About the Author of LiV

Welcome to Live In Victory ministries!

It will be a privilege if I contribute to change or enrichment of the spiritual life of anyone who reads articles that I write in LiV’s online forums or books. The content captured here is compiled from unforgettable memories of life experiences, as I battled my way to spiritual freedom. I freely received, so I will freely give. (Mathew 10:8)

I don’t wish to appear like I have all the answers to the ways of righteousness nor do I intend to use this site to build a tall tower, “wow” other humans, and make a name for myself! I also doubt that I will intentionally bore you to tears by my long stories!

I will start the narration from my lowest point in life.

Let’s just call it, point zero!

Everything around me looked meaningless. I had turned into a poster boy for what could horribly go wrong! I was a spiritual destitute, void of love, cornered, subdued, and choked by events that had plagued my personal life! I didn’t know what to do to change my circumstances. I was helpless, and ready to give up my very breath to get some peace! I entertained the idea that I was actually better off dead!

I don’t know how I came back to my senses but within this dark period, I realised that something needed to be done! It became clear that I had some power, the only power that I seemed to have then. This was the power of my will to surrender and stop being stubborn or living in a corner of self pity! I made a decision to surrender my innermost thoughts and fears to my Creator and I meant it! He surely must have been waiting for an honest decision from a mortal like me as I felt a weight lift off my heart! Within the following hours, I started receiving jolts of joy, accompanied by peace. It became apparently clear later that God had honoured my repentance by baptising me with His Spirit. At first, I thought it was a temporary experience, but several days, weeks, months and now years, He Is still there. I now know that God saved me from my troubled years so that I can live a life of honouring Him!

Psalm 50:15 (TLB) Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory

I embarked on a journey to forgive myself and those that had sinned against me. It was a struggle, but I encountered my first dose of spiritual freedom. Something I had never experienced before! I felt free for the first time in my life! Roots of rebellion, bitterness, and inner turmoil that had grown in my heart over the years started melting. A condition that my previous religious and cultural background could not deal with but only covered it! My new spiritual freedom enabled me to continually surrender my very being to the Creator! I felt like King David who was in a similar spiritual quagmire before he got his victory by the Hand of The Owner of the universe. He wrote in Psalm 40:2 (NLT) He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.

Unknowingly then, the outcome of my genuine repentance became a trigger of a series of spiritual experiences! These experiences were packed with the truth of God’s lifting, liberating, and victorious power that was delivered in my spirit to help me overcome evil every day! It was a wonderful beginning that changed me from what I was before, a victim of fear! Evil had made me lead a life of fear, and I was therefore easily used as a doormat by its human agents!

Evil is spiritual, intelligent, and alive. Like many people going about their businesses everyday, I didn’t acknowledge this fact. My mindset before the experience had turned me into a sitting duck, powerless, and utterly useless against all evil schemes targeted at me. Hurts that came with it caused fear to grow around my soul, a curse that changed every blessing to a spring of sorrow.

My emerging spiritual freedom cut me free from these curses and gradually turned anything that was before a potential source of sorrow into a blessing. It happened just like the scripture says, that God’s blessings come without sorrow. Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

I don’t have to drum up the facts that I am a spiritual being in a body having a spiritual journey here on earth and that as a human, I am the most precious creation. My earthly spacesuit (body) is equipped with the most ‘wired’ brain to implement my creativity (which is a spiritual function), and to help navigate through daily activities in my physical world.

I now know that, however high my IQ is, it is insufficient and is not functionally the same as the spiritual intelligence that is needed to outwit evil. This divine intelligence that can fight evil comes only through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. You can’t fight devil’s trickery with your human brain! If you think that you can, then you are no different to an idiot driving a huge truck while blindfolded, a perfect recipe for disaster!

I have witnessed ‘clever’ humans ‘selling’ their rebellious lifestyles as happiness! I am not worried by such rebels, because just like I learned, their foolishness will soon be evident not only to themselves but to everyone!

A continuous life of repentance from ingrained rebellious beliefs in me, has given me more strength to lead a life of sincerity. The Holy Spirit Has showered me with clarity and above all, true love. This love from the Creator has brought me peace, assurance, spiritual freedom and a steady glow of inner joy. This joy has been my driving force as I sojourn in this world.

I can now easily figure out how and why the bible was definitely written by persons inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is therefore to me a trustworthy source of divine words and has no error.

However, the translators of the scriptures were not necessarily led by the Holy Spirit. When translating the scriptures to modern languages, some bible scholars struggled to make up the meaning of what they translated. In the process, they lost the correct scriptural meaning and made many horrifying mistakes. It is therefore wise to read scriptures from more than one translation.

I find biblehub good in comparing scriptures from different translations.

When in doubt, you can always discuss it with native speakers of the languages used in the original writings. These languages were Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Arabic and Aramaic. Though Israel was under the Romans when Jesus walked on earth as a human, the Aramaic language was the lingua franca of the region.

I hope this excerpt from my long testimony helps you find or live a better life. A life that will make you escape eternal damnation which is the second death.

I claim the following promise and hold it true over my life, over the life of my wife and on the lives of the children!

Isaiah 54:17 (NIV) no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.

My personal victory and that of the family has been made possible by the accomplished work of Christ on the cross!

John 19:28-30 (NKJV) After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

May the Almighty God richly bless you!

Yours

Joseph GM, Author of The Jezebel spirit.