N IG ER IA

WORD OF FAITH BIBLE INSTITUTE

LAGOS

CHARACTER
DEVELOPMENT
(CDM)

BASIC CERTIFICATE COURSE

“For the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the

manifestation of the sons of God” Rom 8:19

Copyright © by Word of Faith Bible Institute

38, Raji Oba Street, Iyana Ipaja,
P. O. Box 3459, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria
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 All Rights Reserved.
No portion of this Outline may be used without the written permission of the Institute

REFERENCES

Whatever Happened To Worship? A.W. Tozer

Two Kinds of Righteousness E.W. Kenyon
What’s On Your Mind? Merlin Carothers
A Plain Account of Christian Perfection John Wesley
The Force of Freedom David O. Oyedepo
Stewardship – Pathway to Honour David O. Abioye
The Dignity of The Believer Faith A. Oyedepo
Towards Empowerment for Change David Oyedepo
Becoming a Leader Myles Munroe
Honor – Walking In Integrity, Honesty and Truth Kenneth Copeland
The Force of Righteousness E. O. Adeboye

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 COURSE OBJECTIVES

By the end of the course, the student will know,

 What the character of God is.

 Why it is important to have the character of God.
 That cultivating or internalizing Christian character is a possibility.
 How to develop such a sound Christian character.
 The great benefits in cultivating Christian character.
 How to resist and overcome the ungodly character vices that clamour
for men’s attention.
 The proper use of the mind in Christian character formation.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. REFERENCES 2
2. COURSE OBJECTIVES 3
LECTURE ONE
3. LESSON ONE Introduction 5
4. LESSON TWO Origin of Godly and Ungodly Character 7
5. LESSON THREE Some un-Godly Character Qualities to Abhor 8
6. LESSON FOUR Weapons To Guide The Heart. 10
LECTURE TWO
7. LESSON FIVE The Use of The Mind. 12
8. LESSON SIX Four Acid Tests To Differentiate the Thoughts of
God From Satan’s 13
9. LESSON SEVEN Qualities Of Christian Character 14
10. LESSON EIGHT Ways Of Developing Christian Character 17

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 LECTURE ONE
LESSON ONE

INTRODUCTION
The place of character in our Christian walk is most vital and cannot be
over-emphasized. In fact, the heart beat of God is the conformation of His
children to the very image of Christ (Rom 8:29).

Christian character is what makes you count and relevant to your world,
especially to those you meet and spend your life with daily, eg those you
live with, work with and those who don’t know you but come in contact
with. A man’s worth in life is determined by his character. Believers must
be known, identified and acknowledged by their character fruits (Mt 7:20).

A man’s beauty and attraction in life is a function of his character – this is

the very reason many are following after the likes of Pastor Enoch
Adeboye, Bishop David Oyedepo, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, Kenneth
and Gloria Copeland, T.L. Osborne etc – to mention, just a few.

Be admonished! Anointing without character makes the carrier to stink.

Also, charisma is common, but character is very scarce. Therefore, if you
are not to loose colour in life you must add Christian character to your
anointing.

DEFINITION OF CHARACTER
Character can be defined as the inner or moral qualities that form the
pattern of an individual’s behavior. Simply put, character is the lifestyle or
the sum total of a person. Character, as a general term, can be good or bad.

COMPONENTS OF CHARACTER

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Components are the different parts that make up a thing or system. The
components of character include;
 THOUGHTS
Thoughts are a most relevant part of character. The word of God says,
‘as a man thinks in his heart, so is he’ (Prov 23:7)

 IMAGINATIONS
Imagination is the ability to create mental pictures in your mind and it
can influence your character a great deal.
Imagination is seeing with the eyes of the mind. Be admonished, it is a
man’ personal responsibility to imagine productively (Gen 13:14-18).
Equally worthy of note is the scriptural fact that God does our
imagination and much more. (Eph 3:20-21).
 FEELINGS
Feelings, though relevant, are not a reliable component of character.
Feelings are often short-lived, hence they are not a good determinant
of Christian character development.
Consequently, Christians are admonished to ‘behave towards good
feelings and not feel towards good behavior’.
 ATTITUDES
Attitudes refer to men’ disposition or tendencies and have great
influence on men’ character or behavior (Prov 20:11)
A man’ character is shaped by his dominant disposition. Meanwhile, a
man’ disposition is shaped by his dominant thoughts and imaginations.
 ACTIONS
Actions give expression to the totality of our character. What we think
and imagine in our minds is ultimately expressed in our outward
behaviour.

DEFINITION OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Character development is the building upon a man’s inner qualities or
moral virtues. It is an enhancement of the godly virtue embedded in the
believer at new birth by the Holy Ghost. Gal. 5:22

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 LESSON TWO
ORIGIN OF GODLY AND UNGODLY CHARACTER

GODLY CHARACTER
God is the origin of Godly character. In James 1:17, we are told that every
good and perfect gift comes from above, yes, from the Father of lights, with
whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Consequently,
Christians as the image and likeness of God must exhibit Godly character
at all times.

UNGODLY CHARACTER
Lucifer, now known as the devil or Satan is the origin of evil or ungodly
character. The genesis of this was when pride entered into him and he
sought to dethrone God. Consider Ezekiel 28:11-19 and Isaiah 14:12-19.
Ever since Satan fell woefully, he has been seeking ways to draw away as
many as possible to join him in the grave error of ungodly character
misadventure.

MOTIVE: THE ACID TEST OF TRUE CHARACTER

Refer Gen 4:4-7 (Cain and Abel)
2Chron 25:1-2 (King Amaziah)
Acts 10:34-35 (Cornelius)

The acid test of true character is the motive of the heart.

In Gen 4:6-7, we are told that God said to Cain, ‘why are you angry, if you
did well, will you not be accepted? In other words, Cain had a wrong
motive so both he and his offering were rejected by God.

In verse 4 of the same chapter, we are told that God had respect unto Abel
and his offering. Abel and his offering were accepted because he had a
right motive. We know this because the scriptures tells us that God is not a
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respecter of persons, but of those that fear God and work righteousness
(Acts 10:34-35).

In summary, except a man’ motive is right, his character cannot be right –

this was the case with King Amaziah, the reason his works were rejected
(2Chron 25:1-2).
LESSON THREE

SOME UNGOGLY CHARACTER QUALITIES TO ABHOR

1. DISHONESTY
Dishonesty bothers on insincerity, falsehood and deceitfulness of heart.
Believers in Christ are to abhor such evil traits and every other form of
wicked devices.
 Aspects of Dishonesty
1. Lying (Col3:9, Jn8:44).
Lying means not telling the truth. It is telling the exact opposite of a
thing or matter. By lying, you withdraw away from God to Satan and
from light to darkness. Meanwhile, when you lie and ask for
forgiveness, God will forgive you.
However, do not get to a point whereby your conscience becomes
seared like a hot iron, thereby breaking your fellowship with God
(1Tim4:2). Liars are actually the children of the devil (Jn 8:44).
Effects of Lying
I. Lying destroys peoples’ trust in you and damages your
personality. When this happens, it becomes difficult to restore
your image.
II. If you have been involved in lying, confess your sins, forsake
them and ask God to forgive you. Then, be determined to live a
holy life (1Jn1:9)

2. SLANDERING (Ps15:1-3, Eph 4:31-32)

This means utterance of false charges against someone with the intention
of damaging his name or image. God gave a strong instruction concerning
this as seen clearly in the passages above.
 Effects of Slandering
It will cause you to lose respect, dignity among people. Also, you will
be counted among liars who are children of the devil.
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3. DECEIT (1Pet3:10)
This means presenting a lie as the truth and persuading others to believe
the lie as the truth.

 Effects of Deceit
It is poison and can shorten one’ lifetime – ask Ananias and Sapphira
(Acts5:1-10)

4. CHEATING (1Thess4:6)
Cheating is an act of robbery. That is, taking that which does not belong to
you by force. God’ word is against cheating of whatever form.
One may also cheat subtly by presenting falsehood as the truth, or
presenting a partial statement of fact as the whole truth.
 Effects of Cheating
You gain nothing by cheating; rather you lose it all – when found out.
Of course, God will always find out.

5. LUST AND IMPURITIES (Mt. 5:28, Ps139:23-24, Micah2;10)

Lust and impurities filters into the mind through what we see, hear and
smell. The mind is therefore brought into direct conflict with the will of
God. The operation goes in this manner: when a lustful mind sees a
beautiful woman, it can disrobe her, bit by bit, until she’ completely naked
and the act performed. This was exactly Jesus’ comment on the issue of
adultery in the heart (Mt5:28).

6. PRIDE (Prov16:18, Prov11:2, Isaiah14:11-19)

Pride is an over-estimation of self. Pride displays a lack of respect for
others. Pride is an abomination before God and is a destroyer of men. To
walk the path of pride is to sign in for destruction (Ps101:5).In case you
are still wondering if pride is as deadly as painted above, then have a chat
with King Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 4), King Herod (Acts12), the rich fool
(Lk12:16-21), Samson (Judges 13,14,15&16).

7. COVETOUSNESS (2Kings5:20-27, Josh 7)

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Covetousness is an unlawful desire or crave for that which is another
man’s. It manifests as greed, gluttony, selfishness etc (1Sam12:1-5,
Acts20:33-35, 1Sam. 2:12-18, 22-36).

Just like pride, covetousness is a crasher and destroyer of destiny.

Biblical examples of the error of covetousness include; Achan (Josh7),
Gehazi (2Kngs5), Hophni and Phinehas (1Sam2:12-18,22-36).
LESSON FOUR
WEAPONS TO GUARD THE HEART

The word of God says that we should guide our hearts with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life (Prov. 4:23). In fact, the heart is a most
fertile ground to receive either good or bad seed.

The issues of life must be fiercely shielded from the corrupting influence of
the adversary. To achieve that desire is to employ a number of weapons
such as;

1. THE WORD OF GOD

The word is an effective tool of sanctifying the heart (Isaiah8:11-13).
What to do with the Word:
 Ps.119:9-11. - Hide God’s word in your heart.
 Col. 3:16. - Let the word of God dwell in you richly.
 James 4:7. - Resist the devil with the word.
Recall the example of the Lord Jesus, Mt. 4:1-11 ‘it is written’. Then the
devil leaveth Him alone and angels came and ministered unto Him.
A crucial question is, ‘how long should I resist the tempter? Till victory is
accomplished.

2. THE NAME OF JESUS

What about the Name?
 Prov 18:10 - The name of the Lord is a strong tower.
 Phil 2:9-11 - Is the name is above all names.
 Mark 16:17 - In His Name you shall cast out devil

3. THE HOLY SPIRIT

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The Holy Spirit is the power from on high available to a believer to live a
triumphant Christian life and exemplify Christian character. (Acts1:8)
What about the Holy Spirit?
 Isaiah59:19. - The Spirit of the Lord will raise a standard against
enemy.
 Jn16:13. - The Holy Spirit guides into all truth (true Christian
character)
 Acts10:38. - The Holy Spirit empowers to do good and to lead a
character befitting a Christian.
Ezekiel 2:1-2. - The Holy Spirit can set a man on his feet to overcome any
temptation in life.

5. THE BLOOD OF JESUS

What is in the Blood?
Rev. 12:11. - The power to overcome the devil and his wiles.
Zech. 9:11-1 2 - The stronghold to turn to for safety, victory and
recovery.
Heb10:19-24. - The cleansing and sanctifying power from all filthiness.
Lev. 17:11 - The Life of Christ that cannot be corrupted
The blood of Jesus is a most effective tool for shielding one’s heart from the
corrupting influences of the enemy.

Goodnews! Our weapons in Christ are diverse and very potent. We are not
a disadvantaged, but a most advantaged people (Deut. 33:29).

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 LECTURE TWO
LESSON FIVE

THE USE OF THE MIND

The place of the mind in character development cannot be over-
emphasized. The mind is powerful and has the ability to determine one’s
character. In fact, your character is a function of the state your mind (Deut.
30:19). A person’s value or worth in life is essentially a product of the use
of the mind (Prov.23:7, 1Pet.1:13).
Pause and consider the sayings of these wise men!
 ‘Whatever happens in the mind happens in time’- Mike Murdoch (ref
Gen11:6)
 ‘When your mind is out of place, your place in life will be lost’ – David
Abioye.
Seeing the all important place of the mind, what should we do therefore?
Simple, renew your mind (Rom12:2).

THE IMPORTANCE OF MIND RENEWAL

Before salvation, the mind was fed with carnal stuff, ungodly matters and
lifeless information. In some cases this went on for ages and formed
ungodly character. To reverse this situation, the mind must be flushed
clean of this filthiness and fed with spiritual things. All these by the
instrumentality of the Word.

INSTRUMENTS FOR MIND RENEWAL

The basic instrument for mind renewal is the word of God (Rom12:2)
Other instruments for consideration are;
- anointed books of proven Godly men and women.
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 - Teaching tapes, DVDs, VCDs of anointed messages.
The truth is that the common denominator in all of these is the word of
God (Ps119:9).

THE CONTROL VALVE OF THE MIND

You are the control valve of your mind. That means, it is whatever you
allow that will take root. You either chose good or evil. So exercise your
God-given control fruitfully Prov. 4:23, Deut.30:19.
LESSON SIX
FOUR ACID TESTS TO DIFFERENTIATE THE THOUGHTS OF GOD FROM
SATAN’S

Highlighted below are ways of differentiating God’s thoughts from Satan’s.

1. PURITY
The words of God are pure, purified seven times. Ps. 12:6, Phil. 4:8. The
words of the devil are the exact opposite - impure.
2. GOODNESS
All things work for the good of them that love God.Rom.8:28 Godly
thoughts are goodly thoughts and will result to goodness. Rom.8:28. If
your thought does not portray the goodness of God, then quickly discard it.
3. PEACE
For the thoughts that God think towards you, are thoughts of peace (Jer.
29:11), so as one created in His likeness your thoughts must be alike, that
is of peace and generate peaceful conscience. And Ps.23:2, “… he leadeth
me besides the still waters.” The word still connotes peaceful. If he is to
lead you by that thought it must breed peace else it’s the devil at work.
4. ALIGNMENT WITH THE WORD OF GOD
A voice or thought from God will never contradict the word of God. Why?
You may ask. It is because God magnifies His word above His name
(Ps138:2).
Why The Word Of God Is Cardinal:
 All things were made by the Word. John 1:3
 All things are sustained by the Word of His power. Heb. 1:3
 The word is the compass for God leading. Is. 30:21
 The word is the container of the spirit and life. John 6:63. And it is by
the spirit. Zech.4:6

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 LESSON SEVEN
QUALITIES OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER

1. HONESTY. Acts 6:3, 2 Cor. 4:3-4

Honesty is a state of being truthful, trustworthy, straight forward and
faithful to God and man in all areas of life
2. INTEGRITY
Integrity is the quality of being right in character. A man of integrity is a
man of his word, perfect and lacking nothing in character (Prov11:3,
James1:3-4).
Integrity is saying what you mean and meaning what you say – this
connotes
rightness of heart .
3. SERVANTHOOD
Servanthood entails attending to the needs of others in the name of the
Lord and doing service in the vineyard of God in various capacities.
Lk16:12, Mk9:33-35. Servanthood is a sure pathway to honour, promotion
and dignity in the kingdom of God. A believer who desires greatness
should learn to serve (Lk22:27, Jn12:26). Also, any believer who wants
promotion must be ready to serve.
4. LOVE 1Jn. 4:7-8, 1Cor, 13. Gal. 5:6, 1Cor.2:9
God is love and to love is to give expression to God’s nature.
5. HUMILITY / MEEKNESS Phil. 2:5, Ps 25:9
Humility / Meekness connotes having a right attitude of heart in service. It
is being teachable, knowing that you have not known as much as you
should know and easily correctible.
5. DILIGENCE Prov22:29, Prov10:4, Prov12:24
Diligence means to be hard working spiritually, mentally as well as
physically.
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To be diligent is to be dutifully productive. Hard work does not kill; it only
promotes and establishes
6. DISCIPLINE 1Cor. 9:24-27, 2Tim. 2:3-4
Discipline is denying yourself certain things / privileges in order to reach
your goal. Discipline is imposed self-control.
Discipline is being hard on oneself with a view to achieving a set target.
According to the Bishop, David Oyedepo, “discipline is the capital price you
pay for every desired change. It is doing what is required to get at what is
desired”. “It is doing what is demanded, not what is convenient”.

7. HOLINESS Heb. 12:14, Lk1:74-75, Eph. 4:24-25

Holiness means right living in accordance with God’s laws. Holiness means
righteousness. Holiness is a departure from iniquities. Without holiness,
you cannot see God – you cannot enter heaven. God created us in the
beginning in holiness (Eph.4:24) and now He expect us to live holy (1 Pet.
1:14-16)

It is important to know that of all sins, the sin of immorality is heavier. It is

also very important to understand that neither fornicators nor adulterers
will enter the kingdom of heaven (1Corinth6:9-10).

Adultery is sexual intercourse between a married person and another who

is not his /her mate. Fornication is sex between two unmarried persons.
Both sins are against self and God, because the believer’ body is the temple
of the Holy Spirit (1Corinth6:18-19). Sexual immorality is harlotry against
Christ (1Corin6:15-16).

Effects Of Holiness
 Death Of Sin in Your Body (Rom.6:1-4, 6, 11-14, Gal.5:19-23).
 Release Of Your Miracles (Hos.5:13-17; 7:1-4, Mk.2:5, 2Chro.7:14
 Guarantees Liberty (2Corinth 3:17)
 Guarantees God’ Presence (2Cor5:8, Ps15:1-2).
 Delivers From Poverty (Deut. 28:16-18, 47-48, Ps.34:10, 1Tim6:6).
8. COURAGE 1Sam30:1-8, Josh1:3-9
Courage is the ability to continue and not give up. Courage could also be
described as the ability to control fear in the face of danger or hardship in

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order to prevail or triumph. Courage speaks encouragement to the heart, it
is the conqueror’s backbone

9. WISDOM Mat.7:24-25
Wisdom is the right and skillful application of learned or acquired
information / knowledge. Wisdom is therefore:
 Knowing what to do and doing it. Mat.7:24-25
 Knowing what to say and saying it. Lk. 21:15
 Knowing where to go and going there. Ecc. 10:15

What will wisdom do?

a. Brings profiting and gives access to goodly inheritance. Eccl. 7:11-12;
10:10.
b. Strengthens and is better than weapons of war (Prov 24:5, Eccl9:18)
c. Promotes, procures honour, long life ,riches, peace, pleasantness etc
(Prov4:8-10, Prov8:13-18).
d. Distinguishes and brings great commendation (Eccl8:1, Prov12:8)

10. MORAL EXCELLENCE

Moral excellence requires that a believer’s all round conduct in life should
be blameless and without blemish (1Tim4:12, Mt7:20). There should be no
occasion for men to point accusing fingers, rather your life should point
others to Christ (1Tim3:7).
Moral excellence demands that a believer should live above reproach in:
 His thoughts Prov. 23:7
 His words Mat. 12:34, and
 His actions 1 Sam. 2:3

11. OUTWARD APPEARANCE 1 Cor. 6:19-20, Mat. 5:14,16.

Christianity demands decency in our outward appearance. The Christian’s
outward appearance is for glory and beauty, which is to the praise of God
(Exod28:2). In essence, the Christian’s outward appearance is of utmost
importance because this has to do with how much we regard our body,
which is the temple of the living God.

When you are dressed for an outing ask this sincere question “have I
shown respect to God and his temple by the way an dressed”. The way you
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are dressed is the way you will be addressed and rated by God and men.
Peter knew this and had to cover himself well when Jesus appeared to
them. (John 21:7). Please note that your inside (your spirit man) and your
outside (your body) are both important to God and the devil. Mat. 23:26-
27

LESSON EIGHT
WAYS TO DEVELOP CHRISTIAN CHARACTER

Godly character is not a gift, but a virtue developed over time by both the
input of man and by taking advantage of the help of the Holy Ghost. 1
Cor.15:10 Phil. 3:13-14. What to do:

1. DESIRE, DETERMINATION AND PASSION Dan1:8, Prov18:1, Ps. 42:1.

This is a requirement to develop our Christian character. It means our
minds being made up on a particular course of action. Daniel purposed in
his heart not to defile himself and he succeeded. Also, Joseph, by the power
of the will conquered adultery and arrived at his throne in a foreign land.

2. WORD STUDY AND MEDITATION 2 Tim.2:15, Josh.1:8, Col.3:16

It is God’s word that reveals His will to us. Therefore, a believer who
desires to develop a Godly character must be close to the word – in study
and meditation.

3. HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit is the teacher of the word of God, which is used to shape
the character of the believer (Jn14:26, 1Jn2:27, Isaiah30:21). The Holy
Spirit empowers and enables the believer to conform to the righteous
requirements of the word of God (Acts1:8). One major way of accessing the
help of the Holy Spirit is by praying in the Spirit (Jude20, 1Cor14:18).

4. KEEP WISE COMPANY 1Cor. 15:33, Prov.27:17, Amos 3:3

The companies people keep either make or mar them. To develop excellent
Godly character requires that a man keep company with Godly wise men
and avoid the company of the foolish and ungodly (Prov13:20).

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5. PRACTICE OF THE WORD James 1:22
To develop a Godly character, you must not only read, study and meditate
on the word, but more critically, you must be a practitioner of the word.
In Him (The Word) was life (of God) (John 1:4), so doing the word is
accessing the life of god inside of it.

REVISION, QUESTION AND ANSWERS

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