The highway is always designed and constructed to make movement of vehicles from one place to the other very much easier and faster. In the earthly highways, the road is wide, smooth and free from potholes and other obstructions that delay movements of vehicles. In the earthly roads, there are codes one must observe to make the movement stress-free as the law enforcement agents will not delay the person’s journey to his or her destination.
Similarly, in God’s highway, there are rules and regulations to follow and strictly adhered to, so as to make the journey easy and seamless. It is in line with this that Isaiah 35:8-10 says, “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.9: No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up there on, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: 10: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” The highway of the Lord is for the ransomed of the Lord, redeemed of the Lord, bought with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and have accepted Him, as Lord and Saviour. That is why in the lead scripture, our Lord Jesus Christ declared to His disciples that He is the way, the truth and life and that no man comes unto the father except by Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, is the highway of the Lord’s holiness. The evil doers represented by lion and ravenous beast will not be seen in the highway of the Lord if they continue to live according to their old ways of life. One, therefore, must purge himself of all sinful activities and accept Jesus Christ as the Lord and Saviour. It is then that one becomes a member of God’s family to enjoy the good things meant for the children of the kingdom. When these conditions are met one will be able to walk and work according to God’s will. God will begin to direct his or her steps and answer the person’s prayers in times of need.
In John 15:5-7, the Bible says, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6: If a man abides not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7: If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” Our Lord Jesus Christ is the way to God, and to eternal life in heaven. It is when you abide in Him by accepting Him with all your heart He will be with you while you be with Him. It is then that the spirit of God begins to rule in your life and whatever you ask from God will be done. Life of holiness is by grace of God but you have to hunger for it, then the spirit of God living in you will be activated to resist the temptation to do evil and be alive to do things according to God’s will. It is when one abides by the rules that he/she is able to resist the temptations that come from the devil and his agents on daily basis. The devil does not want any man to make heaven, or obey God’s word nor serve Him. As the author of deceit, he creates confusion to derail man from serving God and to checkmate his activities against the will of God, our Lord Jesus Christ the Highway of God’s holiness was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. It is, therefore, incumbent on every one who desires to make heaven, to accept Him as Lord and Saviour.
In Romans 10:1-4, the Bible says, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2: For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3: For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.”
In recognition of our Lord Jesus Christ as the way to God, we must live our lives according to God’s righteousness. The word righteousness in this context alludes to the righteousness of God, which is judicially reckoned to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The believers in Jesus Christ are the righteous ones and to find that highway of God’s holiness, one must hunger for righteous life. He/she must purge him/herself of all sinful activities and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and remain obedient to God and His word. These are the highway codes of God’s holiness. Our Lord Jesus Christ is coming back to take the saints to be with Him and those who are able to find this highway of God’s holiness will be raptured when the trumpet shall sound. The lion and the ravenous birds will not be among the rapturable saints. There is need for everyone to repent, accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and live his/her life according to the will of God. We must continuously come to Him to learn at His feet and do His will at all times. We must humble ourselves before God and emulate the tax collector as we present our needs before God. In Luke 18:10-14, the Bible says, “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11: The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12: I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13: And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14: I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
The example of the tax collector is the legacy Christ wants every Christian to abide with. Humility is what leads us to Christ and to eternal life. God will exalt any man who humbles himself and whoever exalts himself like the Pharisee will be disgraced. We should at all times approach God with humility and we will always find the Highway of His holiness and remain with Him forever in Jesus name.
Testimony Of The Lord’s Doing
Testimony From The U.S.
Pastor Promise Ezekiel Umana is one of the pastors of the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries in the United States of America (USA). He joined the church in 2003 and in 2015, he was posted to the U.S. In 2016, he was posted to New-Jersey branch of the Lord’s Chosen church also in the U.S. Since he left Nigeria in 2015, he has not visited the country because of lack of necessary documents to live in the U.S. but in November 2022, through God’s intervention, he was able to get his papers, to the glory of God. As God did it for him, He also granted papers to other brethren in the church over there. Praise the Lord!
Pastor Umana is appreciating God for His faithfulness. According to him, he left Nigeria when his wife was nursing a four-month-old baby, and has not seen the child. Now, the child is above seven years old without setting his eyes on his father. At times, Pastor Umana would call his wife to ask about the welfare of his family, and would speak with the last child, the child would tell his mum, he would not want to speak with him, that if actually, he is his father, he should come home and see him.
To the glory of God, Pastor Umana came home recently. And as he is working in the vineyard of the Lord, God is also working in his own family by keeping and protecting them. He also thanked God for making the U.S. branch as one of the most vibrant branches. Praise the Lord!
Speaking further on the goodness of God, Pastor Umana said one fateful Sunday, they were holding service during the winter period, in the course of the message, he noticed that some people were sleeping and he directed the ushers to wake them up, but there was this elderly man, they thought he was sleeping, not knowing that the man was dead. A brother sitting close to the dead man tried to wake him up but to no avail. After the message, Pastor Umana asked members to stand up and pray, thinking that the elderly man would join in the prayer, that was when it dawned on them that the elderly man had passed on, prompting everybody in the church to cry. This incident happened during the time of COVID-19 pandemic when church services were not holding but because of their faith in what God of Chosen can do, the Lord’s Chosen members decided to hold church services while all other churches closed down. So when this man died in the church, some brethren suggested that they should call an ambulance to take the elderly man’s body to the hospital, but Pastor Umana said if the authorities should come to the church and see the congregation that they would close down the church and so the idea of calling an ambulance was discarded. What the pastor did was to raise three prayer points, after that, he went to where the man was, and asked for his name, and was told. Pastor Umana said, he decided to follow the General Overseer’s steps.
Umana said: “One fateful period at the headquarters of the Lord’s Chosen at Ijesha, a dead man was brought to the G.O at the old auditorium, as G.O came to where the dead man was, he called his name thrice and commanded him to come back to life, then he went back to his office, few moments after that, the dead man came back to life.” Pastor Umana said he did the same thing, went to where the dead man was sitting, called his name thrice and made a short prayer, then went back to the pulpit, few minutes later the man came back to life. After the man came back to life, the church called an ambulance and they took him to the hospital and there was great joy in the church. The same day, at about 7.00p.m, he was discharged from the hospital. Praise the Lord!
The following day, Pastor Umana and few brethren visited the man in his house, where they discovered that he was the only family member attending the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries. The elderly man testified that it was Pastor Umana’s prayer that brought him back to life.
Emboldened by this miracle, Pastor Umana went and prayed for the chairman of his church council in the U.S. who had issue with his family and after that prayer, he gave the man three days to reconcile with his son. The following day, the boy in question came and reconciled with his family. Praise the Lord!
In addition, Pastor Umana misplaced his passport at the airport as he was returning home, and when he observed that, he reported the matter to G.O who prayed for him and asked that he should go back to the airport. He went to the airport and complained, and by the grace of God, he got his passport back. Praise the Lord! In appreciating God for all his benefits, Pastor Umana made a passionate prayer for the G.O, his family and all the Chosen members worldwide that heaven will be their portion at the end of this life.
