The Sunday Mail
Liberty S Mafukidze
“You shall have no other Gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in Heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
My utmost gratitude goes to this publication for allowing me to share my thoughts, opinions and views with you all.
I write not with the authority of an expert in this field but as passionate seeker of my divine source of power and existence that I believe lies in the Lord God I pray to, who is called Jehovah. However, my deficiency in expert knowledge should not cloud judgment but instead help start a discourse that should help us understand each other’s beliefs and strengthen our faith; all in the pursuit and search of our God.
Firstly, congratulations are in order for the successful hosting of the recent two-day Good News Zimbabwe service by Prophetess Beverly Angel and Prophet Shepherd “Major 1” Bushiri of Spirit Embassy and Enlightened Church of God respectively. Spiritually thirsty believers from all walks of life thronged Harare’s City Sports Centre for the services. My curious mind was intrigued by the enthusiasm that filled each and every individual present. It got me thinking: Why does God seem so far away? What is it that we need to do to mend that widening rift between man and God?
One trait Zimbabweans are known for is our patience and resilience, and belief that whatever it is that we go through, things will get better. For almost two decades Zimbabweans have endured economic challenges owing to a number of factors. These challenges have made us desperate for solutions, whether through African traditional religious practices, or Mapostori, or via televangelists and prophets.
In our pursuit of spiritual solutions, we often discover that in the end we spend most of our little and most treasured resources – time and money only to be disappointed when nothing comes out of it all. My parents taught me about the power of prayer. My father always said to me “God is your Father, when you pray talk to Him like you talk me”.
In my younger days this yielded results.
As I grew older and sin started creeping into my life, I felt like I could not do this alone; I started to believe that I needed someone who was purer than me as I felt I was not worthy to approach God.
This led me to start visiting all kinds of churches, from Vapositori under trees to the prophets in the suits as I felt inadequate in the eyes of God. On the eve of the Good News Zimbabwe services, I found myself in the same state of spiritual deficiency and I started envisioning meeting Prophet Major 1, narrating to him all my life problems.
I snapped out of that reverie when a little voice inside said, “Behold for I am your God.”
I felt my spiritual senses awakening and verses from the Bible started streaming through my mind one after another:
“You shall have no other Gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in Heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I the Lord your God, am a jealous God punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generation of those who love me keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6)
The part that states our God is a jealous made a huge impression as at that moment I kind of felt as if I had a replaced God with his prophet. I immediately went into prayer, praying about the problems that I had intended to tell Prophet Major 1 the following day, this time directly to go God, certifying and endorsing the prayer with the name of Jesus.
I have never slept so peacefully.
I had been lacking in my faith and it had been overtaken by trust in man. I had turned my back on the Lord while idolizing mere mortals. There is need for us all to be careful lest we go astray by simply forgetting what the Word of God says, for God himself exalts His own Word — which means there is power in the Word.
The greatest danger that lies ahead of us is that we are so consumed by the desire for miracles that we think God only hears us through His prophets.
And yet the Bible states, “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26)
This is the promise that God gave man before he was created, which means each one of us can access divine and supernatural favour as we are created in His image and likeness. We need to know how to tap into the realm of our Creator and claim His image and likeness to our lives, just as it said in the Lord’s Prayer that “let Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven”, so that we can begin to enjoy God’s promise.
God’s promise is reachable only if we mend our relationship with Him.
There is need to forever seek restoration of this relationship first so that when we meet our prophets they don’t stand as demigods but as intercessors.
Sin has separated man from his Creator and it is the same sin that Satan will use to make you feel unworthy, which then makes us reach out to church leaders to act as our medium to God.
What we ought to realise is that our Lord, God, has never ending love for us such that he gave us the gift of his only begotten son, Jesus Christ who died for our sins, whose blood sacrifice keeps us within the bounds of love, grace and mercy.
Our redemption from sin comes through confession and having faith that through the blood and name of Christ are saved.
Our faith is rekindled each time we read the Word of God, this is the fountain of water for the thirsty and everlasting bread for the hungry.
Its continued consumption will ensure spiritual growth.
However, it is important to take note of how the Word discourages us from being pompous of our spiritual growth.
“And He said, I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mathew 18:3-4)
If we remain like children and humble before God, He will lift us up just like in Hannah’s prayer: “The Lord brings death and makes alive, He brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth, He humbles and exalts, He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, He seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honour. (1 Samuel 2:6-8)
Meditation, both on the Word of God and prayer, is another way that helps mend our relationship with our Creator. I have found this to be the solution to my insomnia problems.
Have time to fellowship. It doesn’t have to be with multitudes of people, for where two or three come together in Jesus name there He will be with them as written in Mathew 18:20.
Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa said in a sermon on his ChristTV that he wants his ministry to be centered on teaching the Word more than performing.
He even challenged his congregants to pray for their own miracles, to pray for one another, and to have faith that miracles would happen because of those prayers.
Let us remain steadfast in prayer and faith and believe that which we desire with our hearts we will receive it through the grace of our savior Jesus Christ.
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