Pastor Nkechi Ene began her second session at WAFBEC 2022 by sharing the testimony of how God saved her life when she hit her head on a concrete floor. That happened exactly 3 years today (Jan 5, 2018) and almost resulted in a stroke, but a brain scan confirmed there wasn’t bleeding. She said the devil wanted to stop her from preaching but her faith made her whole.
She shared from the story in the Gospels of how Blind Bartimaeus got his sight back by first asking for mercy. Pastor Ene pointed out that when Bartimaeus asked and at the end he received, the bridge between his asking and receiving is faith. Jesus told Bartimaeus that his faith had made him whole. Everything blind Bartimaeus did is summarized by faith. “When you ask and you don’t get, you didn’t use faith.” Pastor Ene said. She elaborated on what she titled five-star faith.
What is five-star faith?
She talked of how God gave them a breakthrough in Tunisia when they were looking for a hotel to stay in for a time of fasting and praying. When they decided not to take the ‘batcha’ (poorly managed) hotel they had found, God answered their prayers by leading them to a hotel that had just opened, and they became the first guests and were allowed to choose any room to stay in. Pastor Ene expressed her sadness about how some members of the body of Christ are living in batcha faith and encouraged every Christian to go for 5-star faith.
“What are you willing to settle for? What are you willing to accept? What are you managing? Keep your eyes on the prize? Why are you settling for batcha faith? A lot of people in the body of Christ are living in batcha faith. You owe yourself a 5-star faith.”
Pastor Ene went on to explain four things about the five-star faith.
Quoting Matthew 20 and Luke 18, the Bible said a multitude ‘heard’ Jesus. “The trigger of your faith is for you to hear. If I was not hearing I may not be here today,” Pastor Ene said. She also advised that Christians should be wary of what they hear. It is not every preacher that is worth listening to because faith comes by hearing.
She pointed out that five-star faith does not enjoy the luxury of silence, and speaks from a place of knowledge that is built over time. Our calling as Christians is to first believe and then speak.
She pointed out that the multitude who tried to stop blind Bartimaeus did not see the faith he was showing by continually calling out to Jesus. Like Bartimaeus, we are to hold fast to the confession of our faith. To ensure that we are holding fast to our faith Pastor Ene suggests that every Christian should have an accountability partner who will help check their speeches so that they only speak by faith. Doing this and training the tongue to speak by faith are signs of exhibiting five-star faith.
“If someone is in faith they should receive; if they did not receive, they are not in faith.” Pastor Ene boldly said as she began to round up her session. She emphasized that real faith always receives, and warned believers against basing their faith on someone else’s experience. She said Bartimaeus faith made him take action because Bartimaeus knew he was going to receive his miracle. So, he received his sight is by the actions he took. She said Bartimeaus had already seen himself seeing.
She ended her session by challenging the congregation. “Are you willing to rise? What step are you willing to take? What are you willing to give? What are you willing to do?” If it is five-star faith you will ALWAYS receive. Your business is to understand faith and the will of God for your life. Because of his faith, Bartimaeus was no longer blind because inside he was already seeing. What do you see?
