Today I want to talk on a topic that most of you must have heard about. It’s everywhere on the news. It’s everywhere on the Internet It’s everywhere on social media platforms. And it’s not something new, you know, because we are being bombarded by the news every day. Wherever you go people are being cautioned to take precautions. to protect themselves, to protect their loved ones. And this is no any other thing than the Coronavirus. Yeah, Coronavirus is taking lives. Every day it is taking hundreds and thousands of lives all over the world and people are scared of taking the public transport. People are scared of coming in contact with their fellow human beings.

I can see or feel the fear in people’s eyes when you meet them. People don’t trust each other. We’re kind of, you know, you don’t know who is who.
But my main topic is not really on coronavirus. My topic is on the SPIRITUAL VIRUSES that no one discourse about. Especially in Churches.

I can’t pretend I don’t see what is happening. I can’t pretend I don’t know what’s happening. But what baffles me is why is it that no one talks about SPIRITUAL VIRUSES that’s destroying lives every single day – that is tarnishing people’s destiny. That is more deadly and more poisonous than the Coronavirus. Or even than Ebola!

Why is it that no one preaches about this topic. Spiritual viruses like: Manipulation, Racism, Tribalism, Legalism, Abuse, Domestic violence, Intimidation, Discrimination, Abuse of Power. Both in the workplace and also in ministry. No one talks about this. The reason I wrote my book titled Purpose. Because I want everyone to see the importance of discovering their PURPOSE.
You know, if you have not have got a copy for yourself, you better do. The book, Purpose will challenge you to unearth your hidden potentials. Because so many people have been diverted from their Destiny. Because of Toxic relationships, Toxic environment, Toxic INNER CIRCLE and mingling with people who are not good for your destiny. Who are not good for where God is taking you to. You know, many people have failed to discover their purpose for living.

I don’t believe that you are a mistake. Nobody is a mistake. God doesn’t make mistakes. God who created you and put you in a time like this did not made a mistake.
There is a purpose for your life, there is a purpose for your existence and how do you protect your PURPOSE from being contaminated by all the spiritual viruses that we inevitably had to deal with every single day?
How do you protect your PURPOSE from being destroyed?
How do you protect yourself from dying a SPIRITUAL DEATH?
We are all talking about Ebola and Coronavirus.
They are deadly.
They are poisonous.
They kills.
They destroys.
But how about your purpose for life?
How about your dream that you have locked away in your locker. That you no longer talk about? You no longer bring it up, because of fear!
Fear of being criticized. Fear of being judged. Fear of letting your light shine. Because of the insecurities of people around you.
How about your dreams? Your heart desires? How about your talents? How about your God-given gifts?

You have allowed the people you keep in your life, your relationships, your friends, the ones that SPEAK into your DESTINY, to divert you from your PATH, to divert you from discovering who you were created to Be, to divert you from working on yourself, from investing in You.
And you end up living somebody else’s life. You are NOT living your life.
That’s why you are not HAPPY. Many people out there are not happy. Many people are DEPRESSED. Struggling with finding their place in the world.
We are living in a time that’s very difficult, very difficult to be YOU! Very difficult to step into your PURPOSE. Very difficult to living your dreams. Very very difficult. Because of the people we allowed to influence us negatively. B
ecause we seek VALIDATION. We SEEK permission to To Be, To Do and To Have. We even Apologize for being Real, for being Authentic. We seek to take advice from people who we will not even want to be like. Have ever looked at someone and silently wish you never end up like that?
How can you allow yourself to take advice from someone that when you look at yourself in the mirror, you will not wish to resemble that person in any way. When you look at yourself in the next 10, 15 to 20 years to Come, where do you want to see yourself. Where do you want to be. I want you to make EVALUATION- look at your circle of friends, and ask yourself;
“Do I want to end up like them?”
“Do I want to see myself in this position?”
Because there’s an adage that says; “Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you’ll be in future.”

Most times, the things that kills more than Ebola and more than coronavirus is SILENCE and INDIFFERENCE. People pretends it doesn’t concerns them. People pretend it’s none of their business. Well it all depends on you.

If you keep WAITING for people to VALIDATE you, If you keep waiting for people to give you permission to be You, before you discover why you were here in a time like this, why God created and put you in a time like this. If you keep waiting for people to show you your Destiny, to show You your Path for life or even to Support you or to Encourage you. You’ll FAIL yourself, you’ll fail yourself.

My message to you today is this: Be careful not just of Ebola. Be careful not just of the Coronavirus. But be careful of SPIRITUAL VIRUSES that are all around you. They are unseen to the naked eyes but they are more deadly than the coronavirus. They are killing destinies. They are killing dreams. Have you heard about dream killers? Those are the viruses that you have to be careful with.
Their names are INDIFFERENCE, SILENCE, INJUSTICE, DISCRIMINATION, RACISM, SEXISM, ABUSE OF POWER ( both at workplace and in ministry – among church leaders), DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, SEX TRAFFICKING, CHILD ABUSE, BULLYISM IN CHURCH, NOT ONLY IN THE SECULAR SOCIETY, TRIBALISM, and many others…
We are being told to wash our hands or to cover our mouth when we cough or sneeze. To be careful with people who are running temperature (fever), and who are coughing around us. You know, we are being giving every advice on how to protect ourselves. Precautions on how to protect ourselves from coronavirus. How about those SPIRITUAL VIRUSES that kills people emotionally, that kills people mentally, not just physically?

The ones that kills peoples dreams on a daily basis. How comes no body talks about them. We don’t discuss that? We don’t teach people how to protect themselves from SOCIAL CONTACT!
Now we are trying to give information on how to protect ourselves by maintaining a distance from people when in public – “social contacts”. How about keeping a DISTANCE from toxic relationships, setting BOUNDARIES.
We’re talking about SOCIAL CONTACTS because of coronavirus.
How about keeping a reasonable distance from TOXIC PEOPLE, from toxic, drama filled people.

People who are TOXIC to your system. Who are poisonous your dreams. Whose aim is to kill your potentials. Whose target is to destroy that seed, that special seed that God planted in you. The devil is not after your beauty. He’s not after your diplomas, your PhD degrees… He’s not after your bank account. The devil is after your DESTIN. He’s after your Purpose.

That PURPOSE that God wants you to accomplish.
You must protect You first, before you can protect others. Shalom!
–Written by Augustina Ekwunife