Testemony

I didn't have money to kill myself

Education is one of the keys that unlocks the doors to success in life. Without it, people often don’t find higher-paying jobs.

When Mabel completed her matric, she could not further her studies because she had no one to pay her fees. She also struggled to get a job. A single mother of two, Mabel was unemployed for more than five years. She depended on her neighbours for donations of food and clothes to care for her family. Sometimes they went for a week without food and she had to give her children water to drink to fill their empty stomachs. She rented a one-roomed shack but could not pay the rent without any income.

“I could not stand the pain of seeing my children crying every day because they were hungry. I wanted to save them from suffering by killing them and myself. I wanted to buy poison, mix it with food and give it to my children so they could eat and die,” she explained. Because she could not afford poison, she went in search of money and walked past the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. Out of desperation, she attended one service. Since that day in 2002, she has never looked back. She took part in the chains of prayer on Mondays for her finances. “In these meetings I learned not to accept the situation I was in. I fought the suicidal thoughts that I had and God gave me the strength to resist them,” said Mabel.

She applied for jobs and found one working as a cleaner in a restaurant. She earned R500 per month which was too little for her needs. “I believed and trusted God for greater things,” said Mabel. She continued using her faith and applied for other jobs. She got a response from one company and was given a good offer. Gradually her life started to improve. “In one of the services I attended, the pastor taught us that we should not relax and wait for God to perform miracles. He also encouraged us to invest in our careers. I put that into practice and I saw the results,” said Mabel. She enrolled for a part-time course in administration and business management. Later, she was promoted to the position of branch manger with a good salary and managed to move into a flat.

“When the Campaign of Israel was introduced I took part and I was inspired to start my own consultancy and estate agent business. I started saving money so I could get an office and buy furniture for my business,” said Mabel. Through her faith and hard work, God helped her to change her situation. Her business became a reality and she employed three people to work with her. “My business grew. Now I have three branches and 18 employees. I was able to pay cash for a three-bedroomed house and a car. I am living a good life with my children. I thank God for helping me to escape from misery,” said Mabel.

T

his transformation may happen to you too.

Adabraka,Former Warehouse,close to Adabraka market,

Help Lines: 0302 222 400, 020 048 7534, 024 366 8067

Pr Julio Da Silva

Faith and Sacrifice

God is not a magician. Yet, most Christians insist on thinking, believing and expecting Him to magically transform their lives overnight.

Usually, they expect to do the minimum amount of effort in exchange for all of God’s blessings. During some time, they’re able to maintain this illusion, but when the results are not as expected, they become discouraged. Hence, the reason why many so-called Christians have fallen away disappointed with God.

Few understand that in order for a miracle to happen, a joint process must take place between the Creator and the creation. None of the miracles written in the Bible happened solely because of God’s doing. If we look carefully, we can see that each miracle had the participation of man and of God.

For example, in order for Noah and his family to be saved from the flood, he had to obey God’s command and build the ark. The same happened with Abraham. In order for him to be the father of a great nation, first he had to sacrifice his will and obey the Word of God by leaving his land, the home of his parents and his relatives.

In order for the Lord Jesus to heal the blind man, he had to cry out to Him. Before Lazarus could be resurrected, the disciples had to remove the stone from the tomb.
Now, we can conclude without a doubt that the miracle we hope to receive in our life depends on our attitude of faith towards God.

If you are tired of suffering and want to change your life around, then you must call out to God. This change is only possible if you act by faith. That is, completely surrender your life by faith to the Lord Jesus.

Until your life is totally surrendered on the altar, new life won’t spring forth. It’s impossible to conquer a new life and try to MAINTAIN THE OLD ONE at the same time.

Hence, the urgent need for a sacrifice of faith.
Like the Lord said: "Turn to Me with all your heart ..." (Joel 2:12).

The miracle of the new birth or new life takes place in two stages:

First: mankind's attitude toward God - No one can be born of God without first turning from or abandoning their sins. Conversion requires a change in behavior towards Him. Lying, stealing, adultery, prostitution and all the works of the flesh must be abandoned. Galatians 5:19. That is true conversion.

Second: God’s attitude toward man - When the Holy Spirit sees your effort in trying to replace your will with the will of God, He comes down upon you and transforms your life. Thus, concluding His participation in the miracle of the new birth.

Whatever the miracle, the process remains the same. First, the creation must take action towards the Creator; then, the Creator acts accordingly towards His creation.

As you can see, there's no magic in this process; on the contrary, it’s the result of a personal relationship between mankind and God.

May God bless you abundantly.

The Donkey

As the young colt happily returned home, he told his mother:

- I went to a city and when I got there I was received with applause, as the crowd shouted with excitement. They spread their clothes on the road... Everyone seemed so happy to see me.

His mother wondered if he had been alone, and so the donkey explained:
- No, I was carrying a man by the name of Jesus.

His mother then said:
- Son, go back to that city, but this time go alone.

The donkey answered:
- Whenever I have a chance, I’ll go back there.

He went back to the city alone, but this time, everyone blurted out awful things at him as they passed by and they even hit him.

When he returned home, he told his mother:
- I'm sad, nothing happened. There was no applause, no clothes, no honor... I only got hit! I was cursed at and mistreated. They didn’t recognize me, Mom.

Annoyed, the donkey asked his mother:
- Why did this happen to me?

His mother said:
- My dear son, without Jesus you are just a donkey...

Soul Predators

This is a cruel world. There's no escaping it without getting hurt. It demonstrates limitless cruelty towards the children of Light. Therefore, those who love the world become an enemy of God.

However, worse than the evils of this world is hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy can be characterized by the expression of false virtues. It’s a false faith, insincere feelings, deceitful compassion, etc.

It's the diabolical skill of insincerity that condemns the just and rewards the unjust.

"The prince of darkness is a gentleman." (William Shakespeare)

Jesus was arrested, tried and convicted by the insincere faith of this world, a world of hypocrisy.

However, before that, He prophesied their final destination. All of its inhabitants are enclosed in this prophecy. Matthew 23.

He warned His disciples: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." Luke 12:1

The purpose of putting yeast into bread or cake is for it to appear more healthy and tasty.

Appearance. Hypocrisy works with appearance.

Jesus would not have made such a comment, if the Pharisees’ false faith didn’t harm the sincere faith of the new Christians.

I believe that now in days, spiritual leaven has sent more souls to hell than this wicked world.

Skillful in handling the words that are written in the Bible, the hypocrite is easy to identify, approach, convince and ultimately, devour beginners of the pure Christian faith.

They are real soul predators.

They have no mercy on their prey, because one day, they were also a victim.

If you have been careful to preserve your faith from the contamination of this world, then don’t put your guard down, don’t disarm and always be very careful, especially when you’re around brothers of the faith.

Don’t think that because they carry around a Bible and speak like someone that’s of the faith, they are of the faith. Watch out!

It doesn’t matter if they’re from the same church or the same denomination; regardless of whether they are a member, an assistant, an assistant pastor, a pastor or a bishop. You must constantly keep watch.

Pay no mind to their appearance, to the way they speak, their kindness or anything of the sort.

Remember: the soul predator is cautious, clever and likes to flatter. They never say what’s really on their mind. They are extremely dangerous.
The Lord Jesus ordered us to: beware! ...

The apostle John advised: "test the spirits ..." 1 John 4.1

Your faith is your greatest treasure. It is personal and non-transferable. It is your direct line of communication with God. The salvation of your soul depends on it. If you lose your faith, no one will lend you theirs and you'll be hopelessly lost.

May the Spirit of my God, in His infinite mercy, instruct you, like He has done with me; so that you don’t run the risk of losing your faith.

Spilled Milk

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law and four-year-old grandson.

The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred and his step faltered.

The family ate together at the table, but the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing eyesight made eating difficult.

Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grabbed his cup, milk spilled on the tablecloth and his son and daughter-in-law became irritated by the mess.

- We must do something about Grandfather - said the son.

- I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating and food all over the floor.

So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, Grandfather ate alone, while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner.

Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl.

When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone.

Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor.

Noticing that his son was playing by himself on the floor, the father asked the child:
- What are you doing?

And the boy answered:
- Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food when I grow up.

Very strong, isn’t it?

Collaborated by Fernanda Bezerra

Remember the duck?

During the holidays, two siblings went to visit their grandparents, who lived in the countryside.

The boy made a slingshot to play in the woods. He was always practicing, but never hit the target.

One afternoon, he saw Grandma's pet duck.

Without thinking, he grabbed his slingshot, aimed at the duck and shot him in the head, killing him instantaneously. He was shocked and very sad! He began panicking and decided to hide the dead duck in the woods.

His sister, Beatrice, saw everything but didn’t say anything to their grandparents.

The next day, after lunch, the grandmother said:
- Beatrice, let’s wash the dishes.
But, she said:
- Grandma, Philip told me he wanted help in the kitchen.
She looked over at him and whispered:
- Remember the duck? – So, Philip washed the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children would like to go fishing, but Grandma said:
- I’m sorry, but I need Beatrice to help me make dinner.

Beatrice smiled and said:
- Okay, but Philip said he wanted to help today too.

She looked over at him and whispered:
- Remember the duck?

So, Beatrice went fishing and Philip stayed to help.
After several days, Philip was still doing all of Beatrice’s chores, until he finally could not bear it anymore. He confessed that he killed the duck to his grandmother.

His Grandma hugged him and said:
- Sweetheart, I know ... I was at the window and saw everything, but because I love you, I have forgiven you. I was just waiting to see how long you were going to let Beatrice boss you around!

Whatever happened in your past, whether it had to do with lies, deceit, bad habits, defilements, whatever it may be, you need to know that God was at the window and saw it all happen.

He knows your life and He wants you to know that He loves you and that you're forgiven.

He's just wondering how much longer you’re going to let the devil boss you around.

God is just waiting for you to ask Him for forgiveness because not only does He forgive, but He also forgets.

The price you must pay is to have faith that God will forgive you.

Go ahead, start making a difference and remember: God is at the window and He knows everything!

God's will won’t be revealed to you unless you act by faith.

Tip to prosperity

Once upon a time in a faraway land, there lived a Chinese wise man and his disciple. One day in their travels, they saw a hut in the distance. As they approached they realized that it was occupied in spite of its extremely poor appearance.

In that desolate place where there were no crops and no trees, a man lived with his wife, three young children and a thin, tired cow. Since they were hungry and thirsty, the wise man and his disciple stopped for a few hours and were well received. At one point, the wise man asked:

“This is a very poor place, far away from anything. How do you survive?”

“You see that cow? That’s what keeps us going,” said the head of the family. “She gives us milk, some of it we drink and some were make into cheese. When there is extra, we go into the city and exchange the milk and cheese for other types of food. That’s how we survive.”

The wise man thanked them for their hospitality and left. When he reached the first bend in the road, he said to his disciple:
“Go back, get the cow, take her to the cliff in front of us, and push her off.”

The disciple could not believe what he was hearing.

“I cannot do that, master! How can you be so ungrateful? The cow is all they have. If I throw it on the cliff, they’ll have no way to survive. Without the cow, they’ll all die!”

The wise man, an elderly Chinese man, took a deep breath and repeated the order: “Go ahead. Push the cow off the cliff.”

Though outraged at what he was being asked to do, the student was resigned to obey his master. He returned to the hut and quietly led the animal to the edge of the cliff and pushed. The cow fell down the cliff and died.

As the years passed by, remorse for what he had done never left the disciple. One spring day, the guilt became too much to bear and he left the wise man and returned to that little shack. He wanted to find out what had happened to that family, to help them out, apologize, or somehow make amends.

Upon rounding a turn in the road, he could not believe what his eyes were showing him. In place of the poor shack there was a beautiful house with trees all around, a swimming pool, several cars in the garage, a satellite dish, and on and on. Three good-looking teenagers and their parents were celebrating their first million dollars.

The heart of the disciple froze. What could have happened to the family? Without a doubt, they must have been starving to death and forced to sell their land and leave. At that moment, the student thought they must all be begging on the street corners of some city. He approached the house and asked a man that was passing by about the whereabouts of the family that had lived there several years before.

“You’re looking at it,” said the man, pointing to the people gathered around the barbecue. Unable to believe what he was hearing, the disciple walked through the gate and took a few steps closer to the pool where he recognized the man from several years before, only now he was strong and confident, the woman was happy, and the children were now nice-looking teenagers. He was dumbfounded, and went over to the man and asked:
“What happened? I was here with my teacher a few years ago and this was a miserable place. There was nothing. What did you do to improve your lives in such a short time?”

The man looked at the disciple, and replied with a smile:
“We had a cow that kept us alive. She was all we had. But one day she fell down the cliff and died. To survive, we had to start doing other things, develop skills we didn’t even know we had. And so, because we were forced to come up with new ways of doing things, we are now much better off than before.”

Moral of the story: Sometimes our dependency on something small and limited is the biggest obstacle to our growth. Perhaps the best thing that could happen to you is to push your “cow” down the cliff. Once you free yourself of the thought “it’s little but it’s certain,” or of that idea “I am not doing great but there are people who are much worse than me” — then your life will really change.

Is there a cow in your life that is keeping you miserable?

Pr Julio Da Silva