Increasing in wisdom and stature

I would like to share my personal testimony with you. It is about Growing in the knowledge and Wisdom of Jesus Christ.

I am always reading up on other preachers and listening to them on Youtube because I am always trying to find people who preach the same things we do here at The Shoe Ministries. I was reading a book by Kenneth Hagin and he was telling about how he was pastoring at a small church and had no place to study the bible, so he would go to the Church to be with the Lord. He told how he would lie down on the floor in front of the altar and repeat these three scriptures to himself as often as he could:

Ephesians 1:16-19:

We cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.

Colossians 1:9-12:

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12:

Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Kenneth Hagin continued to write that after he was praying these three scriptures over himself for several months there suddenly came over him a rush of revelation on the Word of God and the Knowledge of Jesus Christ. He said he told his wife one night: What was I preaching before? I can’t believe I did not have this revelation before.

Kenneth Hagin is known for his faith preaching. He also taught people to say it, hear it, and believe it. It is God’s will for us to have the full understanding of who we are in Christ. It was also the Apostle’s desire for people to gain knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ. By speaking these words he started gaining.

So guess what I did?

Yes, you guessed right. I wrote these scriptures down and put them up on my wall. I started praying these prayers over myself. Declaring that I have the knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ. That the eyes of my understanding were enlightened… I am the good pleasure of His goodness and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is glorified in me….I have the spirit of the wisdom and revelation of Jesus Christ…etc…

It has been about 4 months now since I have been doing it and suddenly I am experiencing a rush of new revelation and knowledge coming into my spirit.

It has been coming through different channels. Not only my own personal study but also by listening to other preachers who emphasized my new understanding.

I want to encourage every reader to take action!

Start speaking the word of God into your own life and over the lives of your loved ones.

Even Jesus had to grow.

Jesus answered his parents after they found him in the temple in Luke 2:49

“Do you not know I must be about my Father’s business?” and verse 52 says: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

God desires to reveal Himself to his children.

Resources

If you are wondering who to listen to and help you grow in your walk with God then here is a list of people you can listen to. These are links to their Youtube videos. You can also search their names on Youtube.

Chris Blackeby

Chris Blackeby has been such a blessing to be over the past few months. I found him as a guest on the Wow Church’s Platform, which was suggested to me by my aunt. Chris has managed to preach our entire cave in one session.

Here is the link to this specific teaching that really blessed me.

You can also search his name on Youtube or subscribe to his channel called AS HE IS MINISTRIES.

Chris now has his own ministry and website too: www.asheisministries.org

Andrew Wommack

Andrew is a humble Bible teacher who teaches that you can not earn your salvation. He has lots of Good teachings on his website: www.awmi.net

Here is a link to one of his sets of teachings on his website. You can scroll the website for more. Be sure to listen to his teaching entitled A BETTER WAY TO PRAY.

Andrew Wommack is the founder of Charis Bible School and they have a daily live Bible study you can watch and subscribe to for Good solid Bible teaching. Follow this link to one of their daily videos.

Bruce Milne

Bruce used to be part of Kobus van Rensburg’s Church, Spirit Word in Stilfontein. He ran their Bible School but is now in Kimberley and has his own ministry called The Word Church. He has a real honest heart for God a young and old will enjoy listening to him. He is very radical and I have seen him demonstrate miracles in his videos. Here is a link to one of his videos where he talked about the Holy Spirit healing through you.

His website is http://www.thewordchurch.co.za

In today’s world, we have no excuse to grow in the Lord. We have so many resources available we just have to switch the TV off and listen to it.

Also, visit our Healing page for specific resources on healing.

Testimony – Saved from being Lesbian

I have been thinking about sharing this specific testimony for some time now.

There are many testimonies I can give, there are many things I have been saved from and I could tell you about any of them but being saved from being Lesbian is a private matter I have never shared but somehow I have been pressed to tell you about it.

So if you think this is something your friends or other young teenage girls should know, then please share it along and let us hope it has some meaning.

Growing up in a Christian home I was taught all the basics of life. What is acceptable and what is not. Same sex relationships was definitely one of those topics I was taught on. So when it finally became an issue in my life I was so torn between my feelings and the law I was taught as a child.

There are many reasons why young people lean towards same sex relationships and I do not intent to describe any of the reasons or act as I may know it all. I believe the reason this was triggered in my own life was because of being molested at a young age.  As young 6 year old I told my parents what happened but it was waved off. Eventually at age 16, because of a series of events, it was like the experience suddenly triggered my subconscious and it threw me into an emotional outbreak I could not control. Suddenly everything in my life was wrong and everyone in my life was treating me unfair. I had the need to talk about the experience and I wanted justice.  I was told by my father to stop allowing my emotions to control me, to take it to the cross and deal with it. It was long past and there would be no profit in bringing it up now. The guilty person was married with Children by now and there is no point in destroying his life.

Being the private person I am, I did just that. Or… thought I did…. at least.

At this point I had given my heart to Jesus and I was really trying to make a difference in people’s lives.  Every person I met, I told about Jesus. I had made a decision that I would not be having sex before marriage.  I made sure that every man I met knew this before they even tried getting to know me. I was seeking after the truth and I was seeking to know God. I truly meant it. But my mind was telling me all sorts of other things. My mind was telling me that men were weak, they were only ruled by their sexual desires and did not care about young girls the way they are supposed to. As I grew more and more bitter and raged I would test my new found knowledge on the men I met. I was disappointed by them time and time again. Some guys I befriended became Gay, others became fathers before getting married, others just became fathers and ran away, others cheated and lied. Others acted like they wanted to get to know me and really cared but then wanted sex. I found myself to be disgusted by men. I did not have many female friends, it seemed that I was always surrounded by men. In my lonely times I would catch myself thinking about the female body. As an artist I did not think it was wrong, as my own father owned anatomy book showing the man and female bodies in different poses.  After a while I realized it was becoming a problem. I was adamant on living right and trying my best to be an example to others.  Secretly I was struggling with sexual desires and knowing that I could meet the needs of another woman much better than any man I knew.  I desired someone to meet my physical and emotional needs and knew that no man could ever do that for me.

I was completely consumed by my desire to be fulfilled and I was convinced that I could do this for someone else. Living on the farm being far away from other people and friends, I spent allot of time on my own and with God.  One day I read Romans 1. The entire Romans 1 explains how people have forsaken the knowledge of the truth and have believed the lies Satan told them. So much so that they started worshiping the creature instead of the Creator!

Rom 1:24-26:  “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:”

That part about worshiping the creature and not the Creator really caught my attention.  This scripture hit me like an arrow. Instantly I knew that I was being deceived by the lust of my own flesh. My emotions were controlling me. I was desiring to be comforted emotionally and even physically and I was being led by my flesh. God does not desire me to be comforted in my flesh or in my emotions.  Emotions lead us astray. Our emotions make us believe that no one cares about us and makes us fall into self pity and self righteousness.

That is exactly what I was, I was self righteous. I believed that the Creature (my own body and emotional needs) were more important than my Creator God.  Shortly after, God revealed to me that no man can fulfill another and that a relationship is not built on emotions and what Hollywood tells us in movies. There is no such thing as falling in love, then falling out of Love, then getting a divorce because he does not love me the way I am supposed to be loved.  We think people should treat us holy. We think we deserve to feel appreciated and loved. The fact is we are supposed to live for others and not for ourselves, do unto others as we would want done unto us.

Jesus Christ died for us on a cross and he did not feel appreciated, loved or cared for when he did that. Jesus did not come to earth and went through all the suffering because he felt like it. He did it because he Loved us.  My dad has this saying: Love is not a feeling it is an act of your will.

He has another saying too: Love is verb.  You have to work to love.

God is unchanging and ever faithful. God said he will never leave us and never forsake us and he said he Loves us. He will not change his mind and he will not fall out of love with us. We are to be like God. We should choose to love someone and then keep our word, be faithful and work towards love.

To all the teenagers and people who are struggling with the same things which I have listed in this writing: I want to encourage you.  Seek God! Seek the Kingdom of God and all else shall be added! Seek God and he will fill you with all the love you will ever need. Do not seek love, attention and acceptance from people.  People will fail you. But God’s love will never fail you.

If you have given yourself over to the lust of your flesh and have fallen into any kind of sin, I encourage you now to submit yourself to God.  Ask Him for forgiveness and receive the full love he has for you.  There is no sin too big for God to forgive.  God wants to pour out his love on you! Do not remove yourself from his love any longer!

That night when God revealed to me that I was desiring something that was not His will for me, I repented.  I had to forgive the Molester. I had to forgive the men who I thought did not treat me as I deserved. I had to forgive myself for being ruled by my own self righteousness. I stood at the foot of the Cross that night, I used communion and I buried my fleshly body in the Cross with Jesus Christ. I was saved from the lust of my flesh.

I was 21 at the time this happened. Shortly after doors opened for me and I went overseas for two years. I had plenty of opportunities to act on those thoughts I had before, but I never once desired to be fulfilled by another person again. I was truly saved from myself.  Had God not saved me that night, I would have been a bitter, self centred, prideful Lesbian today. I would have hurt my family and disappointed my friends. I would have lived in sin and I would have been proud of it.

I have met many Lesbian and Guy people over time. Every time I spend time with them I can identify with them.  Like I once was, so are they.

____________________________________

May 2019

May 2019

Ron wrote:

About 10 days ago we drove to the coast on a prepared holiday, a place where I had a very personal encounter with the Lord.  I received knowledge that made no sense making public.  I’m not going to spend a lot of time on details. The Lord took me to a place from where we could see the glory of God.  Anyone could see, all the power of God was there, it was in the shape of a rising sun, positively brimming with power. Then the Lord pointed to one particular shape in the clouds that was in the shape of a line. Inside this line the face of a man then formed and the line was drawn exactly where we draw the line of the crown, forming a rising or morning sun in the mind of that person’s face.  Then the Lord stepped forward and asked what did I not understand, can’t you see the same light that is in God is also inside the mind of that man.

For days after this encounter with the Lord I was left in tears, but tragically no further explanation.  I have been praying about having a healing anointing but as I have never had experienced illness it seemed strange that people don’t just go to the Lord as we did with these things.  After a few days a bowl problem became more severe in my body and I started drawing closer to the cross; but the Lord was not responding.  Instead of it getting better it rather grew worse.  Eight months ago it was diagnosed as Gallstones. No doctors, no I said! The Lord will do this, we all agreed.  Sharpening our two edged swords we settled into the Word, however in these eight months I did not eat a proper meal for one day and eventually became a bag of bones. 

Continue reading “May 2019”