THE TESTIMONY BOOTH

Rev 12:11

And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love {and} cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing]. AMP

The power of your testimony can never be over emphasized or over stated. The blood of Jesus and the utterance of testimony as seen in the scripture above overcome the devil. There is a unique bond and connection between the blood of Jesus and my utterance of my testimony, which guarantees a victory over the devil. You see, the blood of Jesus is the testimony of Jesus. The bible says it speaks better things than the blood of Abel, so his blood gives utterance.

His blood is compared to Abel because like Abel, Jesus was betrayed by his brothers. They killed because his gift seemed more acceptable to God. His signs, miracles and wonders, his ministry sacrifice and relationship with God provoked the Pharisees to jealousy, just as Abel’s sacrifice provoked Cain to jealousy. Abel’s life was a shadow the kind of death Jesus would have.  The blood of the lamb, which is the testimony of Jesus Christ and your testimony, is a powerful weapon against the devil.

                                                                                                                      Nelly Nachilima Kacemba.

ISABEL ADOLPH'S TESTIMONY

This week we celebrate the featured blog testimony of Isabel Adolph. We take a journey down memory lane with this inspiring 24 year old Zambian lady and share the struggles of her yesterday with her. Isabel gives us front view pass, in the testimony below about her life and how she overcame some of her greatest battles.Be blessed.

IN THE TESTIMONY BOOTH WITH ISABEL ADOLPH!

Isabel:  Where do I start, well I had been suffering from a great deal of depression, anger and had reached a point where I wanted to take my own life. It all started when I was 13 years old, I had gone for a weekend at an auntie’s place where unfortunately a cousin had planned for her friend to rape me.  That experience completely traumatized me, I had so much pain.

Nelly: What do you think changed in you the day you were raped?

Isabel: The little girl in me died! I felt dirty!  I felt betrayed, I felt lost in my own body. I hated myself. Suddenly there was a fear and bitterness in me against men. The experience forced me to be an introvert, I kept to myself and a different side of me came out, I started drinking and misbehaving.

Nelly:   What was dating like after that horrible experience?

Isabel:  I had short lived relationship life span. I think what I did wrong was look for a father in them. I wanted to be protected from a past that had happened. I got to a place where I felt good when guys paid me attention; I was looking for worth in the wrong places. On that journey I met a guy who brought me closer to God, but I eventually left because I did not feel good enough for him.

Later I met another guy who got me pregnant. When he learned of this he refused to take responsibility and suggested that I abort. I didn’t know where to turn to. All I did in that time was cry. It’s the only thing I knew how.

But one day my perspective changed. You see I decided to give the situation to God. I decided to strike a deal with God. I told him I would give my child to him if he could help me get through that storm. I was ready to keep the child, if only God helped me. Truly he was faithful; my two year old daughter is such a blessing.

Nelly: Why do you think opening up has taking you this long? Was it hard to open up because of what you thought of yourself or was it what you thought people would think about you that kept you silent?

Isabel: I think both. I thought little of myself, that’s why I took some bad decisions in my life. I felt like no one cared. I felt like some people would not understand me and would think I wanted it to happen. Two years ago, I was not ready for a testimony. Even though my daughter was and still is a blessing, they were other battles in my life I needed to overcome before I could share my testimony.

A few days ago my grandpa, who happens to be a pastor came to visit. He prayed for me and just then, all the pain of past disappointments, the depression I felt left for good. Truly they were people and friends on this journey I could trust, my pastor and mentor, Pastor George and my father in Christ Pastor Osward, where such a people. They encouraged me and reminded me of God’s love for me.

Nelly: what is your thought about purity? Even after what happened and the decisions you made? And what advice can you give someone out there who has gone through what you have gone through and believes they is no point in being pure in a relationship because of being raped?

Isabel: even after what happened I still had my sanity. God still had the upper hand. God is the point for purity not your past.

Nelly: And what advice can you give someone out there who has gone through what you have gone through and is struggling to overcome?

Isabel: My advice is that there is always someone to talk to about these struggles. There is hope. The only way to move on is to stand up, speak out and forgive. God is truly all you need.

AMBASSADORS

Do you ever wonder how much impact and influence your actions carry as a child of God on other people?  

2 Corinthians 5:20 so we are Christ's ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We [as Christ's personal representatives] beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor [now offered you] {and} be reconciled to God.  AMP

2 Corinthians 6:1 LABORING TOGETHER [as God's fellow workers] with Him then, we beg of you not to receive the grace of God in vain [that merciful kindness by which God exerts His holy influence on souls and turns them to Christ, keeping and strengthening them--do not receive it to no purpose].  AMP

We often confess the scripture above, declaring that we are ambassadors of Christ, that we represent the kingdom of God and that we are under his government. An ambassador is a representative of country; they act and speak in their nations favor. What they say or do in the country they have been sent is treated as an action or being said by the entire country they are from. Unless the country they are sent from dissociates themselves from the action or words spoken.

What an ambassador says or does can set the relationship pace of his country of origin and the country he is sent to. He is responsible for the image of his country in that particular nation and can entice people from the foreign nation to visit or even become members of his nation or not. Simply put, an ambassador is a piece of a certain nation in another. You are such a one for the kingdom of God, a piece of heaven on earth.

As a child of God, what you say or do is taken as what God says or does over a matter. Knowing this then, why are we carless with our words and actions? Why do we have so many Christians confessing Christ but speaking and acting carelessly? Christians who hate people naturally, unkind, rude, unhelpful merciless, unforgiving, unloving, Christians that slander and take pride in bringing down others. Christians who condemn rather than love back to life the unsaved.

I have been on a self-discovery journey and I see how my own life, instead of ministering to some of the people around me, injures them and makes them prodigal. How I have stood in the gap and acted in ways that have made people who were in desperate need of salvation not want what I have because. How my actions have broken them instead of built them.

The word today is not to implore you to walk after men, so as to please the flesh, but rather to implore you to go back to the threshing floor. As Christians we should be love dispenses. Let us do all things in love. The world needs to know us for love. Let us represent God well. What you experience with God in the closet is what we should emulate and practice with the people around us.  Let us be fishers of men. Let people catch a glimpse of heaven when they are around you. Be glorious, honorable and helpful ambassadors. Don’t just win souls during evangelism outreach and adjust your talk then. Let your talk be godly always, and your ways righteous, even when you think no one is watching.

THE DEVIL IS TRULY AFTER YOUR WORSHIP

Luke 4: 5-8

5. Then the devil took Him up to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time [in the twinkling of an eye].

6. And he said to Him, To You I will give all this power {and} authority and their glory (all their magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, and grace), for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to whomever I will.

7. Therefore if You will do homage to {and} worship me [just once], it shall all be yours.

8. And Jesus replied to him, {Get behind Me, Satan!} It is written, you shall do homage to {and} worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. AMP

We see how the devil came and tempted Jesus Christ, in the wilderness as he fasted for forty days and nights after being led by the Holy Spirit. The devil presented before Jesus Christ, the systems of the world, clothed in their glory and splendor. So the world systems can cloth you, they can woe us in by what they look like. He offered it to Jesus Christ, at the cost of a moment of worship.

The devil offered to Jesus, what he had stolen from Adam in the garden. At the price of disobedience Adam lost his God given dominion, to the devil, in the garden. We were lost, out of the garden and in the wilderness, robbed of our heritage because of that act of disobedience. Jesus was the portrait in that moment of this and the only thing the devil wanted to release this restoration, was something we Christians today take lightly, WORSHIP.

Jesus accepting this would have not only been the fall and subjection of man to the devil, but also the fall of heaven, the entire kingdom of God with its ranking would have been under the devils authority, by what seemed a simple act of worship. Jesus bowing down in worship to the devil would have been like forfeiting his power. God is the greatest because he bows in worship to no one, that would have been lost had Jesus hearkened to the devil.

So what we bow down to, we give the power to rule our life. It can be a moment of worship, but it results in a life time of slavery. So be careful what you are bowing down to in thought or in action.

With this understanding beloved know that it is a battle for your worship. Some wildernesses are their so the devil can isolate you to a point of giving up your worship.

 He might not appear to you as he did to the Christ, but the bottom line is your worship. Your value is in your worship. Why is that you may wonder. This is because you were created to worship God. So if the devil can disconnect you from worship, he has disconnected you from your purpose, from the very essence you are alive. He has robbed you of the core of your existence. It’s not the things his after, it’s not your finances, it’s not your marriage or academics, they are simply tools to derail you from worship.

But we have seen in the scripture the response to this situation. The bible shows how Jesus replied with the words “it is written”, he responded with the word. Jesus is the very picture of the word, the body of the word. He is the word that came to life. He is the answer when the devil confronts your worship. Jesus is the answer when your worship is under attack. Never allow anything take away your worship. For as long as you are still alive, press on into worshiping God. Never give the devil your worship.

 Remember, you are only as valuable as your worship, your purpose. All ministry starts from worship.

PROMOTION COMES AFTER PASSING THE TEST

LUKE 22:42  Saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

                    

The bible shows how that Jesus the son of God was in the garden praying about the death he had to face. By revelation Jesus knew that his one mission in the earth was to die, but when the time to die had come, Jesus who was 100% human and 100% divinity needed to pray and God sent angels to strengthen him. His strengthen was failing and heaven had to intervene, but only by his prayer. The disciples slept from sorrow [Luke 22: 45], but Jesus prayed instead, and he received strengthen [Luke 22: 43]. Heaven will only intervene as an answer to our prayer.

The focus of this article is not on prayer, but for us to awaken to the reality that the tests we go through in life are a divine set up for divine promotion. They are different classes and realms in the spiritual realm. But before you pass the test and graduate with a testimony, promotion will not come. We can never expect, in academics, to cross over to another year without clearing the previous year.  This applies also in the realm of the Spirit.

Some of us are at the same level we have been from the day we were born again because we refuse to take the test. Listen we have the Holy Spirit to teach us and train us and make us ready for whatever test. We can’t fail with his help. So instead of being stuck in the same spiritual level, we need to grow up, mature spiritually and pass the test so that promotion can come. To pass the test, you must take it.

Paula white says, “it may not all be God sent, but it will be God used.”!

I mean look at Job he was pressed and tested. It was not God sent, but God allowed it, and the result after was by far greater than the result before. If God has allowed it think of it as a setup for promotion. If you can just exhibit godly principles, if you can respond from the word and not your vulnerability to the test, God will take you to the next level of your walk with him.

James 1: 2-4

Count it all joy! that test isn’t here to break you but its purpose is to thrust you into purpose. Its purpose is to cause you to walk into another realm of glory. Its purpose is to push you into another dimension, another class. So stop looking at the storm and allow the Holy Spirit to teach you to walk on water. Because you are the determinant of how long you will stay in a certain realm.