Give Me The Winning Goal!
"And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing
in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight...Then said
the king unto her, what wilt thou, Queen Esther? and what is
thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom"
(Esther 5:2-3)

The winning goals of life are what put a final seal to the victory of any man, they are far superior to any awarded and scored penalties, in the game of life.

The on-going FIFA World Cup Football fiesta holds a great lesson for any ardent student of the school of life. Many of us, in life, have jeopardized the more important long term spiritual goals for temporal pleasure and momentary gratification of the flesh. Most have sacrificed their more strategic and decisive victories on the platter of what, in football parlance, are called, set pieces, free-kicks or better still, penalties.

Please, don’t get me wrong. Free kicks and penalties are good and heart-warming recompense, particularly when the opponent has committed a foul or an infringement against you. But, let me ask you a sincere question, now that you have scored or converted that spot or free-kick into a goal, does that made you a winner, knowing that the match has not ended?

Eight years ago, I suffered the pain of financial infringement from a business associate (a Deacon in a Mega Church in Lagos, Nigeria), who cheated me in a business transaction. With the hope of a punitive action, I planned to report him to his pastor. Then, the Lord appeared to me in a dream and said to me: “Son, what you seek is a penalty, but what you need is a winning goal. You want me to penalize him? Not all penalties end in victory, I WILL GIVE YOU A WINNING GOAL”. So, I let go of the matter.

That winning goal never came until five years later. It was incomparably greater than any miserly settlement I would have made, if he was penalized for my sake. I don’t know what infringement you may have suffered from the enemy since the year 2006 began. Consider this retreat as half-time rest, after the 1^st half match. You can collect the divine key of recovery and obtain the winning goal for this year in prayer during this half-time break of waiting on the Lord.

Many of us have made “human referees” out of our pastors whenever we were wronged by other men. But, God Almighty, to whom vengeance belongs (Deuteronomy 32:35), is waiting for us to pour our pain and injury resulting from the infringements suffered from Satan and his ‘team-mates’ in the game of life, unto him. Remember the wrath of men (including your pastors and public opinions) does not work the righteousness of God (James 1:20)

• Begin to thank the Lord for His mercies, which sustained you through the 1st half of the year, 2006.
• Remind Him of His promise which says, they that wait on Him would not be put to shame.
• Take stock of the 1st half and reason with Him why you should have a superlative 2nd half for His name's sake.
• Now sing praises unto Him for His mercies which endures for ever.
• Lift up you voice with the agony of your infringement saying: "O God arise and avenge me of my adversaries in the name of Jesus" (Luke 18:3).
• O God arise and overtake every loss and harm that I have suffered during the 1st half of this year with your speedy vengeance in the 2nd half.
• Every plot of darkness organized to demote and stagnate my life during the 2nd half 2006; be nullified by the blood of Jesus, in Jesus mighty name. Amen.

Give Him thanks, in faith for what He has begun to put in place for your sake in the 2nd half 2006. Thank Him for speedy answers to your prayers.