EXTRA: Seven things you must know if you must prosper or need Divine Favour (UPDATED)

Apostle Benson Enakhena, senior pastor of El-Shaddai Salvation Family Ministry has disclosed what you must know if you must prosper or need God's divine favour.

In his message "Walking into Divine Favour", Enakhena upped the know of his beloved members by killing their ignorance with fresh insights from the Holy Spirit.

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With more of teaching than preaching, Enakhena started with saying it is easy for me to say father favour me like Joseph, father bless me like Abraham, father I need Isaac's blessing, father protect me like David but there is a process.

“The favour of the Lord is called divine favour and it don't just fall from heaven, there is a process. Walking into divine favour is a process. You don't jump into it and this process most times is not pleasing to man because of the flesh. The process into God's divine favour is not pleasing to the flesh. I cite Abraham our father of faith: can you just picture me as a pastor now enjoying my house, my wife and children...and the Lord wakes me up one morning and says "Son walk out of this Lagos...leave your house just keep going", is that pleasing to the flesh? 

“After Jesus of Nazareth's 40 days & night of fasting and praying, there was a worldy promise and it was a favour of the flesh and not the favour of the Spirit. But Jesus said no! He used the word to conquer Satan. That was a process and immediately the Spirit of God took Him.  Inside favour there are two types of favour: Man's favour and God's favour and God's favour is a divine favour. The favour of man is a favour of the flesh. It takes you nowhere. Many children of God are not blessed today because they are accepting human favour. When you accept human favour, Jesus Christ said you cannot be greater than your master. Then ask yourself, when you begin to request for favour, who is that master you are requesting for favour from?   

“Some people do things because they want to be clapped for and some people are giving because they want to be seen giving. Divine favour is a process. Let no man of God lie to you, you don't pick it from the ground. We are going to use a servant of God which is Daniel as a case study. Let me tell you, God knows all your intentions. Some go to church hoping for protection, hoping for money etc but that is not the intention God is looking for. He says "Seek me first and my righteousness, all other things shall be added onto you", why are you here this very day? I always tell people, it is best you don't come for Sunday service rather than coming after the praise and worship. It is a waste. it is called kingdom worship. It is for the Lord , for you to come and praise and worship Him, every other thing is added onto it. If you don't worship and praise God on a Sunday, the Sunday is wasted. 

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“Walking into divine favour is like education where you need to pass every stage you get to in order to achieve your desired certificate. You don't say I need a first school leaving certificate then you wait in your house till you get to the age of ten and then you go and request for it, no. You didn't go to a primary school, you jump to the secondary school you want to have its certificate, you are a bloody liar. As a child Jesus knew what he could do but he was in a wedding ceremony and the wine got finished. His mother sent a servant to Him saying go and tell your master the wine has finished. Because the mother knew what her son possesses, what He can do but He said mom, my time has not yet come. He said but according to your will(because the bible says honor your father and your mother so that your days shall be long), have you been honoring your creator that you need so much from Him? how have you been honoring your creator that you need one big favour from Him? if you must prosper, if you must receive that God's divine favour you must know the following...

• You must defile the favour of man to receive the favour of God. You must put aside the favour of man to follow and receive the favour of God...ah that my uncle is wealthy he works at CBN, you will wait fruitlessly till he retires...oh that my friend is a billionaire...be waiting. If your destiny is higher than him and you are following him you will remain where you are.

• You must defile the favour of the flesh to receive divine favour.   Oh I have skin issues if I go to  church people will ask  me what is wrong with me...the woman with the issue of blood did not look at the people saying she is smelling...she ensured she touched Jesus. Do not allow your condition to stop you from serving God...I don't have clothes to wear,  Nepa has taken the light, oooh it is raining, ooh I don't have money for offering...infact don't be a member of a church where money is the order of the day. 

• We must trust God in divine favour. That is faith. You wake up in the morning and find you don't have food to eat...then you say Jeremiah must give me money so I can cook some food to eat today...you are not trusting in God, you are trusting in Jeremiah. When Jeremiah could not give you money for the  food as you haved hoped,  you begin to have hatred for him and forget Jeremiah is of the flesh, a human being like you. Instead of you to trust God. That is  why when some conditions defile medical treatments they begin to deteriorate and it leads to death because they trusted in the medical and did not trust in the stripes of Jesus...the bible says by His stripes we are healed. 

• We must walk according to the instruction of the Lord to receive divine favour. Christians today in their house remove some certain bible verse...we jump to where blessings are...you must follow all the instructions because the Lord said "not by any means shall my word drop on the ground without accomplishing its what?", it says the word of God cannot come back to Him void. You are not God. There are no shortcoming to God's blessings. I cannot give tithe, I cannot sweep the church, I don't have much to give offering. If you don't have money to give  there is something you can do for God...where are you in the house of God? If you don't love my wife you don't love me. Take it or leave it. If you hate my wife you hate me. What is the church to Jesus? the church is the wife of Jesus. If you are not doing or contributing anything in the house of the Lord, you are not a friend of Jesus. Take it or leave it.

• You must do what others refuse to do to receive divine favour. I did not say they cannot, they can but the flesh is refusing them. In my former church I was active in every department (I was the assistant to my pastor, when the light is out I used to go and put on the generator, when there was no usher I did the ushering), When you are doing what others are doing, you are not special. When you are doing what others are doing, don't expect God's divine favour. That is how it is done so let's be doing it like that...you are just not special.

• You must do what others cannot do.  One day after the all night service, in the morning I was going to drop some brethren and one of them a very good brother of mine asked me: Pastor how can you take only one offering in a whole all night service? I said we are not going to do what others are doing and added that in our bible study service there will not be offering because our people are perishing today because they don't know the word of God. Anything we can do(if it takes us cooking food), for people to come and hear the word during the bible study we will gladly do that. If the best cook in your street is using knorr seasoning, go and do your research for a better seasoning. If the best camera man in your community is using Samsung, go and do a research there is a better camera that might not be as espensive as that Samsung camera. If you can give 20% of your tithe, I can tell you that I will do better than you. Somebody said to me "pastor why is it that even you as a pastor you are spending your money on the church? I said do you think you love God's blessing more than me? Do you think I don't want my children to be blessed? Do you think you all here, I don't want you to be blessed? Let me tell you something, there is just no need following a man that does not carry favour. A physical example is: you have a brother that you want to buy a car for so he can be doing Uber...you are praying to God to give you the money so you can do what you want to for your brother but this very brother of yours is not doing the things of God, how can he be favoured? When he is not favoured how will God give the money so you can bless him? Do you know that the people you carry along  can prevent you from being favoured by God? who are you carrying along? whom you are carrying along determines how far you can go. Don't carry along with people that will draw you back. There friends you need to defriend in your journey of life for you to move forward. Not that you should hate them but keep to yourself. In order to understand divine favour let us look at a servant of God in the bible. As I said earlier I will be using Daniel as a case study to how God walks people to divine favour. How Daniel got his divine favour. I want us to look at it critically. Daniel 1:3...after reading verse three and into the verse four Enakhena said inside saints there is a saint. When Daniel prayed God released his parcel through an angel but was the Angel able to deliver it? who delivered it? was the Angel not an Angel? Power pass power. Favour pass favour. We need to prepare your children for divine favour. how do you do that? In character, doing the things of God. Some of us we go to church and leave our children behind. It is better for my children to go to church then I stay at home because they own tomorrow. You are not taking your children to church, they don't know anything about the word of God  then tomorrow you will say I have prayed and still praying but my child ended up joining cultism and went to jail. You are the one that sent your children to jail. Because you did not teach them the way. The bible says bring up the child in the way of the Lord so that when he or she grows, he or she would not depart from it. The parents of Daniel prepared him for his journey to divine favour. The king was looking was children with what? Skill. Knowledge. Understanding. As your children are growing what skills are you empowering the with that when they go to a place they will find them skillful in various areas? You need to prepare your children for favour. The king did not just request for chaff children but children of a seed that will germinate and bear fruit. Daniel, Shedrach, Meshach and Abednego found themselves in this position. Who will open a company and employ unskillful person there? and even if I employ you as a skillful person and you are not growing in skill I will sack you. You should grow better than when I employed you. The bible says the anointing of yesterday is not enough for today, you must improve on your skills. You need a fresh oil, fresh skill, fresh wisdom. You cannot be better than others unless you do your things in a very beautiful way. Let me tell you, this wisdom started from the king himself. He knew what he wanted. Every good leader knows what he needs. A leader that does not know what he wants will not get to anywhere. Do you know where you are going to?  The king changed their names and they began to learn the language...ah I can't learn french. Whatever positive thing you find yourself opportuned to learn, learn it. The king also said that they should be fed with his food and drinks. Verse 8, Daniel said but. Listen it is not every gift a child of God must accept. It is not every appointment or position you must accept, as a child of God. You must know who you are in the house of God. Verse 9, Now God had brought Daniel into favour...you cannot take yourself into divine favour. You must present your hand holy, righteous. If my son decides to go to UniBen and I said you cannot go, can you pay the school fees? When my friend decides to send you there after a year he will say go and meet your.

• You must prepare yourself ready for your holy father in heaven to take you. If you need divine favour prepare your hands holy and righteous so that when the Lord is coming He will say this is my only son, follow me. Daniel prepared his hand for the favour by not defiling himself. When God is about to favour you (when you say ooh this mummy is very wicked...she cannot give somebody one naira), when God wants to favour me through her, do you know what God will do? God will tender my love in her heart. As am coming from afar God will be speaking to her, that man that is coming I want you to help him you have no option. Even that house rent remaining in your bag you must give it to him. That is God's favour. God's favour is sowing His love for you in the hearts of kings and queens to favour you. That is how the favour of God works. That is how God walks men into favour. No man can hate you and bless you. But in this journey Daniel was carrying friends, who were his friends? Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego and they were doing the same thing. Don't follow the people you don't do the same thing with. They will drag you down. When Daniel was favoured, who werr the people he looked for? his friends. He said bring them to me. Let them come and work with me. I know my friends. Know who you follow in your journey of life. Many marriages are scattered today because of friends. Men follow bad friends and women follow bad friends. Who you are determines the counsel you give to somebody. Don't jump here and there, be focus. Know where you are going to. As you are focused, for you to receive the blessing, you must wear that garment of foolishness but you are wise inside you. You cannot carry ego and be expecting God's favour. When you know and follow your God, you are positive in things you are doing. We are carrying fear because we are not sure God appointed us to do the things we are doing. We are not sure of the approval of God. That is why we are shaking and exercise fear. When you know yourself you don't fear situations. Your conscience is the reason why you don't believe God can protect you because you are not living right. When you live well with your heavenly father you dialogue. Daniel when he lived well with God he "father search me" . How many prophets today are ready to start speaking the truth? Some are not even ready to say it so that their church will not be empty. How many prophets today are prepared for the reward in heaven? It is better I send five people to heaven than send one thousand people to hell fire. Favour of God is not manna. I told someone recently who asked me when will manna fall again? that manna only fell because God sent the Israelites to the wilderness. When God sends you, He feeds you. God cannot feed you when He did not send you to where you are. Let me tell you, if you deligently walk in the ways of the Lord, as you are going you will think you are not going higher but you are most definitely going higher. By the time you will realise it you are already there. We are where we are because we are afraid of taking Godly steps.  If the Lord appear now and ask how many of us have been faithful with their tithe, how many will stand and face the Lord? if the Lord appear now and ask that for the past three years what have you done for the poor person? what have you done in His house? what will you point to? If God asked again, how many things have you defiled in my name from January till now? how many can you count? There is no man that defiled anything because of God that God will not replace back in hundred folds.  God chose four children that refused to do what others are doing out of the 300. God gave those knowledge and skills to those that obeyed Him and walk according to His commandments. Keep yourself focused. Know where you are going to, you are not following man, you are following God. Daniel was not carried away with the food in the kings house, he focused on his creator. He focused on his journey. His parents were not there to guide him, they have already given him the key from childhood, who God is, what God is, what God does not want and those things guided him. If you refuse to guide your children now then tomorrow when they get into higher institution you will be looking for deliverance. Grow your children in the ways of the Lord because if you refuse to do that they will become a problem for you tomorrow. Verse 19, and among them all was found none like Daniel. He took first. If you a mortal body cannot accept failure from your children, how do you expect your father in heaven who created you to accept your failure? God did not create you to become a failure. God did not create you to become a disappointment. You must make yourself useful. You must prepare yourself. Don't be waiting for people to bless you. There is a woman whose child always have convulsion and whenever it happens she will call her pastor. But one night when it happened she called her pastor and his number was switched off so she told her husband that tonight it is between us and Jesus. (I love her till tomorrow), she said she prayed like never before, fell into anointing and spoke in tongues till she fell asleep. It was her who woke her up to tell her she is hungry. How long are you going to wait for your pastor? Hannah did not wait for pastor at Shiloh. The bible says she prayed until she lost her voice...You cannot be in Christ and be thinking like those that are not in christ. Your wisdom, skills, knowledge and understanding cannot be like another man. Why do you now say I am in Christ and Christ is in me. You don't need to tell someone Christ is in you. When you do the right things, kings and queens begin to look for you not you looking for them. Put your things in order, put yourself in order, put your Spiritual life in order, put your marriage in order, put your destiny in order, put your business in order, arrange your life. The worse thing that happen these days is, children of God now complain their problems to unbelievers. What can an unbeliever offer you? A dead foolish advice. Daniel and his friends defeated all because they were carrying the creator in them. What are you carrying? Are you carrying the authority? One of the days of our weekly services hoodlums were fighting seriously in the neighborhood and somebody suggested we cancel the service and I said no! As it was getting to the time for our gathering there was utter calm...No darkness can over shadow the light of God. Know who you are. Know what God you are carrying. If you refuse to recognize God in you, He cannot work effectively in your life. You must carry that Spirit as a child of God. When God is carrying you into your divine favour there are powers that are ready to bring you down either in the physical or in the spiritual. The more Daniel was accused, the more he was waxing stronger in the Lord. When Daniel was thrown into the lion's den, the lions understood this is God because they saw God in him. They cannot eat the Lion of the tribe of Judah. This one belongs to God. These lions gave to God what belongs to Him and God gave to them they families and children of those conspired against Daniel. The lions in the lion's den used Daniel to sow seed back to God and they harvested the whole family that sent Daniel to the den.