Watch Out For These 3 Things, Lest They Destroy You - 100 Dod - Day 92 by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Three Things That Kill Visions

A crime investigator once noted that when he encounters a dead body — even without an autopsy, even before interviewing a single witness — he already knows the likely cause. It is almost always one of three things: something money-related, something sex or love-related, or something ego-related. One of those three, or more than one working together.

The same pattern holds for dead visions. When a person has thrown their destiny away, these three forces are almost always behind it.

1. Ego

Fragile ego is destructive. There are people who allow the simplest provocations to send them into a rage — particularly when someone stirs the pot and says, "If I were you, I wouldn't let that slide." And if self-awareness is absent, a churchgoing, tongue-speaking believer can be completely ruled by their temper.

The financial cost alone is enormous. Just to save face, people buy things they do not need, borrow money they cannot repay, and enter messes they could easily have avoided. There are people who go to parties and squander what it would take them eighteen months to raise — just to perform. Ego has its own economy, and it is ruinous.

There is also the problem of comparison. The people who are always trying to prove a point are almost always those who do not have much. Study the genuinely wealthy and powerful: they do not talk. They do not have a point to prove. Real power removes a person from the frenzy of needing to prove anything.

John 3:30 — "He must increase, and I must decrease." When God raises people, there is nothing to be done about it. Scheming against such a person only promotes them further. Have nothing to prove. Live light. Pace yourself. Thank God for where you are.

2. Money

There are decent, well-behaved people who, where money is involved, have no allegiance and no loyalty. The Bible's example is Gehazi, servant of Elisha — a man who had witnessed miracles firsthand, a prophet in the making. But he had a money problem. When Naaman offered a gift and Elisha declined it, Gehazi went and claimed it secretly. Greed is dangerous. It puts people on suicide missions. The way Gehazi's life ended is a warning for every generation.

Hebrews 13:5 — "Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have." Covetousness is a form of bondage. The person always measuring themselves against what others have will never truly be happy. The goalpost never stops moving.

3. Sex and Romantic Attachment

Being prayerful does not make anyone immune. This area must be deliberately managed.

When some people experience a breakup — even from a platonic friendship — they go into a complete downward spiral. They lose functionality at work, eventually lose their job, and nearly lose their lives. The devil notices these predictable patterns. Once he knows the trigger, he exploits it repeatedly.

The biblical illustration is Samson. A genius in several dimensions of life, undone in this one area. True life stories repeat this pattern in every generation — people extraordinary in almost every way, brought down by inability to manage the romantic dimension of their lives.

Song of Solomon 2:7 — Do not awaken love before its time. For young people particularly: the reason a breakup feels catastrophic is often proportionate to how deep in one went before the time. Even with genuine faith, understand that God gave human beings free will. Even if God intends two people together, a person can change their mind. Be wise. Do not act married before you are married.

These three things — ego, money, and disordered love — are not theoretical dangers. They are documented patterns in the lives of people who threw away their destinies. Deal with them deliberately, prayerfully, and early. Start from the small things: control speech, control reactions, control spending. The discipline that matters in the large moments is built in the small ones.