The Gestation of Faith (2)

Our great desire is that each of you keep up your eagerness to the end, so that the things you hope for will come true. We do not want you to become lazy, but to be like those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. – Hebrews 6:11-12

When talking about faith, Abraham is one person that readily comes to mind. In spite of contrary circumstances, he believed God. He agreed with God that he was Abraham – father of many nations – when he did not even have a child. Now, that’s faith. And he continued in faith for decades, even when it seemed that nothing was happening. That’s patience.

In the process of waiting, Abraham kept meditating on the faith pictures that God had given him. He did not change his mind and revert to his old name. Rather, he continued to call himself and his wife by the names the Lord had called them, even when the physical circumstances were obviously contrary.

Abraham is popularly known as Father of Faith. But really, he is Father of faith and patience. The fact is, he became Father of Faith because he was Father of Patience. His faith would have been unproductive if he had not added patience.

God has your life all planned out. He has prepared all that you will ever need long before you were born. He has made provision for every need in advance. However, like Abraham and the other patriarchs, you need to exercise patient faith to lay hold of this provision. That is how you can join the elite league of “those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

The Gestation of Faith (1)

My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into different kinds of temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. – James 1:2-4

Over the years, and especially in recent times, the Church has placed a lot of emphasis on faith – and rightly so – because the Christian walk is essentially a walk of faith (See Romans 1:17, Romans 10:9, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 2:8, Hebrews 11:6). We are saved through faith, we live by faith and we maintain our relationship with God by faith. Nonetheless, the Bible is clear about the need to supplement our diet of faith with other important ingredients which I like to call “core vitamins.” Patience is one of these core vitamins (See II Peter 1:4-8).

In today’s fast-paced world of jet travels, instant photography, fast food restaurants, high-speed internet and what have you; it is not unlikely that patience has become alien to quite a number of us. Well, what exactly is patience? Patience is endurance. It is holding on to the Word of God without wavering, regardless of circumstances.

Patience is that quiet confidence that awaits the manifestation of what God has promised. It is holding on to the confession of our faith without faltering, knowing that He who called us is faithful (I Thessalonians 5:24).

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

How to Become Affiliated with the Greatest (Part 1)

And it was told Him by some, who said, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.” But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” – Luke 8:20-21 Let’s consider what some...

“I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world, there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander (the Great), Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.”

— Napoleon (French General, Politician and Emperor, 1769-1821)

“A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.”

— Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political leader (1869-1948).

“I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very centre of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”

— H.G. Wells, British author (1866-1946)

These tell us that the greatest person, dead or alive, is not the president of the most powerful nation in the world, or the number one person on Forbes list. Jesus Christ remains the greatest.

Don’t we all love the bragging right of having relationship with the greats in the land? But none of those can match Jesus in eminence. And, in the passage above, He generously gave us a tip on what we need to do to claim affinity with Him. He said His relatives are those “who hear the word of God and do it.” Now don’t you want that bragging right? Then do as He says.

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Purpose: Sent to Redeem and Purify

Purpose: Sent to Redeem and Purify

…the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. – Titus 2:13-14

The passage above captures another twin mission of our Lord Jesus Christ to humankind; He came both to redeem and purify, to qualify and equip us for the assignments God has prepared for us.

In the sense of redeeming us from “lawless deeds”, Jesus came to free us from the tangles of sin, guilt and everything that corrupts, holds back, disqualifies, slows down and discourages noble initiatives and productivity. His giving of Himself as a ransom for us is all we will ever need to be free of the shackles that limit and destroy. He has set us free by laying down His life and riches in exchange for our own lives and wretchedness.

On the other hand, having thus redeemed us to perform, He also purified – more like equipped – us for good works. In other words, He didn’t just set us free to loaf and idle away; He also redeemed us to be productive and useful to ourselves, Himself and other people. He set us free to do good works in life, in our society, in our careers, in our ministries and in every area of concern to us. He removed every entangling that could stifle or hold us back, thus sprucing us up for unencumbered bearing and optimal performance. In simple term, He came to make life easy for us to live; goals easy for us to achieve and plans easy for us to execute.

He came to do that much for us.

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Purpose: Sent to Take Our Sins Away

And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. – 1 John 3:5

Another reason Jesus came to earth, as crystallised in the passage above, is to take away our sins and make us pleasing and acceptable to God. As humans, we are fundamentally prone to sin in our thinking, action, speech, attitude and in other things we do. And there is no denying our sinful nature, as that will only amount to self-deception (1 John 1:8).

Even as sin does a lot of harm to us, principal among which is alienating us from God with all the implications of that, He nonetheless desires that we live and operate in our fullness so that we can enjoy fellowship with Him as He originally intended. That was why He sent His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to come and become the propitiation for our sins.

Jesus came to take away our sins – that which disqualifies us from enjoying the fullness of God. By taking our sin upon Himself, He became the bridge that closes the gulf between God and man, so that we can have access to God on one hand, and come into His presence without blemish on the other. He is indeed “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” [John 1:29]

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

To My Child…

Author Unknown

Just for this morning, I am going to smile when I see your face and laugh when I feel like crying.

Just for this morning, I will let you choose what you want to wear, and smile and say how perfect it is.

Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play.

Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.

Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles.

Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one if he comes by.

Just for this afternoon, I won’t worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second-guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.

Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won’t stand over you trying to fix them.

Just for this afternoon, I will take us to McDonald’s and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.

Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born and how much I love you.

Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.

Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars.

Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows.

Just for this evening when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.

I will think about the mothers and fathers who are searching for their missing children; the mothers and fathers who are visiting their children’s graves instead of their bedrooms; and mothers and fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly, and screaming inside they can’t handle it anymore.

And when I kiss you goodnight I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then, that I will thank God for you, and ask him for nothing, except one more day.

Meditation: Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate. – Psalm 127:5

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

There is Good in You

Author Unknown

A water bearer had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole, which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it. While the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. This happened every day for two years, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master’s house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and felt miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, the cracked pot spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.

“I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologise to you.”

“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”

“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot lamented.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and then said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to take note of the beautiful flowers along the path.”

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path and this cheered it some. But at the end of tile trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you observe that there were flowers only on YOUR side of the pathway, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you have watered them.

For two years, I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We are all cracked pots. Some of us don’t grow old gracefully, some are not so smart, some are tall, large and big, some bald, some physically challenged, but it’s the cracks and flaws each of us has that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You just have to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them. There is a lot of good out there. There is a lot of good in you!

Meditation: And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; – 1 Corinthians 12:23

You will succeed because Jesus loves You!