The eight-minute video testimony below is from Rev. Paul Edwards, a personal friend I know well. We worked together many years ago at Full Gospel Tabernacle in Orchard Park, New York. We were both Instructors at Buffalo School of the Bible, which was a training institute run out of that church.
Would you ever pray for something you already have? If you want to make prayer a regular habit, then a prayer that is short and straightforward may be helpful in that practice. You could pray that I would be present in that moment. Yet you know as a matter of basic doctrine that I am omnipresent, and you have my promise from my word that I will be with you always, I will never leave you or forsake you, and no one can take you out of my hand. Then if you offer this prayer you will be asking for something you already have. The answer will be that you gain the awareness of what is already true.
We watched this online streaming video series when Ty Bollinger ran it last year. Ty interviews a host of leaders from around the world who are using natural and innovative approaches to dealing with cancer.
My word teaches you that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Do you think this teaching is primarily in regard to sex? It includes that, but more besides. Do you see this pertaining to the type and amount of the food you eat? The amount of activity and sleep that you get? The company you keep? You are bought with a price and you are not your own. Yet I do not want you to view this as a burden. Think of it rather as the transcendent mystery that I dwell within you. You manifest and express my presence wherever you go. Maintain your temple so that you are equipped for every good work.
Do you understand that belief and faith are similar but not identical? Belief comes first and faith grows from it. This is illustrated in the life of Abraham. His journey of faith began with believing me, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. This is not to say that he was righteous, but I was willing to accept him on the basis of his belief, which was a good deal for him and an early expression of grace. Much later Abraham is called to sacrifice his dear promised son Isaac. By then his belief had grown into solid faith and he was able to follow through with this most demanding request though I intervened to prevent it. Watch your own belief grow into the substance of faith.
Once you become a believer, do you think that all the problems of the world are external to you? That they are due to the atheists, the Muslims, the liberals, or the gays? Or a different set for believers of different backgrounds? Your ability to change others is less than your ability to change yourself. How successful are you at changing yourself? For judgment will begin in the house of God. How much support does my word give to the idea of imposing change on others? Yet it tells you to judge no one except yourself. I still have much work to do in you, and I will complete the good work I have begun.
Are you interested in growth for your church? I have commissioned you to preach the gospel to every creature. This is a better approach than recruiting exiting believers from other churches. Yet it is based on the assumption that the people who respond to your presentation of the gospel will want to go to your church. One activity should support the other in the matter of making disciples and not just converts, so you should be prepared to see the process through. But if I commend you for being a good and faithful servant in presenting my message, and invite you into the joy of the Lord, will you still complain that they didn’t go to your church?
Have you ever pondered the problem of evil? You think of me as being loving and powerful and yet you see people endure suffering from the forces of nature and from each other. Does this make you wonder if I am not powerful enough to intervene or loving enough to care? Many people have engaged this question and come to one conclusion or the other and their faith has come to ruin because they have reached a false conclusion about me. You know my nature not only as a matter of doctrine, but also as a matter of experience. If that leaves you with some difficult questions don’t force your way to wrong answers to resolve them. Don’t attribute evil or impotence to me.
Do you define yourself by what you are, or what you are not? When the question is posed that way it is obviously better to be known by what you are. Yet I spoke of the Pharisees who prayed and thanked God that they were not sinners, or publicans, or tax collectors. In everyday conversation how often do you hear people describe themselves by what they oppose? How many of those who have left a religious tradition call themselves an ex-(fill in the blank)? In so doing they give their past undue influence over their present and future. I would have you walk in the true liberty of having a positive identity in me.
My word teaches you to love your enemies. It also teaches you to love your neighbor. Which of these do you think is harder? It is normal to think it would be harder to love your enemies, but you know who your enemies are, and the issues you have with them. Do you know who your neighbors are? You can be open to conviction when your enemies come to mind, but how do you overcome indifference and apathy toward your neighbors if you don’t know who they are? Inertia can be a greater obstacle than opposition. Go out into the highways and byways to encounter your neighbors and let my light shine through you to compel them to come into my Kingdom.
