YOU MUST KNOW GOD

On Sunday, 5 July 2020, the worship team at the Synagogue, Church Of All Nations Thessalonica, led the congregation to the wonderful presence of God. His coming there was obvious and everyone’s heart was full of gratitude towards God.

Later, the evangelist Stavros Michailidis clarified one of the fundamental issues of the Christian faith touching the hearts of the attendees while he was preaching a message titled “YOU MUST KNOW GOD”. Reading from the Gospel of Luke 9:51-56, he pointed out that Jesus’ disciples should have known him better than anyone as they lived with Him every day. Still, they asked Him if He wanted them to send fire from heaven and burn a whole town. (verse 54)“Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”

What this proves is that they did not really know who the One they served was. The same way, we think that we know God because we attended Bible School or because we have read the Bible many times or because we have visited the Holy Land or because we go to church every Sunday and we see God working miracles. Yet, the evangelist emphasized that knowing God is not only about seeing His works but also learning His ways. Even the religious leaders in Jesus’ time, the scribes and the Pharisees thought they knew God and believed that their service was pleasant to Him just because they performed all their religious duties on the outside. However, as it was proven later, they did not really know Him, because if they really did know Him they would not have crucified His Son.

The evangelist added that when we serve and worship God without His Spirit, we worship a dead god. The result is that when we pray, we hear ourselves and people around us hear us but God does not hear us, because as it is stated in the Gospel of John4:24,“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”. This means that no one can be a Christian, neither know God without the Spirit of God. Revealing the way we are called to serve God as Christians, the evangelist pointed out that, “We worship God in spirit and truth when all our purpose and passions of our heart and when all our acts of worship – dancing, singing, praying – are regulated and guided by the Word of God”. God lives in His Word; therefore, we get to know God by studying His Word through His Spirit. Still, apart from studying the Word of God, meditating on it is also essential. When we meditate on God’s Word, we will find ourselves acting according to the Word without any effort, we will be able to really know God and our lives will become proof of our relationship with Him! Finally, the evangelist encouraged everyone who realized they do not really know God to start serving, worshiping and following in spirit and in truth, starting now!

FREEDOM FROM THE PRISON OF DEPRESSION WITH A DIVINE TOUCH

19-year-old Ms. Vasiliki Nikolaou came to the Synagogue, Church Of All Nations Thessalonica, on Sunday, 5 July 2020, in order to thank God Almighty for delivering her from the burdens of sin and giving her a brand new future!

It all started at the tender age of 13 when the symptoms of depression gradually began to cast a shadow over her life. She felt sad, disappointed, and also had to deal with negative and suicidal thoughts that led her to daily isolation. She did not want to come out of her house and all her days were spent in a room playing with her phone. Her condition was so severe and out of control that she even started neglecting her personal hygiene! Sleeping was something very hard for her as she was able to get only a few hours of sleep. When she was not asleep she was obsessing over the idea that the people around her were trying to harm her. Therefore, she would not let anyone touch her and she would refuse to eat homemade food, as she thought that her own family was trying to poison her. The school was no longer in her priority list and, as a result, she did not attend her classes for two years! In a desperate attempt to escape her problems and mental instability, she started hanging out with bad friends at night, going to clubs, smoking cigars and hookah. At some point, she smoked so much that she almost died! Even when she tried to escape this vicious cycle by starting over and going back to school, everything would go back to the way they were initially and she would end up dropping out from school all over again. Hence, she remained in the same grade for five whole years! That was when she found out about the SCOAN Thessalonica and decided to come and surrender all her problems into God’s hands by participating in the prayer line.

As she testified to the glory of God, the change in her life was radical! Negative and suicidal thoughts have vanished! She now has goals, dreams, vision for the future and interest in life! She started going to school again and she has already completed her first year of studies.She has also quit drinking, smoking and clubbing. She now mingles with people who can build and add to her life and, moreover, she can resist the power of sin with the help of the Holy Spirit ever since she attended the prayer line! Out of her experience, she advised everyone to give the main position of their heart to Jesus Christ, and she promised to serve her Deliverer forever and to please Him throughout her life!

The devil came to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil! He came to give life and that in abundance!

THE PROPHECY THAT SAVED HER LIFE

On Sunday, 5 July 2020, Mrs. Constance Ehannire Irabo from Nigeria, who lives in Greece, visited the SCOAN Thessalonica to be blessed in the anointed atmosphere of God’s presence.

During the laying of hands, the Spirit of God located her. As the man of God Harry stretched out his hand towards her, he gave her the following prophetic word: “You see dead people in your dream, who died a long time ago. They come to your dream, they appear and invite you to go with them, to join them! When you wake up you realize that these people are dead. You need to get rid of it, otherwise you will die. And already this spirit of death is killing people in your family. Jesus loves you, you should not die, you are very young!”. Then, the man of God prayed in the name of Jesus Christ and rebuked the unclean spirit of death out of her life. Mrs. Irabowas immediately delivered!

Mrs. Irabo confirmed that the prophetic word she received was indeed true. She had always been seeing the dead people of her family and her husband’s family in her dreams. In fact, some of them had recently passed away at a very young age. Everything she experienced caused her anger. She woke up angry for no reason, and this was something she could not understand why it was happening. Even when she arrived at SCOAN Thessalonica on 5 July 2020, as she mentioned, she was feeling angry. In addition, she was constantly afraid that she would die. From the moment, for example, that she would get a ticket for an airline flight, the fear of dying prevailed in her mind. This fear followed her even before she reached the church.

But, from the moment she received the prophetic word and after the man of God prayed, she immediately felt a great relief. The anger and fear she was feeling before disappeared! Mrs. Irabo believes that the prophetic word she received has brought solution and deliverance from the spirit of death both to herself and to her entire family! By giving glory to God, she promised to serve God and not to deviate from His Word, praying unceasingly to Him.

Once again, we understand that, as children of God, our battle is not against flesh and blood but principalities and powers that cause tension and pressure in our lives! And, of course, Jesus Christ has won every battle, as well as the war!

The following photos confirm that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. You can see people who had decided to put an end to their failure and their sickness, taking part in the prayer line and putting their burden in God’s Almighty hands with faith in their hearts. All of us became witnesses of His power, because as faith honors God the most, the same way God honors faith the most!