The Power of Testimony

Revelations 12:11 says and they overcame by him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

There is power in testifying to the goodness of God. After the healing of the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19, one of them came back to testify to the goodness of God. Why do we have to testify? By sharing testimonies we are appreciating God. We are simply telling God thank You. Testimonies open doors to more miracles .When we thank God for what He has done, He will do more. Because this man thanked God for his physical healing, Jesus decided to make him whole i.e. healed in all areas of his life. Testimony perfects our miracle and makes it permanent. Any breakthrough or miracle that we have not testified about can be lost at anytime. After the healing of the mad man of Gadara in Matthew 5:1-20, Jesus 

told him to go and testify to his family what the Lord has done for him. Why? So that he would not lose his deliverance.

When we share testimonies, it builds the faith of others. Also every time we testify, satan loses grip over our life. Revelations 12:11 says they overcame him by the word of their testimony. I believe the Lord wants me to share this testimony with someone. Not too long ago, I was very hungry with no money to buy food. I could not use that opportunity to fast because I had eaten something that morning.  While I was sitting, my phone rang and when I checked it was a sister who I witnessed about Christ to. When I picked up the call, she told me she was preparing an African soup and wanted to know if I was interested. I said yes, and then she asked if I had anything to eat the soup with, I said no. She said ok and within thirty minutes my door bell rang, lo and behold she brought the special African soup with what to eat it with. I thanked her and she left. I descended on the food aggressively and before you know it the dish was clean. A month or so later, she asked me if I knew why she called me and gave me the food. I said no and she went to explain that immediately she left work, she had this urge to eat that particular soup so she went to market to buy the ingredient. When she got home and began to prepare the soup something began to tell her to call Sam and give him some. She tried to dismiss the voice but the voice kept on ringing in her. When the voice will not let her be, she decided to call me and asked if I was interested in the food.

I do not know who the Lord is talking to but I pray that the Lord will touch the heart of people (even people you have not told you need help) to offer help to you in Jesus name, Amen.  Before the food came, I had witnessed about Christ to her. I testified to her how the Lord saved my life. What if I had not witnessed to her? What if I was too shy to testify about Jesus to her? hunger would have dealt mercilessly with me that day. Thank God i testified. Testify about Jesus to someone today.

PRAYER POINT: Father, give me a testimony today and I will tell the whole world of your goodness.

KEEP THE ROAD CLEAR

Psalm 66:18 says if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

One of the constant things in life is challenges. The presence of Jesus did not prevent the storm in Matthew 8:22-27 but once the storm rose He calmed it down. The assurance we have is regardless of what happens we will come out victorious. Psalm 34:19 says many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them from it all. One thing with challenges or storms of life is that they do not give notice. From studying 2 Kings 8:18-37, we will notice that the son of the Shunamite woman was hale and hearty. Suddenly he began to complain of minor headache and before you know it he was dead.  This like many other challenges happen unexpectedly. When Elisha slept in 2 Kings 6:15 everything was alright, he woke up the next morning to see that the whole city had been surrounded by army.

Because the challenges and storms of life do not give notice, we need to keep the road clear between us and God.We need to do away with anything that might hinder our prayers from been answered. We never know when we will need to cry to God in a hurry. Psalms 66:18 says if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. When you look at fire stations, they do not permit cars around their offices because emergency might occur.  One thing they do not want is been called to attend to an emergency and there are cars parked blocking them. The same thing applies to us .We need to do away with sin and live a holy life, we need to forgive all those who have offended us, and we need to be merciful because we do not know when we might urgently need the mercies of God. We need to pay the tithes we owe, fulfill our vows immediately. Psalm 50:14-15 says pay your vows to the Most High, Call upon Me, and you shall glorify Me. A born again sister was traveling in a commercial bus to a city. While sitting at the back reading her bible, something happened and the car began to somersault. It had happened so fast that all she could say was JESUS; she did not even have the chance to ask for forgiveness. She had no chance to forgive anyone. In a mysterious way, she survived the crash with no scratch but others died. If you have not giving your life to Christ please do so immediately. If you have and still living in sin please stop and take away anything that may stand in your way of getting to heaven.

ACTION POINT: Challenges and storms of life do not give notice neither does death, keep your path to heaven clear.

CREDIT WITH GOD

Psalm 20:3 says may He remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice.

In Acts 9:36-42 is the famous story of Dorcas. She loved the Lord and loved helping people. She helped the sick, the broken hearted and everyone who needed help around her. When she died , they sent for Peter .When Peter arrived they began to show him the good works Dorcas had done . Peter seeing all these had no other option than to beg God to release her from heaven back to earth and God answered. From reading this story, we see God relaxing His rule for Dorcas. As a matter of fact the bible says in Hebrew 9:27 that it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this judgment. The same God who declared that it is appointed unto men to die once had to suspend this rule because of Dorcas’ credit with Him. When we talk of credit with God, we are not talking of tithe and offering. We are talking of something major the Lord can look at and decide a case in your favour.

A king who had good credit with God was Hezekiah. The bible records in 2 Kings 18:2-6 that he did what was right in the sight of God. Verses 5 and 6 of 2 kings 18 says He trusted in the Lord God Israel, he held fast to the Lord and did not depart from following God but kept God’s commandment which the Lord had given through Moses. On his death bed in 2 Kings 20:1-6, God was so happy with his service that he added another fifteen years to his life. This brings us to the question, can God look at our walk with Him and decide to add fifteen years to our life. Have we served God to the extent that he will relax some of his rule? It is a rule that whoever sees God will die but because of Moses’ credit with God, God arranged a way for Moses to see Him without seeing death. As big as the bible is, there is only a record of God leaving heaven to dine with a family and that was the family of Abraham in Genesis 18.This happened because of Abraham’s record with God. He had touched God with his faith. It is not an easy task to convince God to come and dine with us, but it is something that can happen if we are prepared to work hard.

ACTION POINT: Take your service to God to another level today, so that you can have good credit with Him.

Except the Lord builds the house

Psalm 127: 1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman wakethbut in vain

The most important part of a house is the foundation. Architects will tell you that foundation is core to any building structure.  One of the reasons why the word of God is so powerful is because it has its foundation in heaven.   Psalms 119:89 says forever o Lord, your word is settled in heaven. Any project or building or endeavour that does not have God has its foundation will fall when challenges arise. One constant thing in life is challenges and the righteous are not spared of them. Actually the righteous will face many challenges; thank God we have an assurance that we will be delivered from it all, Psalm 34:19. We have seen organizations with huge knowledge base, lots of resources at their disposal, lot of experiences without God as their foundation collapse during recession while small businesses with nothing really except God as their foundation blossom.

It is not sufficient enough to have Christ or the word of God as our foundation; we need God to be the Builder.  Psalm 127:1 says except the Lord build the house, the whole effort is in vain.  There are many strong foundations out there with uncompleted or abandoned structures sitting on them. Psalm 60:12 says through God we will do valiantly for it is He who shall tread down our enemies. It is very possible for a man to work very hard and still have nothing to show for it. Paul can plant from today till tomorrow; Apollos can water all day, if the Lord does not give an increase the whole effort will be in vain. That is why Jesus says in John 15:5 ‘without Me , you can do nothing’. Without God all efforts will be in vain. Why? Because the destroyer (the devil) is walking about looking for what to destroy. He hates to see anyone progress. When the Lord is the builder, there is nothing the devil can do. He can try but you can be rest assured that all his efforts will come to nothing over that project. When the Lord is the builder of a church,  People that see themselves as strong pillars in the church might  leave but instead of the church to collapse it will grow. Those that have promised to help you might decide to withdraw their support but as far as the Lord is involved in the building process of your life instead of falling you will rise higher. Concentrate today on the builder which is Christ not the market or the resources available.

ACTION POINT: As the God who is the greatest builder to build your life.

Watch your tongue

Proverbs 21:23 says whosoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.

The most powerful member of our body is the tongue. With the tongue we can start war, with the same tongue we can put an end to war. With our tongue, we can conquer the devil. Revelations 12:11 says they conquered him (the dragon) by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. With our words and the blood of Jesus, we can render any evil dream powerless. What we confess in the midst of adversity determines the outcome. When something terrible happens, it is not the time to start crying or complaining. It is the time to confess the results we want. When facing challenges, we can prophesy our way into victory. Whilst everything was going wrong for Job, he said I shall come forth as gold, Job 23:10. Job had the reasons to say his life was destroyed, or he will never make it again or ask why me? He could say a lot but instead of confessing the negative, he said I will come forth as gold and he did come out gold at the end. When the son of the great Shunamite died in 2 Kings 18-37, she began to confess it is well .When the husband asked her, she said it is well. When Elisha saw her coming, he sent his servant to check if all is well and she told the servant all is well. Instead of confessing that her life is destroyed like most women would do, some will even take it to another level by asking ‘where will I start from?'Instead of crying she began to confess all is well and at the end all was well. When Jesus was informed of the death of Lazarus, He said our friend Lazarus is sleeping; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep, John 11:11.

Why is the tongue so powerful? Firstly, the power of life and death resides in it, Proverbs 18:21. Secondly, our words decide our possession .Proverbs 13:2 says a man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth: Thirdly, by our careless use of words we are trapped .Proverbs 6:2 says you are snared by the words of your mouth. Fourthly, God acts on our words not our heart desire. Number 14:28 says as you have spoken in my ear, says the Lord, so shall I do unto you. Don’t ever confess what you do not want because what you confess is what will happen .Joel 3:10 says let the weak say I am strong. It does not matter what you are going through today, it is what God hears you say that will happen. It does not matter
what the doctors say or the news all I know is it shall be with me. I know my tomorrow will be alright. I know I will make it the top .What about you?

ACTION POINT: Be your own prophet and begin to prophesy the results you want in that endeavor.

Freedom indeed

John 8:36 says if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

The first thing to learn from this verse is there is no freedom anywhere else except in Jesus . One of the names of Jesus is the Truth ,John 14:6 . John 8:32 says And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free .There is no freedom in joining the occult because it is selling ones life to the devil. At times there is no freedom in divorce because in a bid to become free through divorce, one rather ends us up in a bigger bondage. Malachi 2:16 says For the LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates putting away: For one covers violence with his garment, says the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit that you deal not treacherously. There are many teenagers who see moving out of their parent’s house as means of getting freedom. Most of them later find out twenty, thirty years later that the decision to leave home at a early age restricted them and set them in bondage one way or the other. Freedom only comes from Jesus. Romans 8:2 say because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Another thing to learn is there are two types of freedom. According to John 8:36,  there is one called ordinary freedom and there is freedom indeed.  In Luke 5:1-7, Peter received freedom from fruitless efforts. In Luke 13:10-17, the woman with the bent back received freedom from her sickness of eighteen years. In Luke 17:11-19, out of the ten lepers Jesus healed, nine of them received freedom but the one that came back to praise God received freedom indeed. The bible says he was made whole. One way to receive freedom indeed is to be thankful for the freedom we have received in Christ.

Do you know that it is possible for Jesus to set a man free and the man still remains in bondage? Proverbs 23:7 says as a man thinks, in his heart so is he. Gideon was born a warrior –mighty man of valor but his self limiting belief put him in bondage. Imagine the one whom the angel of God addressed as a mighty man of valor calling himself a weakling (Judges 6:11-15) , so also Moses and Saul. They were all born to achieve mighty things but their self limiting believes worked against them.

ACTION POINT: Jesus has set you free; do not put yourself in bondage with your thoughts.

Working out your salvation in fear and trembling

Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

How does one get saved? Is it by saying the prayer of sinners? Is it by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as stated in Acts 16:31? Could it be by calling on the name of the Lord as stated in Romans 10:13? The first step to salvation is repentance. Without repentance there is no salvation. The bible says in Matthew 4:17, from that time Jesus began to preach and to say “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” After Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, the people asked him, what shall we do to be saved? He told them repent and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ – Acts2:38. After the healing of the lame man at the beautiful gate, people converged to the see the lame man and Peter used the opportunity to witness about Jesus. In his sermon, he said in Acts 3:18, “repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Brethren without repentance there is no salvation. 2 Peter 3:9 says The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Philippians 2:12 says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Does is it mean after I am saved I still have work to do in keeping my salvation? Yes. There are many who believes that once we are saved heaven is guaranteed. It is the biggest lie from the devil. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:22 that whoever endures to the will be saved. It is true that we saved by grace according to Ephesians 2:5 but Matthew 24:13 says it is only those who endure to the end that will be saved. Why do we have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling? The reason why we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling is because salvation can be lost. The grace that brings salvation could be abused. Romans 6:1 say what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Romans 6:15 says what then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Certainly not! The grace that brings salvation can also be frustrated. Paul says in Galatians 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Abusing the grace of God or frustrating the grace can lead to withdrawal of grace which eventually means fall from grace of God. According to Galatians 5:4, it is possible to fall from the grace of God. It is also possible to miss the grace of God, Hebrew 12:15.

Many have argued that once we receive salvation we are sealed with the Holy Spirit according to Ephesians 1:13. It is very true but remember that Ephesians 4:30 says and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. If we grieve the Holy Spirit, He will leave.

ACTION POINT. Do everything possible not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Study Ephesians 4:25-32 and it tells us what to do to avoid grieving the Holy Spirit.