EXCAHNGE OF DESTINY
Text: I Kings 3:16-27
Then two women who were harlots came unto the king and stood before him.
17And the one woman said, "O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 18And it came to pass the third day after I was delivered that this woman was delivered also. And we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. 19And this woman’s child died in the night, because she lay upon it. 20And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead. But when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I had borne." 22And the other woman said, "Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son!" And this said, "No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son!" Thus they spoke before the king. 23Then said the king, "The one saith, `This is my son who liveth, and thy son is the dead’; and the other saith, `Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.’" 24And the king said, "Bring me a sword." And they brought a sword before the king.. 25And the king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other." 26Then spoke the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her heart yearned for her son and she said, "O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it!" But the other said, "Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it." 27Then the king answered and said, "Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. She is the mother thereof."
> Father, I destroy every plan of the enemy to steal, to destroy and to kill all the good things that you have given to me in Jesus name.
>Father, I reject every plan, strategy, products and services that any agent of darkness may want to transfer to me. I reject what is not mine in the name of Jesus.
>Still standing, I want you to pray these prayers again.
When someone is sick and is about to die, there is a type of sacrifice that they will prepare, (sacrifice of exchange), they will put that sacrifice in a bowl and place it by the roads intersection, the first person to see that sacrifice will be the one that will die, or run mad, depending on the case of the sick person. They would exchange their destinies. I want you again to pray these prayers
„« Father, you sent Your son to come and die in my place, so today I destroy every plan of the enemy for me to die prematurely in Jesus name.
„« I reject and destroy every sacrifice of exchange or substitution of my destiny prepared by any agent of the devil in Jesus name.
„« I refuse to let go every good thing that you have given to me to any agent of Satan in Jesus name.
„« I refuse to bow to Satan¡¦s plan over my life in Jesus name.
A lot of people have lost things that rightly belong to them to the enemies. They have lost the plan, the thoughts and every good thing that the Lord has given to them as a result of the works of the enemy. The Bible says that a thief, that is the enemy has come to steal, to kill and to destroy. John 10:10 ¡§The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: Job readily comes to mind in the Bible when we are considering this type of case. That is one phase when it comes to the work of the enemies. Everything that the enemies have taken from you, either by stealing, killing or destroying shall be returned today with interest in Jesus name.
Also, a lot of people have been given things that do not rightly belong to them. Satan and his agents transferred to them what originally was not their own and unfortunately they have accepted it as their own. Everything that the enemies have given to you that is not your own shall be destroyed today in Jesus name. This is usually the second phase of the process.
In the passage that we have just read, two harlots were in the same room together. They were both very careless. The first one was careless enough to sleep over her child and in the process killed the child. A lot of things happened when people sleep. She woke up only to discover that she had slept on her child and killed her, she decided to play a fast one by taking the child of the other harlot. The second harlot too was very careless, she too when sleeping, her own child was taken from her side and a dead child was used to replace her living child. If she did not wake up while her baby was being taken from her side, what of when the dead child was being replaced with the living one on her side. When men slept. Matthew 13: 24-26 says ¡§The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. 25 But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. 26 When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.
A lot happens when people sleep. Tell the next person to you, do not oversleep and do not sleep carelessly. Take at least two hours in a week to pray from 12 in the night.
Back to our story, what was not hers was given and transferred to her. Before she slept, death that was not hers, disappointment was not hers, barrenness was not hers, (because with the death of that child, she is barren now,) sorrow that was not her own, trouble that was not her own, unnecessary expenses of burying the dead, (note that it was not her own dead child now that she will bury, but another person¡¦s dead child) expenses that are not justified and warranted, expenses that were not her own were suddenly and immediately transferred to her before she woke up.
When things that rightly belong to you are stolen, killed or destroyed, and replaced with the wrong ones, these are the experiences that will be manifesting. When questions like ¡§whom do I offend, what exactly is my sin? Where do I go from here? When it seems that God is silent, then it is possible that your destiny has been tampered with. When almost exactly the opposite of what is supposed to be happening to you is happening to you, you need to watch out.
I bet you when the woman was taking the living baby, she did not go there and grab the baby at once, or pulled the living baby out just anyhow, and you will agree with me that she systematically, quietly, wisely and slowly pulled the baby from the side of the mother. The same way, the devil when he wants to steal, kill and destroy, he will not come suddenly, but may even appear as an angel of light, wisely, quietly, systematically, and slowly take away that which rightly belongs to you.. So there is a need for you to be vigilant. When she wanted to replaced the living child with the dead child, she will also go through the same way, the way of deceit to achieve his aim. That is why at times I pity those who will not come when we organize special programs, through these programs, when we have prayer meetings, a lot of activities of the enemies are being exposed and destroyed in these special services.
Once again, today, everything that is not your own, but the enemy has transferred to you will be returned to the sender in Jesus name. Sickness that is not yours, poverty, sadness, joblessness, illegal alien, problems, trouble, disappointment, that are not yours will be returned to senders today in Jesus name. Every coffin that has been prepared for you, they will be the one to be buried in it and the grave that they have prepared, they will be buried in it in Jesus name. Every funeral date that has been set for you, they will be the ones that will be buried on that date in Jesus name.
It is a terrible thing for one¡¦s destiny to be truncated. This is a true story. There were two pastors driving on one of the roads in Lagos, Nigeria. One is a Nigerian, the other a foreigner. They got to a point under a bridge, where the people that we called ¡§area boys¡¨ were begging for money and suddenly the foreign pastor started to cry and was pointing to one of the boys begging. God opened his eyes to see who He originally created the boy to be. He saw by his side, his original; dressed in an immaculate suit, someone was behind him carrying apparently his suitcase, they were waiting for an elevator in a 15 story building in the heart of New York city and a lot of CEOs were waiting for him on the 1oth floor of that same building for a very important and decisive meeting. From the foundation of the world, that was the plan of God for his life, a CEO, owner of multinational companies, international businessman, but he was under the bridge in Lagos begging for bread to survive, why? Because the enemy has struck and has taken away what originally God gave to him and replaced it with another one.
In the text that we read, considering the first woman, there are two sides to her story, the first is that
1. What originally belonged to her, her living son was taken away from her. So it is possible for something that rightly belongs to you to be taken away from you. The original plan of God, His thoughts for and over you if certain conditions exist in your life can be taken away from you and if those conditions are not reversed, it will be impossible to get those things back. That was exactly what happened to a politician in one African country. He contested like any other politician, he campaigned, he spent money, he went round the country and he eventually won the presidential election. But the mandate to be the president was taken away from him. That is, what rightly belongs to you maybe taken away from you if care is not taken. Do not say that it can only happen in an African country and not in another country. How many presidents of developed nations have died or assassinated or removed with shame? So it can happen in any country, only in different ways.
2. The second aspect is that a dead child, that was not hers, was again given to her. If only her child was taken away, it would have been better, but usually, vacuum are not allowed in the physical and spiritual realms. It is not possible for a space to be in vacuum, something must fill it. You recall the statements of Jesus about the activities of unclean spirits in Matthew 12:43 -45 ¡§When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 45Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
Let me return to the story of the politician I mentioned earlier, when the mandate was taken from the man, if he had been left alone in his house, asked to be going about his business, it would have been better, but instead of being the most powerful and freest man in that nation, he became a prisoner, is it possible for someone who won an a landslide victory in an election, who was supposed to be in the presidential mansion to be in the maximum prison? The answer is yes, because this was exactly what happened to this man and that is what I called ¡§exchange of destiny.¡¨ He was supposed to be wearing presidential garments, but he was wearing prison garments instead, he was supposed to be traveling in presidential jets, but he was being driven in what we called Black Maria instead. I do not normally have anything to do with politicians, but the day I saw this man being pushed inside Black Maria, I wept considering his status, people he had helped in the past including his religious organizations. I realized that money, fame and religiosity without Christ amount to nothing as they can be put shame when the enemy strikes. His money, family, association of friends, business partners, religion, his relationship with presidents and prime ministers of nations around became nothing when the enemy sets in.What is not yours will not be given to you in Jesus name.
Like I said, almost exactly opposite of what is suppose to be happening to you will be happening to you when destiny is being tampered with. You are supposed to be sending money home, building houses, setting up businesses for your friends and relations, at least these were your plans before coming to America, but now it is as if they should be sending money to you from home now, today, there will be a restoration in Jesus name.
So usually, these two processes will be completed, it is only in very rare cases that only one or the other will be in operation, but usually, the two processes must be completed. Whether your own destiny has been taken away only or it has also be replaced with another bad thing, today the creator and restorer of destinies will restore your destiny back to positive in Jesus name.
Most times people just accept that which the enemies have given to them without any consideration. Our passage said that ¡§. 21And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead. But when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I had borne."
You need to consider your situation. This is the first step to restoration of your destiny. The woman in our text considered her situation, she took a second look at the child, she examined this time closely, and I can bet you prayerfully, even when unbelievers are caged, they pray. God answers at times sinners¡¦ prayers, God answered her prayers, He asked her to take another look and she compared the child she was holding with the other child in the hands of the other woman. How can that one be living and mine dead, why is she hiding the face of that baby, why is she not allowing me to carry the baby, why is she not showing any concern about my own baby, she looked around her, where did I go wrong, where did I missed it, tell the next person that consider your situation. Ask as many questions as possible, people may say that it is a foolish question, it is better to ask a foolish question and be wise than to keep quiet and remain stupid. What can I do to make this situation better? What is Brother ABC is doing that he is doing well, how can I start my own business? Where do I go if I need money to start my own business? Consider your situations and ask questions.
Like I said most people accept the situations without ant consideration. When you are hearing statements like, ¡§that was what happened to my father, to my brother, to members of my family, there is nothing I can do about it, it runs in our family¡¨ evil will not run in my family, premature death will not run in my family, sickness will not run in my family in Jesus name. Even if they run, today will mark their end in Jesus name. A man gave birth to three sons before he became fifty years old, and he died. The entire male in that family usually die before reaching the age fifty. Truly, the first son died at the age of 49 plus some months, the second also died at the age of 49 plus despite the money and the medical attention. The third one ran to a Pastor was prayed for gave his life to Christ. He was also given passages of Bible to memorize and be praying with. He did this very well, telling the devil that he has missed it this time around, that the one that will break the jinx has come, the one that will take care of the children left behind has come, today at sixty something the man is still living.
Some will say ¡§it is my cross,¡¨ what an evil cross, evil thing is your cross? When every evil in this life has been nailed to the cross on which the Lord Jesus Christ died, and you still want to be carrying the evil cross around, God will deliver you in Jesus name. Every cross that is not subject to the cross upon which the Lord Jesus died, I reject and destroy in Jesus name. Do not accept any evil as your cross.
Some will say ¡§It is my own thorn in the flesh, even Paul an Apostle of God has a thorn in the flesh and God said His grace is sufficient for him, God grace will be sufficient for me too¡¨ Did you know what Paul¡¦s thorn in the flesh is? Do you know why God refused to remove it? Can you quantify the grace that was given to Paul to sustain Him? Have you asked God to remove the problem and His answer was the same with Paul. If you answer NO to one of the questions above, then you need to consider your situation and be ready for a change.
Like I said, a lot of people have been given what does not belong to them and what rightly belongs to them has been taken away.
Some people¡¦s jobs have been taken away from them, (not necessarily being sacked,) they are currently employed, in some cases, they have been employed for too long, however they are supposed to be their own bosses, owners of their businesses, but the devil has taken that from them, and instead of people working for them, they are working for people. A man came to see his Pastor and was shaking violently and very fearful, when the Pastor asked him what was the problem, the man explained that the management of his company is compiling the names of people that will be sacked in his place of work, so he came for prayers so that his name will not be among the people that will be sacked. The Pastor asked him, how many years has he been working for the company, the man replied that he has been working for the company for over 28 years. The pastor asked him to knee down and should be saying a thunderous amen as he will be praying. The pastor then started praying that ¡§Father God, let the name of this man be the FIRST on the list of the people that will be fired in Jesus name.¡¨ The man stood up and protested that the pastor was praying a wrong prayer, but the pastor told him that God had wanted him to start his own business or company a long time ago and since he would not listen, he would be fired now. If you are working for someone for 28 years when are you going to work for yourself?
So a lot of people have accepted as fate whatever is has been given to them by the devil. Is that your case, you need to fight back, tell the next person to you that the time to fight back is here. A pastor was driving with one of his friends in London and they saw a man looking very tattered, almost homeless, and the friend said, Pastor look at that man, look at him very well and the Pastor replied, and what about him? The friend replied saying that he and the man were classmates at the University several years ago. Not only that, he was among the best three that graduated from the University that year. The department did not award a first class degree that year, they awarded only three second class upper divisions and he was among the three candidates. Also he was a son of one literary giant in the world, but here he is, homeless and hopeless on the streets of London, because something that is not his has been given unto him and has accepted what was not his. How many people are supposed to be engineers, authors, professionals, presidents, senators etc, but as a result of one problem or the other, are doing all sorts of menial jobs, crying loudly or silently when the thoughts and the plans of God for them has been exchanged for the thought and plans of Satan. Dr Myles once said that richest and the wealthiest place is not the oil rich areas, not soils where gold and diamond could be found, but the richest place is the cemetery, because buried there are ideas, visions and dreams that were never translated into reality, buried there are books that were never written, art works that were never drawn etc. Most of the people that died without fulfilling their dreams are people that the enemy has taken from them what actually belongs to them and replaced with his own plan and unfortunately they have accepted.
Recently, there was a case of a man chosen because of his enormous contributions to the greatness of nation to become an ambassador of that nation in United States of America. This is a great achievement for the man and his family. As he was preparing to come, the enemy struck when it was discovered that his son was among the gang that was raping women in one area in the United States, so the nomination of this man was rejected as the Ambassador of the United States. How come that a child of a great man like that will be raping girls? Bad association, bad friends, wrong association, and wrong friends are the answers. The father was doing his best to see that he becomes one of the best in the whole world, so he decided to be changing 150 to 160 units of the money he was earning for one dollar, so as to send this boy to school to realize and fulfill his destiny, but because of bad friends and association, the good plan and destiny of this boy was truncated and exchanged with a bad one. Instead of looking towards becoming a contributor to the greatness of his father¡¥s land as his father did, he is now a prisoner in a foreign land. Bad association, can cause destiny to be exchanged, we will come to that very soon. Normally, it is the sin of the father that is visited on the children, but now it is the sin of the children that is now being visited on the fathers. Another opposite of what God will do, God will help us in Jesus name.
Let us rise
I want you to begin to thank God for what you have heard today and begin to ask for mercy per adventure you have sinned in one way or the other and as a result, the devil has taken the opportunity to touch your destiny.
> Father, I command restoration into every area of my life that the enemy has touched today in Jesus name.
> Father, every thing that the enemy has stolen, killed or destroyed in my life, let there be a restoration in Jesus name.
> Father, if my destiny, my blessings, my joy and all the good things that you have given me are on a wrong course, please redirect it to the correct and right course today in Jesus name.
This message will continue next week.
Acknowledgements:
Some illustrations were taken from the sermon notes of Pastor Leke Sanusi of RCCG, Victory House, London and Pastor Kalejaye of RCCG Idimu, Lagos, Nigeria.
