Drastic Choices During Spiritual Warfare

By Minister Gertrude Mapara

1. This book promotes family togetherness, unity of purpose, forgiving/forgetting, and dependency on scriptures from the Holy Bible.

2. It reflects on a variety of positive drastic choices taken during spiritual attacks, ills, and evils that surrounds us on almost daily basis, so as to expose and belittle as well as totally defeat all of them in Jesus mighty name.

3. Family therapy/counseling highlights are given such as the specific life cycle stages in a family and how it affects as well as influence other family members.

4. The power of sharing testimonies is enhanced throughout this book coming from different people as a source of encouragement to others: Testimony time is blessing time! If you believe it say Amen!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781503516700

Minister Gertrude Mapara

Minister Gertrude Mapara – (Mrs.) - (Nee) Mangunda is a devote born again, Holy Ghost filled, tongue speaking and haven-bound child of God. She is blessed with a God fearing husband and three wonderful unattached young adults. They all worship at the Family of God Church – (FOG) in Harare, Zimbabwe, Africa. Professionally she holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Counseling – (BSc), Diplomas in Systemic Family Therapy – (DFT) and Religious Studies – (RS). Work wise, she is a Volunteer Family and Physical Therapist – (VFPT) with the Multiple Society of Zimbabwe. She is also the founder president of a community faith based organization – (CFBO) called – Succeed Integrated People’s Agency/Organization - (SIPA/SIPO) in Zimbabwe. Her previous books are Zimbabweans African Voices In the Diaspora – (SBC) 1, Zimbabwean Family Therapy Perspectives In Multiple Sclerosis – (SBC) 2, Drastic Choices During Spiritual Warfare – (SBC) 3, Pentecostal Hymnbook – (SBC) 4, Grooming and Deportment – (SBC) 5, Servant-hood- ‘Called to Serve’ – (SBC) 6 and now Haven Bound – (SBC) 7. The author is so very thankful to the Lord who has created this neutral platform and alter for her to serve her God through reaching out to many people who will have an opportunity to read her books. ‘Ebenezer,’ thus far hath the good Lord Jesus taken her to complete her seventh book, the number of perfection and completion before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ – (MARANATHA) – “Come Lord Jesus, come!”

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Copyright © 2014 by Minister Gertrude Mapara - (Mrs.) - (Nee Mangunda)

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5035-1671-7

                eBook         978-1-5035-1670-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

KJV

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

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Rev. date: 11/13/2014

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter One De-Briefing On Subject

Chapter Two My Journey To Now

Chapter Three Education

Chapter Four Feelings Of Guilt, Disability, Illness & False Reports

Chapter Five Positive Spiritual Encounters

Chapter Six Road To Salvation

Chapter Seven Virginity Aspects/Choosing To Live Holy & Pure Lives Before God Almighty

Chapter Eight Negative Spiritual Encounters

Chapter Nine Impact On People, Communities & Nations

Chapter Ten The Process Of Learning Never Ends

Epilogue

References

Benefits To The Reader:

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all age groups inclusive of children, teenagers, adolescents, young men/women, persons who are middle aged, those who are elderly and people with disabilities _ (PwD). It is a family tool which enhances family togetherness and unity of purpose, Psalm 133:1-3 says, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! I am indebted to my late father Arnold Taurai Mangunda and my surviving mother, Ethel Mangunda/ Nee Kwembeya for instilling God fearing principals in me at a very tender age in my life, showering me with prayers and blessings as I grew up. I must confess that to date, my dearly beloved Mom is a true intercessor indeed! Of much significance, is my only dearly beloved brother Pastor Godfrey Mangunda, wife Charity Mangunda as well as the whole family for their prayers and practical assistance in most of the projects that I engage in. Special thanks also go to my husband, Martin Mapara – (Mr.) who has allowed me quality time to expand my thoughts in developing my writing skills without any interruptions. My children Blessing, Rujeko and Rezen as well as extended kin have actually given me a wealth of experience in addressing family issues, dilemmas and challenges of which have been the corner stone to the birth of this book title. As it is appropriately said that ‘experience is the best teacher in life’, it has been apparent that the Author used some of her own lived experiences in the journey of life towards the content of this book. The lessons learnt in over 50 years of livelihood actually take precedence and center stage in most of the reflections cited in this book. Taking into consideration the popular saying that ‘Life begins at 40’, it seems this saying is obviously a reality in the Author’s life as divine revelations and wisdom seem to be increasing with each and every grain of hair turning gray and the aging process birthing much wisdom and knowledge from the Lord. At this juncture, I would like to express my most sincere gratification to Minister Adonis Khupe who linked me up with Chris Oleans from Xlibris Book Publishing Company. Once again, thank you Chris for your expertise, patience and faith in my projects.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Sincere gratitude goes to all members of Succeed Integrated People’s Agency/Organization – SIPA/SIPO who so willingly shared their own real life stories from their respective families, with anonymity being observed of cause. You indeed made a positive drastic choice of educating, informing, and conscientizing the community and society at large through the traumatic experiences you have had, challenges and circumstances that have over-whelmed you in life. Someone out there will be fore-warned and prevented from falling into the same pitfalls some members of your families entered or which you dung for yourselves. I am indebted to CONNECT-Zimbabwe Institute of Systemic Therapy- (ZIST) who trained me in Family Therapy Concepts and Systemic Thinking Theory namely Leo Mandiki, of which I draw my firm theoretical base when addressing diversified and compounding life challenging issues coupled with my firm scriptural base as a Theology Graduate. Not forgetting Reverend Troyer and his wife who groomed me so effectively and efficiently at Salisbury Evangelical Bible College in Harare, Zimbabwe, Africa. I would like to sincerely appreciate all my Tutors at Zimbabwe Open University for their patience and not giving up on me during my study years with them in particular Dr. Kaputa. A big thank you goes to the other families that contributed from different races, cultures, ethnic groups as well as those from other nations though largely, the focus was on black families. Much appreciation goes to Dr. Stem Mahlatini who has been so supportive in my previous three projects. I really sincerely appreciate your dedication and commitment to your work as well as your generosity to provide a per-excellent service to communities and society at large! Dr. Simbarashe and Mrs Kudzai Parirenyatwa, thank you so much for enabling me to complete this project whilst in your house-hold. Tinotenda Parirenyatwa, the technical expertise you provided cannot be left un-mentioned and the inspirational thoughts by little wise Tasimba Parirenyatwa, really made the going easier and full of laughter. Last but not least, Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Christina Singizi, your on-going support is commendable, keep it up! May the Awesome God grant unto you all the desires of your heart, satisfy you with long life and make you to see the fourth and fifth generation, Psalms 91:1-16.

CHAPTER ONE

DE-BRIEFING ON SUBJECT

Given the pressures of this life and the dilemmas that people go through on daily basis, the need to search the scriptures as well as re-visit appropriate living standards became quite a necessity in this book, largely drawing from the Systemic Thinking Counseling Model/Approaches, as it is relevant to extended family structures and set-ups typical of African cultures. It is geared to help those who are at the blink of life, those struggling with decisions to take in life and those who find themselves plugged in pitfalls they thought they would never come out from. It brings healing; refreshment and a worthy reason to pick-up the pieces and start all over again. Certainly, there is hope at the very end of that dark tunnel in your life! You are not alone in re-shaping and remolding your life again after engaging in unfavorable negative drastic choices. I came to tell you that the re-membering that will happen in your life will be geared towards your inner and outward healing process as you begin the new journey of making positive drastic choices as opposed from embracing negative drastic choices. This book emphasizes the importance of prayerfulness, praise and worship to the Lord Jesus as key components in effecting positive drastic choices. The platform for effecting these permanent and long lasting positive drastic changes is through presenting your family including yourself before the Lord every Sunday. Going to church is not a luxury but a necessity! It is as important as going to work, which means ceremoniously or unceremoniously it has to be adhered to by every Christian who wants to live a victorious Christ like life. Come to think seriously about it, whatever, success in life you have arrived at, where ever you would want to get to or whatever excuse you might have not to attend church is not good enough as the Giver of Life is Jesus who enables you to enjoy, watch or do whatever you miss worship day/days for doing. In fact, worship time is usually less than half a day for most congregations, which allows you ample time to do all the other things you might want to do in that day. Should we calculate the hours in a week we spent doing our own business, you find the Lord Almighty is so generous that He only ask for a few hours in a day or two whilst we spent the bulk of His time on our own programs. What a very considerate and gracious God? For some worshippers, it is only two or three times in a week given limited time to gather with fellow believers to praise Him, of which all of us should do without any excuses. It doesn’t matter you are a spiritual giant on your own, you need to value assembling together with other children of God in the sanctuary or in home cell meetings, Hebrews 10:25. It is there that the Lord has commanded a blessing and it takes a drastic positive move of faith to humbly do exactly that action of love. Mind you, this life is too short not to worship the Lord, Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 states that the conclusion of the matter is to, ‘Fear God and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.’ Certainly, it is a drastic positive choice to choose to serve God, because there are different things in life that distract and prevent us from attaining our desired goals in life. It reflects on real life experiences from different people who shared their stories and also draws much from the lived experiences of the Author’s personal life, family, extended kin, neighbors, friends, work colleagues, church mates, communities and society at large.

POSITIVE DRASTIC CHOICES:

Are those instant/long term decisions we make in life for the betterment and enrichment of our lives especially when we come across crisis and life threatening situation and circumstances. It is the positive attitude of caring, loving, helping and valuing people from all walks of life, despite their short-comings and miss-shapes. Informed choices are better thought, analyzed and anticipated when there is ample time to think through on issues without being rushed out. Unfortunately, half the time life does not give us that ample time we need to exhaust on compounding issues. Blessed are those who continue to be sensitive to the intuition of the Holy Spirit and the positive gut feeling inside them to give them guidance towards the prime actions they need to take in their own lives. In other words drastic positive choices can either happen instantly or over a pre-conceived longer period of time. It is almost equally equated with faith in the Lord Jesus or in the things which an individual values the most, Hebrews 11:1-3. Some of these factors are positive expectations in life touching aspects of hopes, anticipated dreams, specific ground rules in one’s own life, strengths, successes, achievements and other desired goals in life. If one received a prophetic word during their dedication as a baby, during baptisms or at any other stage of their life cycle developmental stages, then they need to hold on to that word without any doubt or compromise continuously believing the coming to fruition of that word. As it is appropriately quoted in the word of God that, A thousand years is but as a day before the Lord! There is that positive attitude as displayed by our fore-father Jacob who rustled with the angle of the Lord until dawn verbalizing that, ‘I won’t let you go until you bless me!’ The other important component of ‘positive drastic choices’ is it’s positive aggressiveness in nurture. To the effect that even if one is not worthy, not destined to receive or acquire a blessing due to the fact that he/she came second in life or any other reason, he/she can get the blessing anywhere due to being persistent. Yet another life changing example is that of Jabez, from 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 whereby he called upon the Lord to bless him indeed and enlarge his coast and that the hand of the Lord would be with him to keep him from evil so that he would not be grieved even though he was born in sorrow and was given a sorrowful name. The word says, God granted him that which he requested. Obviously, Jabez’s name was changed from poverty to honorable and from anyhow to being blessed. The same of which transpired with Jacob due to his continuous insistence on wanting to be blessed, his name was changed to Israel – (power with God) and he became the father of a whole nation which is so popular today and highly favored of the Lord. All his past of being a crook and swindler was forgotten, which means no matter what you did, got yourself involved in or touched, your past can be forgiven and you can have a fresh start Isaiah 1:18-19 says, ‘Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool’. For positive drastic choices to be effected one has to pursue, persevere and be consistent until the reward is earned without giving up despite all odds of difficulties and depressing situations. As cited by one of the believers in the Bible, that, ‘As for me and my house-hold, we shall serve the Lord God Almighty and Him alone shall we honor and reverence. Waking up early morning to intercede and pray is a positive drastic choice as one can choose not to do so. Half the time for any meaningful yielding of a harvest in one’s life, sweat, labor and hard work has to be put into such as tilling the ground with bear hands etc. Same with spiritual results, you need to call, fast, give and deny yourself totally in order to reap righteousness. Let me give a few practical illustrations of what exactly I mean by drastic positive choices. A very prayerful woman of God who kept praying earnestly for the restoration of her son who had backslidden, so that