by Passman Akpos
Bishop David O. Oyedepo, presiding Bishop of faith Tabernacle and living faith church worldwide, said he wears white suits because it is cheap and does not fade.
Oyedepo speaking during the Church of God Mission Megacon with the theme “focus on Christ to discover and fulfil destiny in Benin said “you can’t know white when it fades, because it fade to white, stressing that white can’t fade to black, it only fade to white.
Speaking ,the man of God said, Focusing on Christ, to discover purpose and fulfilment. In our discovered purpose lies our fulfilment, faithful is He that calleth thee, who also will do it. So when God calls, He gets into it Himself and when God is at work, the result is always marvelous. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our sight.
Adding that, God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul, not that Paul did, God did. When one finds his place in God’s agenda, he has committed God’s hand to keep working and when God is at work, the result is always marvelous (Psalm 118:23, 1 Thessalonians 5:24).
He noted that, our fulfilment in life as believers lies in walking in God’s purpose for our lives. Again, no one will miss his steps in walking in God’s purpose in the name of Jesus. But only those who ask questions are entitled to answers. Nobody goes about from house to house, do you have any questions? No, only those who ask questions are entitled to answers. He said, woe unto them that go down to Egypt and will not ask counsel of Me. So they just keep swimming against the tide. It is important to know that our Heavenly Father is ever open to instruct, to correct, to reproof if we ask him. You have not because you ask not. He added
Stressing that, There are things He would tell us directly, there are things we need to ask. This is what I am thinking Lord, is it according to your plan for my life? It is very important.
But the journey becomes easy when we give God His place. Jesus said, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things, including finding my purpose for your life, shall be added to you. I call that the Jackpot of life. That’s where I believe, my life took on real meaning. I caught that word, 1976. I was 22 years young and I was reading the book, ‘the man God uses’ by Oswald J. Smith and I don’t know what happened, light just struck from Heaven, I couldn’t recover from it. Seek ye first, God said to me, there is rhema behind every written word and all these things that others are dieing to get, shall be added to you. I never heard from a man, it is not written in that book. Because, behind every statement of Scripture, is the voice of God.he said
He keeps on unveiling His plan to you one after the other when that condition is met. Seek ye first… Let me and my Kingdom become your priority for living and all these things shall be added to you – all of them, not some of them, not most of them – all of them. It got a hold on me that I entered into a covenant with it.
My wife and I were in courtship, I made her to sign it for us to continue. She signed it, laterally I have the raw paper, I have the printed paper. She has to sign it, September 12, 1976 and that became my simple lifestyle, I can’t get out of it. Oyedepo noted,”I have never lacked since the day I entered that covenant. I have never begged and I have never borrowed and God forbid that I steal. Sir, I was willing to go a hundred and seventy kilometres for a follow-up. We were to go for that follow-up and there was no cash on our hands and I said, the Fulani’s that rear cattle, from Sokoto to Lagos are not born again. They have only human life, I have eternal life. What is the problem? And I charged the young men and said, we are going. Then somebody knocked and brought a seed. I wasn’t too happy, I wanted a walk with Jesus. That’s how deadly the passion for Him was.
We are still on the street up till now. We have about 22,000 people came into Church, first time this year through my outreach team, including two fellows that were about to commit suicide and Jesus met them and recover them and restore their destiny. So seek ye first.
Can I tell you something, I went on a follow- up when the vision was handed over to me. Two of my friends, I couldn’t hear from them. One of them was my convert, the other one was a Christian friend. I couldn’t hear from them; were they having some troubles, were they going through some stress, let me go and check them up. So I drove, got to the first place, everything was fine. Okay, I am going to the second place, pray with them. They said can you eat? I said, no I can’t eat, I am on a mission. I went to the second place and I had ‘away on weekend’ and the Lord said to me, He spoke through me, all things work together for the advantage of those who love the Lord. Immediately, the Lord said, seek a quiet place, I want to talk to you, that’s where the mandate was delivered.
In pursuit of God and His Kingdom, I encountered His purpose. The devil ministered to me and said, I will make sure you fall by fornication. I said, satan you lied. I said; God, if I dare it, smite me with leprosy. We are not joking here. Who wants to be a leper?
There is no man under Heaven who will make God and His Kingdom, his priority for living, who will struggle to access his purpose. Peter gave Jesus his boat and he found purpose. Follow me, I will make you fishers of men. He abandoned everything. It was too real and see Peter, he is still speaking today.
– From this place onward, you won’t lack access to real life encounters.
Seeking God first and the interest of His Kingdom qualifies you unhindered access to purpose.
– No one here will miss his place.
To be spiritually minded is life and peace but to be carnally minded is death. Let’s get spiritual about everything in life. It doesn’t bring you down, it lifts you up. Before I had any bank account in my life, I genuinely desire; God if you ever bless me, I want to be building You churches. The first thing I ever embarked upon, my wife and I was a Chapel. We didn’t own a house until we build a Chapel for Jesus.he noted
All these things shall be added to you. Young people have a lot of dream, very few have any Kingdom dream whatsoever. What dream of the Kingdom do you really have? Without conception, there cannot be delivery. You can’t conceive a genuine Kingdom dream and not end up in a boom. You can’t see God’s work going on without any feeling and expect to enjoy His fullness, no.
Somebody once asked me, what’s your ambition? I said ambition? I want to hear from Jesus when I get to heaven, well done, faithful servant. You want to become something, no. I’ve never tried to become anything. I have never had it in my mind, I am going to become something. I want to become whatever He makes me. I’ve told God, whatever thing You cannot do, let it remain undone, I don’t need it.
Mama, when the Lord gave us the licence for Covenant University, I shut the door in the hotel where others were enjoying and celebrating God. I said, Jesus, if this is not Your thing, tell me. I will tear this paper now. I heard Him direct, ‘it is I’. Before we build Faith Tabernacle, I’ve asked them to look for farmers in the Church that we will allocate the land to, before we are ready. We were not ready for anything. The Lord gave the order, ‘I’m dedicating it next year’. Twelve months only. No budget. He did it.
Let Him lead you to your next phase, you won’t struggle, you won’t sweat. It will be heat-free flight. I never confessed, we build this Church, no. He said He will, so let’s partner with Him and they would tell me, we need 80 million, I’ll say, go ahead. Before they arrive there, it is there already. He has brought it because He commanded it.
Allow God to lead. Your future is brighter than you can imagine but let Him be the One to lead you there.
– You will not miss God.
We were in a place outside the Country and we laboured for six years and nothing was happening. I now said, Jesus, why is nothing happening out there? He said, I am not there. Six years of fruitless labour. So I ordered the Mission Team to return now. God just told me, He is not there. When it was time, we invaded that nation, today we have over 200 Churches there, in that same Country. We went about 8 years ahead of Him.
Allow God to lead, he said, don’t let people lead, don’t lead yourself. He never leads backward, He always lead forward. No gates can stop you when God is leading you.
I can tell you this, after I have a go ahead for the University, He now taught me step by step, the way to go. I was literally taking dictation. When God leads, He supplies the light to walk the path. He shows you the Word to engage with in running with it.
Allow God to lead the way, it will be stress-free, it will sweat-less, yet undeniable proofs. There is no shame to them that wait on Him. Every good thing follows those who follow God.
Can I say this; God’s ultimate is the promise land but He will take us little by little, step by step into our promise land. Allow Him to lead you. He knows better than you and I. We can’t run this race on our own. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, he knows everything about tomorrow. But the key to this realm is seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.he noted
All that is a choice, seek ye first. Choose ye this day, whom ye shall serve. It begins with a choice. I choose on that September 12, 1976 to make God my reason for living and the interest of His Kingdom, the center of my life and He gave me grace to pursue that choice. I have not had one day of regret, it is 45 years now.
Can I tell you one funny thing, we never had an opportunity for honeymoon in my marriage. Got married on Saturday, had meetings on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and in those days, there were no offerings for meetings, so it is not money motivation, it is motivation to see souls saved. Now, the first month went, the second month went and my wife said, when are we going for honeymoon? I said which one do you choose; three days honeymoon, one week honeymoon or a lifetime honeymoon. She said lifetime honeymoon. That’s what we are enjoying today. Stress-free family life.he said
Now I want you to laugh. Do you know why I wear white? It is the cheapest thing to wear. White suits are the cheapest or you don’t know, try it. I used to crack joke with a friend and said, you see my dress, the whole thing how much does it cost because I have the permanent white up and down that I wear. If I don’t change, you can’t know because if it fades, it fades to white. White can’t fade to black; it can only fades to white.
