Blessed be the name of the Lord! We lift His name high today and every moment of every day. Happy New Year church, from this day forward there’s going to be a brand new beginning in your life in every area in Jesus muchless name.
And so, Father, once again we just want to thank You; we thank You for Your love, we thank You for Your mercy, we thank You for Your faithfulness, we thank You for Your awesome power that You are using positively on our behalf, take all the praise and all the glory in the name of Jesus.
We are here again this morning, You are the One who told us to come, You say we should come boldly to the throne of grace and mercy to obtain mercy, to obtain grace and to obtain help, we have come this morning to obtain mercy, Your mercy that endures forever, we have come to access grace, grace that is greater than every sin, we have come to access help, help Lord God Almighty at every turn in every situation under every circumstance, just let Your name be glorified. Thank You Almighty God, blessed be Your holy name, in Jesus matchless name.
I was told that your theme for the month is month of glory and I asked your pastor’s permission to change it to season of glory. You are going to begin a season of glory that will never end until you see God in glory in the name of Jesus Christ.
Our text is Isaiah 60: 1, it says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” This is a very prophetic call, it is a call for people to reflect God’s glory after a period of darkness, becoming a beginning of light and drawing other people to God.
Arising and shining signifies a spiritual awakening where God’s presence transforms His people making them radiate His divine light and truth to the world, attracting others to salvation, to recovery and to prosperity. That is going to be your portion from this day forward, everyone who has been sleeping will wake up today.
You have categorically said that the glory of God is in this place, wherever the glory of God is, His presence is and where God’s presence is, anything can happen, and it is good that will happen to you today.
Arise and shine, it is a command to move from spiritual slumber or despair to active radiant living so that God’s presence can be reflected in your lives. I’ve said that I’m going to treat this subject under the following heading.
What is glory? Number one; number two, what causes shame? Number three, what are the benefits of glory? If God’s glory is in your life, how can people know that it is there? And this glory that we are talking about, how can you access it, how can you make it present in your individual lives? Blessed be the name of the Lord.
What is glory? That’s number one. This morning, I’m going to treat glory as the opposite of shame. Glory has a lot of other meanings, we have just said that glory is the presence of God in a place and God is here to remove every form of shame in Jesus name.
What is the cause of shame? That’s number two. Number three, what are the benefits of glory? Number four, how do you get this glory into your life? I have defined glory as the opposite of shame, now what is shame? Shame often described as the opposite of glory represents dishonor, it represents disgrace, it represents tarnish reputation, it is a heavy weight that leaves individual feeling small, you feel unworthy and you feel less than adequate.
Based on biblical and social perspective, here are some things that can cause shame (I’m in number two now). What are the causes of shame? There are so many, when I was preparing this paper, everything was just going on and on in my head, I needed to choose what I’m going to say so I don’t exceed the time that I’m given.
Number one, shame can be caused by spiritual and moral causes. I heard the choir saying that disobedience is a factor, disobedience to God’s command is the primary cause of shame, disobedience to the word of God is the primary cause of shame. You know in the garden of Eden, God gave Adam and Eve specific instructions, the day they infringed that law, shame came into their lives, not only shame, fear came into their lives. So if one disobeys the word of God, it can lead to shame. That’s one cause.
Pride can lead to shame; when pride comes, the Bible says, then shame comes. I hope you people are listening because pride leads to stubbornness, if you are proud, nobody can correct you, you stay rigid on what you want to believe whether it’s wrong or right. Pride leads to foolishness and ultimately to the rejection of counsel. It doesn’t matter who is advising you, is talking to you, you’ve made up your mind and you are going to stand where you are standing. That can bring shame.
Unwanted exposure can bring shame. Being exposed in a way that you wish to keep private and then suddenly the bubble burst and the secret is exposed, it can bring shame.
Social stigma can bring shame; if society labels you – maybe you are poor, you cannot freely move in the congregation of the people, the Bible says the poor man has no friend, is when you have money that everybody is milling around you, so exclusion rejection maybe as a result of failed relationship, you have worked hard 10 years (God forbid that that is your portion), 20 years, 30 years and suddenly in spite of everything, the marriage collapses, it can bring shame. God delivers us from shame in Jesus name.
A whole lot of things, I can go on and on and on, then critical situations can bring people to shame. Some parents just talk anyhow about their children, anyhow about anybody, they look at a child they carried for 9 months and they said you are no good, you are not going to amount to anything, it’s your father’s sister that you resemble, this thing doesn’t happen in my own family and you are the mother and you are saying all of these things.
You say to a child that you gave birth to that you never do well, some people talk like that. I’m not saying that those kinds of people are here but I’m just saying that these are the things that can cause shame. A child that is not encouraged, a child that is not affirmed, a child that’s continuously pulled down will walk in shame, there’s no way they can have self-confidence.
So you can see a thousand and one reasons, but I’m looking at the time, these are the things that can cause shame. God will remove shame from every area and every facet of our lives in the name of Jesus.
But what are the benefits of the season of glory? Because when God removes the shame, He doesn’t leave you void, He replaces it with something beautiful and that is His glory. A season of glory is a spiritual context refers to the prophesied or designated period of intense divine presence. A season of glory, it brings with it intense divine presence.
You have said it with your mouth this morning, God’s presence is here, when God’s presence filled the temple, when Solomon was dedicating the temple, the Bible says the priest could no longer stand to minister, that is the extent to which glory can come upon a person and just take them over. God’s glory will be manifest in your life today in Jesus name.
It is a season, a prophesied season with God’s intense presence where believers experience accelerated blessing. When God’s glory comes upon you, all the things you have been trying to do for several years, you can do it in a month. It’s a time of accelerated blessings, it’s a time of accelerated breakthrough, you have been praying year in year out, beating the wall, jumping on the ceiling, no show, but when God’s glory comes down, accelerated breakthrough is witnessed. And that will be our portion today in Jesus name.
God’s mighty power is made manifest, all kinds of miracles will start to happen when the glory of God comes down, those are one of the benefits of the seasons of glory. It is characteristic by shift from struggle to rest, you have fasted, you have prayed, you have agonized, you have complained, you have repented of complaining yet everything stands stagnant, when the glory comes down all that changes and then you move from struggle to rest, everything begins to happen as if to say there was no struggle in the first place. That’s part of the benefits of glory.
Supernatural restoration and acceleration are part of the benefits of glory. Opportunities, they say in the world, opportunities once lost can never be regained, it’s not true in the Bible, God is able to restore opportunities and He’s going to do that this morning in Jesus name.
Broken relationships are brought together. Husband and wife that don’t see eye to eye, children and their parents that are backing each other, all kinds of confusion, but when the glory of God comes down into that relationship, there is restoration. That’s what the blood of Jesus does, is the blood of reconciliation that brings God’s glory down to reconcile broken relationships, it does not matter how far gone your relationship is.
They may be telling you it is not going to work, because you are here this morning, the story has changed, everybody that is looking for it to scatter will be very disappointed in the name of Jesus Christ. Because you are going to go away from here this morning depth in the glory of Almighty God, a glory that is able to bring you to complete restoration, a glory that is able to bring you back to the original very good position in the name of Jesus Christ. Those are the benefits of glory.
Double blessing for past shame, when glory comes into your life, you get double blessing for past shame, compensation for past failure, you have honor and joy for every kind of confusion that you have experienced. God is here this morning to do all of that for us, He’s going to compensate us for areas where we have failed, He’s able to fix it and He’s going to fix it in the mighty name of Jesus.
He’s going to give us double for our trouble, He did it for Job. People will say, “Well, He gave him back three daughters and 10 sons and this and that,” the ones that he lost or he thought he lost, he didn’t lose them, they had gone ahead to heaven to wait for him and then God gave him another one which is double. God is going to give you double for your trouble in the mighty name of Jesus.
When God’s glory comes upon you, when you are walking as if to say there is no life in you, you are just 40, they say climb up this stairs, you say I can’t go up o, this morning you are going to receive supernatural strength. Strength to do all those things that you cannot do before now because that is what God’s glory brings, when God’s glory comes upon a man, it gives them divine speed.
I have talked of acceleration, acceleration in many ways, acceleration can happen also in your destiny. You are not here just for fun, when God created you, He had a purpose and a plan for your life, God is going to bring you to that purpose today in the name of Jesus.
When I started my own life, I wasted 35 years of it, well, maybe it’s not wasted, maybe I was learning some lessons from it. There was nothing I didn’t try, I thought I was called to be a journalist, I thought I was going to be this, a businesswoman, all kinds of things but I didn’t find rest, I didn’t find satisfaction until I gave up all of that and came to the original purpose of God for my life which is to hold the microphone this morning, not talking only to you but talking to the world, that’s the kind of things God can do.
You are sitting in that seat this morning and you are saying me, who is going to listen to me? When God puts you on the pulpit, the whole world is going to listen to you and what you are going to say is going to bring them joy, is going to bring them salvation, is going to bring them healing. God is going to use you mightily when the glory comes upon you. When the glory comes upon you, I’m not saying ‘if’ because it’s going to come upon you this morning. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Your destiny is going to be accelerated. You have been going up and down, you touch this, there’s no success, they say they are selling pure water, there’s no success, you go and do buka, there’s no success, that’s not your destiny, God is going to drive you into your destiny this morning so that everything that you touch succeeds.
I’m talking of the benefits of glory, that’s number three. Acceleration of destiny allows believers to achieve in months what they could not do in several decades, that’s what God can do for you. Elijah overran chariots when the power of God came upon him, how can you imagine that a man will overrun a chariot? But the Bible says with God all things are possible, God is going to accelerate your speed and your destiny. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
The glory of God gives divine protection and preservation. God is able to deliver you from all forms of calamity. And it is the Bible – we pastors have to be careful what we say before social media starts to criticize us, but doesn’t matter as long as it’s according to the Bible, the Bible says God shall give men for you, people in exchange for your lives, that’s the word of God.
Some of them are complaining now that we are preaching and we are talking that kind of thing that is insensitive, it is not insensitive, it is the word. If you belong to God, God can give men for you, people in exchange for your lives; He can remove you from a position of calamity and put a wicked person to go. We are not praying for that to happen but we are asking God to do for us what this word promises us, to give men for us, people in exchange for our lives because there are all kinds of things going on now.
The world is going through fierce times, dangerous times, people leave their homes in the morning they are not sure they will come back, none of you will be caught in any stray bullet in Jesus name. People have been going their own way quietly, something just happened and that is the end.
Sometime ago in Ibadan, I think it’s a family of three, I can’t remember clearly now, they were just passing and a house collapsed and that was the end, they didn’t know it was going to collapse, that will not happen to you.
When God’s glory comes upon you, you will be divinely protected, you will be divinely preserved, God will exempt you from calamity. That is what He promised you in this world, aay ye to the wicked, it shall be ill with them. I’m not saying you are perfect, I am not, God is making me better from day to day but I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and God is responsible for my salvation and for my safety. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When the glory of the Lord comes upon you this morning, that is what God is also going to do for you. When the glory of God comes upon you, you have supernatural provision. You have been living from hand to mouth, when you eat small, at least you have eaten something, you will eat now and be full in Jesus name. And you will not just eat anything, you will eat what you want to eat.
The Bible says in famine I shall be fed. We are not rejoicing that people are eating from the dust bin but that’s why we need Christ, when you are in Christ, all the exceeding great and precious promises that He makes, He brings it to pass concerning you. In famine, you shall be fed.
I was just telling them in the office this morning, I said some of the things that are happening to me now is making me afraid, and you see when pastors stand up and say God did this, God did that, they think we are fabricating stories, God is able to perform His word, He told us that there shall be a performance of the promises that He makes to us.
The Bible says His promises to us are yay and amen in Christ Jesus, if you genuinely belong to God, suffering is not your portion. And I’m not trying to get you to believe anything, it is the word of God; if you are a child of God, He says you are in this world but you are not of this world. What that means is that what is happening to them should not happen to you, people should see you and see the glory of God.
Part of the glory of God is that maybe you are 80+ like I am and because the fila (hat) is covering the white hair, they don’t know that I’m that age. That is the glory of God because if they don’t look very closely now and I’m standing beside a jambite and we are going and it is my back that they see, they will think we are the same until I turn around and they see my face, they say ah!
When the glory of God comes upon you, you don’t age unnecessarily, He keeps renewing your strength, He keeps baptizing you with His spirit, He keeps causing you to do what you will not ordinarily do. That is what the glory of God does, the benefit of the glory of God and it has come down this morning because you said it with your own mouth, the glory of the Lord is here. Amen. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When God’s glory is upon you, doors open to you without effort, you have excess of what you are asking for. The Bible says God does exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think, when the glory of God is upon you, doors open, they begin to call you and say we think we found a vacancy, that’s going to begin to happen to you from tomorrow in Jesus mighty name.
Unmmerited favor becomes your portion; access to the heart of kings, it will cause kings to favor you, presidents to look upon you with eyes of compassion and to do you good. Esther is a case in point, I don’t want to go through all that.
When the glory of God is upon you, you are delivered from struggle. I’ve said that before, I’m saying it again because it is important; the manifestation of God glory causes an end to struggle, God didn’t create you to struggle. The Bible says with Jesus Christ, He has freely given you all things; God gave you Jesus and the Bible is now confirming that with Jesus He has freely given you all things.
The Bible went on to say that God has given you everything, not one thing, everything that pertains to life and to godliness. What pertains to life is what I was talking about in the beginning, everything that you need for the beautiful life here, God has provided it for you if you are His child because He will not give the children’s bread to dogs, the food is for the children. So God has provided for you everything that you need for life here.
Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly,” it’s not the one you are scraping and you buy one ponmo today like in the days of mommy and daddy G.O, you are fighting for the thick one, small time you will begin to kill cow. Praise the Lord!
The glory of the Lord is here this morning, and for as many as will receive it, you are not going back the way you came. When He manifests His glory, stagnation, poverty, and struggle end. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It does not stop there, the benefits of glory, transformation, and wholesomeness, physical and emotional healing.
You’re not yet 30, your knee is aching, your head is aching, your back is aching, the Bible says He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from destruction and the grave. Receive strength this morning, physical strength to be what God created you to be. You were not created to be weak, the Bible says as your years so shall your strength be, as you get old, you must be getting stronger if it is on God’s strength that you are depending,
Moses, they say, was 120 years old, he was not even wearing glasses like me, I’m praying that God will take this thing from me. I’ve been wearing it for as long as I can remember, more than 60 – 70 years ago but I’m still seeing, anyway is better than blindness. Moses, the Bible says at 120 his eyes were not dim and his physical strength was not abated, all the old men that are here, I’m not saying that you should try again o, country hard now for people, God will help us.
But everything that the Bible is saying about glory and us is true if only we will believe it and receive it. Physical healing is our portion. I keep telling people it’s not that I’m against doctors because they kept me alive until Jesus found me or I found Jesus, whichever is correct, they kept me alive, otherwise, I would have gone. They kept me alive, but when I found Jesus, I discovered that Jesus’ healing is better than the cure of the doctors.
They are still necessary for people who don’t know God yet because I have three of them in the family and the day they told me the secret, I told them go and prescribe drugs for those who need it, I don’t need it. If you take aspirin, it has a side effect, there’s no drug that is so small that it does not have side effects. When it’s healing whether headache or so or whatever it used to heal, I can’t remember now, it is doing something else that is contrary, so it’s not the best.
God’s healing power is the best, cling to that, it is your portion in Christ as a child of God. He sent His word to heal you and to deliver you from destruction and the grave, as many as are sick this morning, you are not going away from here sick, God will touch you in the mighty name of Jesus.
Some 45 years ago, I used to have an ailment in my two ears, ever so often boil will develop in my ears, I don’t know what was causing it, when I open my mouth and breeze enters my mouth, I will feel the pain in my head. There was nowhere I didn’t go, ultimately they told me that it was soft tissue infection and that I had to live with it, drinking all kinds of tablets. 45 years ago, I came to Jesus, Jesus removed it.
Anything and everything that is not letting you have good health that has been following you up on this morning, God will send His word to deliver you. God does not only heal physically, emotionally, in your mind, He heals, even as He’s healing your body, He’s healing your mind and your emotion.
All of you who have troubled thoughts, all of you that whatever has happened to you 20, 30 years ago is still following you and disturbing you, God will touch that also this morning because transformation and wholesomeness belong to the children of God. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Divine direction and empowerment, and that is very necessary in this day and age, I’m talking about the benefits of glory. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Direction and empowerment – when you have the glory of God in your life, you have clarity of vision, God is not a God of confusion, He directs you by His spirit.
Maybe you want to go to Ikeja today and He says wait until tomorrow, you better wait. Somebody was coming to my house about 3 days ago, he said he left Lagos at 8:00., he didn’t get to camp until 4. If he knew that the traffic that was on Otedola bridge was going to be there, by the direction of the Holy Spirit he would have waited till the following day, he just wasted the whole day coming from Surulere to camp. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When the glory of God comes, confusion will be removed from your life. The Spirit of God was sent to guide you, to direct you, to lead you, that will begin to be your portion.
Those are parts of the benefits of God’s glory upon a man’s life; increased sensitivity to the Holy Spirit resulting in clear instruction from the throne of grace and mercy, wisdom beyond your years. All those are the benefits of having the glory of God upon your life. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When God’s glory is upon your life, I’m talking about the benefits of His glory, you have power for service. I don’t know what time they woke up to get here from wherever they are living, in those days when we were in Resurrection Parish, we lived on the other side of town in Ikeja, we got to church before the people who lived in Ikoyi, V.I. They won’t wake up in the morning on Sunday until maybe 8:00., but we used to leave Ikeja to come to Lekki and we were there before everybody else was there, that is God empowering you for service.
If He called you, He will help you to do the job onto which He has called you. If He’s the One who called you, if it is not something you devised yourself, He will help you to do it, and it does not matter how old you are or how young you are, God is going to empower you today for service.
Because if you are listening to what the choir are singing, you are not only here for yourself, you are here for other people, when you have gotten all that you want, you should go out and be a blessing out there for the others. God will anoint you for service by His glory in the name of Jesus.
Work will be easy for you in ministry in witnessing. Some of you can’t witness maybe because of shame, maybe because you are shy or maybe because they will say what are they talking about but when the glory of the Lord is upon you, it’s not your business, you will tell them anyhow anyway, they can do with it whatever they like. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And God is here to empower you for service this morning.
I have spoken about all round rest, I don’t want to belabor it. When the glory of the Lord is present, struggling is eliminated because God takes over and gives you rest – all round rest. Hey, what am I going to do? Hey, what is going to happen tomorrow? Hey, what are they saying there? It’s not your business, God gives you a kind of peace and the Bible is the one that said it, I was not the one that said it.
He says He gives you peace that passeth all understanding, so when they are going up and down, you are just looking, they think this stupid woman, she doesn’t hear what they are saying, you heard but it’s not your business because your God is in charge. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And in every area and every facet of your life where there has been confusion, anxiety, worry, sleepless night, God is going to replace with all round rest this morning. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In this season of the weight of God’s glory, your struggle comes to an end in the name of Jesus, and supernatural effortless success is your portion. How do you access this glory? You access it by praying. And I’m not talking about 5 minutes prayer, the one you can’t pray in the church, you can pray it at home, pray, the Bible says without ceasing.
You can access it by praying, you can access it by reading your Bible so that you can know what the Bible says about what is ailing you or what the Bible says about what you want to know about, you can get the answers from the word of God. You can access glory by worshiping God, by praising God, by walking in love, by being grateful. Stop complaining, be grateful for what God has done and He will do more.
We have spoken about obedience, be obedient to the word of God and you will access God’s glory. The benefit of God’s glory will be upon you in Jesus name.
Finally, you need to cultivate a deep intimate relationship with God. Don’t keep coming to God with prayer list, it is good to ask, it is God who told us to ask, to seek, and to knock, but don’t be selfish that you just come to God with your shopping list, God is not ATM machine and He’s not this vending machine where you drop something and bring out a coke.
You must have a deep personal relationship with God where you talk to God one on one and God talks back to you, because just asking does not solve the problem. If you know God intimately, there is nothing that you cannot get from God, God will give you all of the things that are necessary so that you can walk in a way that you’ll be able to access God’s glory in Jesus name.
Let us stand to our feet. I have been saying that God’s glory is promised to only those who belong to God, belonging to God means that you give your life to Him. Because if you have not realized that there’s a limit to what you can do, you are deceiving yourself.
I just said a few moments ago, for 35 years I was trying to work out my life on my own. I came against a lot of brick walls but Jesus in His mercy broke into me and delivered me from all this wahala. I don’t earn pension from anybody now but I was just telling them this morning about the beautiful things God does, you want to buy a carton of water and you are thinking of telling somebody to go to CRM supermarket and somebody brings in four cartons of water, that’s the kind of thing that God does for His people.
He says He will give you the desires of your heart, you have not even mentioned it, He’s already doing it for you, that’s what’s going to begin to happen to you.
So the ministration this morning is to the people who don’t have Jesus as Lord and Savior, and this born again thing is very simple. It’s not religion, it’s a way of life, it’s you coming to God and say like I did 45 years ago, God, I’m done because there’s no other way, just do with me what You want to do with me, just take me the way that I am. I want to make You my Lord and my Savior so that Your purpose and plan for my life can be fulfilled.
[Altar call]
You people in front, you have not come to me, you have come to Christ like I came 45 years ago. This morning you are going to tell God, I am done struggling, say it with your mouth, I want You to take over my life. Everything that does not align with Your will and Your purpose for my life, remove it today and replace it with Your glory.
I’m acknowledging today that You are my Lord and that You are my Savior. Almighty God, take over and begin to manage my life in the name of Jesus. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
If you said that short prayer, God has already heard, put up your right hand and let me pray for you. And so, Father God Almighty, I’m bringing them to the throne of grace and mercy and asking in the name of Jesus that Your promise be fulfilled concerning them this morning. You say those who come unto You, You will not cast out, You know their problems, You know their challenges, You know their state, just take them the way they are and glorify Your name in their lives in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Almighty God.
From the congregation put up your hand, I want you to pray just one more prayer, you will say Father, I reject, revoke, and renounce everything in my life that causes shame. You know it, whether it is lack of job, whether it is barrenness, whether it is confusion, whatever there is in your life that causes shame, Father remove it all in the name of Jesus.
I reject them, I refuse them, I renounce them, everything in my life that causes shame, I reject them, I revoke them, I renounce them in the name of Jesus.
Finally, say Lord, envelope me with Your glory so that everything that is causing me shame and reproach is removed from me in the name of Jesus. Thank You Almighty God, blessed be Your holy name oh Lord, in Jesus mighty name.
Almighty God, we give You praise, thank You that You are the God that answers by fire. The Bible says if we ask in the name of Jesus and according to Your will which we have just done, You will answer by fire, thank You for answering by fire and thank You for doing exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think in Jesus mighty name.
If you believe that you are going here covered with glory, shout hallelujah!
