By Festus Ndukwe.
4. *How to be in Life and not in Death*
Am I saying we should not prepare for our message. No. I must prepare and study not because of my meeting tomorrow but as a way to help my life and get equipped for the work He has for me. All our study, including our dealings and experiences, are kept in a reservoir to be drawn by the Holy Spirit in times of need. He knows the spiritual needs of the people, He will go there and draw. It may be good to lift your message from your devotionals but it is not the best; rather it is an easy way to do God’s work. If you are to lift from devotionals like the Daily Bread, Every Day with Jesus, Daily Manna, Open Heavens, other books, etc, Jesus must authorize and breath on it afresh. If not it is death. If you insist not to follow this way it means you don’t have a message for the Body; you are an echoe of other men.
Anytime we are given a work and we are in darkness we must not light our fire; we must not do anything. We must rely in His name. This is what the Scripture says. Read Isaiah 50:10. I have learnt not to light my fire. Even when men oppress or supplant me I have refused to be pressured to light my fire; to react or to seek a way out. I will wait for this life to sort me out. Christ does it in a glorious way without striving or quarreling with any one. Why do I follow this way? I want to be in life.
5. How to be in Life and not in Death
Anytime I want to write or teach, and exercise my spirit where this Christ dwells I will find release and flow, and automatically I will be in life. When I sense a struggle, I pause or sit and make melodies in my heart. I know that God’s work is sacred, so I must be careful on how I handle His work. Even when I am writing or speaking and in the process sense that I am slipping towards death, even if it is for thirty minutes and the message is one hour I will stop. Other times I wonder if I can go on for one hour but when this life takes over I can go on for more than three hours. But once the Lord turns the Spring off I will know and I will stop. Death must work in me and life in people, 2Cor.4:12.
When I live in life others will receive life and the Church is built up and edified. But when I live in death people will receive death even though it is a good sermon, and the church of God will be overcome by death that is being thrown at her by Satan.