man became so offended that he did not want to
see me again.

Occult members abound today. They appear as normal human beings
during the day and spend the hours of the night chanting people's names
for evil purposes.
Self-directed curses or swearing for the purposes of denying an
allegation or claiming innocence - Whenever an allegation is leveled
against someone and the person denies it, it is customary for such
people to be taken before local shrines to ascertain the truth of the
matter.

There are certain powerful idols in Africa, which are meant for
swearing. Whenever people are in dispute or whenever an allegation is
denied, the person is taken before a shrine and made to invoke the
power of the gods against himself or herself. Such a person would say, "If
I am the one who stole the goat, may the idol of this village destroy me
within seven days."

There are two dangers in that kind of swearing. If the person happens
to be guilty in that matter, he will face the judgement of the demonic idol.
He stands the risk of being destroyed or harmed by the idol. The devil is
very wicked. You may make a statement saying, "If I have a hand in this
matter let this idol reduce my life to a casualty and wreck. Let me not see
good days on earth. Let my name become a bye-word in this community.
Let my children die one after the other." Such a very powerful way of
swearing is not as simple as it appears. The devil will Ignore your first
statement, "If I have any hand on this matter." He will hold you guilty for
standing before an idol and invoking such terrible curses upon yourself.

That is exactly the reason the Bible says:

But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is
God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by
Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou
swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white
or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for
 whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil (Matt 5:34-37).
We have a lot of lessons to learn from the passage.

1. Do not swear by heaven. A lot of people are fond of raising one

finger to the sky and swearing. That habit is a clear violation of the word
of God. It is not only a clear contradiction of the word of God it is also
demonic. If care is not taken, hands which are raised up in that manner
will never achieve anything good in life.
2. It is wrong to swear by the earth. Some people swear saying,
"May the ground, on which I am standing fight against me If, ..."

3. It is wrong to swear by the name of your city or community.

4. It is wrong to swear by your head. Those who say, "Let my head

be anchored to evil if I am guilty in this matter." Such words are capable
of destroying your destiny in life.

5. You must avoid all forms of swearing. Affirm your words by saying
yea or nay. Thank God the international law permits anyone who wants to
avoid swearing to affirm his or her words.

From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that you do yourself a lot of

spiritual havoc whenever you utter evil statements against yourself in the
name of swearing. The situation is more dangerous if you swear when
you know that you are actually the offender. You must desist from all
kinds of swearing today. Don't allow anybody to make you hold an Iron in
your hand or to bite it, saying that you are swearing by the god of iron.
Don't allow anyone to make you do anything in the name of swearing. Let
your yes be yes and your no be no.

Acceptance of demonic prophecy - If a prophet comes before you

and gives you all kinds of evil prophecies, you must not accept such
demonic words. How can a man who has ten wives, living an ungodly life,
and has no single touch with God, tell you that you are going to have an
accident, or that somebody close to you is going to die? Why should you
accept such an evil prophecy?
 What some of these prophets actually do is to direct curses at people's
lives in the name of prophecy. They confuse you by telling you that what
they uttered is in the mind of God.

Let us look at an example of how curses were concealed in the
Scriptures. The curse was sent back to its sender. Let us read I Kings
18:17-18:

And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto
him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have
not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye
have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast
followed Baalim.

Jesus also countered what the devil said to him knowing that words are
powerful. According to Matthew 4:4-5:

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son
of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he
answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God.

Jesus countered the devil's word and gave him a knock out in the first
round. Then the second round:
Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him
on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the
Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his
angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall
bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone
(verses 5-6).
Here, the devil attempted to get Jesus into a wrong action by quoting
the word of God in a wrong manner. The promise of the Scriptures
centers on the protection of God's people. Such a protection was not
meant for those who tempt the Lord. Jesus knew this and He did not fall
into the temptation.
 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God (verse 7).

The devil went to the third stage of the verbal war:

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain,

and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of
them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, If
thou wilt fall down and worship me (verses 8-9).
Jesus countered the devil's word:

Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve (verse 10).

HOW TO COUNTER-ATTACK STRIFE OF

TONGUES
What do you do whenever there is a strife of tongues against you? You
must take these three steps.

1. You must reject.

2. You must reverse.

3. You must return.

The use of acronyms is for easy memory. The first step you must take If
you want to deal with strife of tongues is to reject such negative words.
You must declare that evil words are not meant for you, that is how to
reject such negative words. You must return all negative words to the
sender. You must also reverse all negative words that are against you.

However, the most terrible and the worst of all situations of the strife of
tongues is self-directed strife of tongues. It is not easy to deal with any
strife of tongues which takes its origin from you. God cannot even help
you if you are the one speaking evil against yourself. The only time when
God will help you is when you stop saying negative things against
yourself.

Those who speak negative words against themselves are guilty of self-
destruction. You cannot blame any enemy for such an exercise in self-
destruction. You are the one harassing yourself. You must therefore
watch your words before your speak them.

Do you speak words of power? Do you speak words of weakness and
condemnation? Do you speak words of love? Do you speak words of
hatred? Do you center your words on bondage?

Do you speak words of victory and freedom? Do you speak words of

life or death? Have you brought diseases and problems into your life
through the words you spoke? Do you speak works of joy or sadness?

If you do not watch your words you will certainly limit the miracles of
God in your life.

You must also ask yourself the following questions:

What kind of words am I speaking? Do I weigh my words? Am I a
talkative? Am I chatting away my anointing?
If you have ever read church history, you would have discovered that all
the powerful men of God were quiet people.

It is unfortunate that the enemies of our souls have learnt the secret of
evil use of words. They issue curses, chant incantations and do all kinds
of terrible things. What these evil powers invoke on men and women are
so effective that God has promised that He would hide His people from
the strife of tongues.
For example, God had to intervene when Balaam was hired by the
enemies of the children of Israel to curse the children of Israel. If Balam's
curse was not very serious and if it was not going to function, God would
not have intervened. God intervened because He knew that a lot of evil
and destruction were inherent in those words.

Let me give you a few tips before ending this chapter. You must be able
to speak and neutralize any evil word spoken against you. You must not
support the devil in speaking evil against your own life. Avoid words of
doubt and condemnation. Speak words of deliverance. Do not speak
words of bondage to your life. Avoid words of sickness and death. Speak
words of healing to yourself.
Trade words of prosperity for words of poverty; words of commendation
for words of condemnation; words of strength for words of weaknesses;
words of success for words of failure; words of grace for idle words and
words of life for words of death.

You must change your words from today. Instead of saying "Not too
bad" when someone asks you, "How are you", you must learn to say, "It
is well with me, in the name of the Lord." If your colleague asks you "How
are you doing?" do not say, "I don't know what is happening to me,
nothing is working." Rather you must say "God is good to me and God is
doing great things in my life." Don't allow your mouth to utter any evil
statement against you.

Instead of looking at your wife or husband and saying, "What's wrong

with this bastard?" You must learn to say "How blessed am I to have
married such a man or a woman like you."

I remember the case of a particular lady whose mother always abused
her saying, "You are a bastard." True to the words of the mother the
young girl got pregnant and did not know which of the three men who
were having affairs with her was the father of the child.

You must rediscover the power of the spoken word today. You must
walk in the same shoes with men of God who moved with God in the
Scriptures. These men learnt the secret behind the spoken word. You
must become wise today. Do not allow the enemy to trap you.

God is looking for an army of believers who will not only control their
mouths but go ahead to employ the power of the spoken word in this end
time warfare programme. Let me end this chapter with a Spanish
proverb: "Flies do not get into a closed mouth."

PRAYER POINTS

1. Any curse issued against me to make people ask where is my God,

return to the sender, in the name of Jesus.
2. I reject, reverse and recall every strife of tongues against my life, in
the name of Jesus.
3. I release myself from every evil incantation past or present, in the
name of Jesus.
4. Every misuse of my tongue against myself, I cancel it, in the name of
Jesus.
5. Every power and activity of serpentine spirit against my life, be
cancelled, in the name of Jesus.
6. Every evil report about me, I cancel you, in the name of Jesus.
6
Holiness and the tongue
I am sure you are no longer in the dark concerning the fact that it is
possible to be trapped by the tongue.

The previous chapters have shown that a lot of people are under
bondage, because they are trapped by their tongues. Many people have
surrendered their mouth to the devil to be used as an instrument of
destruction, disunity, discord, disaffection, rumour mongering, and sowing
discord among the brethren. A lot of people who profess to know the Lord
have allowed the devil to use them as evil messengers in the church, in
the community and their personal families. Unless the issue of the tongue
is fully dealt with, the devil will continue to keep many people under
bondage.

The problem of the tongue can be traced to lack of personal holiness in

the heart. If you are truly holy within and without, you will be able to keep
your tongue under control. Your watchword at all times will be: what will
Jesus say if He were in my shoes?

What is the key to wholesome living? How can a Christian live a life of
holiness before man and God ? The Bible says,

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his
tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain
(James 1:26).

I have discovered, after several years of being in the Lord and

observing the details of what happens within the body of Christ, that the
greatest hindrance to living a holy life is inability to control the tongue.
The greatest problems which many Christians have in this generation is
the problem of unbridled tongue. Most Christians who profess the
holiness experiences, belittle their profession and confession, as a result
of their inability to exercise control over their tongues.

If you examine the Bible and church history you will discover that a lot
of damage has been done in the church of God and in the world by men
and women (including the so-called Christians) who could not control
their tongues.

Some churches and denominations have been ruined and brought unto
desolation as a result of the practice by some of the members who
engage in idle chatter, gossip, rumours, speculations, tale bearing, mud
slinging, character assassination, exaggeration, lying and every other
thing that is contrary to holy living and sound doctrine.

We have seen cases of some denominations, churches and Christian
fellowships, that have been run down by the power of the tongue by
members of the church. Anyone who has observed and followed the
history of several denominations, would have discovered that the wrong
use of the tongue has opened the door for the enemy to come in and
introduce disintegration and problems into those churches.

No matter how holy we profess to be, no matter how prayerful the world
thinks we are, and no matter how popular we are, if we allow the tongue
to run riot, we would be responsible for allowing satan an inroad into the
church. I have heard heart-rendering stories concerning men of God who
once vomited fire, evangelists who once demonstrated the power of God,
pastors who were once flaming ministers and Christian leaders whose
name spread terror in the enemy's camp but who are no more today
because the enemy has used their tongues to trap them.

The devil will allow you to cast out evil spirits, he will allow you to go
into spiritual warfare, he will allow you to fight household wickedness and
he will allow you to go about ministering to and delivering the oppressed
as long as he knows that he can trap you through your tongue.
The tongue, therefore, is the thermometer which can be used to
measure your level of spirituality. Show me a woman who has succeeded
in putting her tongue under control and I will show you a spiritual woman.
You cannot claim that you are holy, except you have actually succeeded
in controlling your tongue. You cannot claim that you are sanctified
except your tongue is sanctified. You cannot lay claim to having received
the second work of grace if your tongue has not been sanctified. A
sanctified tongue is an index of personal inner holiness.

If we were to decide to keep a track of your life, we shall simply decide
to watch how you speak, the kinds of words that come out from your
tongue, and the spirit behind those words. The tongue is the greatest
revealer of your level of spirituality and holiness. Nobody can claim that
he or she is holy if the tongue brings out rotten, ungodly, unedifying,
unwholesome, and untrue words.
Christians who exaggerate, backbite, talk excessively, spread untrue
stories, run other people down, use abusive language and speak corrupt
and unholy words have not even started the kindergarten class in the
school of holiness.

Holiness is not determined by age. A pastor may be as old as
Methuselah and he may not know what it means to be holy before the
Almighty. It becomes clear, therefore, that the words of Jesus are true:

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no
case enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:20).

To be precise, you have not discovered what It means to be holy until

you know how to possess a holy tongue.

The Bible makes it very clear that if any man thinks that he is religious
but fails to bridle or control his tongue, his religion is vain, empty and
useless. God does not look at the situation the way we look at it. If God
says that somebody's religion is vain, it is really true. It is crystal clear
that if anybody's religion is vain, that person will surely end his or her life
in hell fire.
 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his
tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: (1 Pet
3:10).
This passage is self-explanatory. If anyone wants to live a godly life,
such a person must avoid the wrong use of the tongue. We are also
given another command in the Scriptures:

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but

that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
grace unto the hearers (Eph 4:29).

Corrupt communication must not come out from the mouth of a

believer. A Christian must not crack dirty jokes. You must never speak
words that could make you ashamed if such words were spoken to the
entire congregation.

Furthermore, the Bible makes it clear that the believer must weigh his
words before he speaks out.

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by
thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt
be condemned (Matt 12:36-37).

Do you know that God is recording every word which you have spoken
and God is going to use those words to either condemn or justify you.
The Bible says,

Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope
of a fool than of him (Prov 29:20).
The Bible tells us that those who are guilty of' talkativeness and hasty
speech are fools.

The word of God is so serious about the way we use our tongues that a
good portion of the Scripture is devoted to the problem of the tongue.
 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein
is a breach in the spirit....The heart of him that hath
understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools
feedeth on foolishness (Prov 15:4,14).

These two verses teach us that a perverse tongue will lead to spiritual
problems. We are also made to know that those who speak foolish words
are classified as fools - those who lack any iota of wisdom.

One of the greatest commentaries on the human tongue can be found
in Proverb 10: 19-21:

In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that

refraineth his lips is wise. The tongue of the just is as choice
silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth. The lips of the
righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.

These seven scriptures all agree on the importance of the human

tongue. They are unanimous in their declaration of the fact that the
human tongue is capable of bringing either death or life, success or
failure and heaven or hell.

A lot of marriages would still be in place today if the husband and the
wife had learnt how to control their tongues. A lot of companies would not
have collapsed if the workers had learnt how to exercise control over
their speech. Many churches which have collapsed would have been
strong and united if some of the members had not allowed the devil to
use their tongues as instruments of destruction.
There would have been no war in many countries and communities if
the lips of members of those communities had been sealed together.

A lot of people would have passed their examinations, if they had not
spoken careless words. A lot of people would have also lived wonderful
lives if they never spoke any evil words with their tongues.
 The tongue has, therefore, become the greatest source of problem to
the lives of many people. The kind of life which God wants His people to
live is made very clear in the book of Isaiah.

And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called

The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it
shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not
err therein (Isa 35:8).

The type of life which God has planned for us to live has been
described by Isaiah as the way of holiness. Many people have wrong
notions and ideas concerning the subject of holiness. Some believe that
you are holy when you wear a sad face and appear melancholic.

Others think that to be holy, you must appear absolutely serious and
stone-faced. Others expect those who are holy to be lily-livered and
spineless. They expect such people to comport themselves as if they
could not hurt a fly. There are those who have concluded that to be holy
you must give people the impression that you are a perfect gentleman.

Others have concluded that holiness and courtesy are the same thing.
Some people have even concluded that those who avoid trouble
wherever they go are holy. However, all these ideas will pale into
insignificance when you begin to study the word of God.

If you examine the lives of men and women who were certified holy in
the Bible, they did not fit into the kind of mould described here. They
were not weak-minded, slow, usually quiet, melancholic and
sanctimonious. Rather, some of them were as tough as Elijah, as
troublesome as John the Baptist and as tough-minded as the Lord Jesus
Christ. Holy men of the Bible were sincere men.

The happiness of Paul the apostle was so deep that he could sing
aloud in the prison. His happiness was deep and pronounced that he
burst into hilarious joy at midnight in the prison. Paul did not cut a picture
of a lily-livered Christian.

Peter was not a gentle men, he was a holy trouble maker. He never
allowed sleeping dogs to lie. He was always found asking questions,
attempting the impossible and expressing himself in all sincerity and
godly honesty. He was not a pretender, neither did he hide his inner
feelings when he was in doubt concerning anything. He was holy without
being hypocritical. He was sincere to the core yet he was acclaimed as a
believer who received the experience of sanctification.
Some people give a wrong notion concerning themselves. Therefore,
holiness is not repulsive; rather, it is attractive. It is a beautiful experience
within the reach of every believer. It is not reserved for the angels, it is
possible for all. Holy people are not those who are so heavenly conscious
that they are no earthly good.

Uncleanness is the opposite of holiness. Therefore, a holy person is
separated from evil ways. He is separated unto God. No Christian who is
careless about holiness is entitled to heaven. If you hate the message of
holiness, you are on your way to hell fire. No one can enjoy the benefits
of eternal life without accepting the message of holiness.

If you want to measure the degree of holiness in the life of a particular

believer, you do so by the level of his sensitivity to sin. If you get to a
level when you no longer feel sorry, troubled in your mind or aggrieved in
the spirit, when you commit sin, you are not holy. If you no longer feel
awfully sorry for sin, you are far from being holy. If you have lost your
tears whenever you commit sin you are becoming a child of perdition.
God is holy and He wants us to live a holy life.

A perfect man is a man who can rule his tongue and is rooted and
grounded in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. The
influence of the tongue upon our lives is so vital and deep that the Holy
Spirit wants to control the tongue. This is why we always quote this verse
in the Scriptures: "They shall cast out devils and they shall speak with
new tongues." If you cannot control your tongue and discard your former
pattern of speaking, you have missed out on what it means to live a holy
life.
Holiness itself is a very deep topic. The tongue is also a very deep
topic. By the time you combine these two us great topics you come up
with a subject that is so important that it will determine your eternal
destiny.

IMPORTANT FACTS
As we examine this important topic, five distinct interrelated facts
emerge.

Who do you speak about? Are you a gossip or are you a rumour
monger? Are you the type of Christian who goes about saying "Have you
heard?" "Do not say I told you." If that describes you, you are surely
doing some excellent job for the devil.

Of whom do you speak? Are you speaking what is correct about the
person whom you are speaking about? Are you putting yourself into
trouble by committing sin on a daily basis, speaking what you do not
know anything about?

Some people commit abomination by speaking evil concerning children

of God. Do you know that it is a terrible sin for you to criticise and spread
rumour concerning somebody who is trying his best to serve God and his
best does not seem to satisfy you?

To whom do you speak? Are they Christians? Are you the kind of
believer who releases his secrets to the enemy? Whose company do you
enjoy when you feel like talking? You must examine yourself.
A man could go right from the church to hell fire. If you have bad friends
in the church and you speak to such ungodly church members, you might
buy yourself a free ticket to hell fire. The Bible says,
Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners (1
 Cor 15:33).
An English saying goes thus: Birds of the same feather flock together.
Show me your friends and I will tell you the kind of person you are. If you
are a prayer warrior, you will always associate yourself with praying
people. If you love the word of God, your closest friends should be those
who love the word of God.

If your best friends are worldly and sinful, you must be worldly and
sinful yourself. If your best friend goes about committing abortion and
using anti-pregnancy pills you must be an immoral person yourself. If you
cannot quit the company of those who are sinful, it is an evidence of the
fact that you are also sinful yourself.

A lot of people continue to keep ungodly friends under the pretext that
they cannot abandon their childhood friends. A lot of people would not
have found themselves in the present state of confusion which they are
in, if not for their so-called childhood friends. It is very strange that some
Christians allow unbelievers to be their best advisers. It is strange that a
Christian, who is in the light, allows an unbeliever who is in darkness to
advise him.

Do you speak into the air? Are you so overtaken by the spirit of
talkativeness that you can speak to yourself when nobody is around?
Such people need deliverance.
How do you speak? What kind of spirit is behind the word which you
speak? Does your speech show that the Holy Spirit is in you? How do
you use your tongue? Do you speak when you are supposed to be
silent? Do you speak when you are supposed to be praying?

When do you speak? Do you speak whenever your brain tells you to
speak? Do you ever ask the Holy Spirit to tell you if you must speak?
Where do you speak? Do you speak where the presence of God is
not found? Do you speak in the company of the ungodly? Do you speak
where the flesh is ruling? Where do you speak?

The tongue is a very powerful instrument that must be used with an
extreme care and caution, because death and life are in its power. If you
lose control over your tongue you have lost control over your life.

Somebody came to me some years ago saying, "Doctor, my husband

said I should pack out of the house. Please, come and intervene between
the two of us." I decided to follow her so I could talk with the husband. As
we approached their house we saw the husband coming towards us. The
woman opened her month and said "Dr., that is him crawling like a
snake." I asked her, "Madam, what are you saying?" I could not believe
my ears.

This was a woman who had told me lots of terrible things about her
husband. If you heard what she said and you were not a child of God,
you would almost feel like cutting the man into pieces with a cutlass. I
simply told the woman; "I am no longer ready to talk to your husband.
Neither am I ready to hear anything from you. What you have just said
here has shown me that you are a trouble maker."

The key to a beautiful life is to regulate and control your tongue. A

Christian cannot accomplish much in the service of God if he does not
know how to control his tongue. You must make a decision today to tame
your tongue.

When God created man in the beginning, He endowed him with lots of
power. Most of the power which God endowed us with is still with us
today. For example, we still have the power of imagination and the power
of exercising domination over the animals of the forest and other
creatures, and the power of the spoken word. Of all these powers the
greatest is the power of the spoken word. Many, today, are under
bondage because of their inability to control the tongue. Many tongues
are under serious bondage.
James 3:2-13 says:
 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word,
the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole
body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may
obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the
ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce
winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm,
whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little
member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter
a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity:
so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole
body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on
fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of
serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been
tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; It is an
unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even
the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after
the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to
be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water
and bitter? can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries?
either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and
fresh. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among
you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with
meekness of wisdom.
The tongue is one of the smallest members of the human body, yet it
can set the whole body ablaze. It has destroyed individuals, communities,
families and nations. I read a cartoon the other day. There was a caption
underneath the picture of a soldier who was holding a microphone. The
caption reads, "Old men declare wars, and young men fight them." This
shows us that those who actually declare wars do not fight them. Wars
are declared by a few people who are privileged to hold positions of
authority.

The tongue is a dangerous member of the body. I have said time and
again that God gave us two eyes, two nostrils and two ears, but He gave
us only one mouth because He knows that men and women are likely to
misuse the tongue. Many of us find it very easy to speak all kinds of
words.

The tongue can be used to serve the devil while it can also be used to
serve God. It is one of the most effective passports to hell fire.

If you cannot control the tongue it will control you. Many lives were held
together and everything was going on until a time came when their
tongues decided to go to the north while the rest of the members of the
body went the south. That is an evidence of internal and external
confusion.

Let us look at the life of Zechariah, an Old Testament priest who went
to the temple to perform his duties as a servant of God. An angel
appeared to him bringing good news unto him from the Almighty.
However, Zechariah decided to allow his mouth to run loose and put him
into trouble. He was busy at the altar in the holy of holies serving the
Lord. The holy of holies was a secret place which only the high priest
could enter once in a year. It was so fearful that a chain was always tied
around the waist of the high priest. Some bells were tied around his waist
so that those who are outside the holy of holies could detect whether he
was still alive or had died. That was how fearful it was to enter the holy
place in those days.

The angel appeared to Zechariah and brought him wonderful news
from the throne of the Almighty. However, the man, Zechariah, decided to
doubt the prophetic words which the angel brought to him. The angel was
unhappy with him and pronounced that It was going to be done, while
Zechariah was to be dumb until it was done. If he had not been denied of
the power of speech he would have talked himself out of the miracle. God
had to make him dumb to help him preserve the miracle.
Do you know that there are people with demons in their tongues?
Some people's tongues are so powerful that they operate independent of
the other parts of their bodies. The tongue has, therefore, put many
people in trouble. It becomes clear, therefore, that if you can control your
tongue, you will be able to control other parts of the body it your tongue is
under satanic influence, it will speak evil words. On the hand, if your
tongue is under divine influence it will speak godly words. Your life is
sharpened and controlled by the type of words which you speak.

Let me make it clear once again; what is happening in your life right
now is a direct result of what you have been speaking concerning
yourself in the time past. What you are speaking today will also affect
your future.
There is nothing so great or powerful that the tongue cannot influence.
It is unfortunate that the children of the devil understand the power of the
tongue. They know how to make use of the tongue to manipulate the
destiny of men and women.

I witnessed a very strange experience many years ago. The incident
took place at a popular bus-stop in Lagos, Nigeria. A cow suddenly broke
loose from a herd of cows and there was pandemonium everywhere.
Nobody was able to control the cow. Many traders and business people
abandoned their premises because they feared being knocked down by
the cow. Vehicles were packed, motorcyclists and riders kept a safe
distance from the cow.

Nobody knew what to do until a bus attendant, popularly called bus

conductor, came down from the bus and went straight to the direction of
the cow and began to speak to the cow. Everybody was held spell-bound.
To the surprise of everyone of us, the cow seemed to be hearing what the
young man was saying. At last, the young man commanded the cow to
sit down. The cow sat down quietly as if it was not the same cow that had
caused a commotion a few moments earlier.

That is an example of how the children of the devil have mastered the
power of the spoken word. How was he able to speak the language that
the cow understands? How did he speak words which had some kind of
strange authority which could calm an unmanageable cow? He had
discovered the evil power which resided in the tongue. That young man
must have completely given himself over to the devil to be able to tame
an unruly cow. It is a case of a demon fighting another demon. Of course,
the more powerful one would win.

I also witnessed another event which made me to know that the

children of the devil seem to have specialised in discovering and utilisting
the power of the tongue. A group of armed robbers were tied to the
stakes ready for execution. A priest was brought to enable the armed
robbers say their last prayers before they would be silenced forever
through the gun. The armed robbers were six in number. As soon as the
first round of gunshots were fired at them, five of them died. The sixth
one was not affected by the gunshots. The soldiers emptied all their
bullets on him, yet he remained alive.

The soldiers had to go back to the barracks for more bullets. They
started again and they fired almost half of their bullets on him. The man
kept on starring at them as if he was on a picnic. As this drama went on,
an old man, who was tucked somewhere in the crowd, called the army
officer who was in charge of the execution and said: "Young man, let me
help you. You have tried to kill this man for more than two hours now and
you have not succeeded. I have been watching the whole drama. But let
me tell you the secret. Have you noticed that the armed robber has
continued to chant some powerful incantation while your men were busy
shooting at him? You will never be able to kill him as long as you
continue to allow him to speak. If you really want to kill him, tell your boys
to aim at his mouth. Once you are able to shoot his mouth he will stop
chanting those incantations. Immediately he stops chanting incantations,
command your boys to shoot all the other parts of his body. He will die
instantly."
The armed officer thanked the old man and gave the soldiers fresh
orders. As soon as they shot the armed robber's mouth and others were
fired at his body, he died. That is a very good example of the power of the
tongue.

 The tongue is the most powerful part of human body. You cannot
experience victory in life unless you know how to exercise control over
your tongue. If you use your tongue negatively, you cannot expect the
same tongue to have power over witches and wizards.

The tongue is so central in the life of men that God has given us a
wonderful provision with which we can transform our tongues. The
baptism with the Holy Spirit provides us with a divine opportunity to
change our tongues. You must allow the Holy Spirit to control your
tongue.

Your tongue needs deliverance because most tongues are under
bondage. Many tongues need cleansing because they are dirty. Some
unclean spirits have made the tongue their place of abode. Some
people's tongues have been controlled and animated by the power of the
flesh. That is why anyone whose tongue is not yet liberated and made
holy cannot experience what it means to live a holy life.
Excessive talking, idle and careless words, gossiping, lying, being
hasty in speaking, swearing and cursing and being involved in cracking
dirty jokes, must be flushed out of your tongue, if you want your word to
carry power before the Almighty.

The Bible says: "If you want to see good days, you must refrain
your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from guile."
Some of us have copied the devil's vocabulary. Listen to the so-called
Christians and you will hear slangs like "bread", "chick", "paddy" and
other words which portray the language of the people of the world. A lot
of Christians who are now born again learnt some incantations before
they became born again. If you are not careful you might still speak the
same words, once in a while. You must ask God to erase such demonic
words from your memory through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you speak evil with your tongue it will set the whole body on fire.
'Some people pray like this: "Holy Spirit, send Your fire into my life" and
expect the Holy Spirit to descend upon them, they use the same tongue
to abuse, curse, exaggerate and commit immorality. Can the Holy Spirit
take control of such a thing? What has the Holy Spirit got to do with a
dirty, immoral tongue? How can God deposit His power in your tongue
when you use the same tongue to crack dirty jokes? Can God anoint the
tongue of a man who has become an encyclopedia in cursing and using
abusive words? That is why many people have not been able to receive
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a very clean spirit; He has no affinity
with those who are living dirty lives.

Because of the state of their tongues, some people try to console

themselves when they cannot receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit by
saying; "It is not compulsory that I must speak in tongues. There are
many other gifts in the Bible."

Paul, the apostle said, "I thank my God that I speak in tongues more
than ye all." If Paul could speak in tongues what excuses do you have?
You must not deceive yourself. You must deal with the problem of the
tongue. You must release your tongue from the control and domination of
evil spirits.

If the tongues of many people can receive transformation, it means

they will begin to experience wonderful blessings from the Almighty.
Many people have gone into bondage through their lips. Before they
became born again, some people were fond of sharing cigarettes and
sweets with just anybody, not knowing if they were sharing things with
people who dedicated their tongues to the devil. Others eat sacrifices
when they were not born again, such people have serious problems now.

To deal with such problems, you must receive the touch of God on your
tongue and let God do something new in your life. Do you know that if
you make up your mind that you are not going to allow evil words to
come off your lips for one week, you will experience wonderful miracles.
If you can make up your mind that starting from today, you will not speak
a single negative word about your job, your family, your health and your
future, and you do that for one week you will be shocked by the kind of
miracle which will happen to you. But I wonder how many can do that,
since most people are under a serious demonic influence.

If your words are dominated by doubt you will be conquered by

negative circumstances. If you speak about failure all the time you will
fail. If you are always talking about weakness, you will become weak. If
you talk about poverty and lack, poverty will move into your territory and
dominate your life. If you keep on expressing fear, fear will grip your
heart.

Isa. 6:1-7 says:

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon
a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of
his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him
that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I,
Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for
mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew
one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand,
which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid
it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and
thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
This passage reveals a lot about the holiness of God and the impact it
can make on your life. It also reveals the greatest problems of many
church-goers. We are made to know that many church-goers are yet to
know the Lord. A lot of Christians who have spent several years in the
church are yet to have an unforgettable encounter with the Lord.
Although they know so much about the church, they know nothing about
the Lord.

Some members of the church have had encounters with pastors,
general overseers, miracles, well-thought-out sermons and oratory, but
they are yet to find God. Your priority changes the moment you have an
encounter with the Lord; you will also see yourself the way you really are.
My prayer for you, as you continue to read the pages of this book, is that
you have a new life-transforming encounter with the Lord. Nobody will
need to preach several sermons to you before you begin to live for the
glory of God.

One thing we all need, which most believers lack, is to receive a touch
of fire from the hand of Almighty God. Immediately Isaiah identified his
problems and owned up to his inadequacy, God visited him. A single
touch from the Lord turned Isaiah's life around. He became the greatest
prophet in the Old Testament. For example, Isaiah predicted a great
proportion of the events in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He couldn't make those prophetic declarations until the fire of God fell
upon his tongue. When the fire of God fell upon Isaiah, he was
dramatically transformed. The fire of God fell upon him and left him
broken, renewed and transformed. The touch of the Lord burnt off every
dirt and rubbish from his life.

The reason many lives continue to remain under bondage can be
traced to the fact that they are yet to have a genuine encounter with the
Lord. The reason many people visit several prayer houses, churches and
deliverance ministries without experiencing any change in their lives can
be traced to the fact that they have not experienced the fire of God in
their lives. Those who have received the touch of fire discover that their
bonds have been broken.
More than any other thing, you need the baptism of fire. You need the
fire of God to purge you and sweep away every form of rubbish from your
life. If we were to go by the perfect plan of God for our lives, we are
supposed to encounter the fire of God the very day we gave our lives to
Christ. The baptism of fire should come upon you the day you receive the
baptism of the Holy spirit.

Many have not experienced the fire of God because of their failure to
allow God to purge and set them on fire. The Holy Spirit can not force
anybody. It is unfortunate that some people are scared of what will likely
happen to them if the fire of God should come upon their lives.

Why are you afraid of the fire of the Holy Spirit? Do you prefer to
remain under bondage? Do you know that your fears are unfounded?
What do you expect? Why are you afraid of being useful in the hand of
God? Do you know that I was like that before? I never knew that God
could use me in this magnitude.

How did it happen? I simply surrendered myself to Him. I remember a
particular man who was making jest of me saying that I was too serious
with God. I was shocked later when I came across him carrying a Bible,
that was two times bigger than mine, in spite of the fact that he was
formerly a Muslim.

The reason many lives are cold and ineffective in the hand of God can
be traced to the fact that they are yet to have an encounter with the fire of
the Holy Spirit. You need to have a fresh a encounter with God.

God sent tongues of fire upon the apostles. Why did God send the Holy
Spirit to the apostles in the form of fire? It is because of the power of the
tongue and because the fire of the Holy Spirit finds expression in the
tongue. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit today.

The Bible tells us that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit
from his mother's womb. Bible scholars tell us that, more people became
born again through the ministry of John the Baptist than through the
ministry of his contemporaries. When Jesus was asked a Question
concerning John the Baptist, the Lord simply declared that John was
more than a prophet. If you study the words of John the Baptist, you will
discover that he preached very tough messages. He received tongues of
fire.

Let the fire of God fall upon your tongue today and your life will no
longer be the same.
PRAYER POINTS

1. Father Lord, soak me in the fire of the Holy Ghost, in the name of
Jesus.
2. O Lord, do unto me what You did to Isaiah.
7
The tongue of power
Prophet Isaiah is one of the most anointed prophets in the Old
Testament. He had an encounter with God, which transformed his life.

The transformation of Isaiah's tongue is one of the most important
things that ever happened to him. God used him to bring the important
message of the coming of the Messiah to mankind. God touched his
tongue which was the channel of the divine message.

Isa. 6:1-4 says:

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon
a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of
his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him
that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

The passage has a lot to say concerning what it means to have an

encounter with God. One thing stands out clearly here. When you see the
Lord, something must happen to you. Any genuine encounter with the
Lord must remain unforgettable in your memory. The picture of a real
encounter with God remains with you wherever you go and throughout
the days of your life.

What we need today is an unforgettable encounter with the Almighty.
We need to understand that it is possible to spend several years in the
church without having a single encounter with God. It is also possible to
get involved with all facets of Christian service without having a face-to-
face encounter with God.

The divine encounter will be made real to you if you seek the Lord with
all your heart. The moment you have that encounter your life will change.
Situations that had appeared confusing and hopeless will be turned
around by God.

The reason the problems of many people have remained resistant to
prayer can be traced to lack of a decisive encounter with God. If that
describes your situation, what you need is a divine encounter.

Isa. 6:5 says:

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of

unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips:
for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

Another lesson which we ought to learn from Isaiah's experience is that

a divine encounter will reveal your true spiritual condition to you. When
you see the Lord, nobody needs to tell you what your spiritual stand looks
like. You will be able to face reality without deceiving yourself. You will
see yourself the way you really are. You wouldn't need a preacher to tell
you where you are missing the mark.

A single encounter with God will make you to see yourself in the light of
the word of God. You will discover whether you are a glorified hypocrite.
You will see yourself plainly when you see the Lord.

Isa. 6:6-8 says:

Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in
his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he laid It upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched
thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send,
and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isaiah had a very close encounter with God. He came face to face with
the holy God. The Bible makes us to understand that God is holy and His
presence is enveloped with holiness in its superlative form.

Isaiah had been ministering in the house of God and in the midst of the
people of God. If he were to compare himself with the people, he would
have said that he was very much above average. He was so righteous in
the eyes of the people that his calling to the ministry and the enviable
position which he occupied, as well as his spiritual stature, made him to
look larger than life.
It is very easy, for men and women who minister in the house of God to
be so highly exalted, that their faults are no longer seen by those who are
close to them. It is also possible they are so anointed, that people will
begin to look at them as if they are no longer human. The situation
becomes worse, when such people are no longer ready to look at their
true spiritual condition and face the reality. Many so-called ministers have
missed the mark because they felt elevated above their measure.

Isaiah, perhaps, was the best example of godliness in his days. He was
almost worshipped by the people who surrounded him. They almost
elevated him to the rank of divinity. It is possible that Isaiah enjoyed the
super status before he was brought to the sanctuary, where the lord ran
him through a tough spiritual diagnosis. Isaiah was so baffled by what he
saw that he cried out, "Woe is me for I am undone. For I am a man of
unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of unclean people." God had to take
him away from the crowd before he could see the glory of God and his
personal depravity and shortcoming.
I don't know how busy you are, and I don't know if you have ever taken
the time to run yourself through a spiritual check-up in the presence of
God. What we often lose sight of is, the fact that we are the best among a
group of people, does not mean that we have attained a position of
success.

I wonder what would have happened to Isaiah if he did not have that
encounter with God. What do you think would have happened to Isaiah if'
he had died as a man of unclean lips? His experience shows us that a
popular minister or a respected man of God, who happens to be in high
demand among men, may miss the mark and become unacceptable to
God.

What Isaiah said concerning himself, shows us that he was a man of

unclean lips, unsafe of all the divine messages which he had delivered to
the children of Israel. Before that time, Isaiah must have stood up
gallantly beating his chest and speaking with an air of success and
acceptability. The brief moment he spent in the presence of God granted
him the opportunity of receiving a divine X-ray of his spiritual condition.
The result of the X-ray, was so appealing that he had to pronounce woe
upon himself.

Many of our modern-day ministers are quite different from Isaiah. If you
correct a pastor and challenge him to shape up spiritually, he will look for
a hundred and one reasons to cover up his shortcomings. How many
ministers and church workers can own up to their spiritual shortcomings
and say, "Woe unto me for I am undone?" How many members of the
choir are ready to say that they are men and women of unclean lips even
when they render beautiful songs in the house of God? How many
teachers and pastors are ready to agree with heaven's verdict concerning
their lives?
Isaiah accepted his personal problem and he also recognized the fact
that the people to whom he ministered were having some sort of negative
impact upon his life.

The easiest route to hell fire is sometimes found in the church. It can be
very easy for a preacher to miss heaven. It is very simple for a man of
God who receives praises and accolades from the congregation to miss
the track. Isaiah was probably too busy to examine his spiritual state. He
did not know that his life was stinking to the nostril of God, as he was
busy serving the people. He was awake to the realisation of the ugly
state of affairs in his life when his eyes were opened to see the glory of
the Lord. Immediately Isaiah saw the Lord, the problem with his life was
brought into the open. He discovered for the first time in his life that his
lips were polluted and his tongue was contaminated. Therefore, his
words carried no power.

KING UZZIAH
The incident under consideration in this chapter took place around 742
B.C. Isaiah happened to be a middle-aged man around that time. He had
an encounter with God while the evening sacrifice was taking place in the
church. The reigning monarch at that time was Uzziah the king of Judah.

Uzziah, one of the most prominent kings in the ancient kingdom had
just died. The Bible makes it very clear that every good thing that
happened in the life of Isaiah took place after the death of king Uzziah.
Who was king Uzziah? Let us examine 2 Chron. 26: 1-5,

Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen
years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah.
He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept
with his fathers. Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to
reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His
mother's name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did that
which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that
his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of
Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as
long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.
Let us look at verse 15:

And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men,

to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and
great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was
marvellously helped, till he was strong.
I want you to take a particular notice of verses 16-23
But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his
 destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and
went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar
of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with
him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: And
they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It
appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the
LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are
consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou
hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the
LORD God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his
hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests,
the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in
the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. And
Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him,
and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust
him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out,
because the LORD had smitten him. And Uzziah the king was a
leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house,
being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD:
and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the
people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and
last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write. So Uzziah
slept with his fathers, and they burled him with his fathers in
the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said,
He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

Uzziah performed better than most of the kings who lived in his days
but his strength made him proud. His reign was beneficial, physically, to
the entire nation. But money and splendour corrupted the hearts of the
people.

Those who lived in the days of Isaiah had departed from the Lord. The
people who Isaiah ministered to had completely forgotten that they were
called to be a holy nation. They were no longer living their lives in
conformity with the word of God. They were no longer trusting in God to
protect them and provide for their needs. They were conforming to the
ungodly influence, which surrounded them. Their belly and their ears had
become heavy. They were unable to speak the word of the Lord. They
could not even hear what the Lord was saying to them. They had actually
departed from the Lord. Both Isaiah and the people whom he was
ministering to, were backsliding totally.

That was his spiritual state, before he saw the Lord. That was how he
had a once-and-for-all encounter which transformed his life. Therefore, if
you want to experience a change of life and if you want your tongue to
carry the power of God, you must have an encounter with God, who is
the giver of power. If you fail to have an encounter with God and you go
about praying that the power of God should fall upon your tongue,
nothing will happen to you.

The Bible says "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" This
passage shows that your tongue will either carry power or it will carry
weakness. Your tongue will either be a carrier of faith and an
encouragement, or it will be a carrier of discouragement or despair. Your
tongue can carry discouragement, sickness and failure. However, the
kind of tongue, which God wants us to have, is the tongue that carries
power.

I normally get challenged when I read about children of the devil who
sleep at the graveyard for 201 days just because they are searching for
power. Children of the devil also discipline themselves and fast because
they are looking for power. Those who belong to the devil memorise
incantations while children of God find it difficult to memorise the word of
God.

STEPS TO RECEIVE POWER

Divine encounter - The unclean lip must be dealt with, but that can
only take place when you have an encounter with the one who gives
power.

Fire in your tongue - The second step, which you must take to
possess the tongue of power, is to allow God drop His coal of fire upon
your tongue. That experience will purge your sins and wipe away your
iniquity. Unless you allow God to deal with your tongue, you will end up
being like the seven sons of Sceva, who tried to cast out evil spirits
without having any encounter with God. You must allow God to deal with
your tongue. You must allow the fire of God to fall upon it.

The moment you have a decisive encounter with God, which results in
the subjection of your tongue under the fire of the Holy Spirit, you will no
longer be the same again.

Death to Uzziah. The third step, which you must take, is that your
'Uzziah must die'. What is your Uzziah? Simply put, it is that which blocks
you from seeing God, that which prevents you from experiencing divine
revelation.

Whatever has made you so comfortable that you no longer desire to

pray is your Uzziah. What keeps you so busy that you have no time for
heartfelt praying is your Uzziah. That Uzziah must die.

Why don't you make this prayer statement:

My Uzziah must die today, in the name of Jesus.

As long as your Uzziah is alive you cannot possess the tongue of
power. Two kings, we all know, cannot sit on the same throne. As long as
the throne of your life is occupied by king Uzziah, God cannot anoint your
tongue with power. It is of no use to go about saying, "I am going to reign
with Christ one of these days," when you are living under bondage. It is
also not reasonable to say that you belong to Christ, when you are
having sex in the dream every night. You cannot say that you truly belong
to Christ, when you are being pursued by masquerades in your dream
every night. You cannot say that you are a true believer when you grow
wings and fly in the dream every night.
Those experiences are far away from God's plan for your life. What
other things does Uzziah stand for? King Uzziah is a symbol of pride and
self-confidence. Isaiah did not amount to anything before God until king
Uzziah died. When you take these steps you are then ready to allow God
to put his coals of fire upon your tongue. You will also be ready to allow
Him to destroy those things which are limiting God's power in your life.

You must allow the Holy Spirit to possess your life. The Bible says,
"Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the desires of the flesh." You must
lay down all your weapons of rebellion and yield the steering of your life
to the control of the Holy Spirit. Once you have taken that step, you then
go ahead to pray that God should purge your life.

Your tongue is either dead or alive. Your tongue is either an instrument

of glorification or a weapon of bondage. You need a close encounter with
God today. Your Uzziah must die. Open your heart to the Lord. Let God
deal with every sin of malice, pride, fornication, adultery and backbiting,
lying and other evidences of the fact that the totality of your life is not yet
yielded to the Lord.

Be sincere with yourself. Allow the Lord to do a work in your life. Let the
Lord transform your tongue today.
8
The madness of the mind
The Bible gives us a shocking revelation in the book of Ecclesiastes:

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun,
that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons
of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they
live, and after that they go to the dead (Eccl 9:3).

There is an inseparable link between the mind and the tongue. The
tongue speaks out what is stored in the mind. A good heart will produce
wholesome word. When the mind is sick, the whole body becomes
unmanageable. That is why the Bible screams out:

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of
life (Prov 4:23).

Here, the Bible enjoins every believer to protect the mind and keep it
away from all evil influences.

Why is the heart so important that it occupies a central place in the
lives of all mortals? The heart or the mind is the only link which we have
with God. We are made alive unto God through our minds. We perceive
the truth of the Scriptures with our hearts and we make all our efforts
towards worshipping God through the human mind. That is why the Bible
commands that:

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this
is the first commandment (Mark 12:30).
We see in this command the importance of the mind. That is why it is
important to keep the mind in a good condition. If anything goes wrong
with the mind, the totality of your life will be turned upside down.

On the other hand, if your mind is wholesome, your life will also be
whole. You need to understand that wrong words are spoken when the
heart or the mind is under the control of the devil. A lot of people have
wondered why most of the words which men speak in the society today
are evil words. We do not need to go too far before we understand the
reason.

The Bible makes it very clear that the heart of man is full of evil and
madness is lodged within the heart of men and women. Many people
cannot control the words they speak because of the madness of the
mind. We need the opening of our eyes of understanding to understand
what the madness of the mind is all about.

When the phrase, 'the madness of the mind' is used, many people
begin to think about the minds of men and women. There are various
levels of madness. There are low levels of madness and there are high
levels of madness. There are different levels or degree of madness.

What comes to your mind when you see a male prophet bathing a lady
by the side of the river? That is an example of low level of madness.

Somebody loses his temper and rages violently. That is another
example of elementary madness.
Or how can you explain the fact that the body of an angry man
continues to vibrate even after the quarrel is over. That is a manifestation
of madness.

A lot of things are happening today. We sometimes see some ladies
who become false prophets and go about ringing bells when the totality
of their body is bleached.

I had an experience when I was in a secondary school several years

ago. There was a particular preacher who came to the bus-stop early in
the morning and preached to a little crowd who were trying to jump into
the buses. I never saw a single person who waited behind to listen to
him. Although he was normal, he appeared not to be in control of his
mind. If his mind was wholesome he would have realised that it did not
make any sense to preach when nobody was listening.

I had a very troublesome classmate who decided to tell the elderly man
to think of a better way of preaching the gospel. I decided to follow him
and we headed straight to the elderly preacher. "Papa, you appear to
have been wasting your time. Why do you stand at this bus-stop
preaching when no one is listening to you? Why don't you preach to them
when they are through with their daily duties or why don't you go to a
place where you can find people who are ready to listen to you?"

The elderly man said, "Thank you, my son. That is very thoughtful of
you. Let me help you by giving you some portion of the Psalms. Use the
portions for your exams and you will always come out in flying colours."

We were surprised, to find the same preacher at the same bus-stop the
next day preaching to the same people who were so much in a hurry that
they found it difficult to wait and listen for a minute. This was a type of
madness.

There are many mad people on the streets today, who are well dressed
and intelligent. Many of them appear normal on the surface but they are
not well adjusted emotionally. There is partial madness and there is
complete madness. When somebody runs mad (whether it is partial or
complete) it means that he has lost all forms of inhibitions. That is exactly
what happens to those who are drunk. They lose every sense of decency
and moral correctness. Let us, therefore, look at the characteristics of
madness of the mind.

The mind is the greatest battle field. If your mind is already captured
there is no battle which you can fight. A lot of people who go from one
hospital to another will be healed if they can pray about the healing of the
mind. Many people do not know that the problems which they have
grappled with for several years emanated from the mind. The best thing
to do, therefore, is to know how to deal with the problem of the mind.
There will be less problems and sicknesses in the society if the problems
of the mind are dealt with.

THE SYMPTOMS OF MADNESS OF THE MIND

What then are the symptoms of the madness of the mind?
Worry - It is spiritual madness for anyone to sit down and extol God's
sufficient grace one moment and go ahead to lament his problems in life
the next moment. The contradiction which are expressed by you shows
that you are suffering from madness of the mind. Those who worry and
are suffering from the madness of the mind must address this serious
issue. If you have this kind of problem you must deal with it seriously.

Failure to do so may lead you into more serious problems. Your mind
may become a battle zone. You might even go into total backsliding from
that stage. Worry and anxiety are among our greatest problems today. I
get close to 500 letters a week from those who believe that their matters
require an urgent attention.

I have discovered that a good number of the people who write such
letters, only need someone to either talk with or listen to them. If you
allow the devil to reduce you to a worry bag he will bring several other
problems into your life.
Feeling that one is completely useless - Some people write
themselves off completely by concluding that they are good for nothing
and useless. Such people go about complaining: "What kind of life is
this? Everything is upside down Such people are quick to say, "I've tried
almost everything but nothing has ever worked. I tried marriage and it
failed. I tried my profession and it is not working. Maybe, I should end it
all."
 After making such a statement the devil will make several suggestions.
The devil will speak to you saying, "You can jump down from a very high
bridge or hang yourself with a rope. You can also drink poison. That
would be a very quick way of ending everything." If you feel that your life
is totally useless, you will be tired of life is elf.

Depression - Depression is one of the most terrible problems that can

plague the human heart. The Bible calls It 'the spirit of heaviness'. There
is a heavy load on the minds of those who are going through moments of
depression. Some people become so depressed that they do not want to
talk to anybody.

Some people become so depressed that they lock themselves up in a

room for several days.

Some special demons move into the life of their victim to turn him or
her to a wreck.

I know a man who experienced such an attack. He came back to

Nigeria from England after finishing his degree. He got a good job and
was full of great expectations. Having studied in England, he expected
things to go on perfectly. Things became worse because he was also a
stickler for perfection, punctuality and excellence. He was employed as a
manager of a flourishing company. Hardly had he started the job than the
entire company turned upside down. The official resumption time was
7.30 a.m. If anyone resumed after 7.30 a.m. such a person would be
disciplined. He gave lots of queries to the people for coming a minute or
two late to the office.

The people who were given queries began to deal with him in their own
kinds of ways. Things became so bad that the chairman of the company
had to call him and said: "Manager, what is this company being turned
into? We've been running the company before you came. Why don't you
take it easy? This is not England. This is Nigeria."

The man refused to listen to the chairman. That was how he was given
a letter of termination of appointment. He couldn't get another job for a
very long time. He became so depressed that he decided to lock himself
up and he refused to talk to anyone. He went into what can be called the
madness of the mind.

High mindedness - A lot of people are so high-minded that they live in
the world of fantasy. They mind high things and esteem themselves
above measure. They don't want to start at the lower level. They want to
do what will attract the attention of everyone. The devil uses high
mindedness against people. High mindedness will make you to struggle
for what you can achieve with ease. Even if God sets a table before you,
high mindedness will make you to push it away.
Some people go about saying, "I'm going to use the latest brand of
Mercedes to do my wedding." Some others would even tell us, "I want to
do my wedding in an airplane." That is a typical example of high
mindedness. What has an airplane got to do with marriage? What impact
will the latest brand of Mercedes have on your marriage? Some people
would say, "The Head of State will be the chairman of my wedding
reception." That is how high-mindedness can take its victims.

High-mindedness has made many people to lose their peace. High-
mindedness will lead you into unreasonable actions. It would make it
obvious to people that you are a victim of the madness of the mind.

Sadness - There is a kind of sadness that is not ordinary. Some people

become sad for no just reason. They are sad before they go to bed at
night and they wake up early in the morning with terrible sad feelings. It is
an evidence of the fact that the mind is mad.
Hopelessness - Many people feel that the situation around them is
completely hopeless. That is another symptom of madness of the mind

Guilt - A lot of people feel guilty for what does not really exist. You
commit a sin 15 years ago and God has forgiven you. Instead of
accepting God's forgiveness, you go about harassing yourself over what
God no longer remembers. How long will you allow the guilt of what God
has cast into the sea of forgetfulness to keep haunting you?

The guilt which many people are going through today does not
emanate from the devil - the accuser of the brethren. It is self-made. The
guilt, which you have allowed to hold your mind, emanates from your own
heart, not from the devil.
Dwelling in the past - Those who dwell in the past do not have a
wholesome mind. Some people spend their lives living in the distant past.
Why must you worry about yesterday? Yesterday is gone forever. That is
a symptom of the madness of the mind. You must not worry about
previous situations and problems since you cannot go back to the past.

Unnecessary agitation - A lot of people easily get agitated by
situations when they are supposed to maintain control over such
situations.

Inability to concentrate - A lot of people cannot control their minds.

They cannot focus their hearts on a single subject or matter. They carry
the Bible and they try to pray at the same time. They vacillate over
matters and situations without being able to lay hold on one.

Lack of confidence - This is also a symptom of madness of the mind.
People who fall into lack of self-confidence feel timid and are not able to
face anything without feeling inferior."
Anger - This is another evidence of the madness of the mind.

Fear of death - Many people spend everyday thinking that they may
die. That is another symptom of madness of the mind.
Lack of motivation - This category of people face life situations
without any iota of interest or excitement.
Addiction to weeping - There are people who are easily moved to
tears whenever a little thing happens to them. They live as if they are
addicted to crying. That is another instance of the madness of the mind.
Feeling of isolation - Talk to some people and they will give you the
impression that everyone on earth is against them. That is a clear
example of the sickness of the mind. Why must you allow that kind of
feeling to bother you? Even if everyone on earth is against you, the fact
that God is standing by your side makes you more than a conqueror.

The human mind is the greatest vagabond in the universe. You might
be in a particular place while your mind is thousands of miles away. If you
refuse to put that kind of vagabond condition of the mind under control, it
will eventually lead you into serious problems.

It is unfortunate, that what psychiatric hospitals do, is to collect house
rents when the rooms of people's lives are already hired out. Some
people's mind have also been converted to concrete slabs by the devil.
They cannot make any progress in life.

Many minds are also abodes of complex cobwebs. Such people are
fond of running away from God whenever God is trying to reach out to
them. The only thing that can bring progress into their lives is change.
Unfortunately, they hate changes. They want things to continue the same
way they have been. Many people who claim that they have an open
minds are only deceiving themselves. Their minds are as closed as any
human mind can be. All they have is a blank space.

There is no free thinker anywhere. Jesus called a spade a spade during
his earthly ministry. He denounced all the evil things which people do.
Jesus is the only preacher who talked most about hell fire. Although He
came to demonstrate the love of God to a lost humanity, He was the only
preacher who spoke the truth concerning hell the fire.
There is nothing like a liberal mind. God gives us no room for such. If
you go about saying that you have a liberal mind, you are living in self-
deceit. Little minds are affected by little things. When a man's mind is
really little, insignificant things hurt him.

Somebody was called a brother and he flared up. He was angry
because the other fellow referred to him as a brother. He said, "Me, a
brother? How can you call me brother so and so? Don't you know that I
am a man of God? Don't call me brother so and so. Call me Pastor or
Reverend so and so. I wont allow you to put me in the same category
with other Christians. Do you know what God has deposited in my life?
Don't ever make that mistake again." But why should someone get angry
because he was referred to as a brother? That was an evidence of
possessing a little mind. Little minds react to little things while great
minds respond to great things.

Anyone who constantly thinks of himself, will end up becoming

discouraged. If you centre all your thoughts on yourself you will easily get
tired of yourself. Again, I want you to know that it takes a strong mind to
control a wild tongue. If your mind is loose, your tongue will also run
loose. If your heart is open to Satanic incursion it will soon become a
dumping ground for all kinds of garbage or rubbish.

It is indeed dangerous to invite enemies into your mind. The devil will
give you topics to deliberate upon. If you go to a proper school of
deliverance, one of the first lessons they will teach you is that every
demon has its own assignment. They will also teach you that every
geographical area has a territorial spirit or a ruling demon. They will make
you to understand that there is a Yoruba demon, an Hausa demon, an
Igbo demon, an Urhobo demon. They will also teach you that there is
something called a 'strongman' who is in charge of junior demons in the
evil world. One thing which they will also teach you is that the demon of
anger is the gate-keeper over the lives of men and women.
The demons of anger stand at the gate poised and dignified. He
mounts the gate like an executive gateman. The moment you get angry,
the demon of anger will open the gate and beckon to his other colleagues
telling them that the time is right for them to come in and take control.
Problems like diseases, hypertension, poverty, and demonic attacks will
quickly rush in. By the time your anger subsides, they would have
succeeded in taking a total control of your life. That is how problems will
become resident in your life waiting for another time of momentary
madness.

 A sister dragged her husband to me saying: "This is the foolish man. It
is because of him I have tried to book this appointment. The man opened
his mouth and said: "Man of God, I am really sorry to disturb you. I
decided to follow her to your office because I know that she can kill me if
I did not. However, Pastor, I must tell you that I'm grateful to God for what
He has used your church to do in her life. She was actually worse than
this. I've continued to encourage her to keep on coming to your church
because live seen slight changes in her life."

That was what anger did in the life of that sister. I hope that does not
describe your own situation. If you are in the same shoes with her you
need deliverance as well as complete overhauling of your life.

A lot of people will go to hell fire if their life is not totally free, from evil
influence. If you are only partially free your heart is the devil's property.
That is Why the Bible challenges every believer to renew his or her mind
through the word of God. When you get born again, you need the word of
God to clear off every old debris of your former life. As you continue to
renew your mind through the word of God, you will begin to experience
wonderful changes in your life.

A lot of people will go to hell fire if their life is not free from evil
influence. You must be assured that the totality of your life is not the
property of the devil. It becomes clear, therefore, that if you win a
person's mind you have captured him. If you capture his thoughts you
control him. This explains why satan fights to capture the hearts of men
and women. He knows that once he takes control of the' heart he has
won the battle.

The Bible says:

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve

through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from
the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor 11:3).

The devil aims at the human mind. His goal is to corrupt the simplicity
of your mind. The. devil came to Eve in the garden and manipulated her
mind until she was influenced to disobey God. Satan fed Eve's mind with
lots of negative information until she decided to disobey God. She
doubted the word of God and believed the lies of the devil. All that
happened because the devil succeeded in beguiling Eve. Her mind was
corrupted from the simplicity which resided in it before the time of the fall.

What happened to Eve has happened to several other people today.
More and more people are having their minds corrupted and shifted away
from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The moment that happens, the devil has succeeded in removing your
feet from the solid rock. To stand on a slippery ground is to fall. I want
you to lay your hand on your chest as you take this prayer point:

My mind, go back to your resting place, in the name of Jesus.

There is no doubt that you know the state of your own heart. How do
you think the Lord looks at your heart at this moment? If Jesus were to
come to you right now and flash the torch of His holy and high standard
towards your heart, what will His verdict be? The Lord is not interested in
your outward appearance; His focus is on your heart. It is possible to
appear respectable and godly outwardly and be filled with wickedness
internally. You may look so holy outwardly as if you could not even hurt a
fly while your heart is filled with destruction, adultery, anger, worry and
depression.

What you have read so far and what you continue to read in this book
is for your spiritual welfare. Therefore, you must not take the great truth
lightly.

SATANIC SUGGESTIONS
One thing which the devil has continued to use with, great success
against the minds of people is suggestion. Suggestions are generally
subtle. They look very attractive when viewed at the surface level.
However, most suggestions are evil. If you do not know how to counter
suggestions, you will find yourself agreeing with them. You will go out of
your way to do what you did not intend to do.

When evil suggestions have completely taken over your heal, you will
find yourself acting in the direction of those suggestions. For example,
the devil might tell you, "Don't you know how intelligent you are? Why
should someone with your own kind of brain suffer poverty. Why don't
you get smart and cheat on your company? You could make millions of
naira that way. After all, everybody is doing it."

The devil might also tell you, "Don't you know that you are very
handsome. Handsome people like you generally have a chain of girl-
friends. If you continue that way, you are sure of getting married to the
lady of your dream."

The devil might also tell you, "If you are a lady, what are you doing with
your beauty. Why do you go about complaining that you have no money?
Do you know that beautiful ladies like you generally go out with as many
men as possible? That's how they make their money. Don't be left out.
Go out. Have a good time and make your own money too."

All these are satanic suggestions. The devil is fond of giving smart
suggestions. If somebody gives you an amount of money, the, devil will
be on hand to offer a suggestion saying, "Why don't you remove some
amount of money and go back to the person telling him that the money
given to you was not complete? Talk to him as if you really mean what
you are saying. If you do that you will make some money." That is
another smart suggestion.
All these suggestions may lead you into all kind of devilish practices.

Somebody entered a bus and found 100 on the seat. He quickly
grabbed the money and felt like asking the commuters in the bus: "Who
is the owner of this money?" The devil gave him a suggestion, "If you
make such an announcement, you will miss the money. A smart fellow
will claim that he or she is the owner." He accepted the satanic
suggestion and went home joyfully with the money. He decided to
assuage his conscience by paying a tithe of 25 on it, not knowing that
he was paying a demonic tithe. That is how many people pay demonic
tithes after acquiring wealth with their satanic methods.

The list of satanic suggestions are endless. The devil generally tries to
influence you to do what he knows is against the will of God. He will tell
you: "Your finger nails are too short. Why don't you buy artificial finger
nails, paint it in mermaid colours and stretch forth your hand and your
fingers anywhere you go?" That is a very good satanic suggestion.

The devil has one strange pattern of behaviour. He generally reels into
some kind of evil laughter as soon as he has succeeded in achieving his
goal. Then he goes away leaving the person to struggle with the
consequences of the violation of the word of God.

The power of satanic suggestion is so strong that it made Jesus to

sweat blood.

Satan manipulates the mind of God's people by offering suggestions
that look interesting and appealing to them.

THE MIND OF MAN AND DEMONIC

MANIPULATIONS
Why are people finding it easier to accept satanic suggestions? Why
are people finding It difficult to remember the Scriptures which they
memorised? Why do the mind of people wander about during prayer?
Why do people who are given wonderful revelations by God wake up in
the morning only to forget all these revelations? These things take place
because the minds of most people are subjected to demonic
manipulations.
The human mind can be likened to a theatre where all forms of satanic
operations take place. The extent to which you allow the devil to
influence your thought is the extend to which he can control you. The
devil will continue to control you as long as you continue to give him a
free hand. You may say that you are speaking in tongues and that you
are a spirit-filled Christian, all that will mean nothing to the devil as long
as he continues to exercise dominion over your mind.

The human mind is the devil's greatest weapon. Without access to the
human mind, the devil will not be able to do anything. The problems of
most people originate from the human mind. All these show us that, the
mind is the centre of serious warfare.

The devil has an instant and easy access to the mind of most people.
Nothing is hidden. from the devil. He has a complete picture of your mind,
your thoughts, and your imaginations. Your motives, your intentions as
well as your secret ambitions, are all known to him. He is thoroughly
familiar with your weaknesses and strength. If you permit him to work on
your mind he will go ahead to plant evil ideas there.

The devil knows us more than most of us know ourselves. We often
forget our past mistakes and overlook our weaknesses but the devil does
not. The devil stores every information which he ever found in our hearts.
He uses them to give us suggestions regarding what he wants us to do.

Once the devil knows that something is your weakness, he goes ahead
to use it against you. If he knows that you are easily moved to tears, he
will bring situations that will make you to cry. He knows that once you cry,
you will be discouraged. He also knows that the moment you are
discouraged you will not be able to pray. He will programme such
situations into your life until you are completely prayerless. Then he will
strike you with a very terrible attack.

You have to fight hard against all satanic suggestions. Once the devil
tries a weapon against you and it works, he will continue to use that
weapon against you until you are completely swept off your feet.
If your problem is fighting, or constant squabble, he will bring a lot of
people who are ready to put up a fight against you.

If the devil knows that you are a worry bag he will constantly bring
around you things that will make you to worry. But if you say no to all
satanic suggestions, his weapons will become ineffective in your life. He
will begin to try new areas.

The devil has continued to use the same method against human
beings. He has continued to design evil suggestions in such a clever
manner to make those suggestions match the weaknesses of people. He
is not foolish, he does not give any suggestion that does not agree with
your own feelings or desires. He generally gathers problems and places
them on the platform of your background and peculiarity.

When these suggestions come they appear attractive as the best things
to do. The devil uses his suggestions as weapons for achieving his goals.
The devil will make you to cooperate with unbelievers, join your business
with them and make them your confidants. The alliance will appear
beautiful and effective on the out worthy. It will look like a good marriage.
You may even go about rejoicing, thinking that you are surrounded by
good people. While this is going on, powers of darkness will be having a
good laugh at you.

A sister went to a man of God and said, "Please, pray for me, I want to
get married." The man of God decided to do everything within his power
to help the sister. He even went to a prayer mountain where he prayed
for seven days to find out God's mind concerning the sister's marriage.
He fasted non-stop for seven days. He then came down from the
mountain with divine instructions for the sister. The man, God wanted the
sister to marry turned out to be blind in one eye. The sister found it
difficult to accept a one-eyed man as God's will for her. She made up her
mind that she was going to disobey God and look for a man to present to
her friends and colleagues.

She actually succeeded and got married to a handsome man. Five
years later, she lost her husband. The devil became happy, having
succeeded in giving her an evil suggestion.

The devil is an expert in offering suggestions that appear good and

beneficial. He gives suggestions which are aimed at leading men and
women into deception. Once he succeeds in manipulating the mind,
physical and mental ailments will follow.

It will also lead to failure, defeat, poverty, family breakdown,
oppression, suicide, chronic sickness, profitless hard work and other
forms of evil attacks. The devil will bring terrible problems and attacks
into the lives of its victims because the minds have been captured.

Your life is determined by the state of your mind. The mind is the
gateway to the spirit, soul and body. Your thought will determine your
actions and your actions will determine your destiny.

Once again, I want you to close your eyes as you take this prayer point:

Oh Lord, shine Your divine light into my mind and let all strangers
flee.
Did you take that prayer point with every spiritual energy within you?

Now you must lay your hand upon your chest as you take this
aggressive prayer point:
Oh Lord, let Your kingdom be established in every department of
my life.

CONSCIOUS AND SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND

Let me state this for the umpteenth time. Your life is determined by the
state of your mind. Your mind is the sum-total of what is fed into it. Your
mind is the gateway to your soul, spirit and body.

The mind of man consists of two departments. There is the conscious

mind and the sub-conscious mind. The conscious mind is the smallest
compartment in the human mind. On the other hand, the sub-conscious
mind is what you make use of for what happens to you on the spot.

The sub-conscious mind is made up of memories that are long as well
as a summary of all that has happened to you since you were born.
Childhood experiences are stored in the mind. Traumatic experiences
and other experiences that are embedded in the hearts of men are also
stored up in the brimful experience comes into contact with daily
experiences that border on stubborn problems, the mind will become
totally insane.
You accept forgiveness of sin in your conscious mind. Since the sub-
conscious mind forms the greater part of the human mind, it has more
impact upon our lives. Therefore, the sub-conscious mind must be
renewed, changed, programmed and transformed by the word of God.
The sub-conscious mind must conform to Christ if you want the totality of
your heart to be wholesome. Failure to do this is to put your life under evil
control.

Your mind must become the mind of Christ if you must experience total
conformity to the character of Jesus Christ.

You must not give yourself any rest until the totality of what is stated in
Philipians 4:8 becomes your experience.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
think on these things.

Your mind could be pre-occupied with these thoughts. The moment you
meditate upon anything outside these virtues you will bring your mind
under evil control.
ATTACK AGAINST THE MIND
Your mind may be attacked in the following seven ways.
I Attack by the forces of Egypt - What are the forces of Egypt? The
forces of Egypt are the powers that fight against one's spiritual progress.
When satan and his agents begin to fight against your spiritual progress
or spiritual advancement, you are under the attack of the forces of Egypt.

The purpose of such attack is to revert you back to your old lifestyle,
your former spiritual condition and your unregenerated nature. The spirit
of worldliness will begin to attack you, telling you to go back into the
world.

The spirit of Egypt will tell you, "You have been born again for ten years
and no man has ever proposed marriage to you, why don't you go back
to the world? Beautiful Ladies like you are always in high demand," If you
agree with the suggestion, the devil will manufacture a thorough satanic
man from the marine kingdom. He will give you a husband within a few
months.

Once you agree with the devil, he will capture you. Your life and your
calling will be swallowed up by evil powers. The greatest tragedy that can
happen in the life of anyone who has been born again is for such a
person to begin to use demonic charms. What will such a person say
when he gets to heaven? Will he say that the devil is more powerful than
God?

A friend of mine who happened to be a foreign minister of the gospel

went somewhere to preach and had the most shocking experience of his
life. He attracted the anger of an irate mob when he told them to give
their lives to Jesus. They told him to stop mentioning the name of Jesus
or face the option of being mobbed to death. He was told: "Leave us
alone. We want to serve the devil." He was almost wounded. He decided
to make further enquiries and later discovered that the majority of the
crowd were born into the church.

It is very clear that anybody that was trained in the house of the Lord
and turns his or her back at God, and goes to serve the devil, or to
commercialise the gift of God, will find himself or herself in a serious
trouble.
The function of the spirit of Egypt is to cause backward a movement. It
leads men and women to infantile behaviour.

I am aware of the fact that some members of our church are running
from one group to another, looking for places of comfort. When such
people make up their mind to join a particular group they are often told,
"We have a lot of strict conditions in this group. We don't put on
transparent dresses in this place. Such transparent dresses are as good
as window blinds."

Such people will run to another group hoping to find a place that will
accommodate their transparent dresses. They get to a new group and
they are told, "Sorry madam, we can't admit you as a member of this
group, your finger-nails are too long. They look like the claws of a demon.
Why don't you cut them off?" Then the ladies may reply, "I cannot part
with my finger nails. I have kept those nails for years." Then she runs
away from that group to another group where she is told: "Sorry madam,
we can't allow people like you to function in this group since we major on
deliverance. We simply cannot allow you to put your serpentine chains
on." That is how they go from one group to another.

Such people are affected by the spirit of Egypt. They eventually run
away from the church. They spend their time going from one church to
another until they discover that they are not able to find a place that
thoroughly meets their spiritual needs. Some of them are already coming
back to our church.
II Forces of repression - These forces specialise in repressing the
lives of men and women. Repression is the opposite of expression. To
express yourself means to be able to actualise all your goals.
 The forces of repression work on the mind. Their purpose is to repress
the mind. They exact all kinds of forces on the mind holding it back from
making any kind of progress. They will hinder you from growing up
spiritually. These forces will allow you to be very busy leaving no time for
spiritual matters.

III Forces of suppression - They suppress the spiritual lives of people
with fear. Such people are always afraid even when there is no cause for
alarm. They are always afraid of venturing to take authority over the
powers of darkness.

A sister ran to the church because she had a serious problem. She
discovered that, strange people were always killing fowls in front of her
house on a daily basis. She once took a friend, to the front of her house
when traces of blood were still visible. Her friend became fearful, as soon
as she saw blood stains on the ground. But she decided not to disclose
her fears. She simply told her friend that God has given her a revelation
that a prayer should be said in the church. She persuaded her to come to
the church to cancel the effects of the evil sacrifice. The sister accepted.

As they were going on the way, her friend suddenly complained of
some health problems, asking to be excused from the prayer meeting.
That was how. she practically disappeared from the scene as a result of
fear. She allowed forces of suppression to work upon her mind.
IV Forces of depression - This spirit brings depression and heaviness
into the minds of people. It makes people low-spirited, gloomy and
despondent. Their primary goal is to sadden and discourage the minds of
men and women.
V Forces of oppression - Oppressive forces are forces that press
people down. They lead to worry and anxiety. They make the mind to be
bothered by all kinds of thing. They bring worry as well as physical and
mental problems to the lives of people. Ninety per cent of church-goers
experience one form of oppression or the other. Some of these
operations lead to obsession.
 These forces besiege the mind in an abnormal manner. They
programme the mind into taking wrong decisions. Once a single wrong
step is taken, powers of oppression take over completely.

VI Forces of obsession - These forces dominate the lives of people.

They put men and women under complete control. They cause all kinds
of problem the mind, leading their victims farther away from God. By the
time their actions are completed their victims become mad.

When satan is allowed to have complete access into the lives of men or
women he goes for the total control of their minds. He makes the mind to
be totally out of the victim's control. He can take the mind to the highest
level of madness. He will continue to do that until his victim is destroyed
physically, spiritually and in every realm of life.

VII How about the 7th way by which the mind may be attacked?

WAY OUT
How then can we solve the problem of the madness of the mind? What
steps must we take to take every form of malady away from the heart?
What must you do if your heart has been invaded by the devil? What
scriptural steps and principles must you follow to keep your heart away
from evil domination?

Recognise that there is a problem.

Accept the Lord Jesus Christ fully.
Surrender totally to Christ. One fact which you must bear in mind
is that every unsurrendered aspect of your life gives room to the
devil.
Commit yourself completely to the Lord Jesus.
Commit yourself to studying the word of God.
Pray evil trees out of your life.
 You must carry out all these steps if you want to have a wholesome
mind. Demons know whether you have surrendered yourself to Christ.

A sister came for prayer because she noticed that several things were
wrong in her family. She discovered that things began to go haywire as
soon as she employed a housemaid. The housemaid was so effective,
agile and hardworking that no other one could match her strength and
ability.
The housemaid wakes up 4.00 in the morning and puts everything in
the house in order. By the time the family gathered together for quiet time
in the mornings he has already prepared breakfast. The husband and the
wife were so impressed that they doubled her salary, thinking that they
were fortunate to have such a hardworking person in their family.

However, the sister began to notice that everybody in the family began
to complain of one ailment or the other The straw that broke the camel's
back was the decision of the maid to attack the sister by using her
spiritual power. She made a small mistake when the sister was traveling
to England. The sister gave her a few strokes of the cane only to discover
that her hand became swollen within a few minutes. The ban was so
unbearable that the sister had to rush to my house. It took warfare
prayers to deal with the problem. We also discovered that there was a
problem in the life of the sister which gave the maid an opportunity to
attack the members of her family. The sister suffered demonic attack
because she had demonic problems in her mind. What happened to her
should be a lesson for all careless Christians.

PRAYER POINTS

1. Every power of familiar spirits and every power of witchcraft working

against my life, release me now, in the name of Jesus.
2. I frustrate every demonic arrest over my mind, in the name of Jesus.
3. Holy Ghost fire, destroy every satanic plantation in my mind, in the
name of Jesus.
4. I bind every spirit withholding my testimony in life, in the name of
Jesus
5. Every river of backwardness flowing into my mind, dry up, in the
name of Jesus.
6. Every evil association with unfriendly friends, break now, in the name
of Jesus.
7. I destroy anything that is representing me in any demonic meeting, in
the name of Jesus.
9
Spiritual Diagnosis of the mind
The Bible itemizes and describes the diseases of the mind, just as it
also highlights the diseases of the tongue.

These mind diseases Spiritual Diagnosis are generally suffered by men
and women.

Let us enumerate and examine them.

Hearts that are full of iniquity - The Bible says:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:

who can know it? (Jer 17:9).

Unclean hearts - What makes people unclean is the heart, not the
garment.

Perverse heart - The Bible says.
A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked
person (Ps 101:4).
The human heart is generally perverse This explains why a lot of
people keep malice for several years.

I sometimes feel sorry for marriage counselors. They often get
embarrassed whenever they are trying to settle some quarrels. The wife
might say "Man of God, kindly allow me to say one or two things. God
bless you, sir. I wish you more anointing. Kindly allow me to consult my
diary to prove my case. He did the same thing at exactly three O'clock on
5th March 1992. He also did the same thing in 1993, 1994 and 1995. It
didn't stop there. He also did the same thing in 1997 and early 1999. I
don't think he will ever stop offending me that way. I can never forget
what he has done."

That is an evidence of the presence of being perverse in the heart.

People who are perverse in the heart cannot walk with God as long as
they continue to bear grudges in their heart.

Some people are so full of conceit, that they wont say a word to
anybody until they have carried out the evil that is locked up in their
hearts. Such people generally go ahead to incubate the evil in their
hearts. When they carry out the evil, those who are around them will go
ahead to express surprise. "Why should such a gentle person like you do
this? You've always been so pleasant that we thought you wouldn't be
able to hurt a fly."

Such people would say, "You haven't seen anything yet. Don't you ever
take me for granted. I am a green snake under a green grass."
Something is wrong with the heart.

Some people sing thus, "Holy Ghost fire, fire fall on me like the day of
Pentecost, fire fall on me." As soon as the fire of God comes into the
congregation it begins to examine the people one by one. When the Holy
Ghost looks at the first worshipper, He says, "This person can't withstand
My power. He is not qualified to receive the power he is asking for. His
life is not right with God. If I fall on him he may collapse as a result of the
conflict of powers." The Holy Ghost will go ahead to fall on only those
who are ready within the congregation.
Is your heart perverse? If it is, it cannot receive the anointing of the
Spirit of God.

Blind heart - The Bible says:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as
God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened (Rom 1:21).
 This passage shows that many people go about with blind or darkened
hearts.

II Cor. 4:4 also says:

This makes it very clear that the person who blinds the heart of men
and women is the devil.
Mad heart - The hearts of some people is outrightly mad. The Bible
says:

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun,
that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons
of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they
live, and after that they go to the dead (Eccl 9:3).

This passage explains why the heart of several men and women are
never settled. The hearts of most people today are in shambles. The
whole of the heart is in disarray. Such people go from one trouble to
another. They are generally unreasonable and confused. Such hearts
need deliverance, for they are not under the control of the Holy Spirit. It is
being controlled by the devil.

The moment the gentle dove gets into such a troubled heart, there will
be a great calm. Some people come to us saying, "I don't know why I
hear voices in my ears." Such people are looking at the wrong thing.
Such noises are first words in the hearts before they are heard through
the ears.
Doubtful or unstable heart - Another important disease of the mind is
doubt and unstability. The Bible says:

They speak vanity everyone with his neighbour: with flattering

lips and with a double heart do they speak (Ps 12:2).
A doubtful heart is a double heart. It is neither here nor there. It is
unstable. The eighth verse of the first chapter of the Epistle of James
also tells us that
 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

He is likened to the waves of the sea that are tossed here and there.
The Bible states very clearly that such a double minded man should not
expect any answer to his prayers. A doubtful mind, therefore, is unstable,
skeptical, unreliable and uncertain. Such a heart is not under the control
of the Holy Spirit.

It is crystal clear therefore, that if something is not under the control of
the Holy Spirit, it is under the control of the devil. What kind of heart do
you have? Is your heart doubtful? Does it waver? Are you neither here
nor there? If you allow doubt in your heart the devil will take control of
your heart. You will become a victim of madness of the mind.

The heart can be hardened - A hardened heart is a heart controlled by

the devil. The Bible says:

For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart
was hardened (Mark 6:52).

Those who have this kind of heart are generally stubborn. They turn
deaf ears to the word of God. When God speak to them, they refuse to
obey. They harden their hearts. No human being can continue to have
opportunities for life.

The Bible says, "Today is the day of salvation." It also declares:
"Now is the acceptable time." And it goes ahead to say: "Today, if ye
hear his voice harden not your hearts as it was in the day of
provocation."
Those who make up their minds that they are going to do what is in
their hearts regardless of what God is saying to them are playing with
destruction in time and in eternity.

Hardness of the heart is one of the most dreadful diseases that can
plague the human heart. A man or a woman whose heart is hardened is
an enemy of God. Hardness of the heart is one of the worst offences
which anyone can commit against God. incidentally, there is no room for
hardness of heart for and believer in the New Testament.

This was made very clear when the disciples of the Lord Jesus came to
Him. They wanted to know why divorce was permitted under the Old
Testament dispensation. Jesus told them clearly that it was permitted by
Moses because of the hardness of the heart of the people who lived in
those days. This shows us that, in the New Testament, hardness of the
heart is an aberration. It is not supposed to be mentioned among God's
people.

God has made the possession of a tender heart possible through the
sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. Through His sanctifying grace, our
hearts can be soft and full of the grace of God.

A lot of what goes on today in the name of religion runs contrary to the
word of God. There is nothing like a 'stubborn believer'. A true child of
God is not supposed to stick to his guns regardless of what God is
saying. If your heart is hardened, something is wrong somewhere. If you
go about saying, "This is my decision, I am holding to my principle, no
human being can change me. I have made up my mind. That's just the
way I am," such statements portray the fact that your heart is hardened. It
is far away from the mind of Christ. The only person you resemble
through that character is the devil.

If your heart is hardened, it is a clear indication that it is sick. And if you
allow such a heart to keep on controlling you, it will surely lead you to
hell.
Proud hearts - Pride is another major disease of the heart. It is such a
terrible disease that will manifest openly no matter how hard you try to
conceal it. All those who are proud give expression to their pride in one
way or the other.

Pride will make you feel and act as if you are superior to other people.
When it is treasured up in the heart, pride will make you to behave as if
you are greater than everyone else. The Bible says:
Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before
honour is humility (Prov 18:12).

Those who are proud generally conduct themselves in haughty ways.

They go about parading themselves as people who are greater or better
than others.

Again the Bible says:

Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him
that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer (Ps
101:5).
One characteristic feature of all those who have pride in their hearts is
that they go about trying to showcase themselves to everyone who
comes across them. They place their achievements, graces, Virtues,
talents or possessions on the shelf where everyone can see them. They
raise their shoulders higher than that of their neighbours and colleagues.
They raise their voices louder than the voices of all the people around
them. They highlight what they have done or achieved while they play
down what others have done.

Those who are proud are easily identified in the society. When they
dress, they make sure that their dresses make them to stand out from the
crowd. They try to do everything to impress those who are around them.

Are you proud of anything? Do your achievements in life make you

proud? Do you go about parading yourself as if you are better than all the
other brothers and sisters? Do you draw attention to yourself?

The Bible says:

And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: (Jer
45:5).
 Pride will not do you any good. Rather it will make you a companion of
the devil.

Pride starts from the heart. Then, it goes on to affect every department
of your life. In the same vein, humility starts from the heart. If you come
across a believer whose life is characterised by humility such a believer
surely has a humble heart.

Those who are proud generally find it difficult to take lowly position in
the church. If you create a Sunday school class whose members include
university professors, engineers, lawyers, doctors, top business
professionals and wealthy men and women, they will not accept any
teacher who does not belong to their category to teach them. Such an
attitude denotes pride.

Some people come to the church with their shoulders raised very high.
They tell those who listen to them, "I can't just join any group in this
church. I know my class and I'm looking for it. Do you expect me to seat
down with carpenters, traders and all these common people in our
society? Of course, not. I must look for my class and identify with it." You
are proud if that describes your attitude. There is no class in the church.
We are all equal before the Almighty.

Have you discovered that those who are proud are generally the
poorest, spiritually speaking? One thing, which those who are class
conscious must remember is the fact that, the greatest problem of their
lives came into existence through association with people in their class.
Why must such people come to the church looking for a class? This
attitude is a symbol of pride.

Jesus Christ, we are told, was lowly. Are you lowly or are you proud? If
you go about looking for your class you may find it in hell.

Hypocritical heart - Hypocrisy is another terrible disease of the heart.

If your heart is filled with hypocrisy, you will behave like an hypocrite
everywhere you go. The Bible says:
 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied
of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me
with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Mark 7:6).
Hypocrisy is one of the most terrible diseases that can plague the
human heart. Those who are hypocrites often parade what they are not
before others.

Those who are hypocrites generally go about parading fake smiles
when their hearts are filled with hatred and anger. Some people go about
destroying their neighbours. Those who do such things are actively
working for the devil. That is why we have stated time and again that the
devil's best work is done by God's people.

A lot of Christians go about spreading idle tales. They gossip, backbite

and exaggerate little facts beyond measure. Whenever they find a
listening ear they say, "Have you heard what brother so and so has
done? Do not say I told you."

They go to another person who is idle like them saying "Have you
heard about what happened to Pastor Paul? Don't let anyone know that
I'm the one who revealed the secret. Keep whatever I'm going to tell you
to yourself." This same people will go ahead to shake hands and crack
jokes with the people whom they have just gossiped about. That is a
mark of hypocrisy.
We have always made our stand known concerning that kind of
ungodly behaviour. If someone comes to us saying, "I have come to
discuss what brother A has just done." We normally tell such people:
"Can you stop what you are saying right there? We are going to call
brother A to come face to face with you and you are going to repeat what
you have just said before him." If the gossip is unwilling to face the
person whom he or she is gossiping about, we normally take disciplinary
measures against him. Gossips are Achans in conduct and believers in
outward appearance. They are first class hypocrites.

 God hates hypocrisy, with perfect hatred. He specifically states, "The
hope of the hypocrites shall vanish."

Deciding to sit on the fence is a mark of hypocrisy. You must conduct

your affair in such a way that all those who know you will know where you
really stand. Steer clear of hypocrisy. If you must be a Christian, go
deeper with the Lord. You must have nothing to do with half measures.
Placing one leg on the mountain and the other one in the valley will take
you nowhere. You must possess everything which God has earmarked
for you. Those who stay at the middle point will end up collecting the
arrows which are fired by serious Christians and those which are fired by
demonic agents. They will receive double attacks because they are
neither here nor there.

Covetous hearts - Covetousness is a major spiritual heart disease

which majority of Christians suffer in this modern era. The Bible says:

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of

unbelief, in departing from the living God (Heb 3:12).

The passage you have just read points to the type of heart that is
ungodly. The preceding verses have much to say concerning the
covetousness of the children of Israel.

Peter, the apostle, talks of eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease
from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with
covetous practices; cursed children (2 Peter 2: 14). This passage reveals
that covetousness leads to a curse. A covetous heart runs after
everything, including what is unnecessary.

What kind of heart do you have? Is your heart filled with covetousness?
Are you so covetous that you can eliminate other people to satisfy the
covetous longings of your depraved heart?

Covetousness is a deadly spiritual disease. Those who fail to deal with
covetousness will end up in hell fire.
Wicked heart - A wicked heart is malicious and ungodly. The presence
of wickedness in the heart does not mean that one whose heart is wicked
should only be compared with notorious men and women in the society.

Christians are always very quick to excuse themselves in this regard.
Wickedness is not measured in terms of quantity. The presence of any
iota of wickedness in your heart qualifies you as a wicked man or a
wicked woman. It is unfortunate that most people whose hearts are
occupied by wickedness are completely ignorant about it.

The Bible says:

The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more,

when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? (Proy 21:27).

The Bible underscores the fact that the heart can be wicked. What kind
of heart or mind do you have?

Foolish hearts - A foolish heart is generally stupid and unintelligent.
The Bible says:
A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till
afterwards (Prov 29:11).

What kind of heart do you have? What is the state of your heart? Is
your heart filled with the wisdom of God or foolishness? What kind of
thoughts and ideas emanate from the fountain of your heart? Are they
wise thoughts and ideas or are they foolish thoughts and ideas?

It is indeed shameful for a child of God to go about with hearts that are
filled with foolishness. If your heart is characterised by foolishness you
surely need a divine surgical operation on it.
Carnal hearts - The Bible says:

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not

subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (Rom 8:7).
 A carnal mind will always think about carnal things. Carnal hearts are
generally filled with worldly materialistic and ungodly thoughts. The
prayer points of a carnal mind are mostly centred on worldly things.

The preoccupations of the modern day Christians is centred on worldly
things. This is a great departure from what the Bible teaches in Matthew
6:33:

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;

and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt 6:33).

Those who seek other things instead of seeking the kingdom of God
are putting the cart before the horse. Such people are operating their
lives contrary to the divine blueprint. A terrible curse hangs upon the
head of all those who contradict the word of God.

If your heart is filled with carnality, it is a clear indication of the fact that
you have chosen to run your life contrary to the Word of God. The
psalmist declares:

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread (Ps 37:25).

I challenge you to show me a truly righteous man who is poor.

Vain hearts - Vain hearts are hopeless and nonproductive. The Bible
says:

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth

walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, (Eph
4:17).

The ungodly generally walk in the vanity of their mind. They think vain
thoughts and nurse vain values in their minds.
Corrupt mind - This is another kind of heart that needs deliverance. A
corrupt heart is debased, erroneous and decayed.
The hearts of many so-called Christians are so full of corruption that
should they open their mouths and let out the amount of corruption that is
stored there, they will be odious to the ears of God and those of the
righteous. If God were to rip open the hearts of many people, their
contents will be embarrassing. If the thoughts of such hearts were to be
relayed over the microphone, shame will cover the faces of their owners.

It is very easy for men and women whose hearts are filled with
corruption to hide the contents of their hearts from those who are close to
them. The Bible says:
...for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the
outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart (1 Sam
16:7).

Weary mind - Weariness of the mind is a deadly disease that must be

dealt with. The Bible says:

For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners

against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds (Heb
12:3).

This passage shows us that the heart could be tired or be under stress.

TYPES OF HEART IDENTIFIED BY JESUS

The descriptive analysis of the human mind which we have undertaken
so far shows us that there are many mind conditions that require
deliverance and urgent rescue. It becomes clear therefore, that the mind
can minister death or life. This explains why Jesus, in His teaching,
divided the human hearts into seven categories. Here are the seven
types of hearts which Jesus identified:

1. The heart can be hardened to spiritual realities.

2. The heart can be blind and incapable of seeing what is clear to a
spiritual person. In other words, a heart that is blind will not be able
to see things from the spiritual stand point.
 3. Jesus told us that the heart, and not the brain is the point where sin
begins.
4. Jesus told us that the words which we speak are first conceived in
the heart before they are uttered through the mouth.
5. Jesus told us that the devil operates his powers on the heart of man.
6. Jesus told us that doubt begins in the heart.
7. Jesus also told us that sorrow and troubles parade the corridors of
the mind.

Therefore, when we talk about deliverance, it covers many areas of life.

Stated explicitly, deliverance could be for the body, soul or spirit. When
someone becomes born again, it is the spirit or the inner mind that
experiences transformation. Your soul or your mind still needs to be
renewed with the word of God.

Therefore, there are many powerful spirits that influence the heart, the
spirit or the mind of people. Some of these forces or demons are so
powerful that they sometimes bring out the real spirit of their victim and
replace it with an evil spirit.

Some wicked spirits specialise in carrying out evil assignments against

the heart of men and women. However, these assignments are no longer
carried out on your spirit the moment you become born again. That is
why the Bible commands us to renew our minds through the word of
God, and to surrender our bodies unto the Lord, so that He will exercise
total control over them leaving no room for the devil.

How then do we explain the cases of believers who love the Lord but
experience nightmares and evil attacks in the realm of the dream? Why
do children of God experience attacks in their dreams? Why are some
people pursued by masquerades and agents of darkness in their
dreams? Why are the lives of many Christians besieged by mind-
controlling forces?

The answer is unmistakably clear. Your spirit got born again but your
mind and your body must be totally surrendered unto God and kept away
from anything that can stand as an enemy of God. You must also ensure
that your heart is kept away or secured from all evil dominations.

If the mind is so important, it becomes clear that we need the
deliverance of the mind if we must enjoy our walk with God and our lives
here on earth. I am not contesting the fact that you are a child of God. It
is possible to be born again and yet have your state of mind in such a
condition that it is very far away from what God expects from you. It is
also possible for you to claim that you are a child of God and go about
with a mind that is under evil domination.
Are you tired about the condition of your mind? Are there certain things
that go on in your mind, which you know, run contrary to your heart
desires? Do you occasionally find engage yourself in thoughts that are
foreign to the life of a true child of God? Have you tried without any
success to control what goes on in your mind? Have you tried to shut up
some thoughts from your mind only to find them coming back the next
moment?

Have certain things crept into your mind which you would prefer that no
human being must know about? Are you embarrassed by the quality and
the nature of thoughts that occupy your heart on a daily basis?

If you cannot answer these questions sincerely then it is clear that you
have a serious problem.

The nature of your problem is clear. There is a great gap between
where your heart is right now and the place God wants it to be. In other
words, there is a very wide gap between the ideal heart that God wants
you to possess and the present state of affairs in your mind. You surely
have a great work to do. The gap must be reduced. The space between
what God wants you to be and what you are must be filled.
If you allow your mind to remain in a state where it is not in accordance
with the word of God, you are leading a life that is risky.

You may be very popular in the church and you may be one of the busy
Christians on earth, but if you have no time to look into your heart and to
obtain wholesome healing and total deliverance of your heart, you are
leading a wasted life.
The heart is the focus of God. God does not look at how you appear
outwardly. He does not look at what you say or profess to be. His
searchlight is always on state of things in your heart. If you fail to meet
the divine condition concerning purity of heart, you have failed in
everything.

A man who cannot control his heart cannot walk with God. That is why
the Bible says, "My son, give me thy heart." Again the Bible says, "Keep
thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." If your heart
falls short of the glory of God, you will not enter the kingdom of God. If
you lose the battle of the mind, you have lost all the battle.

If your mind is placed side by side with the divine standard, how will
your heart rate? If your heart misses the mark, you will surely miss
heaven. All those who allow their minds to be turned into demonic market
place, where all sorts of evil trafficking go on, will end up in hell fire.

Your personal opinion at this point, does not really matter. What matters
is what God will say about your mind and your life at the end of your
journey. You should not go about deceiving yourself today saying: "My
mind is my property, I can nurse, think or entertain all kinds of thoughts
that appeal to me, there is no problem." You can go ahead and allow your
heart to be occupied by all kinds of thoughts that are ungodly. You may
also allow your mind to be centred on evil affections. At the end, God will
tell you, "Depart from me."
Remember the word of God "Man looketh on the outward appearance
but God looketh on the heart." You can go to church in gorgeous dresses,
you can shake everybody's hand, you can flash an infectious smile
towards all those who come across you, but If your heart is dirty, ungodly
and in an unhealthy condition, you are sure to receive divine judgement
and "I never knew you" verdict at the end of your life.

Some have died and got to the gate of heaven thinking that they would
be admitted with pageantry only to be disappointed. The angel of God
told them, "Sorry, you can't come in here because there is anger in your
heart." That was how they were denied entrance into heaven.

Thank God for the mercy of God. Some of them were allowed to come
back to make amends. Some got to the gate of heaven only to be turned
back and sent to hell fire. Such people often tried to put up a defence
saying: "But I did not commit any sin. I did not kill anybody neither did I
commit fornication." Such people were shocked when told, "Sorry we
cannot allow you to come into heaven because you were always having
evil thoughts concerning yourself."

Have you ever considered the fact that allowing evil thoughts to come
into your hearts and settle down there can hinder you from getting to
heaven? Do you know that doubt, discouragement and despair can get
your heart into a state where it becomes unsuitable for the heavenly
kingdom? Once you are disqualified from entering heaven, the only other
available place is hell fire.

The issue of the mind is so serious that you must set a watch over it
every moment of your life.

The judgement of the mind is so severe that no heart will be spared at
the divine seat of judgement. The human heart is governed by
imaginations and thoughts. Your life is controlled by the kind of thoughts
entertain in your mind. Your conduct is the sum total of what you allow in
your mind.

Some people sit down quietly and plan evil without anyone knowing
about it. Others perfect evil and ungodly plans in the quietness of their
hearts. The sins that men and women commit are first planned and
determined in the heart before they are brought to the open in the form of
evil and ungodly steps.

I want you to be sincere with yourself at this point. Think about certain
bad things you did recently or a long time ago. Have you discovered that
they were done because they were first entertained or meditated upon in
the heart? Did you tell a lie? Did you allow lust in your heart or did you
steal? None of these things would have happened to you suddenly
without your allowing the thoughts in your heart.

Those who commit fornication or adultery generally spend a lot of time

meditating upon such things before they happen in real life. People often
wondered why some respected Christians fall into sin. Such people have
not considered the fact that somebody can pray fire prayer without
watching over his or her mind. Immediately the thoughts of your heart
differ from the thoughts of Christ, satan and his. demons will move their
factory into your heart.

THE RIGHT MIND

If your mind is not in any of the following states, then you need
deliverance of the mind.

Perfect peace - The world is in a disarray today because there is a lot

of war going on in the mind of men and women. No war has ever taken
place in any part of the world without being preceded by turmoil and war
in the minds of the people. There will be no war on earth If peace can
prevail upon the heart of every living man and woman.

Therefore, the wars that are going on in many parts of the world today
are offshoots of the war that was going on in the minds of the average
man. No one can declare a war without the heart of that man being in
turmoil and confusion.
War is therefore transferred to aggression. The chaos come into the
open and war is declared and people begin to waste their lives in battles
that are simply unnecessary. If men take care of their hearts, no nations
will ever need to go to war.

Let me bring this thought into the local community. Most of the crimes,
evils and atrocities perpetrated in any community are always offshoots of
the states of the mind of the perpetrators who are residents of that
community.

Again, if we bring this thought into the family unit we will discover that
there is war, squabble and misunderstanding because the heart of the
father, the mother and the children are first embattled internally before
that results in an open quarrel.

Somebody suddenly gets angry and begins to fight because the mind
knew no peace. If your mind is peaceful, you will not fight anyone, nor will
you speak angry or quarrelsome words.

Why do armed robbers break into people's houses? Why do they fire
guns at innocent victims? The answer is very simple. The gunshots first
went on in their minds before they are fired physically.

No crime is committed, no robbery is carried out and no evil is done
without it emanating from the heart that lacks the peace of God.

I once heard the story of a university professor who was jailed because
he was caught stealing bags of rice. He made a funny remark when the
judge was passing the sentence on him. "Why must you send me to jail?
Why don't you consider the feelings of the members of my village? I have
been a great asset to them. Please, don't send me to jail because of my
community." I wonder if he ever thought about the implication of his
action on his community before he decided to steal a bag of rice.

The Bible says:
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
thee: because he trusteth in thee (Isa 26:3).
 Therefore, a healthy mind has a perfect peace. Your mind cannot be
said to be healthy if there is the absence of perfect peace in it.

Humble mind - Paul, the apostle declared that he served God with
humbleness of mind. A healthy mind is a humble mind.

Hearts that are transformed through renewal - The Bible says:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service (Rom 12:1).

You need a transformed heart if you want your mind to be wholesome.

The mind of Christ - You would be said to be wholesome when you
have the mind of Christ. Phil 2: 5 says:

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Phil
2:5).

Do you have the mind of Christ?

A sound mind - This kind of mind is made very plain in II Tim 1: 7

which says,
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7).

A sound mind is completely devoid of confusion. Those who have

sound minds know how to give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto
God what is God's. They know how to be firm when the issue of
compromise is concerned. Such people will not supply alcohol during
weddings. They would give their in-laws Nico sweet instead of aIIigator
pepper.

Minds that are filled with wisdom - A healthy mind is generally filled
with wisdom. You must ensure that your mind is filled with these virtues.
You must get evil off your mind and bring grace into it.

Note what's on your mind. Do you have the spirits of confusion, fear,
pride, criticism, poverty, violence, worry, envy, laziness, ignorance,
depression, dejection, rebellion, exhibitionism, sexual perversion,
deception, wicked imagination, frustration, greed, impatience, suicide,
lack of concentration or uncontrollable thoughts? You must not allow any
of these to dominate your mind.

You need to do an aggressive warfare prayer against all these. Here is
the unmistakable declaration of the Scriptures:

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strong holdsi) Casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christi (2 Cor 10:4-5).

HOW TO DELIVER THE MIND

How then can you deliver your mind?

1. Believe what God has said about the enemies of the mind.
2. Learn how these enemies operate.
3. Have a definite plan for resisting the enemy.
4. Know how to use your resources for Christ.
5. Incubate your mind with the Word of God. You must be a Bible
addict.
6. Put up violent aggression against the enemy.

PRAYER POINTS

1. I rebuke all the spirits operating against the soundness of my mind,

in the name of Jesus
2. I possess the mind of Christ, in the name of Jesus.
10
Deliverance of the mind
I want you to close your eyes and take this prayer point as a prelude to
this chapter.

Let any strongman; delegated to monitor my life, be paralysed, in

the name of Jesus.
A lot of people have continued to fight fake fires while leaving the real
issues unattended to. Such people always complain saying, "I wonder
why nothing seems to be working for me. I wonder why I have not
achieved any tangible thing in spite of the fact that I have tried many
methods to solve my problems."

Such people are yet to consider the fact that it is possible to spend the
whole of one's life time applying the wrong method to a particular
situation. No matter how hard you try, you will not achieve anything as
long as you continue to use the wrong method.

Using a wrong method can be likened to a man who is going to move

towards the direction of the west but begins to move towards the east. No
doubt, such a person will make a lot of physical movements but he will
find himself at the wrong end of the journey. Efforts made, money
expended, time spent and energy used will all end up being wasted or
squandered. If you focus on the wrong target you will end up being worse
than a failure in life.

It is quite unfortunate that most people are spending their energy on
none essentials instead of focusing on life is priorities. They are
concentrating all the physical and the spiritual energy with which God has
endowed them on things that are of no consequence in the light of
eternity. One who takes such actions can be likened to a footballer who
decides to play his own game outside the football pitch. No matter how
skillful or active -he is, nobody will reason with him. The relevance a of
footballer is only in the field of play.

God wants us to concentrate our attention on the true condition of our

hearts, but many children of God, are busy concentrating on what human
beings can see and appreciate. If you go ahead and pre-occupy yourself
with trivial matters, you will end up receiving condemnation from God.

Many believers are in trouble today because of their lack of giving
proper attention to the mind. The more you take care of the state of your
heart, the more wholesome your life will be.

If you open the door of your house and allow mosquitoes to fill the
place only to go ahead to buy an insecticide, which you apply on the
place without closing the door, you will discover, sooner or later, that you
have not solved any problem. The mosquitoes will not be bothered as
they will only give you some time before they return. They will stage a
come-back, immediately the condition of the room becomes conducive
for them. The only permanent solution to the problem is to either keep the
doors of your house closed, or fix nets on the windows and doors.

That is exactly what you must do to keep your mind free from
corruption and evil contamination.

The Bible says:

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be

acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer
(Ps 19:14).
A lot of truths are locked up within this Scripture which you have just
read. The most prominent truth in it is this: the meditation of 'a person's
heart may be either acceptable or unacceptable to God. This makes us to
understand the fact that there are acceptable and unacceptable
meditations.

 The meditations of your heart are acceptable unto God when they
conform with divine expectation. It is unacceptable when it is contrary to
the word of God. Being a sharp shooter and a prayer addict, the psalmist,
who wrote these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, knew the
importance of the frame of the mind in relation to receiving answer to
prayers.

If you fail to take care of the disposition of your heart you will end up
being disgraced publicly.

A brother once thought evil, only to be exposed by God. He was a
Sunday school teacher and very effective in church activities. Members
of the Sunday school class as well as other members of the church
thought that he was one of the best Christians around. He was well
favored by his pastor. The pastor's wife also viewed him as a very fine
Christian. In fact, she formed the habit of giving the brother monetary and
other gifts. She used to buy him shirts whenever she traveled to England.
In one word, the brother was highly favored by every member of the
church.
Nobody knew that he was battling with a serious defilement of the heart
as well as unimaginable secret sins. The cat was let out of the bag when,
one day, his pastor ran into him when he was busy smoking a stick of
cigarette. The pastor was riding his sports bicycle, hence he was able to
sight him from afar. As soon as the brother caught sight of his pastor he
threw the stick of cigarette into his pocket thinking that his pastor would
just greet him casually and leave.

The pastor brought his bicycle to a halt, came down and engaged him
in a very long discussion. The fire of the cigarette kept on burning in the
brother's pocket, yet he couldn't do anything about it.

The pastor noticed that the brother was feeling some discomfort as he
kept on scratching his thigh. The cigarette continued to hurt his flesh.
When the burns was becoming unbearable he began to dance. He
continued to suffer in silence. The pastor kept on talking as if nothing was
happening to the brother. The cigarette burnt its way out of his pocket
and dropped on the ground. The brother looked at it and opened his
mouth in bewilderment. The pastor saw it and went away sorrowfully.
That was how what the young man tried to conceal was blown into the
open.

A little boy came across a creature that looked like a small dog in a
bush behind their house. He became fascinated, thinking that the animal
was a special brand of the Alsatian dog. The animal looked so small,
innocent and harmless. The young boy took the dog and hid it in the attic
without telling his parents. Whenever he was given food he would share it
into two equal halves and take the other half into the attic. He kept on
feeding his pet without the knowledge of his parents.

When the parents noticed that the boy was fond of climbing into the
attic they asked him what he always went up to do there. He did not know
that he was nursing a young lion. His parents did not know that he was
raising a young lion within their house. The young boy kept the secret to
himself until he forgot to feed" the lion for one whole week and a great
tragedy befell the household. Before this time, the lion had become so
accustomed to the boy that the boy did not sense any danger.

Whenever the boy was feeding the lion both of them generally played
together. However, a hungry lion is no one's friend. The young boy
suddenly remembered, after a busy week, that he had neglected his pet.
He quickly carried some food and climbed the attic. He thought that the
pet would play with him as usual. However, he discovered that the lion
was somewhat weak. Before he could place the food on the floor the lion
sprang up and descended on him. That was how he became the lion's
meal that day. The young lion had its first human meal by converting his
owner into food. The boy yelled and moaned until nothing was heard of
him again. His parents rushed to the attic only to discover that they could
only find parts and pieces of the body of their son.
The boy could have been rescued if he had not locked himself up in the
attic. It was customary for the boy to lock himself up each time he was
feeding the pet. This is another example of someone who has a
dangerous property.

Others have invited destruction into their lives by handing out letters of
invitation to the devil.

CATEGORIES OF DELIVERANCE CANDIDATE

Those who come for deliverance are generally divided into three
categories

1. Those who invite the enemies into their lives by inheritance.

2. Those who invite the enemy into their lives by personal decision.
3. Those who unconsciously, invite the enemy into their lives.

The third category is the most difficult group to deal with. Many people,
these days, are busy consciously sending an invitation to the enemy. The
most dangerous activity you can get involved in is to invite the enemy into
your own mind. The danger becomes heightened when you are not
aware of the problem.

If it is not free from evil influence, the mind will eventually land you into
trouble. Your spiritual stamina notwithstanding, if you harbor a dangerous
material in your mind you will crash in a terrible manner. You can make all
kinds of claims about your spiritual stamina but if your mind has dirty
properties in it you will not be able to stand upright. You will not know
what it means to achieve success in every department of your life. In fact,
you will continually remain a candidate for deliverance.
When you win a man's mind you have captured him. When you capture
the thoughts of a person the person will come under your control. That is
why satan fights tooth and nail, for the control of minds of men and
women. The Bible says,
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve
 through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from
the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor 11:3).

Satan corrupts, influences and manipulates the mind of people,

including Christians. It is amazing that satan achieves his goals with
amazing ease. For example, why are many Christians finding it difficult to
memorise the Scriptures? The answer is simple: The devil is busy
removing the word of God from their hearts.

Why do people's minds wander at the time of prayer? There is an evil
force working on their minds. Therefore, the mind of man can be
described as the theater of satanic operation.

The extent to which the devil influences your thought is the extent to
which he can control you. The moment human beings no longer hand
over their minds to the devil, he will be thrown out of business. The devil
has nothing else to work with except human minds. Most of what he does
in the lives of people generally start from their minds.

Therefore, the mind is the center of warfare. Most bodily afflictions
operate from the mind. If you lose the battle in the realm of the mind you
will lose the whole battle. If you win the battle in the realm of the mind
then you have won the battle.

Satan has instant and immediate access to the mind of all men and
women. It becomes your responsibility, therefore, to decide to barricade
your mind against all kinds of satanic interference. The devil has a
complete picture of all our thoughts and imaginations. He also has an
access to all our motives whether those motives are pure or not.

Your innermost thoughts, your ambitions and all the thoughts which you
feel no one knows about are known to the devil. In other words, nothing
is hidden from the devil. He is also familiar with our weaknesses and our
strengths. He knows your strong points, your defenseless areas as well
as areas in which you are vulnerable.
 He knows how to attack you and succeed. If you permit him, whether
by carelessness or ignorance, he will go ahead to remove good ideas
from your mind. He makes people to remember bad things and to forget
good things.

He has a superb knowledge concerning what goes on on earth. It is
surprising but true that he knows us more than we know ourselves. He
stores all your faults and mistakes in his evil memory bank. He knows
how to pick up what he has stored against you at the right time.
The devil is effective and masterly in the manner with which he works
on human hearts. He offers suggestions that suit your weaknesses and
shortcomings. He will also make sure that you forget what will make you
think about pleasing God. That is why the Bible says: "There is away that
seemeth right unto man but the end thereof are the ways of death."

A sister once came to see me with a funny prayer request. She said:
"Man of God, just pray for me. I want to marry a pilot. I don't want to
marry any other person except a pilot." I said to her: "Why don't you allow
the Lord to choose for you? Don't choose a husband based on his
profession." But she was so obsessed with her desire for a pilot that the
devil manipulated her into getting outside the will of God. The devil
succeeded in providing a pilot for her. The pilot showed his true colour by
beating her up during the period of courtship.
She went ahead to get married to the pilot in spite of the fact that she
had started turning her into a punching bag, even when they were not yet
married. The devil got her into that condition by taking control of her
heart.

The devil generally designs evil and clever suggestions matching them
with our weakest points. He will go ahead to convince you that what he is
telling you to do is for your welfare.
He is an expert in the art of deception and fabricating counterfeits. He
is so experienced that you cannot play his evil game and win. You must
be sincere with yourself.

Who is really in control of your mind? Can you truly say that the Holy
Spirit has fully taken charge of your heart? If your mind is influenced and
controlled by the spirit of God, how then would you explain the presence
of evil materials in your hand?

The devil's power of suggestion is so terrible that even the Lord Jesus
was made to sweat in the garden of Gethsemane. The devil made Him to
reconsider His stand concerning the cup of suffering. That was why
Jesus prayed: "Father, make this cup to pass over Me." Thank God, He
made up His mind to drink from the cup. He said, "Not My will but Thy will
be done."

The greatest battle ground is the mind. Most battle grounds generally
have two forces. The mind differs significantly in this direction. There are
three forces fighting there: God, the devil and the flesh. The combination
of these forces fight serious battles in the mind of man.

Most of the evil which people do are borne out of the influence of the
human mind. People are influenced to do evil when their minds
cooperate with the devil. That is why the psalmist prayed "Let the
meditation of my heart be acceptable unto thee O Lord." What you are
saying may sound good but your life will become unacceptable to God if
the condition of your mind is unacceptable.

Nobody can deceive God. Man looks at the outward appearance while
God looks at the heart. Your outward appearance may be captivating and
dazzling but God will have nothing to do with you if your mind is in a state
that is highly objectionable to him. It is possible to try to impress the
pastor with your three piece suit or your expensive native dress, but God
cannot be impressed by any of those things. If God were to be impressed
by outward appearances, He would not have spoken to a man like Elijah.
For example, Elijah did not wash his clothes for three years yet God
spoke to him.
 Evil and ungodly thoughts can be likened to opening the door of your
heart for satanic garbage to be thrown into. Until your heart is brought
under divine control you cannot experience a wholesome mind.

You must get to a stage in your life when your heart is lifted up to a
height where it is totally in conformity with the mind of Christ.

You must not rest until you get to a point when it becomes natural for
you to think godly thoughts. You have won a great battle if you can get to
that level. It becomes easy, at that point, for you to receive your miracles
and breakthroughs.

However, if you are still at the level where the enemy occupies your min
1 completely and feed you with the bread of sorrow, you are a non-starter
in the realm of spiritual growth.

If the devil can keep you depressed for the whole day, then he is the
one controlling your life. You will not know what it means to exercise
victory and dominion over the devil. Most of the people who come to
church today are living on the fringe of divine blessings. Most of what
they receive can be classified as an overflow of the blessings of God.
They do not receive the real thing. They do not know what it means to
receive the real showers of blessings; all they have are trickles. Such
people often deceive themselves. They do not know that they cannot
receive full blessings from God without possessing a wholesome mind.
You cannot receive the blessings of God until you have experienced total
deliverance of your mind.

The deliverance of your mind will usher great changes into your life.
There are many wonderful experiences which you will never know until
you allow God to renew your mind. The moment your mind receives a
touch of transformation from the Almighty, you will begin to experience
superlative blessings. Your experience will then agree with the words of
the Scriptures: "He gave me beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for
mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness that he
may be glorified."
To understand the meaning of receiving beauty for ash, you need to
understand what ashes are used for. It was customary in those days for
those who were bereaved or sorrowful to sprinkle ashes upon
themselves. If you come across someone with ashes upon his or her
head you will know, immediately, that he was either sorrowful or
bereaved.

Those whose minds are free from evil domination generally experience
the putting off of the garment of sorrow and the putting on of the garment
of praise. Paul and Silas were surrounded by sorrow and they had every
reason to resign to it. Nobody expected them to rejoice. What happened
to them? They heard the voice of God telling them to go to Macedonia.
They obeyed.

Something happened when they got to Philippi. They had an encounter

with a very wealthy woman who was a seller of purple clothes. Purple
clothes were used by extremely wealthy people in those days.

The wealthy woman got converted and decided to invite the men of
God into her home. They were treated to an executive reception. It was a
major breakthrough. However, there was a turn of events the next day,
when Paul and Silas cast out a demon from a young girl. That was how
they were attacked and dragged to the market place.
At last, they found themselves in the prison. By the time they were
locked up in the prison, there were multiple wounds and bruises on their
bodies. I am sure, you can imagine what it means to be dragged on the
floor for a long time.

Whoever has gone through that experience would never forget the
excruciating pain that went with it. Parts of the body would have been
peeled off.
In those days, criminals were beaten with both cane and sharp objects.
The person who went through that kind of experience would end up
having his flesh seriously mutilated.

The physical environment in which they found themselves left them no
room for anything but sorrow and sadness. The place was so dark that it
was natural for it to induce gloom and despair in them.

Many people who find themselves in a pleasant environment often

become moody and despondent. I wonder what such people would do if
they should find themselves in harsh and hostile environment. What Paul
and Silas went through was enough to make them complain bitterly. But
there was no negative feeling in their minds which could have brought a
negative response. Although their bodies were hurting, their minds were
controlled by the Holy Spirit.

An average modern Christian would have broken down in tears. Others
would go into ominous silence. They would have gone into the lower level
of depression were they to be today's believers.

The first thing which we noticed about Paul and Silas is that they were
able to pray. A lot of modern day believers are generally not able to pray
whenever they have a little problem. Paul and Silas did not only pray,
they also sang praises to God. The totality of their action and reaction
showed that they were able to exercise control over what was going on
around them.

If you allow what is going on around you to dictate the condition of your
heart, you will welcome depression and discouragement. If you allow
depression to feel your mind, you will miss the miracle that you are
supposed to receive.
For Paul and Silas to have sung praises to God at midnight, they must
have been in a high spirits. The midnight hour is the darkest hour for
most people. Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to the Lord until the
prisoners heard them. A lot of Christians are not able to praise God
whenever there is any negative condition around them, not to talk of
raising up their voices to attract the attention of those who are around
them.

Depression has made a lot of people to lose great blessings in life. If
you allow the enemy to capture your mind and you become depressed
you will lose great victories. One minute of depression may take 20 years
miracle away from your life. The foundation of the prison would not have
shaken and the doors would not have opened. The prisoners would not;
have been set free and the jailor would not have been saved if Paul and
Silas' had resorted to weeping or crying.

Are you putting on the garment of praise or are you overwhelmed by

the spirit of heaviness? What is your response to the suggestions which
the devil tries to bring into your mind? What is your reaction to the
general economic situation in your country? Is your heart filled with faith
or are you eating the bread of sorrow?

Are you dancing to the devil's tune? Are you playing the role which the
devil wants you to play? Are you playing into the hands of the devil
through what you allowed into your mind? Are you behaving as if all the
problems in the world belong to you?

The Bible says, "For as he thinketh in his heart so is he." Your thoughts
denote the kind of person you are. The troubles of most people begin in
the mind. The heart or the mind is always God's starting point whenever
He wants to work in your life. If God were to open the heart of everyone
who comes into the church, a lot of people will become so embarrassed
that they will never come to the church again.

The issue of the heart is so serious that the Scriptures reveal that the
first time God destroyed mankind it was on account of the wrong state of
the heart. "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually" (Gen. 6:5).
God sent judgement to man because He knew that all the evil things
which were done were incubated in the heart.

Another instance of divine judgement in the Scriptures can be found in
the 11th chapter of the book of Genesis.

And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all
one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will
be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go
to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they
may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD
scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the
earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of
it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the
language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter
them abroad upon the face of all the earth (Gen. 11:6-9).

God scattered the people because of the imagination of their hearts.

You must examine your heart today. What kind of thoughts do you
entertain? Do you entertain evil thoughts in your heart while you go about
speaking in tongues. The importance of taking care of the mind is stated
in Provo 4:23: "Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues
of life."

If you want to avoid being trapped by your tongue, you must watch
what comes out of your mind, since what is spoken by the lips is
determined by the state of the heart. You must start working on your mind
to be wholesome in the realm of speech.

Conscious efforts must be made and serious warfare prayer must be
carried out if you want to live a life completely free from bondage. If you
will allow God to thoroughly work on your mind you will begin to speak
the right words at all times. If you take care of everything else without
taking care of the state of your heart you will continue to live in bondage.
The moment your mind receives healing and deliverance you will
experience a turn around in every area of your life.
PRAYER POINTS

1. Father, in the name of Jesus, I invite the ministry of deliverance into

my mind.
2. You powers of darkness, release your hold upon my mind, in the
name of Jesus.
3. I rebuke all the spirits operating against the soundness of my mind,
in the name of Jesus.
4. I release my mind from bondage, in the name of Jesus.
11
This is war
PRAYER POINTS FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE MIND Lord,
strengthen me today to overcome my enemy.

A. POWER AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF

CONFUSION

1. I pull down, the strongh, old of the spirit of confusion in my life, in the
name of Jesus.
2. Every city of confusion, within my mind, be broken down now, in the
name of Jesus.
3. Let the storm of confusion within my mind be still, in the name of
Jesus.
4. Every cloud, that has enveloped my mind, fade away now, in the
name of Jesus.
5. I reject any form of confusion, I claim a sound mind, in the name of
Jesus.

B. POWER AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF MIND

DESTRUCTION

1. Any power that wants to destroy my life, I command you to be

destroyed, in the name of Jesus.
2. Every faulty foundation in my life, I command you to receive the fire
of God, in the name of Jesus.
3. I shoot out, every evil arrow of mind destruction, fired against my life,
 to the sender, in the name of Jesus.
4. My mind, receive the touch of God and be renewed, in the name of
Jesus.
5. Lord, strengthen me within my inner mind with Your fire and power.

C. DELIVERANCE FROM UNCONTROLLABLE

THOUGHTS

1. I pull down, every stronghold of uncontrollable thoughts in my life, in

the name of Jesus.
2. I cast down, every evil imagination in my heart, in the mighty name
of Jesus.
3. I bring into captivity, every area of my thought life to the obedience of
Jesus Christ, in the name of Jesus.
4. In the name of Jesus, I break the power of evil remote controllers
over my thought process.
5. I flood every doorway of evil uncontrollable thought with the blood of
Jesus.

D. CASTING DOWN IMAGINATIONS

1. I scatter into pieces, every evil imagination against me, in the name
of Jesus.
2. I command all imaginations, contrary to my prayer life, to be
defeated, in the name of Jesus.
3. I cast out and bring to nought, every demonic imagination against my
family, in the name of Jesus.
4. I immunize my spirit, soul and body against every vain imagination,
in the name of Jesus.
5. I cast down, plunder, and frustrate, every satanic imagination against
my life, in the name of Jesus.
E. PULLING DOWN STRONGHOLDS OF
IMAGINATION

1. Lord, I pull down, every stronghold of the enemy over my life.

2. I pull down and roast every demonic ladder, the enemy uses to enter
my life, in the name of Jesus.
3. I come against evil pronouncements against my life, in the name of
Jesus.
4. I arrest and bind every satanic notebook opening for my life, in the
name of Jesus.
5. I cancel and nullify every evil imagination of the enemy upon my life,
in the name of Jesus.
6. Blood of Jesus, cleanse my heart of every evil thought.
7. My heart, be delivered from every evil thought, in the name of Jesus.
8. I flee my heart, by the fire of the Holy Ghost, from every evil thought,
in the name of Jesus.
9. Heavenly thought, fill my heart now, in the name of Jesus.

F. AUTHORITY AGAINST MIND CONTROLLING

SPIRIT

1. You, my mind, in the name of Jesus, you will not push me to hell.
2. You habitation of darkness inside my mind, be desolate, in the name
of Jesus.
3. Every evil attack on my mind, be defeated, in the name of Jesus.
4. You, my mind, receive the touch of fire, in the name of Jesus.
5. In the name of Jesus, I will make it in life.
6. Sting of death, release my mind, in the name of Jesus.
7. Sting of fear and failure, release my mind, in the name of Jesus.
8. I command all heavy burden in my life, to roll away and burn to
ashes, in the name of Jesus.
9. Blood of Jesus, replenish my heart.

G. PARALYSING THE STRONGMAN WORKING

AGAINST THE MIND

1. You power corrupting my desire and my mind, be roasted, in the

name of Jesus.
2. You strongman of evil imagination paralysing good things in my life,
be paralysed, in the name of Jesus.
3. Lord, revive my mind with Your fire.
4. Lord, put Your law into my mind.
5. All the good things that the strongman of the mind has paralysed,
receive life and be restored to my life, in the name of Jesus.

H. LOCATING HIDDEN TREES IN THE MIND

1. I locate every hidden evil tree in my mind, with the fire of God, in the
name of Jesus.
2. I uproot every evil hidden tree, in my mind in the name of Jesus.
3. You, evil fruit, die, in the name of Jesus.
4. You, planters of evil trees in my life, be roasted, in the name of
Jesus.
5. O Lord, begin to plant good things into my life and let them manifest
in my life.

I. POWER AGAINST EVERY SPIRIT OF

UNCERTAINTY
1. I bind and cast out, the spirit of uncertainty in my mind and I
destabilise its control over my life, in the name of Jesus.
2. Holy Ghost, occupy every area that the spirit of uncertainty has in my
mind, in the name of Jesus.
3. Father Lord, every damage that the spirit of uncertainty has done to
my life, repair and restore it, in the name of Jesus.
4. I cast out every spirit of uncertainty in every area of my life, in the
mighty name of Jesus.
5. I recover and possess every good thing that I lost to the spirit of
uncertainty, in the name of Jesus.

J. SPIRIT OF MIND BLINDNESS

1. Holy Spirit, possess my mind, in the name of Jesus.

2. You spirit of mind blindness, loose your hold over my life, in the
name of Jesus.
3. I renounce you spirit of mind blindness in my life, in the name of
Jesus.
4. I regain my words, I regain my values, I regain my spiritual gift that I
lost to the devil through the spirit of mind blindness, in the name of
Jesus.

K. SPIRIT OF DEATH AND HELL

1. Throughout the days of my life, the gate of hell will not prevail over
me, in the name of Jesus.
2. You, power of hell, release all my belongings that are under your
control, in the name of Jesus.
3. As for me and my household, our name shall not enter the book of
hell, in the name of Jesus.
4. You, spirit of death, you will not prosper in my life, in the name of
 Jesus.
5. I release the life of Christ into my life, in the name of Jesus.

L. SPIRIT OF MIND WASTAGE

1. My mind, I command you to think aright, in the name of Jesus.

2. All mind controlling spirits, be bound, in the name of Jesus.
3. You, producer of evil thoughts, somersault and die, in the name of
Jesus.
4. Holy Spirit, renew my mind to glorify God, in the name of Jesus.
5. Father Lord, soak my mind with heavenly revelations, in the name of
Jesus.

M. DELIVERANCE FROM FRAGMENTED MIND

1. I gather together, every area of my mind, that is scattered, in the

name of Jesus.
2. Every area of my life and mind in a satanic cage, be released, in the
name of Jesus.
3. I plead the blood of Jesus into my mind and the whole of my life, in
the name of Jesus.
4. I fire back, every arrow of the enemy fired into my mind, in the name
of Jesus.
5. I command you my mind, go back to your resting place, in the name
of Jesus.
 OTHER BOOKS BY DR. D. K. OLUKOYA

1. Students In The School Of Fear

2. The Vagabond Spirit
3. Power Must Change Hands
4. Breakthrough Prayers For Business Professionals
5. S. Pray Your Way To Breakthroughs (Third Edition)
6. Spiritual Warfare And The Home
7. Victory Over satanic Dreams (second Edition)
8. Personal Spiritual Check-Up
9. Prayers That Bring Miracles*
10. "Adura Agbayori" (Yoruba Version of the Second Edition of Pray Your
Way To Breakthroughs)
11. How To Obtain Personal Deliverance (second edition)
12. Power Against local Wickedness
13. Brokenness
14. Let God Answer By Fire*
15. Release From Destructive Covenants
16. PRIER JUSQU'A REMPORTER LA VICTOIRE (French Edition of
Pray Your Way To Breakthroughs)
17. Power Against Spiritual Terrorists
18. Deliverance of The Head
19. Revoking Evil Decrees
20. The Great Deliverance
21. Wealth Must Change Hands
22. Limiting God
23. Power Against Coffin Spirits
24. Satanic Diversion of The Black Race
25. Prayers To Mount Up With Wings As Eagles
26. Holy Cry
27. Power Against Destiny Quenchers
28. Prayer Rain
29. Holy Fever
30. "Awon Adura ti nse oke didi" (Yoruba Prayer Book)
31. The Fire of Revival
32. Overpowering Witchcraft
33. Criminals in the house of God
34. Unprofitable foundations
35. Be prepared
36. Prayers that bring explosive Increase*
37. Power Against Marine Spirits
38. The Internal Stumbling block
39. Prayer Strategies For Spinsters and Bachelor
40. Drawers of Power From The Heavenlies
41. The spirit of the Crab

* Prayer and Fasting booklet in English, French, Hausa, Igbo and

Yoruba languages


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