“Running around is not the same as following around” – To run around is to be in disarray, while to follow around is to be guided by a shepherd.
Pastor David Popoola, outgoing State Pastor of Living Faith Church (Winners), Oke-Onitea, Òṣogbo, made this statement on Sunday, 7th September 2025, during the first service tagged Encounter with Destiny Service on the teaching series “Understanding the Benefits of Divine Direction“, in line with the prophetic focus for the month of September, themed; “The Lord is My Shepherd” – Psalm 23:1-6.
Pastor Popoola emphasised that a sheep will always need a shepherd because there is profiting in following the shepherd, as referenced in Isaiah 48:17.
Explaining the meaning of divine direction, Pastor Popoola defined it as following divine leading in all areas of ones life, because there is a way that seems right but its end is destruction.
Recounting an experience in relation to Psalm 32:8, He narrated that at a one-day pastoral conference, he was arguing with a room attendant that the room he was assigned was not his, not knowing that he had been transferred to another station. To end the argument, he accepted the room given to him, and not long after, the transfer letter was handed to him. He was posted to a station where the former pastor had reported that only cattle could be founded there and not churches. So, he took the posting as God’s divine direction at that time, and the faithful God we serve directed him to the extent that the first person he met on the day he entered the town was the one who God used to get the church the land where they built a church, a two-bedroom flat, and a 400-capacity auditorium, before he was transferred to another station.
He highlighted five benefits of divine direction: as profiting, the Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer richly, sensitively and obedience, guarantee for safety and success, which leads to the believer entering into a daily walk with God.
Similarly, recounting an experience of hearing God speak when he was newly born again, he said he was seated under a ceiling fan when he suddenly heard a voice telling him to move. While still looking around to see who spoke, the fan fell and hit him by his side. Therefore, hearing from God is evidence of your sonship in the Kingdom, as the Lord is committed to leading a believer because next to salvation is divine direction.
Pastor Popoola added that when you are led by God, you carry His divine presence (Exodus 33:11-13), and you trigger supernatural breakthroughs.
Reiterating his posting to (Winners) Living Faith Church, Osun-Òṣogbo State, he urged Christians to learn how to follow God, because vision will be frustrated without direction. He introduced the new State Pastor, Pastor Seyi Adekunle, who will continue the vision from where he stopped, as God has divinely directed Pastor Seyi Adekunle to Living Faith Church, Òkè Onitea, Òṣogbo, at this season.
Addressing the church, Pastor Seyi Adekunle declared that the Lord is set to do a new thing and admonished the church to hold on to God’s word in Isaiah 43:18-19.
He added that the prophetic focus for the month, The Lord is My Shepherd, opens a new season and that new things will begin to spring forth.
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