Our Testimony by Joanne Green
Today’s guest blog is written by Joanne Green. Green is a former runway model for the exclusive Lord and Taylor stores in New York and Boston but now serves the Lord in ministry. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fashion Merchandising so while managing her home life as a wife and mother in Dallas, Texas she launched “Ezra,” a unique custom clothing line that was designed for women and children which she sold to Boutiques and marketed at Trade and Trunk Shows. Joanne quickly discovered that her work was thrusting her into the brokenness and spiritually bankrupt lives of professionals from corporate backgrounds and lifestyles. Her work evolved from designing for the outward individual to ministering to the inward and thus sharing the word of God became an ensuing passion.
In 1981, she acknowledged and prepared for the prophetic call on her life by attending Word of Faith Bible School. She was licensed to preach and teach in 1984 by her then Pastor, Ron Shaw, Dallas Texas, and later in 1994 was ordained by Bishop D. W. Washington, Houston, Texas, where she also served as an Associate Pastor for more than twenty years. Her professional experience includes Sales, Marketing and Human Resource Management. She was an active Executive Board Member of L.I.F.E. Inc. and currently serves on the Board of Directors of True Vineyard Ministries.
Her community involvement included being a Juvenile Volunteer in the Fairfield, California Correctional System, Religious Program Coordinator for the Galveston Texas Prison Medical Facility. She currently offers Inner Healing classes to survivors of domestic violence at the Fort Bend Women’s Center, in Richmond, Texas. She has traveled domestically and globally sharing the Word of God, volunteering and serving in mission outreaches. In 2005 “Ezra” became Ezra Ministries taken from the scripture found in Ezra 7:10 and in 2014 Ezra Ministries became a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization.
Joanne has been called to be a modern day Ezra with the mandate to impact lives through her gifting to preach the uncompromised truth, teach the word simply and to provoke people to become passionate and purposeful about kingdom principles. Joanne has just published and released her first book titled Pretty Woman, Redeemed by Promise, Destined for Purpose, now available through Amazon and Barnes & Nobles.
You can reach Joanne at: Ezra Ministries, Inc., 102 Wonder World Drive, Ste. 304-126, San Marcos, Texas, 78666
Office- 512-270-9059; Mobile- 713-516-5078
ministergreen@windstream.net; www.ezraministriesinc.org
Have you ever stopped to think about how “Awesome” God really is? I mean have you ever thought about all the amazing things He’s done in your life? Can you reach back in the journals of your mind to remember, down to the smallest details, those amazing things, those impossible things or the surprising things He did, just so you could talk about them to others?
Just recently I was engaged in a conversation with a close friend and we were recounting some of the difficult places in our lives where we experienced God’s supernatural manifestations of His Favor and plain ol’ Goodness on our behalf. We both found ourselves giving testimony of His Awesomeness, His Blessings, His Covenant, His Deity, His Faithfulness, His Greatness, His Holiness, His Indescribable Imagination, His Joy, His Kindness, His Love, His Majesty, His Name, His Omnipotence, His Promises, His Quietness, His Righteousness, His Sovereignty, His Timing, His Understanding, His Victory and His Will. Not to mention how difficult it was to have a conversation about God without getting all worked up with emotions too tender to just casually brush aside.
When we think about Him and all of Who He Is, the zeal of our “inner man” should prompt us to boldly testify to the whole world without reservation or FEAR!
I can’t help but think about what David wrote in Psalm 66:1-3:
“Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of his name, Make his praise glorious. Say to God How awesome are your works! Through the greatness of your power, Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. All the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you, They shall sing praises to your name.”
I don’t want to stop bragging on God for all of the wonderful things that He has done in my life or for the difficult situations or experiences that were wrought in my life for His Glory. Revelation 12:11 is such a great reminder that our Victory over Satan is not only in the Power of our Words but in the Blood of the Lamb. We shall overcome any obstacle, any detour, and any roadblock that the enemy tries to use to stop the plan that God has for our lives.
Today, know without a shadow of doubt that the words of our testimony is a formidable weapon against the kingdom of darkness. Let me encourage you to take time in your everyday life to worship your King with adoration. Our Lord and our King loves it when we give testimony to His Faithfulness. Listen at what Jeremiah tell us in Jeremiah 33: 9,
“Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do to them, they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it……the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say: Praise the Lord of Hosts …For the Lord is good. For His mercy endures forever!”
The children of Israel had just been restored and were giving “testimony” of God’s blessings and provisions of restoration. They were bragging on God until everyone around them who were not of their camp trembled with fear. Did you hear that? The children of Israel’s enemies were full of fear because of what God had done for His Children. It is time for us to give greater voice to all that God has done and continues to do so that our enemies are terrified of our God, Elohim, The God of Israel!