The Other Side Of Faith: Obtaining Testimonials by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The End of Every Believer's Journey

The end of the believer's journey with God is this: you eventually become a manifestation of the glory of God. This is the intent behind every divine dealing — not merely Heaven, not merely victory over Satan, not merely the accumulation of blessings, but that your life becomes a holistic capture of the glory of God. Romans 8:18-19 — the earnest expectation of creation awaits the manifestation of the sons of God. Ephesians 3:10 — to the intent that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to principalities and powers. Galatians 1:24 must become our testimony: and they glorified God in me.

Hold this at the back of your mind regardless of what you are going through: God's goal is not just for you to have things. His goal is that your life becomes a fearful wonder — first to you, then to creation.

Our Walk Always Demands Partnership with the Spirit

Every dimension of Kingdom living requires partnership with the realm of the spirit. The structure for manifestation is: the Spirit and the bride say come. Not the bride alone, not the Spirit alone — it is the union. James 2:26 — as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead. Every material frame requires a spirit component to sustain it. David standing before Goliath said: you come to me with spears, but I come to you in the name of the Lord. He was announcing the spirit dimension backing his physical presence.

Faith Has Two Assignments

Hebrews 11:1 — Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith deals with things — the first assignment is clear. But verse two carries the other side: for by it the elders obtained a good report.

A testimonial is a written declaration certifying a person's character, conduct, and qualification — from which recommendations are made. Promotions are issued on the basis of testimonials. In the spirit, the basis for your Rising, your advancement, your next level is the testimonial you have established in God's presence.

Faith therefore has two distinct assignments:

1. Delivering desires and promises consistent with God's will — receiving healing, provision, breakthrough, answered prayer.
2. Building a testimonial before God — a track record of character, of trusting God through storms, of becoming who God designed you to be.

If your entire understanding of faith is limited to receiving things, you are correct but incomplete. There is a side of God you will never experience and a dimension of grace you will never touch.

The First Five Elders in Hebrews 11

Notice what the Bible does when it begins to illustrate faith using real people.

• Abel — He did not obtain things. He offered a more excellent sacrifice and received a testimony that he was righteous.
• Enoch — He was translated and did not see death. His testimony? He pleased God. That was the report.
• Noah — He was warned of things not yet seen. He was moved with reverence and prepared an ark. His testimony was that he reverenced God; he took God seriously when others mocked.
• Abraham — He went out not knowing where he was going. He obeyed. Sarah received strength to conceive because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Then further in the chapter, the Bible records women who received their dead back to life, and others who refused Deliverance — they rejected it voluntarily for a better Resurrection. They had the power to be delivered and chose the report instead. The Bible calls all of them Elders. The one thing every one of them had was faith.

The Testimony of Knowing God Is Greater Than the Promise

This is the heart of the message. The testimony of knowing and trusting God through the journey is more superior in spiritual value than the desires obtained in the journey. Both are necessary. Both are valid. But in order of Kingdom priority, your becoming is greater than your receiving.

Job had things — but Job did not yet have a testimony about God. Satan's accusation was precisely this: he only serves you because of things. God said: you can take the things. Let the man get the testimony.

Job lost everything. Through every chapter, God stayed silent. When God finally speaks in chapter 38, he does not comfort Job — he expands him. Who is this that darkens counsel without knowledge? He begins to reveal dimensions of himself that Job could only encounter through the stripping.

Then in chapter 42 — and the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Job had arrived at a place where he was no longer consumed with his own restoration. His focus shifted to others. And God restored double.

Jacob's Journey from Abram to Abraham

All through Abraham's journey, he was focused on Isaac. But God's interest was never merely Isaac — it was changing Abram to Abraham. Every time God met a man in scripture, his interest was in them before their conditions. Abram to Abraham. Sarai to Sarah. Saul to Paul. Simon to Peter. The name change signals the transformation.

When Jacob wrestled in Genesis 32, God asked him: what is your name? That question was not a request for information. It was an invitation to confront his identity. And the blessing God gave in that encounter had nothing to do with things — it was a new name, a new identity, a new stature in the spirit.

What This Looks Like Practically

There are times you are trusting God for a promotion and God is focused on changing you into a version that is ready to steward it. You may not yet have the stamina to survive the Temptations that come at the level you are requesting. The delay is not rejection — it is preparation.

Satan's power over people is rooted in their passion for things. When a man becomes focused on becoming, Satan becomes utterly frustrated, because having it or not having it will not alter his prayer life, his word study, or his faithfulness to God. And can I tell you — for every person in scripture who contended for a good report, promises came — without end. Things always come when the track record is established.

The animals came to Noah's ark without being called. Job's Brethren came with money after his restoration. Mary was declared highly favoured before a single visible evidence of favour arrived — and the favour came through trouble. The anointing becomes a gravitational force that pulls assignment and resources to you without striving.

The Foundation for Lasting Results

Balloon results — up today, gone tomorrow — happen when promises are manifested to the wrong version of a person. The version that received the billion was not consecrated enough to survive what comes with it. God in his mercy sometimes delays because he is protecting you from the Temptations that exist at your next level.

Bible faith is a combination of a testimonial before God and the promises that come from that testimony. Not promises alone. The testimony is what gives the promises permanence. The evidence of things not seen is the conviction that God is faithful — not what you have in hand but who you have become.

I know whom I have believed, Paul said. And I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him. That persuasion — that conviction — is the raw material that brings promises.

I will hold on through the storm, and I will hold on to your word. My life will soon reveal — you are the lifter of men.