Earlier today, I had a very strong impression in my heart to prophesy over my family. The contents of the prophecy were very clear to me, I could clearly see everything I needed to prophesy about, the words to say were running through my mind, I felt a strong sense of confidence in every word.  Arnold my husband was right beside me trying to get some sleep, the urge to start speaking was getting stronger, but then something was missing….and I will tell you what that is in a bit.

Thirty minutes earlier, Arnold and I had agreed we needed to nap….Sunday siesta! 🙂 The sermon today was good; Arnold loves governance and politics so the preacher got his full attention, well almost fully. One time, the preacher gave a rhetoric command; ‘rise up and be the voice of reason’, Arnold jerked up from his head bent position, almost standing to his feet. Only wisdom stopped him from jumping up and screaming ‘yes preacher‘. His slowness in awakening from his short nap gave him sufficient time to look around and find that everyone else was seated.

We both needed to sleep, last night was a business night, we had some sleep deficit to catch up on. Additionally, we’d booked an appointment to listen to a younger chap share his passion about a business idea…this was due in an hour…

But I wasn’t sleeping, the words of the prophecy kept running through my mind as I partly thought, ‘well I can do it during our prayer time’, besides Arnold seemed asleep now. But then I heard in my spirit; ‘the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth, …the word of faith‘

Oh! I thought, ‘word, ….faith….prophecy…….

I quickly grabbed my Bible and located Romans 10:8.

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:8‭-‬9 NKJV.

The first time I heard the concept of faith in Christianity explained was almost 2 decades ago, that would be from Hebrews 11. As you can imagine, there has been countless other times. Today, as I read Romans 10:8-9, my understanding of faith improved.

What do we have in Romans 10:8-9?

This scripture describes the steps for becoming a born-again Christian. But that’s not all. It provides the layout for a victorious Christian living founded on the kingdom principle of faith.

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:8‭-‬9 NKJV

Becoming born again is simple; you listen to the good news and allow it create a picture in your mind, believe what you heard and believe the picture created in your heart, then confess (with your mouth) that what you have come to believe is so, and hey, you have it! You are born again, Praise God!!! 

Hearing the good news alone is not faith {It’s part of the process}

Conceiving the good news alone is not faith {It’s part of the process}

Speaking about the good news alone without fully believing it, is not faith {It’s just part of the process}.

Faith=Conceive it+ Believe it + Speak it + Receive it. 

This principle of faith is succinctly described in Romans 10: 15

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? NKJV

Let’s flip Romans 10:15 from bottom up;

Send a preacher out to preach so that people can hear the good news, believe it and then call on (confess) Him. 🙂

To say to a mountain ‘move‘ is not enough to make it move. There is a ……..’does not doubt in his heart‘,  a …..’believes what he says will happen‘,  before a ……’he will have what he says‘ (Mark 11: 23).

Faith=Conceive it+ Believe it + Speak it + Receive it. 

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
James 2:26 NKJV

Hebrews 11:1-3 says;

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”
Hebrews 11:1‭-‬3 NKJV

A substance is tangible, an evidence is evident, so why does the Bible describe them in Hebrews 11 in future and passive terms? hoped for’….’not seen’….

Because the picture is fully created in a person’s mind, the person already believes it, the person has already confessed it and though not yet visible, the person already has it.

Look at Hebrews 11:1-3 again and this time, let’s see something different and interesting…

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”
Hebrews 11:1‭-‬3 NKJV

‘.…for by it the elders obtained a good testimony‘ in the above scripture can mean: 1. The elders are remembered because of their faith or 2. The elders created a testimony for themselves by operating in faith or 3. Both.

I will choose both.

You can become a faith champion by consistently creating your own testimonies obtained and secured through conceiving a thing, believing it, speaking it {plus acting on it} and having it.

I hear people say ‘faith is the Christian currency‘….is that absolutely correct? …….

Right now, if you are thinking like me, the immediate question to be answered is” what can I buy right now with my faith? I mean now! If faith is really this simple, why waste anymore time?

Can we create anything by faith? I mean anything at all…… 

How did the elders do it?

Three scriptures;

“…but without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11: 6

“…By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:2

“….”How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? NKJV

The base, setting under, or substrate of faith is The Word of God.

Hearing the word, believing in the existence of God, knowing and believing the word of God are prerequisites to obtaining a good testimony through faith.

So any believing, conceiving, speaking, acting that is not founded on the Word of God is merely a wishful thinking or a positive thinking. It is not faith.

Faith is based on the Word of God.

Oh! but what happens when the object of your faith does not manifest instantly, what do you do?

That’s where the twin brother of faith comes in; HOPE

Faith says ‘it’s done and I receive it, Hope patiently awaits the physical manifestation of the faith object.

Hope, doesn’t let your faith focus slip. Even though it tarries, it shall surely show forth.

Halleluyah!!!

Now back to my story about that prophecy 

I can have those thoughts and words running through my mind all day (and even into another night), and with all the confidence i feel about them bustling in my heart, but until I open my mouth and actually begin to say them out, and say them based on the word of God, nothing is gonna happen. So the moment Arnold turned a bit in his sleep and I established that he was no longer asleep, he got a full release of the words for the season. 

I leave you with an interesting dialogue between Ezekiel and Jehovah…..

“The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then he caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? So I answered , ‘O Lord God, You know.” Again He said to me, “prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live……..So I prophesied as I was commanded and as I prophesied there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them over over; but there was no breath in them. Also He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds , O breath and breathe on these slain that they may live. So I prophesies as He commanded me and breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.” Ezekiel 37: 1-10. NKJV.

The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth.

What are you waiting for? 🙂 ……..Start putting flesh on those bones…….

…………………..

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Blessings & Love Always.

Grace Obomanu

 

“Do not say to your neighbor, ‘go and come back, and maybe tomorrow I will give it’, when you have it with you” Proverbs 3:28 NKJV. 

Hi there,

Trust you are doing great…

My name is Grace Obomanu and I am glad to meet you today… 🙂 

I am a Christian, Wife, Mother of 3, a Christian Blogger & Counselor. I got born again in 1993, stayed that way until sometime around my early years in College (1996-1997) when things got a bit messy and cloudy around my Christianity, but thank God He got me back on my feet again and from then till now, I have been consistent with my Christian walk. I am happily married (for 15+years now) and I have a teenage son and 2 adorable preteen daughters 🙂 

I trained as a Medical Doctor in Nigeria and have been in active practice in the public health area. Today, I won’t be talking to you about medicine, sorry.

The question we want to answer here is ‘Why Grace Obomanu’s Foundation?’ 🙂 ……………………….

In 2014, I had a nudge in my spirit to start a counselling group; ‘Talk with Grace Obomanu’. That thought dropped on my heart suddenly, meaning it wasn’t premeditated and I am certain, it wasn’t a brainwave or a fluke.  I have to say I was really thrown off a bit at the thought because I would not describe myself as being exceptionally friendly. So I didn’t see how anyone would want to talk to me about their issues. So you can understand my hesitancy and delay as the Talk Group didn’t kick off until about a year later, sometime in 2015. 

Talk with Grace Obomanu went live on Facebook in early 2015, and since then I have been talking!  🙂

People write in from different parts of the world with all kinds of issues-marriage issues, relationship issues, career issues, parents having challenges coping with juvenile tendencies of their teenagers, you just name it….At Talk with Grace Obomanu, I and my Team, (had to put a Team together) provide simple, practical, bible-based (most times) counsel to people online. And this is absolutely free. We don’t charge anyone. And God has been faithful with great outpouring of His grace, wisdom and strength.

Many times, people just need a listening ear, someone to just listen to them bare their mind. Sometimes,people actually think they have a big problem that they cannot fix themselves,but interestingly, just as they find a listening ear, the solution they’ve been seeking flow right outta their mouths. A few other times, people are actually headed in the wrong direction and need to be redirected 🙂 

Having run my Talk Group for sometime now, one thing has become quite obvious, not everyone just wants talk or brilliant ideas about how best to fix their problems, some people have needs,genuine needs that they’ll be thankful to have someone help them meet. I have many times transferred funds to people I’ve never physically met, meeting a need and relieving burdens. Putting a smile on people’s faces. 

This is why I am starting the Grace Obomanu’s Foundation.

About 3 months ago, a lady was referred to me for counselling concerning her marriage. She’s been married for almost 17 years, blessed with 3 children. The first few years though great,right now seems like an experience of a very short-lived bliss. Her husband seemed to have transformed into someone else overnight. He is insecure, abusive and lazy. He’s found it difficult sustaining a job and so has often been in and out of job. Worst still, he is intimidated by her strong personality, personal drive and hardworking nature. He stopped her from working. So her children have gotten used to high-lows (more of lows) as far as meeting basic needs are concerned. According to her, she’s given the marriage her best shot, but it seemed her best wasn’t good enough.

Interesting thing about this lady is; she wasn’t really interested in ending her marriage, she was willing to do things differently if they’d help. And she did. After the first 2 sessions of counselling, she gained sufficient self-motivation to start over again. She identified her weaknesses and areas she needed to make changes in and she also identified her husband’s strengths (areas she can leverage on to bring out the best in him). In no time she was sharing praise report with me about the improvements they were both making in their marriage. Her husband started seeking a new job and encouraged her to do same. She moved from sharing room with her children back to the room she once shared with her husband. Their intimacy was sky-high, their prayer and bible reading life also improved. She particularly reconnected back to God and her relationship with God  was sweet again. Everybody was happy (including me ), except…. 

Her husband grew up in a family setting where fetish practice is common. He’d often glide in/out of conspiracy theories and thoughts of people trying to harm him. Diabolism isn’t always too far in setups such as this. Sometimes really, He’d group her as one of such persons-trying to kill him!

I must say at this point that one of the drawbacks with doing online counselling on marriages is- you may not have the couple together seeking help. So one person writes or calls you and is ready to make the marriage better, but you do not have access to the other partner. This can be really a challenge in situations where the 2 will be required to make personal changes towards a better marriage (and this is often the case).

Back to my story…… about 2 weeks ago one of her parent in-law became critically ill and guess who he pointed accusing fingers at this time? Her! And he didn’t stop there, he asked her for a divorce. So as I speak with you now, this woman has moved out to stay with a friend, being the go-gotter that she is, she’s secured a job already (which she applied for when her husband lifted the embargo on her working), she’s also developed some articles for children which she’s forwarded for review prior to publishing (by the way, this young woman writes really well). Right now, she’s awaiting feedback from the publishers. Problem? She doesn’t have a computer. How did she develop the original draft? With her husband’s laptop….he didn’t let her keep one.

Should she still try to make something out of her marriage? She’ll decide. Right now, she needs to balance, blossom and bounce, for herself and for her children. 

This may not seem like an emergency or life threatening situation, right, but probably typing away on her laptop would keep this lady busy, productive, hopeful and focused.

And so I was thinking to myself,how do I get this lady a laptop? Apparently she’s not someone with a dependent mentality. She’s hardworking and I would really love to encourage her keep identifying and reaching full potentials. That’s when I realized and said to myself, hey,Grace, you cannot possibly fix everybody’s problem. There are certainly people out there who are passionate about God and passionate about people. There are people who’d like to support in this kind of a situation. There are people who can buy a laptop, or partly or fully fund the purchase one.

I recognize that there’s a lot of abuse doing this kind of thing, abuse in coordinating or executing them, and there can be abuse from those seeking help! One thing you can be assured of is that funds/materials provided will be used as intended.

Some years ago, I and a group of friends (Belema, Egwuma, Kalaina) came together with an initiative, ‘Beautiful Feet’.We would seek and gather household stuffs (food, clothes, utensils, etc) that we really didn’t need around our home, then locate a group of persons living in a poor setting, and distribute these things to them. That was a very rewarding initiative, recipients were always in my opinion, overly excited and very thankful.

Grace Obomanu’s Foundation is here to pool resources from willing hearts to meet needs.

So I ask you today? Can you provide a laptop for my lady? Would you want to become a member of my Foundation? 🙂 

Full payment, part payment or a laptop will be appreciated and sent to her in your name (except you ask for anonymity). 

Wondering how you can send a laptop over to us from where you are? Courier 🙂 or we can arrange a pick up if you are anywhere in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. 

Join me make a difference in someone’s life today, because The Lord has need of it (Luke 19: 30-35).  Write me via my email (graceobomanu@gmail.com) or drop a message on any of my social media platforms;

• Talk with Grace Obomanu(Facebook)
• Grace Obomanu (Dr.)(Instagram).
• Grace Obomanu (Google+)
• And do visit my blog @ https//:www.graceobomanu.com for a great lot of resources on Christian Living.

Thanks so much for your time and God bless 🙂 

 

Grace Obomanu’s Foundation– Love. Hope. Possibilities.  Helping people balance, blossom and bounce. 

 “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it? ’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’…..”
Luke 19:30‭-‬35 NKJV