Unwavering Faith Despite The Pressure by Pastor Mildred Kingsley-Okonkwo: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Spiritual Quality: The Foundation of Everything

Interview with Dr. Ada Ezeka, ordained Bible teacher and co-pastor of Rhema Life Church.

After getting born again on December 14th, 1986, a hunger for God took over. For three and a half years, every morning around 3:30 a.m., the Holy Spirit would wake me up. I would go out to the courtyard to praise and pray, then come back to the living room with my Bible and a notebook. Whatever the Holy Spirit said, I wrote in that notebook. That is how he nurtured me — like a mother — educating me and training me with the word. Not just any word: new creation realities.

Nothing just happens. The basic problem most Christians have is their spiritual quality and foundation.

My husband and I operated at the same spiritual frequency. When God told me in a service to sell our 505 SR car and give the proceeds to the church for evangelism in Cameroon, I went home and before I could say a word, my husband came behind me and said, "Guess what the Holy Spirit told me today?" That is the fruit of being equally yoked spiritually.

The Holy Spirit Uses Only What Is in You

The Holy Spirit is your greatest counsellor, but he can only use what is in you to speak to you. He will not take the word of God in me to talk to you. It is from your own word bank that he will draw to talk to you.

Many people go to the internet more than they refer to the Holy Spirit. And whatever they are told, they swallow it hook, line, and sinker — because they do not know the difference. You need to build your own word bank.

Get a Bible with cross-references. When you read a verse and there is a reference, go to it immediately. Read it too. That is how you travel from Genesis to Revelation in a balanced way. Growing up, I was reading E.W. Kenyon, Charles Capps, Kenneth Hagin, Jerry Savelle. I was delving into spiritual depths that even people born again for many years had not gotten into.

Up to today, my greatest weapon has been my spiritual quality.

What Kept the Marriage Strong

Strong leadership commands strong followership. My husband always pulled both me and the children along — every morning at family altar, pouring into us what he had gotten from the Bible in his own devotion time. We were a word-based and word-raised family. That defined our spiritual quality — father, mother, and children.

I follow my husband because I believe in this man. He is a man of God and a man of the word. Whatever God tells me to do, it is never something that contradicts his vision — because God is not the author of confusion. His vision is your vision, and you locate yourself in it.

Raising Children by the Word

Isaiah 54:13 — My children are taught of the Lord and great shall be their peace. I never remember sitting my children down and teaching them this and that. They just grew up watching me and watching their daddy. I was the Bible they read.

On the rod: Proverbs says the rod is for the back of the fool. My children are not fools. Wisdom is found in the lips of him that has understanding. Isaiah 11:4 — Jesus shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth. The word of God in your mouth is the most powerful rod for raising children. You flog a child and the pain is transient. But the word sold into their spirit — the Holy Spirit will use that to remind them for the rest of their life.

Even when they were babies, I would bring them out to morning devotion sleeping and lay them on the couch. The word of God is for the spirit, not the body. Even when their bodies are asleep, their spirits are taking in the word.

Spiritual intelligence is the key to success in every area of life. You do not need a fat bank account to build a strong family. What you need is a fat spirit — a spirit fattened with the revelation of God's word.

Knowing Who You Are in Christ

The knowledge of Christ is the basic and ultimate knowledge for every Christian. Many listen to anything online without discernment. Any teaching or preaching that is not telling you more about Christ — who you are in Christ, what Christ has done for you, and what it means to you — is not the gospel, and you have no business listening to it.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 — The gospel is about how Christ died according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day. What does his death, burial, descent to hell, resurrection, and ascension mean to you? Are these just letters in the Bible, or are they the realities you live by?

I Am Unkillable

Colossians 3:4 — Christ is my life. Romans 6:9 — He died and rose from the dead and dies no more. Christ is my life, and the one who is my life has already died — once for me, as me. He died for me. It is appointed unto man to die once — he has already died for me.

When the devil suggests, "What if you fall?" — I immediately reply with Jude 1:24: he is able to keep me from falling. When the devil suggests fear, I reply with Isaiah 41:10 — his righteous right hand is holding my right hand and helping me. How can I fall when God himself, the maker of heaven and earth, is holding my hand?

Because I am in Christ, I am in rest. I do not fear. I do not fret. I do not worry about anything. That is what has kept me.

Proverbs 18:14 — The strong spirit of a man will sustain him in infirmity. As long as your spirit is alive and strong, it will sustain your body.