After the Storm

Reading Time: 12min

 “Everyone who hears my teaching and applies it to his life can be compared to a wise man who built his house on an unshakable foundation (on the rock). When the rains fell and the flood came, with fierce winds beating upon his house, it stood firm because of its strong foundation (on the rock).

Matthew 7: 24-25 (TPT) – Emphasis added

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This pandemic, COVID 19, has been coupled with other concurrent natural disasters, such as earthquakes, wildfires, and different kinds of storms, as well as man-made disasters such as plane crash; even buildings collapsing, and on top of that, we are experiencing a high level of lawlessness. Many people have lost so much during this time, and some have lost hope for life itself. Fear has entered the hearts of many. Many decisions made during this time are a result of the uncertainties that have occurred all around us.

The word of God; has cautioned us for such a time as these; many of us have been facing different kinds of storms, even before the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic, to the point that we asked ourselves, when will the end come.

The word of God warns that; this is the beginning of the signs of the end of the age. The end is not yet (Matt 24:3-14). The teachings of Christ Jesus depict that; these times are going to be incredibly stressful, even for the household of faith. If we read from the beginning of Matthew 7, we can observe that the Lord Jesus; is teaching us, step by step on the position that we need to take as we are living in these times. He summed up His teaching by warning us about the false prophets; and the danger they will impose on the house of God. Some of us have had the first-hand experience of these warnings.

The type of foundation that we have built our lives on will determine if we will remain standing in faith during these times (Matt7: 24-25). How we continue to prepare ourselves; will determine how we will respond to the coming storms, since this is the beginning of the signs. I have observed that the storms of life we pass through are not of the same magnitude; the majority of them are entirely dependent on the position we were in before the storm, and what we did after that storm also determines how we would pull through on the next storm.

The Lord Jesus warned us that, as the children of God; We will go through different kinds of trials, but we ought to be of good cheer because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). We can learn from the Lord Jesus; how He lived His life before and after the storms and how He prepared for victory and what He did after He had obtained the triumph.

In my walk with Christ, I can say that; there were times; I did exceptionally well for every type of storm I encountered. But there was this specific type of tribulation; that became a chronic storm and lasted several years, and things did not seem to improve, the end did not seem near, and I saw my life crumbling to pieces before my eyes, and I asked myself if I ever built my life on a solid rock foundation in the first place.

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When I did a self-introspection, I realized that; when God delivered me from one of the false prophets and their churches, I did not take adequate time to seek the face of God afresh. Shortly after God set me free from the false prophet’s churches, I joined another church, and immediately I was serving as head intercessor and was also ordained as the elder of the church. I later got a revelation that my behavior did not please the Lord. I had been under the leading of the Lord Jesus all my life. He miraculously rescued us out of the false prophets and their churches, yet I did not allow Him to rebuild the foundation of my spiritual life.

I did not allow God to build my life afresh on a new solid rock foundation of the pure and sincere word. Although in the natural, it appeared as though I was still standing after passing through the false prophet’s storm, the foundation of my spiritual life was shaking, and in the construction terminology, I was experiencing a heaving foundation.

God desired to rebuild the foundation of my life. Although, my life seemed to blossom for a couple of years since I left the false prophet and his church. In the long run, the foundation started showing signs of cracks and sinking, and eventually, my entire life crumbled into pieces.

I was not patient enough to wait alone in the presence of God and receive direction. I was going through high emotions, I had a lot of encounters through visions, trances, and dreams, it was quite overwhelming, and I needed to be in a familiar environment, I thought. And without taking adequate time to confirm if the Lord wanted me to join the church, I accepted the invitation to serve in the church.

Since I was from a church that was not a true church of Christ, I needed inner healing and deliverance for my soul. I did not go through the process of restoration. I did not recognize the need, because the gifts of the Holy Spirits were still available, and was forgetting that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are irrevocable; and will always be operational if they are needed, because, in the midst of that, God still used me in different ways in the ministry.

My prayer life was still good, and my walk with God seemed exceptionally good. However, on the very first day I joined the church, God showed me a vision that revealed how my life would turn out should I continued in that ministry. I found myself going through so much confusion because I was afraid of an unfamiliar environment, the church felt like home, and I knew the leaders of the church personally.

I remember this one Sunday morning; God gave me a morning vision; in this vision, I saw myself preparing to preach in the church setting. I was already in the venue where I was supposed to minister. While in this morning vision; a man came and asked me to wait in another room while they were preparing the auditorium that I was going to use for the preaching session. I recall seeing myself holding a white wedding gown in my arms, and it was clear to me that I was going to preach wearing that white wedding gown; however, I told to wait for a while.

While in this vision, I noticed that I was not waiting alone; I had the congregation of this church waiting together with me in this other room. We waited for many hours, and later I decided to go and check inside the auditorium. I wanted to find out what was taking them so long to prepare the venue.

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In my mind, I thought they were arranging the chairs; and fixing the decorations inside the church. While in this vision, I managed to finally; get inside the auditorium. What I found inside shocked me beyond measure. As I walked inside, I found angels, and they had dug out the entire foundation of that auditorium, and they were laying a new foundation. They had all types of tools and instruments, and they demonstrated so much precision and accuracy as they laid each brick back on this new foundation. There was so much light inside this room, and they were very calm while working. Each of them seemed to know what part they were supposed to play and at what time they were supposed to carry their part, as they were laying this foundation.

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While in this vision, I just stood, there still holding my white wedding gown in my arms, I was speechless and full of wonder, and the dream ended. I kept this vision to myself and did not tell anyone. I did not know how I was supposed to respond to this vision. I continued to serve in this church, but in the natural, my life began to spiral downward.

Then on this particular day, God gave me another morning vision; in this vision, I saw my house, my husband, together with my children, swallowed up by the earth. I woke up from this vision, I made an appointment with the leader of the church, and later that evening, I told them that I was no longer going to be a part of the church; I explained to them that I needed time to go and sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus and seek His face afresh.

They were so shocked and quite disappointed, though I had hurt them so badly, I had to respond to what the Lord Jesus was showing me through visions and dreams. I left that church immediately; it was hard for me as much as it was so sudden for them.

From that point, I sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus; for a full two years. He led me to a church; where I received proper counseling, healing, and deliverance for my soul. After the first session of prayer and counseling, God gave me another night vision, where I saw myself declaring that I was coming out of the house that was not of Christ. The truth is that since I left the false church, I did not break spiritual links with the false prophet and his church, and I did not break any form of covenants that I may have entered knowingly and unknowingly. Though God was still using me, I had to rebuilt anew; I needed to demolish any raised alters of the enemy that were still militant against my life, even though I had been set free from the false prophets.

I needed to go through a cleaning process; of getting rid of the doctrine, I received from the false churches and getting rid of any materials that were still in my possession. The process that I had to undertake; is detailed in my book “The Wide Path- The Realities of End Times Churches.” As I was still attending those counseling sessions, I had another morning vision; in this vision, I saw myself, once again; I was being dressed afresh, in this white wedding dress, and everything was white, even the shoes were white, and at that point, I knew that the process that God wanted me to undertake had completed, and I was ready to serve God, the way He desired.

After the counseling sessions ended, I continued to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus, day and night. I would rise early in the morning just to come into His presence; I would study the word of God, meditate, praise and worship, and in the evening when my family was sleeping; I would also rise and come to the presence of the Lord. From that point, the Lord renewed the covenant between us and revealed His mandate over my life. The Lord began to lead me to His purpose; even though people around me could not understand what was happening in my life, I was clear on what God was doing.

Like in natural disasters, there is a required safety procedure that is followed by all affected individuals before they can return to their homes; and places of work. If they omit the safety procedures before they can resume their daily living, the aftereffects of the storms are more devastating than the natural disaster itself. There is so much cleaning that needs to take place, fixing electrical connections, plumbing, etc., the entire process is so tedious, but if it is done right, daily life activities can resume effectively. So, the work that was done shortly after the disaster; determines how individuals will pick up their lives and move on, and how they will remain prepared and take better precautions on the next season of storms.

The same applies to our spiritual walk with God, as seen in the narration of my story above. After we have passed through a challenging time in our lives, there is a spiritual safety procedure that we need to observe to allow God; to re-create and restore our lives.

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If we take a look at other examples in the word of God, we learn that after God destroyed the earth, He created it again, the whole recreation and restoration process took place and entered in a covenant with humankind once again (Gen 8:1-22,9:1-3). We observe that He does the same with everyone who has passed through different kinds of storms of life. God desires that we be fruitful, increase, and multiply. We must learn to rise above the storms of life. We can also learn from the heroes of faith who faced different kinds of trials, and they remained standing without wavering in their faith, and above everything, their relationship with God was unshaken. God restored their lives and gave them so much wealth and entered in an everlasting covenant with them.

We can learn from our father of faith, Abraham, and his descendants. Isaac thrived during and after severe famines (Gen26:1-23). Jacob was very prosperous even after his uncle cheated him many times (Gen30:25-30, 43), and his son Joseph after passing through a series of difficult trials, become a prime minister of Egypt. King David also faced different kinds of tribulations, and he triumphed in all of them. We can mention a few amongst many, Daniel and his friends, prophet Elijah, prophet Jeremiah, Job, etc.

All these people lived a life of faith, before and after trials. They were able to allow God to restore their lives far better than their former lives. I perceive that they took time to seek God afresh for each trial they passed through. They were not perfect beings, some of them made a lot of mistakes in their walk with God, yet they pursued God in everything, and allowed the process that was required to take its cause, and as a result, their end was good.

We also need to understand that every time we go through a severe storm, there is a new assignment, new responsibility that comes after the storm, and that is where most of us missed it. There is a renewed promise that comes after passing the trials. God renews His covenant afresh in our lives.

But, if we do not take time to seek God afresh, we hinder the process of healing and deliverance, as you saw what happened to me. We also retard the process of re-creation and restoration in our lives. We block the flow of the Holy Spirit; instead of seeing our lives moving forward, we see ourselves stuck in one position and things getting even worse than they were before the storm began. In the end, our lives resemble that life of a man that built his house on the sand (Matt 7:26-27).

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You might not have been delivered out from the false prophets, as I have been, but God has rescued you from a different kind of a tempest storm, and the aftereffects of this storm do not seem to go away; they are just remaining and its feel as though you are living your life in the turmoil. Perhaps, you feel that you have hit rock bottom, and you do not see your way up. Perhaps, maybe you have already begun your journey of seeking the Lord afresh; however, it seems like an uphill.

Take a decisive stand against him and resist his every attack with strong, vigorous faith. For you know that your believing brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing the same kinds of troubles you endure.

1 Peter 5:9 tpt

May you find encouragement in knowing that you are not alone, and somewhere in the world, someone is going through the same, and in other parts of this world, another believer has overcome, as Christ promised us (Jon 16:33). May we learn from the life of our Lord Jesus, how He lived His life, and learn from the heroes of faith. May we observe the teachings of Christ and learn to apply them in our lives. May God strengthen you and resurrect your life to glory. Above everything, may you continue to pursue your love relationship with the Lord Jesus, and may He remain the center of your life.