Category: From the Presiding Bishop of TREM

Matthew 10:41 (AMP)

‘’He who receives and welcomes and accepts a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward, and he who receives and welcomes and accepts a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.’’

I bring you greetings in the name that is above every other name, Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God and our soon coming King. First and foremost, I want to appreciate the Lord who has kept me alive and well to celebrate my 70^th birthday. Indeed, God has been so good to me and there is really no way I can adequately express my appreciation for all He has done for me in life and Ministry. I owe all that I am to Him and Him alone.

To Him alone be all the glory. I also want to specially appreciate all TREM Pastors and their spouses, TREMites at home and in the Diaspora, members of the various planning committees, Departments, Groups and Ministering Arms, and every single person for the love showered on me during my birthday celebrations. I thank you all for the awesome support during the week long activities.

As I took out time to read your mails, tweets, facebook comments and cards, I was indeed overwhelmed by your wonderful thoughts, wishes and prayers.  My prayer is that God would bless you, show you a token for good and fill your mouth with testimonies. Beloved, as you have honoured me so will the Lord honor you.

Beloved, the news of my 70^th birthday celebrations has indeed been noised abroad, and it is only because you made it happen. Little wonder Proverbs 14:28 says that ‘’the glory of a king is in the multitude of his people’’. I must thank you once again for your prayers, telephone text messages, birthday songs, and gifts. They all went to demonstrate the love you have for me and I do not take it lightly, neither do I take it for granted.

As a Prophet of God, I declare that you will not lose your reward in Jesus name. A prophet’s reward is your portion. Beloved, when your day comes, God will raise men and women to celebrate you. I declare that you will not labor for trouble. You will not be stranded. You will not be denied. Your heaven will remain open and your ground will continually produce. I have prayed and am still praying that every word of prophecy and every declaration that has been made over your life for good this year will come to pass in Jesus name.

My special thanks and appreciation also goes to my jewel of inestimable value – Bishop Peace. Every day, I thank God for bringing you into my life because, I know that I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for your love, prayers, support and care. You came into my life when I had no form, nor comeliness that anyone should desire me. Like I said last week during my vote of thanks, I probably would have been dead by now if God had not yoked you with me.

Having spent over forty years in Ministry, I can tell you that I have seen marriages collapse, but you have stood by me through thick and thin. Indeed you have been a true yokefellow. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say a big thank you for all you have done and would yet do. My prayer for you is that my God would bless you richly and increase you on all sides. As you have celebrated me, so will this generation and indeed humanity, celebrate you.

Beloved, as you go into this new week, as always, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. I will hear your testimony. As a father in the house, I bless you. Once again I thank you all. Maranatha!

In His Royal Service,

Dr. Mike Okonkwo, The Presiding Bishop

Dearly beloved, I come to encourage you today to keep walk boldly with your shoulders raised high because there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. If there was anytime you needed to walk in this understanding in your walk with God, it is now. Never allow your life be defined by an event that went wrong somewhere along the line, because all your sins past, present and future have been forgiven. For as long as you do not know this, the devil will continue to accuse and condemn you. The devil lies to you that God is about to drop a hammer on your head for every mistake you make and as a result, your boldness before God disappears and you live in constant fear and condemnation.

Today I will be encouraging you from the scripture in Psalm 130:4 {KJV}

                 ‘’But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.’’

Beloved, contrary to popular and erroneous religious views, fear does not produce a New Creation but faith in the Lord does. Over the years, there has been the mistaken idea that God’s wrath, anger and judgment is on anyone who falls short of His righteous requirement. To fully understand and apply the Bible, you must know the dispensation that God was dealing with in its different accounts. God dealt with each dispensation differently. You cannot apply His dealings with those under the law as though they were under grace. God deals with the new creation under grace so you cannot apply the law to it. The new creation enjoys the grace of God.

The scriptural text above says it is God’s forgiveness that causes us to fear {revere} Him. It is not His judgment. This sounds contradictory. I thought that you take people for granted when they easily forgive. I thought that it is the man with the cane that is feared and not the one with a heart of love. This situation is true in the natural; but when you understand true love of God, then you will understand the power of the love that keeps you from sin.

In John 8, we are told that a woman caught in adultery received forgiveness and was offered the gift of no condemnation from Jesus. I guarantee you that the woman left feeling relieved and she most likely held the Lord in awe throughout her life. She knew the law against adultery and obviously expected to be stoned to death. I can imagine her with her eyes closed expecting the first stone to land on her head but nothing happened. Rather, what she heard was the voice of the Master asking, ‘’woman where are thine accusers? I am sure that woman had died several times in her head because she expected the stoning and not forgiveness.

Beloved, the love of God reached out to that woman caught in adultery and she was totally forgiven. She could never understand how she was delivered from sudden and untimely death. That is grace at work.  The good news is that Jesus has already paid for all your sins on the cross of Calvary. When He bled on that old rugged cross, He paid the supreme sacrifice that could ever be paid. He died, went to hell, defeated the devil and was raised triumphantly on the third day in power and glory.

Don’t you ever forget that the Father poured out all His wrath on His only begotten Son and He has no more wrath to pour on you. When Jesus died, He said ‘IT IS FINISHED’. Beloved, indeed it is finished; the devil no longer has power to condemn you. You are free and free indeed. All you need do is to appropriate the love of God and receive the gift of righteousness by faith. You may not feel forgiven, but this has nothing to do with your feelings. The truth is that you have been forgiven and the devil cannot do anything about it.

I encourage you to stop walking around with your face down because of guilt. There is so much God has in stock for you that the devil wants you to lose when you walk around in ignorance. Arise today and enforce the devil’s defeat. Stand your ground on the promises of God and they will come to pass in your life. You have nothing to fear because you have the victory. When God says fear not, it is because he knows that you have a tendency to be afraid so He goes ahead of the devil to say ‘’Fear not’’. God does not just say fear not and leave it hanging. No! He says fear not because the challenges you saw yesterday you will see no more forever. Beloved, when God delivers, He delivers totally. You are free. You have been discharged, acquitted, case closed and no appeal.

Beloved, as you go into this week may the Lord cause His face to shine upon you, grant you peace on every side and uphold you with His mighty outstretched Hand. I will hear your testimony. I bless you. Maranatha!

In His Royal Service,

Dr. Mike Okonkwo, The Presiding Bishop

Today, I feel constrained in my spirit to challenge you to be an addict for the Kingdom. Beloved, when you are addicted to the things of the Kingdom, you simply make the devil mad. He cannot understand why you have chosen to serve God even when some things have not worked out yet for you. The reason why he fights you is to make you lose focus and become ineffective as a kingdom person. That would not be your portion in Jesus name. Let’s look at Apostle Paul’s admonition to the church at Corinth and draw some lessons from it.

1 CORINTHIANS 16:15 {KJV}
‘’I beseech you brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achai, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints)’’

 The Apostle Paul in his letter to the church at Corinth made reference to the household of Stephanas, his first converts in Achai as those who were addicted to the work of the ministry. Why did he give them so much attention? Paul was obviously making reference to the fact that the family must have experienced many unpleasant issues in the course of service but they refused to quit. That means they were not just comers and goers or just Sunday Service Christians. They were people who were ready to put commitment above convenience. They were addicts.

No doubt, you know the word ‘addict’ connotes devotion or surrendering oneself to something habitually or obsessively. That means that whatever you are addicted to becomes a habit in your life. An addicted person sees life not worth living if he is unable to indulge in that habit. An addict can sell anything to meet his or her desire just to keep the addiction in place. In other words, someone can be faithful even in a negative sense to what he is addicted to. Beloved, on the other hand, Kingdom addiction is healthy and helpful. It means being committed to the things of the kingdom. It also means paying price just to ensure that things work well. It also involves making up your mind to serve God in season and out of season.

Beloved, becoming addicted also entails that you are a blessing to the people that come along your way whether you feel like it or not. They don’t have to be your friends or belong to your immediate group or fellowship arm. This means you are ready to identify with needs in the church and fill the gaps once spotted. In other words, you are addicted to the point where you meet needs without making noise about it. It is no longer about you but about the Kingdom. When you are a kingdom addict, serving God and obeying Him comes by default.

As an addict, you derive joy in getting involved in follow-up and soul winning activities. You are ready to go the extra mile to ensure that you extend a warm hand of fellowship to new people in church. You are ready to follow-up those who give their hearts to the Lord and ensure that they are grounded. New converts and first timers feel comfortable around you because you are concerned about their welfare. You are quick to introduce the various activities of the church to them in love. Being addicted means that you are not coerced or forced, but you are glad and willingly to offer your services even in your G-12 centre or group. This is the kind of household God is looking for today. The church has gone beyond being a group of people who ask what the Lord can do for them; but rather ask what they can do for the Lord.

Beloved, it is never too late to start.  If you have just been a bench warmer in church, you can start today. I encourage you to go all out and be a blessing to your church and to the person next to you. Let your commitment be above convenience. Beloved, some things may not be convenient as you serve, but understand that you serve a God who rewards, so keep serving. Like those in the house of Stephanas, dare to become a kingdom addict. Dare to go all out. Dare to go all the way in your tithes and offerings. Dare to go out of your way to bring at least one soul to church. Yes, it may be tough but it is not impossible. Dare to serve God without reservation and watch Him throw His weight around on your behalf. Remember that this is the season for God to make a distinction between sideliners and those that are truly serving Him. I can assure you without any shadow of doubt that if you truly serve and stand for this God, He will surely fight your battles and bring you out.

As you go into this week, as always, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. As a father in the house, I bless you. Maranatha!

In His Royal Service,

Dr. Mike Okonkwo, The Presiding Bishop

Hebrews 6:17-18 (KJV)

‘’Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.’’ 

Dearly beloved, I bring you greetings in the name that is above every other name, Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God and our soon coming King.

In the few years I have been in ministry, I have come to realize that many times we feel like God is slow in coming through with His word. Daily we hear of the testimonies of others and begin to wonder when we would ever testify. At such times, we feel like taking the short cut but beloved, if you take the short cut, you may cut yourself short. Remember that God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?

First and foremost, no matter what you are passing through, always understand that the God you serve is a God of plan, purpose and objectivity. He takes us through challenges and adversity to mature us and prepare us for His blessings and purpose. Whatever we are passing through at the moment is actually preparing you for the glory which shall manifest in due time. It is important therefore that you learn that except the Lord helps you, you may just complicate things that will affect your destiny.

A classical case is the Patriach Abraham who is today called the father of faith. When God promised him a son, from every human stand point it was not feasible. In fact nothing else it looked impossible for the word of God to come to pass. The more impossible it looked the more reassuring God was and for the next twenty five years, all he had was the promise. It got to a point Sarah prevailed upon him to help God. He took a shortcut and gave birth to Ishmael and no sooner was Ishmael conceived that trouble began in his home to the extent that he had to let go of his son that he got through the shortcut.

According to the scriptures, it was not only Abraham that tried to help God. Remember Jacob and all the schemes he came up with to get wealth from Laban? It got to a point where he had to let go of all he had acquired crookedly and sought for the true blessing. Beloved why go for what you will be forced to release before you can be blessed? You must let go of Ishmael for the Isaac to come. Please wait for God’s timing. It may look as if God is slow, but be rest assured that when He comes, He comes big. I declare that your lips would surely testify because what He has done for one is an evidence of what He can do for another. Just hang in there and refuse to throw in the towel.

Beloved, I know you might be wondering why your case appears to be different. I know you may have believed God for certain things and it looks like it is still pending, but like the Psalmist rightly said, weeping may endure through the night but joy comes in the morning. Your morning of joy has come. The Lord has chosen to remember you. There is an appointed time for everything. Just continue to love Him, continue to do His will don’t allow yourself to be discouraged; don’t swallow the lies of the devil that God has forgotten you. He does not forget. It is impossible for Him to forget,. God is not only desirous of lifting you up He is also willing to do everything to keep you on top of life. Get set for your miracle for it shall surely come.

I have prayed and I am a firm believer that eyes have not seen neither have ears heard nor has it entered into the heart of man what God intends for you. This seventh month, God will drop some incredible ideas into your spirit that will blow your mind and take your world by storm. Remember, many will kiss the lips of him that has the answer: God will make you the solution provider. The world will hear of you. Grace and favour will speak for you.  Only good will be heard in your camp. I will see you at the top. I bless you.

Maranatha! In His Royal Service,

Dr. Mike Okonkwo
The Presiding Bishop

Mark 5:36{KJV}

‘’As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.’’

Dearly beloved, I come to remind you once again that the Christian life though full of trials is nevertheless progressive; it is from grace to grace and from glory to glory. It does not matter what contradiction you see or experience, it can only get better for the believer. That is why I know that though you may be going through certain difficult situations right now, refuse to accept defeat, keep trusting God because nothing can stop your celebration. I challenge you to believe God for the best, because it will surely happen.

 Oftentimes, the problem with believers is that we take a look at our lives and are tempted to judge ourselves from the perspective of the world. The result is that we begin to compare ourselves with others, and feel we have been left behind. Beloved, understand that God deals with and sees you differently from those in the world. Remember that one day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is but like a day in His sight. What does this say to you? It means that God is not controlled by time. He does not live in time. You are the one that lives in time and so certain things can only happen at His own appointed time.

You must always walk with the mentality of a person who knows that all things worketh together for good to them who love God and are called according to His purpose. Like I would always say, wake up in the morning and expect only good to happen to you. Everything around you may not look good, that is just the fact, the truth however is that He daily loads you with benefits. You must take your portion of the benefits. You have a responsibility to create you day with your mouth. Don’t allow the devil create your day. Speak what you want to see and it will come to pass. Refuse to cancel yourself out in-spite of what the enemy throws at you knowing that head or tail you would win.

The Apostle Paul puts it this way: ’’For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day’’. {2 Corinthians 4: 16 KJV}.  He goes on to say in verses 17-18, ‘’for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.’’ Beloved, God’s word is not void of power, the truth is that there is a glory that God has prepared for you and I declare that you will partake of it in Jesus name.

I know that you may still have certain unanswered questions in your heart about why this and that thing has not happened yet, but I come to remind you that the God you serve is still faithful, just and righteous. Psalms 36:6 declares that ‘’His righteousness is like the great mountains’’ in other words, He cannot renege on what He has said concerning you. You can stake your life on what He has said because He is dependable. Men may have laughed at you, mocked or ridiculed you but I encourage you to hang in there because God will give you cause to laugh. Those that laughed at you are coming to laugh with you. It may be tough out there in the world, but for you it will be different. The grace of God in your life will make all the difference.

The last time I checked the scriptures, I saw that Esther though a slave girl rose to the position of being a queen in a foreign country. Think about it! Beloved, that same grace that took away the reproach of slavery from Esther would work for you. The scriptures also tell us that David, though an ordinary shepherd boy was catapulted by the grace of God to the throne of Israel. What is that saying to you? Beloved, it means that you will not remain where you are today. You will get to that height God has ordained for you. Don’t ever forget that what God has done for one is an evidence of what He will do for another. That is why I know that you will not be denied. I cancel every delay in your life. My God will grant you speed. He will compress time for you. You have heard the testimonies of others, be rest assured you will testify also.

As you go into this week, as always, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Maranatha!

In His Royal Service

Dr. Mike Okonkwo

The Presiding Bishop