FAITH ON CRUTCHES

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrew 11:1

Just imagine yourself unable to move your own weight around….just for a moment. Then again, imagine a little change in your situation because you have something to help support your weight…that’s right; crutches.  For someone in need, crutches can seem like a god-send.  You see for a long while, I tried to convince myself that what I had was better than not having at all. In the past 2 years, my faith had been tested and stretched to the limit. My faith had been shaken and turned inside out…in a sense…my faith had been exposed.

And because of this…my faith was sure….but it lacked the certainty of the unseen. My hope was still intact…but my vision was distorted. As I began to seek the Lord about my faith’s condition, He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to answer…. not until recently. His answer came in as a shock to my system: “YOUR FAITH IS ON CRUTCHES.”

In otherwise, the Lord didn’t come to offer me good wishes and hope for a speedy recovery something that I had been seeking from Him all throughout my shakings. No…instead He was offering me more:FAITH WITHOUT CRUTCHES…a NOW faith.  Just like Jesus had asked the man who had been an invalid for 38 years… He is asking you and I today. “Do you want to get well?” And I suspect your answer as a good as mine. Yes, Lord!

Your faith need not be on crutches. He is saying to you and I today;

“Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:7

 

 

 

 

THE ONLY GUARANTEE

No-one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU. Joshua 1:5

A Guarantee according to my Oxford dictionary is: formal promise to do something or that a thing is of specified quality and durability; thing offered as security.

It is just a little over 2 years when my family up stakes and moved from my husband’s home country, Poland and headed west to England in the UK. The excitement and hope we carried along with us was unprecedented. Of course, we had SOMEONE going before us to prepare the way.  Like Joshua’s time, we had done our homework. We had allowed ourselves to spy on the land we were going to settle in. And the report was all good.

But alas, as soon as we got off the bus…we were all on our own! There was no-one to meet us on the other side. We didn’t know where to start to begin us.  With limited resources in our pockets, we did eventually manage to get accomodation albeit with much difficulties attached to it. The challenge of looking for jobs and with money quickly running out made matters more complicated.

At the back of my mind….there was always the thoughts of GOD….yes, GOD. But…it wasn’t GOD as I had come to know Him. You see, faced with all these challenges, I couldn’t understand why God couldn’t come through when we need Him the most. My Father seemed as if He had failed to keep His word; I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU.

But… truth be told. He was there. He was there when I questioned; He was there when my husband got his first job…and 2 months later, I joined him. He was there when we moved into our first house on our own; He was there when dad fell ill and later went to be with the Lord a couple of months later. He was there when I doubted His ability to deliver and above all… He was there to meet me on the OTHER END.

As a child of God, I now realised that His GUARANTEE does not cover me  from pain, death, lack, destruction and all kinds of adversity. His ONLY GUARANTEE is a continual everlasting presence from the beginning, in-between and at the end of whatever life brings my way. Read Romans 8:35-39 and be encouraged.

He is a covenant keeping God!

A HANDSOME MAN FORGOTTEN

Genesis 39:6-7… Now Joseph was WELL-BUILT and HANDSOME, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

Genesis 40:23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not REMEMBER Joseph; he FORGOT him.

You are a Godly young man…hardworking, handsome and yes, a visionary with the future before you. The favorite of your father among many brothers. Your daddy makes you a coat of many colors which makes your stand out among the crowd. But the worst part of it all is you love to dream…and retell your dreams to a not very enthusiastic audience. YOUR NAME IS JOSEPH.

And while from the outside, everything seems to be going well, things are brewing from the inside. Before you know it…you are a SLAVE in a foreign country. But while you are not free…the things of nature still take their course. Oh…YOU ARE NOW A FINE HANDSOME YOUNG MAN…and a married woman cannot resist you. But you have not changed a bit. Your values are still intact. But this time, from the outside, everything seems to be going wrong, but things from the inside are unusual calm. Before you know it….you are a PRISONER paying for a crime you never committed. But while you are not free…the things of God take their purposed cause. Oh…YOU ARE NOW AN INTERPRETER OF DREAM…and a cupbearer is restored to his position. But your position is unchanged. Your existence is soon FORGOTTEN.

SUFFERING: A COMPASS TO WHOLENESS

James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face TRIALS OF MANY KINDS, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be MATURE and COMPLETE, not lacking anything.

A COMPASS according to Wikipedia is a NAVIGATIONAL INSTRUMENT for determining direction relative to Earth’s magnetic poles.

Suffering for a Christian also works in the same way as the compass. I have heard this question asked over and over again. WHY DO GOOD PEOPLE SUFFER? Or, IS IT NECESSARY FOR A CHILD OF GOD TO GO THROUGH SUFFERING? Before I answer these questions let me put the record straight. SUFFERING is a part and parcel of our everyday life…e.i for the unbeliever and the believer alike.

Psalm 90:10 The length of our days is seventy years or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but TROUBLE AND SORROW for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

But here is the difference. For a believer, suffering is a means to an end and not the end itself. Like the above scripture puts it….trials of many kinds will come to test our faith. And when we have endured suffering, it produces in us, MATURE CHARACTER and makes us COMPLETE or in other words, gives us WHOLENESS! Hence, good people or the child of God will endured suffering because, we live in a fallen world, and secondly God allows us to suffer so that we may also share in the sufferings of Christ and in turn, we will be glorified in Him.

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