Author: Vanessa Moonkie

GOOD NEWS!!! Before I share it with you guys , I wanna give you the background of yielded. In December l was so frustrated by the fact that l had four books written and ready to be published and had no funds to do it. The calculations of how much one book would cost me messed me up – yes (oh Vanessa of little faith). I had spent nights upon nights writing my books both for Christian children and the matured believer. Man I gave it my all, diligently studying the Word – so you can imagine how frustrated I was having done all that to end up before the Red Sea, no way back and seemingly no way forward. Like Israel l began to cry. And Instead waking up to a million – l woke up to yielded.

I was busy googling platforms to use my talent because what l was determined to not allow my setback to cause me to bury the talent on the ground. You guys read this blog daily – I’m not one of the best writers (YET) but I love writing. I didn’t want stop stirring up the gift and be called an unfaithful servant by the Master. God then ushered me here. I now understand the setback. My vision was only “books” Gods vision was “blogs, books, tv, etcetera”. If I had gotten that money in December I’d have never started a blog. I’d have sat on that forever. The redirection to start yielded was not God saying l will never publish my books, No! That was God saying there’s more platforms – as l commit to stirring up the gift – l will not only stop books but to international platforms. Yielded blog has readers from across the world and tbh I really don’t know many of the people. God called them. He uses those who keep reposting the link to say “Come and read!”. I check my readers statistics and I’m like “Who do l know in such and such a country?” How come they’re here? God has shown me His faithfulness through you. This journey has been life changing for me as it may be for you. I am learning to trust God with the vision He gave me and that has brought me unexpected and unexplainable results and opportunities.

Now the GOOD news is God has given us another vision. Well, two! If you scroll down you’ll notice that there’s free prayer and counselling slots from Yielded Counselling Center. Soon we will have a properly set up website ( please pray for that) that way all our features will be available and accessible from here as opposed to waiting for me to post what’s happening. Our new baby is the Yielded TV!! If you’ve known me for a long time you’ll know that back then I used to write fictional novels. Had lots of readers online and so now I’m using that gift to create Christian movies. All this is coming from one instruction to start a blog. Our Instagram page is https://www.instagram.com/yieldedtv?igsh=MWZ3bHJod2N5b3V3bw== click to follow and let’s get ready for what God is gonna do! I’d love to hear your reviews on what we post there. Very soon we will have our Yielded T-shirts that you’ll be able to purchase via this website.

You see? Just that one song that God says release can open many doors of opportunity. I believe that this year my books will be released. The Lord just had me take another route which was for my good. I did not even need money for all that I’m doing now. I couldn’t have guessed when I was crying to God saying “I’ve laboured to write, why don’t l have the funds to do this” – that one day I’d understand the plan of God. There’s more! One more thing : commit to the vision God gives you. One leg in and one leg out people cannot grow and they don’t have the capacity to grow a vision. Be a full participant of your vision. I read yielded blogs. I also consistently join MPG prayer calls. I fully participate because those who follow or believe in your vision must first see you commit to it.Christ is committed to the church – we have a template. The double mindedness you have about your vision is why you haven’t started building and you see slow progress. Get your whole being into the vision and let’s move!

I’m super excited because I found some power packed worship session by Minister Abbey Ojomu. As promised on the MPG live yesterday I also have powerful praise session for you. Here are the links below; please do praise God with me! (You’re gonna have to be reading the meaning of the Nigerian lyrics on the praise song but it’s PHAWAFOO)

PRAISE | WORSHIP

“So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬ ‭TPT‬‬

The Holy Bible

Hey family!
To continue on yesterday’s topic I’d like us to study the life of John the Baptist. He was Jesus’ cousin, born to prepare the way for the Lord as prophecied by Isaiah. The bible says that his lifestyle was not like the normal suit and tie, pizza and coke, or whatever they ate or wore that time. He loved differently. By living apart from the culture John was able to speak with great passion and clarity for the people of that day. He was part of the community but not part of the culture.

Let’s pause for a minute… Is it possible that we are afraid to speak up about the truth of the gospel because we are consumed by the culture of the communities we live in therefore we can’t speak against what we also partake in. A thief can’t call out another thief. The culture, the beliefs, the traditions, the day to day of the world cannot be the same as ours who are saved. Many of us are silenced because we also drink what they drink, smoke what they smoke, worship the gods they worship, do what they do – and if it happened in the past it is okay but now that you’re John The Baptiser, your lifestyle should be consistent to the values of the kingdom.

“Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭7‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

John’s teachings were just raw. By raw I mean he never sugar coated anything. He had no fear of man.He didn’t live for the opinions of others, but lived with compassion to see others brought to repentance towards Christ. John was not afraid of the religious or political leaders of his day. He saw beyond their robes and titles into the deeper heart. He spoke the truth with clarity and passion, he didn’t live to people-please, simply to preach the need for forgiveness of sin. He called out the Pharisees and Sadducees, for what they truly were. He even died for speaking the truth to Herod! We are afraid to tell our friends “this is wrong” so how will we ever speak up against wrong laws made in our countries. If you can’t tell your friend , how will you tell the strangers? We are afraid. If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom I assume the fear of man is the beginning of foolishness.

“John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭3‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬ | Luke‬ ‭3‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Today’s believer fears man. We fear that they’ll put us in prison. How many people in the bible were imprisoned for speaking the truth? MANY! Am l terrified at the thought of being imprisoned yes! But how come we say we want to be like Jesus? He too was imprisoned for the truth – He was and is the King of the Jews. I’m saying to you, if you were to be in that position for the gospel would you change your testimony? Stephen would you say “no l was joking” . Apostles would you deny like Peter? “I don’t know him” because we are afraid of the people? How many times have we denied Christ and what we claim to believe because Herod will imprison us? Because our families will cut us off? Because we have an image to protect? If the extreme came and you had to die for speaking the truth – would you still stand for the truth? (I need to also sit and meditate on this one) How far are we willing to go to make sure nations are saved? The truth is we can’t go anywhere if we are afraid of man.

“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭1‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

How you speak – are you a people pleaser? What you do at work? How you carry yourself as a believer, whose approval do you seek? We fear that society will reject us for choosing Jesus, the cute lady will reject you for being a man of God so you hide that you speak in tongues. Your colleagues will not accept you because you don’t drink alcohol so you take it realise you kissed someone you don’t even know. Fear that our parents will disown us so we keep attending their ceremonies of ancestral worship. Fear that we will come across as “too serious” about God , so we go on social media and tone down the gospel. Other men died for this gospel, others were imprisoned , others suffered , what are we willing to sacrifice ? Can we sacrifice the approval of man for the kingdom of God?

The fear of man silences the believer. Hey, it’s okay to be different. We are not of the world . I trust that this teaching will help you to be bold about Christ wherever you are and wherever you go! I need to re-read as many times as possible so that I can also live what I’m teaching. Be a John the Baptist in a world of Peter’s by the fire. The overcoming believer must first overcome the fear of man – replace it with the fear of God.

“Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭26‬:‭69‬-‭70‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Then Jesus said, “Be brave and don’t be afraid. I am here!””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭14‬:‭27‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Fear is an emotion caused by the belief that something or someone poses a threat to us. I remember growing up watching African movies, you guys know Patience Ozokwor movies yes? I’d always be scared because I thought oh she’s gonna show up and mince me up. The Blood Sisters scenes would play in my head – as a kid – l really thought dead people have more power than the living – now I realise , fear also comes from not knowing TRUTH. Had I known what I know now, I’d have really slept like a baby. What a waste man! 🙃

The spirit of fear causes us to weaken our resolve and shrink back. Let’s discuss types of fear;

• The fear of man

Part of the after effects of the fall was the fear of man—a sinful craving for approval and status. We say things like ,”I fear to fail my parents, I want to be accepted by so and so , I’m afraid they will leave . I’m afraid of being different in my community/family” . We have threats like social media saying , “Everyone here wears almost nothing. You can’t dress modestly here. Nobody will accept you.” And so because we fear not having a “following” we start to become like the world . Like chameleons, we change our conduct to blend in with the new “man” you fell in love with , you compromise because if you don’t , he threatens to leave. The fear of man.

The bible has examples of men who were feared by the people. The parents of the blind man feared the Pharisees so they refused to be witnesses. One wrong word and the Pharisees would ban them from having anything to do with the synagogue. They had a lifetime of social interaction to lose, so they just claimed him as their son and said, “He is of age; ask him.” Imagine how they felt – not being able to celebrate their sons healing because of fear. We fear telling our friends we prayed for the blessing and we just tell them “I hustled” – to look cool yes? We can’t post about Jesus because we fear that people will call us “holier than thou”. People will say “You’re too serious about church, you’re boring!” Anytime we fear people , we rob ourselves from the liberty of living as God wants us to.

It’s easy to say “oh his parents should’ve just spoken up!” But what about us? Do we speak up against what is wrong? Do we tell the world the truth about Jesus? I know people who will never go to the streets to evangelise because they’re afraid their buddies who know them for other things will be shocked. Have you ever remained silent when you should have said something? Have you watered down your talk in order to not offend? You don’t want to offend your friends so you tag along to a wild party?

Do you go to church on Sunday but keep it a secret from those you meet on Monday? Are you afraid to go to a church that boldly proclaims the gospel because you’re afraid you’d have to drop your other life and risk losing your lifestyle that is funded by that life? There are people who can’t be trusted with big visions because they will compromise and a big number of people will fall with them. Big vision is for bold people like the blind son. He boldly spoke about his healing. The people you’re afraid of can be addressed. Someone will address them!

“We have no idea,” they answered. “We don’t know what happened to our son. Ask him, he’s a mature adult. He can speak for himself.” (Now the parents were obviously intimidated by the Jewish religious leaders, for they had already announced to the people that if anyone publicly confessed Jesus as the Messiah, they would be excommunicated. That’s why they told them, “Ask him, he’s a mature adult. He can speak for himself.”)
‭‭John‬ ‭9‬:‭21‬-‭23‬ ‭TPT‬‬

What did their son say?

“I tell you, if this man isn’t from God, he wouldn’t be able to heal me like he has!”
‭‭John‬ ‭9‬:‭33‬ ‭TPT‬‬

And hey, I love you. Go and tell your world about Jesus! Fear not, He is with you!