You Are My Servant and I Have Chosen You: What It Means to Be Called, Chosen, Prepared and Ordained by God for Ministry

By Jabulani David Gamede

The book is about the painful hardships, tests, trials, and tribulations the Lord has put me through in the process of my calling, choosing, preparation, and ordination for ministry. It traces my calling at the age of eleven and how, from then, God protected me from the numerous attempts of the enemy to kill me. It looks at my rise to power and prestige as a company executive, my calling into and gifting for full-time ministry, the liquidation of my transport company, my subsequent financial bankruptcy, and my falling into debt and sequestration. Having lost everything I had and fallen into insolvency, the Lord began to teach me what it truly meant to live by faith and to depend on him. The book details how God led me every day by his word and the abundant revelations he showed me and the tools of survival he gave me. It contains also prophecies directed at my countrymen and Church of Christ universal. It shows how God strengthened me to overcome my tribulations, to remain positive, to not lose hope, to get back up again, and how he faithfully began to restore his favor and blessing on me once again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Jan 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482860122

Jabulani David Gamede

Jabulani David Gamede is the founding prophet and president of Gospel of Truth Ministries based in Windmill Park, Extension 9, in Boksburg, Gauteng Province, in South Africa. Previously a History and English teacher in two different high schools in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and a long-serving senior manager human resources, senior manager rail operations, and executive manager, rail safety, in the largest rail company in Africa, he was called and commissioned by the Lord to be his prophet to the nations and kingdoms of this world and an apostle to his Church universal. He was officially anointed and ordained a prophet of the most high God at Mt. Gerizim Church, Vosloorus, on the twenty-seventh of March 2005, in a Spirit-filled annual Easter conference. He completed his theological studies at Mt. Zion Bible College. He has been set apart for the ministry of restoring right religion, the righteousness of God, and the truth in the Church of Christ universal; of building and planting the kingdom of God and his churches globally through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord has since charged him to prophesy to his Church through the books that he has been commanded to write, of which this is submitted to the Church as the second of many more to come.

Book preview

© 2016 by Jabulani David Gamede.

ISBN:                  Hardcover                  978-1-4828-6013-9

                            Softcover                    978-1-4828-6014-6

                            eBook                        978-1-4828-6012-2

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Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1     THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY HIS FAITH

Chapter 2     PREACHING AT THE AGE OF ELEVEN

2.1. Raised By a Devout Grandmother

2.2. Preaching At the Age of Eleven

2.3. Not Today: The Rebellion and the Eternal Mark of God.

Chapter 3     I SHOULD NOT BE ALIVE: SATAN CHEATED OUT OF HIS DUE!

3.1. Death at the University of Zululand

3.2. The Suicide Attempt

3.3. Verulem Prison

3.4. Most of My Old Friends and Peers Are Dead

Chapter 4     A CHANGE OF FORTUNES

4.1. Pupil Train Driver

4.2. Manager Turn Strategy

4.3. Satan and Three Years of Hell!

4.4. Mrs. Sandra Reddy

4.5. Senior Manager Turn Strategy

Chapter 5     KNOCK! KNOCK! ENTER THE LORD JESUS

5.1. That Fateful Sunday, January 1997

5.2. The Transformation

5.3. Preaching Again

5.4. The Early Development of My Faith

Chapter 6     MY CALLING: THE INITIAL SIGNS

6.1. For God Speaks

6.2. My Calling Dreams and Visions

6.2.1. The Call to Prophesy: The Initial Signs

6.2.2. A Global Apostolic Calling

6.3. Theological Training

6.3.1. Mt. Zion Bible College

6.3.2. Theological Education by Extension College

6.4. Fortunes Improve At Work

6.4.1. Project April 30

6.4.2. The First African Black Senior Manager Rail Operations.

6.4.3. Promotion to Executive Manager Rail Operations Safety.

Chapter 7     THE CALLING INTO FULL TIME MINISTRY

7.1. The Command to Resign from Spoornet

Chapter 8     THE CALLING OF A PROPHET

8.1. Distinguishing Between Prophets, Diviners and Fortune-tellers

8.1.1. Divination, Magic and Fortune-telling

8.1.2. Prophets and Prophecy

8.1.2.1. What Kind of a Person is a True Prophet of God?

8.1.2.2. The Message of A Prophet (Prophecy)

Chapter 9     CALLED TO PROPHESY

9.1. Prophecies of Military Conflict in the Republic of South Africa

9.1.1. A Warning of Impending Civil War in the Republic of South Africa

9.1.2. Vision of the Bombing of the Johannesburg Central Business District (CBD)

9.1.3. South Africa under Martial Law

9.1.4. Another Warning of Imminent Civil War in South Africa

9.1.5. A Vision of Military Conflict between the Armed Forces, the Armed Forces and the Metropolitan Police.

9.1.6. Vision and Prophecy of Expulsion of White People from South Africa

9.2. Prophecy to the Nation of South Africa

9.3. Prophecy to the Church of South Africa

9.3.1. How the Church Has Ejected Christ

9.3.2. The Love of Money in the Church of Christ

9.3.3. A Prophecy about Gospel Awards, Crowns and Accolades in the Church of Christ Jesus

9.4. To the Church of the United States of America

Chapter 10     A PRIESTLY CALLING: A TRIPLE ANOINTING

Chapter 11     THE JOB TEST

11.1. Everything Is Lost

11.2. Life in Bloemfontein

11.3. Life in Ermelo

11.4. The Return to Johannesburg

11.5. Dr. A.G. Khathide

Chapter 12     FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORD

12.1. The Assembly under Siege

12.2. The Money Test

12.2.1. The Jacob Plate

12.2.2. Wealth beyond My Wildest Dreams

12.2.3. If You Sleep With Me

12.3. A Triple Blow

12.4. A Test of Faith

12.5. The Absalom Test

Chapter 13     THE JOB PRAYER

13.1. Praying Like Job

Chapter 14     PRAYING LIKE JESUS

Chapter 15     GET BACK UP

Chapter 16     ALL THINGS RESTORED

Conclusion

Abbreviations

About The Author

Also by the Same Author

Revelation

Dedications

To the Lord God for His indescribable grace

To

My beloved wife and friend

Thank you for twenty seven years of companionship and love and for the beautiful girls that you have given me.

To

My girls

Sthembile

Nikita

Melissa

And

To my grandchildren

Sthembiso

Livhu

Hulisani

This book is also dedicated to those who love the Lord their God with all their hearts, their souls, their strength and with all their minds; those in whose love God has such pride as to put them in His fiery furnace for the testing and proving of that love.

It is for those God has anointed to reveal Him to the world through their faithful endurance and self-sacrifice.

It is for those God so jealously loves that He sets apart and marks for His great and unsurpassed favour.

It is for those God has called, chosen, prepared and ordained for great works and exploits in His kingdom.

Endure His fiery furnace for great is your reward in this age and in the age to come.

Acknowledgements

Mduduzi E. Gumbi

More than a friend,

Greater than a brother you are.

Far better than wealth,

A wonder indeed you are.

So dear are you,

Like a star always bright.

Faithful and true,

Your deeds shine forever bright.

A friend like you,

Is more precious than gold.

Enduring and true,

I forever will hold.

Pastor V.A. Sicongwana

In my ignorance of the ways of the Lord and in my deep hunger for God, I could have, like many innocent Christians, easily swallowed wrong teachings and a perverted gospel and could have been misled had it not been for your selfless help and mentorship. My profound gratitude goes to you and your family. May you never tire of nurturing other devout but naïve worshippers of God; your reward shall, without a doubt, be great in the kingdom of God. Thank you for the spiritual and material investment that you selflessly bestowed on my spiritual growth.

To the Elders of Mt. Gerizim

To the elders of Mt. Gerizim who took me under their protective wings and mentored me; who love me, pray for me and guide me with love, I wish to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot recognise you all by name in this brief acknowledgement; however, I do wish to list a few names: Messrs Maluleke, Moloi Senior ‘Bishop,’ Shabalala ‘Mshengu,’ Hadebe ‘Bhungane Lendlela,’ V. Kuta and M. Mathebula my former prayer partner and intercessor. I pray that the loving Father richly bless you all and your families for the unsurpassed love and support that you showed me. You continue to shape my character as a Christian and as a servant of God through your invaluable teachings and gentle yet strong guidance. I have nothing but great respect for all of you.

Prof. Elizabeth Brown

You welcomed me and took a big gamble on someone you hardly knew. Like a mother hen, you took me under your warm and loving arms. Your contribution to my spiritual growth and ability to fulfil my calling in the Body of Christ is indescribable and immeasurable. I am forever grateful and indebted to you.

Bonakele Sylvia Mbhele

I know that God has a plan and purpose for me in Pretoria. You have spared no effort in helping me to fulfil that plan. There is still a lot of work to be done. I am really grateful for all your invaluable support.

I pray that the Lord God richly reward you for the kindness you have shown me and above all that He give you strength to endure His fiery furnace and to fulfil your calling in His kingdom.

Foreword

In this book Prophet David Gamede gives a detailed record of his journey with God through life’s ordeals and experiences with great articulation and precision and an amazing recollection of events, dates, times and years. It is written with great humility.

Indeed, his has been a journey with a difference and one with mixed fortunes but all leading to the purpose from on High for his life.

This is a book I most gladly recommend to everyone to read for no matter what you may be going through, be it hardship or suffering of any kind, this book teaches that there is always hope and light at the end of the tunnel for God is on the throne and is always ready and eager to offer you a life-line if you will place your trust in Him.

Through God’s grace, I had the opportunity to impart the Word of God into Prophet Gamede’s life at Mt Zion Bible College where he completed his diploma in Theology and Church Administration in the year 2004. I had the pleasure and privilege of equipping him for the work and ministry to which God has called him.

Prophet Gamede has a great passion for lost souls and preaches God’s Word with a great anointing and power from the Holy Spirit. He presently ministers as the Senior Pastor of Gospel of Truth Ministries. God is using him mightily in His kingdom as many people come to know the Lord and are exhorted through his testimony.

I personally believe that God has a greater plan and purpose for his life, his humble wife and children.

To God be the glory and honour for inspiring this book.

Prof. S. Mlambo

Pastor, Founder and Rector of Mount Zion Bible College

Introduction

This book is not a biography, but a personal testimony of the greatness of the Lord in my life. It is not a historical record of my life but, like the Bible, a record of God’s self-revelation, grace and mercy in my life; it is a record of His faithful journey and patience with me and mostly His unprecedented, unconditional and unlimited love and kindness for me. If it were a biography, I would have spent much effort on minute details of my rather ordinary and unspectacular life; since it is not, I will dwell only on those experiences that reveal the outworking of God’s plan and will in my life. I hope and pray that whatever you might also be going through you will be encouraged and strengthened by this testimony and that you will continue to worship the Lord all the more.

My testimony is not special. I have read even more inspiring, uplifting and motivating testimonies. When I met Dr. Agrippa Khathide to enlist his invaluable assistance with the publication of my first book, after only a few meetings and after I had told him about my calling and what the Lord had done and was continuing to do in my life, he strongly and passionately pleaded with me to write this book because he believed that my testimony would help many servants of God and Christians in their varying life challenges. I prayed to the Lord for guidance and my Father’s will in this regard and the Lord answered me instantly by giving me the title of this book when He said to me, ‘You are my servant and I have chosen you.’

On Monday 1st of December 2008 my wife and I were inspired by the Holy Spirit to fast and pray for the whole day. We did not know why. (We were running our own trucking business then which, after some teething problems, was just beginning to run smoothly and business was certainly looking good. We had bought two trucks with which we had started the business. The trucks were both running perfectly that day for the first time in many months). So late that afternoon I went to prayer and the Lord spoke to my spirit to read chapters one and two of the Book of Job. As a pastor, I have preached on this book many times as a source of encouragement, edification and exhortation to Christians going through hardship; I knew well what those chapters entailed but did not know why the Lord wanted me to read them. I told my wife what the Lord had commanded me.

Later that same day in the evening at about seven o’ clock my wife and I left to meet one of our drivers to collect proof of delivery and invoicing papers and to give him toll fees. We stopped at the Caltex garage in Farrar Park to fill up petrol on our way and my wife went into the nearby shop to buy orange juice. She delayed coming back and after a while I drove the car around to go fetch her for we were running late. A group of men came out of the shop and my wife came trembling to the car soon thereafter. The shop had just been robbed at gun point by the group I had just seen coming out and she had been forced to lie face down on the floor with a gun on her head by one of the robbers. That night I nearly lost her. After our business with our driver was concluded, we returned home. At eleven minutes past nine that same evening a call from my second driver came through, only it was a foreign voice that spoke to me. I immediately felt a lump in my throat, a chill down my spine and a deep hollow feeling in my stomach. I knew instinctively and instantly that something was horribly wrong. My driver was not allowed to give a lift to hitch hikers; how was it possible that someone other than him was calling me from my truck? When my driver came to the cell phone, he told me that he had just run into the back of another truck and that my truck was severely damaged. Upon inquiry, he informed me that he too was injured. The following morning my wife and I drove to Harrismith to fetch him from hospital and to inspect the extent of the damage on the truck. He was released from hospital after treatment for incredibly minor injuries suffered compared to the damage on the truck. By the extent of the damage on the truck he should not have survived. That one fateful night I was supposed to have had two corpses on my hands! The truck was eventually written off by our insurance company.

After that serious accident and the driver’s narrow escape, I understood why the Lord had commanded me to read the first and second chapters of the Book of Job. That marked the beginning of my Job test. Soon thereafter the second truck experienced intermittent mechanical failures which in a short space of time drained all our cash flow, investments and mortgage in repairs. It did not earn revenue as it was frequently out of commission. Soon we were in deep unserviceable debt and we began to lose everything we owned beginning with our ML 500 Mercedes Benz, my 1100cc Honda Blackbird motor bike and the truck and trailers were also repossessed by the financier.

To make ends meet, we lived by selling anything and everything we could spare: our furniture and computers; we were regular customers at Cash Crusaders and Cash Converters where we pawned most of our staff off and where we often raised quick cash loans against our wedding rings and anything of value that we could find. I still had one daughter at university on top of all these debts. Talk about being thrown into the bottomless pit of debt by the Lord; this is where we were. Let me borrow the words of Job, ‘The Lord has stripped me of my honour and removed the crown from my head’ (19:9). Of course I pastored the church I had planted in Windmill Park, a former and struggling informal settlement community. From a church income perspective I will leave you to guess how much you think I was paid. I learned quickly that true calling and sending is not about money, but about doing God’s will in total reverence, obedience and, above all, in self-sacrifice.

We were summoned to the South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, by the financier for a debt of approximately nine hundred and sixty one thousand rand (R961 000.00) which was reduced to a four hundred and ten thousand rand (R410 000.00) shortfall after the sale of the business assets. We lost the case and our house was attached for auctioning.

My wife and I filed for voluntary sequestration to rescue our house from the auction and to try and sell it at market value. By order of the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, our estate was sold and we were evacuated from our house and home.

The business cost us several millions of rand in service failures, repairs and maintenance; loss of income and all my financial policies. Its eventual collapse cost us all our capital investment, business opportunity and all my hard earned seventeen years of pension paid out when I resigned from my lucrative executive management job in the largest rail company in South Africa to take up my calling into full time ministry. On top of all these losses we lost over eight hundred thousand rand from the sale of our house which proceeds were used to settle all our debts.

The Lord permitted the devil to strip me, like Job, of everything that He had given me. At the age of 49, I lost everything and became a man who could not provide for his family. I had to start rebuilding my life and that of my family from scratch because the Lord, in His good pleasure, was preparing me through the test He visited upon me. My wife, my children and later my two grandsons and I became homeless. We became nomads living initially in Bloemfontein for seven months and in Ermelo for five months before moving back to Johannesburg in July 2012 to live in a rented flat for which we sometimes struggled to pay rent.

I am sharing this briefly in this introduction so that you know where I come from and so that you can understand the things I have written about my Father. He is my God and I will never turn my back on His calling and ministry; if time could be reversed and I was given a choice after what I have experienced, believe me when I say that I still would make the same choice; I still would obey Him and take up full-time ministry.

When I began writing this book, the journey was not yet over, there was still quite a lot that the Lord was putting me through and it was not easy to endure. Many a time God broke me so much that I pleaded for mercy and respite as I felt helpless and powerless and could not bear to countenance the indescribable pain, anguish and suffering on my wife and children’s faces; there were many days and times when I became so despondent like Job that I almost cursed not only the day I was born, but also the day I met the Lord; at all those times, however, the Lord kept encouraging and strengthening me by His fresh spoken word. For eight years my family and I endured inexplicable trials, tests and afflictions from the Lord as He prepared me for His work.

In the midst of all these tribulations I saw the greatest love and kindness of God, His unfailing faithfulness, providence, grace, goodness and mercy. I can truly say to all of you who are going through God ordained hardship that you will yet see and experience the incomparable love of the Almighty Father. David says in Psalm 34:8, ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good.’ He truly is faithful to all who will bear His preparation school.

Forget what you have heard or seen before; forget even this book; there is no theological school for training in faithful endurance and obedience; there is no theological or spiritual manual to read; there are no ten steps of how to successfully endure your test of faith and there is no how-to manual to see you through God ordained tribulations, tests and trials but only His grace, His Holy Spirit and, most importantly, His word and love. You survive only by His grace and not by some clever how-to manual; this book is not intended to be anything of that sort. It is, I repeat, a testimony of my Father’s grace and love to my family and me; a love which was best expressed and appreciated in the testing, trial and affliction of our faith.

During the time of my suffering, the Lord kept on saying to me, ‘I am in charge. My purpose for you will stand and I will do my pleasure.’ Whenever I was depressed, frustrated and in deep anguish, the Lord would remind me, ‘In all things I am working for your own good for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future.’ I repeated these words to myself and to my family continually to build up our faith in His word and our hope for a better future. On the 22nd of July 2011 nine days to our eviction from our home, a house we had built with our blood and sweat; a house we had lived in for fifteen years, I went to the Lord in prayer, not knowing where we were going to live and how we would survive and the Lord answered me by the word of Revelation 3:8 and simply said to me:

‘I know your deeds. See I have set before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.’

On the 31st of July 2011 we were evicted from our house and home; the doors we had lived in were closed behind us forever yet nothing sustained us through all these traumatic times and experiences but the word from God. I wish to emphasize, the rhēma¹word! Read the Bible and pray fervently, but above all that you desperately need the direct, spoken, fresh and timeous word from the Lord for it is this word that will sustain you and build up your faith: the voice of the Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 8:3; Romans 10:8, 17).

One thing I can assure you of is that: if you truly love God with all your heart, He has a fiery furnace prepared for you (Isaiah 48:10; Daniel 3:19-20). I want to also assure you that if you remain faithful to Him even to the death, He will be the fourth man in that furnace (Daniel 3: 25). He will neither leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). On the 19th of September 2012 the Lord spoke to me in a dream and said, ‘The afflictions I have visited upon you are for your own good. I have afflicted you that I may test you.’

Beloved I am not merely quoting meaningless scripture and giving empty and abstract promises to you; read my story and you will know that it costs me every ounce of faith to speak thus about God who has taken me from the pinnacle of success to the lowest depths of suffering; God who has taken everything from me and has driven me into abject poverty and into a life of destitution and humiliation. It costs me every ounce of faith to speak thus of God who has taken me from a life of self-sufficiency to living on the charitable deeds of fellow Christians and God who has exposed my family to the vilest of insults any self-respecting family could endure without retaliation.

My advice to you fellow brother and sister is simply this: the more the Lord heats up the furnace of your afflictions, for indeed He will heat it up, the more you worship Him, the more you consecrate and surrender yourself completely to Him and the more you run towards the roar of the lion. Do not flee from Him. Stand your ground like Job!

I share my testimony and bear myself to you in the hope that it may help you remain strong and know that God is at work in your life and that He does not intend to harm you and to destroy you, but to build you up in your most holy faith and preparedness for His glory and ministry. It is because He knows that you can suffer His tests and afflictions for His work in the Body of Christ and world that He visits them on you. He trusts you to stand.

Trust Him and in His grace, mercy and love. He will not fail you nor forsake you. As difficult as it is to believe this, know that God has a plan for you and He is working it out the only way He knows how. This is how He deals with and prepares all those who are faithful to Him and those He loves the most: those He has called, chosen and ordained for His ministry. You are special to Him.

Let me close this introduction with the following quote from the famous twentieth century English novelist, poet and playwright, D.H. Lawrence:

‘I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.’²

Dear brother and sister, no matter what you are going through this is neither the time nor the occasion to feel sorry for yourself; it is time to walk tall in your faith and to worship and praise the Lord for your suffering like the saints of the Early Church times. Please read 1Peter 4:19:

‘So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.’

Chapter 1

THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY HIS FAITH

Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright but the righteous will live by his faith (Habakkuk 2:1- 4).

No date is given for the prophecy of Habakkuk and there is no easily discernible biography of the prophet which could perhaps help us to understand fully the historical background of his message, but a date just after the battle of Carchemish in 609 BC, which established Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar as the ruler of the world, is proposed and accepted by many theologians. This dating of the prophecy would therefore make the prophet a contemporary of the prophets Jeremiah, Nahum, Ezekiel and Zephaniah. With the fall of Assyria in 612 BC and the defeat of the Egyptian led alliance in 609 BC, Nebuchadnezzar turned his sights south to Israel with a menacing threat of invasion. It is this imminent invasion that becomes the bone of contention between the prophet and God and the revelation which the prophet, against his protestations, is commanded by God to write down.

The prophecy betrays the prophet’s intimate relationship with God and his indignation against all forms of prevailing injustice against the righteous in his time in Israel. The Book of Habakkuk consists of a dialogue between the prophet and God, chapters 1-2, and a prayer offered by the prophet to God in chapter 3.

Seeing the social violence perpetrated against the poor and lowly by the Israelite king (Jehoiakim), the princes, the nobles and the rich, the prophet confronts God for His (God’s) tolerance of the suffering of the righteous at the hands of the wicked that seem to get away with all their evil schemes and plans (Jeremiah 7:5-6, 9). Habakkuk is impatient with God for according to the prophet God is taking too long to rescue the righteous and to punish the wicked. The prophet is appalled at God’s tolerance of the social violence prevailing in Israel which seems to suggest that He has forsaken the people. He wants to know why God is not rescuing the righteous from the cruelty of the wicked. God responds by revealing His plan to punish the wicked in Israel by the invading armies of Babylon the new world ruler. The prophet cries out against God’s plan because the punishment seems to be way too extreme and harsh compared to the crime. According to the prophet, the wicked deserve God’s punishment, but using the arrogant, ferociously cruel and inhumane Babylonians is too severe. Even the wicked in Israel are righteous compared to the Babylonians. Owing to their military success, the Babylonians have become big-headed and proud, not regarding God who has given them power to defeat surrounding kingdoms, but honour their gods and their power. When the prophet objects to the use of such an idolatrous and vicious nation to punish God’s people, God promises that Babylon will also be punished for its pride and ruthlessness.

God tells the prophet to write the vision down and to wait for it for though it may seem, from a human standpoint, to delay in coming, it will surely come. Babylon is proud, arrogant and wicked, but the righteous will live by his faith. He will have to trust God, face the uncertain future by his faithfulness and loyalty to Him. He will have to believe that God is still in charge of history and of the events about to unfold even if they prove to be tragic. Though the punishment of the wicked in Israel and Babylon may seem to delay, the righteous will have to remain faithful to God as they wait for its fulfilment.

While I do not intend to make this chapter an intellectual explanation and analysis of the doctrine of faith, I do, however, need to discuss, albeit, briefly the concept in its relational context, that is, how it regulates the relationship between God and the Christian. It will be extremely difficult for me to fully present in this book what it meant to me and my family to live and to walk by faith when we saw our lives literally falling apart; when every little hope we had for a better future was dashed to pieces and every ounce of courage we could master dissipated in the face of the real and tangible hardships we endured every day. Against God’s command to live by faith, our spiritual weakness was painfully brought to the fore and we desperately needed the Lord to increase our faith.

There are different categories of biblical faith and within these several permeations or applications of the concept: saving faith (supernatural gift from God to believe in Him and in Christ Jesus and thus be saved, Ephesians 2:8-9); general faith in God which is established by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17) and is developed by the tests, trials and tribulations of life. I call it growing faith because the Bible, that is Jesus, speaks of little faith, Matthew 8:26; 17:20 and great faith, Matthew 8:10. It is given to all Christians and is the faith by which God commands us to live; the faith without which it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). It is the faith that I will discuss in this chapter. Lastly is miracle faith (some call this special faith). This is a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit that is given to people specifically anointed to perform miracles. It is not given to all Christians (1Corinthians 12:8). It is faith in the power of God that removes all doubt and the person operating in this gift believes implicitly that his miracle command will come to pass. This kind of faith is, however, susceptible to cunning misuse and misrepresentation at the pulpit as it has been transformed into popular materialistic faith: believing God for desired material outcomes as opposed to God believing in us to please Him. Most servants of God preach