TO TESTIFY OR NOT TO TESTIFY

I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always  be on my lips- Psalms of David

TO BE OR NOT TO BE " is the famous saying  to the William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. 

Well today as of our usual Sunday evening fellowship we discussed "How to abide in God's favour" and one of the things we discussed in our  number  of outlines was "Testifying", before I get into  all that lets start right from the beginning.

So sitting in fellowship really digging our discussion, contributing and feeling like a scholar, our introduction expressed that  "It is one thing to  earn divine favour and it is another to have it for keeps", which in all honesty  I believe this to be very true because some people take the favour of God for granted, especially when they've been very expectant and they receive and show no gratitude whatsoever afterwards and when it is taken away from them they begin to bind, cast, forbid and reject from Mount Everest to Kilimanjaro, blaming the devil for all their shortcomings and not knowing it is as a result of their own ingratitude that has caused  God's favour to be taken away from them. 


Further in our discussions on abiding in God's favour, our reading stated certain things which we have to do to maintain the favour of God, these included the following:

• Walking before God
• Abiding in his favour 
• Constantly testifying 
• Acknowledging God 

So let's take this one by one, in "Walking before God" we learnt that in order to abide and maintain the favour of God we must walk  perfectly and blamelessly before God (Gen 17v1), this struck me so much because walking blamelessly and perfectly before God in this flesh is like living in this world with no air, as Jordin Sparks sang  in that her "No Air" song, (although her own was man matter) still it doesn't take away from what I'm  trying to say, which is IT IS VERY VERY DIFFICULT!, even Jesus himself in all his mightiness when he was in the flesh on that mountain he said to God, Lord if you are willing take this cup from me..... (Luke 22vs 42), another thing that convicted me in that Genesis 17vs1 was the part that said " I am God"  some versions say El- shaddai, it was like  he was making an introduction saying he IS God, he is indeed God and it  is only by the grace of  God that we  can walk blameless and perfectly before him.We may ask, what is it is to walk perfectly and blamelessly before him, from my own understanding walking blamelessly and perfectly before God means reading the word of God, abiding by his rules/ commandments, living in obedience, showing love to one another and living by the fruit of the spirit, some people may say this is God asking to much of them, but truly and honestly compared to the amount of things we ask God to do for us on a daily basis, these things he requires of us to do are small.Well and truly sometimes it is hard to read ones bible( I confess to this one), so many at times i want to but then something comes up and I'll be like Oh! let me just attend to this ill read my bible after and before i know it I'm caught up doing so many other things and  would have completely forgotten that i was to read my bible, also another thing is obeying God's commands and putting him first.  Sometimes, we just want to do things our own way and return to God when all fails,it really shouldn't be this way but this would be our flesh's  way of sorting things, the word of God says " In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success"- Proverbs 3:6, but flesh says "When everything else fails try God", try your possible best to listen to God and bring your flesh under subjection because it is easier that way than to go the long way and find yourself back in square one right where you started and then go to God, don't do that because then he might not answer you straight away or even at all. Living by the fruit of the spirit and showing love go hand in hand  because individuals in life provoke and frustrate you sometimes that you'll to do or want to  do the opposite, however as Christians we must  learn to show love even though people would annoy your or hurt you, forgive them( one which I find particularly hard, but I am overcoming by the grace of God). Believe you me, it is hard, but having said that, it is only by the grace of God that  we overcome, abide and maintain his favour.

Moving on to the second point, abiding in his favour, the Bible teaches us that in all things we should give thanks.  Our outline stated that we should be careful for what we say when we are faced with trouble because for everyone who finds favour with God every problem will become a testimony, although we may not know how the trouble will end or when it will end, we should be thankful  in all things because that would provoke God to work on your situation. Do not forget about all the wondrous things he has done before this one big TROUBLE, rather thank him for all the  blessings before this problem and use that thanksgiving to provoke his hand to solving it. 

The third point was the one that struck me the most and is this one i constantly hear stories about on a regular basis. "Anyone that wants to abide in God's favour must constantly TESTIFY". Time and time again  I've heard of people whose prayer requests, after waiting a very long time have been answered and within a twinkle of an eye, have it snatched away right before their very eyes. They cry and they wail "OH WHY LORD!, WHY HAVE YOU LET THE ENEMY DO THIS TO ME?", but is it truly the enemy or themselves that have caused such shortcomings in their life. The common mistake i hear when these individuals come to realise the reason for their blessings being ripped away is this, they did not TESTIFY!!!!!. Many at times when we are very expectant from God we will make promises to him, "Lord if you do this one thing I will testify, I will roll for you, I will spread your goodness to all the nations from Africa to Asia to  Europe",  i will do this, i will do that!, some  even go to the extent of making vows to God, yet when God fulfils his own side of the  bargain they are so overwhelmed by the fulfilment of the blessings that  they forget to testify, or they testify in the corner of their bedroom, some even go back on their word saying "God Understands!" he knows I can't stand in front of the congregation! ( you didn't remember that when you were promising him heaven and earth), and then when the blessings are taken away they will be binding and casting every arrow sent by agents of darkness to steal their joy to be backfired. I'm not saying that the devil will not try to steal your joy, definitely he will, that's  just his work, but then it is not always the devil's fault, sometimes it is as a result of you not keeping to your side of the bargain and God wanting to teach you a very good lesson. So  I beseech you ( feeling very King James with myself), dear brothers and sisters, ALWAYS TESTIFY!, it doesn't matter how great or small your testimony is, the truth is you don't know who might just be waiting to hear it and key into it for their own problems to be solved. So to answer the  question of  to testify or not  to testify,  if you know what's good for you testify, before you'll be faced with the consequences.

Lastly and finally in our amazing fellowship, we discussed about acknowledging God, this point stated that "In all your ways, acknowledge God" - Proverbs 3:1-10, we may  ask ourselves what does it mean to acknowledge God?. First of all, what does it mean to acknowledge, it means to recognise the importance or quality of / accept or admit the existence of, this could be a person or a thing. So acknowledging God would be admitting his existence and recognising the importance of him being God. I have noticed in life that when we as humans recognise the importance of a person we tend to want to run everything by them before starting it off ,we trust their judgements, we honour whatever advice they give, we obey them. In the same way, if you know the importance of God you should  treat him with even greater honour and respect, think WWJD (What would Jesus Do) before starting off any project or committing yourself to anything, trust in him that he will make everything work together for your good and recognise that he can make the IM(POSSIBLE!).Obey him and honour him with your substance, give him what he deserves. Remember God is not a beggar,  he owns the whole world and everything in it. So give or don't give it doesn't change anything for him, but remember this  "God honours those that honour him" - 1 Samuel 2:30, so honouring him is more to your benefit than his. You may still be asking how do I honour God?, with your substance, this may be your tithe, offering, first fruit( your first earnings of your labour), and if you do not work or earn a living yet I believe you can still honour God with your talents( Singing,  drumming, dancing...e.t.c) or even your time.

            Don't think you can cheat God because you'll only be cheating yourself. 


 As much as i don't want to, i have to love you and leave you now, i am glad  i have shared with you wonderful people what i learnt today in Sunday evening fellowship.  It is late very late (past midnight) and i haven't yet cleaned up my mother's kitchen so let me be on my merry way before i get into trouble..... 

Have a lovely week ahead..... 

                                                           

                                                       XOXO
                                                       Mena