CLERGY CORNER The Power & Purpose of Faith in the Fire WRITTEN BY: PASTOR STEPHANEY MOODY One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible that I quote often is Revelation 12:11 (AMP) which says “And they overcame and conquered him (the devil) because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, for they did not love their life and renounce their faith even when faced with death.” This scripture, along with many others, has carried me through some of the toughest trials and tribulations. Today, I would like to share my testimony with you of how I overcame a difficult trial in 2018 by having faith in the fire. In Christianity, we are taught to memorize and quote scriptures, but oftentimes we don’t have the revelation of what that scripture means until we are in a situation where we have to live out what we speak out. It’s only after you have applied what you know that it becomes wisdom and part of your foundation. The Word of God is life! I pray that as you read my testimony today, that it encourages you to fight the good fight of faith and never quit! Every year at New Beginnings Discipleship Ministries, we proclaim our focus for the year and our sermons support how we live out our declaration. In 2018, our theme was “Faithful”, and the supporting scripture was 2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. The interesting thing about any declaration is that it is not valid unless it has been tested. When you watch a Crest Toothpaste commercial, their claim is that it is the best for oral health and has been validated by 9 out of 10 dentists. This is an example of something having validity and has been tested by a professional to see if the proclamation is true. It’s the same with us in the Body of Christ. The tempter tests us to see if we really believe what we are declaring, decreeing, singing, preaching, and praying. He tries to see if we will live out what we are confessing. His hope is to disprove our belief in God and the word of God! We see this with Jesus in Luke 3:22 when John baptized Jesus. Scripture says the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” In verse 23, we are told that after this declaration was made that Jesus began His ministry. After His genealogy was listed, we see in Chapter 4, that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness where he would be tempted for a period. That word tempted is the Greek word peirazō (Strong's G3985) which is defined as to try, to be tested, or to test one’s faith to see how he/she will behave
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