The Sunday Mail
Pastor Tinashe Zinyemba The Christian Youth
I sincerely hope that your life is on course for what you are targeting to achieve this year.
I have fallen short on some of my personal targets and I am currently trying to realign myself by being accountable to certain individuals as well as setting specific timelines. We have to keep pushing. I am reminded of a message by a father in the Lord when he mentions that sometimes we have to wrestle. It reminds me of the story of Dodo the Ahohite in 2 Samuel 23:9-10.
He killed an entire army of Philistines up until his sword was stuck to his hand. That must have been some battle. I pray that we have the same determination and drive as Dodo to achieve our goals, be they relational, academic, financial or otherwise.
We are in a holiday season currently. Did you know that the word holiday actually came from the term “Holy Day”? This was because all days that were set apart to honour God in one day or another were called holy and people would disrupt the normal day to day activities.
Unfortunately, our holidays are now being used mostly to take booze. Some of the activities that the youth engage in during the holidays are shocking.
This got me thinking about the calibre of today’s believers. Psalms 24:6 says, “This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face, O Jacob”. I pray that we have a hunger for the things of God and that we thirst for holiness and righteousness in God.
This can only happen when we deliberately cultivate a relationship with the Lord and have an intimate relationship with His Word. We had the occasion to listen to a part sermon of a particular pastor some time ago and I was surprised by the level of misinterpretation of scripture.
There were many youths present who were cheering the pastor on despite the lack of biblical or theological correctness. My heart cried out for the souls present. I also came across an article penned by a seasoned minister of the gospel who was suggesting ways of making the supernatural a natural way of life.
It was a biblically sound article with some significant personal examples and one could tell that it was well researched. I want to share with you some excerpts from this article. I hope it will be of benefit to you.
- Know your power source
If you have a desire to do big things, impossible things for God, the things He calls “exploits”; then you have to fully understand the pre-requisites. To start with, you must know God.
That doesn’t mean you just know about Him. Knowing Him means having an intimate relationship with Him. It means He is the first thing you think of when you open your eyes in the morning, and the last you think of when you go to bed at night.
You come to really know the Lord by actively seeking Him above everything else and recognizing Him as your source (Matthew 6:31-33). As you begin to know Him, you will begin to know His power.
The Apostle Paul said having an intimate, living connection with Jesus was worth more than everything he had previously considered valuable, (Philippians 3:10, The Amplified Bible).
- Be filled with the spirit of “greater works”
In this passage of Scripture, you can hear how deeply Paul desired the Lord and the power of His resurrection. Jesus told His disciples that He wanted them to receive this power, to be “endued with power from on high.”
He gave them instructions to wait in Jerusalem until He sent the Holy Spirit for this purpose. And before being crucified He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).Greater works — exploits!
That’s what Jesus expects us to do. We can do that when we yield to the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Jesus knew His disciples had to have the baptism in the Holy Spirit to do the mighty works God planned for them.
That hasn’t changed. Knowing Jesus as our Saviour and being filled with the Spirit are still the first steps toward doing the impossible.
- Believe that with God, all things are possible
The fact is, God has a purpose for your life that’s exciting and beyond anything you can imagine without the Holy Spirit revealing it. You may not feel able to do great things, but you can. Just realise God never intended you to do them on your own.
God knows what He put in you and what He can do in you. Ephesians 3:20 says He is, “able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” We in the Body of Christ are vessels that God works through to accomplish His will. We have been “recreated in Christ Jesus, (born anew) that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us…” (Ephesians 2:10, The Amplified Bible).
Exploits should not be unusual for us. Remember we are working with God Himself.
We should expect miracles!
Scripture reveals:
“With God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).
“The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27, Matthew 19:26, Mark 9:23). We have a vital relationship with the One who makes the impossible possible. The heroes of faith recorded in the Bible knew God, and they did impossible things. They believed God when He said, “I will be with you.” (See Exodus 3:12; Isaiah 41:10.)
Their faith was anchored on that promise. And because God was with them, they weren’t limited to the natural realm. The giants didn’t matter to David – God was with him.
The flood didn’t matter to Noah – God was with him. Age didn’t matter to Abraham — God was with him. He is still the God of the impossible! And God is still with us. He has planned to do great things through each of us. When we truly get to know Him, we will trust Him, believe His Word and not be afraid to act on it. That’s called walking by faith.
And faith is where all exploits in God begin.
Take care and God bless.
Tinashe Zinyemba is a pastor with New Life Covenant Church.
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