Sunday Message · Fountain of Grace International · Pretoria North
The Shortcut That's Ruining Your Life
When you're stuck in a job search, facing relationship rejection, or watching your dreams collapse, the temptation to cut corners feels irresistible. But there's a reason those shortcuts leave you emptier than before.
Pastor Ricardo Zaal · Fountain of Grace International, Pretoria North
You feel trapped enough to try anything that works-even if it costs you something you can't name.
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This message is for you if:
- You've lied or cheated to get ahead and it still didn't work
- You keep waiting for a breakthrough that never seems to come
- You've stepped on someone else to reach a goal
- You're desperate enough to consider paths you know are wrong
Witchcraft Is What You're Already Doing
Witchcraft sounds ancient and foreign, but Pastor Ricardo defines it plainly: it's anything you do to gain what you want by stepping on someone else, lying, or cutting corners. It's the boyfriend you sabotage to win the girl. It's the price you quote a client at 700 rand but charge 800. It's the job you get by trampling colleagues. It's the deception you justify because you're desperate.
The Bible says the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy-that's Satan's method. God comes to give life. These two paths don't mix, and yet when you don't trust God's provision, you naturally drift toward the witchcraft path. You tell yourself it's the only way that works. But it never actually does-not in any way that satisfies.
Why Shortcuts Leave You Empty
Pastor Ricardo shares his own story. Between 1997 and 1999, unemployed and desperate, he took his last money to a traditional healer, a witch doctor, hoping for a breakthrough in his job search and relationships. He came home with a pink powder and no real understanding of what it was supposed to do. He still didn't get the job. He still didn't get the girl. He still didn't get the provision he was chasing.
Witchcraft always demands a sacrifice-and what you sacrifice is part of your soul, part of your peace, part of your ability to trust. Every shortcut costs you something deeper than money. That cost is why you stay stuck. That cost is why the breakthrough never comes.
Grace Is The Opposite Path
If you don't have witchcraft, you have grace. Grace is what God gives when you trust Him instead. Grace is the unexpected job offer from someone you helped years ago. Grace is the meal that appears at your door when your cupboard is empty. Grace is the answer you suddenly know even though you've never studied it. Grace is what comes when you act on faith-when you give your last ten rand to someone in need, not knowing how you'll eat tomorrow.
Jesus' mother understood this. Standing at a wedding feast where the wine had run out, she turned to the servants and said simply: 'Whatsoever he says unto you, do it.' She had such confidence in her son that she knew he would act. God has that same confidence in you. He has equipped you with grace-with abilities, opportunities, and provision you haven't even discovered yet. But grace only flows when you stop trying to force your way through witchcraft and start trusting His way instead.
Trust Isn't About What God Can Do-It's About Knowing He Will
Most people misunderstand trust. They think trust means believing God has the ability to help. But the real trust is deeper: it's knowing that He will help, that His character guarantees it, that His promises are as solid as the ground under your feet. Trust isn't something you're born with. It's built through experience-through seeing God come through, even in small ways.
When you trust God, you lose yourself in the best way. You stop relying only on your own ability, your own voice, your own education, your own connections. You remain yourself, but you add Him to the equation. And when you add Him, impossibly, things that seemed impossible become possible. The shy person speaks boldly. The poor person receives generously. The stuck person moves forward.
Grace Multiplies When You Give
Jesus taught a principle that sounds backwards until you actually live it: 'Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.' Picture a refuse bag stuffed with dry leaves. It looks full. But press down. It takes more. Shake it. More comes. Press again. Shake again. Still more. That's how God measures grace back to you.
Pastor Ricardo and his wife drove thirty or forty minutes to church with nothing in the house-no food, no money. But they went anyway, trusting. When they returned home, a neighbor had left them a chicken and other provisions. The point wasn't magical provision. The point was: they acted on trust, and grace met them. That's the cycle. You give what little you have. You trust God for the rest. And He returns it pressed down, shaken together, running over.
Preparation Meets Divine Protection
When you trust God instead of witchcraft, something shifts. You're no longer trying to force your way into a job you're unqualified for-you're studying, preparing, positioning yourself. And while you prepare, God sends teachers, mentors, opportunities you never manufactured. The old saying is true: when the student is ready, the teacher appears. But the flip side matters too: when you've learned what that teacher has to give, they disappear-not because they're abandoning you, but because you're ready for the next level.
As you trust and prepare, God's protection surrounds you. Psalm 91 isn't poetry about angels as decoration. It's a promise: He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, from the nets that are meant to trap you and keep you from moving forward. Satan throws nets to halt you. God sends angels to clear your path. The choice is yours: trust the shortcuts that trap you, or trust the God who protects and promotes you.
"If you don't trust God, you will trust something else-and that something else will cost you everything."
- Pastor Ricardo Zaal
Key Takeaways
- Witchcraft vs. Grace Are Your Only Two Options When you don't trust God, you default to witchcraft-lying, cheating, stepping on others, cutting corners. When you do trust God, you operate in grace-unexpected help, provision, opportunities that come because you acted with integrity even when it looked foolish. There is no middle ground. You cannot have both. The moment you add grace, witchcraft has to leave. The moment you return to witchcraft, grace withdraws. Choose which one you're building your life on, because that choice determines everything.
- Your Ability to Trust Is Learned, Not Born You weren't born trusting God. You learned it through experience-or you didn't. If your parents never had a car, if your family never broke poverty, if no one around you succeeded without cheating, then your mind became a cage. It told you: this is not possible for me. But trust isn't inherited. It's built. Every time you take a step on faith-giving when it hurts, speaking truth when a lie would be easier, helping someone when you're barely surviving yourself-you're building the muscle of trust. And every time trust is rewarded, your capacity to trust deepens. That's how grace multiplies in your life.
- Grace Returns Multiplied When You Give From Nothing The most powerful giving is not from your surplus. It's from your last. When you give your last ten rand, your last meal, your last hour, your last ounce of energy to someone in need-and you do it knowing God, not knowing how you'll survive-you're declaring that you trust God more than your own security. That declaration triggers a response. Somehow, someone feeds you. Somehow, work appears. Somehow, the gap closes. Not because the universe is magical, but because God honors faith. And that's when grace returns not just equal but pressed down, shaken together, running over.
If you are in or around Pretoria or Johannesburg, come and join us on a Sunday - these messages are preached live every week at Fountain of Grace International, 323 B Danie Theron Street, Pretoria North.
Frequently Asked Questions
I've already made deals with witchcraft or shortcuts. Can I come back from that?
Yes. The moment you recognize it and turn away, God's grace is available to you. Pastor Ricardo went to a witch doctor in desperation and it didn't work. Later, when he understood Jesus, that past didn't disqualify him from blessing. What matters now is your choice: will you trust God or trust shortcuts? The grace available to you today is not limited by what you did yesterday. Confess it, turn from it, and step into trust. God will move you out of situations that held you back.
How do I know if I'm in witchcraft or grace right now?
Ask yourself: Am I lying, cheating, stepping on someone, or cutting corners to get what I want? That's witchcraft. Am I acting with integrity even when it costs me? Am I giving when it hurts? Am I trusting that God will provide? That's grace. Look at your methods, not just your results. A dishonest job is witchcraft even if you get it. Honest preparation you trust God to reward is grace even if the payoff hasn't arrived yet. Grace builds you up from the inside. Witchcraft hollows you out from within, no matter what it wins you.
What do I do when I'm desperate and trusting God feels too slow?
That desperation is exactly where Satan plants the temptation to cut corners. In that moment, act on the smallest trust you have. Give something. Help someone. Go to church. Prepare for the thing you're hoping for. Do the next right thing in front of you, and trust that God sees it. You don't need perfect faith-you need to act on the faith you have. Grace meets you in the action, not in the waiting. Pastor Ricardo and his wife drove to church with nothing. They didn't sit at home waiting for provision. They acted on trust, and grace met them on the road back home.
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Fountain of Grace International meets every Sunday at 09:00 at 323 B Danie Theron Street, Pretoria North. Come as you are.
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