By Funmi Komolafe

Congratulations!, and welcome to the first Sunday in the month of December. By the grace of God, this year will not roll away with you in the name of Jesus.

God in his mercy will release unto you and your family every blessing that has been delayed in the name of Jesus.

It’s December ; the month of visitation. In our secular world, it’s a period that people visit and perhaps send gifts to friends or loved ones either in the spirit of Christmas or not. Some simply call it end of year gifts. What is real is that it is time of giving, a time to demonstrate our love for others.

Let’s move away from this and look unto our God with an expectation that He will visit us. Did I hear you say how?

God visits in many ways but one thing is certain, when He visits, sorrow is turned to joy. When God visits, your status changes.

God visits in many ways. For example, the Holy Spirit can speak to you in your dream, he can give you a Biblical verse for you to receive your breakthrough, he can speak through your Pastor, he can visit in human form by sending someone to you, etc. When God visits, fear, anxiety, disappears.

His ways of visitation are so numerous and unlimited.

I’ll share with you the words of Pastor Sunday Awe. He said during a programme, “When God visits, there is a sudden change.  It is  wonderful. The time and how it is done, makes it a wonder.

Anxiety -What exactly are you anxious about? Is it promotion, securing an admission, obtaining a visa, getting pregnant, delayed marriage , getting off that sick bed, delayed promotion, financial stagnation, securing a job?

What is it?  Brethren, remember that you did not create yourself.

God created you for a purpose.

Our creator knows about anxiety, hence He spoke to us in Philippians 4 vs. 6: “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God”.

Note – prayer, supplication and thanksgiving. These are three steps that we can take to present our needs to the Lord.

Let me also share with you, the thoughts of my friend, Deaconess Abiodun Ojudun in her book “ None shall be barren”.

She wrote:  “Anxiety or worry hinders fruitfulness. Miracles don’t happen when there is anxiety. In fact, it hinders your prayers and makes it impossible for you to pray effectively”.

She said of anxiety, “It is a Spirit; it puts you under pressure and affects your thinking. It is a thief. It steals your peace and joy.  It gets you tensed up until the hormone system of your body is affected, and this results in irregularity of the menstrual cycle”.

Her message is clear and can apply to any situation. For a person on the sick bed, anxiety surely worsens the medical condition.

To take care of anxiety, always remember Habakkuk 2 vs.3: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end, it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry”.

How to take care of anxiety – Once we keep Habakkuk 2 vs. 3 in our memory, the next thing is to continue to pray to remind God of His promise .

The period of waiting need not be submitted to anxiety. Rather, it should be a period of devotion to God through prayers,  praising, giving and service to God.

By doing this, you are spiritually empowered.

When we do this, anxiety disappears.

While waiting, we need to be confident. Always say to yourself “ My status will change” and by the grace of the Almighty God before this year ends, your status will change for the best in the name of    Jesus.

Hebrew 10 vs 35 -38:  “Cast not away      therefore your confidence, which hath great  recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that    after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry”.

Verse 38: “Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him”.

Note the Bible did not say, the just shall live by fear or anxiety. Instead we are told to be patient that we might receive the promise of      God.

We are also assured that God will fulfil every promise He has made.

Let’s also consider the word of God in 2nd  Timothy 1 vs. 7:  “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”.

If    you had any doubt before, I’m sure you are now convinced that Fear is a Spirit and the power of God can deal with it.

Testimony – As usual, I will not end this edition without a testimony but please note that testimonies are not just for us to read and smile or shout, ‘Praise the Lord’, we are to use testimonies as a point of contact to remind God about our own situation and ask Him for our own testimony.

As the Lord liveth, before this year comes to an end, you shall testify in Jesus name.

Please don’t forget to share your testimonies with us using our email address.

Let me start with that of my friend and author of  “None shall be barren”, which I quoted earlier.

Abiodun had been married for 18 years without children but she continued to serve God. Suddenly, the Lord visited and she had a set of triplets; two boys and a girl. Of course, thousands of people joined her to praise God.

God visited her again and she had a set of twins; one boy and a girl.

So the one who was called barren for 18 years is now a mother of five children.

Whatever it is that represent barrenness in your life, the Lord will replace with overflowing blessings in the name of Jesus.

Today,  she has her hands full. Significantly, her husband did not go to seek any alternative by going to impregnate another  woman secretly.    In other words, though he too was a victim of societal pressure, he cooperated with his wife to look unto God.

A period of waiting should get couples closer not put a wedge between them.

Once united Spiritually, the break through will certainly manifest.

Our second testimony was given by a brother at Winners Chapel .

Here is an edited version, “I want to  return all glory    and honour to God. I had been on job hunt for the past three years with none forthcoming. I attended series of interviews where I was always commended for my outstanding performance and they promised to get back to me but all to no avail.

“Again, I had an interview  with a company and passed very well but the MD said she could not afford my wages. When the consultant told me this, I invoked the Spirit of faith and committed myself to kingdom’s work, I prayed and fasted that the company must call me”.

After a few weeks, he received a call from the consultant that the company has asked him to resume.

He wrote, “ I thank God that the near success syndrome tormenting my life has been destroyed”.

This season, God will visit a reader of this column in the name of Jesus. Be expectant.

Remain blessed.