Guardian

IT is uncommon for God to speak to someone. The word of God is quite choosy about who it comes to. That God speaks to you is one of the greatest things that could possibly happen in your life. Jonah was a fortunate; the word of the Lord came to him.

“But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” -Jonah 1:3.

Nineveh was a wicked city; it was so terrible that foreigners avoided it. When Jonah heard that God wanted him to go there to preach the word, he was filled with fear. He arose, as God had ordered him. Thus, he did the right thing by getting up. But instead of heading for Nineveh, he fled to Tarshish, to hide from the Lord. If God orders you to turn to the right and you turn to the left instead, you have walked out of His presence. You cannot obey God partially and expect Him to be pleased with you.

Not only did Jonah leave the presence of God. By paying a fare to Tarshish, he used his money to purchase trouble. A lot of us are using our monies to buy destruction. Brothers who visit prostitutes are buying their way into bondage. People who smoke and drink alcohol are using their money to buy death.

“But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up” -Jonah 1:4.

Jonah put everyone on the ship in danger. The sailors became afraid when they discovered that Jonah had fled from God. They knew it was Jonah’s presence on the vessel that had caused the Lord to send a mighty storm. The affliction of the Lord upon Jonah’s life was endangering everyone around him. He reached a point where unbelievers in the ship rebuked him for putting their lives in danger. If what you are doing is causing unbelievers to speak evil of Christianity, then you are in trouble with God. If you are doing something that can make other people perish, then you need to change immediately, before the affliction of the Lord comes upon you.

When Jonah decided to run away from God, affliction pursued him. When you disobey God, you are inviting affliction into your life. Affliction follows disobedience. In Psalm 119:67, the Psalmist stated: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” Affliction from the Lord caused the Psalmist to see sense and return to God.

When you start to disobey God or run ahead of Him, He would need to find a way to capture you and bring you back into His presence. God does not want any sinner to perish and He will use affliction to bring you to your senses. When this kind of affliction begins to pursue you, it would not matter how many prayers you make, how often you bind, destroy, pull down or paralyse the affliction; it will not make any difference. This is because the authority you are attempting invoke is the same power that authorised the trouble upon your life in the first place. So, no matter how you pray, the affliction will only leave you when you come to your senses and turn back to the Lord.

Pastor Seyi Ogunorunyinka, General Overseer, The Promised Land Ministries, Surulere, Lagos. pastorseyiogunorunyinka@gmail.com