There is a powerful spirit known as the spirit of confusion, and because it is sometimes neglected and nobody prays seriously against it, gives room to have many confused women and men in the market square of life. Some just find themselves in the world, with no good idea of what they come to do. Some are as if they were under a spell, or hypnotized by some strange powers. Some are as if they entered into the mouth of lions, and when you say, “Lions are on the way, come back” they keep going.
The first question you may want to ask is: What is confusion? Confusion is disorder, chaos, purposeless action, etc. When you look at order, it is a designated pattern determined by purpose. That is, this thing must go in this order and that is the purpose it has to serve. Anything against order is confusion.
A woman brought a man to me and said, “Man of God, I want to marry this man.” I said, “What did God tell you?” She said, God did not tell me anything. I just want to marry the man because I love him.” I said, “What do you like about him?” She said, “Man of God, I like the shape of his nose.” I said, “Is that why you want to marry him?” She said, “Yes,” and I said, “You need to go and pray.” She said that she had prayed. Then I turned to the man and said, “Sir, is she your first woman?” He said, “She will be No. 5.” I said, “Did you hear what he just said?” She said, “Yes, I will be good No. 5.” I said, “Mr. Man, what happened to your first wife?” He said, “She died.” What of Nos. 2, 3 and 4?” I asked. He said, “They died.” I turned to the sister again and said, “Did you hear what he said?” She said, “Okay, sir, I will go and pray.” That was what we call confusion. Women need to pray more than men because this spirit of confusion is more common with them.
Let us see a man in the Bible who started his life on a very good note but ended in confusion.
Genesis Chapter 48, verse 13 says, “And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him."
It is said that there is more blessing on the right hand than on the left hand. I do not know how they arrived at it. So, Joseph presented his children in order of seniority before Jacob. Manasseh with his right hand on his head and Ephraim, the younger one, with his left hand on his head. But Jacob crossed his hand and put the right hand on the head of Ephraim and the left hand on the head of Manasseh. Verses 17-18 say: “And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said unto his father, not so, my father, for this is the first-born: put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused and said, I know it my son, I know it; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.’"
What a wonderful way for Ephraim to start his life. However, as he entered on his journey of life, the spirit of confusion came upon him and disorder went into his life. He had a prophetic agenda for his life, but he did not pursue it. By the time he got to the later part of his life, as we read in the book of Hosea, his story became a lamentable tragedy.
Hosea chapter 7: 8, “Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.” (Problem and confusion had started).
Hosea 4:17: “Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.” God had concluded his agenda and said, “I tried to help this one, but see where he has put himself now. And God said, “Leave him alone.” This was a tragic lamentation. Ephraim had entered into the camp of confusion.
Physical confusion is very bad. A person can be confused and will not know what he is doing. I remember when I was in the university, there was this course they called Physical Chemistry. Many students did not like it at all and the teachers were not helping matters. So, many students did not understand the course which they were expected to pass. One day, a lecturer who did not talk to anybody except the chalk board made the situation worse. You would just read what he was writing but will not hear what he was saying. After he had finished, one boy got so confused and said, “Excuse sir, can I ask a question?” We cannot hear what you are writing and we cannot see what you are saying.” That was physical confusion. But spiritual confusion is worse, and in these last days, the spirit of confusion has been released unto humanity.
The confusion of unbelievers is understandable, because their master, the devil, is the architect of confusion, but the confusion of believers is something we must arrest.
I Corinthians 14:33 says, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”
The spirit of confusion is a strongman with many terrible children which include loss of memory and forgetfulness (forgetting the most important things). Sometimes we find some people spending hours looking for their missing car keys. The children of confusion also include disappointment, weak and unstable Bible study, no system, no order of Bible study, incoherence, mind blankness, mind darkness, dullness, mental exhaustion, quarrelling, spiritual blindness and restlessness.
There are some people who are so restless that the little time they sit down when they are in the church. There are also some people who are so quarrelsome that by the time they stay anywhere for about two weeks, they are already fighting with everybody. Confusion is so rampant among believers today that we need to tackle it. All the lack of intimacy with God is a symptom of confusion. Not hearing clearly the voice of God on issues about your life is a symptom of confusion. Believing anyone who calls himself or herself a prophet or prophetess, or a pastor, is confusion. A born again child of God going from one prophet’s house to another is confusion. And by the time he circulates himself around, God help him with what he gathers there. A believer running from one mountain to the other is a sign of confusion. If you want to go to a mountain, why not go to one instead of running to seven mountains. The Bible says, “Test every spirit.” But you cannot test your own spirit let alone another spirit. There are many people with familiar spirits and they do not even know. They do not know that these spirits are hindering them. Some are prophesying with familiar spirits and they do not know, because they are not able to test the spirits. It is serious confusion. They do not know whom to believe when confronted with righteous information.
Somebody would stand during a prayer session and prophesy, “Thus says the living God.” You would see the same person who had prophesied fighting after the service. It is confusion. Another person would prophesy: “Thus says the Lord: there must be holiness in my temple. Behold, I see dirtiness." But the same person prophesying is the first to disobey the rule of that holiness. It is confusion. You have been born again for one year, two years, five months, six months and you cannot differentiate the voice of man, the voice of the devil, and the voice of God. It is confusion. When you cannot differentiate between useless dreams and good dreams, it is confusion. When your faith is disabled because you see something you do not expect, it is confusion. You want to be worldly and at the same time you want to be holy. You know you need prayers, but you do not want to be holy, it is confusion. All these contradictory characters you see in the house of God are evidence of confusion working in the lives of women and men.
When there is a spirit of indecision, you would not know what to do. A sister told me that she went to pray somewhere, when she was looking for the fruit of the womb. The man she met to pray for her said: “If you are looking for the fruit of the womb, you have to undress and I have to anoint you.” She undressed and the man anointed everywhere. It was confusion. When you go to a place to pray and somebody says “Put your Bible down and climb on top of it,” and you do, it is confusion. If somebody says, “Bring the picture of your husband and yours, I will tie both together with a string,” it is confusion. All the rolling on the floor and prophesying, and your wrapper would fall away, is confusion. I saw a person who tied the Bible with a string and I said: “Madam, why are you tying the Bible? She said, “Don’t you know that I am a mother in Israel.” It was confusion. Mother in Israel indeed. Beloved, many of us need to arrest this spirit.
WHO IS A PRAYER WARRIOR?
Whom do we call a prayer warrior? He is somebody who prays with concentration. He puts all his spirit, soul and body in the prayer. His mind does not wander about and he is able to achieve results. But when they say, “Open your mouth and pray,” and your mind is wandering about, it is confusion. And as long as your mind is wandering about, the devil knows that you are not getting anywhere. So, when you are not able to concentrate on prayers, it is confusion. All the worldly dressing and addiction to jewelry is confusion. All the anger and all the verbal attacks on people are confusion. A pastor took his whole congregation to a hotel to eat during the valentine, and he called it Valentine night. This was confusion. When you are not even sure that you are saved, it is confusion. Many people come to our meetings now, who would not attend foundational classes. They are just floating in the house of God. It is confusion. All the lack of interest in spiritual improvement in the house of God is confusion. When you are not able to identify your spiritual role in the house of God, it is confusion.
All the talking to your husband as if you were talking to your servant is confusion. All the talking to your wife as a glorified slave, for example, you say: “If you talk again, I will throw your things out of this place and if you go, you will not meet one pin here if you come back.” It is confusion. You that stood at the altar and said of your wife: “Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh,” and that both of you were one, you are now saying that she should move out. It is confusion. If you are still roaming around visionary houses, still mixing your faith with beggarly powers, still allowing your enemies to confuse you. All these are confusion.
A sister said that somebody told her that there was one prophet somewhere and she followed the person innocently to the place. By the time she came back she was a double case of deliverance. She had lost her money and everything. There are many confused people around who want to confuse others and divert the destiny of a lot of people. They would have gone to the so-called prophet before they take you to him. They would tell him: “We are bringing one ‘meat’ here, steal all you can steal from him spiritually and physically and we shall share with you what you steal.” You will not know that they are recruitment agents. It is confusion. You should not listen to confused people who would make God to abandon you, who would take you to a fake prophet. Before you become confused, cry to the Lord, say: “Father, talk to me about myself.”
Lack of respect for elderly people is confusion. You stayed 15 years, 10 years in a church but you remain a spiritual baby, it is confusion. You have an opportunity to grow but you do not grow, it is confusion. I want you to understand this: everyone of us is a child before God, and if you are doing anything in secret and you cannot do it in the house of God, it is confusion. All the sex before marriage is confusion. When the Bible says that a man shall leave the house of his father and cleave to his wife, it does not say cleave to a boy or a girlfriend. Now you say you have a boy friend. What is boy friend? It is hell friend. It is confusion.
The most confused people in the house of God now are those who say they are born again but their lives do not bear the testimony. They say they are sanctified by the grace of God, but they beat their wives or abuse their husbands. They say they have received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and by the grace of God they are speaking in tongues, and they speak millions of words in tongues, but cannot speak one word of love to anybody. One is doing oneself favour by coming to the Holy Spirit.
There is something called the jinx or spell of confusion. The victim will just not listen to any advice. You tell him: “Do not go and do this.” He would say, “No,” until something begins to go wrong.
Leviticus chapter 18 verse 23 says: “Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith; neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down there to. It is confusion.” You may ask: “Does it happen?” A lot.
Leviticus 20:12 says: “And if a man lies down with his daughter in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.”
Isaiah 24:10: “The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man comes in.” All forms of idolatry is confusion.
Isaiah 45:16 says, “They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.”
And James 3:16 says, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
So, the Bible makes us to understand what the children of this strongman means. I want you to understand that when a person or his ancestor commits a sexual sin which carries a curse, demons which accompany that curse will follow all the descendants of that person to cause each of them to commit that same sexual sin. That kind of curse, if not broken, will lead to confusion. Anyone playing with adultery is loosing demons on his life and on his children. As you are reading this message today, if you had sex with your partner before you got married, of course that would have an effect on you because it was confusion. You have already released demons that will lead your children to sin. If you slept with someone before marriage, you have loosed the pattern of fornication upon your children, and this pattern has led to confusion in so many lives, and in so many families. Anything you put at your front and God says, “Do not bow down to this, or worship this and do not make this one your priority,” and you make it your priority, the demon of disorder sets in and you will eventually land in trouble. When you are not satisfied with what you have and what you can reasonably possess, and you are searching for money, confusion will set in and later you will find that there are more important things than money, and that money has destroyed so many people.
People who want to do the will of God, the first thing the enemy tries to do to them is to confuse them. He did it to Jesus before Jesus started His ministry. In Matthew chapter 4, we read about the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Convert this stone to bread.” The devil was trying to confuse him. The devil also said: “Bow down and worship me.” Confusion. He further told Jesus: “Jump down.” Confusion! But Jesus refused to be confused. Why is it that many are getting confused today? There is only one reason. A lot of ears have been blocked, so that they do not hear the voice of God. There is an epidemic of spiritual deafness among many children of God now. They cannot hear from God.
It is in this generation that you find people who want to do a very important thing and would say, “I am being led by the Spirit of God to do it,” and someone who has never seen an angel, but whenever it is convenient for him, would say, “God says," whereas God does not talk to them. They are becoming seven times more deaf and will not hear anything from God again. So, the most important need of a child of God who wants to succeed in these last days is to hear clearly from God. When you begin to hear from God, progress begins in your spiritual life. You should get to that level where if you say, “Lord shall I eat this food? And He says, “Do not eat,” you should obey. But if you do not hear the voice of the Lord, how can you avoid certain problems? I have shared this before of a man who went to a restaurant to eat. He did not know that they had tried to poison somebody in that restaurant that day. They had arranged with the caterers to put poison in his food. This brother came, ordered pounded yam and egusi soup and sat down. But somehow they made a mistake. The person that was to serve the poisonous food served it to the wrong person. The brother closed his eyes to pray. Normally he prayed aloud on his food. That day the Spirit of God said, “Pray more” and as he was praying, all of a sudden, something like a big stone fell on the plate of food and broke the plate to pieces. Everybody was surprised, and he too. People looked at him and those who understood what happened said to him, “Whatever God you are serving, serve him more.” The brother then rose up and went away.
When you begin to hear from God, your progress in life begins. It is a great day in your life, beloved, the day you begin to hear from God clearly. Because communion with God satisfies the deepest longing in the heart. As a matter of fact, we are created to commune and fellowship with God. We need to be able to hear clearly from Him so that we will not be confused.
A prophet can direct and confuse you. Therefore, it is very important for you to hear from God clearly yourself. The Bible says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hears my voice and opens. I will come in.” But the thing is this: hearing God’s voice does not come automatically because of man’s Adamic nature. To be able to hear from God, one has to work for it. The key to God’s blessing is hearing and obeying His voice. The Bible says, “If thou shall hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God,” and begins to list the blessings that will come with it.
What should you do if you want to be hearing God clearly?
1. You need to enter through what we call the gate of heaven. You must examine your heaven afresh. You must be convinced that you are born again.
2. You need to offer your life as a living sacrifice acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. That is what Romans chapter 12:1 says: “Submit yourself as a living sacrifice and do not conform with this world, but be ye transformed.”
3. Become addicted to the word of God. Allow it to cleanse your life. Allow it to purify your actions. Begin the practice of regular and consistent meditation on Bible passages. Let this become part of your daily approach to God.
4. Commit yourself to living a life of holiness. The Bible says that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. God will only commune with holy people.
5. Cultivate the habit of having oil in your lamp always, that is, charge your battery and recharge your battery regularly, so that it will have fire. Sometimes just sit down somewhere and for half an hour or so pray in tongues.
6. Be a man or woman who engages in continuous praise. The Bible says that God is glorious in holiness and fearful in praise. Be a person who sings praises to Him.
Anytime you find that you have been blocked from hearing from God, go through these routes I have outlined and ask yourself: “Am I saved?” Have I confessed my sins? Am I putting on the robe of righteousness? Have I laid aside my will in this matter and want God’s will to be done? Am I dying daily to the powers of the flesh? Have I closed my ears to the world of sin? Am I praying regularly? Am I a constant worshipper? Have I stopped grumbling and getting worried?” Ask yourself these questions.
The power called confusion is like the arrow that flies around. If the arrow gets into your life, you will not know the head from the tail and you will be in the market square of life and will catch nothing. There are so many confused people like that. It is for this purpose we need to pray seriously. The enemy has an agenda to confuse men and to confuse women even more, because the more confused women we have, the more confused world we have.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Every satanic covenant between me and any bad friend, die, in Jesus’ name.
2. Arrows of confusion, backfire, in the name of Jesus.
3. Every dream confusion, die, in the name of Jesus.
4. Every Uzziah in my life, your time is up. Die, in the name of Jesus.
5. My spiritual eye, my spiritual ears, open by fire, in Jesus’ name.
6. Every confusion of my father’s house, my life is not your candidate. Therefore, die, in Jesus’ name.
7. Every marital confusion, die, in Jesus’ name.
8. O God, arise and let the power of confusion scatter, in the name of Jesus.
