Are you barren?

Barren-You are incapable of producing off springs.
You are sterile, unproductive, unfruitful...nothing of you can come out of you. It is the quality or state of being empty. You can experience barrenness in your Ministry, Marriage, Business, Family, Nation etc. What happened to your spiritual womb? Why can’t you conceive the things of God anymore? Why have you allowed barrenness to be your portion? Some have conceived but have grown impatient during the incubation process and have decided to induce their own labor. It is sad the number of dreams and visions that have been aborted by believers missing their timing. You have been given a new year please do not waste it.
Happy New year to you!! I see some of you have already given up on their resolutions. Not to worry I always say flesh is real...be honest with yourself and cancel that Gym or club membership, Better use that money to sow a seed or give as offering instead of wasting it. You may have changed your phone number, changed your friends on social media networks and edited your phonebook. Changed your mode of dressing and even revised partners or business ventures. Swapped jobs and even purposed to look for greener pastures abroad...Be realistic with your vision. If you did not embrace the pain and disappointments last year, they are still going to haunt you this year. You have signed up for a life coach to help you brand the new you and even dedicated 40 days prayer and fasting at some prayer center hoping you will bump into a brother or a sister spitting out tongues, single and searching...I say flesh is real. Go to the mountain of prayer seeking God not idols. Sign up for the personal development classes but be ready for sound rebuke that will bring you change. Change is good. Change can be instant. Change can be a process...but as I learnt from TD Jakes you can change all you want for a fresh start but if you do not change your mind ...there’s nothing which is going to change in your life.
You have some form of godliness, some sort of anointing, some sort of career, some sort of gift yet you are barren. You know you have not produced anything since you said the sinner's prayer. No one soul ever won for the Kingdom not even your house help or next door neighbor knows you are a born again spirit filled believer You were ordained with a lot of pomp and honor yet 15 years down the line you have been changing armor bearers and running void mentorship programmes with mentees dropping out faster than they signed up. You force people to recognize your long titles yet you know your thesis was bought, your credit hours were questionable but your graduation photos were the best. If you cannot master Hebrew, Latin or Greek...stick with English and Swahili. Your mother tongue is welcome...after all most ministries have sharp hype men and interpreters. Just be true to yourself this year. Ways to break barrenness.
• Prayer A solemn request for help or expression of thanksgiving addressed to God. To ask earnestly, to beg, to entreat. An invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. My friend you had better improve your prayer life this year if you want to see tangible change and answers pertaining to your innermost questions-learn to pray.
• Praise Express warm approval or admiration with love and thanksgiving delivered with utmost respect to God. Stop taking Praise sessions in church for granted. Surround yourself with praise music in the car, on your phone, on your play list...Praise until the devil gets his dirty hands off your garments. Praise yourself out of depression which is a fruit of barrenness. Praise yourself out of that state you want to see change.
• Prophetic Declarations Correctly stating what will happen in the future. To make known based on The Word of God. Hear the word of God, Receive it, Obey it then you have the legal ground to decree and declare it based on what you want to see change in your life. Speak the answer!! Stop going to God with same old questions. OH Lord why me? Why this why that....
• Plant a seed. You want to see money yes plant money not pledge forms which you never honor. Planting of a seed in a fertile ground at the right time will end the cycle of a famine and activate the cycle of a harvest. You may have sowed in the previous years do not get tired. Keep on sowing until you see your envisioned harvest. Your seed will move the hand of God to an accelerated action. My own personal testimony, I have been an advocate of connecting people to jobs and giving out smart phones (not yams not cheap phones) I have never lacked in these two things. God has always been giving me the finest and this pushes me to grow my sowing abilities. If you are giving go big or eat that seed. If it is in your ability to give big...do not limit your harvest by cutting the size of the seed We are not all givers or prayer eagles, nor perfect in praise or bold enough to declare anything BUT I pray you may remember a little bit of these 4 keys that will catapult you to the life you want to see. To God be all the glory for it is not by our own wisdom we tap on these keys...
Baraka Tele

38 +

One thing I love about Jesus Christ,He was a social being yet an isolated person when it came to spiritual matters.
He would mingle and minister to people from all walks of life regardless of their background,social status,career or bank balance.

Jesus Christ was a man of the people and truly The Son of God.

As He was doing one of his controversial street walks he came across a great multitude of people by the Sheep Gate a pool called Bethesda.It had a “Gate” or a "portal" meaning all those who came to the pool had to pass through this doorway and not climb up the wall.

Where there is a gate means an enclosed space whereby access is only granted by a gatekeeper.
The pool had 5 porches.Five symbolises the number of Grace.
Those at the pool had no idea they were under such a mighty provision of God’s favor and special blessings.

They were still waiting for assistance from a man inorder to access their healing grace.They were at their comfort zone because as each individual looked at their neighbor,he or she had the same condition of being blind,lame and paralyzed. It was the norm in this gathering...nothing seemed out of place until the perfection of life (Jesus Christ) stepped into the scene.

I look at the pool of Bethesda as the current situation of the church.The church has a gate+gatekeeper (visionary/founder),the believer is under the canopy of Grace but is still stagnant and impotent waiting for a man to lead him to his healing,to lead him to his intimacy with God,to lead him into his level of prosperity,to lead him to his spouse,to lead him into a life of abundance...why are you waiting for a man?

John 5:1-6
“After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda,having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” (NKJV)

The Blind
They could not get to the water body because they could not see the way.You are in church but cannot see Jesus Christ in your surroundings. Your ministry activities have blinded your eyes.
 Sin has seared your conscience and put a veil that you seem to have some sort of eyesight...some sort of vision...but can you really see what God is doing in the spiritual realm?

You have been blind for 38 years(maybe more maybe less)

The Lame
They have some form of mobility,they can walk or crawl on their own up to a certain distance but most end up at the same spot.You can crawl and go round the same mountain but stuck in the same perimeter.

You have been injured spiritually and are still .holding some offences.
You can show some signs of being a believer...some signs of movement in church that you still got it BUT you are still stuck at the same spot doing the same thing for 38 years (maybe less maybe more) read on...

Physically,you become lame because of an injury or illness affecting the leg or foot.
One can also become lame as a result of leprosy and you develop wounds on your feet and hands which destroy the nerve endings so that you feel no pain.
Without adequate mobility and 100% functioning of your hands inorder to receive and to give to others...God's Kingdom advancement would be greatly challenged.
If your hands and feet are always in sin to the point of your “spiritual nerves” being destroyed...my friend you are classified as spiritually lame.

The Paralysed
They once had some form of active movement but something happened.They can no longer advance in mobility.
You were once on fire for Jesus Christ but are now stuck in a religion hub comfortable in serving various masters.

A pool is a mass of water body which signifies abundance. You can dip in and out several times without anxiety of the water getting finished.The church is also some sort of a pool.
God’s mercies should be in abundance here.His love,His Grace,His provision is in the “Body of Christ” BUT some have developed spiritual paralysis out of pain caused by a fellow believer or misunderstanding of a teaching.

The paralysis becomes worse when we choose not to forgive and release the person.Some broken relationships have costed some people their relationship with God.The pain paralysed them.They have stopped at the edge of the pool waiting for a man.

Paralysis-The loss of the ability to move and sometimes to feel something.
You are in church and nothing moves you.

Paralysis-It happens when something goes wrong with the way messages pass between your brain and your muscles are communicated.
Spiritual paralysis happens when you starve yourself The word of God and the mixed messages you receive from your 101 pastors,prophets,evangelists and apostles have affected your “brain” and “muscle” you can no longer hear the voice of your shepherd....after 38 years you still waiting for a man to decipher The Word of God and yet you have The Holy Spirit in you.

To be lame,blind and paralysed are all symptoms of leprosy.Why did Jesus often use this cluster of people?Leprosy was not a condition that developed overnight.It was a process.
Living in sin is not an instant occurence. It is a  process...a habit developed.It takes time before you realise something is not right.

In conclusion,your pastor has given you the Good News.You believed and the fire died.After your first encounter with sin as a believer you were remorseful until you looked around you decided to join “the multitudes” and continued to sin...because everyone 'at the pool did it'

If you read this note today,I pray,you will pick up your mat (your habitual sinning),look up unto Jesus Christ and take action by true repentance forsaking old negative habits,turning away from a sinful life.
These people at the pool knew what was wrong with them but had an excuse of waiting for a fellow man to lead them....are you waiting for a new prophet in town...waiting for the next women's conference,waiting for the new year?


Dare to be different,Dare to live like Jesus Christ.Don’t let sin cost you your Salvation.Copy Jesus Christ He is the best BLUEPRINT.

Baraka Tele

Pain-Your Testimony or Euology?

‘And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.’ (John 14:16-17)KJV

Jesus Christ was a Master in building relationships. He knew the importance of maintaining communication channels.He was aware of the afflictions which we will face and he knew we will need help!

What has this introduction go to do with pain? That moment when your mind and body becomes numb due to the physical and mental torture which cannot be explained in human words.

Our Saviour knew by my own strength I cannot endure what he went through.I will be broken beyond repair with no hope of getting myself together unless God intervenes.

He knew our pain holding capacity and was also aware that you and I will need a confidant, a friend and a comforter to get us through affliction.

For every season and level of pain that I have gone through, my sight has been blurred with blood tears to the point of loosing my vision.Every stab, insult and robbery which left me empty of my honour,value,wealth and dignity always left me covered in shame!

Never in my own ability did I understand the meaning of Grace until when tragedy hit my camp.

How did I come through each episode you may ask.

I had a comforter in this capsule of peace amidst tragedy but it took me years to know his identity-The Holy Spirit.

For every loss,rejection,closed door or false accusation that I could not comprehend, He stood by me watching me break down in order for every bitterness, every vile, everything not worthy to be resident in this temple slowly leave my old self to make way for a new creation.There is a reason we are called vessels-we break,we get rebuilt.

COMFORT

To sooth in time of affliction or distress

To ease pain physically or mentally

Offer help or assistance, offer security

PAIN

An intense feeling often caused by a damaging stimuli which causes a change in the internal or external environment of a body. Through various receptors in your body...you are bound to respond positively or negatively to the stimuli.

We are wired to make choices-even in pain we are required to make choices. Is your pain going to be your eulogy or your testimony?

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential damage to the emotions or tissues.

Pain motivates the individual to withdraw from the damaging situation to protect himself from further damage. In normal circumstances he therefore goes for consultation to the physician.

When you encounter pain...to whom do you run to? Where do you run to? Do you have movement or do you remain stagnant in your situation.

Most of us run to our fellow creatures instead of going to our creator.We forget that the people we run to may also be going through a hidden healing process and are not able to aid us.I have blamed people when they did not give me ample audience until I learnt-only God can fix us up!

When people hurt you, do not blame them.

Pray for them.Thank them.

They sent you back to the creator in order for absolute repair and restoration to take place.

Separation sometimes causes us pain. When God is aligning you to your purpose, there must be a separation.

Jesus cried in anguish at the cross teaching us that the pain of separation from The Father, from the giver of life, from the source of life was greater than physical affliction.

Note: he never raised his voice in pain to lament on the beatings and humiliation-He endured all that to the end but the separation from the Father teaches us one thing-

After every season of pain and separation there is a promotion to honour and glory.

The Holy Spirit was introduced to comfort us during the seasons of natural insanity. It is during such times that you are convinced you have completely lost your mind and lost everything else to your name...but it is at such unseen moments that He is holding you together for a reason and for your next season.

I may not be able to comprehend your pain but there is someone qualified to know your situation better than anyone around you who tries to tell you "I know how you feel".

Make the Holy Spirit your personal confidant and comforter but this can only be possible if you choose to accept Jesus as your personal saviour.

From personal experience as a believer I know sin grieves Him. He withdraws himself until you get your act together. When things get crazy, confide in him, talk to him. Be still and pay attention to what you will hear from Him.

Do not let your pain bury you but let it be a stepping stone to God's Glory.

Choose this day-your Testimony or your Eulogy.

Baraka Tele

May this photo message Bless you as it has blessed me for many years 

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Bishop T.D Jakes