Soul Food
Soul Food
The Fast of Daniel: Trials and Triumphs (Day 4)
What if your path to spiritual renewal could also be a journey of rediscovering your true self? Join us on Soul Food with Bishop Joshua as we kick off a 21-day spiritual journey designed to reconnect you with the Holy Spirit. We ensure you an enlightening experience inspired by the teachings of Jesus, revealing how believing in Him can bring rivers of living water into your life, quenching your deepest spiritual thirst. Our episode kicks off with the continuing story of Mrs. Victoria, whose faith led her from darkness to light, embodying the profound power of the Holy Spirit.
Mrs. Victoria shares the heart-wrenching details of her early life, from being given away by her mother at six to enduring an arranged marriage filled with unimaginable suffering at 19. Despite her active church involvement, she faced a life of emotional and psychological torment, all stemming from a rejection since childbirth. Her story underscores the importance of using intelligent faith and truly understanding a relationship with God. This episode serves as a powerful reminder to engage critically with scripture and prioritize your well-being.
Victoria's struggle to escape domestic violence and seek redemption is a poignant example of the disconnect between outward religious involvement and internal agony. Despite her efforts in church activities, her home life was a nightmare, filled with control, abuse, and despair. We discuss the importance of aligning one's life with true Biblical teachings and the solace that can be found through the Holy Spirit. Join us as we invite you to participate in a 21-day Daniel Fast, a period dedicated to stepping away from worldly distractions and immersing oneself in the Word of God. Tune in and be inspired by the transformative power of faith and the Holy Spirit.
Now streaming on all major podcast platforms, edifying your mind, body and soul. We welcome you to listen now to Soul Food with your main host, bishop Joshua. Here we are always ready to share a word of faith. Unpack powerful testimonies and divinely inspired music to enhance your faith. Walk, feed your faith wherever you go. Quench your spiritual hunger. Quench your spiritual hunger.
Speaker 2:Give the food that lasts forever here on the soul food podcast. In the hustle and bustle of our busy lives, it's easy to lose sight of the spiritual connection that grounds us.
Speaker 3:But now it's time to pause.
Speaker 2:For 21 days, let's separate ourselves from this world. Starting now, the 21-day program for the Holy Spirit with Bishop Bira Joshua.
Speaker 4:May the God of the Bible bless your life. May the Lord Jesus empower you and give you his spirit. His spirit is life. Remember when Jesus said I am the way, the truth, life. When he spoke about these things he was talking about his spirit, because we never saw Jesus physically. Like the Apostle Paul, he never saw Jesus physically. He heard of Jesus, he persecuted the church, but he became a true witness. Well, tomorrow I'm going to talk about the witness, the true witness, but today I want to continue with the story of Mrs Victoria. Yesterday she spoke to us when we spoke about these two kingdoms, the kingdom of darkness and also the kingdom of light, and she was telling us how she suffered in the kingdom of darkness. However, we are going to talk about her in a few.
Speaker 4:The scripture says the key word today is the promise of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Holy Spirit. On the last day, the great day of the feast, the last day of the feast, jesus stood and cried out saying If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. When he said come to me and drink, he was talking about the fountain of life. Remember, jesus was baptized in water and received the Holy Spirit. Now. He said if you are thirsty, come to me, because I have this water. I have this water and this water he wants also to give to you, to offer you this water freely. And he kept on saying if anyone thirsts, let him come to me freely. And he kept on saying if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, has said look over here, please, hold on for a second. If you believe as the scripture says, many people believe as the religion says, as the pastor said, as the church said. He said he who believe in me, as the scripture has said, not as the pastor, the bishop, the deacon, the church, a, b, c, d. He said if you believe in me, as the scripture said, this is what is going to happen. Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Hey, hey, pay attention here, please. Rivers of living water. Hey, hey, pay attention here, please. Rivers of living water. On the last day of the feast, he said If you are thirsty, come to me. In other words, I have this living water. Do you get it now? Come on, come on, do you get it? He said if you are thirsty, come to me. Why? Because now he's saying, saying rivers of living water and this living water will always overflow will be flowing within you. You never shall thirst again and inside of you will be a river, oh, yes, a river.
Speaker 4:Miss Victoria, yesterday you were telling us you were given away by your mother At the age of six. You were there on your own Thirteen. You were there in suffering until the day that she brought somebody in the house to marry you. How old were you back then?
Speaker 3:Around, around 19. 19. Around 19, yes, she brought somebody.
Speaker 4:You did not love that person, of course, and you were told to marry him. Did you marry him?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, I did under duress. It was my mother, it was an arranged marriage and I had just recently um well, not just recently, but a couple of years, as from 14 up I have given my life to Christ First, have my experience of Christ God, which I never had in the beginning of my life, and also I remember in the scripture where they said children should obey their parents in the Lord. For this is right. I had no information, nor did I have any experience of men, marriage or whatever there is. But after my mother showed sign of, yes, you're going to marry this man, I didn't want to displease her and in that at that time I felt I was displeasing.
Speaker 4:God. I'm sorry to interrupt you. I want to make here a correction for everybody watching us. Of course she was 14, naive. She did not know the roots of the Word of God and maybe you are just like that. But when you read the Bible, use your brain. We're talking about intelligent faith. I say use your brain. She just said the scripture says obey the Lord, obey your parents in the Lord. If my parents or my spouse is telling me to do things that is not in the Lord, then I have no obligation to obey.
Speaker 4:Ms Victoria Did not know much about. She was a child, remember A teenager. She was forced into marriage and she thought she was obeying her parents In the Lord. Think together with me Obey your parents, obey your husband, obey your wife In the Lord, if what they say is in the Lord. Ms Victoria was telling us yesterday that her mother gave her away. She showed no love, no respect. Why obey a person like this? Once again, I say she was naive. She was naive. She was a child. She did not know life, not even a man, but she obeyed. So, ms Victoria, by marrying that man. What happened to you? What was the downfall?
Speaker 3:Well, the man was twice my age. I did not. As I said, I had no experience of man woman. I did not know. I had no experience of what it is to be with men because of the way I was raised, and to even have a man come close to me, it scared me. However, my mother she arranged everything, even my clothes. She sewed my clothes. She arranged whatever there was. My sister, who's younger than me, was very upset and she told me to ignore mother, but then I thought it was a violation of course, for what Limited amount of the gospel I knew?
Speaker 4:yeah, I'm sorry because you did not know much. That's why I am emphasized. Use your faith with intelligence. She did not know much. Now she knows the roots of the word and do not just hear from the pulpit. You need to open the Bible, you need to understand and you need to understand the roots of the word. Ms Victoria was telling us the other day that you were raised in restrictions, many restrictions. You could not go outside, you did not have your mother, but your aunt was there until the day she told you you resemble your mother, my sister, and you suffered. Tell me now about the suffering of this marriage, so arraigned marriage about the suffering of this marriage.
Speaker 3:So, arranged marriage. Well, when the wedding, when the wedding came together which, of course, I was held by the hand and said come, let us go by my aunt and mother let us go I didn't even exact, I knew nothing because I was not in the planning I was very fearful and traumatized in the sense of oh, my god, god, what to do? What do you do with a man? What is what? I didn't know. So, after I was taken, of course my pastor wasn't happy about it, and the wedding, of course the recession were there, and I was standing beside a man which I inched myself away from because I was told that you do not fangle with men in the sense of because it was in me.
Speaker 3:Would you, speaking to my sole husband, would you take Victoria to be your lawful wedding wife? He said yes, I will. Then he turned to me and the pastor asked Victoria, would you take Dylan Brokaw to be your lawful wedded husband? Well, even the word husband was new to me and I, god knows, I did not know what it was about. So I didn't answer at the same time, but as I cast my eye over to my mother, she was giving me that look. So I said, I guess, so I guess.
Speaker 4:You said I guess so. I guess you said I guess so when you had that bombast because she was looking at me with the vicious eye.
Speaker 3:I can tell God she's gonna send me away to somebody. Maybe she might even have me killed. And then I love her, I want her. I'm speaking to myself and I said I guess so. Of course, my whole family was in laughter. Now, as to the pastor, you may kiss your bride and, oh dear, he was ready for me. Lord, have mercy, please excuse my. As he approached me, I ran away. Then I was grabbed and pulled back because I have never been touched? I have never been touched by a man.
Speaker 4:It sounds like a move. She gave that side eye and you ran away. But you could not run away because you were there for the wedding. Everything was arranged. Tell me, ms Victoria, what was the lowest moment of your life? There we said we say that was your lowest point.
Speaker 3:Well, after running away, I still did go under the table and hide. They removed the table and got me out. Then my mom. I asked my mom, what now? She said come. I said to her I am not going anywhere with this man because I don't know this man. She said don't worry. Her and her husband, which was my stepfather, said come, come and go with us, you won't be alone.
Speaker 3:However, we got into a car along with this man and we got into a hotel where it was, which I wasn't quite sure, but nevertheless my mom and stepfather was there. And then, after a while, my mother said Vic, you know, I brought a pair of suit of clothes for you. Go inside and change it. We are out here. So I did what she said. Then afterwards, my stepfather and her were still there. Then I came out and I began to sleep, not on myself. Then she said go inside and lie down and lock the door, which I did.
Speaker 3:So I fell asleep and in the midst of my sleep, of course, I was being raped, I would figure a speech and fainted I was taken to the hospital and of course it was what husband and wife do, which I did I had no information was about. Then, in the hospital, the doctor needed to speak to me and came to me and he said Miss Victoria, this is normal you are suffering with, not a custom. Go home, this is your husband and it is not a harm to you. Nevertheless, I was very, very fearful and I went home with him. I tried to lock the door. He opened the door because he was twice my age. Of course, he was also a big person and I was just a tiny little, malnourished child, even though I had an 18, 19 years, so on.
Speaker 3:Well, after all that occurred, now we've moved into our house, and after we moved into our house, there was move into our house. There was no love, whatever there is, and I was raped on many occasion and, of course, I couldn't go to mother and he controlled everything, my when I go to work, he controlled my check, he give me what he wanted. I had to reach home at a particular time and he controlled everything of me until I still. I used to sing in the choir and we used to have a lot of meetings and myself in a choir group and the artists. The artists would come together myself and other artists and choose what we're going to do during our evangelism.
Speaker 4:Well, you are watching us. She has a lot to tell us, but what I want to state here is that since the day number one of her life, she suffered. She suffered Mother, stepfather. Now this marriage, arranged marriage, she's saying she was raped countless times, she was violated, she was not happy, but she was singing in the choir, she was in the church and perhaps this is what is happening to you.
Speaker 4:You go to church, you sing, you praise, you worship the Lord, but you do not have this Bible based life. Your life is not according to the scripture. Jesus said if you believe as the scripture says, if anyone believes in me as the scripture says, you read over there, he who believes in me, as the scripture has said. So you read the scripture one thing, but your life is something else. Change your life In this fast of Daniel. Take care of yourself, of your spiritual life. Miss Victoria did not know the word. That's why there she was, in suffering, in pain. So you were in the church singing in the choir. You had your responsibilities, you were very active in the church, but every night, going home, going back to that house, to that marriage, you suffered the most. Yes, bishop.
Speaker 3:So I remember the night before I tried, because I asked my pastor to speak with him and he appeared like he wanted to come into the church and so I said, maybe that is good. We prayed the night before I said, okay, let's pray, let's pray. And we prayed. But the day I hurried home because, as a wife, I said what do you do that you've been taught? You cook his food and make sure he gets enough food when he comes home and then we'll go to the evangelism. But yet when he came home he had an attitude. So I said what happened and of course the pot was on the stove and he said what are you doing? I said I'm cooking and I'm going. He said no, you're not going anywhere. I said, but I thought we spoke about this before. What is going on? So I turned around to go to the kitchen and he grabbed me in the back of the head and he says you are not going anywhere. And he grabbed me and tugged me to the floor knee on the back, tearing my hair out. I saw him looking around.
Speaker 3:I didn't know what was going on and all along it was premeditated. I saw my daughter run past me, ran into the room run up on the mountain. I didn't know my son. They all knew, but I didn't know and I was beaten to a pulp when I was unconscious. I was beaten to a pulp and I went down so I thought that was it, until finally there was a sound of my daughter screaming. As she was screaming, it woke me up from where I was.
Speaker 3:But when I tried to get up I couldn't get up because my lungs had collapsed, my legs were broken, my hand were broken, my nose. As he put his knee on my back, I could remember pushing his hand, tore my nose from my face, tore my hair from my body and threw it to the ground. And I tried to get up. I couldn't't. But then I remember getting up after I learned about God and I said please, god, help me. You said you are there, please help me. And, as I said, that part of my body were able to move and gradually I dragged one. Then if I move too fast, he's going to find out that I'm not really dead. So as I peeked to the front of the door, dragging myself to the ground, I saw him with his back turned and the piece of iron that he had in his hand that he had kept the day from the street and the blood was dripping from it. So as I saw that was happening, I said and I'm just whispering, you've got to hurry, you've got to hurry.
Speaker 3:So I dragged and I dragged and found myself out to the back door and rolled myself down to the street, off down from the hill and fell into the street. And while I was there, key and go, I couldn't see. When I used the other hand to wipe this covering, my hand was covered in thick-coated blood. My heart was pulsating. I tried to get up but couldn't get up because of so many broken pieces in my body. Then a neighbor I heard her said Miss, oh my god, miss Broca, what happened to you? And I said please take me to. I had a. I used to keep company with an elder sister from the church, so I told her to take me to her. She said what? So she, the lady, threw her grandchild into another one child. She dragged me along the street and we reached to the house. My, my sister from the church wasn't there so I'm sorry.
Speaker 4:So by now you had two children by yes yes, true, boy and a girl.
Speaker 3:Yes, and my son was disabled.
Speaker 4:Muscular dystrophy okay, and they saw all that happened that day in the house. Yes, that's the matter.
Speaker 3:How old were they? My son was that of. Well, my girl was about six. Was she six? Yes, somewhere about six. And my son, who was in the house, he was about he just became four. He was just about four.
Speaker 4:Yes, four, yes, okay. So, as I said, it sounds like you are watching a movie, but it is not a movie. She suffered a lot from the mother aunt, now just a randy demerit, and her life became a living hell. Maybe you say this is what I'm facing, this is what I live every single day With this marriage, this husband, this wife or this parent or this children. You have this suffering inside of your house. In a few, we are going to pray for people like you, no-transcript in their lives, but you need to believe, as the scripture says, miss Victoria, because you still have a lot to share with us. I would love to continue with your story tomorrow. Yes, sir, indeed, okay. So tomorrow I want you to watch us once again to know more about this story. I'm going to pause now in the moment where she had to drag herself to the streets and neighbors had to help her. I want you to watch more about this. Fast off, daniel, I will be right back back.
Speaker 1:Every day, we dedicate ourselves to what truly matters Our bodies, our homes, our work, our families. But amidst the hustle and bustle of life, do we forget about nurturing our inner selves? We often let in a flood of destructive information, unwittingly poisoning our souls, and, in our frantic search for relief, we dive deeper into meaningless distractions. But what if there's a way out of this cycle, a way to detoxify our minds and nourish our spirits? Join the Fast of Daniel, a transformative journey of 21 days. It's a chance to focus, to renew and to prepare ourselves for a deeper connection. Deeper connection 21 days where we step away from secular distractions and immerse ourselves in the Word of God. Discover the power of the fast of Daniel to cleanse your spirit and receive the Holy Spirit in your life receive the spirit of god in your life once again.
Speaker 4:He said he who believes in me, as the scripture says the scripture has said it's not about church, it's not about what the pastor said, but what is written in the scripture out out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. You are over there in prison. You are right now in a death row. You are right now in a defile, defile, segregation. You are broken inside and you think you are the only one. Remember miss victoria? She was living a hell. Her life was a living hell and she was there, uh, singing the choir. She was in the church, sisters in the church, but her life was, uh, miss Victoria, I can say, a fake life. Right, yes, it was completely fake. You don't need to be fake, you need to be real. You have been fake all your life. Outside of the house, among your surroundings, or even over there in prison. You play that you're okay, that everything's okay, but you know, oh, yes, at the end of the day, when you have to go back home or when you go back to the cell, those who are in prison, the reality comes to you here, over here. Your mind cannot lie, your mouth can lie, can say to your friends, to your relatives, you're okay, say no, I'm good, I'm fine. You can put a beautiful smile on your face, but over here you know it's not right, it's not okay. You just live like Miss Victoria was living.
Speaker 4:Tomorrow we are going to show more about her. Right now we are going to pray. I invite you together with me to pray to the Holy Spirit. Please, over there, close your eyes. Oh my God and my father, god of the Bible, I know that you can hear my prayer.
Speaker 4:I have no idea who is watching me right now, who is on the other side, lord, there is a person that is broken. There is a person that is another victorian who was rejected by the mother father, was given away. There is a person that is in prison now but has been to many foster homes, group homes, juveniles, and now this person is inside of prison. Oh Lord, my God, there is this person that is lost, completely lost in life. This person that is now beaten by the so-called husband. This person that suffers with their parents, children, wife, inside of their house. This person sees something, some things, not normal. Oh Lord, one day she was beaten and his intention was to kill her. You spared her life and you brought meaning to her life.
Speaker 4:Lord, there is a this person whose life is meaningless, but you said he who believes in me, as the scripture says. Yes, lord, and I raise in my hand the scripture. As the scripture has said, let this person be a river, river, fountain of living water. So, holy Spirit, enter the life of this person right now. All my friends, right now, raise your hands and invite the Holy Spirit and seek the Holy Spirit to come upon you inside of you. Ask the Holy Spirit to come.
Speaker 4:Enter Holy Spirit, my life Dwell. Oh, holy Spirit inside of me. Go ahead. I ask you, holy Holy Spirit, empty this body. Strength disperses life right now. Empty this body, o Lord. Fill this person with your love and your presence. Protect this person, o Lord. God, disperse my father with your spirit. Do not let this person suffer no more. Stop the suffering. There is this person alone in the cell. There is this person that is alone right now at home, working, driving, crying, desperate, just person, needs your help, oh Lord. So, yes, my father, help this person with your power and your love. Receive the presence of God, receive the spirit of God Right now. Breathe in and out the Spirit of God Right now, breathe in and out Down the Via Dolorosa.
Speaker 1:In Jerusalem that day. The soldiers tried to clear the narrow street, but the crowd pressed in to see the man condemned to die on Calvary. He was bleeding from a beam, there were stripes upon his back and he wore a crown of thorns upon his head and he bore with every step the scorn of those who cried out for his death. Down the Via Dolorosa Called the way of suffering Like a lamb paid for a sire, christ the King. But he chose to walk that road out of his love for you and me Down the Via Dolorosa.
Speaker 4:The Via Dolorosa means the way of suffering where he was carrying the cross to Calvary, for me and for you. Watch me again tomorrow, the next episode where Mrs Victoria will tell us how she founded this ministry and where she stands right now. Okay, Tell a friend of yours about this 21 day, the fast of Daniel. Tell this person about this fast. How to fast? You are in death row, segregation, defied population. You are in prison. You are free. You are in the hospital, Wherever you may be. You can join us today. Yes, join us today. Look for the other videos that we have posted here so that you can pray along with us. All right, 21 days. 21 days to bring you closer and closer to God. That's the only way to overcome the suffering, the evil, and to be strengthened by the Lord. God bless all of you.
Speaker 2:I'm going to see you again tomorrow. For 21 days, let's separate ourselves from this world. Stay tuned tomorrow at 11 pm Eastern Time. The 21-day program for the Holy Spirit.