“Pastor, I’ve declared all the scriptures I know concerning my situation, but nothing seems to be changing. What else can I do?”

There are many possible reasons why your scriptural declarations may not produce results, and I think I’ve talked about quite a number of them. But for this, let me go a direction I feel the Spirit of God is leading me.

One of the greatest hindrances to faith declarations is non-compliance to context. Although you might believe what you declared, but if you declared it out of context, chances are that you’d not get the expected result.

For instance, Phillipians 4:19 tells us that God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Many Christians believe that scripture is a promise from God, whereas it’s a prayer made by Apostle Paul to the Phillipian church because of their sacrifice towards kingdom advancement.

Ofcourse, you can declare that scripture, but don’t expect to see results if you’re a stingy or greedy person. You may not have sacrificed for the kingdom, especially if you’re a new believer, but at least you must have a heart that prioritizes God’s kingdom to use that scripture. There are many Christians who would spend money on airtime just to have frivolous conversations, yet when they get to church on Sunday, they’d tell you that they don’t have money for offering. While some religious people will think this is okay, the implication is that they won’t be able to access certain scriptural benefits without a heart for the kingdom.

Whenever I teach New Believers about financial prosperity, this is one of the financial principles I never fail to teach them. God is not looking for your money, He’s looking for your heart. Even if you don’t work, it’s not possible that you won’t get financial favour all through the week, no matter how little. God will ensure you get something just to test your heart position towards Him. So if you still don’t give offering on Sunday, then you have a heart problem. I can tell you this because I practiced it, and it worked.

I remember the year 2016 when I promised God that I was going to make it a practice to double my worship offering every year, I started with N200 that year. I didn’t have a job, so the first two hundred Naira I gave on Sunday was the bits I saved from each day during the week. I can’t forget that day. The two hundred naira was made up of a hundred naira note, a fifty naira note, two pieces of twenty naira notes, and then a ten naira note. I had the opportunity to use the money to feed during the week, but I understood context. That was all the money I had on me that day, but I worship God with it.

Today, when I declare Phillipians 4:19, it’s not from a selfish or greedy heart, but from a heart that is responsible for the kingdom, a heart that has served and still serving. That scripture will always work for me, and that’s because I obey the law of context.

Just like a movie script, placing scriptures in proper context is very important. If the context isn’t right, you won’t derive the original intent of the author. Remember that the scriptures among other things were written for our examples. Which means if you follow the examples or pattern of a biblical character, you’d get the same result. By relying on isolated verses without giving due consideration to their context, misunderstandings and misinterpretations may result.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the Holy Spirit cannot breath on a scripture to mean something else, He does that alot whenever He needs to give you a breakthrough, His ways are past finding out. It’s only the Holy Spirit that can give 500 interpretations to one verse of scripture, and they’d all produce result. But even at that, He doesn’t violate the law of context. Any interpretation He gives still obeys the law of context.

Let me use one more scriptural example as I conclude:

Isaiah 54:
14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.
15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.
17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

Just imagine those beautiful promises. And while you may be tempted to start making powerful declarations, try to understand the context. Some Christians live in guilt, yet they believe that no weapon formed against them shall prosper, ofcourse the weapon will prosper. Some others live in fear and doubt, yet they want to be far from terror and oppression. It doesn’t work that way. If you want those benefits, then you have to meet the scriptural demands, which is to wear your garment of righteousness. And I’ve taught you that righteousness is the justification by God that gives you the right to communicate with God, from God and as God, and enjoying obedience and compliance from creation. So don’t expect obedience and compliance from this world except you’re operating from God or as God. As far as this world is concerned, by flesh shall no man prevail.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

#EmekaAnslem