From Dysfunctionality to Functionality

WHEN PEOPLE STAND TO INSULT ME, THE ONLY THING I THINK OF IS HOW TO HELP THEM COME OUT OF THEIR WRONG IDEOLOGIES.

THERE ARE PEOPLE YOU SHOULDN’T LISTEN TO; OTHERWISE, YOU WILL END UP DESTROYING YOUR HOME.

YOU CANNOT USE MODERN WISDOM TO CONQUER AN ANCIENT devil.

• Apostle Femi Lazarus on “FROM DYSFUNCTIONALITY TO FUNCTIONALITY: THERE are Consequences

1 Peter 5:8. So the Bible is saying that the devil keeps looking around; he’s looking for whom he may devour. So, sometimes you will want to ask. If there is a problem in the home, there is a whom he wants to devour – there is a person. See, the devil doesn’t just strike, if you don’t know why he is around, you will keep hosting him. You need to know why. Why are we having this problem now? Why are we having this dispute now? Church Gist. Why are we having this argument now? Why is this fight…? Some people fight at the hem of (their) breakthrough and just when they get into that, the breakthrough will not go through again. The devil – we are dealing with a very smart being. We are dealing with a being that is ancient and you must understand that you need the wisdom of God that is also ancient to deal with that being. You cannot get modern wisdom to conquer an ancient devil. There is an ancient wisdom and the wisdom is the wisdom of Scriptures.

There is nothing anybody wants to tell you that is new. The Bible is clear. There are things that humility will deal with effortlessly. The attempt to go another route is to build out of pattern and it will bring chaos. So the devil is out to…and you see, I have shown you before that lions don’t attack animals in groups. They wait for the isolated ones; they wait for the wounded ones. Church Gist. Meaning that you are mostly likely to fall into trouble when you have wounds that are not healed because that puts you back. It puts you back in a system that you are alone with your own thoughts. Have you seen people post things like ‘alone with my thoughts?’ No! You should not be alone with your thoughts. It is dangerous because at that point, you are going to begin to think about things that have mixed with your experiences and pain and bitterness and there you are wondering.

You can laugh with your spouse, enter into the room alone with your thoughts and come back seeing him as a beast. Because at that moment of isolation, the devil has been able to attack your mind; he has been able to fight your thinking. What he wants to do is to put filters…(asks for glasses). Whatever the colour of this room is, the moment I wear…(‘I know say I fine.’ I know. You are taking pictures – snap me). Church Gist. Now wait, it doesn’t matter what the colour of this room is, the moment I put this (glasses) on, what I see with is this. This alters my perception of this reality. This is a reality (the glasses), this is for the moment. Pain is like this (putting on the glasses), it alters your perception about a reality. You look at the person and you can no longer see the person you used to love. No! You actually still love the person but there is something altering your reality. And that’s the same way wrong counsels work.

There are elderly people that should not be listened to. Elihu said, “I thought that multitude of age should teach wisdom.” But it is not always so because fools too survive. Foolishness kills but some fools survive and they live long. And the fact that people have podcasts and have things to say about certain genders and certain things doesn’t make them good. Church Gist. They may be eloquent but if you take those ideologies, they will destroy your home. You check, all the screenshots you have on your phone, they are a confirmation of your thought process and where you are going. ‘No gree for any man’ and this this; you saved it because you agreed. The day somebody will do something that will confirm that reality, you will flip it out and then upload it on your status. And then they are asking you, ‘who is that for?’ You say, ‘no, no, I was just thinking to myself.’ ‘Na lie!’ I always advise people, when you are offended, stop posting status, you will bleed on it. Are you following what I’m saying here?

You check, who are you listening to? What is the thought process you are running with? There are men who believe that if you tell your wife everything about your life, she will use it against you. See, don’t just go online and argue. Let’s be smart people. When people talk, look at what they have said – it just shows you the mindset that there is. I teach and when I teach, you can relate with the things that I’m saying because I don’t live in denial – I listen. Somebody can stand and insult me and I’m looking at you and I say “this too exists.” Church Gist. The only thing on my head is this one is just the manifested prototype of many hidden ones – how can we help them? No, I won’t fight you. You say, am I the one you are talking to? No, no – talk! I know you are just a captain of many. So the question is, we go back to the drawing board – this kind. They post something on Instagram, you say, that’s why I hate pastors – this kind, how can we help them? What can we do? Give us the wisdom to reach them. Because ideologies – they form the filters with which we perceive life and if they go bad, your perception will be bad.

Let me teach you a principle. One of the things that I do as a leader that has protected my heart over the years even when there is hurt, somebody has done something bad and this is obviously bad and they say, “Apostle, how are you coping with this person?” I simply refused to change my good perception of the person. As long as I refuse to change what I perceive about the person, you cannot get me into offense. You are a good man – I know you are a good man. I know. You are just doing bad stuff. Church Gist. Maybe you had a bad day but you are a good man. Sometimes you will have to hold fast the good things that you believe about your spouse. “You are a good woman. Ah, I know you are a good man but today…sometimes the food has been made and it looked like they gave extra salt as (a) bonanza. Your wife has made it. You look at and say, ‘my chef, my chef, I don’t know who went to fetch the water for this soup from the Red Sea.’ What are you talking about? Is it salty? Actually…soft words will turn away certain wrath per time. Don’t go and tell your wife ‘Red Sea.’ I am innocent. (Laughs) Amen!

So the devil is always looking for things to do to fight individuals, to fight generations, to fight families and to fight people. The Bible said, ‘we should resist him steadfastly.’ Church Gist. When you hear things as thoughts, you hear things as premonition in your heart that you know this is not God, resist the devil. Okay? Resist the devil. I’m going somewhere.

If you look at the Book of 1 Samuel 15, the story of Saul, there is the consequence of forsaking God. Everything has consequences. There is a pattern God created for the society to work, the foundation of that pattern is the family system. Hence, there is a foundation God has designed for the family system to work. Church Gist. The moment there is a deviation from divine pattern, we cannot shy away from the consequences. There is the consequence that my…so, I explained a concept and the concept was gotten wrong. So let me give clarity.

See, there is a consequence of a father missing in a girl’s life, there is the consequence of a father missing in a boy’s life. The father forms the foundation of purity, of affection in the life of a girl. The father is often referred to as the girl child’s first love. If that role is missing in a girl’s life, she develops what is called toxic love addiction. Church Gist. That is, the need to want to be validated by those who love you. It is a reality. No amount of shouting on Apostle Lazarus can change it. It is a reality but God helps. He sets people, He sets the solitary in families. He puts people in places where they can learn. If God has helped you in such a way that you didn’t go certain ways, then God has blessed you. But there are a billion people that will tell you this is true. A girl has finished her semester on campus and there is no home to go to – some boys are going to take advantage of her. It’s the reality.

A man is missing in a boy’s life, he lacks identity. I understand that there are situations that necessitate separation and biblically, there are situations that necessitate divorce. Oh, yes! Don’t wait till anybody kills you. There are but the moment people are going through that route understand that what God has designed for two to nurture, it’s now going to be nurtured by one. What are the likely consequences on the…? Don’t fight ‘no, no, it can’t happen.’ No! That is not intelligence. Church Gist. Understand the likely consequences such that you know you have to go this separate way, how can God help us in the lives of these children so that this consequence will not come to a reality? It is just like the principle of anything that goes up surely comes down. So you now begin to check, what can I do? What can we do? What kind of school can they go to? What kind of Church can they attend? What kind of messages can they listen to?

There is a God who seals up loopholes and He helps us. But you must understand that there are consequences. If you will hit your wife and insult her in front of your children, there is a consequence to that. You say, what about not in front of the children? You beat your wife? And there are women that will beat the husband and will beat the hell out of him. I’m telling you. With your muscles, they will beat you. You are in a relationship and the girl is telling you, ‘I dey warn you now.’ Oh, my God! And you are saying, you know it’s just one of those things. Church Gist. When you are getting married, I have a gift for you – iodine, plaster, paracetamol, bandage, clutches because you will need many of those. We will bind you up many times again and again. There are consequences to all these actions. The moment we fail to build according to pattern, there are consequences. So we stay with patterns.