Nothing Can Separate Us from the Love of God

By Jesten Peters

God's faithfulness to fulfill His promises is woven intricately throughout the life and ministry of Jesten Peters. From her childhood in the hills of West Virginia to her vibrant life in Florida, she has experienced His love and provision more times than she can count. In 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Keys of Authority Ministries, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9780999382738

Jesten Peters

Bible teacher and communitywide prayer coordinator Jesten Peters is the founder and president of Keys of Authority Ministries.  Jesten travels and speaks at churches, conferences, ladies’ meetings, and teas.  She has appeared on Christian television and radio talk shows to promote the body of Christ coming together in prayer, in accordance with II Chronicles 7:14. Jesten lives in Florida, and is the mother of two grown sons and grandmother to one very precious grandson.

Book preview

One day you will tell your story of how you’ve overcome what you’ve gone through, and it will become part of someone else’s survival guide.

Introduction

Ask yourself this question, Why is it important for us to share our testimony? Recently, I learned the meaning of the Hebrew word for testimony. It means, to repeat, do again, bear witness. I believe when God does something for one person, it reveals His heart, and He wants to do it again. I also believe when we share what God has done for us, it releases or reactivates faith that He will do it again.

I have personally experienced this when sharing my testimony of healing with others. It has helped to build their faith to believe for healing, and we have seen the manifestation of that healing. It is my prayer as you read my testimony that power will be released for you to believe for healing in your spirit, soul and body, and spiritual growth will take place. Spiritual growth is what we should all be striving for.

Have you ever wondered why Christians never grow up? What keeps them from pressing forward to the prize of the high calling? Why we do not use the authority that Christ gave us when He took the keys away from Satan and gave keys to the church? Why is the church not operating like the early church operated?

I personally believe it is because of two main reasons:

1) We are holding onto things that we need to let go of.

2) We have allowed imaginations, high things, philosophies, vain deceits, traditions, and the rudiments of the world to enter into our life with Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and Colossians 2:8).

1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Philippians 3:13-14, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1, Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us...

The Apostle Paul above all people could have held onto his past and never accomplished his destiny in God. He murdered Christians—he threw men, women, boys and girls into prison for believing in Jesus—he hunted Christians down like animals to persecute them. Paul could have very easily not forgiven himself for what he had done in the past. He could have believed Satan’s lies that God could never fully forgive him for what he had done to believers. He could have held onto the many times that people hurt and abused him.

And yet, through the power of the Holy Spirit, he was able to put the past behind him and move forward into preaching the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, forgiving everyone that would cause him harm.

Paul didn’t say, But you don’t know what I have done. I cannot forgive myself for what I did to those people. He did not say, You don’t know what so-and-so did to me. They hurt me so bad. They caused me such physical and emotional harm. I just can’t forgive them for what they did to me.

NO RUNNER EVER WON A RACE BY LOOKING OVER THEIR SHOULDER. A runner never looks back. They cannot afford to. They must stay focused on the goal line. With every step they are saying, I will reach my goal. I refuse to look back. I refuse to see what is in my past. I can only focus on the future.

It is my prayer when you have finished reading this book, you too can put the past behind you. Forgiving yourself and forgiving everyone that has abused you in any way. That you will lay every weight aside that would weigh you down and keep you from running the swiftest race you can run. That you will be totally and completely dedicated to fulfilling the destiny God has for you.

Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Jeremiah wrote this to Israel, and after 70 years of captivity, God still had thoughts and plans for Israel. And He still has thoughts and plans for you.

You may feel you have been in captivity, and that you are never going to be released. I am here to tell you that you can be released from the captivity of your past. God has definite plans for you, but it is only when you lay aside everything that is holding you back that He will be able to bring you into the race, for the ride of your life.

(Disclaimer: This book is my testimony of how the Lord has provided grace, provision, healing, and deliverance through things that I personally experienced during my lifetime. It is not meant to be a complete detailed account of each. A few details have been provided from my recollections of stories and conversations shared with me by my parents.

A sister book that picks up where this one ends, was published in late 2018. The title of that book is superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think or DREAM, and it shares how God brought to fruition the DREAM and calling He put in my heart when I was 14 years old.)

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

Chapter 1

THE WOMAN OF THE YEAR IS...

I walked in the door and started to fix my lunch, and I noticed there was a message on my answering machine. As the microwave was cooking my lunch, I listened to the message. It was Helen Britt from Lake City Community College. She left a phone number and asked me to call her back. I didn’t know Helen and wondered who she was. I remember thinking to myself, Please God let them be calling to offer me a job.

Wednesday of the previous week, I had almost had a meltdown on my job. I worked for a firm that was constantly waiting until the last minute to give me work, and then would overload me and expect miracles. Many times, the stress had literally made me sick. It seemed there was never enough time planned for me to do everything I needed to do, but the work was always expected to be done, sometimes on an unrealistic deadline.

On top of the stress of having all of the jobs hanging over my head, I would often have problems with office equipment. Along with the frustration of trying to get the equipment to work, there were times I would be yelled at.

With all this going on, I seemed to snap. It was as if all of the stress of the past twelve-and-a-half years surfaced. I went home for lunch and thought about not going back. The way I was feeling, I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. All I could think about was quitting my job. However, I knew if I quit, I wouldn’t have an income and would be unable to pay my bills. I even wondered how long I would be able to live in my home before it would be foreclosed on.

I had to talk to someone and called my close friend Barbara. She was out of her office, so I called my sister and told her everything that was going on. She had been trying to get me to sell my home and move in with her for some time. The way I was feeling, it was going to be sooner rather than later. She was the voice of reason and talked me out of quitting and not to make any decisions until I was thinking more clearly.

After hanging up the phone with my sister, Barbara called. I told her a little about what was going on and she offered to come over that evening and talk about everything.

After taking an hour and half for lunch, I finally went back to the office. When I walked in, the female boss and another employee were at my desk working on my computer and printer. With the help of Technical Support, the other employee was able to get some of the kinks worked out, but not the worst of the problems.

I finished out the workday and got out of the office as quickly as I could, still thinking about quitting as soon as I got my next paycheck. That evening, Barbara came over. This was a Wednesday night and normally we would have been in church, but I needed her more to talk to than we needed to go to church.

We sat and ate and talked. She let me spill out everything that was going on at my job. Like my sister, she was the voice of reason and asked me not to make any decisions until I had prayed about it. She also told me that God had something good in store for me and to hold on.

I went to work on Thursday, but I still felt numb and totally stressed out. I managed to call and get a doctor’s appointment and left work early. The doctor prescribed two medications for me—one was a narcotic. I asked him if he thought it would be a good idea if I didn’t go back to work until Monday and he agreed.

I think he was afraid I was going to go postal at work and try to kill someone. Up until this time, the thought had not crossed my mind. I am not a violent person and usually am mild mannered. But the way I was feeling, there is no telling what I could have been pushed to do.

I spent Friday and Saturday just taking it easy. Sleeping, thinking, praying. I took stock of my life and began to make plans on what changes I needed to make to alleviate some of the stress and to make a change in jobs. I did not get the prescriptions filled because I wanted a clear head to think.

Not only did I work a full-time job which was stressful, but I was a single mother with a 21-year-old son at home who was dealing with his own hurts from a minister to whom he had devoted the last 5 years of his life. In his way of trying to alleviate his pain, he had started drinking and doing things I never thought he would do. He had been devoted to serving the Lord and the church and now, that all seemed so empty.

I also wore many hats at my local church. I was an usher, a first touch minister, teacher of college classes, the singles minister, and I served as the local president of Aglow International. Church was my life and I wanted to serve the Lord in everything I did. The only reason that I worked a regular job was so I could pay my bills. I really did not enjoy the job, especially under these circumstances. Other than my family, my enjoyment and pleasure came from serving the church and the Lord.

As I pondered what I should do with my life, something a lady minister had said to me a year or so earlier came back.

Get out of the boat.

I knew what she meant, but as long as I had a child at home, I knew I had to keep my job to pay my bills. I always felt that my first responsibility was to my children.

My son and I talked and he felt he should move out of Lake City to escape the painful environment and he felt led to move in with a youth pastor and his wife in another town. He needed a fresh start and the only way he was going to get one was to leave. I believed he was thinking with a level head, and to help him get away from drinking and some of the people who were a bad influence on him, he needed to move. This couple loved and appreciated his talent and abilities and saw a potential in him that had been lost at our present church.

Now that I knew he was going to be alright and was going to get his life together, I began to think about what God wanted for my life. I had trained all of my life for ministry work. Having gone to Bible college and seminary, it was time to get out of the boat and to start making plans to move in that direction.

I wanted to quit my job immediately, but I knew I couldn’t. And the thoughts of having to take a narcotic to go to work was ridiculous. No one should have to do that. I decided to resign all of my positions at church except singles minister, Logos teacher, and my position as Aglow president. I also decided to start the process of getting my house ready to go on the market and to seek a job in full-time ministry. I needed to do everything I could think of to make this happen, starting with talking to my pastor about a job at my church.

Sunday morning, I really did not feel like going to church, but I knew I was ushering that morning and I had a responsibility to be there. It just so happened that the captain of our team was out and I was his co-team leader so all of the responsibility fell on me. I still felt numb, dazed, and generally out of it, but I did the best I could.

While I was in the counting room, I came across a check from my bosses in the offering basket. They were here! Oh my God! I began to have an anxiety attack. They were in the church service. I hadn’t even seen them,