Miki Hardy

Three rich days of sharing the gospel of the cross with about 125 leaders and pastors of churches in Durban. The gospel was powerful and challenging, and the pastors responded positively and most of them showed a sincere desire to embrace the gospel of the cross. We established many contacts, and a wonderful relationship in the spirit is starting with many pastors. They showed a great interest to meet together regularly, and we are looking forward to that. CTMI partners are not praying and supporting the gospel in vain, the gospel is gaining ground.

Every christian is called to experience the joy of giving. It is not good spiritually to always be on the receiving end. The bible says “there is more joy to give than to receive”. Our first reaction can often be to make sure that all our needs are met before we can start giving. And most of the time there is nothing or very little left that we cannot give much to the Lord. That is quite alarming because in this situation, we still pray and believe that God will bless us so that we could give!  And it becomes a vicious circle and nothing changes. The result is that our lives are ruled by our needs instead of by the way we want to bless the kingdom of God. Our first priority is to honor God with our finances and He promises to take care of us. Why should we close the door to the blessings of God?

When Jesus left the disciples to pray in the garden of Gethsemane, and came back to find them sleeping, He said to them: ” The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.” This is a truth that no man can deny, we have all experienced it, we have all submitted to the desires of our flesh. Our flesh will easily lead us to sin if we are not prepared to crucify it daily. It is one of our greatest enemy and we should certainly not try to compromise with it. The Bible says: ” Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.” Romans 8:12.

It is amazing how persecution benefits the church spiritually. It is a reality that as CTMI faces more opposition, we experience more of the blessings of the Lord. The church experiences growth, both spiritually and in numbers. The bible says that all things work together for good to those that love Him… and we can expect miracles during the time of persecution. It is exactly like that at this time and we thank the Lord for His grace and for the way He is taking care of us. I thank God for the free advertising CTMI is receiving from our persecutors. Thank you Lord.

When we are bearing fruits for the Kingdom of God, the enemy, the devil, will not sit and do nothing. He will certainly attack us in many ways, through persecution for example. This is not the time to panic and walk in fear or unbelief. It is the perfect time to rise up in the Spirit and keep a pure heart towards our persecutors. The next best reaction is to continue to serve the Lord, pray for our persecutors and ignore their actions. The devil will want us to keep dealing with the issue and not concentrate on the things the Lord desires us to do. We are not going to fall in this trap. Let us rejoice in serving Jesus in the midst of persecution.

Faith is the reality in your heart of having received a miracle, even if you have not seen it yet. In other words faith is what makes you expect the miracle. On the other hand, hope is the determining factor that will keep you waiting for the miracle. As long as the miracle is not yet there, you need to keep hoping. Therefore there is no harm to your faith when you say that your miracle will come because it is the faith in your heart that guarantees the miracle. Hope cannot exist without faith because there is nothing to hope for if you do not have the faith of having received the miracle. Faith and hope work together.

We all have experienced miracles in our christian walk. We all have seen the hand of God to deliver us from all sorts of situations and to provide for us and protect us from many dangers. What do we need from the Lord today? Is there something too great for the Lord or too hard for Him. Certainly not. He is willing and able to do it again for us, as we reach out to Him in faith and with a pure heart. These two important ingredients are needed in our lives for the Lord to intervene on our behalf. Faith in Jesus and faith in what was accomplished on the cross. A life that is free from sin, a heart free from judgement, criticism and unforgiveness. God can do it again and again and again for He is the same God today as He has always been.

Amidst all the negative stories from a minority group of people, CTMI is receiving multiple reports and testimonies from so many people around the world. They are being blessed by the ministry and so many pastors are embracing the message of the cross and are experiencing great miracles in their marriage, ministry and personal lives. The ministry has never been so blessed and doors are opening in so many places in the world. We are so grateful to the Lord and it is so rewarding to see the fruits of the preaching of the cross. People’s lives are transformed and Jesus is glorified.