The Lord will do special things through this message. It will release you into your divine destiny and will become a positive memorial in your life. Therefore, I want you to decree loud and clear like this:
"My heavens, open by fire now, in the name of Jesus."
"Every Pharaoh that is pursuing my destiny, what are you waiting for? Sink in the Red Sea, in the name of Jesus."
"O thou that troubles my Israel, my God shall trouble you today, in Jesus’ name."
The average black man is not lazy. He likes to work with his hands so that he may prosper, but there are certain forces that cause trouble for him. Luke chapter 5 talks of the principles of profitless hard work. When you say profitless hard work, it does not have to do with making money alone, it could do with the spirit, career, academics, or any good thing one lays one’s hands on. Luke 5:1-3 says: “And it came to pass, that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Genesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets (meaning that they had closed for the day). And he entered into one of the ships which was Simon’s. (I pray that Jesus will enter into your boat today, in the name of Jesus, I don’t know why He picked Simon’s boat but I want Him to pick my own boat today.) Verses 3-8: “And prayed him that he would trust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing.” (Profitless hard work) Nevertheless at thy word, I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink.” This can be called dumbfounding promotion. Instead of going home empty-handed, they had two ships filled with fish. Verses 9-11 continue: “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord, for he was astonished and all that were with him at the draught of the fishes, which they had taken. And so were also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land they forsook all and followed him.” What an interesting passage.
Peter was taken away from his professional fishing and promoted to the profession of fishing for men. However, later, after the resurrection of Jesus, Peter went back to this profession, which had failed him. John 21:3-7 says, “Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said unto them, Children have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord.”
In this passage several things are clear:
1. There was failure where it should not have been.
2. These men were skilled and experienced fishermen.
3. They were fishing in familiar waters.
4. They were using the right equipment.
5. They had worked all night, that is, at the right time.
6. They worked hard.
7. They had been successful in the time past but now there was failure without explanation. This story says that they were already washing their nets, waiting to work the next day. So Jesus’ advice must have sounded strange to them, or rather very ridiculous. They had become tired and exhausted. They could have said to Jesus: “You know you are the son of a carpenter and you may know about carpentry, but you don’t know anything about fishing.” However, they did what Jesus asked them to do.
Isaiah Chapter 55 verse 2 says: “Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.”
FRUITLESS LABOUR
This disease, called profitless hard work, can also be called fruitless labour. You can describe it as the spirit of fishing and catching nothing. You can call it fighting as if one was beating the air. You can call it running with uncertainty. You can also call it slippery breakthrough, or as our local people say: “working like an elephant and eating like an ant.” A lot of people are working really hard but are getting nowhere.
When I was studying in England I knew that Nigerians were not lazy people, but if you allowed them to be lazy, they would be lazy. Somebody would wake up by 4 a.m. and went to sweep the supermarket before the customers came. He would finish that one and collect his money, and by 8 a.m. he would dress up to go to school. The school closes around 5 p.m. and by 6 p.m. he would to do another work. He would finish that and around 9 p.m. go to wash toilet somewhere else. He would sleep around 1 a.m. and by 4 a.m. wake up again. This he did everyday. So, we are not a lazy people.
A lot of people work very hard, but get nowhere. Profitless hard work! Many have spiritual holes in their hands. They are collecting blessings but one way or the other the blessings are leaking off. Some would accumulate blessings and would go and have a strange child outside. The strange child would now come inside and dismantle everything that they have built, may be by witchcraft power. This is also profitless hard work.
Many people are fishing in the ocean of life and catching nothing. A lot of people’s dream is that they are very rich, but the truth is that when they wake up they find themselves swimming in poverty. In fact, many are making progress in poverty. I remember the case of one of my teachers. They did not see him in the school one day and were looking for him. Then one pupil said, “I know where to find him. Let’s go to that place. I recognize his sandals.” And truly when they got to a church, they saw his worn-out sandals outside, and the pupil said he must be inside. When they called him outside he asked, “How do you know that I am here?” The boy said, “You have been wearing this sandal since I was in Primary one. I am now in Primary Four and I can recognize the sandal even in my dream.” This made the man worried. Please pray like this: “Every inherited poverty, die, in the name of Jesus.”
STRATEGIES OF THE SPIRIT OF PROFITLESS HARDWORK
This spirit of profitless hard work is clearly described in the Scriptures, and has the following strategies:
1. Debt: It puts people in perpetual debt.
2. Wrong investment: It causes people to invest in the wrong places.
3. Failure at the edge of breakthroughs: For example, the day your contract paper is to be signed, they will say that the M.D. is sick or that the person to co-sign it has been fired. The victim will pursue and pursue a thing and when it is about to be signed, they will say that the man who is supposed to sign it has been removed with immediate effect.
4. Poor patronage.
5. Profit starvation: To make profit becomes difficult. Somebody who did not even go to primary school is selling pure water by the street side is making profit, but the fellow who has a degree in Business Administration cannot sell anything to make progress. Many are labouring like this and the labour is going to Pharaoh. I pray that Pharaoh will not swallow your labour, in Jesus’ name.
6. Witchcraft hanging: I shared this story before. A man who had five jobs at a time suddenly started looking for money, and the Lord revealed that he should go and bring his daughters. He brought to me this girl who was a little above 10 years old and she looked at me and said, “Are you the G.O. of this church?” I said, “Yes, by the grace of God.” She said, “Ah, you are looking very young.” I said, “That is not the topic of discussion now. Tell me, what has happened to Daddy’s money.” She said, “Is that what you want to know? I hung it on top of an Iroko tree. He cannot make it." I said, “Why?” She said, “The elder sister of Daddy asked me to do it and I did it.” "Is it good now, as your Daddy cannot pay your school fees?" I asked. She said, “It does not matter whether he pays or not.” I said, “Now, what do we do?” she said, “There are only two things: either prayer or sacrifices. But I will warn you: if you go and do sacrifices, we have our own way of circumventing that one. So, it is better for you to go and pray.” Profitless hardwork. Some people if they get a cheque, immediately the cheque gets into their house it becomes an ordinary paper. Close your eyes and pray this prayer: "Any power hanging my prosperity on a tree, loose your hold, in the name of Jesus."
7. Satanic business partners: If your partner is an enemy of God, you have blocked the blessing of God, for God cannot bless whom He has cursed. The Bible says, “Say ye to the wicked, it shall be ill with him.” If God is telling your business partner everyday that it shall be ill with him, then that business is in trouble.
8. Tithe evasion: If you don’t pay your tithe, the demon called Mammon will telephone the second heaven to release devourers against you, because you have broken the law.
9. Pocket with holes: The victim would be making money but a satanic spirit will be removing the money.
10. When you sponsor abortion: When you abort or sponsor abortion, the blood shall cry against your blessing
11. Sleep and slumber: If you are still a slave to the habit of sleep and slumber, you cannot make spiritual or physical progress.
12. Bribery: If you are taking bribes or giving bribes you are creating holes in your property.
13. Laziness.
14. Having strange money in your hands: A sister who was going to buy something at Ereko market in Lagos, took a taxi at a bus-stop, and at another bus-stop the driver picked up two more passengers. One person sat with the driver in the front and three people sat at the back. The sister carefully put her bag with some money between her laps and covered it with her hands. Very soon the man beside her started chatting with her and asked her: “Are you a born again Christian?” The woman said, “No, I am just a Christian.” She did not know why the man asked the question. Suddenly she saw the man’s hand on her bag and she slapped his hand away, and that was the end of the conversation. When she got to the place she wanted to buy clothes and opened her bag, she found only paper cuttings. Her money had been transferred to paper by powers of darkness. It was then she understood why the man asked her whether she was born again. The man realized that charms do not work on those who are born again and since she gave him the answer he wanted to hear, he transferred her money. Strange transfer is a strategy for profitless hardwork.
15. Examination failure: The victim may take the first, second, third examinations and all he would have is failure.
I have said all these things so you will know how to pray. We are all like fishermen in the ocean of life. Some will fish and catch nothing. Very soon all of us will leave this planet. Each of us should leave a footprint on the sand of life. Each must be remembered for some good things. When you say ‘bye bye’ to the world, there must be many people who are sad that you are gone. You should not be among those who fished and caught nothing and have nothing to show. When I was teaching Biology and I was to invigilate a G.C.E O’level class, I saw one man inside the examination hall, whose appearance made me to move closer to him. I said, “How are you, sir?” He said, “Fine.” He had a very large beard. We started chatting and suddenly I asked him: “How old are you, sir? “He said, “By next January I will be 56.” I said, “What are you doing here?” He said, “I want to write the School Certificate examination again.” I felt bad for him, for the Yorubas say, “When it takes a person 20 years to get mad, when will he get into the market to start causing confusion?” There are those who come to the ocean of life and catch the wrong fish and the fish eventually kill them. There are also those who fished in the ocean of life, immediately caught good fish but the enemy collected them from their hands. Everything they spent their whole life to gather just fizzled away and their friends become their enemies.
A very brilliant professor picked a house help and put her in his boys’ quarters because she had a skin disease. He began to look after her but one night as he was sleeping he heard a voice: “Stand up and go to the boys’ quarters.” He left his bed and his wife and moved to the boys’ quarters. There, he met the house help lying carelessly and the voice came again: “Start to commit immorality with her,” and he started. The same devil woke his wife up and said, “Where is your husband?” She did not see the husband and the voice said, “Go to the boys’ quarters,” and the madam went there and caught her husband and the girl. The same devil said, “Madam shout,” and she shouted. The same devil caused the neighbors to gather and the professor was disgraced. Close your eyes and pray the following prayer point from the bottom of your heart: “Every power of profitless hard work, die, in the name of Jesus.”
In the ocean of life there are those who fish when there is no fish. They struggle and struggle, but catch nothing. They live an aimless, empty and purposeless life. They know they have been born into this world but they are still trying to figure out what to do with their lives. There is complete confusion, groping about in the dark, like one man says: “If you aim for nothing, you will catch nothing. If you put what God has given to you in a dry land, it will not grow.” Deliverance is like your asking somebody to go and plant yams but adding: “Please, clear the bush before you start. If you don’t clear the bush, you will work hard but you will get little result.”
Many people are fishing at the wrong time in the ocean of life. They do the right thing at the wrong time. Some fish in the ocean of life with broken nets or with baits or little hooks. But there are cases: Those who never bother at all to fish, who have no motivation and get nothing. In the ocean of life, there is something we call ‘half way hand.’ The Bible says the hands of Zerubabel started to build and his hands also would finish it. Many hands start things but they do not finish them, or have a poor finishing. I have shared this before: When I was a small boy, we used to have a very powerful football team We were challenging other football teams around, and we had one man called Lawon who played in the right wing. Lawon would take the ball from the centre of the pitch, dribbled everybody until he got near the goalpost he would kick the ball over the bar. He never beat a goalkeeper flat. One day, as we were rushing to the pitch I called him and said, “Lawon, today open your eyes well.” He said, “No problem.” However, our opponents seemed to have known him. When the game started he beat flat all the three men marking him, but as he got to the goal post he still played over the bar, and as he moved forward he hit his head at the goal post and was carried out. That was the end of our master dribbler. We lost the match. Poor finishing is part of profitless hardwork.
You may ask what is causing this problem. There are several things but I am going to mention just a few:
1. The first and the most serious one is polluted hand: Just as your head is the symbol of your destiny, so also your hand is the symbol of your labour. That is why in the Bible, hands are extended for blessings, or hands are laid on people for blessings. Hands can also be raised in supplication to God. The enemy can manipulate the hands. Hands can be cursed. They can be bound and they can be covered with cobwebs spiritually. Whilst those hands touch a thing, the spirit of profitless hard work comes upon that thing and it will not move forward again. I pray that every polluted hand should receive deliverance today, in the name of Jesus.
2. Wrong profession: Peter was ordained by God to fish for men but he decided to fish for fish. Even after he had been with Jesus for three years he still went back to that wrong profession. Again he fished and caught nothing.
3. Life without a purpose: If you don’t know what you are here for, then you would not know what to pursue, or you pursue the wrong things and use your life as an experiment, to try this and that. But life is too short for you to experiment with. Find out what the Lord wants you to do and start at once to do it.
4. Zeal without knowledge: When you are getting zealous or very strong, but you don’t have knowledge of what you are doing, your labour will be fruitless.
5. Planting the wrong seed: When you plant the wrong seed, you will get the wrong fruit. In everything in this world, the foundation of what you do is very important. In everything we do, whether it is ministry, business, marriage, learning, etc. the original seed you plant is very important. If the foundation is deceit or lies, you cannot move forward. You cannot build any lasting thing on these. A person using a fake certificate is building on a wrong foundation. He is planting the wrong seed. For example, we have a problem in Nigeria now, when the WASC result comes out, just take a look at the English and Mathematics you will see a massive display of F9. This has to do with the foundation. Right from the primary school students have hated English and Mathematics, so when they get to secondary school, immediately the Mathematics teacher walks in, they walk out of the class. A secondary school friend of mine, who is a Mathematics teacher, told me that he would be teaching mathematics on the black board and some female students would be painting their lips because they were not interested. Of course, they were laying a wrong foundation. You say, “I don’t know why my wife is beating me up every morning.” Where did you meet her before you got married? Or you say, “I don’t know why my husband is always punching my nose.” Where did you meet him before he married you? The foundation of everything is very important. When you plant the wrong seed, it means that the foundation is bad. If you now start to work hard, it is like the foundation of a house is bad and you say you want to build a skyscraper on it. You will work hard but you won’t get anywhere, because the foundation is already wrong.
6. Spiritual blindness: When you are blind spiritually, and don’t know where you are going, you will be working hard in the wrong direction. I read the story of three drunks who after getting drunk at night decided to go home. They needed to use a boat to transport themselves across a river, they entered the boat and began to row. They rowed the boat all night but found that they were at the same spot till dawn. They kept rowing until somebody said, “Excuse me, do you intend to move this boat? They said, “Yes, we have been rowing all night.” He said, “Don’t you see that a rope is tying it to something? Why don’t you loose the rope so that it can move?” Because they were drunk, they did not see that the boat was tied down. They were rowing, working hard, but the boat did not leave that spot. It is like a dog chasing the shadow of its tail. It cannot catch it up.
7. The curse of non-achievement: In many families, a tree of non-achievement has already been planted. It has to be uprooted, and you shall uproot it today, in the name of Jesus.
8. Anti-harvest forces: These forces allow the victim to work hard and to gather things, then they will pour it away. I have seen it happen many times in the life of a man. He worked very hard and gathered everything but in a twinkle of an eye everything fizzled out. I have also seen a person who was a millionaire and suddenly they auctioned his things. Everything he gathered just went away like that.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
1. Surrender your life to Jesus. He is the only One who can show you the way. Surrender completely.
2. Accept that your human efforts and plans are limited. You may say that you are smart, but there are certain forces that will make your smartness look foolish. Accept the limitation of human efforts and plans.
3. Trust the word of God, even if it does not make sense. When Jesus told Peter to throw the net into the water, it did not make sense, but he did it all the same and got good result.
4. Be willing to take holy risks: It is said faith will jumps and fear looks. Remember that God can give you more than you even ask or imagine.
5. Wage war against the spirit of profitless hard work.
Put your two hands one on the other and pray on them believing the Lord that from today any good thing you lay your hands on will begin to prosper. Also at the end of this message there are prayer points to pray, and I want you to pray them very well.
The Lord wants to use these prayer points to solve so many problems. You know that you are not lazy. You know that you work hard but in spite of that you see that you have very little or nothing to show for it. And the areas where you have expended your energy, nobody is appreciating them. It is high time you cried unto the Lord. There must be a change.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Every evil chain on my hands, break, in Jesus’ name.
2. My hand, refuse to cleave to vanity, in the name of Jesus.
3. Every strange fire prepared against my hands, backfire, in the name of Jesus.
4. My hands, catapult me to breakthroughs, in the name of Jesus.
5. My hands, cooperate with the hands of the Almighty, in the name of Jesus.
6. The anointing to prosper, fall upon my hands, in the name of Jesus. Prophesy good things on your hands.
7. Oh anger of the Almighty, pursue my pursuers, in the name of Jesus.
8. The heavens of my prosperity, open by fire, in the name Jesus.
9. Every good door that the enemy has closed, I command you to open, in the name of Jesus.
