By LGD media

Christians have been charged not to provoke God by living a sinful life and showing ingratitude for his mercies and compassion but remain faithful and dedicated to the worship and praise of God so that God’s plan and purpose for them would not fail.

Founder and leader of Love God’s Direction Ministries, Pastor Emmanuel Irame gave the exhortation at the church auditorium, during a church service, last Sunday, August 11, 2024 in Warri

He told the congregation to be focused, dedicated and committed to the worship and praise of God as well as make public confession of the goodness of God through presentation of testimonies of the good things they enjoyed and are still enjoying while in the presence and fear of God.

He warned that any act that is contrary could attract very dire consequence that could lead to the presence and glory of God departing from the individual or group of persons and thereby expose such to dangers of the world.

He said God has a plan for every person as soon as conception in the womb f their mothers took place and from the day the individual was born, and such plan would surely come to pass and fruition despite the manipulations of the evil one but that the success is guaranteed only when one lives a life of holiness that is in conformity with God’s Commandment.

Nothing can change the plan of God

“God is God. No situation can change God from being God. Nothing has the power to change God from God. Everything was created by God. Only the Potter can change the shape of the pot but the clay has no power to amend itself. If God says he will save somebody, nobody on earth can say otherwise. Nothing can change the plan of God. If a man makes shape from clay and says he will not destroy the clay, but an enemy of the man can go and destroy the molded clay. That is what happens in our life. God has a plan for man, plan not to harm him but to bless him, to give the man his expected hope so that his expectation of tomorrow will be better than today. That is how God planned it for man; to be getting richer and healthier by the day. So if anything makes the situation to turn backward and you have negative experience, it is not God that did it but the enemy of God who is Satan the Lucifer and his demons because they know the plan of God for you and have decided to oppose the plan of God and seeking to hinder the purpose of the plan of God. When your mother conceived your pregnancy Satan knew and could attempt to abort the pregnancy. That is why some women are influenced to do abortion and have miscarriage because the Devil and his agents know the plan of God for that child. For you in church, Satan did not oppose your plan, what about those ones that died? As far as you are alive, your plan is still safe, he only tries to hinder the purpose of your life not to manifest, the purpose of your children to be well, for you to be healthy and wealthy and enjoy life is what he (Satan) and his agents are hindering, and he must fail. But time is coming every purpose will keep manifesting with nobody disturbing. There must be joy, food and rejoicing. This is what God promised when Israel left Egypt from the hands of the Egyptians where they were in bondage. Pharaoh commanded that they should be captured and returned back to captivity and slavery but God did signs and wonders, he divided the Red Sea and it became a highway for Israel and a river again against Egypt. Your miracles, signs and wanders that will turn around your life for good will be against your enemy. When you are opening eyes your enemy will be closing eyes, when you are walking your enemy will be somersaulting: God is a double side sword. If it is good for you it will be bad for them, if you are laughing they are crying, you are progressing they are getting poor, you are well and happy and they are in sickness.

Do not provoke God

But do not provoke God to turn his face against you. If you provoke God to that level you are finished. Do not let God turn the curse of the Egyptians to you because you are God’s children. God says these curses are destined for your enemy but don’t let them go back to you. Be careful. The world is passing through this. I have told you all power belongs to God; power to destroy and power to repair but when you now provoke God to send his power out of his house, who will use it? Satan of course! So, if Satan kills you it means that the power of death and life is in the hand of God but God chose to let Satan have the power to kill because you provoked God into exile. I repeat, don’t provoke God to let his presence and protection for you depart from you.

Give testimonies

Provocation comes by mocking God, disrespecting God and forgetting his testimonies because God does miracles in our life so we could testify of his might and goodness. When people give testimonies they give God the glory. Without testimonies the presence of God cannot be felt. It is the testimonies that encourage men of God to preach otherwise, the task would be discouraging. If you say you are righteous you have to justify that and let the whole world know and justify your position. The plan of God and his Providence do not change. He has the power to protect his plan and purpose. If God says no one should die premature in this church, whatever the plan of Satan would be, God has the power and Providence to protect the Church because he is Alpha and Omega, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscience. Distance is not a barrier so long you are an LGDist, the Providence and protection of God is with you wherever you are –even if you are in Abuja, London or Washington DC. That Providence, don’t provoke God to take it from you and give it to another person who is your enemy. It would be like you gave license to your enemy. That is what happened to Job. Satan couldn’t touch Job but God told him to go and touch but not his heart. That means it was God that allowed Satan before he could touch. Do we blame God? No! We blame ourselves because we provoke God. Let us plan our life well and simple; simple in the form of you realizing that God is true. True in the sense that He created the heaven and earth and everything therein. God says he has plan for everything and wants nothing to destroy. The only condition for destroying those things is when he is provoked.

God’s plan for Joseph to be king sustained

There is nowhere in the Bible that Satan tormented people. God’s wrath was expressed in allowing the Egyptians to enslave and torment Israel because Israel’s children provoked God when they sold Joseph. God had a plan for the family of Israel that Joseph would be their leader and Joseph told this dream to his father, mother and brothers. The parents began to plan to prepare Joseph for the kingship and because the father was poor, he sewed a Coat of many colours , also meaning a coat of many blessings for Joseph. Now, Satan came in to stir jealousy, envy and malice among his brothers. Satan sewed the seed of hatred and vile; that you the youngest one was going to rule over them? They did not take that happily and began to conspire against the plan of God and the resolved to kill Joseph so that the dream would not materialize. They threw Joseph into a dry well but God’s plan for Joseph remained. God appeared to one of the brothers who persuaded others to sell Joseph into slavery. Now, the plan of God was seemingly being opposed; can a slave rule people? The plan of God for Joseph was to save Israel in due time, Satan knew of it and wanted to scatter that plan. He followed it up to the point of Potiphar’s wife seducing Joseph but Joseph remain faithful and focused on the plan of God. When he resisted the lures of the woman Satan stepped in to accuse him of attempted rape so that the purpose of his being a king would be overthrown. When he was taken to the prison Satan was happy that God’s plan for him to rule has been destroyed but inside the prison God manipulated and overturned the situation. Joseph was God’s plan to save Jacob in fulfillment of the promise he gave to his father Abraham. God’s intervention made Pharoah to honour Joseph placing him in charge of all Egypt so that Joseph was next in rank to the Pharaoh in the rulership of Egypt. Pharaoh was the senior king while Joseph was the junior king. Those who threw him out and sold him because they didn’t want him to rule over them were disappointed.

Refuse to be a human idol

From the Bible Book of Psalm 78:16, we understand that Satan has turned humans to idols. Humans created in the image of God have become image of Satan, slaves and idols. When you cannot do what you want to do you are an idol. If you are in prison can you see your children? As far as you have no freedom you are an idol. If I hear of your glory being in prison and I come to the rescue with a charge to secure your freedom, you have to obey my instructions to escape but I have to be careful otherwise, others in the prison may endanger me. If I did not make attempt to rescue you God would not be pleased with me but since I attempted to set you free from slavery it will be well with me.

In church dance and praise God

Don’t come to the house of God and say you will not dance and praise God. That is the reason we are preaching, for you to dance and praise the Lord. Until you dance you have not repented. Until you dance you have not praised the Lord. If you go t church anytime you like you have not repented. If you let your personal schedule overtake the worship of God you are just so. Nobody will force you. Go to your marriage party. But we plead with you, come this way for the other way is the way of death. There is no wisdom in the matter. Wisdom is to have the fear of God and obey his commands by living according to God’s Direction. Any other thing can follow.

Holy plans are thoughts in your heart that you speak out, that is your plan. It means you have to think before the plans come out. But some people do not have time to think. All the time they are quarrelling, all the time they are thinking evil. Any thought you nurse on how to undo your neighbor is an evil plan. Your plan ought to bring fruit, joy, life, help to people. That is what God approved so that his people can dance. When you plan to do business it is a good plan since the business will provide employment for some people and put food on their table. But if the purpose of your business is to let people die that business is evil. Some people are involved in human trafficking and exporting girls to foreign lands for prostitution. They plan it at home and execute it, may God let the business of such people fail. God will arrest the people with such evil plan; they will confess their sins while their victims of the evil plans will rejoice.

Signs and wonders

I repeat; don’t provoke God into anger. Don’t provoke God to leave you. After God rescued the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt there were signs and wonders on their way to the Promised Land. But let me tell you; don’t go to church because of signs and wonders. Signs and wonders are meant to demonstrate the power of God. God called us to worship and serve him but sometimes Satan attempts to disrupt the process of obedience and worship of God; that is when God uses signs and wonders to prove his might and disgrace Satan. So, whenever signs and wonders are demonstrated there is an indication that Satan had been around to challenge the plan of God and that is why a continuous search for signs and wonders is an attraction to the presence of Satan; and clearly, that is not the purpose of going to church. Such that when there are no signs and wonders then you become reluctant in serving God. The purpose God called us is to worship and praise him. You don’t need the presence and influence of Satan in your life before you serve God. The purpose of your being in church is to thank God for not allowing Satan to use you but to praise God. People move from church to church because of signs and wonders and performance of miracles. All the signs they give are ominous, they raise false hope and after seeing the signs and wonders anchored on wealth and social demands never come. You fooled yourself not the false prophet who gave the signs and promised you wonders. No human can do wonders, only God can do wonders. Humans can only give false assurances like tomorrow it shall be well with you.

Every sign and wonder that God shows is a testimony. Look at Psalm 78:56, “Yet they tempted and provoked the Most High God, and kept not his testimonies.” There have been a lot of testimonies here in this church; the blind see, the dumb speak and these testimonies are enough for you to worship and praise God. But if you are not giving testimonies it shows you are ingrate. Testimony is the talk we have about the demonstration of the power of God. It is our inheritance and pleasure of God. Don’t expect that you will get signs and wonders every day before you worship God. He has given you the signs and wonders, your duty is to enjoy. In spite of all the signs and wonders that God did for the children of Israel in Egypt and in the wilderness, they still provoked him.

“But turned back and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers; they turned aside like a deceitful bow (Psalm 78:57). So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men (Psalm 78:60). Let us pray that God does not forsake our tabernacle because of our ingratitude in not giving testimonies of the wonders of God in our life. For all these things that God did and is still doing for us if we fail to honour him by giving testimonies, God says he can forsake the altar. Those who gossip and mock the work of God in the church have a purpose of bringing the church to disrepute. “For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images (Psalm 78:58). Not only that they refuse to testify of the goodness of God but they move to other churches with the claim that miracles are not happening here and thereby provoke God especially, when they begin to court images and idols of gods that have no power to save. That is when the anger of God is provoked. And for this reason “He delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s land (Psalm 78:61). Because of your provocation as a result of your ingratitude, you pushed God out of your house; you sold your honour and children to Satan because you wanted money. So what happens? “He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance (Psalm 78:62) and then, “The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage (Psalm 78:63), more so, “Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation (Psalm 78:64).

God is merciful, testify

But God is not so wicked, he is merciful and compassionate. The reason he handed you over to the enemy was for you to appreciate and testify of the power and goodness of God. When your enemy torments you it is a warning for you to return to God so that you would have peace. “Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine (Psalm 78;65).

God was sleeping because you chased him out of the house with ingratitude. It is just like a spouse is provoked and she parks out of the house; so it is, when we provoke God he departs from our presence. But now God awakes for you, He has arisen for you and that pain and burden in your body he will return it to the enemy. “And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts; he put them to a perpetual reproach (Psalm 78:66). Your God has woken up and your enemy will not have peace of mind. The God in your business, education, marriage has woken up and henceforth you have to give testimony of the goodness of God in your life to the whole world. I will not be ashamed in doing that. God is my Providence, he is my protection. I will testify.