ABOVE ONLY

Most Christians are used to the ordinary. They have built up an impression that good success is not their lot. They believe that it is good to just barely make it. They are satisfied with a mere pass. They have lost sight of, or do not even know, the fact that God intends good success for them. They are completely ignorant of God’s provision for them to be above only and not beneath.

In Deuteronomy 28, the Bible says God’s intention for you is to be ABOVE ONLY. That is to say success only and always; not failure.

"And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.

And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail; and thou shall be ABOVE ONLY and thou shall not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them"
Deuteronomy 28:1-2,13

People, even preachers, have told us in the past that success is anti-godliness. People have got the idea that mediocrity is synonymous with consecration. So the Church has been singing "O take the whole world and give me Jesus ..., we will understand it better by and by ... People were deep in ignorance. They have been deceived into believing that the Christian life is a life of continuous and consistent struggles. They even say that when things are becoming very smooth with you, you must check and examine yourself because the Christian life is full of troubles and sorrows. This is essentially a lie from the devil. God does not intend life to be up and down for you.

He said, "you shall be above only, and not beneath." I cannot see any failure in that statement. It is God’s heart desire for you to be an outstanding success and remain so. Success is not a symptom of backsliding or carnality. It is an attribute of divinity.

Many people in the world today claim they are successful. But the world has not known real success yet. The genuine success has not come. When it comes, every man will see and know it. It will be obvious to all. This kind of success is divine success. It is being like God in all areas of life, an all round success! Most people who claim to have success in business, academics or in their respective professions are worse than failures in other areas of life. Their Family life, for example, cannot be discussed. Their social life is something else. That is not success.

Success is being successful all round. It is being like God. And this kind is reserved for God’s people only. That is why the Bible says, "you will be above only and not beneath." God’s success nature puts you over; it cannot be put under. Being above means good success. Being beneath means failure. Being the head means success, and being the tail means failure. Notice how it is put; it says,

"And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only and thou shalt not be beneath ..."

There is no sense of doubt about this. God says He will make you the head. He wants to make you the most successful. You are not meant to be the wretched of the earth. He wants you above always. He does not want you to be trampled upon. You are not designed to be a drawer of water and hewer of wood. He means you for much better things than that.

I do not know what you think about yourself, but the fact remains that God wants you to be above only. You need to allow your mind come under a new orientation and revelation from God. You need to be heart-washed and brain-washed! (Your brain definitely needs to be scrubbed). Those traditions of men and devils must be removed. You need a completely renewed mind to get into the full consciousness of God’s success plan for your life.

Success is a good gift. It is a good thing. We have proofs from the Bible that God is delighted in giving good things to His people. He does not tempt people with evil. Failure is evil. Success is good. God is the author of success, and the devil is the author of failure. He attempted to dethrone God, but failed. So, he started it. He is the author and finisher of failure, while God is the author and finisher of good and absolute success. He gives good success to His people.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning"
James 1:17

God is the source of divine success. He is not evil. He gives good gifts. If you are a parent, you would not desire failure for your child. You would not even want him to be average. You would want him to be a bright fellow. You would want him to top his class all the time. Nothing but his best will satisfy you. How come then do you think and believe that God can wish you for failure? He does not do that. If you would wish your child for success, how much more would God wish you for success.

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Matthew 7:11

God takes pride in your success even more than you take pride in your child’s success. It is His interest and deep heart hunger. He created you to be the expression of His glory and praise here on earth. You are not ordinary. At salvation, He brought you out of the natural unto the supernatural. He brought you out of the ordinary. He brought you out of yourself unto Himself. That is why you are peculiar, and designed to be a showpiece to the world. He wants you to be a symbol of divinity here on earth.

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, (God’s) own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him who called you out of darkness unto His marvelous light"
1 Peter 2:9 Amplified

You are to be a showpiece to God’s wonderful deeds and virtues. King James Version says to "show forth." A showpiece is something that shows forth. God’s ultimate intention is for you to be a show piece.

God is saying to you, "I have reserved a place for you at the top. I have no plan for you at the base of the ladder. It is My express will for you to be on top and be above only. That is My eternal plan and programme for you."

You say, "Bishop, do you mean we are all meant to be at the top? Who then will be below? If we are all above only, then nobody will be beneath." And I say, it is not your business to know who will be beneath. God says it is you He wants up there. Who ever takes the last position is not for you to worry about. But note that as many as are without Christ will definitely be beneath. They cannot do any better. They are failures by nature because their father, Satan, is the greatest failure the world has ever known.

Do you ever notice that Job’s pattern of life was a manifest showpiece? It arrested the devil’s attention, busy as he was. Job was a symbol of divinity in wealth and right living. He just was demonstrating God’s traits in successful living. He was a sign and that caught the devil’s attention. Much in the same way, God wants you to be a sign here on earth. He wants you to be a pointer to divinity in success. The Bible says in Isaiah 8:18,

"I and the children the Lord hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion"

God means you to be a sign. He wants you to be a wonder to many in success. Men should see God in you. Christianity is not only in repenting and going to heaven someday. We will surely go to heaven, but before then, God wants to show the world through the church that heaven is for real. This will happen when we begin to live out God’s qualities and attributes here on this earth.

I do not know why Christians are used to mediocrity. God’s life in you is not for such things. The seed of success is there already. Allow it to germinate, grow and have full expression and manifestation. That is God’s will for you, and that is the way to be above only.

People ask me, "Pastor, what do you really mean by success? I have seen ungodly people being successful in business and all that. They do not even believe in God, and yet you maintain that success comes only from God. If that is true, how does success come, tell me how they got theirs." What those fellows have is not success. They are set up by the devil in slippery places so that they may fall and fall heavily. The Psalmist has a lost to say about such success of the wicked.

"Fret not yourself because of evil doers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness that which is not upright, nor is right standing with God, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. For evil doers shall be cut off; but those who wait and hope and look for the Lord shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the evil doer will be no more; though you look with care where he used to be, he will not be found"
Psalm 37:1-2, 9-10

That is the state of the wicked. All you can see around you that looks like success and prosperity of the wicked is fake. They are not genuine. They fade away like the grass. They look like they are successful today, but tomorrow, they will be pulled down. God did not place them up there so they have to come down again. It is a fact of the Scripture that every tree that is not planted by God must be uprooted. Jesus said in Matthew 15:13, that,

"Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up"

They are not a planting of God so they must be rooted up. You cannot imagine the number of people that have been rooted up this way in our country, Nigeria. During the 1979-83 political era, some men came on the course of history and suddenly became "successful" businessmen, politicians, ministers, governors and "VIPs.

But now, can you point to them as successful people today? Some of them have had their buildings auctioned, while some have no taxi fares in their pockets now. They were not MADE by God so they had to be unmade. This success I am talking about is the one that comes from God. It is eternal success.

When God makes you a success, it becomes irreversible. When He sets you up, you can never be pulled down. In fact, when you are up by God’s doing, you can never go lower than that. When God makes you a success, you remain so eternally.

"I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it that men should fear before Him"
Ecclesiastes 3:14

God is a God of performance. He is in the absolute. He does all things well, and that includes your success. When He begins a work of success in you, you can only be better, not worse. Your ways will become better and better with the passing of each day.

"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day"
Proverbs 4:18

Note that light and darkness are exact opposites. Light can only get brighter and darkness get darker until there is an intervention of light. So the path of the wicked is like a darkening darkness which goes darker and darker unto the day of doom. This simply explains why things are getting worse with the ungodly.

Take this from me, as it gets tougher and worse for the wicked in this present generation, it will get easier and better for God’s people His righteous ones. So make up your mind to be above only all the time.