Author: Abigail Damoah

1 Corinthians 7:2 – “Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.”

A couple of days ago, one of my non-Christian friends asked why Christians don’t believe in sex before marriage. She had some very valid arguments as to why it didn’t make any sense; such as, why would God create humans to be sexual beings and start experiencing sexual feelings at a young age if we are not allowed to use it?

I have done a lot of research into this issue, namely because I don’t believe in blind faith. I question everything for several reasons; for one, I got saved in 2012, prior to this Christians were always ministering to me. But I found that when I asked them certain questions, they gave me vague responses such as, “Because that is what it says in the Bible.” These answers gave me no incentive to want to follow Christ as my inquisitive mind was not satisfied with what I was hearing, I wasn’t a believer and couldn’t relate to what they were saying. So now that I am saved, I have spent many years studying why God gives us specific instructions, and what I have discovered about the biology of sex is very interesting.

As we know, God created sex for marriage; however, due to societal and cultural influences, we have been conditioned to think differently about it. Christian counsellor Waylon Ward refers to this dilemma as the, ‘Pickle Principle.’ He explains that cucumbers become pickles by soaking them in water, brine vinegar and spices for a certain amount of time. Ward describes humans as pickles; in other words, we have been transformed into something that God did not intend. We have been soaked in the brine of a culture that devalues sex, and as a result, we have absorbed its beliefs and principles.

This brine includes the notion that our bodies belong to us; and therefore, we have the right to do as we please with them, and this includes having sex with whoever we desire. These ideologies are delivered through movies, TV and music, we are told that sex is the ultimate form of pleasure, and as long as we are of the legal age, we can indulge in it as often as we like. In other words, the main aim of sex is for satisfaction, which reduces humans to objects of sexual gratification.

However, the Christian perspective is that sex is for marriage, and pleasure is the by-product of this union. God did not only create sex for procreation, it is also deeply satisfying; our heavenly Father strategically designed the male and female body to compliment each other with hormones to initiate the desire for sex.

You will often hear the words, “soul tie” spoken from the pulpit when this topic is discussed, but rarely will you hear an explanation as to why it is referred to as a ‘soul tie.’ For those of us who have had sex outside marriage, we know that we still have an unexplainable connection with the people we have slept with, even if we don’t like them.

In his book, “Change Your Brain Change Your Life,” Daniel Amen explains that when a man and a woman have sex, there is a release of the hormone oxytocin which creates a limbic emotional bonding between two people. One of the reasons why it is so much easier for men to have one-night stands is because women have a larger limbic system than men, which causes her to form emotional attachments faster. Another hormone released during sex is dopamine, it is responsible for causing addiction because it activates the reward centre in the brain when a goal has been accomplished. This is one of the reasons why pornography is such a destructive behaviour, and why people are constantly chasing one-night stands – they are addictive. But these hormonal and neurological consequences were designed to create a bond between husband and wife. But for the man or woman watching pornography or having a one-night stand, that bond is formed with the image on the screen or the person they have met and the biological response that was intended for marriage gets hijacked by ungodly practices.

That is the biological side, the physical consequences are much more serious. As you are aware, there is a worldwide problem with abortion, adoption, single parent families, rape, sexually transmitted diseases and much more. I won’t bore you with the statistics, because I think you get my point.

God created us, and He knows what’s best for us,  when we choose to live outside of His will, there are going to be consequences. Click To Tweet

God created us, and He knows what’s best for us, when we choose to live outside of His will, there are going to be consequences.

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.

Revelation 20:15 – “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Even as a believer in Christ, I often wonder why a loving God would sentence people to burn in hell for eternity? I know some really nice people who are not believers, they help the needy and they are very decent human beings, but they don’t believe in Jesus, and they have very valid reasons not to. However, some time ago, I was given this revelation, and I want to share it with you.

Imagine that you lived in a neighbourhood where nobody spoke to you because you were different to everyone else, they would avoid you in the street, never invited you to any of their gatherings, and said terrible things about you behind your back. But what they didn’t know is that you had a certain amount of power giving you access to a HD TV screen in your house where you could see into every home on your street. Day in and day out, you watched what your neighbours did without them knowing.

The lawyer down the road with a wife and two children spent his evenings verbally abusing his family, but on the surface, their household looked perfect. Number 44 got a kick out of stealing random items from work, the residents at number 46 appeared to be the nicest people in the world, but they would smile in your face and speak all manner of evil against you behind closed doors. Number 48 was an accountant but a secret cocaine addict, some where genuinely nice people, but they were advocates of immoral sexual practices.

One day, there was a tornado, and everyone’s house was blown away apart from yours. All your neighbours came and knocked at your door asking for a place to stay, what would you say? You would say no, not because you are being mean, but because you’ve got children and you don’t want your house contaminated by liars, alcoholics, drug addicts, thieves and people who no matter how nice they are in other areas of life, don’t have your best interests at heart. Therefore, you shut the door.

Similarly, if your household has rules and standards, you are not going to allow people into it who break them and have no regard for how you choose to live. As simplistic as it sounds, God is no different, when we leave this earth, we will be ushered into the presence of the one who created us. Back to my revelation, the earth has been destroyed, and the only place still standing is the house of the Lord. But many of those who are knocking on His door have said terrible things about Jesus, they avoided their Christian neighbours because they were different, they don’t know anything about God or the way He expects them to live, but they want to come into His house. Psalms 66:1 states, “Heaven is my throne,” in other words, heaven is God’s house, why would He allow anyone into it who refuses to live by His standards? God threw Satan out of heaven for this very reason, so allowing those who have not lived a life that is pleasing to Him while they were on earth into His dwelling place would only stand to defile His holy temple. Therefore, He must shut the door.

But why hell? Isn’t there somewhere else for them to go? I can’t answer that question, all I know is that hell was not created for mankind, it was created for the devil and his angels, and if the soul lives for eternity, it’s got to go somewhere, and according to the bible, it’s either heaven or hell.

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.

Psalms 91:11 – “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”

Every believer has an assignment to complete on the earth, you were not saved just to go to church every Sunday. You have a specific mission that you must fulfil during your lifetime. The minute you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and saviour; God dispatched angelic protection to assist you with your work. There are countless stories in the bible of angelic beings helping the people of God. There are also many testimonies today of believers receiving angelic protection during times of need.

However, it is your responsibility to activate the angels that have been assigned to you. We read in the book of Daniel that when he began to pray, the Lord heard him immediately (Daniel 10:12), when the archangel Gabriel was commissioned to deliver the answer to Daniel, he was intercepted by demonic forces and they fought for 21 days (Daniel 10:13). During that time, Daniel was in prayer and fasting. I believe that his prayers empowered the angels to keep fighting on his behalf.

Think about it, God is the most powerful being in the universe, Satan himself can not stand against Him, so why is it that Gabriel had to send for Michael to assist him, why didn’t he just ask the Father to destroy the demon so he could go and deliver the message to Daniel? Because it is the words from our mouths that strengthen angelic forces.

In Psalms 103:20 we read – “Bless the Lord you His angels, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.” The dictionary definition for the word ‘heed’ is ‘to pay attention to.’ So, the angels of the Lord pay attention to, and listen for the ‘voice of His word.’ Which means anytime they hear the word of the Lord, whether it comes from heaven or earth, they are activated.

Ephesians 6:17 states, “And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” In this verse, the Apostle Paul is referring to the bible as a weapon, and weapons are only used to fight. In my mind, I envision swords being released in the spirit realm every time we speak the word of God, these swords are captured by our angels and used to fight against the demonic forces that have been assigned to hinder the plan of God in the lives of believers.

If you fail to use the word of God, you render the angels powerless to assist you in the earth. The police are there to protect and serve, but if you call them and don’t tell them what you need, they can’t help you. Angels are no different, they won’t move until you speak which means they are hanging around with nothing to do. So make a habit of releasing the word of the Lord over your life and over your situation and watch how quickly things begin to turn around.

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.

Exodus 5:18 – “Therefore go now and work; for no straw shall be given you, yet you shall deliver the quota of bricks”.

The children of Israel had been slaves for 400 years, not only were they responsible for constructing the buildings in Egypt, they were also forced to make the bricks. When Moses came to deliver them, he demanded that Pharaoh give them a three-day vacation so the Hebrews could go and worship the God of Israel. His response was to make them work harder, he refused to give them the straw to make the bricks, but instead, added another dimension to their job, not only did he make them go out and collect the straw, they also had to produce the same quota of bricks as when the straw was brought to them! Just when the Israelites thought that things couldn’t get any worse, they were released from captivity.

The Israelite’s had been carrying the dream of the Promised Land for 400 years, but now that it was time for manifestation, it seemed as if there was no end in sight. I can relate to their anguish, prior to me being released from prison, things got so bad, I didn’t think I could take another step. The institution had hired a new warden, she was very strict and would instruct the officers to regularly get us out of bed at early hours of the morning, shake down our cells and strip search us. When we were allowed back into the dorm, our belongings had been scattered all over the floor and the rest of the day was spent rearranging our things. Fights were breaking out on the campus like never before, we were being locked down for 24 hours a day and the food was getting worse. But just when I thought I couldn’t take another step; I received a letter from my sister informing me that my case had been dismissed! I will never forget the leap in my spirit on that day! Praise Jesus!

Similarly, when a woman is about to give birth, she goes through excruciating pain. She has spent 9 months waiting for the moment of delivery, imagining what the baby will look like and how it will feel when she holds the child in her arms. But before she gets to that point, nature demands that she  experiences labour.

Your dream is no different, you have been envisioning it, planning for it, working on it and at the last minute everything that could go wrong goes wrong. But remember, we have an enemy who does not want you to succeed, and he will send complete destruction your way to prevent you from moving forwards. This is where most people give up because they can’t see a way out, but if you just persevere and keep pushing, eventually, that dream will manifest.

If God has given you the vision, and you are willing to keep moving forwards, you will step into destiny when the time is right. Click To Tweet

If God has given you the vision, and you are willing to keep moving forwards, you will step into destiny when the time is right. The children of Israel were given specific instructions before their deliverance, but they had to cooperate with God for their freedom, and so do you.

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.

In Genesis chapter 37, we are introduced to Joseph the son of Jacob. He is his fathers favourite child and his brothers have a deep envy towards him because of this. Joseph had a dream that he would one day become a man of great stature, so powerful in fact, that his own family would bow down to him. He was very excited about the dream and told his siblings and parents about it. This enraged them even further, and his brothers began to plan what they thought was his downfall. 

They threw him into a pit, and then sold him to slave traders. Joseph was taken to Egypt where he became a servant to the king. Soon after, he was falsely accused of attempted rape and sentenced to prison. 

Now stop and think about this for a minute…

God has given you a dream, a powerful vision that you are going to become somebody great. And then all hell breaks loose in your life. What do you do?

Let’s take a look at what Joseph did. 

He persevered, why? Because before the words, “God is not a man that he should lie” (Numbers 23:19) were penned, He knew that the Lord was faithful, and if He said it, then it was going to come to pass. Joseph came from a lineage of great men, he had spent his life listening to the stories about the power of God, and now it was his turn to experience it first hand. 

Joseph waited on the Father, and thirteen years after his incarceration, he became the second in command of Egypt. 

Joseph carried his dream for many years, I am sure there were days when he got discouraged, but he kept pushing until what he was carrying was ready to be released into the earth. 

Do you have a God given dream? Don’t allow life’s disruptions to hold you back. Click To Tweet

Do you have a God given dream? Don’t allow life’s disruptions to hold you back; instead, like Joseph, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). 

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word. 

1 Corinthians 13:12 – “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

Prior to the Apostle Paul establishing the Corinthian church, the city was one steeped in immorality and idolatry. Famous for its occult practices, it was home to the gods of the Greeks, Romans, and the Egyptians. The temple of the Aphrodite goddess was located in Corinth where its cult prostitutes sold themselves in the name of religion. Several other temples in the city included those dedicated to Isis, Venus-Fortuna, Hermes and Apollo. The god Posedion was referred to as the ruler of the sea, and the creator of earthquakes. Posedion had a very large temple dedicated to him in the city. A shrine devoted to the healing god Asklepios, and his daughter Hygieia were also a prominent feature of Corinth. 

The Apostle Paul faced  great opposition while establishing the church, but as always, Gods plans prevailed. As we experience in the church today, despite the fact that the Corinthian people had accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, they continued living contrary to the ways of God, they brought their occult practises into the church. In first and second Corinthians, Paul makes continuous references to their ungodly lifestyles.

Paul remained optimistic about the progress of the church because he had personally experienced the transforming power of God. He had been delivered from the most abominable transgressions. In his former life, he was responsible for killing Christians. Paul had faith that the church would one day do great things for God. He starts the book by saying, “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.”

As you continue reading, you wonder if Paul was talking about the same church as he penned these words. But he was speaking to them from a heavenly perspective and not an earthly one. Paul makes it clear that he was not in denial about their current lifestyle, but he was addressing their future selves – who they were going to become in Christ. He then goes on to talk about the divisions within the church, and the sexual immorality that was running rampant amongst its leaders. Sound familiar?

The Corinthian books provide an interesting mix of the judgement of God if the church continues to live in sin, and the love that He has for His people. Paul provides them with solutions to their problems, and encourages them with the reality of heaven. This is where we arrive at the above scripture, 1 Corinthians 13:12.

During this era,  mirrors were formed from deficient metal surfaces; therefore, when a mirror was looked in, the image would appear imperfect, blurred and undefined. He compares this to the knowledge that we have of Jesus Christ whilst here on earth. As a church we focus on trivial matters that have no bearing on our ultimate salvation. We do so because our understanding of Jesus is limited. However, at the end of this dispensation, we will see the Messiah as He is, we will stand with him face to face. Prophecy, faith, reliance on the Holy Spirit, and earthly wisdom will cease to exist, and

the light of heaven will remove every billow of darkness that envelopes us. Click To Tweet

the light of heaven will remove every billow of darkness that envelopes us. In heaven, our love for God will be perfected, our love for each other will be perfected, belief and hope  will become obsolete as we step into the dimension of seeing and experiencing the fulfilment of His promises.

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word. 

“Why do you continue to allow evil to prevail?” Is a question that every believer asks at some point during their walk with God. Unfortunately, the author of wickedness has a legal right to be on the earth. According to the bible, he is not going to be removed until the return of Christ, and at that time judgement will take place. But if the Lord was to return today, how many of us would be ready to stand before Him? Click To Tweetif the Lord was to return today, how many of us would be ready to stand before Him? In 2 Peter 3:9 we read, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

God can see every monstrous act that is taking place on every continent, in every country, in every home, in each individual heart, He is a witness to the iniquitous depravity of humanity. You have just read, “He is longsuffering towards us,” this sentence is a grave understatement of the torment that our Heavenly Father is enduring as He watches His creation languish. 

God is the creator of this world, and He could end it now with one word, but He wants to give all of mankind the opportunity to fully turn their hearts to Him first.

We live each day hoping for eternity, but we must daily examine ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to refine us, so that when we do meet the Lord, we are ready.

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.

Psalm 19:1 – “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.”

I have travelled to Africa, Europe, North America and South America, and as the plane propels through the atmosphere and transcends from one continent to another, there is one thing that catches my attention. The magnificence of the sky! The resplendent array of colours, blue, red, orange, yellow, purple pink and white. The sheer elegance of the way in which the sun rises and falls. The transformation from day to night, the rain, the snow, the wind. I often wonder, when admiring God’s workmanship, when the sky is awash with different hues splashed upon His canvas, “What motivated my Father to paint the sky in these colours today? There is no artist capable of replicating the wondrous beauty of God’s creation. Click To TweetThere is no artist capable of replicating the wondrous beauty of God’s creation. Yet according to Nahum 1:3 the sky is described as, “The dust of His feet.” 

In the eyes of man, the sky is often recounted as one of the most beautiful elements of creation, but God refers to it as “the dust of His feet.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 states – “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared to those who love Him.”  This scripture excites me, because it is telling me that there is something far greater for me to experience than the wonders of His earthly creation. Something that I have not seen with my natural eyes, one day, when my time on this earth is no more, I will enter into a glory that my mind will never be able to comprehend.

The word firmament according to the Oxford dictionary simply means, “the vault of heaven,” which is something that is located under – which is the sky. The order, precision, and meticulousness in which the earth stands speaks of an intelligence from another dimension. The glory of God is present everywhere we turn. The grass, trees, flowers,  the sea, rivers, and oceans, the complexity of the animal kingdom. Every blade of grass, every snowflake, and every drop of rain has its own D N A!

The sun in and of itself is a nuclear engine, it provides more energy in one second than mankind has composed since the inception of the universe. The spider web of a drag like silk spider is twice the strength of the material used to make bullet proof vests for SWAT teams, and five times the strength of steel. Due to its fascinating resilience and vitality, it is said that at the thickness of a pencil, the web of this spider could trap a jumbo jet!

The human eye has been described by Evolutionist Robert Jastrow as “a marvellous instrument resembling a telescope of the highest quality.” One of the most fascinating components of the eye is the retina. It is a layer positioned at the back of the eyeball that is thinner than a sheet of plastic wrap, but is capable of handling a ratio of 10 billion to 1 light wavelengths of 380 to 750 nano-meters!

God is the creator of the ends of this earth, mighty and awesome in power, Elohim, Ely Elyon, the Most High God, the Everlasting God, Jehovah Shammah. I stand in reverence at the work of His hands. I challenge you children of God, to stop what you are doing and look up at the sky, or on the ground beneath, and take in the splendour of his majesty, that has been displayed in all that He has created. 

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word

James 1:2-3 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”

Before my salvation, if someone had told me that I would be rejoicing during the worst period in my life, I would have dismissed the notion as “impossible.” In my finite mind, I believed that my life was over, and nobody could convince me otherwise. I was facing 15 years in prison, my lawyer was absolutely useless, I was held on a no bond hold, and my face was all over the news, portrayed as a killer who had destroyed a “perfect family.” Where was the joy in this?

What I could not see, was that God had the blueprint for my life, and that something glorious was going to come out of that which I, and everyone else thought was a tragedy! It was not until I had surrendered my life to Jesus did I begin to see light at the end of the tunnel.

The verse says, “Count it all joy.” Why should I be joyful amongst my abysmal circumstances? First, joy is a byproduct of your faith, according to Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” So you can’t see with your natural eyes what God is doing in your situation, but you are hoping for it because the bible has promised you victory. If you have faith to believe that His word is going to be fulfilled, you are going to have joy in your heart, knowing that you will overcome regardless of your circumstances. Your joy during your trials, is an indication that your faith is high. Now, this does not mean you are going to be walking around with a grin on your face because you are suffering! Certainly not, there were days during my incarceration that I was fully depressed. But there was a quiet knowing in my spirit that victory was at hand.

Second, when you are joyful, praise emanates from your inner being, praise releases the power of God. In 2nd Chronicles chapter 20, when Jehosophat went into battle against his enemies, he sent a praise team ahead of the army. When they began to sing, the bible says, “The Lord set ambushes against the people of Amon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated”  (2 Chronicles 20:22). A joyful spirit during your trial accelerates your victory. Click To TweetA joyful spirit during your trial accelerates your victory, not because it causes God to work faster, but when your eyes are fixed on Him and not on your circumstances, you no longer focus on time. I was in prison for 5 years, but because I persevered with joy in my heart, it seemed a lot shorter.

Third, joy strengthens you, the above scripture says, “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” It is imperative that you are patient whilst waiting for God to work out your situation. Impatience will cause you to go ahead of the Lord, and lend Him a helping hand which often leads to disastrous consequences. When God promised Abraham a child, after waiting 13 years with no delivery, he listened to the voice of his wife, and impregnated their Egyptian bond servant Hagar, producing Ishmael. Abraham later had Issac, and the two sons became bitter rivals. 

Joy gives you the patience that you need to wait upon the Lord, and this is what is promised to those who follow this instruction, Isaiah 40:31, “And those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  

The bible tells us that we are going to experience tribulation, but when we go through the trials of life, we do so from a superior position, knowing that every battle that we are ever going to endure was first won on the cross at Calvary. Therefore, it only makes sense to go through your hardships with joy in your spirit, having full knowledge that there will always be glory waiting behind your mountain. 

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.