FIRST LADY

Lerato Mahlophe
(+27)78 665 3528
leratomahlophe@gmail.com

ISBN:978-0-620-61260-9

[HIS WILL BE DONE]

This book is written for the edification of the body of Christ. It
teaches about the will of God and God’s way of doing things.
This book tackles normal day to day issues that everyone can
relate to, such as finding God’s purpose for your life, right way
of praying, being able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit,
facing challenges, and so much more. Any believer can read
this book; it is packed with relevant knowledge and
revelations that are meant for this generation. After reading
this book you will have all the understanding, knowledge and
wisdom you need to live your life the way God intended you
to. God bless you as you read!
His Will Be Done by First Lady

- Lerato Mahlophe

Published by Love In Deed Publishing - South Africa

This book or parts thereof may not be produced in any

form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy,
recording, or otherwise – without prior written
permission of the publisher, except as provided by
South African copyright law.

Copyright ©2022 by Lerato Mahlophe

All rights reserved

ISBN: 987-0-620-61260-9

Printed in South Africa

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations in this

book are taken from The Good News Bible in Today’s
English Version, copyright ©1976, 1994, 2004. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
(www.biblesociety.co.za)

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Contents Page

Introduction 05

Free Will 09

The Way of truth 11

The Word of truth 13

The Spirit of truth 15

God’s Plan and Decision 19

Secret now revealed 23

Jesus knows those who know Him 27

Always give thanks 32

God can permit evil 35

Renewed mind 39

Enabled by His Spirit 42

When it’s time, it’s time 45

God’s choice 48

Answer to prayer 53

The love of the Father 58

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Ask the right question 64

Love, Power, and Glory 67

God is in control 70

Spirit Led Prayer 73

Responding to a call 77

The grace of God 82

Baptized with fire 85

See yourself as God sees you 93

The gift of faith 97

How the Holy Spirit leads 101

Desire to meet Jesus 104

Prayer for Salvation 107

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 INTRODUCTION

According to 2 Timothy 3:16; “All Scripture is inspired by

God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error,
correcting faults, and giving instructions for right living.”
This means the Word of God is the only relevant
standard in which our lives should be measured by.

In this world, whenever a product is made, a manual

that guides the user comes with it. The same applies to
us as human beings, God is our creator and the Bible is
the manual that came with us. The Bible instructs us,
directs us and corrects us where we are wrong. Since
this is true regarding us Christians today, why then do
we seem more confused and lost than other religions?

There are Christian churches today that base their

worship and standard for living on the New Testament
only, and some on a little bit of both the Old and New
Testament. Do we hold some parts of the Bible higher
than others? Do we decide one part is more important
than the other? Are we saying some parts of the Bible
are true and others are false? What is it that we are
telling the world about Christianity?

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-19; “Do not think that I have

come to do away with the Law of Moses and the
teaching of the prophets. I have not come to do away
with them, but to make their teachings come true.
Remember that as long as heaven and earth last, not

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the least point nor the smallest detail of the Law will be
done away with- not until the end of all things. So then,
whoever disobeys even the least important of the
commandments and teaches others to do the same, will
be the least in the Kingdom of heaven. On the other
hand, whoever obeys the Law and teaches others to do
the same, will be great in the Kingdom of heaven.”

Has heaven and earth passed away? They both still

stand! Have all the scriptures been fulfilled? Not at all!
So then why have we decided to do away with the Law
and the teachings of the prophets? Would Jesus warn us
not to do so if it was not necessary and relevant to us?
No! Do you want to be the least in the Kingdom of God?
I don’t. As born-again Christians, we are saved by grace,
this grace has merited us eternal life and it requires us
to live by faith. “Does this mean that by faith we do
away with the Law? No, not at all; instead, we uphold
the Law.” (Romans 3:31).

The misinterpretation of scripture is costing the body of

Christ, because it causes divisions among Christians, we
label each other, judge each other and pull each other
down at every given chance. “Let me put it this way:
each one of you says something different. One says, “I
follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I
follow Peter”; and another, “I follow Christ.” Christ has
been divided into groups! Was it Paul who died on the
cross for you? Were you baptized as Paul’s disciples?”
(1 Corinthians 1:12-13).

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Our God is not the author of confusion and His Word
was written to help us understand His Will, not to
confuse us. Christians should be united as one body of
Christ, functioning together for the glory of our Father
because if we are not united, we discredit our God.

Christians should have one common character, and that

is love, because God is love, so true love is what should
keep us together, no matter how different we may be
from one another. John 13:35 reads; “If you have love
for one another, then everyone will know that you are
my disciples.” It is our Christian obligation to love one
another, we ought to love first with our hearts, then
with our deeds and lastly with our words.

In this book, I will be sharing my understanding of the

Word of God with you, not to cause confusion but to
enlighten you. I will be focusing on the will of God
because I believe that it is important for us to
understand the will of God for our lives. I am aware that
our interpretation of scripture differs at times and I
know this is the reason why we have so many different
types of Christian worship today. I also know that in as
much as I am convinced that what I understand or how I
interpret the scripture is correct, you might have your
own strong opinions which might differ from mine.

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As iron sharpens iron, we are here to help each other,
because no one is perfect, it is for this very reason that
we exist, to complement each other. We are one in
Christ, and your weakness might be my strength and
your strength might be my weakness, we need each
other, God did it this way for a reason.

Q: Why are there different interpretations of the Bible?

What is the right interpretation of the Bible? What
makes one person’s interpretation correct and someone
else’s wrong?

A: The Bible was inspired by God’s Spirit and it is not the

spirit of confusion but the Spirit of peace and truth.
Different interpretations come as a result of us speaking
our ideas into the Word of God mainly because we are
trying to justify our own ungodly ways instead of
allowing the Word to speak to us.

2 Timothy 2:15-16 reads: “Do your best to win full

approval in God’s sight, as a worker who is not ashamed
of his work, one who correctly teaches the message of
truth. Keep away from profane and foolish discussions,
which only drive people further away from God.”

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 FREE WILL

There is so much disagreement among Christians

regarding the free will. Some believe God has given man
a free will to choose, decide and make his own plans;
while some believe man has no free will, that his
choices, decisions and plans are predetermined by God.
I don’t know what’s your take on this topic, but I would
like to share my understanding of it with you.

I would first like us to look at some event in Joseph’s

life. The Bible talks about the birth of Jesus Christ in
Matthew 1:18-25 and from this we learn that when
Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, he made a
plan to leave her, but God interrupted his plan by
sending an Angel to tell Joseph about His own plan
concerning the child Mary was carrying. Upon receiving
this revelation, Joseph changed his mind about the plan
he had made and married Mary instead of leaving her.

Based on this scenario, I believe it is safe for me to say

that Joseph had a free will, hence he was able to make a
decision to leave Mary, at some point in his life. So like
Joseph, we all have the free will to choose, decide, and
make plans every day in our lives. Would I be taking it
too far if I say, God can interrupt our plans, just as He
did Joseph’s, especially when our plans do not align with
His own plans concerning each and every one of us?

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God gave man free will, but because He is not a God of
disorder, He uses knowledge as a tool to enable us to
make decisions, choices, and plans that are in alignment
with His will. When we don’t know the will of God, we
are more likely to exercise our free will, but when God
reveals His will to us, we are able to surrender our free
will and submit to His own. Knowledge gives us the
ability to abandon our free will for the will of God.

Does this mean we have to find God’s will concerning

every little thing in our lives such as what colour to
choose, what to eat for lunch, whether or not to sit
down? Not necessarily, that would be to undermine the
free will God has given us. God has entrusted us with
the ability to made decisions, choices and plans in life;
however, many of us still make wrong decisions in life.

Therefore, for our own sake, in case we may be lacking

in knowledge, I advise that we may seek to know the
will of God concerning our lives, that is, His purpose for
our lives because a road may seem right to a person
whereas it leads to death. We should not rely on our
own understanding, but on the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, especially when it comes to life changing plans
and decisions that may impact our future and destiny.
By this I do not mean our errors can overturn the plan
of God, but it may result in delay or prolonged journey.

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 THE WAY OF TRUTH

Christianity is not just a mere religion but a way of life, a

lifestyle that takes after Christ. It is not enough for us to
call ourselves Christians whilst our actions deny what
we confess. Each and every area of our lives as born-
again Christians should reflect the Christ in us and if this
is not the case, we should trace our steps and repent
from our ways every day. What is this way of truth?

When Thomas asked Jesus about this way, He said to

him in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father except by me.” What did
Jesus mean? Simple, He meant that He is the only way
that leads to the Father and there is no other way apart
from Him. This is the cornerstone of Christianity, and it
is what sets Christianity apart from other religions. Jesus
being the Way, He left us a pattern for which we should
live by, all that is recorded in the Bible was recorded for
our sake and He also left us with the Holy Spirit of God,
who reveals God’s truth to us and guides us in this way
of life. Even with all that Jesus taught us, we still follow
our immoral ways; and because of what we do, others
will speak evil of the Way of truth (2 Peter2:2). As the
church – leaders, ministers, members of the body, we
deviated from the Way of truth and have followed the
ways of this world which led us further away from God.

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Be not deceived, there are many paths in this world but
there is only one path which leads to eternal life, it is
the Way of truth. In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus warns “Go
in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is
wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are
many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and
the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people
who find it.”

How then, do we ensure that we walk on the right path?

The same way you ensure that you find the correct
route to any place you want to go to, whether you use a
map, GPRS, the direction someone points you to, or
follow the person who accompanies you to that place.
So firstly, you must find the way – Jesus is the Way.
Secondly, you gather all the right information about that
route – distance, mode of transport required, the
condition of that road, etc. Likewise, you will need to
know all the right information (the truth) regarding the
Way – Jesus is the Truth. Lastly, when you have done all
your finding and made all necessary preparations for
your journey to be successful, you then start your new
journey. In the same manner, when you have found the
Way and know the Truth about the journey you are
about to embark on, you then start your new journey –
(the life) – Jesus is the Life. Therefore, no one can come
to the Father except through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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 THE WORD OF TRUTH

We all know that in the beginning God spoke things into

existence, He used His Word to create the light, the
heaven, the plants, the sun, and the moon, the sea
creatures and birds, and the animals and human beings;
as written in Genesis 1:1-31. These are the things that
we see with our eyes in the physical and they bear
witness that God truly exists. When going deeper,
Ephesians 1:4 opens our spiritual eyes, it reads; “Even
before the world was made, God had already chosen us
to be His through our union with Christ, so that we
would be holy and without fault before Him.” In Genesis
we read about how creation took place, but what we
learn from this verse in Ephesians is that even before
creation took place we were already chosen. Imagine!

This tells us that before anything can exist in the

physical realm it must first take place in the spiritual
realm. For God to choose you before the world was
made, it means you must have existed in the spiritual
realm, just as Jesus did. John 1:1 says “In the beginning
the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and
the Word was God.” Verse 14 of the same chapter says
“The Word became a human being and, full of grace and
truth, lived among us.” What does this mean to you as a
child of God? Your true identity is found in the Word!

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We existed in the Word before we could exist in the
world, God chose us in the Word before He could
choose us in the world. Therefore, were born as physical
beings through and by the Word and on that same note
we are born as spiritual beings through and by Jesus,
who is the Word of Truth. James 1:8 reads; “By His own
choice, He gave us birth by the Word of Truth so that we
would be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”

Since all this is true, why do we still find it hard to

accept the Word? Why do we still think we can live
without the Word? You know why? Because the enemy
of our souls has deceived many of us into believing that
it is normal not to hear the voice of God, it is human to
not accept the Word of God whenever it suits us, and
that life is not all about the Word. What a lie, and this
lie has cost us the very power given to us by God
because the Word is God’s creative power alive in us.

It’s no wonder we preach salvation yet no one is saved

because many as in James 1:22 have not accepted the
Word God planted in our hearts, that Word which has
the power to save. We speak things and do not see
them come to pass because we do not have faith, which
comes through us hearing the Word. Many are living in
defeat even though we have been given victory because
they go to war without the sword of the spirit, the Word

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 THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

I often hear Christians say; “the devil made me do it”,

and wonder why this saying is more popular in our
Christian community than “the Holy Spirit led me to it”.
Fact is, most of us are more familiar with the voice of
the enemy than the voice of God, that’s why it is much
easier to hear the voice of Satan than the voice of God.
God speaks to us all the time, in every situation by His
Holy Spirit living in us, but due to our ignorance of the
things of God we fail to hear Him when He speaks to us.
We need to know the Holy Spirit in depth so that we
may be familiar with His voice.

Who is the Holy Spirit to you? The scripture defines Him

as the Spirit who reveals the truth about God, the world
cannot receive Him because it cannot see Him or know
Him but you know Him because He remains with you
and He is in you, that was quoted from John 17:17. Now
the question is, how well do you know the Holy Spirit?
Please allow me to share my personal experience with
you, on how I got to know and hear the Holy Spirit.

My first personal encounter with the Holy Spirit took

place in the year 2006. This is how it happened – a
friend of mine had said something about the grace of
God which did not sit well with me and at that point in
my life I did not have enough knowledge about the

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grace of God, so I felt it would be foolish of me to
challenge what he said when I don’t have enough
knowledge about it. So, I set out to go search scriptures
to learn as much as I could about grace, so that when I
correct him, I would be able to back it up with the Word
of God.

That day when I got home, I took out my Bible, notepad

and a pen, put my phone on silent and said a little
prayer which went something like, “Lord please help me
get all the scriptures that will help me get the right
knowledge about your grace so that I can be able to
correct my friend as you know that what he said earlier
did not sit well with me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen”. I
then opened the Bible just randomly and the scripture
that my eyes met was Ephesians 1:4 which reads; “Even
before the world was made, God had already chosen us
to be his through our union with Christ, so that we
would be holy and without fault before him.” This was
definitely not the kind of scripture I had hoped for, in
fact it confused me if anything at all because I believed
for God to choose a person, she would have to do
something good to please or impress God, but this
scripture says we were chosen before the world was
made. How was that possible, man was created last
how come then did God choose us before we existed?
As I was wondering, asking myself this question I heard

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a voice from the inside of me, not my thought-voice. It
was as clear as any voice could be and He said to me,
“Whatever you see manifested in the physical realm is
as a result of that which God has completed in the
spiritual realm.” This shocked me, as I wondered where
that voice was coming from, and what was being said,
was the weirdest thing I have ever heard in my life so I
knew it could have never been my own thought, but
then if that was not my thought then what was it? To be
honest, I automatically thought it was the spirit sent by
Satan to deceive me. Just as these thoughts were
running through my heard, I heard the voice again
saying, “I understand why you ask yourself such
questions, you do not know me yet”. At this point I was
sure that I have gone mad, hearing a strange voice
saying strange things.

The voice continued speaking and s”Id; ’I am the one

who never lies, I speak of things that are still to come,
and I can control things.” This made me calm down a bit
as it sounded more like God and less like Satan since he
is the father of all lies. But still my mind was not settled
when I remembered that even Satan can appear as an
angel of light. As if the voice read my mind He spoke
once again and said, “Let’s make a deal, I will prove to
you that I am who I said I am, and if I fail to prove it to
you, you can conclude that I am not who I said I am but

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if I can prove myself to you, you would then have to
promise to listen to me from now on.” That sounded
like a fair deal but I wondered how He was going to
prove Himself. Then the voice said to me, “Your mom is
going to call you in 5 minutes but as soon as she realizes
it is you, she will tell you she called you by mistake and
hang up”. Knowing my mom, I could foresee how this
was going to end, I was ready to cast out and bind some
devil in that place because my mom would never call
me and tell me it was a mistake then hang-up. So, I
closed the Bible, put notepad and pen aside and starred
at my phone as it had a digital clock displayed on top.

5 minutes later my phone started flashing blue light and

I looked and saw it was my mom calling, I laughed so
hard I could not even speak a word, I could not believe
it was happening. I picked my phone still laughing, so by
the time I could speak, my mom heard it was me then
she said she called me by mistake and I was going to
finish her airtime then she hanged up on me, even
though she spoke in my home language, Sotho, she said
the exact thing the voice said she was going to say. I
then realized that the spirit I was talking to was of God
and I accepted that voice as the voice of the Holy Spirit.
He began to teach me all that I know and He is still
talking to me, He is my best friend and I love Him so
much. He has a great sense of humor and He is so wise.

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 GOD’S PLAN AND DECISION

According to Ephesians 1:11, “All things are done

according to God’s plan and decision; and God chose us
to be his own people in union with Christ because of his
own purpose, based on what he had decided from the
very beginning.” Please note that the scripture says all
things, not some, not most, not good things only. Also
note that God chose us to be His own people because of
His own purpose not ours. Do you believe that all things
in your life are done according to God’s plan and
decision?

Let’s be honest, it is easy to believe God is at work when

things are going well for you- when you get a
breakthrough, you know it is God at work, when you get
a new job, you know it is God at work, when your
financial life is booming, you know it is God at work, but
what do we think is happening when things are not
going well for us? Do we still believe it is God at work?
We don’t! When we lose a business deal, we believe the
devil is at work, when a door of opportunity shuts
before our eyes, we believe the devil is at work, when
our financial life gets shaky, we believe the devil is at
work. If the devil is at work, what would God be doing?

Actually, come to think of it, Christians of today are like

the Peters of this generation. One moment we speak

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that which comes directly from our Father in heaven,
and the next moment we speak that which comes from
the pit of hell. What do I mean? Let me show you; in
Matthew 16:15-17 Jesus asked His disciples who do they
say He is and Peter answered “You are the Messiah, the
Son of the living God”. What did Jesus say in response to
Peter? He said, “Good for you, Simon son of John! For
this truth did not come to you from any human being,
but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven.”
But then what happened few verses down the chapter?
In verse 21 -23, Jesus tells His disciples that He will be
put to death and be raised back to life after 3 days.
What did Peter do? He took Jesus aside and began to
rebuke Him saying “God forbid it, Lord! That must never
happen to you!” Jesus turned around and said to Peter,
“Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my
way, because these thoughts of yours don’t come from
God, but from human nature.” Do you get the picture?

When we do not know the will of God for our lives, we

fail to see Him at work in our lives when we are facing
challenges, experiencing troubles, going through trials,
and during our testing times. Peter did not know that it
was the plan and decision of God for Christ to be killed
and raised from the dead on the third day and his
ignorance became an obstacle to Jesus. Likewise, when
we do not know the will of God for our lives, we may

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become an obstacle to His work. When we don’t know
the will of God, we will easily think that some of His
plans and decisions are actually the work of the enemy,
especially if such involve pain and suffering on our part.

I believe Jesus is still saying the same thing that He said

to Peter in Luke 22:31-32 to us today, the Peters of this
generation. He is saying, “Simon, Simon! Listen! Satan
has received permission to test all of you, to separate
the good from the bad, as a farmer separates the wheat
from the chaff. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that
your faith will not fail” (replace Simon with your name
and read the verse again to receive it as your own).

With all that being said, I would like to ask you this one
question. What are you going through today that is
making you doubt that God is still at work in your life?

Q: Why do bad things happen to good people? Why

can’t God stop tragedy? Why does God allow us to
suffer?

A: There is no sure answer to this, as no one has had a

chance to ask God these directly. But it is evident, based
on Bible events, that God may allow suffering for His
Word to be fulfilled; for example, John 16:33 “I have

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told you this so that you will have peace by being united
to me. The world will make you suffer. But be brave! I
have defeated the world.” However, this doesn’t mean
that God takes pleasure in our suffering. Each specific
event is different from the other, and the reasons why
God allows a specific bad thing to happen can only be
fully known by God, except if He decides to reveal it to
us. 1 Corinthians 13:12: “What we see now is like a dim
image in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. What I
know now is partial; then it will be complete- as
complete as God’s knowledge of me.” We know God is
good and the devil is evil, so it’s easy for us to associate
life with God and death with Satan, but the truth is God
created both Life and death. Job said in Job 1:21 “I was
born with nothing, and I will die with nothing. The LORD
gave, and now he has taken away. May his name be
praised.” We should be of strong character and not
allow our love for God to be measured by His goodness
towards us alone, we should grow to a point of saying
‘whether He rescues me or not, I will remain faithful to
Him and trust Him to the end.’ Daniel 3:17-18; “If the
God whom we serve is able to save us from the blazing
furnace and from your power, then he will. But even if
he doesn’t, Your Majesty may be sure that we will not
worship your god, and we will not bow down to the gold
statue that you have set up.”

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 SECRET NOW REVEALED

Moses said to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy

29:29 “There are some things that the Lord our God has
kept secret; but he has revealed his Law, and we and our
descendants are to obey it forever.” Moses was not just
a prophet of God; he was the greatest of all prophets of
old. His relationship with God was not like others, he
spoke to God face to face and saw His glory. Yet, as he
mentioned in the above quoted scripture, God kept
somethings secret to him and the people of Israel. To
them God revealed His law and they were put right with
God by obeying the law. “You must obey my laws and be
careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God.
Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys
them will live by them”, this is what God told Moses to
tell the people of Israel in Leviticus 18:4-5.

You and I know the law God gave to Moses, and we can
attest to the truth that it is hard to obey God’s
commands as people of flesh, now imagine being told
that obeying the law is the only way in which you will be
saved. What would a normal day be like to you? You
would probably have a checklist of Dos and Don’ts, to
make sure you stay on the safe side with God. Honestly
speaking I do not envy them. I thank God that it was to
us He made known His secret by means of His Spirit.

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“The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths
of God’s purposes.”, according to 1 Corinthians 2:10.
Yes, God kept His great secret from the people of Israel
but chose to reveal it to us, by His Spirit, a people who
did not know Him. Not because we are better than
them or more deserving but because that was the plan
He decided on before the world was made for His own
purpose. If only we can understand how privileged we
are to be the chosen ones, to be called God’s own
people in union with Christ, then we would love our
heavenly Father as Jesus said we should – with all our
heart, with all our soul, with all our strength and with all
our mind, all the days of our lives.

To Moses and the Israelites God revealed the law and

they were saved by obeying the law; to us God revealed
Christ and we are saved by believing in Him – this is
grace. See what the Bible says in Colossians 1:27
regarding God’s plan for us, it says “God’s plan is to
make known his secret to his people, this rich and
glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the
secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will
share in the glory of God.” The secret is out, Christ is in
us, all we need to do is believe in Him and live in Him.
Does this mean we are as gentiles are more loved by
God than the Israelites? Of course not! The Israelites are
and will always remain God’s nation. God chose Israel

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for Himself and they will remain God’s original people
because of the old covenant and we, by grace in Christ
Jesus, are His adopted people. “There is a secret truth,
my friends, which I want you to know, for it will keep
you from thinking how wise you are. It is that the
stubbornness of the people of Israel is not permanent,
but will last only until the complete number of Gentiles
comes to God.” (Romans 11:25)

One may ask, “If now both Jews and Gentiles are saved
only by believing in Christ, why then must we still
uphold the law.” The answer is simple, we must uphold
the law because Jesus said so. When it comes to the
law, there are three points I would like to make you
aware of. Firstly, there are laws that were a shadow of
things to come, they were pointing to Jesus, and when
Jesus came to die on the cross and said it is finished,
these laws were completed. An example of such a law is
found in Leviticus 1:2-3 which reads; “When you offer
an animal sacrifice, it may be one of your cattle or one
of your sheep or goats. If you are offering one of your
cattle as a burnt offering, you must bring a bull without
any defects. You must present it at the entrance of the
Tent of the Lord’s presence so that the Lord will accept
you.” Well, we no longer need any animal sacrifice for
us to be accepted in the Lord’s presence, Jesus became
the ultimate sacrifice for us, we are acceptable to God.

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Secondly, there are laws that were according to the
standards of the former glory and Christ had to amend
them so that they fit the standard of the latter-day glory
for example, Matthew 5:27-28 which reads; “You have
heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But
now I tell you: anyone who looks at a woman and wants
to possess her is guilty of committing adultery with her
in his heart.” These laws must still be obeyed even more
so in a deeper way than before.

Lastly, the laws of love, these are found in Matthew

22:37-39, commonly known as the greatest
commandments; “Love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is
the greatest and the most important commandment.
The second most important commandment is like it:
‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” These two
commandments cover all the other laws of Moses and
of the prophets which are still necessary and relevant in
our walk with Christ today. These too must still be
obeyed in all their simplicity as they were in the old
times, not because obeying will save us but because to
obey is to love the Lord. “For our love for God means
that we obey his commands. And his commands are not
too hard for us, because every child of God is able to
defeat the world. And we win the victory over the world
by means of our faith.” (1 John 5:3-4).

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 JESUS KNOWS THOSE WHO KNOW HIM

To know the name of Jesus does not mean you know

Him. To know about Jesus does not mean you know
Him. To know how to use the name of Jesus does not
mean you know Him. What does it mean to know Jesus?
To know Jesus is to be pure in heart, Titus 1:15-16 says;
“Everything is pure to those who are themselves pure;
but nothing is pure to those who are defiled and
unbelieving, for their minds and consciences have been
defiled. They claim that they know God, but their actions
deny it. They are hateful and disobedient, not fit to do
anything good.” No one can say they know Jesus or can
know Jesus if they are not pure for Jesus Himself is pure.
It is impossible for one to genuinely desire to see Jesus
and to look like Him if that same person does not keep
themselves pure. “Everyone who has this hope in Christ
keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure.” (1 John 3:3).
We can claim to know Jesus all we want, but if our
hearts are not pure, we are only deceiving ourselves.

What does it mean to have a pure heart? To have a pure

heart means to have a heart after God, a heart that
seeks to please God at all cost without any ulterior
motive. A great example of someone with a heart after
God is David, this is what God said about him; ‘I have
found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he

27
will do everything I want him to do.’ (Acts 13:22 NIV).
David was a man after God’s heart because he loved to
obey God. Let’s quickly read what he, David, said in
Psalms 119:1-8; “Happy are those whose lives are
faultless, who live according to the law of the Lord.
Happy are those who follow his commands, who obey
him with all their heart. They never do wrong; they walk
in the Lord’s ways. Lord, you have given us your laws
and told us to obey them faithfully. How I hope that I
shall be faithful in keeping your instructions! If I pay
attention to all your commands, then I will not be put to
shame. As I learn your righteous judgments, I will praise
you with a pure heart. I will obey your laws; never
abandon me!” Many of us who claim to know God will
be put to shame when the day finally comes for us to
stand before the One we have been claiming to know.

Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23; “Not everyone who calls

me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but
only those who do what my Father in heaven wants
them to do. When the Judgment Day comes, many will
say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God’s
message, by your name we drove out many demons and
performed many miracles!’ Then I will say to them, ‘I
never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!’
The key in this scripture is that what truly matters is
“doing what our heavenly Father wants us to do”.

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Brethren, we do not have to wait until judgement day to
find out if we truly know God as we claim to or not. We
can examine our hearts today and ask the Lord to create
in us a pure heart so that we may know Him as we
ought to. No one can know Jesus unless the Father
reveals Him by His Holy Spirit to that particular person.
And the Father reveals Jesus to those who love Him,
those who obey His commands, these are the pure in
heart.

Please do not get confused, I am not talking about

salvation because salvation is by grace, what I am
talking about here is the relationship that follows, the
intimacy one shares with God. Usually, when a man
approaches a woman that he intends to marry, he goes
there because he has chosen her, based on what he saw
in her, that which he likes in a woman. Meaning he has
knowledge of the woman in question but does the
woman know him as much? No! It is when they are
married that she will truly get to know the man she
married and how they relate with each other will affect
how their marriage life will be. Some women, after
decades of being married to a man, were found saying
“I thought I knew you, who are you, where is the man I
got married to?” Some, however, are found saying; “I
feel like I have known you all my life, the more I know
you, is the more I fall in love with you.” This is like it.

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Simply put, I can say, you do not earn salvation but you
work it out, “So then, my beloved, obedient as you have
always been, not only when I am present but all the
more now when I am absent, work out your salvation
with fear and trembling. For God is the one who, for his
good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work.”
(Philippians 2:12-13). We can all be saved but only a few
can know Jesus on a personal level, this is what I am
referring to here. This is how Jesus put it in John 14:21
“Those who accept my commandments and obey them
are the ones who love me. My Father will love those who
love me; I too will love them and reveal myself to them.”
We didn’t have to love God to be saved but we have to
love Him for us to experience a higher level of a
relationship with Him. We didn’t have to obey His
commandments to be saved but we have to obey them
to show our love for Him in a call to an intimacy with
Him. Obedience to God and purity of heart goes hand in
hand, one can not go without the other. To the pure in
heart, the personal manifestation of God’s presence is a
reward for their obedience. Jesus said in Matthew 5:8 –
“Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God!”

It is the will of God for us to know Him, that is why He

sent us His Holy Spirit, who reveals all truth about Him,
to dwell permanently in us and to help us in the
knowledge of Him who chose us. Jesus said to the

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Father in John 17:6-7 “I have made you known to those
you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you,
and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your word,
and now they know that everything you gave me comes
from you.” Even though we are a people saved by grace,
we are still required to obey the Word of God and with
all pureness of heart, be eager to do good. We must
bring credit to the teaching about God our Savior in all
we do, so that the world may not have anything bad to
say about us and the faith we profess.

According to Titus 2:11-14, it is that same grace that

saved us that still instructs us to give up ungodly living
and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright
and godly lives in this world, let us read it together so
that you may not have an excuse on the Day of the
LORD; “For God has revealed his grace for the salvation
of all people. That grace instructs us to give up ungodly
living and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives in this world, as we wait for the
blessed Day we hope for, when the glory of our great
God and Savior Jesus Christ will appear. He gave himself
for us, to rescue us from all wickedness and to make us a
pure people who belong to him alone and are eager to
do good.” As far as the finished work of Christ is
concerned those whom Christ gave Himself for have
been made pure, by their fruit they shall be known.

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 ALWAYS GIVE THANKS

Life at times seems to be cruel and brings us sorrow and

sadness when we least expect it to, yet the Bible says in
Ephesians 5:20; “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
always give thanks for everything to God the Father.”
Understand this well, the Bible doesn’t say give thanks
when good things happen in your life and complain
when bad things happen in your life, instead, it clearly
states that, we should give thanks for everything; not
once in a while or when you feel like it, but always. Is
this even possible in reality? You might be there
thinking to yourself, “Is God not aware of the situation
I’m in? Can’t He see how hurt I am? Doesn’t He know
how unfair life has been to me?” You might wonder,
“What’s there to be thankful for?” Believe it or not, God
sees far beyond what you see today, He knows it all.

A religious form of mentality says, for example, we

thank God for food even when we are hungry, but what
truth is there? How can you thank God, genuinely, if you
know that deep down in your heart you are not full or
satisfied? Those who live by faith thank God for the
food they are trusting God for, believing that He will
keep His promise and provide them with the food they

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need. They are not thankful that there is no food on the
table, they are thankful for what they believe God for,
because with their spiritual eyes they see God providing
food for them, and by thanking Him they are making
that food to be made manifest in the physical.

Truth be told, it’s almost impossible to even remember

one scripture when facing troubles. Praising God when
you have just lost your loved one is not easy; praising
God when you have no food to give to your child is not
easy; praising God when the doctor tells you have
cancer is not easy; praising God when your boss tells
you your service is no longer needed is not easy. When
one is hurting all that goes through her head is “Why
God?”, “Why me?”, “What have I done to deserve this?”
We wonder why God allows us to go through such pains
if He really loves us. But God wouldn’t expect us to give
praises unto Him at all times if He knew it wasn’t
possible to do so, and according to 1 Thessalonians
5:18, this is exactly what God requires of us, I quote; “be
thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants
from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus.” This will
only be possible to do when you see life with your
spiritual eyes, walking by faith, and seeing beyond your
present situation; remembering always that whatever is

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seen in the physical is temporal but that which is seen in
the spirit is permanent. Faith does not rely on reality
but reality depends on faith, our faith shapes reality.

Let me remind you, God never said trouble won’t come

your way, He never promised that life will be easy,
instead He said He will be with you, through it all, and
He will see you through. Who understands this better
than Job? I think people of today are being misled into
becoming Christians, they are told that if they get born
again, they will have the best life ever and enjoy one
blessing after the other, no one tells them about being
pruned like trees or being refined like silver. That is why
you find people backslide and turn to other gods when
troubles come their way, because they don’t know or
understand that the bigger picture of being born again
is mainly about the kingdom reward not the rewards of
this world. See how Paul puts it in Philippians 3:10-11,
he says; “All I want is to know Christ and to experience
the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings
and become like him in his death, in the hope that I
myself will be raised from death to life.” This is a race
that leads to everlasting joy, and our Father will be
standing at the finish line to give us the crown of glory.
We honor God the most when we praise Him for the
end of our troubles whilst we are still in the midst of it.

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 GOD CAN PERMIT EVIL

Let us start by reading Job 1:6-8, which reads as follows;

“When the day came for heavenly beings to appear
before the LORD, Satan was there among them. The
LORD asked him, “What have you been doing?” Satan
answered, “I have been walking here and there, roaming
round the earth.” “Did you notice my servant Job?” the
LORD asked. “There is no one on earth as faithful and
good as he is. He worships me and is careful not to do
anything evil.” What do you think God is saying about
you to the enemy today? You would be surprised to
know how many times your accusers stand before God
to present a case against you on a daily basis. There is
something you have that someone feels they deserve it
more than you, there is something you want that
someone feels you shouldn’t have, and they bring these
cases before God. When that happens, what do you
think God says about you? I’m sure many of us would
like to hear God speak good things about us in our
defense whenever the enemy tries to discredit us. Well,
you don’t need to hear Him to know He got your back,
His Word already told us that He will never allow us to
be tested beyond our ability to withstand. Job didn’t
hear this conversation that God had with Satan, he
didn’t need to because He knew God. So like him, all we
need to do is stand our ground and never lose our faith.

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From the scripture I quoted above I’m sure you can
easily tell how much God loved Job, he was a good
person and was very faithful to God. Normally, one
would then conclude that nothing bad would befall Job
and assume that all his life would be filled with blessings
from God and nothing bad, correct? However, as we
read through the chapters, we see how Job suffered at
the hand of Satan. He lost all the good things he had, his
children, livestock, wealth, health; but he never lost his
trust in God. Honestly speaking, if this conversation
between God and Satan was not recorded in the book
of Job, I would have concluded that maybe Job offended
God at some point in his life and was now being badly
punished for it. How wrong would I have been? Very!
This makes me wonder, what loss have you suffered in
your life, what loss are you suffering at the hand of
Satan today? Does that loss make you feel as though
God hates you or He is punishing you for something you
have done in the past? Those negative feelings are
setting you up for failure, erase them. What if, like Job,
God finds you to be faithful, and has enough confidence
in you to permit Satan to test your goodness? What if
the reason you are still alive today, despite everything
that you have been through, is because God had only
permitted Satan to have access to all that you have lost
but has denied him access to your life? That’s like God!

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 See in Job 1:9, 12; Satan replied, “Would Job worship
you if he got nothing out of it?” “All right,” the LORD
said to Satan, “everything he has is in your power, but
you must not hurt Job himself.” So Satan left. Again, in
Job 2:4-6, Satan replied, “A man will give up everything
in order to stay alive. But now suppose you hurt his
body- he will curse you to the face!” So the LORD said to
Satan, “All right, he is in your power, but you are not to
kill him.” What do you understand about this scenario?
To me this means a lot, it means Satan has no access to
my life unless if God permits him to have such and if He
does allow him such access it will only be to a limit. It
also tells me that the strength I have measures up the
challenges I go through, small challenges would mean I
have small strength and great challenges would mean I
have great strength. This gives me hope for spiritual
growth because I come out stronger, wiser and glorious.

The same lesson can be learned by following the life of

Joseph. We know how his brothers planned evil against
him and succeeded in carrying their plan out. They were
threatened by him, Joseph the dreamer and their
father’s favorite son, so they sold him to the strangers
who were passing by the way side. When Joseph
realized what his brothers had done, he didn’t start
cursing their lives and that of their generations, nor did
he think of paying revenge on them. You can start to
imagine what you would have done if you were him.

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Instead, as we read in Genesis 45:5, after revealing
himself to his brothers, Joseph said; “Now do not be
upset or blame yourself because you sold me here. It
was really God who sent me ahead of you to save
people’s lives.” In verse 8 he continues; “So it was not
really you who sent me here, but God. He has made me
the king’s highest official. I am in charge of his whole
country; I am the ruler of all Egypt.” Joseph was wise,
we can tell by the way he handled this matter, I pray
that God may give us such wisdom today.

From these two people, Job and Joseph, we can see that
God is more than able to work all things for our good.
Romans 8:28 says; “We know that in all things God
works for good with those who love him, those whom he
has called according to his purpose.” Now if you know
that you love God, hold on to the Romans 8:28 promise,
expect things to work together for your good. It doesn’t
matter how bad things may look around you today,
know that God is making a way for you. Even though
everything looks like a total mess in your life, trust God
to turn it around for your good, God is more than able.
All the negative things, the disappointments, the ugly
and unpleasant occurrences in your life – you can be
sure that God did not permit them to destroy you. If you
have no doubt in your heart that God has called you to
be His own, according to His purpose, then you will have
confidence in His plan for your life, no matter how bad
or messed up things may seem to be, or how difficult
your present situation may be, just keep trusting God.

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 RENEWED MIND

Who doesn’t want to know the will of God? I believe we

all, as children of God, desire to know His will, but how
many of us today can truly say they know the will of
God? Very few, if not none at all, and why is this the
case? Romans 12:2 says; “Do not conform yourselves to
the standards of this world, but let God transform you
inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you
will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is
pleasing to him and is perfect.” According to this
scripture, the reason why we have not come to know
the will of God is because we have conformed to the
standards of this world. Many are defeated by the world
when it comes to the battle of the mind, as a result, are
not able to know the will of God. We know the truth,
the Word of God, and yet we still live our lives based on
the system of this world. We accept as truth that which
is acceptable in our communities, country, or world at
large, even though it contradicts the very Word of God.
This is the reason why we have not been able to know
the will of God – what is good and is pleasing to Him
and is perfect. We need God to transform us inwardly
by a complete change of our mind, we need to repent
from our old ways and ask God to lead us into His ways.

39
It Is Important for us to remember that though we live
in this world we do not belong to this world, ours is the
kingdom of God. Therefore, we can not live as though
we belong to the world and still expect to be connected
to our heavenly Father. If we are not connected to the
Father, we will not be able to know His will for us, the
church, our families and nations. We are the children of
light and should have nothing to do with the things of
darkness because that on its own hinders our fellowship
with our Father. The Bible says in 1 John 1:6-7; “If, then,
we say that we have fellowship with him, yet at the
same time live in the darkness, we are lying both in our
words and in our actions. But if we live in the light – just
as he is in the light – then we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from
every sin.”

It goes without saying that we are people of the flesh

and every now and then our flesh will push us towards
the ways of the world, but the most important thing is
that, even more so, we are people of the spirit. We have
the Spirit of God in us, to help us overcome the world,
according to the finished work of Christ Jesus, our Lord.
It goes without saying that in this life it’s easier to do
evil than to do good, we all desire to be perfect, yet we
fail at almost every attempt we make. No one teaches a
child to steal, yet they do, no one teaches a child to lie

40
yet they do, why is this so? Because we live in a sinful
world and were born in a sinful nature, but we received
a new life when we got born again, so we have no
excuse. God expects us to reject any teaching or law
that contradicts His Word. It is our God given
responsibility to disregard the standards of this world,
and when we do that on our part, God transforms us
inwardly by a complete change of our mind. We have
two responsibilities in this regard, firstly, we do not
conform, secondly, we let God. It will not work if we do
not conform yet not let God transform, it won’t work if
we conform and yet expect God to do the transforming.

Let me key you in on a secret I discovered; Satan works

from the outside of us to get to the inside of us, but God
works from the inside of us to get to the outside of us.
Satan uses the world to kill our spirit but God uses His
Word to kill our flesh. Both processes, in most cases are
gradual and not easy to see, but the result is sure. God’s
plan is to make us firm and strong in spirit so that we
can overcome the flesh, while on the other hand, the
plan of Satan is to make us active and wanting in the
flesh so that we can remain dormant in our spirit. Why
is it that someone who normally eats one meal a day, at
night, all of a sudden finds it difficult or fails to even fast
from 6 am to 6 pm, it is on that day the person will want
breakfast so bad that the body will be shaking, why?

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 ENABLED BY HIS SPIRIT

The truth of the matter is, as long as we depend on self

to be right with God we will fail over and over again.
God wants us to learn how to rely totally on Him, and
not our own strength because as long as we think we
can do it on our own the harder this journey of
righteousness will be for us. Only God can perfect us, all
that we require is His grace which He has already given.
1 Peter 5:10 confirms this, it says; “But after you have
suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who calls
you to share his eternal glory in union with Christ will
himself perfect you and give you firmness, strength, and
a sure foundation.” I know you desire to be good and
you have probably done all you could think of to perfect
your life yet you failed. I believe the time has come for
God to make us firm, strong, and to have a sure
foundation. Our time of suffering in vain and struggling
to be perfect has passed; this is now the time for God
Himself to perfect us. In Joel 2:28, the Bible says;
“Afterwards I will pour out my spirit on everyone: your
sons and daughters will proclaim my message; your old
men will have dreams, and your young men will see
visions.” That time has come, the Holy Spirit has been
freely given to all who believe, and this Spirit is the one
who will help us in knowing all truths about God.

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It’s easy to notice the work of the Holy Spirit If you
know what work He was sent to do in your life. He is the
one who gives you the seal of the Holy Spirit, to
separate you from the world and darkness. It was only
after I have spoken to an ex-devil worshiper that I
realized how important this seal of the Holy Spirit is in
our lives as Christians. The ex-devil worshiper told me
that if you have the mark of Christ, the seal of the Holy
Spirit, no demon can play with you and the opposite is
true for those without a mark of Christ, Satan uses them
as experimental objects. You and I have a reason thank
the Lord today. According to Romans 8:19; “All of
creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his
sons”, this time has come. By His Spirit, God will reveal
His own; they might have been the rejected ones, the
not-so-popular people, the down casted, the foolish,
the poor, the blind, or the ordinary people. However,
once the Spirit of God dwells in them, they become fully
changed and charged up to become all that God said
they would be. What more can we ask for? The way I
see it we have all that we need to live a life that is
pleasing to God, because when you have the Spirit of
God in you, the fullness of God is in you. Remember
that God called you, according to His purpose and He
has a plan for you. Everything looks beautiful at God’s
time, and His plans will never fail.

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John 4:23-24 says; “But the time is coming and is
already here, when by the power of God’s Spirit people
will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the
true worship that he wants. God is Spirit, and only by the
power of His Spirit can people worship him as he really
is.” Your part is to believe that this scripture is talking to
you, believe that the time has come for you to worship
the Father as He really is. This is the will of God for your
life; He said it and He will make it come to pass. If you
have not yet received the Holy Spirit, ask the Father to
fill you today. Tell Him you are ready to receive His
Spirit in your life and He shall pour out His Spirit upon
you. Luke 11:13 reads; “Bad as you are, you know how
to give good things to your children. How much more
then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask him.” To those who already have the
Holy Spirit living in them just ask the Father to give you
the ability to identify the voice of His Spirit so that you
may be able to follow Him. This calls for patience on our
part as children of God especially when it comes to
seeking the will of God about a personal issue. When
seeking direction for personal issues such as what job to
take or who to marry, we need to be patient as we wait
upon God to direct and guide us. Do not follow your
own ways, let God lead you by His Spirit at work in you;
and do not be misled or deceived by the enemy either.

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 WHEN IT’S TIME, IT’S TIME

There is nothing as frustrating as an unknown time,

every person’s patience gets tested when time is not
known. That is why only a few people still believe that
Jesus is coming soon, many thought soon was in a
millennium, century, decade, year, month, week, day, or
hour. When all these times passed and nothing happed,
many gave up on waiting for Him. “But about that day
or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven,
nor the Son, the Father alone knows.” (Matthew 24:36).
Likewise, there is nothing as fulfilling as being in tune
with God’s times, it seems as if your prayers are
answered immediately and whatever you ask for comes
to pass immediately, when you are in tune with God’s
time. Yes, you might not know the day or the hour, but
you can know the season, for example take the teaching
in Matthew 24:32-33, it reads; “Let the fig tree teach
you a lesson. When its branches become green and
tender and it starts putting out leaves, you know that
summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these
things, you will know that the time is near, ready to
begin. Yes, we might not be sure of the day or hour, but
we can discern times, this refers to every activity under
the heavens, as carriers of the Spirit of God, the one
who knows all things about God, we can know when
something is about to happen and act accordingly.

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I remember when I first learnt about the Holy Spirit and
His role in our lives as children of God, I fell in love with
Him instantly, and I believed that I have received Him.
But as time goes, I realized that everyone in church
could speak in tongues, it felt like I was the only one
who couldn’t, and that did not sit well with me. So, I
prayed about it and believed God for an impartation.
Days went by, and before I knew it, it was Sunday again
and prayer time came, I still could not pray in tongues.
Went back home, fasted and prayed, read all I could
about the Holy Spirit, but weeks went by, still nothing.
At this stage I was even tempted to fake it, to just
memorize what others were saying so that I can repeat
it, but my conscious could not permit me, so I didn’t.
Then months went by, still nothing, at this stage I had
done it all, I had pleaded with God, cried to God,
complained to God, emotionally blackmailed Him, don’t
ask me how, and finally, had made peace with the fact
that it will never be my portion, “maybe God didn’t love
me as much as He did others”, I told myself. Not even
one word or response from God, He gave me the silent
treatment, so I moved on with my life and focused on
what I had, that time I was in a worship team. One day
during a service at our church, we had a guest pastor
who gave prophecies towards the end of the service.
Right at the end of the services, he pointed to me saying

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“God says you have been bothering Him for this one
thing” and he asked “It is now time for you to receive it,
are you ready?” I answered “Yes”, I knew exactly what
he was talking about. Then he turned to look at my
pastor and asked him to pray for me to receive the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. My pastor instructed me to
lift my hand and pray the Lord’s prayer, and I lifted my
hand and I could only say “Our Father” thereafter I
heard myself speak in a different language. I usually
prayed silently or whispered but that day my voice was
so high I even shocked myself, thinking about it later. I
went on and on and on, and I think if not of my pastor
stopping me, I would have prayed the whole day. My
pastor was laughing at me like, “Ah ah! You can talk!”
He then asked me if I knew what I was saying, I said no,
then he told me just one thing I was saying, and what he
said was only known by me and God, so it confirmed
that indeed I spoke in a language that could be
interpreted even though I did not understand myself.
Since that day, I learned that God sets times for
occasions and if we do not understand His plans, we
might ask for the right things at the wrong times but
thank God that He is faithful even when we are lacking
on our sides. Everything looks beautiful in God’s time;
everything makes sense in God’s time; and everything is
perfected in God’s time. We need to trust God’s timing!

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 GOD’S CHOICE

I have just learnt that when Jesus, in Mark 4:35 – 5:20,

set out to go to the other side with His disciples to set
the 10 cities free, He actually just When it’s time, it’s
time there to deliver the mad man and returned back.
This was because that one mad man was equal the 10
cities, so when Jesus delivered him, he went to those 10
cities to witness about Christ. And through him the
people of those cities were prepared for Jesus when He
went there again. Knowing what I know now, I have
therefore decided that I will not judge a person nor
predict their future based on who or what they are
today. Allow me to talk about Saul, who later became
Paul. He was a great enemy of Christ and he persecuted
all who followed Christ. Personally, I wouldn’t have
thought that God could use someone like him for His
kingdom; no one could have ever guessed that God
would use him. I mean considering his bad track record
and his strong feeling of hatred towards Christians. But
at the appointed time, God changed him completely,
and today we follow his teachings closely because he
was a great servant of God. Paul says in Acts 26:12-16,
“It was for this purpose that I went to Damascus with
authority and orders from the chief priests. It was on the
road at midday, your majesty, that I saw a light much
brighter than the sun, coming from the sky and shining

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around me and the men travelling with me. All of us fell
to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew,
‘Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me? You are
hurting yourself by hitting back, like an ox kicking
against its owner’s stick. ‘Who are you Lord’, I asked.
And the Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus, whom you
persecute, but stand up and get to your feet. I have
appeared to appoint you as my servant. You are to tell
others what you have seen of me today and what I will
show you in the future”. This is too wonderful to be
missed, remember that Saul had no desire or dream of
becoming God’s servant at all. I’m sure he was shocked
to experience God in this form and was filled with
shame and remorse for all the evil he had done. Today I
look at Paul’s life and realize that there’s probably no
one alive today who can be a worse case than who Paul
was while he was still Saul. Wicked as he was, ungodly
as he was, God gave him the ability to carry the
message of Christ to all nations. That’s one lesson you
should take to heart, God chooses as He pleases.

We often look at our current situations and think to

ourselves we are too sinful for God to even consider
using us for good. Sometimes we fear for the lives of
those we love, those who seem to be stubborn about
receiving Salvation. I always say, the God who was able
to change Saul to Paul in an instant can change me, my

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family, my colleagues, my friends, and my neighbors
according to His purpose and I believe the same for you.
See what Jesus said in John 10:14-16; “I am the good
shepherd. As the Father knows me and I know the
Father, in the same way I know my sheep and they know
me. And I am willing to die for them. There are other
sheep which belong to me that are not in this sheepfold.
I must bring them, too; they will listen to my voice, and
they will become one flock with one shepherd.” Jesus
said there are other sheep that belong to him that are
not in his sheepfold, so just because your loved one is
not yet born again it doesn’t mean they will never be.
When the time comes for God to call them, they will
listen to His voice and become His followers, this is the
real truth and not a lie. There is nothing as frustrating as
not understating the times and seasons we live in,
likewise, nothing is as satisfying as being in tune with
God’s times and seasons.

The Holy Spirit of god, who searches everything, knows

those who belong to Christ and He plays a role in their
salvation. It doesn’t matter how much we may preach
salvation to the world or lead sinner’s prayer in our
churches, it is the Holy Spirit who completes the work of
salvation in a person. The Holy Spirit can convict a
sinner, bring them to repentance and set conditions
that will allow a sinner to hear and respond to the Word

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of God. John 16:8 says the following about the Holy
Spirit; “And when He comes, he will prove to the people
of the world that they are wrong about sin and about
God’s judgement.” A Spirit-filled person speaks the
word with power, and this power is the Spirit of faith
which enables those who hear to receive that faith. We
preach the Word but the Holy Spirit is the force behind
the Word we speak enabling one to hear and do what
the Word says. Man power cannot save a person but by
the power of the Holy Spirit a person is transformed.
Isaiah 30:20-21 says; “The Lord will make you go
through hard times, but he himself will be there to teach
you, and you will not have to search for him anymore. If
you wonder to the left, you will hear his voice behind
you saying, ‘Here is the road, follow it.” This is one of
the promises we must hold on to and remind God of at
all times. This scripture makes us understand that we
will go through hard times in life according to the plan
of God, and through it all God will be there to teach us
and to show us the way. We have confidence in God
because we know that if He has called us to Himself, no
one will snatch us away from Him.

Our calling doesn’t depend on our past or our present

circumstances; it depends on God’s decision, which was
made before the world was created. Titus 3:3-7 reads as
follow; “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient,

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and wrong. We were slaves to passion and pleasures of
all kinds. We spent our lives in malice and envy, others
hated us and we hated them. But when the kindness and
love of God our Savior was revealed, he saved us. It was
not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had
done, but because of his mercy that he saved us,
through the Holy Spirit who gives us new birth and new
life by washing us. God poured out the Holy Spirit
abundantly on us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so
that by his grace we might be put right with God and
come into possession of the eternal life we hope for.” It
is not a secret that Paul was once foolish, disobedient,
and wrong, but I love the way he turned out to be at the
end. One thing I like about Paul is that he never thought
of himself more highly than he was, in his speech he
mentions that him being saved had nothing to do with
any good that he had done. He acknowledges God’s
love, kindness and mercy towards him. He honored the
Spirit of God that was poured out abundantly on him,
he knew beyond doubt that if not by the grace of God
he wouldn’t have been saved. This is the kind of a
mindset and attitude we should have, as people who
are saved by the grace of God. You have been given the
mark of Christ on you because God has destined you for
His Kingdom and there is nothing the devil can do about
it. This is the confidence we have in Christ our Savior.

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 ANSWER TO PRAYER

As born-again Christians, we believe that through prayer

we can get everything that our hearts desire. When one
is in need of healing, we pray; when one is in financial
need, he prays; when one is looking for a partner, he
prays to God about it; and when a woman needs the
fruit of the womb, she asks the Lord in prayer. We do
this because we have hope that when we ask God for
anything in prayer, He hears us and answers our
prayers. We know this because Jesus said in John 14:14;
“If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.”
Many of us read this verse solely, apply it and hope for
the best, however, in most cases, as I believe most of us
have realized, we do not always get everything that we
pray for. Say for an example you prayed that you get a
job position at a particular company, you pray hard
before the interview but still, you don’t get hired, what
happens then? Disappointment, doubt in the Word of
God, hopelessness, discouragement, judging yourself.

I thank God for 1 John 5:14 because it teaches us in

depth the manner in which God operates, it reads; “We
have courage in God’s presence, because we are sure
that he hears us if we ask him for anything that is
according to his will.” The key words here are
“according to His will”, yes, we receive all that we ask

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for when we ask in the name of Jesus, but God knows
our motives and nothing about us is hidden from Him.
God is the God of order, so if you pray out of order, He
won’t disorganize His plans just because you desire one
thing or the other, hence the Bible teaches that we
ought to pray in harmony with the will of God.

Different people can ask for the same thing in prayer

and God answers one with a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ to another,
this doesn’t mean the one whom God said “yes” to is
more righteous than the one who got a “no” for an
answer. Jesus knew exactly what the will of God was for
His life, He said in John 4:34; “My food is to obey the will
of the one who sent me and to finish the work he gave
me to do.” That was Jesus, what about you? If you
believe God sent you on earth for a purpose, why don’t
you submit to His will and trust His plan for your life
according to His purpose? If things don’t go your way,
know that they are going God’s way, so instead of you
dragging against God you have to follow His lead.

James 4:2-3 says; “You want things, but you cannot have
them, so you are ready to kill; you strongly desire things,
but you cannot get them, so you quarrel and fight. You
do not have what you want because you do not ask for
it. And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your
motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your

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pleasures.” This, my friends, is the stumbling block that
most of us encounter in our lives. It happens sometimes
that we find ourselves asking for something that we
know is for our own pleasures, yet irrespective of what
God has to say, we want to see it come to pass here and
now, and if it doesn’t come to pass, we give up on our
faith. So, what can we learn from this? We learn that it
is more important to seek to know the will of God for
our lives. I’m not discouraging prayerfulness and future
planning, all that I’m saying is; in everything we should
acknowledge God and be ready to yield to His leading.

Remember Jesus’ prayer before He was taken to be

crucified, three times He prayed the same prayer, asking
the Father to remove from Him the cup of suffering, yet
each time He acknowledged God’s will for His life.
Matthew 26:42; “Once more, Jesus went away and
prayed, ‘My Father, if this cup of suffering cannot be
taken away unless I drink it, your will be done’.” We
thank God for Jesus Christ; He is such a great example
for all of us to follow today. If Jesus could humble
Himself before God and acknowledge His will, what is
stopping us from doing the same? In every situation,
after we have done all that we could do, all we can say
is, “If it is your will Lord, have your way”. On that same
note, I would like us to read Isaiah 38:4-5, (please bear
in mind the scripture about Christ asking the Father to

55
take away the cup of suffering); it reads, “Then the Lord
commanded Isaiah to go back to Hezekiah and say to
him, ‘I, the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, have
heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will let you live
fifteen years longer’.” Here we see Hezekiah escape
death and yet Jesus couldn’t, this is just one of the
examples that shows us that God answers prayer in
accordance with His will and purpose as He sees fit His
plan.

In case you are thinking to yourself, “How will I know

how to pray if I don’t know what the will of God is for
my life?” The answer is simple, the Holy Spirit, Romans
8:26-27 reads; “In the same way the Spirit also comes to
help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we
ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God in
groans that words cannot express. And God, who sees
into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is;
because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his
people and in accordance with his will.” The Holy Spirit
is here to help us pray in accordance with the will of
God because He knows God’s will concerning each and
every one of us. If only we could understand the
importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we would
appreciate Him. For if truly we are the sons of God, we
should be led by the Holy Spirit, but how sure are you
that you are led by the Holy Spirit? Check who is

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leading! The Disciples of Christ were led by the Holy
Spirit, they followed the Holy Spirit and whenever they
turned to Him for direction they never went wrong. For
example, in Acts 1:24; “Then they prayed, ‘Lord, you
know the thoughts of everyone, so show us which of
these two you have chosen”; in Acts 13:2 “While they
were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to
them, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, to do the
work which I have called them”; and in Acts 8:29 “The
Holy Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to that carriage and
stay close to it.” These are just few examples that prove
that the Holy Spirit leads God’s people.

Remember the story of the three wise men from the

East, who were following a star to go see Jesus? They
were sad, when they could no longer see the star that
was leading them, but when the star appeared again,
they were happy and rejoiced. This is how we as
Christians should be regarding the leading of the Holy
Spirit, we should not move whenever we realize that we
are not led by Him and we should always acknowledge
and celebrate His leading in our lives. If only we could
rely more on the Holy Spirit for direction as we do on
GPRS and maps. If only we could follow the Holy Spirit
and listen to what He has to say as we do social media
and news updates. Christ had to overcome death for the
Father to send us the Holy Spirit, was this done in vain?

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 THE LOVE OF THE FATHER

Here I am actually testifying about the love of the

Father as my personal experience. Throughout the Bible
we learn about God and His love, and God Himself as
love – “Whoever does not love does not know God, for
God is love.” (1 John 4:8). We understand that God
loved us while we were still sinners, according to
Romans 5:8 “God has shown us how much he loves us –
it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!”
My issue with the love of God was that I could not fully
comprehend it, I had put human limitations on it and
this cost me the joy of my salvation, especially during
the period when I felt I was no longer worthy of His
mercies and had concluded that because of my sins,
God no longer loved me and so I pulled away from Him,
I avoided everything that would remind me of God. This
was like a vicious cycle, when I did something good, I
would open myself up to receiving God’s love and when
I did something bad, I would shut myself from the love
of God. I only stopped doing this recently, upon having a
personal encounter with God and coming in contact
with His love. I hope this testimony will help someone.

March 30th, 2018, the day that I will never forget. I had
visited my aunt for Easter holidays with my cousin, and
we decided to go with her to church for their easter

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program. The Friday morning service was on fire, I was
so convicted in my spirit that I decided to get up to
rededicate my life to God because the Word touched
me and I needed to repent and try again with God. The
evening service was just as hot, I was filled with so much
joy in my heart and the message was like a sweet sound
to my ears. I was literally sitting at the edge of the seat
throughout trying to keep myself seated still because I
felt like shouting, jumping up, and running around as I
received deep revelations that night. And just like that,
we had reached the end of the service, how time flew!

Then just when the guest pastor was about to hand over
to the pastor of the church to close the service he asked
for a moment and said, “Listen! God is about to anoint
someone in this place tonight, I want you to come and
give an offering on this altar and see what God will do.”
He then asked the pastor of the church to come stand
with him and then people started to get up to drop their
offering. At this point I was turned off, I have seen so
many pastors link God’s anointing or blessing to offering
and that thing never sat well with me. “Besides, God
knows I gave all the money I had during offering time so
why would the same God attach offering to money
when He knows I already gave all I had, it doesn’t make
sense”, I thought to myself and decided to sit down,
then I saw my aunt get up but my cousin also remained

59
seating. Then the Holy Spirit spoke said to me, “So you
have been listening to this Pastor through out the
service and you knew it was God speaking through him,
now he mentions offering and you doubt him?”, I
answered, “Well, if it was God speaking through him,
doesn’t God know that I already gave out all the money
I had?”, to this there was no response so I thought “Ah
hah!”. Then the guest pastor began to speak, he said,
“This anointing is for you, yet you are sitting down
saying you don’t have money to give as offering yet
there is R2 in your bag. Did I say a specific amount?”
Yoh! You should have seen the shame on my face, I
knew I had R2 but didn’t regard it as a proper amount to
offer. The way I was so embarrassed I asked God to
forgive me immediately and I asked my cousin to lend
me R50 and said I will transfer it back to her, since I
didn’t have cash. I couldn’t give R2 because it would be
too obvious that it was me pastor had to force to come
give an offering. When I got up to go give my cousin also
followed me and we passed my aunt on her way back to
the seat. My mind was all over the place thinking what
kind of people my aunt will take us to be, she left us
sitting down and now all of a sudden, we have money to
give. As I was walking, I bumped into something that felt
like a big balloon and I stopped, that’s when my mind
came back to self, but to my surprise, there was nothing

60
in front of me, there was now a gap between me and
the people who were in front of me as they were
continuing to walk and I was just standing. I thought
maybe I was imagining things since my mind was not in
place anyway, so I took another step to move forward,
guess what, that thing was still in front of me. You will
never begin to imagine the confusion in my head at that
point. “God, what is this?” I knew for sure there was
some invisible thing like a big balloon “but didn’t the
other people in front of me feel it?” I asked myself.

I pulled myself together and trying to keep my cool as I

walked forward as if nothing is happening, then it felt
like I entered right inside that balloon thing, it felt as if I
was walking in a deep swimming pool and the water
was jerking me up. “God, please, which kind of thing is
thing?” I was walking dragging my feet on the ground so
as to get balance and stay grounded but it got worse
each step I took. I was scared but trying not to show. I
could hear the guest pastor in the background saying
“Watch, watch, something is about to happen!”
Honestly, I was too stressed about what was happening
to me at that time than to pay attention to what he was
saying. Then as I was close enough to the altar, where
the offering was being dropped, I felt relieved and told
myself, “Girl just drop this money and get out of this
place fast” as I bent over to drop the R50, I felt two soft

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hands hold me, on each of my legs. I was like “oh what
now?” I looked down to see who was holding my legs
and I saw no one, this still brings tears to my eyes, that’s
how clear and real I still remember the feeling. I thought
I was seriously going crazy, I looked around and noticed
everyone was minding their business really, like normal.
The two hands started lifting me off the ground, then I
looked down and saw my feet not touching the ground
and I screamed my lungs out, I got so scared and kicked
against those hands so as to fall backwards, that was in
my effort to try stop myself from reaching the ceiling.
“Lord, am I dying? Am I dead” I thought my spirit was
leaving the body, to make things worse, as I was falling
backward, I felt other hands hold me on my shoulders,
to stop me from hitting the ground. I thought it was
ushers, it had to be ushers, right? Lo and behold, when I
looked over to my shoulders, I could not see the hands
holding me, I was floating in the air, held by invisible
hands. I knew that I was dead, I mean what other
explanation could be there? I just closed my eyes, to
avoid seeing what was happening around me or to me. I
could just feel that my body is being moved, “where?”
only God knew. At that same time, I heard the guest
pastor say “no one should touch her, the angels are
working on her”, that’s the last thing I heard.

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Then those hands placed me down, as I came in contact
with the ground, I knew I was in a different place, with
my eyes still closed I went on my knees. I knew I was in
the presence of the Holy One. I needed not to be told; I
knew I was in the presence of God, and my flesh could
not stand it, I think what I felt was what Adam and Eve
felt after eating the forbidden fruit, I wanted to hide
from God, His holiness my flesh could not stand. I then
realized how dirty and unworthy I was to be in this close
proximity to the Holy Father, tears of shame started
streaming from my eyes. The He spoke to me, not with
spoken words but my heart heard His heart speak to me
saying “Why do you cry?” and I also responded not with
my mouth but my heart, “Father, why have you allowed
me to come this close to You, I am filthy, you can see”.
What He said changed my life forever, you know what
He said, “That’s not what I see when I look at you, I look
at you through the blood of Jesus, and all I see is my
daughter whom I love so much.” Immediately I felt love,
liquid love like a blanked cover me, and my heart was
overwhelmed, I couldn’t handle it, I wept even more,
but this time it was not tears of shame but of happiness.
I was filled you joy, peace, and gratitude, I could not
stop praising Him, “Thank you God for loving me”. Then
that guest pastor touched me and told me to get up.
That was my experience of the love of God, our Father.

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 ASK THE RIGHT QUESTION

Maybe I should start by addressing this question first,

“Is it right to ask questions as a Christian?” Some might
find this to be a weird question to ask, but there are
others out there who believe asking questions as a
Christian is wrong or abominable. Most Africans can
relate that when it comes to traditional beliefs, no one
is allowed to ask questions, if an elder says, “You should
not drink water while standing!” You dare not ask
“What actually happens if one drinks standing?” You are
expected to just take it the way it is, make it your truth,
practice it and pass it on to others – no questions asked.
Even with Christianity, some people don’t believe it is
right to ask questions, you must just do as you are told,
whether you understand or not; but look, I beg to differ.

Jesus came to show us the way we should follow as

Christians and we learnt something from Him even
when He was just a child. In Luke 2:41-46 we learn that
“Every year the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for
the Passover Festival. When Jesus was twelve years old,
they went to the festival as usual. When the festival was
over, they started back home, but the boy Jesus stayed
in Jerusalem. His parents did not know this; they
thought that he was with the group, so they traveled a
whole day and then started looking for him among their

64
relatives and friends. They did not find him, so they went
back to Jerusalem looking for him. On the third day they
found him in the Temple, sitting with the Jewish
teachers, listening to them and asking questions.” There
you have it, Jesus was found in the Temple, listening,
and asking questions. From since I was a child, I have
always been asking questions, I annoyed everyone who
didn’t like explaining because, as my mom describes, I
was very determined about understanding anything
that didn’t make sense to me, “I talked too much”.
Today, I am still like that, this is how I am with God also,
ask the Holy Spirit if you don’t believe me. One thing I
can tell you is that I love listening to wisdom, and I can
assure you that if there is anything that I do not clearly
understand I will ask a question. Not everyone likes this,
so I thank God that He has always been patient with me.

Back to the topic, someone like me out there, reading

the heading may wonder “Is there a right and wrong
question to ask?” Yes, there are right and wrong
questions to ask and it’s only by the Spirit of God that
we can know which is which; yes, His Spirit guides us
even in our speech, He teaches us what to ask, when to
ask, how to ask, and what not to ask, when not to ask,
and so forth. He knows the end of everything before the
beginning, He knows the hearts of man, He knows our
motives, etc., so you may find that when Mary asked

65
about the birth of Jesus, a satisfying answer was given;
but on the other hand, when Zechariah asked about the
birth of John, he was made mute. Without the Holy
Spirit, asking questions is a risk. If the Spirit of God is
upon you, you will say the right things at the right time
to the right person – that’s it, that’s how it has been!

Personally, I believe the right questions are those asked

by a person who genuinely seeks understanding of that
which God reveals to them, and God will give satisfying
answers to such person. The wrong questions would be
those that are asked to disprove that which God reveals.
Common to man, when something bad happens to a
person, the question one is likely to ask is “Why me
God?”, okay, I am not God, but even me I wouldn’t
bother answering such a question, otherwise, I would
answer back with a question “If not you who?” Already,
this question on its own, tells me that this person thinks
more highly of themselves than they should, they really
believe certain things should happen to others but not
to them, they feel entitled to a problem free life – “who
promised them that?” Not God! Which shows that the
Word of God is not their truth and they love themselves
more than others. But like I said, this is just me, I didn’t
say this is what God would say. But someone in that
same condition might ask “God, how do I pass through
this?” and then “Boom!” God reveals His plan to them.

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 LOVE, POWER, AND GLORY

I want to show you the connection between love,

power, and glory, in that order. To do this, I will start by
looking at John 3:16, which reads; “For God loved the
world so much that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not die but have
eternal life.” The first part of this scripture points us to
love, God’s love for us. Here we are referred to as the
world because He loved us while we were still sinners,
He loved us while we were still people of the world. We
didn’t know Him; we were ungodly and He knew, yet He
loved us just as we were. So, the kind of picture we are
getting here is that God is loving. The second part of the
scripture points us to power, God’s power to save us
through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. Now this is
part I struggled to get my head around the most, I
mean, it made it hard for me to see God in the same like
I saw Him. I had just learnt that He is a loving God but
now I learn that He gave up His Son to die brutally as a
sacrifice. What manner of love is that? Is it really love?

Then I learnt that, from the time sin entered the world,
men in the Old Testament used to kill an animal to offer
it to God as a price to pay for their sin so as to avert the
consequences of such a sin. So, it became clear to me at
this point that sacrificial death was the only way known

67
by man for God to forgive sin, which explains why God
chose to deal with the debt of sin this way. But still, this
didn’t explain why God chose to make His Son the
sacrifice instead of sacrificing an animal as men did. To
clear that confusion, I was led to read Genesis 22:1-18
where God tested Abraham. I realized that Abraham
loved God so much to a point that when God told him to
sacrifice his son Isaac, he did not disobey God but was
willing to do that which God asked him to. Even though
we know God stopped him before he could kill his son,
we now know that Abraham could not hold back his
only son from God, and by so doing He won God’s heart.
If a mere man could do this for the love of God, how
much more God? This was when I realized that God
giving up His Son to die was not a cruel act, quite the
opposite truly. This was God’s highest expression of His
love for mankind, for you and I. God’s love is eternal, it’s
forever and this tells us that if He could not hold back
His Son for us, there is nothing else that He can hold
back from us, till eternity. If Abraham won the heart of
God that way, could not God win our hearts this way?
Yes, God didn’t allow Abraham to actually kill his son yet
He allowed Jesus to be killed, for His power to be made
known, His resurrection power. People always say Jesus
was not the first to be resurrected, them referring to
the likes of Lazarus. Listen to me, I will tell you the truth;

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Jesus is the resurrection Himself, Him alone held the
power to raise the dead in the New Testament, and now
that same power is given to us. Lazarus was called back
to life by Jesus and he still died later on, but no one
called Jesus back to life and He lives to never die again.
This is the power He gave us over sin and death, so we
no longer fear death for we know it will soon expire –
there will be no more death (1 Corinthians 15:26) to the
glory of God. Which leads me to the third point, glory,
the glory of God. Jesus appeared to some of His
followers on the day He was resurrected but they did
not recognize Him. Hence in Luke 24:25-26 Jesus to
them “How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe
everything the prophets said! Was it not necessary for
the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his
glory?” This confirms that the love of God that was
shown to us through the death of Christ, and His power
shown through the resurrection of Christ, and His glory
which is the reward of eternal life given to them who
overcome, first Christ then us in Him, are all connected.

In most cases were are like the two followers of Christ

who walked and talked to the resurrected Christ yet did
not recognize Him. Because we too, like them, are still
worried about the missing body (Christ in heaven) and
miss the resurrected body (Christ in us). The mystery is
that the same Christ who is in heaven lives in us today.

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 -GOD IS IN CONTROL

When you study the lives of God’s people in the Bible,

you learn that nothing happened by chance in their
lives. Whether good or bad, everything happened as
God planned it to happen, according to His decision and
His purpose for their lives. There is a saying that goes,
“Everything happens for a reason”; I believe this to be
true in my life. People often believe when good things
happen to them the will of God is done and when bad
things happen to them it is the will of Satan. What I
believe is this; for as long as I am alive, only the will of
God is done in my life and everything that happens to
me happens for a reason - no accident, no mistake, no
coincidence, and no chance. I say this because I know
that my life was well planned, and everything was
arranged to fit perfectly in God's plan for my life,
according to His purpose. I believe that each and every
person in my life has a part to play, that there was a
reason for our paths to cross; because of this, I love and
respect everyone. Those who hurt me serve a purpose,
those who make me happy serve a purpose, those who
speak evil of me serve a purpose, those who say good
things about me serve a purpose. Every individual that I
come across has a part to play and it is to serve a
purpose. If mistakes could not happen in the life of
Jesus, then I don't believe they will happen in mine.

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God’s attributes make it easy for people to see Him as
One who is in control only when good things happen
and not in control when bad things happen, He is good,
holy, perfect, kind, loving, caring, merciful, just, and fair.
As my knowledge serves me, God can give Satan or man
control over someone for a certain period for a specific
reason but such control will be restricted and still be
under God’s control. Someone may ask, “First Lady, are
you saying God causes bad things to happen?” and to
that question I also ask, “Can anyone cause anything to
happen without God’s permission?” Would Pilate have
power to hand Jesus over to be crucified if God did not
permit it to happen? Would Satan have power over Job
if God did not grant him permission? Can one sparrow
fall to the ground without the consent of God? A similar
question is actually asked in Amos 3:6, saying; “Does
disaster strike a city unless the LORD sends it?” This is
what I’m saying, God is just and perfect, this is the more
reason why we should find rest in Christ even when we
pass through storms and fire, knowing that the One
who loves us is the One in control. Situations do not
determine who God is, He is not a good God when good
things happen and a bad God when bad things happen,
He remains good and works all things together for good
to those that love Him. You love God? If yes then rest!

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There are two of the many reasons why God permit bad
things to happen; one, for His power to be revealed,
and two, for correcting mankind. Firstly, take Moses for
example and see what he said to God in Exodus 5:22, he
said “Lord, why do you mistreat your people? Why did
you send me here? Ever since I went to the king to speak
for you, he has treated them cruelly. And you have done
nothing to help them!” and what was God’s response?
He said “Now you are going to see what I will do to the
king. I will force him to let my people go. In fact, I will
force him to drive them out of his land.” (Exodus 6:1).
Did God do that or not? He did! The second example is
found in 2 Samuel 21:1-14, here you will learn that
during David’s reign there was a severe famine which
lasted three full years. The people prayed for the
country but God was not answering their prayers, I
believe David knew at this point that God could have
not allowed such a bad thing to happen to them unless
there was a good and justifiable reason for Him to do
so, so he went to consult the LORD about it and indeed,
there was a reason. He learnt that the people of Gibeon
were not at peace with the people of Israel because of
what Saul and his family did to them. This awareness
enabled David to take the necessary actions to restore
between the people of Gibeon and the Israelites. And
after that, God answered their prayers for the country.

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 SPIRIT LED PRAYER

What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? The simplest

answer I can give would be to tell you what it is not. To
be led by the Spirit is to not be driven by the flesh, on
that note, a Spirit led prayer would be a prayer that is
not driven by flesh. Being Spirit led causes one to act in
harmony with the will of God, even if doing so does not
feel good at the moment. On the other hand, being
driven by the flesh causes one to act in conflict with the
will of God, just because it feels good at the moment.

In a Spirit led prayer, the Spirit of God living in you,

prays for you, prays through you, and guides you in
prayer. This kind of prayer immediately results in you
being filled with joy, peace, and happiness that cannot
be explained, your strength gets renewed, and you find
it easy to exercise patience and self-control in areas you
used to struggle with before, moreover, it causes your
faith and confidence in God to increase. However, a
flesh driven prayer cannot grant you these things,
instead even after praying you will still continue to
worry about that which you prayed for, you will not
have peace, you will be restless, as a result, you will end
up coming up with backup plans or other ways to try get
that which you prayed for, and when all fails in the end,
you will lose your faith and confidence in God at once.

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Every born-again Christian can and should pray as led by
the Holy Spirit because we are called to be led by Him.
Does praying in your own language mean you are
praying a flesh led prayer and when praying in other
tongues mean you are praying a Spirit led prayer? No!
Not everyone praying in tongues is led by the Holy Spirit
as we all know even demons or fallen angels can speak
through human vessels in an unknown tongue which
many may mistake it for the gift of the Holy Spirit. A
person can be led by the Holy Spirit to pray using their
own language or a language which they could not speak
before yet known to others or He can even lead you to
pray in silence, with no words or language to it at all.

In my effort to try and explain this, I will give you four

types of Spirit led prayers that I am aware of, I’m not
these are the only ones, they might be more, but these
are the ones that I am currently aware of. Number one,
a Spirit led prayer can be one made in the language you
understand, this prayer is in line with what Jesus taught,
it is prayed in line with the Word of God, for example
the prayer Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew 6:5-15
and in John 16:24, this applies to us as His followers too.
This prayer is intentional in the sense that the one who
prays chooses what to pray about and the Spirit directs.

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Number two, a Spirit led prayer can be in the language
you do not understand. In that moment, as and when
the Spirit wills, you will have the ability to speak a
language you never spoke before, this should not be
mistaken for the gift of praying in tongues which I will
explain shortly. This one is not intentional, it occurs as
the Spirit chooses, and you cannot control how it goes.
This one is in line with what took what the believers
experienced on the day of Pentecost, we understand
according to Acts 2:4 that “They were all filled with the
Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the
Spirit enabled them to speak.” Others understood them.
Number three, a Spirit led prayer can in a heavenly
language, a language that does not exist here on earth,
this is the prayer that is mostly referred to as tongues.
This is one of the spiritual gifts that Paul spoke about in
1 Corinthians 14:2 saying “Those who speak in strange
tongues do not speak to others but to God, because no
one understands them. They are speaking secret truths
by the power of the Spirit.” Like any other gift, there are
those who have this gift and those who don’t. The one
who has this gift has control over it, she can choose to
speak out or when refrain from speaking, for example
one can speak in tongues when there is one to interpret
and choose to refrain from public speaking when there
is no one to explain. This is how Paul put it in verse 28,

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he said “But if no one is there who can explain, then the
one who speaks in strange tongues must be quiet and
speak only to himself and to God.” That is why Paul
advised us in verse 13 that “The person who speaks in
strange tongues, then, must pray for the gift to explain
what is said.” This, however, does not mean that the
speaking of tongues should be done away with, no, we
need this to build up our spirit. Paul knew this, hence he
encouraged all believers to pray in tongues, like him, he
believed he was praying in tongues more than anybody.

The last one, but definitely not the least, in Romans 8:26
we learn that “In the same way the Spirit also comes to
help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we
ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us
in groans that words cannot express.” I am sure most
people understand what the word groans mean, it can
mean cries, or moans, I can associate this is the sounds
a woman makes when she is experiencing labour pains.
This prayer I am talking about here is a strange one,
because it does not have a language since it does not
have words. It is at times made up of sounds such as
deep sighs, crying, heavy breathing, or humming sound.
An example of this Spirit led prayer is that of Hannah,
see 1 Samuel 1:9-16, sometimes we get beaten down in
life that we don’t even know what to say again to God,
this is when the Holy Spirit takes over on our behalf.

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 RESPONDING TO A CALL

Are you called? What are you called to? These are
simple questions which should be answered by
everyone who knows they are called by God. When God
calls a person, He is inviting that person to a journey of
becoming that which He created that person for. Have
you ever wondered what was going through the minds
of the disciples of Jesus when He called them? For
example, Jesus said to Simon and his brother Andrew,
“Come with me, and I will teach you to catch people.”
And the Bible tells us that “At once they left their nets
and went with him.” (Mark 1:16-18). I don’t think they
understood what becoming fishers of men meant at
that point, yet they did not think twice before following
Him. In order for them to become what Jesus called
them to, they first had to walk away from that which
they were. How though, do full grown men, just drop
everything and walk away from all they ever knew at a
call of One who calls them to something they know not?
It’s the same thing that happened to us, when the Lord
called us, our spirit accepted the call and yielded to His
leading, at that time the flesh died and the spirit came
alive. At the point of being called, the reasoning is not
that of the flesh but of the spirit, you just know its’ time.
However, a call is not the end but the means to an end.

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When God calls a person, He invites that person to
embark on a transformative journey with Him, it is only
God who knows how we will reach our destination, it is
important to follow His lead at all times, it is a necessity.
Remember God sees the end before the beginning,
when He calls a person, He calls her to the end though
she is at the beginning. He did this to many in the Bible
and we had the privilege to follow their lives and saw
what the call of God upon their lives took them through
and how it ended as God said it would when He called
them. What I learned as I read about the journeys of the
people that God called, in the Bible, is that the journey
of every Christian can be summarized in three points.

Firstly, God calls us to a holy life, He calls us from sin to

a holy life, this on its own is a journey because no one
becomes holy overnight, but the end is sure - holiness.
This call to a holy life prepares us for the eternal life we
hope for in Christ, God is holy and we hope to spend
eternity with Him, if the scripture says when He appears
we will be like Him, what version of yourself do you
think will meet Him, surely not an unholy version of you.
He who calls you holy does not lie, you will be that
which He calls you, in His sight you are already holy,
that is how confident He is in His Word which is at work
in us to transform us into that which He calls us – Holy.

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This is how John put it in 1 John 3:1-3, it reads “See how
much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that
we are called God's children - and so, in fact, we are.
This is why the world does not know us: it has not known
God. My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it
is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that
when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we
shall see him as he really is. Everyone who has this hope
in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure.” In
Ephesians 4:22-24 we learn that we should get rid of
our old self, that our minds and hearts should be made
completely new, and we must put on the new self.
What does this mean? It means we must drop our
“fishing nets” and walk away from what we used to do,
we must follow the leading of the Holy spirit, who helps
to change our hearts and transform our minds; we must
embrace God’s work in us, for it to come to completion.

Secondly, God calls us to glory, He calls us from shame

to glory. I am sure you will agree with me when I say
only a person who is exposed to light can be ashamed of
doing the works of darkness. When we were sinners, we
lived in darkness and saw nothing wrong with the way
we lived but when God shone His light on us, we got
exposed, we realized we were actually not living right.
But just because you are aware of your errors does not
mean you all of a sudden know how to do and live right.

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A call to glory, is also a journey, we grow from glory to
glory each time we turn away from the things the Holy
Spirit exposes in us daily. As God’s people we often do
things that we shouldn’t be doing, and when we enter
the presence of God, they get exposed and if we repent
with sincerity of heart, we grow to new levels of glory.
The call to glory is the most humbling of all if I were to
rate them but this might not necessarily be the case to
others. The more time we spend in fellowship with God
is the more we reflect His glory with uncovered faces.
Many can’t go back to the presence of God after feeling
exposed especially those not ready to change their ways
because nothing is covered in His presence. Knowing
that He knows is the humbling factor, there’s no way
you’d remain proud. This is the reason why most people
who attend a living church will avoid going to church if
they know they are not right with God and they are not
ready to turn back to Him. Shame will humble you in the
presence of God, to a point that you will be left with no
choice but to submit to His way or run away from Him.
But why should we run, when, according to 2 Peter 1:3
“God's divine power has given us everything we need to
live a truly religious life through our knowledge of the
one who called us to share in his own glory and
goodness.”? We have everything we need to live in
truth and honesty with the One who loves and called us.

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Thirdly, God calls us to life, from death to eternal life.
The Bible says in Romans 6:22 “But now you have been
set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is
a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life”
What I am about to say might come as a shock to some,
but I speak the truth when I say, eternal life does not
start in heaven, it is a journey that starts here on earth.
Eternal life is not just living forever, for even those who
will be sent to hell will live in there forever. Eternal life
is about spending eternity with God, living together with
God. But eternal living with God starts here on earth,
how else do you live eternally with God after death if
you did not know Him while you were still alive? “And
eternal life means to know you, the only true God, and
to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent.” - John 17:3.
When God is calling you to eternal life, He is inviting you
to a journey of knowing Him and Jesus Christ, His Son.
Listen, you don’t have to get to heaven to experience
eternal life, when you know God, you can begin to
experience heaven on earth. Think of the likes of Enoch,
he lived in the world, yes, but it was like heaven to him
because he walked with God here on earth, each day for
300 years, there is no denying that he knew God. Do
you know God? Do you know Jesus? I am sure everyone
will answer yes to this question. Answer this one more -
How do you know that you know God and Jesus Christ?

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 THE GRACE OF GOD

I used to obey God’s commandments for the sole

purpose of getting the promises tied to obedience.
When I disobeyed, I would expect punishment from God
and by the word “punishment”, I am not referring to the
one God does to correct those He love, because every
parent who loves his child would correct them if they
are wrong, I am talking about being stripped off your
rights to your heavenly inheritance, being removed
from your kingdom position, and you becoming an
enemy to God. So, when I obeyed, I would expect God
to fulfil His promise, I believed I earned it, that God
owed me, as if it was a transaction of some sort, and
sadly enough I thought that was what Christianity was
all about. I was so sure that I was right about sin,
sinners, obedience, grace, and God’s love for us, but as
it turned out, I was so wrong. I used to hate sin and still
do, as every Christian should, but the way I went about
it was wrong because I hated sinners too, which was
very wrong of me. If back then God had granted me the
power to deal with sinners as I felt in my heart, I would
have wiped sinners off the face of the earth believing I
did it for the LORD’s sake, especially those who had sex
or even worse fell pregnant out of wedlock, I believed
they were not deserving of God’s mercy at all. I always
thought “If I can keep myself pure why can’t they?”.

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I chose not to believe the gospel of grace because to me
it seemed like a free ticket for sinners to go unpunished.
I pray there is no one out there who still think or believe
as I did because that is wrong thinking or belief. Looking
back, I actually thank God that I did not die in that state,
if I did, only God knows where I would be by now. I will
forever appreciate God for His mercy towards me, that
He took His time to teach me about His grace and made
sure my mind is transformed because the way I was so
stubborn I doubt I would have heard anyone who would
have tried to tell me otherwise about grace.

Now that I know what I know about grace, I obey God’s

commandments simply because of the love I have for
Him, it pleases me to do what He wants me to do, it is
how I express my love for Him and because I know He
first loved me, I do so not expecting any reward for it
because His love for me is more than I deserve – grace.
No human is perfect, so even on days when I have done
wrong in His sight, the fact that I know He loves me and
knows all about me, gives me courage to still approach
His throne of grace instead of expecting to be punished
for it. I purposely used the term “commandments” here
because I am aware that most Christians do not like
associating the word “grace” with obeying God’s
“commandments” as if the two cannot work together.
Commandments are God’s orders to men, Psalms 37:23

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says “The LORD guides people in the way they should go
and protects those who please Him.” In other words,
God directs us in the ways we should go and when we
follow His guidance we are protected. God takes
pleasure in those who obey His directives, and the good
news is that even when we fail on our own to do what
He tells us to do, He does not disqualify us but gives us
all the help we need to do that which pleases Him –
grace. Paul is a perfect example to use as a recipient of
grace, he says in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 “For I am the
least of all the apostles—I do not even deserve to be
called an apostle, because I persecuted God's church.
But by God's grace I am what I am, and the grace that
he gave me was not without effect. On the contrary, I
have worked harder than any of the other apostles,
although it was not really my own doing, but God's
grace working with me.” Paul was able to work harder
than other apostles, that is beyond human’s ability to
work because the grace of God was working with him.
This tells us that even us, where our own strength or
ability ends, the grace of God can help us through and
beyond. In actual fact, if you stop where human
strength and ability ends, if you give up where it is
common for men to give up, if you fail where it is
normal for men to fail, or only do what is expected of
men, grace is not demonstrated to be working with you.

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 BAPTIZED WITH FIRE

One winter morning I got to work, and found only two

people in the office. Apparently, the rest of the office
staff had called in sick due to a flu bug they caught.
What this actually meant was that it was going to be a
long and busy day for us who came in as we would have
to take on other’s responsibilities and tasks to ensure
business still ran smooth for the day. I was not happy at
all, I had my own deadlines to meet and had planned
how my day will be, but this was beyond anyone’s
control, we just had to what needed to be done to save
the day. One of my added responsibilities for that day
was to sit by reception and believe me when I say that’s
the busiest and most demanding work in the office,
everybody needs one thing or the other from reception.
The day went by and before I knew it, it was almost
lunch time, and no, I was nowhere near finishing my
work. Because of that I decided to skip lunch, so that I
could push my work, there was no other option really.
One of the ladies went out to buy office groceries and
the other lady was also having lunch from her desk, she
was pushing her work too, there were piles of receipts
on her desk that needed to be filed by the end of the
day, it was hectic for all of us. In the midst of all that my
cellphone rang, it was a friend of mine who was calling.

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I picked with the intention to ask him to call again a bit
later, as this was not the right time but I couldn’t bring
myself to say it because when he started talking, I could
feel he was excited about whatever it is he wanted to
share with me. He wanted to tell me about the message
he shared at church the previous day, on Sunday, I
asked my colleague to help me pick calls from her desk
if the phone rings, then I went to the boardroom which
was opposite the reception area, and gave my friend
the attention I know he needed. “I’m sure it will take
just a few minutes, five tops”, I thought to myself. Then
he started sharing the message, he said he was
preaching about being on fire for God, as he was talking,
I actually realized that I did not understand fully what it
means to be on fire for God. I knew it had to with one’s
love for God but the way he was talking it sounded as if
he was saying as in burning flames, so I waited for him
to finish so that I could ask for clarity on that one point
in particular. Then to my surprise, I felt a presence
behind me by my right-hand shoulder, for some reason I
didn’t look back to see who or what it was, but I knew, I
was no longer alone in that boardroom. Then I heard a
voice from that being standing behind me, speaking so
clearly, I could hear it with my physical ear. This was not
the normal internal voice of the Holy Spirit that I usually
hear, this voice came from the outside, I know for sure.

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He said “He means fire as in fire.” That threw my brain
off, I was like “oh my God it spoke!” I mean even though
my flesh, brain and sense were finding this whole thing
strange to grasp, my spirit was very calm about it and
much at peace, and because of that I got over the fear.
Then I asked, in my head though not out loud, “Fire as in
fire how? We must with flames of fire around us or
how?” That’s when I felt that being standing behind me
hold out his hands above my head and I started feeling
warm as if I was standing near a fire place or heater, it
felt good. I still didn’t turn my head to look but was as if
I could in His hands, he was holding what looked like a
liquid fire, then slowly, the fire ran down through His
hands and starting to fall on my head. When that fire
touched my head, I felt heat come over me like I had
put my head inside the oven, obviously I have never put
my head in the oven so I wouldn’t know how it feels,
but I believe that’s how it would feel like. It was burning
as fire would burn your finger but if was extremely hot,
my whole body started shaking, I had no idea what was
happening to me and I was worried someone would
walk in an find me doing weird things, what would I say?
But my spirit remained calm I all this, this eventually
brought my entire being to a state of peace, I stopped
to worry and embraced the moment. As the fire was
running down from my head to my face, the heat

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intensified and the shaking got much stronger, the
phone flew out of my hand because of the shaking. I
think if the chair I was sitting on was not strong and
heavy I would have fallen over with the chair itself. As I
was concentrating on the heat on my face, I felt
something even stranger, it was like my situation was
getting worse. I felt something like a whirlwind starting
right at the bottom of my belly and moving right to the
chest, I could feel my intestines, kidneys, and my other
internal organ get twisting around as this whirlwind was
moving inside me. Honestly, I thought I was going to
die, it was not painful but it was strange, it kept moving
up and when it reached my throat I thought “okay,
that’s it, today I am going to vomit all my internal
organs”, you can try to imagine. As if that was not
enough, my tongue started moving up and down by
itself, you know when you put out a bedsheet on the
washing lane and the strong wind starts to blow, how
the bedsheet will start to move up and down as if, if the
pegs holding it are not strong enough it will fly away
with the wind. That’s how my tongue started moving in
my mouth, I clenched my teeth together, in the effort to
control what was taking place in my mouth but it didn’t
work, the whirlwind in my mouth got so strong that it
forced open my mouth wide and when that happened, I
heard myself speaking in tongues. This was nothing like I

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had experienced before, I shared my story of how I
received the baptism of the Holy Spirit during a church
service, there was no shaking, no whirlwind, no heat,
but all experiences are beautiful none the less and I
thank God for all. I feel on the first one I was aware of
what was happening, I was praying when I heard myself
speak in tongues, but this one, it was one strange thing
leading to the other, even the tongues happened
without my conscious participation, I had no idea what
was happening to me. After a while the tongues, heat
and shaking stopped, I looked a mess and felt like one
who survived tornado or something like that. I rushed to
the bathroom to clean myself up and to pull myself
towards myself, when I got back to reception the other
lady who had gone to the mall arrived and the one who
was in the office didn’t even notice that something was
going on with me, I felt relieved that no one saw that. It
gave me time to inquire of the LORD before I could tell
it to anybody. As for my friend, I avoided talking to him
until I understood what had happened and when I
contacted him later, he said that day he just cut the
phone when I went all silent on him, he didn’t know
what was happening on the other end of the call.

Why am I telling you this, well, firstly because I love you,

and secondly, I don’t believe such experiences are to be
kept secret, this is my testimony, I share for God’s glory!

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Listen to me, I am not a well-made minister or a perfect
Christian, I am a woman of many flaws, the least among
the important. If God can manifest Himself to someone
like me the way He does, I have no reason to doubt He
wants to do the same or even more to anyone who has
not experienced Him. If I was famous and recognized
you would think maybe it can’t happen to you, but you
see, God used me as an example to remove any excuse
you may have for not believing He can relate to you on a
personal level. What will your excuse be now? Love the
LORD with all your heart, love others as you love
yourself, seek first the things of God and He will not
keep any good and perfect thing from you. The Bible
says in 1 Peter 2:4-5 “Come to the Lord, the living stone
rejected by people as worthless but chosen by God as
valuable. Come as living stones, and let yourselves be
used in building the spiritual temple, where you will
serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable
sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.” This scripture
speaks to each one of us, no one is excluded from this
invitation. I am a holy priest of God and so are you, but
it’s not good enough to just call ourselves that, we must
also start living like one. What does the priest do? Well,
among other things, he keeps the fire on the altar of
God burning, you know we are the alter of God, and it is
our daily responsibility to keep the fire burning for God.

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How do we keep this fire burning? By throwing the
woods in the fire constantly and consistently on a daily
basis. “Woods” in this case refers to the parts of us that
die daily when we are in the presence of God. In other
words, we must die daily, the more we die to self the
more we get woods to in the fire to keep it burning. As
holy priests of God, we must offer our bodies as living
sacrifice for the glory of God. How do we get the fire if
we don’t have it yet, or no longer have it? In Matthew
3:11 John said “I baptize you with water to show that
you have repented, but the one who will come after me
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He is much
greater than I am; and I am not good enough even to
carry his sandals.” The scripture speaks of baptism with
the Holy Spirit and fire, both the Spirit and the fire
come from the LORD, if you don’t have it ask God for it.
Until this experience I was only familiar with the Holy
Spirit baptism even when reading this verse, I would
read ‘fire’ but not put much emphasis on it. The Holy
Spirit dwells in us permanently but the fire comes on us
and must be kept alight lest it dies out. Leviticus 6:12-13
teaches about the fellowship offering, our fellowship
with God requires this offering, with our flesh being the
sacrifice - it reads; “The fire on the altar must be kept
burning and never allowed to go out. Every morning the
priest shall put firewood on it, arrange the burnt

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offering on it, and burn the fat of the fellowship offering.
The fire must always be kept burning on the altar and
never allowed to go out.” Be careful, I am not saying
how I experienced this, is the standard or only way
God’s fire can be received by man. When God baptizes
one with the Holy Spirit at the same time she can
receive baptism with fire, it doesn’t mean it must be
two separate occasions. It’s is even possible that the
first time I was baptized with the Holy Spirit I also got
baptized with fire, just that I did not know because I had
no knowledge of it and did not feel any heat, maybe it
was the mercy of God for me to experience it this way
for me to know and embrace it. In Matthew 3: 16 we
see that “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out
of the water. Then heaven was opened to him, and he
saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and
lighting on him.” Here I believe a dove represented
baptism with the Holy Spirit and lighting represented
baptism with fire. Also look at Act2:2-3 which reads
“Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded
like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house
where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like
tongues of fire which spread out and touched each
person there.” Here I believe the strong wind blowing
represented the baptism with the Holy Spirit and
tongues of fire represented the baptism with fire.

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 SEE YOURSELF AS GOD SEES YOU

I will focus mainly on three points, firstly – what you see

yourself in, secondly – what you see yourself through,
and thirdly – what you see inside you. I will do this by
going with you through the book of Luke 4, taking you
through verses 4, 5, and 9 respectively. I believe in so
doing I would have covered every point from which we
can see ourselves, so help me God. Christians are called
to walk by faith and not by sight, for the purpose of this
message, I would like to define faith as the ability to see
as God sees. Remember God is Spirit and the flesh
cannot receive the things of the spirit, so in order for us
to be able to see what God sees, we have to see beyond
the physical by using our spiritual eyes to see. We must
train ourselves not believe what we see with our
physical eyes over what we believe to be God’s truth in
everything we see.

Firstly, we must see ourselves in Christ. We do not exist

outside Him, in Him we move, in Him we live, and in
Him we have our being. In Christ we are a new creation,
even though we are flesh beings, when we got born
again, we became spirit beings. Therefore, we now have
the responsibility to live as people of the spirit, we have
the responsibility to nurture our spirit man, and to be
able to control the flesh part of us. By so doing, we will

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be able to grow our spirit man and our spiritual senses
will increase as needed. Jesus understood that though
He was a human being made of flesh, He was also made
of the spirit. He was responsible for His spirit man and
He controlled His flesh. When Satan was tempting Jesus,
he tried to make Him yield to the needs of the flesh and
neglect those of the spirit, but Jesus knew better than
to do that. That’s why when Satan ordered Him to turn
the stones into bread so that He can eat and be hungry
no more, in Luke 4 verse 4 Jesus answered “The
scripture says, ‘Human beings cannot live on bread
alone.” In the same way, Satan comes to tempt us
because he wants to hinder our spiritual growth, he
doesn’t want us to grow, he doesn’t want us to be
sensitive to the things of the spirit, he is counting on us
to be more of flesh beings than spirit beings. He knows
he doesn’t have victory over us as spirit beings but does
over us as flesh beings. Satan only has a hold on us
when we are flesh beings but has no hold on us when
we are spirit beings, I know what I am saying might be
sounding strange, but I pray God helps you understand.

Secondly, we have to see ourselves through the Word.

In Luke 4:5 we see that Satan was trying to shift Jesus’
focus from the Word to the world. The Bible says “Then
the Devil took him up and showed him in a second all
the kingdoms of the world.” Doesn’t the Word of God

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tell us to seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness and all these other things will follow? It
does! But what we see Satan do here is the opposite of
what the Word teaches. As Satan tried his luck on Jesus
he will take his chances on us too, take heed what you
hear, whether it is of the world or of the Word, because
what you hear shapes what you see and eventually
what you become. The Word of God is like a mirror to
us, what we see in the Word is the true reflection of
how we are supposed to be, we must believe what we
see in the Word even if we are not that yet, we must
believe that we will be that which we see in the Word.
The perfect example to use here is that of Jesus and
Peter, walking on water, Peter was aware that it was
impossible for him to walk on the water, it was against
nature, unless if Jesus would release a Word for him to
do so. Then Peter asked for the Word, and Jesus said to
him “Come!”, that Word gave Peter the faith he needed
to walk on water, as a result, he stepped out of the boat
and started walking on water. He was able to do this for
as long as he fixed his eyes on Jesus, however, the Bible
tells us in Matthew 14:30 that when Peter noticed the
strong wind, he was afraid and started to sink down in
the water. Beloved, remember that faith comes by
hearing the Word of God, but the sounds of the strong
wind and the voice of a stranger brings fear, this fear is

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what Satan uses to kill our faith. One can hear the Word
of God and receive the faith that comes with it but once
you shift your focus from the Word you begin to hear
other sounds and voices that bring fear upon you,
thereby killing your faith. If it could happen to Peter, it
can happen to any of us, therefore, we must guard
against the killer of our faith by fixing our eyes on Jesus
and listening to what He says.

Thirdly, we must see ourselves as the temple of God.

Jesus saw His own body as the temple of God, in John 2
verse 18-19, when the Jewish authorities asked Him for
a miracle, He answered them saying, “Tear down this
Temple, and in three days I will build it again.” They
thought He was talking about the man-made building
but He was talking about His own body. We too are the
temple of God yet Satan will make sure we disregard it.
Surely you know, according to 1 Corinthians 3:16-17,
that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in
you! God will destroy anyone who destroys God's
temple. For God's temple is holy, and you yourselves
are his temple. Don’t you think Satan know this verse?
He does! So, you better believe that he will not try to
destroy you for by so doing he will be destroyed by God,
but what he will try to do is get you to destroy yourself.
In Luke 4:9 Satan tried to get Jesus to destroy Himself
and in the same way he will try get us destroy ourselves.

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 THE GIFT OF FAITH

Faith is given to us, in different measures, as a gift

because we cannot do anything to earn it. Faith does
not come as God’s reward for us doing something good,
however, it is not without reward itself. In other words,
those with a living faith, those with faith that works, will
be rewarded. You do not have to believe in order for
you to receive faith, in fact, it is impossible to believe
without faith. You can believe by faith but you cannot
believe for faith because faith comes before belief.
Hebrews 11:6 reads “No one can please God without
faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that
God exists and rewards those who seek him.” Who
doesn’t want to please God? I believe we all want to
please Him. But how many of us can confidently say
God is pleased with them right now? Let me share
about a dream I recently had, it felt like a nightmare
even though there was nothing evil about it, but it
scared me. It’s like someone had come to me for
counseling and during our session I told her about Jesus,
led her to Christ in a prayer and she received Jesus as
her Lord and Savior. Later that day it was as if I was now
at home, with friends and family watching TV but I
stepped outside to fetch somethings that were outside.
I looked up and saw clouds forming, it was getting dark,
without being told, I just knew that the rain was coming.

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Then suddenly, the clouds got darker and started
moving faster. I was about to run back to the house
when I saw what looked like fire burning in the clouds,
then it disappeared. As I was about to look away, I saw
what looked like a tale of a dragon appear in the clouds
and then it disappeared. As I looked still, I saw what
looked like a sign of Jesus in the clouds and it also
disappeared. I was amazed at what was happening and I
wanted to go tell those who were in the house about it
but then I remembered that they would not believe me
unless they see it themselves. So, I started recording the
clouds as I was waiting for another thing to appear in
them for me to capture it so that I can have something
to show the people in the house. To my shock, as I was
holding my phone up, I heard a loud trumpet sound and
I knew without being told what was happening, and I
realized this sound was heard by all people because
everyone came out of their houses looking up the
clouds. When I saw a Divine Being come down from the
cloud holding a book in His hand, I knew it was too late
to convince anyone now, it was too late for me or
anyone to do or say anything. One by one, people
started going forward to this Divine Being, right in from
of Him some went up and disappeared in the clouds, I
could feel the joy of each one who was going up and
hoped that I too will go up. Most who went up were

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kids, and few adults, among which was the lady I had
just led to Christ earlier. Many were being turned away
and in the same way I could feel the joy of those went
up I could also feel the pain, the confusion, the shock,
the disbelief, the disappointment, the shame, and fear
of those who were turned away – each and every one of
them. I was the last person to receive a report, you can
imagine how I suffered watching and feeling how each
and every person felt when they were sent up or turned
away. I was scared, unsure of my stand, especially after
seeing many who were sure be turned away, yet I was
still hopeful that I too will go up into the clouds. But
even if I go up, will I rejoice after seeing so any turned
away, it was a very sad and painful sight to witness. I
knew though that nothing was going to change the
report from bad to good if it was a bad report, no sorry,
to repentance, for many tried to repent but it was too
late. Then when it was finally my turn to go forward, I
could not even walk, I was shaking like a leaf, I fell on
knees and started to weep, I couldn’t control myself.
Then I felt His hand on my shoulder as He leaned down
towards my ear and whispered “God can use anyone to
warn His people, even you. Now that you have seen you
know.” Then I woke up from the dream. I tell you the
truth, I have never thanked God like that for being
patient with humanity – for being “slow” to return back.

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It is truly for our sake that He has not come yet, but you
see, these warnings are waking us up from our deep
sleep, we have been sleeping for too long beloved and
we need to wake up and prepare for His coming, get up
and be ready for the soon coming King! He is coming! I
know even as I say this, there will be people who say “It
has been said that Jesus is coming soon over 2000 years
ago, He still has not come, who knows when or if He will
come back.” If you knew the truth, you would not be
mocking the message of His coming, instead you would
be thankful and grateful that He has not come yet and
thank Him for being patient with humanity – it is for our
own good that He has not come. You may think there is
still time to sleep, but there is no more time beloved.
When you hear this message, you will receive the faith
that comes with it, which will cause you to believe what
I said. I believe because I saw it in a dream, I know what
I saw and I will never forget it, but more blessed are you
if you believe because of this message. Remember that
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God
(you hear the Word – you receive faith – you believe -
and receive that which God has promised or told you).
Romans 10:14 says “But how can they call to him for
help if they have not believed? And how can they believe
if they have not heard the message? And how can they
hear if the message is not proclaimed?”

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 HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT LEADS

Romans 8:14 tells us that, “Those who are led by God's

Spirit are God's children.” Are you a child of God? If yes,
then it means you are led by the Holy Spirit. How does
the Holy Spirit lead you? For me, He leads by His voice. I
know His voice and I recognize His voice talking to me in
dreams and when I am awake. He speaks to me clearly,
He gives me a word of knowledge, He teaches me, He
reminds me of things I have forgotten, He puts words in
my mouth, He reveals mysteries and He forewarns me.
In John 16:14 Jesus said, “When, however, the Spirit
comes, who reveals the truth about God, he will lead
you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own
authority, but he will speak of what he hears and will tell
you of things to come.” The key word in this verse being
“speak”, the Holy Spirit speaks indeed, I know for sure.
The Holy Spirit can talk to you directly, as a friend talks
to a friend. I believe the more you spend time reading
the Word of God, the more you spend time seeking
after God, is the more your spiritual ear sharpens to
hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. The thing is, He talks
and He will keep talking, whether you hear Him or not.
Listen to what Hebrews 3:15 says, it reads; "If you hear
God's voice today, do not be stubborn, as your ancestors
were when they rebelled against God." That first word,
‘if’ tells us that hearing is conditional and not automatic.

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The Holy Spirit can talk to you through someone else,
like in Acts 8:29-31 for example, “The Holy Spirit said to
Philip, “Go over to that carriage and stay close to it.”
Philip ran over and heard him reading from the book of
the prophet Isaiah. He asked him, “Do you understand
what you are reading?” The official replied, “How can I
understand unless someone explains it to me?” And he
invited Philip to climb up and sit in the carriage with
him.” The official did not have the capacity to hear the
voice of the Holy Spirit but by the grace of God,
provision was made for him to hear, through Phillip. The
other way the Holy Spirit can lead you is by causing
things to happen, He can use situations or conditions to
direct you to a certain path or keep you at a particular
place for a season. I think the other way to explain this
is by saying the Holy Spirit can lead you by placing a
burden upon you which will cause you to take necessary
decisions which are in line with God’s will for your life.
When we were sinners, we were heavily burdened by
the things of this world but when we received Christ, we
exchanged our yoke for His, which is lighter and easy to
carry. Jesus said in Matthews 11:30 “For the yoke I will
give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light."
So do not make a mistake of thinking there is no yoke to
carry when one gets born again, both sinners and saved
carry a yoke, the yoke that Jesus gives is easy and light.

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In the same way that God placed a burden on the
seventy leaders to help Moses in carrying out his
responsibility, God said in Numbers 11:17 “I will come
down and speak with you there, and I will take some of
the spirit I have given you and give it to them. Then they
can help you bear the responsibility for these people,
and you will not have to bear it alone.”, He also gives us
the same Spirit He gave Christ so that we can share His
responsibility. Take note of what Paul actually said to us
in Acts 15:28-29, it reads “For it seemed good to the
Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden
than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats
offered to idols, and from blood, and from things
strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep
yourselves, ye shall do well.” It is shocking to see how
Satan has succeeded in convincing Christians that there
is no burden to carry once we get born again, this belief
has made many to not be bothered about taking up the
responsibility to a holy life and obedience, they see that
as undoing the work of grace. I pray God’s mercy on us.
It is the Holy Spirit who makes us want to do good, He
makes us desire to have intimacy with our Father, He
causes us to hunger for the things of God, He puts us on
fire for God, to share the gospel of Jesus, even if you
feel like giving up, it is still the Holy Spirit who will give
you the strength to carry on, this was God’s plan for us.

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 DESIRE TO MEET JESUS

Let me start with a warning, “Do not be a stumbling

block to anyone”. How can one be a stumbling block?
Let me first share something with you before I answer
that question. Sometime in July 2022, while I was on
social media, I came across a video of a woman
speaking in tongues during a church service and another
woman interpreting for her. I tell you, that video carried
such great presence of God and I was glad to see what
God was doing through women in these last days. Then I
went through the comments to see what other people
said about the video, and as I expected, they said good
things only. There was this one comment in particular
that caught my attention, the person commented
something like “Oh, what a powerful service! Can
somebody please tell me where this church is, I would
really love to meet this anointed woman of God.” I was
also interested in knowing, so in the hope to find the
answer, I was about to read through the replies that
were under that comment, but stopped when I felt
heaviness on my heart. “Why would I feel such sadness
after watching this powerful clip?” It didn’t make sense.
Then a message was dropped in my spirit, as if God
Himself was saying “I am going to use my people, I am
going to reveal my own to the world. The time is now!
The world is ready for them to be revealed, but people

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must be careful not to desire to meet those I reveal as
my own, I am revealing them as my representatives to
reveal the One they come in the name of.” Anything
that we do that does not reveal Jesus defeats the whole
purpose of revelation, it is not revelation if it does not
reveal Jesus. We are meant to represent Christ here on
earth just as He is representing us in heavenly places. In
Matthew 10:32 Jesus says “Those who declare publicly
that they belong to me, I will do the same for them
before my Father in heaven.” Basically, what Jesus is
saying here is that those who love Him whole heartedly,
without a drop of shame in them, are the ones He will
also be honored to show-off with them to the Father as
His beloved ones. And 1 John 4:16 confirms that “we
ourselves know and believe the love which God has for
us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union
with God and God lives in union with them.” When a
man falls in love with a woman and a woman loves him
back, they become one, husband and wife, they live in
union. Likewise, Jesus first loved us and when we love
Him back, we become one with Him, we live in union,
Him in us and us in Him. It’s as simple as that beloved!
Imagine if the man who is in love with you were to send
his friend, let’s say John or Paul, to come introduce him
to you but instead of being interested in the one who
sent for you, you start desiring John or Paul instead.

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At this stage I believe we will all say we love Christ and
therefore live in union with Him, but is there evidence?
1 John 2:6 says “if we say that we remain in union with
God, we should live just as Jesus Christ did.” Is this the
case in our lives? Can the world tell by the way we live
that we live in union with God? If not, let’s fix our ways.

Going back to the question I asked earlier, “how does

one become a stumbling block to another?”, the answer
is this, “By making man the focal point instead of Jesus.”
Remember the story I narrated earlier about the video I
came across? I saw God demonstrate His power through
her but instead of me focusing on the One who was at
work in her I shifted my attention to her, desiring to
meet her instead of desiring to meet Jesus. Take note,
she didn’t do anything wrong, I just missed the point of
focus. Now tell me, what was going to happen if I had
found out where her church was? Possibly, I would visit
her church, seek for her attention, make an impression
on her for her to like me, and pursue a relationship with
her, as in, ask her to be my mentor or spiritual mother.
But what would have been the chances of this act being
the leading of the Holy Spirit? Zero chances I tell you, it
would have been an emotional or need related reaction.
The danger in these kinds of acts or reactions is that by
so doing we become a stumbling block to the person
being used by God and a hindrance to God’s very work.

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 PRAYER FOR SALVATION

My loving Father,

I know that I am a sinner and in need of Your saving grace.

I have done many things that are not pleasing in Your
sight, both in my thoughts, words and deeds. Today I
count all that I have done in the past as useless because
none of them reflected Your glory. Please forgive me and
place me in the had of Your Son Jesus Christ, LORD I pray.

I confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and I believe He died

for me on the cross so that I may be saved, and You raised
Him from the dead so that I may have eternal life. I
receive all that You have given me in Christ, accept Him
in my heart and acknowledge Him as Lord over my life.

Father, I ask You to fill me with Your Holy Spirit and cause
me to worship You in spirit and in truth. Teach me all that
I need to know and enable me to do all that You expect
me to do by the power of Your Holy Spirit at work in me.

I accept the Bible as Your living Word written for my sake.

May I not only be a hearer but also a doer of Your Word.
I believe I am who Your Word says I am and that I can do
what Your Word says I can do. Your Word is light to me.

In Jesus’ mighty name I have prayed. Amen!

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