DEALING WITH SOURCES OF TROUBLES
DEALING WITH SOURCES OF TROUBLES
In life things just don’t happen. They are made to happen. They are caused. Something or someone was responsible for it. Based on the law of cause and effects, if we know the root or cause of our issues in life, then we can do something about them and have peace.
The law of cause and effect is a universal law which specifically states that every single action in the universe produces a reaction no matter what.
life isn’t built upon accidents, chance or luck
Every single effect within our world, upon our earth has a cause, an original starting point.
The reason why many of us are not enjoying the blessings that the Lord Jesus paid for is because some powers are troubling, hindering and contending with what God has given to us. After today’s service that will become history in Jesus name.
Jos 7:1-11 KJV 1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. 2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. 4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. 6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. 7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? 10 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.
In the text we read, the children of Israel had just conquered Jericho. Jericho fell before them. The impregnable wall collapsed flat. As long as Jericho was standing, the children of Israel could not gain access into the city. But when the wall fell, they entered and destroyed what was standing between them and Cannan.
Whatever is standing between you and your miracles shall give way in Jesus name.
Every Jericho standing before you shall collapse by fire in Jesus name.
They moved to the next city which was very small, in fact they Just sent a small porting of the army there thinking they were going to walk over. You know in football when you say a club or country is a walk over, it means they are nothing to exercise strength on. But to the surprise of Joshua and the elders, Ai defeated the mighty Israel. Shame came upon people. Can I pray for you, every root of shame programmed into your life is destroyed in Jesus name.
While Joshua was complaining to God, God told him the cause of their trouble. One man’s sin and disobedience caused trouble for a whole nation. God said that somebody had violated the rules. The lot was cast and one man was caught. Look at what Joshua told him:
Jos 7:25 KJV And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
Every Achan troubling your life shall receive double trouble. Every troubler of Israel shall perish by fire in Jesus name.
After Achan was taken out they went back to AI, this time around, Ai was flatly defeated. When the source of their trouble was taken out, they became once more victorious.
THE DAY THE SUN STOOD STILL
Jos 10:12 KJV Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
Why did he command the sun and not the earth?
They were having battles with the Amorites, many of those people had escaped and Joshua felt that they may gather again and fight Israel. More so as the day was drawing at night, there won’t be enough time to finish all of them. So, he prayed unto God and then commanded the sun to be still.
The sun has no revolution around any orbit, but to revolve round his own axis, and round the common centre of gravity in the planetary system, which centre of gravity is included within his own surface; and in all other respects I consider him to be at rest in the system.
The earth, not only as revolving round the sun in 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 48 seconds, but as revolving round its own axis, and making this revolution in 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds; that in the course of 24 hours complete, every part of its surface is alternately turned to the sun; that this revolution constitutes our day and night, as the former does our year; and it is day to all those parts which have the sun above the horizon, and night to those which have the sun below it; and that this diurnal revolution of the earth, or revolving round its own axis, in a direction from west to east, occasions what is commonly called the rising and setting of the sun, which appearance is occasioned, not by any motion in the sun himself, but by this motion of the earth; which may be illustrated by a ball or globe suspended by a thread, and caused to turn round. If this be held opposite to a candle, it will appear half enlightened and half dark; but the dark parts will be seen to come successively into the light, and the enlightened parts into the shade; while the candle itself which gives the light is fixed, not changing its position.
The solar influence to be the cause both of the annual and diurnal motion of the earth; and that, while that influence continues to act upon it according to the law which God originally impressed on both the earth and the sun, the annual and diurnal motions of the earth must continue
Once the influence of the sun ceased, the earth ceased to rotate and there was a prolonged day till they were able to finish their enemies.
There are people that are unpredictable or say things that are not gracious. It is because they are under influence. Somebody may attack you without reason, it is because he is under a spell or influence. Rather than attack the person back, all you need to do is to cut off the influence and the attack will cease.
Every power influencing evil around you is terminated today in Jesus name.
THE STORY OF JONAH
Jonah was a prophet commissioned by God to preach against Nineveh but for the best reasons known unto him; he decided to run away. He boarded a ship going to Tarshish, while in the midst of the sea, God sent a storm that troubled the ship, it was about to capsize. The mariners cast a lot and the lt fell on Jonah who was busy sleeping at the corner of the boat. Bad people can hide. When they asked him and interrogated him, hear what Jonah said:
Jon 1:11-15 KJV 11 Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. 12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
The men could not believe their ears. They should throw a human being into the sea! So they continued to roar and labour.
There are many of us that God has revealed the source of your trouble but you are very gentle, sophisticated and compassionate to deal with them. You would rather manage than stir up things. As long as you can manage, you will. God doesn’t force His will on people and will not take away your will from you. Those guys laboured and laboured there was no respite. Jonah told them, throw me into the sea and you will see what will happen.
Jon 1: 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. 14 Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee. 15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
As soon as they threw Jonah into the sea, the roaring of the sea ceased. Every raging storm over any man’s life ceases today in Jesus’ name. Deal with your Jonah today so you can have respite. DEAL WITH THE ROOT OF YOUR PROBLEM. CONT NEGOTIATE OR COMPROMISE
Somebody will say what of the New Testament, do we have such things happening?
THE STORY OF THE PERSECUTOR – SAUL
After the death of Stephen, one of the seven deacons, Saul gathered momentum and became more dangerous to the early infant church.
Act 8:1 KJV And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Because of the persecution which was chiefly championed by Saul, the Church of God scattered. The disciples ran helter skelter but the good news was that everywhere they went, they preached the gospel there. The Church that was recently formed after Pentecost scattered.
There are some people who immediately set up things, something will crop up from nowhere to scatter what they have just set up. But can i pray for you
Whatever power is mandated to scatter your business, marriage, destiny shall be scattered by fire in Jesus name.
In Chapter 9 of Acts of Apostles, Saul obtained a letter from the high priest to arrest any Christians found in Damascus; he embarked on that journey with some guys and with fury and boiling anger. But heaven was saying enough was enough. You too need to come to a point where you will say enough is enough. I can’t take this nonsense any longer.
But as I said , as long as you can cope with the situation, you will. But the moment you say, enough is enough, something will happen.
As Saul was going, just few kilometers into Damascus, suddenly light from heaven fell on him, he fell down,
Act 9:3-4 KJV 3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me?
By the time heaven was through with him, he was blind, the letter or warrant of arrest he was carrying fell apart. He went into 3days compulsory fasting and prayers. The hunter is now hunted. The arrester is now arrested. Every assignment of the devil over your life is terminated in Jesus name. Every agent assigned to arrest your destiny and blessing is frustrated today in Jesus’ name.
When you read the story down, Saul became a Christian and he started preaching proving that the same Jesus was the Messiah the Jews had crucified. He preached in Damascus, when they pursued him, he came to Jerusalem, initially he was rejected but later got accepted into the church where he preached again and again.
Here is the testimony of the church:
Act 9:31 KJV Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.
After Saul was arrested by the power of God, the church in Judea, Galilee and Samaria had rest. Why and What brought the rest? The cause of the persecution had been taken care of.
Hello Sir, you need to take care of your own Saul that is walking up and down for you and causing problems in your family, career, home, compound and business. The Saul that is persecuting you, the Saul that is making life difficult and the Saul troubling you. The Lord Jesus took care of the cause of persecution to the infant church because the devil was bent on destroying it and the church had rest. If you do like that, you will have rest and tranquility in Jesus name.
Example of Jesus:
The disciples and Jesus were in the boat. He was sleeping and there was a storm on the sea. The boat was almost full. They woke Him up. This is what Jesus said.
Mar 4:39 KJV And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
The agitation of the sea was only the effect of the wind, it was necessary to remove the cause of the disturbance, that the effect might cease. When He rebuked the wind which was the cause of the storm, the raging ceased. Every raging sea in anyone’s life is terminated in Jesus name.
Mat 9:32-33 KJV 32 As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. 33 And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.
That devil was the root of that man’s unfortunate situation. The moment he was cast out the dumb could speak. Many of the sicknesses and diseases Jesus healed were caused by the demons and once they were cast out, healing took place. Every demon or devil tormenting anyone receives fire in Jesus’ name.
The problem of sin on earth:
The children of Israel were looking for a military deliverer that will rescue them from the Romans just like the way Samson, Saul, Deborah, Joshua, Samuel, Salman and others delivered them. But it was a repeated circle every now and then. So God went into the root of the problem which was sin and sent Jesus into the world who according to 1Jn 1: 7 is the propitiation for our sin and for the sin of the whole world.
In summary we deal with the root and genesis of the problem.
HOW TO DEAL WITH THE ROOT OF PROBLEMS
Whenever we face challenges, our inclination to call upon God, appeal unto Him begged and pleads with Him to take them away from us. It was the same thing with Apostle Paul when he was faced with unceasing persecutions. Paul made a prayer and God equally answered him.
2Cor 12:7-9 KJV 7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
The Jews were his own people. He used to be like them in the past but now that he became a Christian, they saw him as an apostate and a betrayal to Judaism. His own people. There are many of us here that the root of our problem is from the father or mother house or from your village people. Wherever it is coming from, it shall backfire in Jesus’ name.
Many preachers say the reason why Paul was given the thorn in the flesh was to keep him humble. They said Paul was having a pride problem because of many revelations and visions.
This is not true. What the Bible is simply saying there was that he was prevented from sharing around the world the revelations and visions he had received about the good news, the gospel. This was the reason why the thorn in the flesh came.
So what is the thorn in the flesh?
Many preachers had said the thorn in the flesh was sickness, eye problem and debilitating pain. That is not true.
In the Old Testament whenever they talked about thorns in the flesh, they were referring to people Num 33: 55; Jos 23:13; Judges 2: 3. The word “messenger” there is “angelo” in Greek. It means an angel of the devil was assigned to Paul to stir up persecution against him everywhere he went.
Instances of the persecutions are these:
Act 13:45 KJV But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
Act 13:50 KJV But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.
Act 14:2 KJV But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.
Act 14:19 KJV And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
Paul prayed that God will take it away but God said “my grace is sufficient for you” Many preachers have also said, God was telling Paul that He has given him enough grace to go through the affliction and bear them. That Paul can bear it. But that is not not what that place is talking about. Grace is multifaceted and multidimensional. GRACE here is talking about ability, anointing, capability and strength. In other words, God was telling Paul I have given you more than enough ability. You have all it takes to take care of this problem, so you do something about it. Three times, same prayer, same answer. That should tell you something.
Did Paul take the advice? Yes. There are many of us facing rejection, problems, challenges here and there. You have all it takes to take care of the problems. You have
There are many people in fact all of us are products or sum total of our thinking processes. Prov says as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. You become what you focus on all day long. Our lives go the way of our dominant thoughts.
Whatever is taking place in our lives, the effects we are seeing are not accidents, most of the time and majorly they are the products of our thoughts, actions, habits and behaviours. If you don’t like the effect you are seeing, then change the cause. Rom 12:2 says renew your mind. Phil 4: 8 says think on these things.
WHAT ARE THE TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT?
- Paul had said the good fight of faith whereby we compel our rebellious situation and circumstances to line up with the word of God. It is also to receive all that Christ has purchased for us. It equally means resisting the devil and commanding him to take away his hands from all that belongs to us.
1Ti 6:12 KJV Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
- Paul also said the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God. If there is no warfare there won’t be the need for weapon
2Cor 10:4 KJV (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
- Paul also said that we wrestle not against flesh and blood
Eph 6:12 KJV For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
The battles are fought in two places:
- In the mind
- In spiritual warfare
So in view of these, there is a necessity to be equipped. These are few of the arsenals we have been given to enforce our freedom and receive what belongs to us.
The name of Jesus: Phi 2:9-10 KJV 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Mar 16:17-18 KJV And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Luk 10:17 KJV And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
Luke 10:17 NLT When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”
the blood of Jesus: Rev 12:11 KJV And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death.
the armour of God: Eph 6:11 KJV Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
the word of God: Act 19:20 KJV So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
Rev 12:11 KJV And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
the anointing: 1Jn 2:20 KJV But ye have a function from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
1Jn 2:27 KJV But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
The wisdom of God: 1Co 1:30 KJV But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
The ability and strength of God: Phi 4:13 KJV I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
The prayer: Jas 5:16 KJV Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
The Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues: 1Co 14:2 KJV For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
CONCLUSION
Deal with the root of the problems.
Use all the arsenal and deploy them.
The children of Israel sent 300men to Ai, God asked them to send all the men of war Jos 8: 1. Deploy all, fight it today and you will have rest tomorrow.
This is an advantage that we have under the New Testament. What they couldn’t be delivered from, we can be delivered from them. We can walk in victory, liberty and freedom procured by the blood of Jesus. He died for these purposes. Take advantage of all that He has given unto us. We can be free from every bondage.
Prayer
Every root and source of affliction and troubles in my life be exposed and be destroyed in Jesus name.