Faith and Favour: The Two Towers
Disclaimer: this blog page: Ladi's musings is a product of the foolishness of one Ladi, who decided to put his innermost thoughts and conversations into letters for the world to read, and if possible, be helped. Thus, no need to take any element of the artistry as a veiled insult of any kind.
Start:
in God or the God kind of faith from Pastor Poju Oyemade. If you know him, tell him I said "Hi and Thank you".
I recently observed something strange (for want of a better word). I got some blessings that I had no faith for. This is especially interesting because, the Bible clearly states that without faith, it is impossible to please God. In fact, without unwavering faith, don't expect to get anything from God according to Apostle James.
So then, is it that I had faith, but wasn't aware of it or was there something else involved?
I studied a little bit about some of the miracles Jesus performed, and I discovered something interesting: not all the people who received healing and deliverance from Jesus had faith to receive it. I will give some examples:
1) Peter's mum: Jesus just got to Peter's house, saw Peter's mum was sick, and healed her with a touch.
2) The demoniac: He was totally out of his senses and completely controlled by demons, no one could be around him, but Jesus went there and healed him anyway.
3) The impotent man by the pool of Bethesda: He had been by the pool for 38 years, and had come to the firm conclusion based on evidence that for him to get healed, he needed to get into the pool of water before anyone else when the angel stirs it, and for him to get into the water, he needed the help of another person - him being impotent. So when Jesus approached him, he had no faith to receive from Jesus because he didn't even know who he was. In fact, all he wanted to hear from Jesus was: "I am the man who will push you into the water before any one else when it is stirred". But Jesus did so much better, he healed him completely.
4) The widow whose son was raised from the dead: Jesus was passing by jeje, nobody called for him or anything like that, the child's mother was inconsolable, she had no faith to see her son alive again and Jesus raised up that boy from the dead.
I will stop at these examples... Four is more than enough to establish a pattern.
This scripture came to mind, while I was typing this and I had a fresh understanding of what it meant...
Luke 4:24-27 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bible.kingjamesbiblelite
Is it not clear that both Naaman and the widow were not people of faith? Yet they enjoyed the miraculous from God!
My submission is that they enjoyed the Favour of God.
Favour is what many people define grace to be. Favour is a disrupter in that it qualifies the unqualified. Favour knows that you have not heard from God on a matter (perhaps you have not even prayed about it) but God comes through regardless. Before you decide to discard this message, I want you to think about all the great things that has happened in your life. Now, can you truly say all of them happened because you had faith to receive?
One prayer God has taught me to pray which I am allowed to share is: "when I do not have faith to receive any particular blessing from you Lord, let your Favour upon me release it to me."
What does a person have to do to get the Favour of God? I believe, for the Christian in particular, full acceptance of Jesus is important. In the text quoted above, Jesus said: "Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country."
Jesus' country today is the Church (the Kingdom of God) , and His fellow citizens are Christians and Angels. And this line of thought begs the question: yes, you claim Jesus is your Lord and Savior, but have you truly accepted Him for who He is? Do you really know Him?
Sister, relax with the crypto mining and pick up your Bible, read it and pray the Holy Spirit to teach you through it about who Jesus truly is.
May He continue to Favour us all.
Yes, I remember another scripture that relates faith with Favour. Both of them are regarded as shields.
Ephesians 6:16
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Psalms 5:12
For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
Both Faith and Favour are shields for the righteous. They are strong towers that the righteous run into, and they are saved.
We therefore access God's grace not only by faith, but also by His Favour.
End.
`Ladi Obidairo
Altar Server, All Saints Anglican Church.
Comments
Post a Comment