I WANT TO BE LIKE JONAH!

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Everyone has someone they admire. We all do. There is something about someone one wishes to possess. It even becomes stronger when all we want to do is just to become like that person. Reading the Bible, one character that fascinates and whose gift and blessing, whose grace and anointing I desire is Prophet Jonah!

Interesting huh! One wonders why I choose Jonah when there are many other people one could to be like. Let's look at what Jonah is known for:
1. God called Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach against it because its sins had come up before God.
2. Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish instead of Nineveh.
3. The Lord caused a violent storm. Afraid, the sailors did all they could but to no avail.
4. The sailors cast lots which fell on Jonah - meaning Jonah was the cause of the storm/ calamity.
5. Jonah was thrown into the sea and was swallowed by a great fish.

Oops! What a story!
So why would I want to be like Jonah? Not that I want to end up bringing calamity by running from God, or by running to Tarshish or by being swallowed by a great fish. No! My desire goes beyond that!

Jonah had an attitude. He knew which string to pull to reach an altitude. He could look at his actions and predict its magnitude... but Jonah knew God.

So why do I want to be like Jonah!
1. He was BOLD about his FAITH in God
These days, many are shy to profess their Christian faith and would rather be silent so they would accepted by peers. People know God and by our confessions, we bring Him to the world. Sometimes we may not need to talk much, only our confessions is enough to bring others to Him. The sailors feared and prayed to God! Wow!

2. Jonah prayed in his distress to God.
In the belly of the fish, Jonah remembered God. Oh that we would remember God in times of distress, when all seem lost and there is no hope! May we receive the grace, strength and ability to pray to God when things get so rough and when all available solutions look bleak, halleluyah!

3. Jonah had one of the greatest preaching anointing ever given to men!
Jonah by preaching in a day had the whole nation of Nineveh to repent. Not that some people repented, but the whole nation repented!
The nation of Nineveh even declared a fast - man and animals fasted and prayed that God would forgive them of their sins as they turn away from their wicked ways.

I want to be like Jonah, not because of his disobedience but because of the three reasons above.

Now let's consider this!
Jonah had a powerful anointing to preach. His preaching caused even the king to repent. The whole nation repented. That was his only ministry.
Today, many struggle to have people hear them and have to do many other things to have healing and miracles so people believe. Jonah had no miracle, no healing, no signs and wonders but when he preached God's unadulterated word, a whole nation repented.

I want to be like Jonah, do you?

Much love,
AMinistry Worker