Inspiration Wednesday

Hello

As much as possible, I'll try to share an inspirational video every Wednesday and this week, I would like to share a testimony of a man who went from being a satanist to a Christian. Here's the video link...
From satanist to Christian

One of the impactful quotes from this video was when He was asking God why does He permit the attacks from the devil , the trials, and the tribulations. God simply answered Him by saying, "I want to know how much you love and trust Me"

 Sometimes we may not understand what is going on in our lives, and as Pastor Bernard said before, this is when our "FAITH" is tested. What is the main thing the devil wants to steal from us. That is our faith.. The moment we lose faith, we lose our connection with God. The devil is known as the great deceiver and sometimes he will deceive us with things that may seem good for us, like in the instance of this testimony.

Similarly, when Jesus was in the wilderness, He went 40 days without food. At his most vulnerable point, that is when the devil came and tempted Him by promising all the things He could have if He just worshiped him.
And how did the devil start, he started by attacking his basic needs. Jesus was hungry, and the devil said, in contemporary language, "just turn these stones to bread, you know you can as you are the son of God"

But Jesus didn't, He replied, in Matt 4:4 "Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God"

 What does this speak of? it speaks of selflessness. As young Christians we ask God for many things and yes God will provide but God is not just a wish-granter. He is more interested in your character! Ultimately, God is our loving father and just like an earthly father, He wants to see us grow, build character and be a person of value to the household. That is why sometimes He wants to test our faith in Him!

Sometimes this process involves hardships and difficult choices that we don't want to make as it doesn't satisfy our immediate needs. We just don't want to wait and hence we go looking elsewhere, which is exactly where the devil wants to lead us to. 

However, as soon as we go there, we'll be trapped in bondage and the moment we stop, we'll be attacked again. Since the devil is the one who attacks us in the first place, he can definitely make it stop. Yes you may notice your needs being fulfilled, but at what price? will you have to constantly ask for protection?

 However, if we choose to let go and let God and trust only Him, then we can be assured that no matter what, God will always have our backs and through this process, God will show his loving character to us and when the time comes, our faith will reap rewards and we can grow to be a person of character! Prayers will change from "God please bless my business, my health" to "God I surrender all and I know you have the best for me. I pray my business will prosper but even if it doesn't,  let your perfect will be done and give me strength to overcome anything by your power! I confess the promises of God that you will come through for me no matter what" As you grow connected with God, your needs become aligned with His needs for your life in order that you may fulfill your purpose and live out your destiny, becoming the strong and successful person God has intended for your to become.

And just like Jesus, who trusted totally in the word of God rather than giving in to his hunger, God elevated Him to a person of substance. One that is able to face rejection as well as physical and emotional pain and still come out victorious all so that we, who have Christ in us because of His sacrifice, may have that same victory no matter what happens in our lives! God is not just our Lord whom we worship so that bad things will not happen, but He is our loving Father who cares about every single detail in our lives and desires to see us build character and faith to come out victorious over any circumstance! That's why He sent us a model example, Jesus to follow!

Be blessed!
Daniel