SERMON: Stay In Excellence And Be Above Only, By Apostle Ezennia Ohamadike

The Bible in Deuteronomy28:13 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; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, … to observe and to do them:” The only thing that will ensure your rapid acceleration and ascendency to the top and also guarantees you remain permanently in the places of above in all the affairs of life is excellence. Any artisan, entrepreneur or industrialist that can trace his/her ascendency to the peak of that line of business will definitely attribute it to excellence.
The same is applicable to professionals; they probably went to the same school or had a common curriculum, but the difference between one and the other is excellence. But contrariwise, the moment one begins to compromise his excellence by lowing the standard of the quality and quantity of their services and products, one has also taken the steps of descend from that ladder that took you up initially, waiting only for time to tell it. When you understand this principle, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for you to sacrifice excellence at the altar of mediocrity, no matter what. Even as employers too, when you want result oriented output and maximum productivity, the only alternative is excellence. Embrace excellence as both a lifestyle and work ethics, and see your life shine and your society change.
But by the way, what is excellence? Simply put, it is being and doing the best you can for and before God, everywhere, at all times and in all things, even to all peoples.

Now, our case study is the man Daniel. Daniel was baptized with the spirit of excellence and he never traded it for anything else. The book of Daniel, Chapters one to twelve is very replete with this fact, but we will only take a cursory look at his life, career and antecedents vis-à-vis the function of excellence.

“Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live forever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;  Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.  Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?  I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing: And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.”  (Daniel 5:10-16 KJV).Daniel actually and accurately interpreted the dream and the handwriting which no one else could, because of the excellent spirit upon him.

“Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” (Daniel 5:29-31 KJV).The excellent spirit is a door that links to and opens other doors, as it did between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, and to Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Belshazzar and thence to kings Darius and Cyrus in a sequence:

“It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.” (Daniel 6:1-3 KJV). Even though there was a serious conspiracy against Daniel, which the king himself laboured so much to rescue him but it took the excellent spirit only to deliver him.

“Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.  Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.” (Daniel 6:18-23 KJV).

The excellent spirit also made Daniel prosperous:

“So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.” (Daniel 6:28 KJV).

In a nutshell, from the account of the book and life of Daniel we can deduce certain rare attributes and privileges the follow excellence. Namely, discipline; access to divine secrets, i.e. revelations; favour; honour; glory; promotion; authority; protection; preservation; prosperity, among others.

In other words, excellence will take you from nowhere to somewhere; excellence will take you from being nobody to being somebody; excellence will compel kings of nations to bow to you; and when king of a nation bows to you, it means that everything and everybody in that nation has equally bowed to you. It will make you reign and rule in a nation wherein you are a stranger and were once a slave, like Joseph, Mordecai and Daniel of old. It will place you above your contemporaries, Dan.6:2. It will also stir up envy and jealousy against you, as also in the cases of Joseph, Mordecai and Daniel. It will distinguish you from fakes, ordinary and the averages. It will also make you a reference and rallying point to others. It will make you all round perfect such that nobody will be able to pick any genuine or damaging fault (character flaws) from you. Unfortunately, this is one sterling quality encomium or prefix that men and women in places of authority of this world, whereby they are erroneously addressed and referred to as “his/her excellency”, lack. When the spirit of excellence is upon you, no matter whoever is the president or prime minister, or the economic situation, of any nation you may find yourself per time, you will be prosperous, Dan.6:28.

One deep mystery about excellence is that: It is not sold in or bought from any market; it is not acquired through much learning or from any academic institutions, neither from belonging to any religious organizations nor through such practices. It is only by building a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The heathen queen and king called it “The spirit of the holy gods”, Dan.5:11 & 14.                                                                                                                                                                

Now, I PRAY FOR YOU:

That you covet and abide with the spirit of excellence, in Jesus’ name.

Daniel was a captive Jewish but he excelled in Persia; likewise, you will excel even an enemy territory, in Jesus’ name.

Again, Daniel was only a gateman, Dan.2:49; but notwithstanding the king bowed and worshipped him, Dan.2:46; henceforth, kings of nations and dignitaries will begin to bow to you, in Jesus’ name.

Because of the spirit of excellence you are carrying, a divine connection that will beat the imagination of everybody will locate you, in Jesus’ name.

This season, you will be greatly promoted, in Jesus’ name.

You will become solution to the problems of many nations and generations, in Jesus’ name.

It is written, “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.” (Psalms 8:1 KJV). Your present status and geographical location notwithstanding, excellence will take you there, in Jesus’ name.

Daniel survived the period of the exile and returned to his native land with great honour. In the same vein, you will return to your home land with exceedingly great honour, in Jesus’ name.

You will not return in vain, and nor will your prayers be in vain, in Jesus’ name.

You will outlive every unpleasant situation that might come your way, in Jesus’ name.

Angels of God will fight all your battles, in Jesus’ name.

Daniel had understanding of the times by studying, Dan.9:2. That person that always fails in academics, henceforth as you study you will understand, and not only will you succeed but you will begin to excel, in Jesus’ name.

I retrieve and take “the key of knowledge” (Lk11:52) from whatever power that  has locked you hitherto, and I open unto you the gate of knowledge, in Jesus’ name.

You shall not be destroyed for lack of knowledge, in Jesus’ name.

The power to resolve hard matters, receive now, in Jesus’ name.

Daniel was always made a reference point, Neh.10:6; Ezek.14:14,20; 28:3; so shall you be, in Jesus’ name.

God will count on you, both in time and in eternity, in Jesus’ name.

“… go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.”  (Daniel 12:13 KJV), in Jesus’ name.

Rev. Apostle Ezennia Jeh Okolie-Ohamadike.