The way to the power house of God

Dr. D. K. Olukoya

Let us pray: Wonderful God, we thank you for bringing this message to us. We thank you for preserving our lives, for laying your hands upon our body, soul and spirit. What a mighty God You are,! Thank You for Your wonder working power, thank You for total deliverance, thank You because You are the Lord our God, and You change not, therefore we are not consumed. Thank You because You are our unchangeable God, the same yesterday, today and forever. Accept our thanks, in Jesus’ name. Lord, I commit all those who shall read this message into Your holy hand. Dig deep into their inner beings and do strange and marvellous works in their lives, in the name of Jesus. Thank You Father, in Jesus’ name. Amen

This message is for those who want power in their lives. Some people may decide to sit and lick their wounds, some may decide to form a pity party, some may even decide to make themselves candidates of depression, but that is not God’s will for us.  He wants us to be champions. I therefore recommend this message to those who want to live the mountain top life.

Genesis.32:1-11: “And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom, and he commanded them, saying, “Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and herds and the camels, into two bands; And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, “Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.”

Jacob was approaching his own country and the fear of his brother filled his heart. He had to pray. In his true colour, he pushed his wife and children forward, in case there was danger, those ones would die before the danger reached him.

Genesis. 32:23-28: “And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” 

This contest about Jacob is corroborated by the book of  Hosea 12:3-4: “He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him; he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us.”

It is important and also compulsory for us in the present generation to have the power of God in our lives, more so in these last days.

Every believer is meant to generate power. Our lives should bring forth power. It is however a lamentable tragedy that the enemies use many Christians as foot mats because they lack power. What we are talking about is not physical power but spiritual power. A person can be strong physically but weak spiritually, such power will only help in killing the fellow. He would use his own strength to kill himself. I know of a wrestler who was very good at wrestling but had no spiritual strength, and as such, he had no control over hard drugs. The demon attached to hard drugs always overpowered him.

There was the case of a woman who beat up her housemaid who was demonic. Through her demonic power, she made the woman’s hand to swell. Only prayers saved her, the hand would have been rendered totally useless.

People come to the house of God and receive sound teachings. They pray well and have the much needed anointing but they still miss it because they cannot translate all these into power. The story of Jacob we have just read reveals one major method God uses in generating power. It is called “Under pressure.” Our early fathers were more serious than we are today. They prayed seriously. They aggressively controlled the heavens. They were equipped with anointing that destroyed yokes.  They sang songs that disgraced the enemies. They were very confrontational when it came to praying in the spirit and they had a high level of boldness that is not found in present-day believers. Our early fathers attacked giants, they built churches where people would not want them to and they were not afraid of anybody, neither were they threatened by any kind of fetish. They prayed to establish, to root out and to plant things.  That kind of power, power to disgrace Satan is what we are talking about. Jacob was in trouble.  The pressure upon his life was translated into power. You too can translate every pressure upon your life into power. Every arrow the enemies fire at you can be translated into power.  Every pressure upon your life can be translated into power. Every snare the enemy is using to war against you can be translated into power, every problem that is arranged against you can be translated into power, and all the harassment of the enemies can be translated into power. So, God who knows our nature arranges that challenges come and the challenges will introduce pressure into our lives. Then, you begin to fight and in the fighting you get power from God. A lot of us, all that we do is to use authority and sometimes the authority fails. It is like a police man in his police uniform standing at a check point and all of a sudden some armed robbers that have just robbed a bank drive towards the check-point.  If the policeman orders the robbers to stop, what do you think will happen to his authority? Under a normal situation, a policeman as slim as a pencil who is in his uniform can point to a big trailer and say stop and because of that authority, revealed by the uniform that the government has vested on him, it would stop. But under a situation whereby some hardened criminals who have robbed, drive towards the check-point, that uniform becomes useless to the policeman.  He needs something else which is power.  He must carry his own fire power in addition to the authority that he has. Present-day believers only use the authority that is not backed-up by power.

The problem that confronted Jacob and threatened his life started from the womb. He struggled to come out of the womb before Esau so they fought in the womb of their mother. When he found out that Esau was the first to come out of the womb, he held on to the leg of Esau. When Esau came out, he was red with hair all over his body so they called him Esau. Jacob who came out grabbing the leg of his brother was called grabber-Jacob, that is, a cheat. He ran away after deceitfully collecting the birthright of his elder brother. Really, if you are the first born in Israel everything belongs to you; even the pottage that Jacob gave to Esau by law, belongs to Esau. That notwithstanding, he deceived Esau and collected his birthright. He also deceived his father too and collected the blessing meant for Esau. Now, his going back home made his life to be under a threat. It was a very dangerous journey. Waiting at home was his brother Esau whom he had cheated and Esau was a strong and violent man. Also waiting at home was his aged father to whom he had lied. So Jacob was going to an unfriendly territory, trouble and death were awaiting him.  The Bible told us that Esau was a wild man who had a reputation for aggression. He fought with wild animals while Jacob was a man of the tent who stayed quietly at home with mummy.  Jacob knew that he was no match for Esau. He knew that Esau could tear him into pieces and that being a hunter Esau could fire at him from a distance. So, he knew that there was serious trouble.

Esau was supposed to be the elder brother of Jacob. The Bible also calls him Edom, a hunter, beloved by Isaac. He sold his birthright and also married a strange woman. He started polygamy and it pained the heart of his parents. He also did all kinds of terrible things. You can read more about it in the Bible. Jacob was in trouble but he turned the pressure into power that brought victory.

How do you have power with God?

Until you have confronted your Esau, you cannot enter the Promised Land. An Esau was waiting for Jacob.  No matter how wonderful and attractive your plans are, until you confront and deal with your Esau, you are not ready for the promised land.  There is always an Esau waiting for every Jacob right at the gate of the promised land. When you decide to live in eternity, your destiny and your eternal purpose, you must confront your Esau. No matter what you have, until you deal with your Esau you remain in exile like Jacob. Here lies the secret key of power. No matter who you are, until you confront that your Esau, you remain in the wilderness roaming around. As far as the purpose of God for you is concerned, it is when you deal with that Esau that you begin to move.

For twenty-one years Jacob was living in a foreign land, pretending and behaving as if there was no Esau waiting for him. He did not share the secret with anybody. Before you settle into God’s promise for your life, before you find your physical and spiritual identity, no matter how many years you have pushed your Esau aside, you would still need to confront him because he would be there waiting for you. You have to deal with him.

It is very clear  that our Esau differs. The Esau of Jacob started precisely at the time he deceived and collected Esau’s blessing. Think deeply beloved, what are those Esaus you have in your life? Because anytime you seriously want to possess your possession, Esau would say, “Sorry sir, you have not settled me.”  Are you like the fellow who was annoyed with a tree and decided to destroy it?  He cut the tree to the ground level leaving the stump and now cemented the place. He was pleased with himself. After some time, he found that the cemented floor started to crack. That stump was saying something which means, "You have not settled my case yet and you are looking away as if am not here but I have been waiting for you.” You are crying, “O Lord, I want power,” but Esau is saying, “I am still here and I will not pursue you, for I will wait for you at the gate of the promised land. I will wait for you at the gate of your inheritance.” Esau will always wait at the gate of rest, at the gate of power, at the gate of promotion, at the gate of destiny, saying, “I am still here; you have not dealt with me. You are pushing me aside but I cannot be pushed aside”

What is the sprit of Esau?

1.     When you do not carry out self- examination and do not reflect on   spiritual things.  All you spend your life thinking about is, “Oh no, how can I make my complexion lighter, how can I do my hair so that people would see it and their heads would turn, or what kind of car should I ride so that when I am passing by in the streets people would be waving at me.” The spirit that does not reflect on spiritual things is    the spirit of Esau.

2.   When you do not build your life on God’s word.

3.   When you live a lawless life, a life without control.

4.   When you are aware that you have been fighting a war from the womb, yet you are not serious at overcoming it, the spirit of Esau is at work.

5.   When you are building your life on desolation. Ecclesiastes 12:8:“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

6.   When you sell your birthright like most ladies sell off their virginity at a cheap price. A lot of people are not bothered about their birthright; they are only interested in satisfying their immediate hunger.

7.   When you are only interested in satisfying the lust of the flesh.

8.   When there is pride in your life and you go about feeling superior to others spiritually.

9.   Counterfeit Christianity is the spirit of Esau. We have many counterfeit Christians who come to the house of God. They are not serious with God. This is the spirit of Esau.

10. Bread and butter Christianity is the spirit of Esau.

11. When you over-look your own blessings and potentials and you treat them like something worthless, it is the spirit of Esau.

12. When you are spiritually undisciplined, it the spirit of Esau.

Beloved, What is your own Esau? You need to cry to the Lord today. Maybe you ran away from one husband in one town and now you came to Lagos to marry a new one who does not know about the former one, Esau is waiting for you. Maybe you are owing some people money or you have even stolen money in your former church where you were a treasurer or financial secretary, by being in a different church now does not mean your Esau is dead. It is saying, “You are neglecting me but I am still here.” Maybe you have committed abortion, Esau is saying, “I am here.” Perhaps you have been working with a fake certificate, Esau is saying, “You are neglecting me, I am here.” Perhaps you slept with your cousin, your niece, or your nephew and nobody saw you, you covered it up, Esau is waiting for you. Maybe you were very clever when you were in school with all types of contraceptives, or you were drinking alcohol, Esau is waiting for you. Maybe you have secret lust in your heart, Esau is waiting for you. Perhaps, you have children and women secretly scattered all over town outside your legal marriage, Esau is waiting for you. Until you deal with that Esau you are joking because immediately you are at the edge of your breakthrough or at the edge of your blessing, close to the promised land, you will come across Esau there who would say, “You have not settled my case.” You may be 30 or 40 years old. As you are growing your Esau too is growing. Jacob left home at forty and came back at fifty-one, Esau too was growing up. The Esau you do not uproot will grow up with you. When Jacob left home Esau was only one man but by the time he was coming back, Esau had four hundred men. When Jacob offended Esau and ran away, Esau was just one person, but on his return, he found that Esau had increased. If you do not deal with your Esau it shall increase. If you like you may postpone your meeting with your Esau, in several years time, it would have become more sophisticated, more complex, much more serious, and much more difficult.

Your Esau now may be a habit in your life that God has been pointing His finger at. It maybe a sin you never confessed, it may be a baby you gave birth to when you were younger and you dumped it somewhere and now you are going for deliverance. You may not be delivered unless this Esau is dealt with because Esau would be waiting for you at the deliverance ground. It may be some secret sex that nobody knows about and Esau is there waiting for you and you are busy singing, “I’m marching forward.” Esau would say, “Let him come, I’m waiting here.” One man put a girl in the family way when she was in school and she gave birth to a girl. I still cannot understand why they gave the girl the name “Atare.” “Atare” in Yoruba language means hot pepper. After sometime, this man married another woman, and never told her that he had a child at all. He cleverly hid the secret but his wife noticed that he usually bought girl’s materials whenever he was going to the village. But she thought as a Christian, he gave them to people as gifts. One day, after some aggressive prayer by the sister, her mother-in law began to confess to  witchcraft. She said everybody should come to the village to hear the terrible confession she was making.  She then confessed that all the havoc she wrecked on people including her son through witchcraft powers, she did them in conjunction with Atare. His wife who was born and bred in England was surprised and wondered who this Atare was. The Esau that was hidden for 17 years was revealed. You may hide for years but one day your Atare will cry out: “I’m here, you have not dealt with me. I’m waiting for you.” It may be addiction. No matter how popular or great you are, if you have an Esau, it will be waiting for. You have to deal with it if you must have power with God.

The children of Israel would have entered the promised land within two weeks but if you look at Numbers chapter 20 you will see that it was Esau who prevented them from entering. Numbers 20:14-21: “And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us. How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers; And when we cried unto the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt; and behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border; Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: We will go by the king’s high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders. And Edom said unto him, thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword. And the children of Israel said unto him, we will go by the high way. And if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it; I will without doing any thing else, go through on my feet. And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through its border: Wherefore Israel turned away from him.” If they had allowed them to pass they would just pass through Edom into the promised land, but he said “no”, we are waiting for you here, you cannot pass. At the edge of the promised land, Esau dealt with Israel. The Israelites could have avoided the 40 years of wandering about, but they had a diversion and the journey then became wearisome. The problem was Esau. 

You have to cry out to the Lord to help you deal with your Esau today. When Jacob saw that cleverness was not going to work, he then prayed to the Lord to deliver him from his brother Esau.

For God to conquer your external enemies, He must first conquer you. Immediately Jacob prayed that prayer, that God should deliver him from his brother Esau and the angel of God came and the battle started, a very hot battle went on for about seven hours until Jacob was conquered. God will not conquer your Esau until He has conquered you. Many of us have been struggling with just one sin for many years. I will not be surprised if there are people reading this message who in their three-piece suit, can still jump out of the car and start fighting in the street.

As Jacob wrestled with the angel, he received internal dislocation and he became a broken man. There can be no power for living, there can be no power with God until you deal with your Esau. It was after Jacob was broken like this that the power of God was released upon his life. If you look at your life and you find out that you do not have power with God, you need to be broken. After the wrestling match between Jacob and the angel which the Bible says he obtained by prayer, weeping and supplication, God said, “Okay you have power now to face Esau.” Power with God is power among men to deal with Esau. You have power with God after God has conquered you. Remember, if there was no Jacob inside there would not be Esau outside. There is no short cut to power but Esau will shut us out in the wilderness if we allow him. The man in us is becoming little when we should become stronger. Immediately Jacob dealt with the Esau in him and he was broken, the battle ended and he had power.

Then the angel asked him, “What is your name?” That question meant, what is your character? What are you like? And he said, “I am Jacob,” and the angel said, “So you know how wretched you are, you have changed now, you have power with God and with men.”

It is easier to say no to the devil than yes to God in those areas where God is seeking to transform us. God wants to change us but many of us do not want to be changed and that thing in us that does not want us to change is the Esau at the gate.

Your Esau is that area you are wrestling with God in your life. Your Esau is where God is asking you to surrender, where He wants to control. Your Esau is where God is asking you to be changed. Your Esau is that character change that God is really calling for. The angel touched the long leg of Jacob, the leg by which he was deceiving people all over the place and he was dislocated and in his great pain he held tight to the angel saying, “You cannot leave me like this, my leg is already dislocated. Change my name.” The angel said, “Okay you have power with God.” In the morning, Jacob then leaped towards his brother as a changed man. He was no longer fearful, all his manipulation and cheating were gone. He was then a broken man and to his amazement Esau embraced him, he did not kill him and eventually they buried their father together. With that battle he fought, he dealt with the Esau in his life so then he could enter into his land of eternal purpose.

Think about it now. This is a day for divine surgery, a day that you should cry to the Almighty to change anything in your life that scares God away, anything in your life that makes heaven to frown at you, anything in you consciously or unconsciously that scares the spirit of revival away from your life. Cry that God should reveal it now to you so that you can change and the ones that you know that you have been struggling with, ask God to do something about them. What we are talking about are things which people cannot share publicly. For example, there was a man who had a duck in his sitting room which he used to sleep with. How many people would he tell that? Or that sister who used to sleep with her dog and she was always with the dog as if it was her husband? How many people would she tell about it. Some people do not want other people to hear about the things they do.  Some of these things are so shameful and disgraceful to discuss publicly, but they are the threatening Esau. Let God put His finger on them today. Let Him point at them today and say, “This is that Esau.” 

You need to pray that whatsoever God would have to do to you so that His power would remain upon your life, that He should do it. You need to cry to the Lord that you do not want to become history while you are yet living, that the Holy Ghost should go into details about your life and reveal all the hidden things and the hidden agenda.

Perhaps this is why witches are getting stronger against you, they may have seen your Esau. They are saying, “Well, as far as that Esau is at the gate, let him struggle, let him study, let him get the degrees, let him build the house, let him do everything he wants to do, he shall be waiting at the gate.”

Let the Lord do a divine surgery upon your life today so that you can absorb His power into your life and destroy your Esau completely. You need to cry unto Him to obtain this power through the following prayer points:

PRAYER POINTS

1.   Everything planted within me to hinder God, depart from my life, in the name of Jesus.

2.   O Lord, wound my Jacob so that I will have power with You, in the name of Jesus.

3.   Blood of Jesus, silence my Esau, in the name of Jesus.

4.   My first shall not become the last, in the name of Jesus.

5.   O Lord, plant my feet on higher ground, in the name of        Jesus.

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