KEY TEXT
Luke 7:1-10 (NKJV)
V1- Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum.
V2- And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die.
V3- So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant.
V4- And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving,
V5- for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.”
V6- Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof.
V7- Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.
V8- For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,” and he goes; and to another, “Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,” and he does it.”
V9- When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”
V10- And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.
Everybody loves to see the underdog come through.
It’s become a movie cliché – the poor kid with nothing going for him except his own heart and determination wins against the wealthy, privileged kid whose parents and trainers have given him every material advantage. There’s something about a man or woman who achieves against the odds and overcomes the obstacles.
Spiritually, the Jews had every advantage: they had Abraham as their father, Moses had given them God’s laws and they had the great written record of the kings and the prophets to instruct and inspire them. In spite of all that, they were still lacking something: COURAGEOUS, UNQUESTIONING FAITH.
The Gentile, on the other hand, this Roman Centurion – who had none of the advantages God’s people had enjoyed for hundreds of years – HAD SUCH A FAITH and it astonished Jesus and presumably gave Him great joy.
This is the third quarter where Etab is emphasizing Essential Commission- a quarter where every zone and department of our Church is trying to ENLIST our people to be SERVANTS in ministry to others.
The Roman Centurion in our Key Text therefore becomes a very good model of effective Christian service. Though he was a man of authority over 100 soldiers, he became a servant to his own servant by calling Jesus to heal him. As such, he is a picture of SERVING THE LORD JESUS by reaching out to those in need, who may be lowly and despised by others. He was the channel through which Christ’s power flowed to this dying boy.
Although the centurion was in the military, which was not known as a SEEDBED FOR PIETY, he had GREAT FAITH. It is interesting that every centurion mentioned in the New Testament is presented in a favorable light. This man shows us that WE CAN SERVE CHRIST IN ANY ‘SECULAR’ JOB. The centurion lived in CAPERNAUM, which Jesus later castigated for its LACK OF FAITH (Luke 10:15) but he was NOT AFFECTED BY THEIR UNBELIEF. This shows us that we can be godly people in the midst of an evil, unbelieving world. Wherever you are and whatever you do, this centurion shows you how to be an effective servant of Christ.
This morning, I would like to share with you a sermon entitled, AN EFFECTIVE SERVANT WITH AN EFFECTIVE FAITH.
THREE QUALIFICATIONS OF AN EFFECTIVE SERVANT
The Roman Centurion possesses 3 qualifications that every servant of Jesus Christ must seek to develop in his or her life.
1. AN EFFECTIVE SERVANT OF CHRIST NEEDS AN EXALTED VIEW OF JESUS
V7- Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.
V8- For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,” and he goes; and to another, “Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,” and he does it.”
V9- When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”
V10- And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.
How did the centurion view Jesus?
‘HE IS LORD – THE ONE IN AUTHORITY’. THEREFORE, THE EFFECTIVE SERVANT WILL HAVE FAITH IN CHRIST’S SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY.
The centurion had an exalted view of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His authority over this hopeless disease.
“Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”
This centurion understood the PRINCIPLE OF AUTHORITY. He said, “For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me”. The centurion knew about the military CHAIN OF COMMAND and how the orders of one in authority were unquestioningly obeyed. He knew what it meant to SPEAK AND TO HAVE HIS WORDS OBEYED. But he also knew that his servant’s desperate condition was beyond the realm of his authority. He needed to go to the ONE IN AUTHORITY OVER ALL CREATION. He saw that Jesus had at least that much authority. He recognized Jesus to be that One. He even knew that Jesus need not come and physically lay hands on his servant. The Lord of Creation, who spoke the universe into existence, SIMPLY HAD TO SPEAK THE WORD AND HIS SERVANT WOULD BE HEALED. Simply put, the centurion believed that, just as he, a man with authority, was obeyed by his subordinates, just so surely would the AUTHORITATIVE UTTERANCE OF CHRIST be fulfilled even though He was not present where the sick person was. That is an exalted view of Jesus Christ that would give rise to an effective faith for MIRACLE.
Where did this centurion get this faith?
Scripture tells us that faith is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9) but also “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word concerning Christ (Romans 10:17). God imparts faith through the hearing of the Word about WHO JESUS IS. We read in Luke 7:3 that the centurion “heard about Jesus.” It is only a speculation but I think this centurion may have heard about Christ from the rich man in Capernaum whose son Jesus had healed (John 4:46-54). Both men were in government service. Jesus had healed the rich man’s son at a distance, which would have encouraged the centurion to believe that Jesus could do the same with his servant. At any rate, he heard of Christ and he BELIEVED.
Application: If we want to be effective servants of Christ, we need to ask God to show us through His Word a more exalted view of the Lord Jesus. And we need to direct others into the Word and pray that God will open their eyes to the glory of the exalted Savior.
Note verse 9, “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” The word “found” implies that the Lord is LOOKING FOR FAITH. We tend to think that God will use a person with unusual gifts, but even more important than giftedness, the Lord will use a person who simply trusts in Him. He is looking for men and women of faith.
E.g. Dr Robert Dick Wilson was a professor of Hebrew at Princeton Seminary in the early part of this century. He knew about 40 languages. He was not only a scholar but also a man of faith. Once Wilson went to the seminary chapel to listen to his former student, Donald Grey Barnhouse, who returned to preach. Afterwards, he said to Barnhouse, “If you come back again, I will not come to hear you preach. I only come once. I am glad that you are a big-godder. When my boys come back, I come to see if they are big-godders or little-godders, and then I know what their ministry will be.” Barnhouse asked him to explain. Wilson replied, “Well, some men have a little god and they are always in trouble with him. He can’t do any miracles. He can’t take care of the inspiration and transmission of the Scripture to us. He doesn’t intervene on behalf of His people. They have a little god and I call them little-godders. Then there are those who have a great God. He speaks and it is done. He commands and it stands still. He knows how to show Himself strong on behalf of them that fear Him. You have a great God and He will bless your ministry.”
Application: The Lord is looking for people like this centurion, “big-godders,” who know that Jesus Christ is Lord and who know HOW TO COME TO HIM IN SIMPLE FAITH AND SAY, “You say the word, Lord and this will be done.”
Charles Spurgeon said, “O preacher, if you are about to stand up to see what YOU can do, it will be your wisdom to sit down speedily; but if you stand up to prove what YOUR ALMIGHTY LORD AND MASTER can do through you, then infinite possibilities lie about you.” The impossible of your life will become possible.
How?
“SAY THE WORD”
Psalms 107:20- He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction.
Are you facing a sickness or disease right now? Are you facing a giant called IMPOSSIBILITY in your life right now? Do you want to see the miracle where the impossible becomes possible? Then ask Jesus to send His word to you.
How does Jesus send His word to us?
You have to read and search the word of God till you find the scriptures that belong to you. I call that the rhema – the quickened word of God.
Notice that all the way through Jesus’ ministry, He found the scripture that belonged to Him and He spoke those scriptures, knowing the spiritual laws that work.
“And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, HE FOUND THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS WRITTEN: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.’ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:16-21).
The book of Isaiah was handed to Jesus and He purposefully began to unroll the scroll until He got to Isaiah 61, where Luke says, “He found the place where it was written.” Jesus searched the book of Isaiah until He came to the place that specifically spelled out who He was and what He would do. Then He closed the scroll and said with certainty, “I am the One this Scripture is written about. This is My scripture, and this is written about Me.”
Application: That is precisely what God wants us to do. We must find the places in the Bible that are written about us. Where are those? Simple. The Bible has a wealth of information about believers. God wants us to find scriptures about believers and to boldly declare (to say the word)- “These truths belong to me and I will have them!” We have to find the place in the Bible where it is written about us and we must boldly DECLARE or say the word- ‘THIS IS WHO I AM’. We need to see ourselves as God sees us and then we need to begin to speak in the manner God teaches us to speak. We need to dare to find the places in Scripture where it is written about us and declare it as so. You not only must think it about yourself but you have got to actually say, “It is mine!” You must verbalize it. Your words carry power.
E.g. In the height of my humiliation in 2012 by the enemies, I kept hearing these words in my mind – “You are finished. You are going to die.” But Jesus sent his words to me and I kept saying those words to myself and my situation – “A righteous man falls seven times but rises again” (Proverbs 24:16). “Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I shall behold his deliverance. Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will gloat over her; now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets” (Micah 7:8-10). “I shall not die but I shall live and recount the deeds of the LORD” (Psalm 118:17). Seven years have passed since and today I see the actualization of all these words of Jesus.
Confessing the Word means to say the same thing as God. It means you take God’s powerful Word and make it personal to your life. In faith you agree with God and declare His truth over your life, situation and family. When you agree with God, it shall be done.
EFFECTIVE FAITH
Believing God is wonderful. But Jesus urges us to do one more thing – to speak the word of faith, to verbalize what we are seeking from God. Such a believer, who understands the power of the spoken word of faith, “shall HAVE whatsoever he saith.”
Mark 11:22-23 (KJV)- Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
We see here 3 foundations stones of FAITH that get great results:
• Have faith in God (verse 22) – Faith in His Word and in the promises of God; faith in His Son Jesus. It is not faith in faith or in memorized formulas that get result but faith in God.
• Believe in your heart without doubting
• Say with your mouth what you believe.
Believe in your heart and say with your mouth. Believing God and His Word is of great importance But Jesus encourages us further to ARTICULATE, TO SAY ALOUD, what we are believing God for. There is great power in the SPOKEN word of faith – SAY THE WORD.
1 John 5:14-15- This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us……
We cannot just say anything and everything that comes to mind and expect God to grant it. Our saying must be “according to His will”. And His will is found in His Word, the Bible.
E.g. We cannot say with faith, “Lord, give me seven Rolls Royces, one for each day of the week.” That’s not God’s will for you.
We can say with faith, “Lord, I believe you are Jehovah Rapha, the Healer of my sickness”, because we find in the Bible God’s promises of divine healing.
The power of our words, when they are solidly based upon Scripture, is IRRESISTIBLE.
We can say with faith, “Lord, through you I can defeat the devil, not defeated by him’, because we find many NT verses declaring Jesus’ defeat of the devil on our behalf.
Having thus determined FROM GOD’S WORD that which in accordance with HIS WILL, we can confidently believe God for these things and speak these things with our hearts full of faith.
Romans 10:10- with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
The centurion in the Bible understood this. He asked Jesus to speak that word of faith so that his servant would be healed.
The word “salvation” in Romans 10:10 has many meanings in the Greek word:
• The new birth – getting saved
• Health and healing
• Deliverance
• Rescue
• Safety
That is why it is so important to help new believers pray a “sinner’s prayer.” Help them to confess, to verbalize their newfound salvation with their mouths.
E.g. Several decades ago, a pastor in Alaska was found to have cancer. Some faithful Christian brothers counseled him to pick three favorite HEALING VERSES AND SPEAK THEM OFTEN, day after day. He did so and was healed of his cancer and went on to have a long and effective ministry. The SPOKEN WORD OF FAITH applied the awesome power of God’s Word to the man’s sick body with spectacular results.
For our benefits, God has summarized for us a revelation of Himself in the 66 books of the Bible. There is immense power in those words in the Bible. Learn them, believe them and speak them. You don’t have to wonder what to believe God for. You will find in the Bible a wealth of promises to believe God for. And then when you find what God’s Word says about your situation, speak the word of faith, vocalize it as God did in the Creation- “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light” (Genesis 1:3).
Application: 2 Corinthians 4:13- It is written: “I believe; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith, WE ALSO BELIEVE LIKE THE CENTURION AND THEREFORE SAY THE WORDS:
• Do you have faith in God? Therefore, speak the words of faith.
• Do you believe in God’s promises in the Bible for you? Therefore, say the words of God’s promises.
• Do you believe that the words of Jesus are spirit and life? Say the words of spirit and life.
• Does the Bible reassure you that what you are believing for is according to God’s will? Therefore, say it with confidence.
The centurion had an exalted view of Jesus as the One who has authority over all creation. This gave him the faith in the One greater than he himself. The centurion believed in Jesus as the Lord – the One in Authority and he asked Jesus to SAY THE WORD. That is the model of an effective servant with an effective faith. Say the word and heal us. Say the word and deliver us from destruction.
2. AN EFFECTIVE SERVANT OF CHRIST NEEDS A LOWLY VIEW OF HIMSELF
V7- Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.
How did the centurion view himself?
“I AM UNWORTHY: HUMILITY.” THEREFORE, AN EFFECTIVE SERVANT WILL HAVE FAITH IN GOD’S GRACE.
In verse 4, the Jewish delegation told Jesus that this man was worthy but in verse 6 and 7, the centurion said of himself that he was unworthy both for Christ to come under his roof and for him to come in person to Christ.
Isn’t that the way it often is? The man whom the world views as worthy views himself as UNWORTHY. He knows his own heart.
The centurion had reasons for boasting. He was no ordinary man. He was the equivalent of a regimental sergeant-major. He was a man of authority with 100 soldiers under his command. He was the backbone of the Roman army. He was a man of great faith. He was a good man who loved the Jewish people. He was a generous man who had built synagogues. He was a compassionate man towards his slave. He could have boasted in any of these things. He even could have boasted in his humility!
Illustration: A man received a promotion to the position of Vice President of the company he worked for. The promotion went to his head and for weeks on end he bragged to anyone and everyone that he was now VP. His bragging came to an abrupt halt when his wife, so embarrassed by his behavior, said, “Listen Bob. It’s not that big a deal. These days everyone’s vice president. Why they even have a vice president of green peas down at the supermarket!” Somewhat deflated, Bob rang the local supermarket to find out if this was true. “Can I speak to the Vice President of green peas please?” he asked, to which the reply came: “of fresh or frozen?”
Application: Humility! Have we allowed our accomplishments and titles of the world to get into our heads? Are you humble like this high- ranking centurion? True humility stems from seeing my insufficiency and Christ’s all sufficiency. The servant of the centurion was about to die. The centurion was helpless to deal with this irreversible illness and imminent death. The centurion saw his own insufficiency to deal with the problem but he also saw Christ’s all sufficiency. So, he said to Jesus, “Just say the word, and my servant will be healed” (Luke 7:7). False humility says, “I can do nothing” and stops there. But true humility adds, “But I can all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and cries out to Jesus to work.
Strong faith and great humility are entirely compatible. “Two features of character blend in him [centurion] which do not often meet in such graceful harmony. He won the high opinion of others and yet he held a low estimation of himself” (Spurgeon). “Your faith will not murder your humility, your humility will not stab at your faith; but the two will go hand in hand to heaven like a brave brother and a fair sister, the one bold as a lion while the other meek as a dove, the one rejoicing in Jesus; the other blushing at self” (Spurgeon).
E.g. George Muller was one of those spiritual heroes of God who trusted God to support over 2000 orphans in Bristol, England in the early century. His biographer observes, “Nothing is more marked in George Muller, to the very day of his death, than this, that HE SO LOOKED TO GOD AND LEANED ON GOD THAT HE FELT HIMSELF TO BE NOTHING, AND GOD EVERYTHING” That’s the proper focus of a servant of Christ.
Application: That’s what grace is all about. We do not deserve God’s blessing. We are not worthy for Him to use us or to answers our prayers. But we do not come to Him based on our worthiness. We come asking for His underserved favor- grace.
This centurion did not approach the Lord based on his worthiness even though others saw him as a worthy man. He saw himself as unworthy to come to Christ but he also knew that Christ received sinners because of His grace. And so, he approached the Lord on behalf of his slave.
E.g. Due to the telecast of the Channel News Asia (CNA) of both of us, together with the upload of a written article about us on the webpage of CNA as well as another video of us on the Face Book of CNA, we have been receiving many positive accolades of netizens but I always pray to God – “Oh Lord! This is all you! Let me not feed on the praises of all men but let me put a praise of God on every one of them. I don’t consider myself great. I just recognize that if ever I am something, it is all because of You.”
To be effective servants of Christ, we need an exalted view of Jesus – He is LORD OVER ALL- powerful to save. We also need a lowly view of ourselves- “I am an unworthy servant.” But God uses unworthy servants who trust in His grace. And so, God can use me to bring salvation to others.
3. AN EFFECTIVE SERVANT OF CHRIST NEEDS A CARING VIEW OF OTHERS
V2- And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die.
How did the centurion view others?
“THEY ARE NEEDY” – COMPASSION. THEREFORE, AN EFFECTIVE SERVANT WILL HAVE FAITH IN CHRIST’S AUTHORITY AND GRACE TOWARDS OTHERS.
The centurion’s compassion is seen in his attitude toward his slave boy. Slaves in those days were commonly regarded as property to be used and discarded at the will of the owner. Barclay wrote: “In Roman law a slave was defined as a living tool; he had no rights; a master could ill-treat him and even kill him if he chose. A Roman writer on estate management recommends the farmer to examine his implements every year and to throw out those which are old and broken, and to do the same with his slaves. Normally when a slave was past his work, he was thrown out to die. The attitude of this centurion to his slave was quite unusual.”
The centurion “highly regarded” this slave. The Greek word means “dear” or “precious” and it is used to refer to Christ as the cornerstone, precious in God’s sight (1 Peter 2:4,6). The centurion was a man of rank and power. He gave orders and they were obeyed. He easily could have said, “If this slave dies, we will have to get another one.” But the centurion’s position and power had not gone to his head. He had concern for this one whom society would normally have despised. And so, he begged Christ on behalf of his slave. And of course, the Lord Jesus did not regard this slave as too unimportant to heal. Christ cares for every person, especially the poor, despised in the eyes of the world, forsaken and forgotten.
Application: Too often, we tend to look at people from the human perspective and think – “This guy is hopeless. Why bother with him?” Or we would look at somebody else and think, “This guy would make a great Christian!” But that is not the Lord’s perspective. Jesus can take the most unlikely people (from our point of view) and do great things with them to the glory of His grace.
Paul reminded the Corinthians, “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised. God has chosen the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).
E.g. Casting Crown has a new song, “NOBODY” and the lyrics goes like this:
Has always been a mystery
All my life, I’ve been told I belong
At the end of a line
With all the other Not-Quites
With all the Never-Get-It-Rights
But it turns out they are the Ones
You were looking for
All this time
[Chorus]‘Cause I’m just a NOBODY trying
To tell everybody
All about Somebody who saved my soul
Ever since You rescued me,
You gave my heart a song to sing
Moses had stage fright
And David brought a rock to a sword fight
You picked twelve outsiders
Nobody would have chosen
And you changed the world
Well, the moral of the story is
Everybody’s got a purpose
So when I hear the devil start talking to me,
Saying, “Who do you think you are?” I say
“I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody
All about Somebody who saved my soul
Ever since You rescued me,
You gave my heart a song to sing
I’m living for the world to see nobody but Jesus
As another blood-bought faithful member
Of the family
And if they all forget my name,
Well, that’s fine with me
I’m living for the world to see nobody but Jesus
E.g. An American Christian college student narrated this story- “Years ago I was involved with the Campus Crusade for Christ in my campus. Then we tended to be overly concerned about the image of the people who were in leadership in the campus ministry. The guys had to look “cool” in the way they dressed. We were looking for guys like athletes or fraternity men who could attract others to the ministry. But God “blessed” us with two guys who didn’t fit the image. One guy would wear clothes that I can only describe as “out-of-it.” He wore slacks with belt loops but no belt. He would wear white socks with black dress shoes. And he couldn’t help it but he wore clunky looking glasses and had pimples all over his face. He just didn’t fit the image. And he insisted on being the greeter at our outreach meetings, where we were trying to impress the cool fraternity and sorority crowd. The other guy was what we called a greaser. He slicked down his hair with thick grease. He wore black Levi’s, dark shirts and black boots and he rode a motorcycle. And this was at Long Beach State, where the California surfer look was the “in” thing! But those two guys had the most fruitful small group of anyone. The first guy went on to serve as a pastor and now is a seminary professor. I’ve lost track of the other one. But God taught me that He chooses and uses people whom I would reject.”
God often saves the despised of the world and uses them as trophies of His grace. Effective servants care about such people.
Application: I sincerely pray that those of you who had been enlisted for the Essential Commission to the Indigenous People (IP) at Sitio Kabarankalang on August 21 2019 had a change of heart by Christ – from an inward looking heart to an outward one – filled with compassion and love for a group of people who are despised, cast away and forgotten. And I pray that the coming 3 more teams who will be going out to the IP this coming Monday at Nagpana and Anilao will go with a caring heart of compassion to people who are different from us but who need the words and the love of Jesus. May God help us to put aside our “civilized status” and learn to sincerely help and care for these marginalized people. Compassion and humility.
Our Lord Jesus is looking for servants like this centurion:
• Who have an exalted view of Christ- He is the Sovereign Lord of authority and thus they trust Him for the Impossible. -SAY THE WORD
• Who have a lowly view of themselves- they are unworthy and insufficient but they know Christ as gracious and All-Sufficient.
• Who have a caring view of others – they are helpless and thus need compassion but they believe Christ’s authority and grace extend to those whom society may despise and discard.
Jesus is also looking for servants who have the faith like this centurion. The centurion’s faith is based on the soundest argument. He argues from the here and now to the there and then. He argued from his own experience to God. If his authority as a centurion produced the result it did, how much more must that of Jesus? He came with that perfect confidence which looks up and says, “Lord, I know you can do this. SAY THE WORDS.” If only we had a faith like that, for us too the miracle would happen and life becomes new.
MY TESTIMONY: Recently God spoke these words to me from Isaiah 62:3 to me – “You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” I meditated on these verse for two days and these were what God the Father was saying to me – “The Lord will hold you in his hand for all to see – a splendid crown in the hand of God” (NLT). As I dug deeper in this verse, God revealed to me that the “crown of glory” is distinctively kingly while “the royal diadem” implies a “tiara” like the mitre of the High Priest and the turban the Jewish Bridegroom wore on his wedding day. The two “hands” are expressed by different words in the Hebrew, the second having the sense of the OPEN PALM of the hand. The “new crown”- the new glory accruing to Yahweh from the restoration of my life, is not worn on the head but held forth in the hand for the gaze of adoring nations and that was exactly what God did for me through the Channel News Asia. So now that I’ve found in the Bible scripture texts that talk about me, I begin to declare every day….
• I am dear, precious and glorious to God because as His crown of glory, Yahweh does not put the crown on His head but He holds me in his hands, so that He can keep looking at me with pleasure and delight.
• As a crown of glory in the hands of Yahweh, He will not let any man of enemy to trample upon me because I am kept safe, secure and defended in His hands.
• As a royal diadem in the hands or the open palms of Yahweh, I am your priest as well as I am your bride and God wants my priestly ministry to be put in His palm for the gazing world. As a bride of Christ, you are rejoicing over me because you are very pleased with me (Isaiah 61:10)
Am I too arrogant to say or declare all these Word of God about myself? No! This is so because for 13 years, the devil had been using this couple to denounce me and say all kinds of evil things about me to the point I doubted even myself. Now, I need to overcome this giant of unbelief about my worth and what God could do to and through me. I have to say the words of God to myself every day. And I dare to testify that as I continue to say the words as Jesus has said about me in His word, a new confidence and a new level of authority have been developed in my life by the Word and the Spirit of God and with these on my right and left hand, I am able today to wield a more effective and victorious spiritual warfare against the demonic forces arrayed against me and my ministries by the devil and by evil elements. I give God the glory for helping me to be an effective servant of God with an effective faith to overcome so many mountains in the ministries God has called me to. “Say the word” and healing and deliverance from destruction will happen to your life and ministries. Hallelujah.
PREACHED AT ETAB 1ST ENGLISH SERVICE ON 25 AUG 2019
