Shadows of Things to Come | Evidence of Things Unseen

Last year on May 11, I heard a sermon entitled ‘Building your faith in the Word’ (available on YouTube) but many — even I — baptized it ‘The Sure Word of Prophecy’, because of its main focus on the scripture II Peter 1:19. We were being encouraged to heed to God’s word as the primal prophet; that even if a prophet did not come up to you to ‘prophesy’, you’d do it all by yourself just by declaring what is written about you in the Bible.

What came to my spirit that day was to shed 1 Peter 1:23 alongside this: that I am born again of this same word (the primal prophet) which has been said to be more SURE! Meaning, I’m made of the substance that is SURE — SURE that whatsoever I speak as well will not return to me void but shall accomplish whatsoever I send it to do (Isa 55:11).You see, I’ve always longed for an iPhone. Being a photographer, it’s a tool I desperately needed. Deep down, I was tired of the mockery — firstly; of the owners of the latest models knowing I’ll beg theirs to take photos, and secondly; beg them to send those photos via WhatsApp. I know many are familiar with this hassle.

As we prayed after the sermon, I received a faith instruction: If I believed I was a sure word, I needed evidence to show that I already had that iPhone (13 Pro to be exact, because this whole 3 eyes’ vibe was attractive to me — aesthetically). When I got home, I got the box in which my then current phone arrived in, crossed out its name and logo, and inscribed what I wanted as you can see in the image below.

I told the iPhone that I had bought it without money (Isa 55:1) and from then on, I always gave thanks and acted like I already had it. Whenever I misplaced my Tecno Camon 11, I’d ask my siblings, “Who’s seen my iPhone?”

The audacity!

If I ever thought about it, I never asked God again for it, I gave thanks that I already had it; and coincidentally, somehow, this phone located me in a rather peculiar way.

My close friends had it. At Doug’s wedding in August, I had this amazing kitenge shirt on, and God knew I needed fine-fine pictures. Sharon got me sitting to a Daisy who had that phone. At Uncle Mark’s wedding, same thing happened. At the booth, more than three people had this phone; I featured in the pictures. Rita took a picture of me with my cousin’s mother-in-love using a 14 maybe, and in the car as she dropped me, she pulled out a 13 pro max I believe. I was so excited for her, but at the same time, I got so frustrated of its teasing. As I got home, I vented inwardly: How come everyone has it and I don’t!

The sweet sweet Holy Spirit whispered to me, ‘Can you see not my dear, the phone is responding to your call; it knows you need it and it’s been showing up! This should be seen as the cloud as small as a hand that Elijah saw when he prayed the rain fall again. It was enough for him to know that the rain was coming.’

Wow! That changed my perspective. A weekend later, at another wedding — still smart — a cousin showed up with it, and we recorded the moments. I told the phone whilst smiling, “I know you know my name.”

Friends, this is the shadow of a thing to come. The evidence of what I hoped for was the box (and me crossing out ‘Tecno’). It’s like a land title. If you tell someone you have land in a district faraway, they may not be convinced. But if you show them the land title and its details, it’ll be proof. The phone showing up will be it responding to ‘the phone title’.

Many of us think what we’ve spoken bounced back, simply because we’ve not seen these shadows. Mark 11:23 says you’ll have what you say, if you believe that it’ll come to pass. The Bible says ‘we believe and therefore we speak,’ but along the way, your belief might fail. That’s why your eyes have to be open to the shadows, which will fuel your hope.

When you are believing for a baby, and suddenly every woman around you is pregnant except you, don’t murmur. That’s the shadow of your thing to come. If you’re believing for a car and suddenly all around you, people are buying cars, or if you’re believing for a Mercedes, and suddenly your eyes seem to only look to the road when a car having a three-branched-star logo pass by… faith wants you to know that all that is a shadow of yours.

What do I mean by shadow? Well, in horror movies, have you ever noticed someone hiding from a killer, and all they have is a shadow on the floor cast by a yellow or red light to indicate what direction the killer is moving? That’s evidence to show that there is someone there.

Now in reality, an object creates a shadow, but in the spiritual, a shadow can create an object. You have to work with the shadow you have. Buy a bag of cement as a shadow to your building embankment, buy a cradle as a shadow to your baby, buy spare oil or a car wheel cover as a shadow for your car, buy a ring as a shadow to your marriage! The spiritual will recognize that shadow, and remember; where there is a shadow, there has to be an object! The object will be forced out of the unseen realm.

When God said ‘let there be trees’, He had the shadow of these embedded in His imagination. Your imagination is where the warfare happens: the war to keep imagining yourself having already what you desire.

Andrew Wommack in His book ‘The Power of Imagination’ says God’s word is a sperm, and your imagination is like a spiritual womb. Plant it, and conceive. It might have a gestation period as well, so do not faint yet. You must wait out the ‘9 months’ — patiently, lest you abort what you’ve conceived …

Back to my tale. May, June, July, August … January, February, March, April: the months sojourned, one after the other. On 5th April, I was hosting Joseph via Biggie’s Gospel Show (on Facebook). Everything was okay, until my old phone refused to auto rotate during the live. I was frustrated. I logged into his iPhone, and we blessed the masses. Having started late — which I hate, I had to figure out plan B, as I was to host Timothy the day following to talk about how Jesus helped him overcome addiction and suicidal notions. I knew Ronald had an iPhone 12 he could not be using, and he accepted to lend it to me just for the show. When we finished, he was around to pick it up.

I was not frustrated this while. I thanked God, that I already had one. As we interacted further, he spoke of withdrawing some cash from an investment group we are both in. I didn’t know I could do that! “Yes, you can.” He cemented. And we left it at that.

In the night, God returned that conversation while I was asleep. When I woke up, I asked Him the essence of all this. “Are you giving me a go-ahead to withdraw…?”

Clearly, He replied with a big fat ‘yes.’ I began dancing straight away. It was fully manifesting.

Approval for the amount I needed was given by the admin from my savings. I went on and purchased the iPhone 13 Pro last Friday the 19th.

Now, a few cousins and friends had their jaws drop as soon as they saw it. “You have that kind of money?” “It cannot be! You can’t afford it. Who bought it for you?”

Shockingly, it was my own money! The last time I ‘faithed’ this way was when I was believing for a laptop. I didn’t spend a dime. Someone coughed 1.65 million Uganda shillings and gifted me. I won’t disclose the iPhone’s price here. But I want you to be open minded in your receiving.

While in Egypt, we needed a deliverer. We depended on manna — miraculous food, to live. But in the promised land, we have to dig the food. We have to PLANT our seeds of faith in our minds’ imagination (unseen womb), and through meditation, we will bring forth.

God said you’d receive houses you didn’t build in Deuteronomy 6. This same God spoke and said ‘let the waters bring forth fish.’ He didn’t start describing how fish should breath. The gills figured themselves out. SPEAK! It’s not yours to think about how that thing will manifest — it might be given to you, or your own money could purchase it. What matters is that you believe!

At dawn, if the sun is behind you, it’ll cast a long shadow ahead. Your head’s shadow will be farthest. But as the sun continues to move, there is a point where the shadow meets your body and they are all one. This is at noon: a representation, that one time, the shadow of what you believe for will eventually be with you; and in the evening, that shadow will be behind you: meaning what you believed for will now be in the past.

Isaac you’ll have received. But the problem is; you’re the light of this world (Matt 5:14). LIGHTS themselves have no shadow! Have you ever seen the sun’s shadow? No? Well, that’s you. You must then not expect the shadow theory to apply to you. To you; the past, present and future are NOW, just like they are with God.

No wonder He didn’t deal with Abraham in the future tense. He changed his name to mean ‘father of many nations.’ But Abraham had not received a son yet. Why call Him a ‘father’! But if you are to be a father, you can as well start acting as one. It’ll quicken everything.

Notice I said, “I already have that phone.” I didn’t give my phone a gestation period. I made it aware that it was already a done deal, so the phone perceived that it was very late in its manifestation. When it eventually arrived, I wasn’t so excited, for I received it 11 months ago.

It is like receiving a wrapped gift, having been made aware of what’s inside, but you choose to unwrap it a year later. Will you be as excited as when you first received it? Of course not! I reached a point of telling myself, “It’s not a miracle to have an iPhone.” That right there did something ravaging. It made the thing expensive crumble; crumble so small that I had redefined it as something common to me — in my world.

So, let your faith rise. Create the evidence you need. May you perceive the shadows that ignite the hope for the thing you are believing for; that you might see it peeping in the corridors of your faith hallway. And may your vocabulary align to the truth you’ve believed. For the thing you create (like what I did to my Tecno box) will enable you see. When you see, you’ll believe; and once you believe, you’ll therefore speak!

And whosoever shall say unto that mountain, be thou moved and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt what he or she says in their heart, they shall HAVE what they say … just like I did.

Now a friend even heard of this and asked me when I’d like to do the ‘iPhone shower’ to welcome it officially. He promised to grace the occasion with a whole cake! 😂

That aside, I do pray, that this my testimony will help you create what’s missing in your world.

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James 2:22 Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? (MSG)

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.