Let me share some of my testimony. Since last Feb., on my 40th birthday, I kind of claimed this promise of the bible. I said, God, I'm gonna be like Caleb!! When I'm 80 I'm going to be as strong and healthy as I am today at 40! I'm gonna take my mountain!". And God was like, "that's awesome sweetie". I'm like "yeah baby! Whoo hoo!! Supernatural health! Come on Jesus! Do it!!" And then I heard Papa God say, "well what are you going to do?" And I'm like, "who me?" He's like "yeah you." I'm like "well God, it's supernatural right? I thought you were gonna do it." He's like "I'll do my part, but you have to do yours." And it hit me, wow. What's my part, right?
So that's when I started my vegan diet. I gave up caffeine, meat & dairy and sugar, processed foods, etc. I did it for 3 months and felt better than I ever had before. But I was also having identity issues because of my weight. I only lost 10 lbs. during this lifestyle change and so I got very discouraged, even angry. I felt like I didn't know what the solution was, that I was just trapped in this overweight body forever and like I had no power to get out of it, right? So that was last summer.
When I got to Bethel I'm like ok, I need to go after this again; I really want this. So I do. That's when I start talking to a friend with ViSalus (a nutrition company) and I do a bunch of graphic work for her and get a bunch of her product as payment. It's protein shakes and meal replacement health cookies and stuff like that. So I start having protein shakes every day and eating really, really healthy. I started making declarations over myself every day in this area and have been since October. But the problem is, is that I've got stuff going on internally that's not healed, you know? I have these lies I believed about myself that were actually holding me back from breakthrough, because we are body, soul and spirit. And when our soul is broken and unhealthy, it affects what happens to our body and our spirit.
So throughout last fall, I'm getting breakthrough in these areas, through people prophesying over me, through group meetings and stuff. Mostly just being with God and giving this issue to him over and over and being still in his presence and quiet and allowing him to reveal truth to my spirit about who I am and who he is.
So all this time now I'm making declarations over myself that I'm beautiful, that I'm healthy, that I love food that's good for me, etc., etc., and so last week Beni Johnson spoke to our class about nutrition and body, soul and spirit. It was so inspiring to me because I have been going after this thing hard for over a year now and I've not seen any changes in the physical!!! But the things she listed to do, many of them I was already doing. So I felt like God was saying, my darling, you are on the right track! Don't give up! You can partner with my spirit, he will lead you in this! I care about this issue in your life!! So I was like wow, ok God, I got it. Then this Sunday I'm attending my Prosperous Soul class and I'm sitting next to my girlfriend and her husband who just had a baby. And the guy who runs the class, his assistant, Stephanie is talking to my friend and my friend is talking about her health breakthrough she needs (which I already knew about). Basically, her whole family has been chronically ill now for years - they've had to fight off mold and parasites and weird stuff, they have 3 children plus the baby now. So they walk over to me, and Stephanie says to her, I really feel like Jen should pray for you in this area. I feel like she carries something in the spirit that's going to bring breakthrough to you. So I did, I prayed what God had just revealed to me from the Beni thing over her. And it was powerful.
That's what the prophetic is. Prophets in the bible basically judged and condemned the people of Israel. But actually the prophets job is to release the word of the Lord. In the New Covenant though, prophets are not to condemn and judge but to release identity and hope to the church, and to equip the saints in prophesy. 1 Cor. 14:1 says "Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy." We are all meant to prophesy. The office of a prophet (the five fold ministry) is for certain people and those are gifts Jesus gives us, but the Spirit gives us spiritual gifts like prophesy. So basically, prophesy is hearing God's heart for a person or place and releasing it for the purposes of exhortation and encouragement. We all are called to practice hearing God's voice and seeing what he's doing, then releasing that over others and recognizing each other in the spirit, because our spirit beings are way different than what we can see with our eyes.
I gave you all that to say this: Stephanie saw me in the spirit; she saw things about me that had not yet manifested physically. That's the prophetic. She called it out and I received. What that did for me is to confirm that all this time I've spent declaring things in the spirit has not yielded nothing, as it appears in the natural. But something has been changing and is changing. We are called to live lives of faith. Faith is believing in what isn't yet seen. So I've been speaking out in faith believing that my words were powerful enough to change my physical body (circumstances). And although I haven't seen the physical change yet, God sent his messengers - my friends - to confirm in me to give me more hope and grace to keep pressing in.
I'm sharing this testimony because it's for you. My breakthrough is your breakthrough. You simply have to receive and believe, and begin to claim it for your own. Don't give up. Press in to the thing it is you are going after. God is with you, not against you. He is championing you on from the sidelines. He cares much more about the condition of our heart than our comfort. There is something you need to break through in the spirit to receive your breakthrough in the natural. Our words are powerful and they hold life and death in them. Choose your words carefully. Speak life, success, hope and victory over yourself in faith that the God you serve is one who is powerful enough to fulfill his promises. Because he so is.
No comments:
Post a Comment