Tag Archives: faith

August 3, 2017 · 9:10 pm

WHILE WAITING…

I got up pretty early, packed my bags and set out for the airport. The traffic could be unpredictable sometimes, so I did not want to risk getting stuck in traffic and making it late to the airport. On that day however, the road was unusually free and I got to the airport before check-in time and the check-in counter was not going to open a minute before the set time. I had some waiting to do.

The check-in was smooth and uneventful. While waiting for the boarding time, I got myself occupied by reading a book – Start With Why by Simon Sinek. In my head, I had calculated when I was going to get home and how I was going to spend the rest of the day. As the boarding time approached, I heard the dreaded announcement. The weather at our destination was bad and we would not take off as scheduled. I had more waiting to do.

Waiting is not exactly my forte and soon enough I got tired of reading my book and tried starting a conversation with a fellow passenger. A few other passengers facing the same dilemma with me were ‘gisting’, a few were sleeping and others were just there. I ended up pacing about the waiting area till the boarding announcement was made and away we flew.

This airport waiting experience was transient, lasting only a few hours and I was glad for that. However, in reality we often get to wait much longer for the things that life presents to us. These ‘presents’ come in various forms like waiting for that dream job, waiting for a spouse, waiting to have a child after marriage, waiting for a promotion, waiting for a clear direction and waiting for that big break after years of faithful sowing.

While waiting as Christians, we have some sure words of promise in the Bible such as:

…All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (MSG)

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. Isaiah 43:2 (NLT)

“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! Isaiah 49:15 (NLT)

We often find ourselves tempted to think that God has not been fair to us, because in our own estimation, we have done everything that we ought to do and there is no rational explanation to our predicament.

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If we yield to the temptation and follow that thought trail, we often end up with depression and many questions in our hearts for God. The more we think and dwell on the issues, the bigger they begin to appear and the promises of God begin to diminish in our minds.

Joseph had no rational explanation for being in prison in a foreign land,…… we know how the story ends. Job could also not explain the terrible loss and pain he had to go through, but in the end, God came through for him. We will not always be able to explain why God allows somethings to come our way, but one thing is sure: He will neither leave us nor forsake us in the midst of those things.

I won’t claim to be an expert in knowing the best posture to take while waiting, but one thing I know that works is holding tenaciously and stubbornly to God’s word concerning whatever it is that we are waiting for. Meditate on it day and night until we have it permanently ingrained in our minds and it becomes indelible in spite of what the circumstances say.

While waiting, we can also draw strength from the little victories that God has given us in the past. Keep them fresh on our minds and know that the One who came through for us in the past is still the same and that He will still come through this time. His calendar may be different from ours, but He will come through.

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While waiting, we also need to continue steadfastly and consistently in prayers. God will always show up and make all things beautiful because failure is not part of His attributes. He is faithful and never changes. He KNOWS that we are waiting and His eyes are on us. Most of all, His grace is sufficient for us while waiting.

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February 19, 2017 · 10:19 pm

IT’S IN THE SMALL STEPS

Joseph had his great dreams, which got him into some trouble with his brothers. He also had his integrity and the fear of the Lord while in Potiphar’s house and he got into even bigger trouble because of that. At the eventful end of all the trouble, I am sure Joseph would have sat back and appreciated God for all he had gone through on the road to occupying a greatly esteemed office.

When Joseph started dreaming, he did not fully understand what the fulfilment of his dreams would be. He did not know that he was going to become next to Pharaoh in authority someday. He did not know there would be a great famine and that he would be the one to save Israel. He did not know that his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh would be the only second generation people to receive allotments like the other sons of Jacob in the Promised Land. One thing he knew for sure was that he feared the Lord and he was not going to do anything to jeopardize that relationship.

In spite of the big dreams, he followed God one step at a time or indeed one phase at a time – from Pit to Potiphar’s house, to Prison and eventually to Pharaoh’s Palace. He was faithful at each stop over on the journey. When the purpose of each phase had been accomplished, he was moved on to the next phase by God.

Abraham’s life followed a similar plot. God told him to leave his father’s house and hit the road. He didn’t ask for the final destination. He allowed God to lead him one step at a time. He just had unshakable faith that God could not lead him astray. He stayed connected to God and we know the rest of the story.

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We have infallible promises in the Bible that tell us that God is committed to answering our prayers from the following verses among so many other verses:

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Matt 7: 7 – 8 (NLT)

You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it. Matt 21:22(NLT)

At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name.  You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy. John 16: 23 – 24 (NLT)

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 1John 5:14 (NIV)

God’s word is true and He has promised to bring us to that expected end. However, whatever happens between our current position and our expected end is part of the whole package. The key to getting to that expected end is staying connected to the source, like Joseph and Abraham did. For some people, it may be a very smooth journey. For others, the package may come with different kinds of pain. If you have a clear picture of your destination and the path to that destination, Congratulations! However, if you don’t understand all the things you experience on your way, just follow the Lord one step at a time… you will eventually get there. God is too faithful to fail and in the words of Nathaniel Bassey; “This God is too good o!”

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April 25, 2016 · 9:11 pm

IN RETROSPECT

A while ago, I was going down memory lane with a few friends that I have come a long way with. Having known each other for almost 20 years, we reminisced about the days when we had little or nothing to call our own. We collectively shared the little that anyone had and no one complained about the proportion of individual contributions. The common denominator was that we were all students and we were all Christians. We talked about the years immediately after graduation, remembering how we walked long distances not because we wanted to exercise, but because we could not afford the transport fare. We also survived on meager rations and lived in shared accommodation, all in our bid to become independent men. Looking back at those years together, we all came to one conclusion: God has been good.

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With those memories safely in the recesses of our hearts, we can always look back at how we overcame with God’s help and develop an unshakeable resolve that the same God who has not changed will always come through in whatever present challenge we may have. Little wonder the Israelites were always commanded to tell their Children of their past victories:

Then your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean?’  And you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. And though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families.’” When Moses had finished speaking, all the people bowed down to the ground and worshiped.                     Exodus 12: 26 – 27 (NLT)

In the future your children will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of these laws, decrees, and regulations that the Lord our God has commanded us to obey?’ “Then you must tell them, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand. The Lord did miraculous signs and wonders before our eyes, dealing terrifying blows against Egypt and Pharaoh and all his people.  He brought us out of Egypt so he could give us this land he had sworn to give our ancestors.                               Deuteronomy 6: 20 – 23 (NLT)

We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”                                            Joshua 4 : 6 – 7 (NLT)

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Challenges will always come our way; however meditating on the problems will only magnify the problems at the expense of our faith. When next the feeling of being overwhelmed by the challenges of life comes, just take a thought down the memory lane and like the ageless song goes, it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Strive to keep the memories of those past victories ever fresh on your mind and

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February 23, 2016 · 11:18 am

FAITH IS NOW

I got the picture below from one of Strive Masiyiwa’s recent posts on Facebook (By the way, I strongly recommend that you follow Strive if you are not already doing so). If you don’t know the story behind the picture, it will pass for just any other nice picture. The photographer’s goal was to get a shot of the eaglet and he had to wait 8 hours to get that shot. 8 hours! It took that long because the mother eagle had the eaglet under wraps for the entire period. His lucky break only came when the father eagle came around and the eaglet popped up to say hello to dad for a few seconds.

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I can only imagine what that wait would have been like. The photographer could not afford to be distracted because the eaglet’s appearance was only going to last a few seconds. It was not just a casual and relaxing wait. He had to maintain absolute focus for the entire period. I’m sure that would have required a lot of patience to pull off. This is similar to the kind of patience that Joseph had to learn while spending time as Potiphar’s chief servant as well as a prisoner, after having those dreams that caused his troubles. David also displayed this scale of patience when running from King Saul, despite the fact that he had been anointed as King of Israel by Prophet Samuel. Abraham received the promise that he would have a son when he was 75 and he had to wait with faith and patience for the promise to be fulfilled 25 years down the line.

Today, how do we begin to speak about this kind of patience when we have been taught that “Faith is NOW…” This is a popular adaptation of Hebrews 11:1, which has been sold to many of us and we have gladly bought into it. We pray now and place God under obligation to answer us immediately or He would no longer be God. The answer must come NOW!

If Abraham lived in our days, he would have ‘travailed’ and demanded that God gave him Isaac at 76 years and David would have had to pray King Saul out of the palace immediately after being anointed by Samuel. The truth is that God still answers prayers like He always did, but on His terms as the sovereign God. My thought is that there is a place for patience when we pray in faith. When the answer does not come as fast as we expect, He is still God. When it appears as if our prayers will not get the expected response, He is still God. When the answer comes faster than we expect, of course He is still God.

Please think on the verses below:

Hebrews 6:12 – 15 (NLT):  13 For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:14 “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” 15 Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

Hebrews 10: 36 (NLT):  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

James 1: 3 – 4 (KJV): 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

2 Peter 1 : 5 – 7 (KJV): 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

Patience is still a priceless virtue.

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January 7, 2015 · 11:59 am

MY FATHER’S GOD

While waiting for my car to get washed on a sunny day, I sat under a tropical almond tree for a shade. After sitting for a while, I decided to ease off the boredom by walking around the tree. As I was doing this, I observed that all the leaves on the tree were not looking exactly the same. Some of the leaves were complete, while some had been turned into beautiful works of art by some leaf-eating insects. The insects had created exquisite patterns on some of the leaves by eating portions of the leaves in a creative way.

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Interestingly, both sets of leaves were still green and they appeared to co-exist happily together and the tree was still producing fruits as expected. I suspect that those half eaten leaves did not know that they had some problems. In fact, they could actually remain in that form for years if the insects choose to move on to greener pastures. This reminded me of what was written about Samson on the day that he was converted from a conqueror to a blind captive: He was ‘dead’, without actually knowing it.

Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him. (Judges 16: 20 NLT)

Moving over from the Bible times to our present day; it is possible to exist in a church, where each service is indeed a wonderful fellowship with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and not be part of that fellowship. We may busy ourselves with countless church activities and still end up as outsiders where it really matters. That fellowship is what God really wants from us and it is also what we need to fulfil our calling as per the new covenant:

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (1Peter 2:9 NLT)

We can never know him personally, understand our place in Him, grasp the immensity of the glorious life he has planned for us and realize the utter extravagance of His work in us if we do not have that personal touch in our relationship with Him. The veil has been torn and we have unlimited access to the throne of our Father.

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It is becoming increasingly popular to pray to the God of our Bishop or the God of our Pastor or the God of our Father-in-the-Lord. This is not what our father desires. He wants to be my own God. He wants to be your own God. After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the term “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” was no longer commonly used. It was used just once by Peter at his fist sermon, where he had to introduce God to the Jews.The apostles all understood the kind of relationship that God wants to have with us and related with Him accordingly. He was the God of Peter, God of John, God of James, God of Timothy, God of Silas. Each person had a personal relationship with Him. This is evident in Paul’s declaration in Acts 27:23 – 25

Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’  So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. (NIV)

From the highlighted words, it is very clear that God was his God. That personal touch in the above declaration is unmistakeable. God does not just want to be my father’s God; He wants to be my God. A good starting point is a consistent personal Bible study and a good start time is now. His grace is sufficient for you and the door is open.

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May 26, 2013 · 9:17 pm

F A I T H

Let’s just imagine that the setting is one of the consulting rooms of a renowned specialist hospital, and the main actor is one of the best doctors around. After checking the vital signs and listening to the symptoms that are presented, he arrives at the conclusion that the patient is suffering from Angina pectoris  and he goes on to explain that this is chest pain due to ischemia of the heart muscle,  generally due to obstruction or spasm of the coronary arteries.

9 out of 10 times, we may not understand all the high sounding words that doctors use, but we believe them and take their prescriptions seriously. We just believe that doctors are always right and we don’t challenge their conclusions. Now that is what I call FAITH.  We just take their words for it. I got this idea of faith recently at a Bible teaching meeting I attended.

The truth is that the doctor is human and is also fallible. However, we have a Father, who made the doctor and He is also Almighty. He has never failed in fulfilling His promises and He can never fail. It is not just possible for Him to fail. Yet we don’t find it very easy to take Him by His word. …Oh what things we often forfeit…

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Putting all these together, I can come up with another definition of faith, which is: Believing God’s word just the way He said it, without thinking about how possible it would be for Him to fulfil it. Abraham possibly had this definition in mind when he was going to sacrifice Isaac. He remembered that God promised him saying:

“…Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” Heb 11: 18 (NLT)

So, Abraham was not bothered about losing his only son. God made a promise to him and he was sure that God would keep His word. It did not have to make sense to him, but there was no way he was going to doubt God.

Is this kind of faith still available?

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April 5, 2013 · 11:19 am

Rock Crushers

If you have ever spent enough time in the not so developed parts of the world, you must be familiar with those ROCK CRUSHERS. I’m not talking about the heavy duty machines that practically masticate the large chunks of rocks and spit them out as small pieces. I actually mean those men and even women, who sit under the sun and patiently hammer away at the boulders, until they are reduced to small sized chippings.

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Just watching them is a great lesson in patience and perseverance. Without these virtues, they will live their lives in perpetual frustration.  The need for these great virtues comes from the fact that they can hammer continuously without any sign of progress, until they strike the decisive blow that literarily breaks the camel’s back. I was actually stunned and also impressed to see some women engaged in this ‘trade’. They even do it with a smile on their sweat soaked faces.

You know it’s possible that you have been making supplications unto God concerning a particular issue. You have exercised and expended your faith; you have found scriptural promises to back up your request; you have met all the pre-requisites, yet no sign that the answer is on its way.  You are getting worn out at the place of prayer.

The widow in the importunity parable in Luke 18 must have felt this same way, when the judge that feared neither God nor man did not even as bother to listen to her request. She did not give up, in spite of this condescending treatment. In the end, she got what she wanted. Even Abraham heard God clearly, he was sure that it was God that promised him a son, yet he had to wait for God’s appointed time.

The God we serve is not a joker and He cannot lie or change His mind for lack of ability to perform. Whatever He has promised, shall come to pass in HIS OWN time. Our own part is to keep exercising our faith, persevere and remain patient. As long as you are sure that you are praying in line with God’s will, you can count on God to keep His Word. Keep striking like those rock crushers. It won’t be long.

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February 24, 2013 · 5:25 pm

Fear Of The Unknown

Something that God kept from us at creation is the ability to know how everything will eventually turn out. No matter how hard you try, this is not one of those things that you can learn or develop. This leaves us with loads of unknowns in our lives.

Our lives will always be coloured by myriads of these unknowns and our approach to them may end up shaping our lives. With respect to our walk with God, 2 questions always come to our minds when we are at cross roads:
1. “What if God answers the way I expect?

2. “What if God does not answer the way I expect?

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Coming closer home, if you want to preach the salvation message to someone, you think to yourself: “what if he does not accept my message?” Or if you want to pray for a sick person, you may think: “What I he does not get healed after I pray?” The easiest thing to do is to shrink back and just keep to yourself and not get ‘embarrassed’.

In the early days of his healing ministry, Oral Roberts had to deal with these thoughts, when he had people on the prayer line. When someone was coming with ailments that had no physical presentation, it was easy for him to pray for the person, after all, no one will know if the person got healed or not. However if the people came with ailments that had physical presentations like a limp or a growth, he got scared. He would think: “What if I pray and God doesn’t heal them?” His way of dealing with such situations was to send another question back to the source of the original question “What if I pray and God heals them?” He gradually built up his faith and forever silenced that voice.

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You too can silence that voice of doubt and with the reverse question. Just do your own part boldly because God is too faithful to fail you. Failure is not one of His attributes and it is not going to start with you. Shedrach, Meshach and Abednego had their own ‘unknown’ moment, Daniel had his own, even Joseph had his own. There are countless others who also had their own moments and they all emerged victorious. You too can join them. Just take God at His Word ‘cos it is sure and steadfast.

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