Praise the Lord, who is my rock. He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle
Psalm 144:1
Don’t be afraid of the battles you face in life.
They are intertwined with your destiny and calling in God. Every battle you prayerfully overcome, equips you for the next open door, increasing your spiritual capacity and skill in what you ought to become in God. Think of every battle you win as a level-up towards your calling and purpose.
There has to be momentum in your spiritual walk. Keep pressing into God everyday. Trust Him for open doors for service, for work, for evangelism and ministry in spite of the challenges that are bound to come anyways. You see, every place where God positions you (geographically, in your career or in ranking), He has already made provisions for you to conquer more territories, win souls for His Kingdom, to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant. Basically, to become the light that pushes back darkness in that environment. So you better arise and shine!
David had a brokenness and great affection for God, which is probably why we call him a man after God’s own heart. He sought God at the onset of a challenge or confrontation and God answered him. This should become our way of life. Overtime, you’ll see how much of divine wisdom, divine counsel and boldness you’ll have accumulated and built-up, after every victory in these life battles.
Just keep pressing into God. You have a high calling in Christ! Appreciate those small victories you desired and sought God about and He answered. Acknowledge Him on a daily basis! One victory at one point in life will make you stronger for your next assignment. And your figurative hands and fingers will be equipped for the next opportunities to work and serve God!
Saatchi art
Click here to read my previous post titled tried . I consider today’s post a summary of the previous 🙂 . Thanks for taking your time to read through my blog. Blessings! ❤
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1 Peter 1:7KJV
Strong’s Greek-concordance defines the word triedin the above scripture as testing, examining or scrutinizing to see whether something is genuine or not. The second definition states that it is to recognize something as genuine after examination, to approve and deem worthy.
Most often we claim to have faith. But faith has to be scrutinized, examined, approved and deemed worthy through trials as Apostle Peter teaches.
I noticed sometime back where i currently live in Middle East, that many Middle Easterners and Asians women love to adorn themselves with gold jewellery. This is not just any jewellery, but legit gold jewellery which normally cost a fortune. Well, the ladies look more pretty, the earrings, rings and bracelets don’t easily lose color, making them worth those hundreds of Riyals and Dirhams.
Gold is not as glorious in its raw state. They say it looks brassy yellow and bright, with a bumpy texture. It has to go through a refining process of intense heating where the impurities come to the surface. It is then molded into these beautiful, and glorious…and super-expensive ornaments. Peter makes a contrast between our faith and gold. They both go through a similar refining process, but he deems faith to be of greater worth than gold!
Trials will always come…
Life trials and challenges will always come whether you are believer or not. That’s a given!
Our advantage as believers is the finished work of the cross. We, the believers are on the winning side! Jesus overcame powers, rulers and principalities of darkness when He triumphed on the cross. No matter what havoc these powers and principalities may try… (emphasis on try) to wreck in your life, Jesus already disarmed them and rendered them powerless. For this reason, we don’t scheme or compromise our way out of challenges as the world does, neither do we make idle confessions with our mouth concerning us or our present circumstance as they do. The believer engages God with more fervency during this heated time. You have to exercise your faith by crying out to God for help, confessing the Word of God turning it from print into your reality. Of cos, with the Holy Spirit helping you and working in you! In doing so, you add value to your faith!
A demarcation line is drawn of what becomes of the one who believes and the unbeliever after that season of examining and scrutinizing. This is where the Strong’s second definition comes in.
You are able to recognize genuine faith from what is not. For the believer, faith grows, there is a new song of praise on their lips, a new revelation and a new understanding of God is birthed! You become familiar with His ways and at the end of it all, God receives the praise and glory! Not man! But the unbeliever who probably relied on the arm of the flesh during a trying season will likely see how strong they were in their own eyes for bulldozing out of a challenge and prevailing circumstance! Sadly, they are also likely to give their self confidence, self-determination, their wisdom or skill all the credit!
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
Jeremiah 9:23-24ESV
God does not test us. But! He allows testing as in Job’s case. Through trials and testing, our carnal tendencies, wrong motives and impurities are continuously removed, just as gold is purified. We go through a purging process.
And as much as our faith is on test, the trials also reveal to us that God is consistent and committed to His Word! Remember the house (this can also rep’ a person) that was tested by the rains, floods and the strong winds that blew upon it and did not fall because it was founded on the Rock which is Christ? Matt 7:24-25. His Word will never fail us as long as we are rooted and grounded on it!
We need not to fear the testing season. EVERY person, from every nation, tribe, tongue, race or ethnic group has access to an audience with God! We all can know Him intimately during the seasons of trials, but then we have to chose. He has given us a free will. We can choose to turn to God and petition Him, or we can chose to go after our human wisdom. You know, If you cannot turn to God in seasons of despair and desperation, it is obvious that it will be harder to turn to Him in seasons when everything seems to be going well for you.
We can trust God through trials. God will never allow the heat to rise more than what you can handle. Neither will he allow the season of testing go to waste if you keep your heart open to learn, seek Him, and remain steadfast in your confession of Him. Your faith and character will take formation during those season even though you cannot feel it or immediately see it. Your prayers will be answered in ways you cannot imagine! You will begin to see how He’s been working behind the scene knitting the story of your life. You will also notice that you have become stronger, wiser, bolder, simply because of what you went through.
If you have been a believer for long, just look back and reflect. You can count a number to things you went through and you never cracked! You may even notice that God’s divine purpose for your life have all along been intertwined with the battles you faced and the trials you have overcome in the course of your life. Isn’t God grand? His ways and thoughts are way higher than ours!
My prayer for us today is that God may open our eyes to see the imprint of His hand leading us in every single detail and season of our life no matter how dark it seems. May the revelation of who He is and His plans concerning us become our reality this day. Like Job we can say, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You ~ Job 42:5
“For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned (rejected) Me, The fountain of living water, And they have carved out their own cisterns, Broken cisterns That cannot hold water
Jeremiah 2:13 Amp
You choose!
We have an open invitation to find delight and satisfaction in God.
Or we can chose to find delight in temporal/material things or vain idols (read; social media, gaming, and those other sources we drink from, that take center stage in our life) which are as broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Here is the deal, when you chose to drink from God every other fountain presented to you becomes a lesser delight!
Delight yourself in the LORD, And He will give you the desires and petitions of your heart
It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out
Pro 25:2 ESV
The Kingdom of God is for seekers! God, who is our King, has called us into a relation with Him and the major way we mature in this relationship is by seeking Him! Our diligence in searching out scriptures and fervency in prayers matures our knowledge of Him, increasing our spiritual capacity, influence, wisdom and material resources.
When Jesus overcame the cross, He got hold of everything…and i mean, literally everything we require for this life and for operating in godliness. Well now, we have access to an inheritance in God, which again as i mentioned, we have to pursue!
Sadly the greatest motivator for seeking God in our present age has become more about material provisions than it is about His nature and being! Truth is, God is worthy to be sought and worshipped whether we have unpaid bills or not!
There is no shorter route in encountering God and walking in the supernatural….but by SEEKING to know Him! Apparently, your knowledge of Him at one step in life, makes way for the next revelation of Him and the next! Precept upon precept, line upon line! We need to recalibrate our mind until seeking God becomes our daily pursuit. The more we seek Him, the more we fall in love with Him, and the more we find delight in serving God and His people. Even better, our focus shifts from temporary distractions and offenses to our heavenly Father.
And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth
Rev 5:10
Every believer is a king and priest unto God and, therefore, the promise of glory in seeking Him still stands! I don’t know about you, but I have found that whenever am prayerfully seeking God about a matter in my life, He always unveils a facet of Him that I didn’t know, when that prayer is answered. Sometimes, the revelation of God that i end up with, becomes more overwhelming more than the answer to my petition.
This must have been true also for Abraham our father of faith. He encountered the glory of God as Jireh (provider) and all-sufficient-One from a divine intervened as He was about to slay His only son, Isaac. Later on, we see God progressively and miraculously speak and reveal His glory to Abraham during a desperate time of need; one time as El Shaddai (All sufficient one) another as the ever-faithful and covenant-keeping God. This must left Abraham awe-struck, giving him the strength to press in for more of God…don’t you think? Today, we have countless songs based on this righteous man’s revelation of God’s glorious nature that we build our faith and confidence on.
Good news is that every believer has the privilege to encounter the glory of God and come into spiritual knowledge given as we diligently seek Him. See, when God’s glory is unveiled, it goes beyond what we can see in the physical. He fine-tunes our heart’s posture bringing us to a place of humility and dependence on Him. Our faith increases with every answered prayer and divine wisdom is given when a facet of His manifold wisdom is unveiled in our daily interactions with Him. This changes our heart, perspective, approach in life and our perception of God! Living in the spirit becomes more real than ever before at this point.
Clearly, the Bible has a lot of exhortation on seeking God. Here are a couple of scriptures that will encourage us in our pursuit of Him;
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.- Matt 7:7NKJV
Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually [longing to be in His presence] -1 Chronicles 16:11AMP
Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near – Isa 55:6 NKJV
If you seek [wisdom] as for silver and search for skillful and godly Wisdom as for hidden treasures, Then you will understand the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of [our omniscient] God – Pro 2:4-5 Amp
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. – Heb 11:6NKJV
I sought the Lord [on the authority of His word], and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears – Psm 34:4 AMP
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Psalm 105:3-4
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seek Him – Lam 3:25NASB
How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart – Psm 119:2 NASB
Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad -1 Chronicles 16:10 NASB
It is easier to reveal Jesus or teach people about Jesus when we have first allowed His Word to govern our belief system, making it our daily Kingdom lifestyle. You see, what you continually feed the innermost depths of your consciousness flows out of you with ease.
On the flipside, teaching or telling people about Jesus from Intellect alone will only build up intellect and more arguments.
BUT when we tell others about Jesus from a place of personal-experiential-knowledge and encounters with God and His word….then HIS LIFE (zoe) oozes from our innermost being bringing healing from the words we speak, it brings hope, Holy Spirit convictions, spiritual influence, divine impartation, divine knowledge, renewed strength and refreshment to God’s people! This can only be a working of the Holy Spirit…that overflows from our closet moments with God to the hearts of people!
He who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.’
John 7:38 AMP
My prayer for us today is that we will walk in the overflow of this Living water and continually dispense the Life of God(Zoe) to those who we come in contact with ❤
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves
James 1:22 BSB
The last part of this scripture comes out so strongly. Certainly, no one wants to be in that position. In the previous posts (Click here and here) i laid much emphasis on the need for our daily personal devotion, daily intake of the Word and fellowship with the Holy Spirit cause that’s how we get to constantly hear God and remain hungry for more.
You see, there are lengths, depths, and heights in the wisdom of God that every believer has access to, but we have to SEEK to know from Him and seek to WALK in it. Truth is, God is willing to reveal His wisdom to us, and He does so progressively and generationally. We make most out of our tenure here on earth as His ambassadors by yielding to Him, walking soberly in His word and obeying His commands. The next generations will get to hear and learn the greatness of our God from our life testimonies because we heard and obeyed. Just like Moses heed the call to God’s grand plan of delivering and leading Israelites out of captivity in Egypt. As a result, God’s fame has trickled down to many generations including ours today. Don’t we get stirred up when we hear how some of these great revivalists like John Wesley, Charles Finney, Evan Roberts, Smith Wigglesworth and others, did? How God moved mightily as they obeyed?
Well, back to today’s post. It is possible to hear, read or know the written word and do nothing about it. It is also possible to know the word whereas it has no effect on you! Unfortunately that’s a very bad place to be!
We have heard the same Good News that your ancestors heard. But the message didn’t help those who heard it in the past because they didn’t believe.
Heb 4:2 GWT
Studying the word of God is not something we do to heap up knowledge! Knowledge without application will not profit you much! The Word of God becomes profitable, when we hear it, receive it by faith, believe it and allow it to govern our thoughts and decisions in life. Today, I will share some few foundational practical things that I’ve practiced overtime in the effort of morphing from just being a hearer or mere reader to a doer of the word
1. Engage the Holy Spirit before your study
It is common to see people casually flip their bible to read or say, drive in a hurry to join a fellowship on Sunday morning (or Friday morning for those of us in the Middle East) without prior preparation in their heart. The suits, the dresses and colour blending on the physical are normally on point! But how about our spirit man? We need to prayerfully prepare our heart prior to our bible study or gatherings. Talk to God and express your need to hear the Holy Spirit speak to you and teach you something new that day! In doing so, you’ll be raising an expectation in your heart, which in turn, awakens your spiritual senses to hear God, to understand his ways and walk in His perfect will.
Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law
Psalm 119:18 NKJV
The psalmist must have seen this kind of prayer work wonders so much so, that he penned it down for us today. That scripture may sound simple and obvious, but making it your prayer will take you a long way! There are certain truths in scriptures that our physical eyes, ears and human intellect can not comprehend! But when the Holy Spirit enlightens us, He lives an imprint in our spirit.
Better still, by invoking the help of the Holy Spirit, we acknowledge His Lordship and we allow Him to function in His role as our teacher, guide and counsellor in our lives. That’s how we live a life led by the Spirit.
2. Counter thoughts and arguments with the Word
We live in times when very many voices are speaking competing for our attention. These voices are from within and around us and they all seem to be on a mission to bring us down into depression, discouragement, anxiety and hopelessness. There are many countless instances that I’ve had to pray for my mind, silencing these voices, arguments and oppressive imaginations within me because they choke the LIFE of God out of me. Our human mind and imaginations can sometimes play tricks on us by amplifying things that are not major, making them seem like a mountain when they are not. Even then, if they be mountains, we have the Word of God which gives us the provision to speak to mountains until they are leveled or cast away into the sea.
We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Cor 10:5 BSB
Search out scriptures that counter what you’re facing today. Through counter confessions, resist thoughts, accusations and opinions of people that are contrary to what God says about you. This activates your confidence in the sovereignty of God and your heart finds peace becoming a fertile ground that yields 30, 60 and100 fold.
3. Mix the Word with faith
Faith is like muscles that only grow when exercised. Faith comes to life in us when we exercise what we have heard, read or as we carry out those seemingly simple tagging and instructions from God on a daily basis.
There are times that God will require you to step out and begin something. I can count many instances i received a clear conviction to do something and feared so greatly. God is faithful, may sound so cliché, but it is an ancient TRUTH that will never-ever change! Once you make the first step by faith, God in His own wisdom knows how to send you help along the way. He begins to open your eyes to more opportunities, to greater grace, more wisdom and favour as you keep going and growing in Him. We have the father of faith, Abraham, who set out on a journey, not knowing where He was going but believed the Promise maker. Embarking on this journey of acting on God’s word, puts your faith into practice, increasing your inner strength to face or confront situations that earlier terrified you when that action or instruction existed as a command or idea in your head. Remember Gideon? Judges 6:11-34
You should also know that as long as you belong to the Kingdom of God, you walk, wake up, talk, sleep, eat, breath FAITH. See, every little or great thing in your life is, because God is. Learn to acknowledge him, as you take time to thank and worship Him for everything!
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Heb 11:6 NKJV
4. Confess and Meditate
Confession and meditation are my fave. Not because they are easy! But because they have basically become my life! The Spiritual world is ruled by words and we have to watch what we speak about us, about others, situations and life in general. Whatever you confess, whether good or bad, you’ll end up believing and seeing! We should be so practical and intentional in our confession, as it translates to our action and thought process. Expose yourself to the word daily, confess it, speak it and share your insights with others. These truths will begin to solidify in your spirit becoming your reflex. I recommend private and public confessions. Public professions of your faith hold you to a particular standard of walking the talk because of you don’t want to preach water and drink wine.
As part of your private confession, get into the habit of reading the scriptures to yourself loudly so that you can literally hear and hear those words again because that’s how faith comes.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Rom 10:17 NKJV
Meditation is a spiritual principle that the scripture recommends. The secular world will teach you to empty your mind, but the scripture recommends what we should fill our mind with; The Word! In many occasions i have found myself meditating, musing, muttering… pondering about a particular scripture and voila…! I get to see and understand that scripture in a way I didn’t see it before. I super-love when that happens 🙂 . Make meditation your daily habit. You will be surprised to know the loads of wisdom that God is willing to reveal to you through muses. Meditate when you’re driving, when taking a walk, on your way to work or when going about your business…and boom! godly counsel, ideas, insights and revelation will begin to flow to you.
Pinterest
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Josh 1:8
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. (KJV)
Psalm 1:1-2
Interestingly, God sanctifies our thoughts as we ponder… and mutter on His word. He gets rid of the old wineskin (old patterns of thinking) and pours out new wine (fresh insights, revelation and counsel) to your new wineskin (your renewed mind). There is no way God will entrust His insights and wisdom on a mind that sees impossibilities or resists His truth. You will need to have a renewed mind first.
Do you want to constantly hear God and do what He commands? My prayer for you today is that you find these practical approaches helpful in your personal devotion and daily walk with God. And May the Holy Spirit empower you to bear fruit as you yield to Him.
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’
Matt 4:4NKJV
When God speaks…He fills and satisfies our spiritual hunger leaving us stirred up for more! In the previous post Hungry and thirsty for righteousness we established that our spiritual appetite increases by day as we intentionally spend time with God in His written Word and in Prayer.
God is Spirit! And He has freely deposited the Holy Spirit in us to help us hear Him and know Him. The only way we can better understand the written Word of God including His ways, His thoughts and plans is by the help of the Holy Spirit in us. Daily fellowship with the Holy Spirit, brings us into greater wisdom, insights, understanding and revelation of God, which we cannot otherwise attain with our human mind and reasoning.
God speaks through His word
I love hanging out with zealous believers who have mastered the discipline of spending time with God. Most times even small conversations with them end up becoming a fresh of breath air to me. They will pull out a scripture in between a conversation, most of the time unconsciously, leaving me with those light-bulb-wow-moments! I get those wow-scripture-moments whenever my spirit captures a fresh word or new insights that stir my faith for more. Other times, i will catch these people making sincere statements in between conversations like, “God impressed this scripture in my heart…the Holy Spirit tagged this in my spirit…or this scripture came to life in me…”
When spending time in the word of God becomes our lifestyle, speaking scriptures and constantly hearing God becomes our new normal!
Truth is, God is always speaking! Whatever He speaks or whatever insight or revelation He gives is normally within the confines of His Word. We will not learn to hear God accurately by attending church once or twice a week only! We have to complement corporate fellowship, with our daily personal devotion! We have to diligently come before him with an expectation to know Him from the written Word on our own. Immersing ourselves in the Word, paves way for the Holy Spirit to brood over the word we have heard, read or stored up in our heart, bringing it to life in us!
The Spirit is the one who gives life! Human strength can do nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are from that life-giving Spirit
John 6:63 [CEV]
As new covenant believers, the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is our greatest advantage! Our walk of faith is real! It becomes an adventure with God because of this constant communication with Him. We begin to hear him speak and we become transformed and aligned to the will of our heavenly Father. It is by the leading and counsel of the Holy Spirit, that we access solutions to every day challenges, receive real time guidance, get clarity over matters and receive comfort when discouraged. We don’t have to go about life alone and second guessing!
Today, ask the Holy Spirit to open your spiritual eyes and understanding. Gradually, your spiritual senses and sensitivity will heighten. The reality of the written word of God will begin to unfold in your day to day activities as you go about your business! With your daily fill of the written word, faith will rise, your spirit will continually come alive, and your heart will be filled with hope and joy in the face of tribulation. Even when it seems like nothing much is happening on the physical, your spirit man will be conscious of the fact that you are not alone and God is at work.
Matt 5:6 (GNT)- Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully!
When I was new in faith, I could easily spot people whose fellowship with God seemed intimate and deep (at least in my eyes). I would base this on their zeal during prayers, their talk about God and how they’d express their need-ness for God during worship. I also had great admiration for believers who displayed a-not-just-any-ordinary-kinda-in-depth knowledge of the Word of God. That said, my admiration and desire to interact with these spiritual-contagious lot of people hasn’t changed years later.
As a new believer, I wanted what they had so badly but I didn’t know how to get there. I knew one thing though, that if I kept growing in my knowledge of God and attending as many church conferences as I used to back in the day 😉 i might maybe…just maybe have what they have, someday!
Over the years I have grown wiser and learnt that it is the Holy Spirit that makes all the difference in the life of a believer. That hunger and thirst inside you is a working of the Holy Spirit at the first place. As soon as we confess Jesus by faith, the Holy Spirit begins to draw us into fellowship with Him and our Father. He leads, teaches, guides, comforts and convicts us so that we can stand right with God. As you willfully respond and obey, His influence within you and around you increases becoming visible. Your hunger, as well as, inner vitality in your spirit man grows stronger too even with your daily fill from God. Interesting huh? the more you receive this life of God, the more you want more! This is why some people seem more hungry for God than others. Nobody has the gift of hungering for God! 🙂 ….nah! It is our daily communion with the Holy Spirit that keeps that well of life (Zoe) from running dry, bringing us to new depths of God’s wisdom and knowledge!
O God of my life, I’m lovesick for you in this weary wilderness. I thirst with the deepest longings to love you more, with cravings in my heart that can’t be described. Such yearning grips my soul for you, my God!I’m energized every time I enteryour heavenly sanctuary to seek more of your powerand drink in more of your glory
Psalm 63:1-2 (TPT)
I know for a fact that you have read or have heard someone say that the Holy Spirit is a person. When you keep engaging your friends or if you cut off conversations with them, they are likely to reciprocate in equal measure. This is so with your daily engagement with the Holy Spirit!
He is a person! He is God…and He dwells inside of you and seeks to relate with you! The more you continually stir yourself up and commune with Him, the more this fellowship overflows on the outside and spills over to those who come in contact with you. Even without constantly confessing you are a believer, someone is able to pick out something different or unique about you!
Spend time with the Holy Spirit daily in prayer and by feasting on the Word of God. You will see your appetite and priorities change!
We live in a time, whereby the believers, the church…well, basically everyone wants a quick way out to eliminate suffering and challenges.
But, as long you are the righteousness of God in Christ and have a relationship with God, trials and tribulations are bound to come. Trials are part and parcel of the package since faith is tested through the fire of affliction. This is the process by which faith thrives best and one by which we become perfected and matured in Christ.
How should we then respond to trials and afflictions..? JOY-full! (Huh…and do we?)
My brothers and sisters, be very happy when you are tested in different ways James 1:2 (GNT)
We can only consider trials joyous only if we take every challenges that comes our way as an opportunity to grow our roots deeper in the Knowledge of God through the word and in prayer. The trials are not pleasant at the moment of affliction but it is then that God reveals himself to us most, as we talk to Him and confess His Word.
It is also then that our faith is built up and our spiritual capacity increased, so that we can become the person we ought to become in Christ.
The way we respond to trials matters, whether it be in prayer, believing the Word or by sitting back and giving up! This responses define the sphere of our physical and spiritual influence (metron – in greek) and how much further-up we can go in the Knowledge and revelation of God.
Whenever you look back at your life, you should see how your past afflictions and victories sort of relates to your divine calling or purpose.
As for David, he first fought the bears, then he got the courage to face Goliath, and later-on faced Saul and his army.
These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world – 1 Peter 1:7
We should never stop to think that we can fight giants while at the onset of every challenge we pull out the escapist mentality.
Neither should we waste the season of sorrow waiting for whatever outcome which most time ends up labeled “the will of God”. Things don’t just happen, they are made to happen by prayers and confessing the Word of God… don’t you forget that🙂
Let every season of sorrow propel you to raise a cry to God and with vigor, press through every trouble because you have the assurance of the presence of God.
And as you do so, just know that you can only have authority over that which you have already conquered. Selah
Jesus healed the sick and made them whole in more ways than one. He spoke healing, commanded an unclean spirit to leave, with mud healed a blind man, and to another laid hands. He still is this great physician to-date as He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Some few months back, I was in this late-night prayer fellowship and boom! …God released healing to a man by word of knowledge through the minister of the Word that night. The man had been unwell for quite a long period of time and I could tell from our conversation after the meeting that he had somehow leaned in on the medical reports which never seemed to change much, during his frequent hospital visits. But now, the Lord had handpicked him in this meeting, spoke concerning his medical condition to a stranger he only met that night during prayers and had his hope restored. The man rejoiced, praised God and couldn’t keep silent about how he had battled with that condition.
Recently, i met a young girl who had a bowing deformity but unlike the man, her condition was restored through medical treatment at AIC Cure International Hospital, Kijabe https://www.curekenya.org/. I will be sharing her story herein.
John chapter 9 is one of my favorite healing stories as it makes a beautiful script with a happy ending. Jesus heals a man born blind in a very unconventional way. Soon after the man’s sight is restored, he’s unrecognizable and……he just can’t shut up about Jesus! Jesus healed him! He gave him something he’s never had from birth…eyesight! But the neighbors and the legalistic Pharisees seemed disgusted at this breakthrough.
His first encounter was with the unbelieving neighbors. They
formerly knew him as the blind beggar and thought the man must have had a
look-like or even maybe, just maybe, a twin they did not know of. They sought
to know how he was healed but were still unconvinced. He told them:
“…a man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, Go to the pool of Si-lo’am, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.” (John 9:11 KJVER)
It must have sounded untrue or impossible because the neighbors did not stop at that. They took him to the authorities to launch further investigations. Still the blind man gave them the same answers as before and at one point got pissed at their constant questioning because he had said everything he had encountered.
Jesus must have really
done a pretty good job when He restored the man’s eyes because even the Jewish
leaders did not believe he had been blind (v.18) .They kept the man in holding
and summoned his parents to find out whether his story checks up.
“…We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: but by what means he now sees, we know not; or who has opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself” answered His parents (John 9:20-21KJVER)
The man had encountered the greatest physician who changed a condition that was seemingly impossible and unbelievable. Jesus had earliermade one thing clear that probably the neighbors and Pharisees could not take in; “God receiving glory”
“It was not that this man sinned, or his parents: but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3 ESV)
It is tragic that instead of seeing God at work, celebrating
a miracle and salvation that had finally come, the society, leaders and family
disassociated with the man making him feel bad for a good thing that had just
happened in his life. Sounds familiar? Would they have the man beg all his
life?
Well, this is what I find interesting. The man would rather
stick with his confession about Jesus and be an outcast than tell the Pharisees
what they wanted to hear. He holds fast to his confession and thereafter Jesus
comes seeking after him, re-introduces Himself to the-now-visionary man, and
openly rebukes the seeing-but-blind Pharisees (v.35-41). Don’t you love such
happy ending! Jesus, the King of King stands up for the man! How cool is that
😉
I shared the scripture above to share this modern day story of a young girl named Emma who was born with a deformity that may have defined her or led to questions similar to those the disciples (or maybe society) asked about the blind mind. Who did sin? (v.2)
Emma was born with a deformity known as Infantile Blount’s disease which appears in the form of bowed legs. After several failed attempts to find cure and treatment, God through a stranger, provided information that led the parents to find help in a children’s Hospital in Kijabe, Kenya. At least unlike the blind man’s story in John 9, close friends and family joined in support as Emma’s parents sought treatment and raised money to correct the deformity. Her now restored legs look surreal and unbelievably healed.
Let’s just say that God’s glory was in display in this 5-year-old as she went through her healing journey just as Habakkuk 2:14 says:
“For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.”
