Fighting Your Way to Victory: Principles of Victory over Stubborn Problems

© 2006 Taiwo Olusegun Ayeni. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 3/23/2006

ISBN: 1-4259-2335-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4678-0298-7(e)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

First Edition, 2001

Copyright © 2001 Taiwo Olusegun Ayeni

Second Edition, 2005

Copyright © 2005 Taiwo Olusegun Ayeni

All scriptures in this book are from King James Version Of the Bible, unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the author.

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E-mail: taayeni@yahoo.com

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Dedication

This book is dedicated first of all to the Almighty God who has found me worthy of use in His vineyard and poured His anointing on me. Unto Him I give thanks.

Furthermore, with profound gratitude, love and appreciation, I dedicate this book to my dearest partner – Abidemi Olubisi Ayeni, who has continued to show understanding in spite of the tough demands the ministry has imposed on our close-knit family.

And lastly to my children – Rereloluwa Olusegun (son) and Oreoluwa Olubisi, who still wonder why their Daddy is not available like other Daddies to play with them as friends and companions, but must always be on the road preaching the gospel.

Acknowledgements

This book is the Lord’s doing, because it came as a result of the demand for a manual on prayers by the King of Kings Parish, of The Ethiopian Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The unrelenting pressure of the presiding Parish Pastor cum diplomat of the Nigerian embassy in Ethiopia, Akinremi Bolaji led to the production of "The Gates of Hell Shall not Prevail Part I’ and ‘The Gates of Hell Shall not Prevail Part II" in May and August, 2000 respectively. (Both manuals were printed in English and Amharic languages). His wife, Deaconess Folusho Bolaji (my wonderful hostess who made sure I lacked nothing good during my visits), is equally appreciated.

Sister A Ayodele Adeleke encouraged by her husband, Pastor Isaac Ayodele Adeleke of Gethsemane Prayer Ministries International, Lagos transcribed the messages that form the bedrock of this book. My sincere thanks go to both of you.

My deep appreciation goes to Pastor Olu Obanure, the State Pastor, RCCG North 5, Mummy Titi Iroche, Central Parish, RCCG, Abuja, Pastor Donaltus Odum, the Parish Pastor of Bread of Life, RCCG, Nyanyan, Abuja, Mr. Seni Olugbola, Managing Director of Pentecom Systems International Limited and Mrs. Bodunrin Daniel formerly of KPMG Consulting Information Technology, but now with UAC group information technology unit, for their contributions and support for the Ethiopia Prayer School Project.

I thank God for the many churches in Nigeria, Ethiopia, The Gambia, and Senegal where some of these messages were preached and remember that day, July 2nd, 2000 (which incidentally was my wedding anniversary), in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where almost ‘all nations’ of the world were represented in one service. These included citizens of the United States of America, Canada, Ireland, Britain, Korea, China, Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and of course Nigeria to mention a few. These churches willingly released their members and in some cases closed down their services in order to be part of the house God was building.

Special thanks also go to Pastor Suoyo Aganaba and Dr (Mrs.) Grace Aganaba, of the RCCG, Amazing Grace Victory Centre, Serekunda, The Gambia, who not only opened up their church but also took me on my various visits to the church of God (RCCG) in Dakar, Senegal, where Pastor and Sister Joel Olugbenga are the presiding pastors. You are both acknowledged.

My profound gratitude goes to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, whose co-facilitating the Rev. R. W. Schambach crusade meeting held at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, in 1983 led to my conversion. Papa Ayo and Mama Helen Oritsejafor encouraged me, by not only allowing me to minister freely on their mega church pulpit, but by also sitting under my ministrations at the Gethsemane Prayer School for many years. This was a rare demonstration of humility. May God bless you.

Also special thanks go to Reverend (Dr.) Moses Olanrewaju Aransiola whom I met in 1984, through Brother Olufemi Agiri (now doing ministry work in Johannesburg, South Africa), who followed me up in my early Christian walk. Since meeting him, the Almighty God had used him to mentor me in the ministry of prayer and also create the enabling platform to reach out to the body of Christ through the Gethsemane Prayer School, of which I am a Senior Lecturer. I also acknowledge his wife Pastor (Mrs.) Funmi Aransiola and the team of co-labourers at Gethsemane Prayer Ministries, who have accepted me as their beloved brother in ministry, may God bless you all.

I am greatly indebted to Pastor Wole Ajayi, the Area Pastor of Zion Assembly Parish, of the RCCG, for using his computer equipment for editing and printing of the initial drafts of the documents, and as well as releasing his wife Sister Olubusola Ajayi to edit the various versions of this book in spite of her hectic civil and secular work.

Sincere appreciation goes to Pastor and Deaconess Bisi Olowoyo of Palace of Light Parish of the RCCG, Isolo, Lagos, for their love, understanding, and support. Also appreciated are my brethren in the Parish, and the entire Isolo family of the RCCG Parishes who all make me feel accepted each time I have the opportunity to preach to them.

To Reverend Dr. (Mrs.) A. M. Oshodi who we fondly call ‘Grandma’, I say ‘May the Lord in His infinite mercies richly bless you for patiently appraising this work and also for your contribution in kind.’ We appreciate your motherly fellowship, companionship, and scholarly approach to the word of God in particular and various issues of life in general.

A big ‘Thank You’ goes to my sweet Abidemi Olubisi Ayeni for all she has silently done to make this a reality and my children Rereloluwa (Son) and Oreoluwa (daughter) who had at various times sat by me to dictate the transcribed copies of this work for word processing. God bless and keep you till the Lord Jesus comes, Amen.

Foreword

Listen to these statements:

That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. (Gen 22:17)

The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles (Ps 34:17)

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. (Ps 34:19)

When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned: neither shall the flame kindle upon thee (Is. 43:2)

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world (John 16:33)

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12)

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith (I John 5:4)

These are not mean or empty words from the lips of our God. They are a reminder of the fact that neither the world nor Christianity is a bed of roses. They serve to let us know that every man, one way or the other, one place or the other, one time or the other will have to grapple with some impossibilities of life, some trials of faith or some other troubling circumstances. But we should be of good cheer, it is possible to overcome. You do not have to live perpetually with your affliction or sickness or failure. There is a way of victory and it is the way of PRAYER WARFARE.

It takes the determined, disciplined and faithful Christian to triumph and see the backside of the devil. We are told that:

From the days of John the Baptists until now, the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent ones taketh it by force. (Matt. 11:12).

It is the one that fights adversity with persistence and spiritual doggedness in prayers that has the ultimate victory. All things are not possible to him who beliveth, but all things are possible to him who prays with importunity and diligence. When we take prayers to the level of spiritual warfare, all we are saying is that we have suffered enough in the hands of the enemy and we are now ready to fight back.

Spiritual warfare simply means fighting in the realm of the spirit. The book of Ephesians 6:10-12 clearly outlines our targets in spiritual warfare: they are unseen forces, disembodied spirits whose identities are hidden and their domain unknown. These beings have tremendous power and resistance and their exact number cannot be easily determined. The weapons they employ against us and the ones we use against them are invisible.

In spiritual warfare, we need to know that our REAL ENEMY is the devil. He is assisted by principalities, powers, world rulers of this present darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness, and demons. The devil may use human beings as his agents and intermediaries, but the human being does not constitute our ENEMY.

We are called to resist the devil and not men. We must reserve all our weapons against the devil. If our enemy is the devil himself, then the one who will make progress in spiritual warfare will wage war against the devil and concentrate only on him. He will not waste his blows elsewhere.

Employing his God-given wisdom and many years of field experience in spiritual warfare Pastor Taiwo Ayeni who is one of my chief men of war and prayer strategists, has thrown light on reasons for failure in life, nature of satanic attacks on men’s lives and has equally proffered workable and practical spiritual remedies.

I believe this book will be a great blessing to all men everywhere. May God use it to bring deliverance to His suffered-for-long people. Amen.

Rev (Dr.) Moses Olanrewaju Aransiola

President, Gethsemane Prayer

Ministries Int’l Ibadan, Nigeria.

Preface

I thank God for bringing me early in my Christian walk across men who assisted me in laying a solid foundation in the areas of prayer and spiritual warfare. I have come to understand through their teachings, the reason why men suffer in life.

In the course of my growing up, I have witnessed the operations of the kingdom of darkness in men’s lives. Many were and are still held bound by forces of darkness and satanic afflictions abound in many families, without any hope of deliverance. The ignorance of men and the church they belong to have compounded issues and men have been forced to seek for help in the wrong places.

As a result some have been abused, tormented, used, harassed and embarrassed. Some even die prematurely in the process, leaving an impression of a hopeless situation to the members of the family, who are also facing the same problem in life.

In addition to the weight of satanic affliction, the prayer lives of some people have been seriously undermined. They have been so much battered left, right, and center that the summary of their lives is an alternation between mountain and valley experiences. What makes matters worse is that the things that used to be walkover for them have now become the subject of prayers.

Having wandered from pillar to post in search of help, ashes have settled upon their prayer altars, and many unfulfilled dreams, and shattered hopes are all they have to show for all their efforts. They have prayed. They have fasted. Yet nothing seems to have changed. Their situation is presently a tale of woes and except something is done fast they may throw in the towel as frustration has set in. Those whom they used to counsel are now the ones they rely on for help. It is a terrible situation.

Beside the limitation in the place of prayer, they have lost the joy of their salvation. They desire a new experience, fresh exploits in the name of the Lord. They are sure there is hope, but how to get out of the mess they have found themselves in is an uphill task. This is the reason this book is produced - to encourage and help revive the prayer lives of the people in this situation.

The book titled ‘Fighting your Way to Victory - Principles of victory over stubborn problems is the first published work from the series of Prayer School Manuals titled ‘The gates of Hell shall not prevail Parts I & II’. It was first printed in Nigeria in 2001. The first edition had eleven chapters while this edition has been reduced through extensive editing to ten. Two chapters,