As much as panic and worry is ravaging the land, I want to share with you one thing that must be a constant in you as a believer which is the sure guarantee of victory. We cannot afford to lose out of all that the Lord would be doing with all that the Devil intends at this time.
Remember how the Devil thought he was killing Jesus, thinking he could silence the saviour and take over the authority. The whole event looked as though the Devil was winning but the wisdom of God is immeasurable. The death of One led to the birth of an Innumerable Army of the Lord and glorification of The One. The Devil is still in that business and God is never asleep from turning it to multiplication.
Your faith is the ticket to surviving through this season. However, some may not survive, making the most of all that God would do through the storm, and, these are those with LITTLE FAITH.
The disciples were in the boat, taking a journey after Jesus had left them to go pray. Night fell and out on the lake the disciples were in trouble. The wind had risen and they were fighting heavy seas. They fought victoriously and had a safe sail through the morning.
They just had a terrible night and still catching some rest from victory. Then at about four o’clock in the morning they saw a being coming to them, walking on the water. Even though their expertise could fight a heavy sea, they could not hold their breadth seeing a human-like creature walking on water. They concluded it must be a ghost. This was beyond what they had read in the books and seen in their entire adult life. Only a ghost could pull this kind of stunt they said within themselves.
Alas! It was Jesus, the master, who departed to the hills the last night. Jesus immediately spoke to them, reassuring them not to be afraid that He was the one. Immediately something arose in Peter. He connected with what Jesus was doing. Then he asked: “Sir, if it is really you, tell me to come over to you, walking on the water”. The Lord asked that Peter come along. And after Jesus’ word, Peter also began to walk on water. He was moving towards Jesus until he became so conscious of what was going on in his environment, then he began to sink; he was greatly terrified.
Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and rescued him and said to him “O man of little faith” and further asked Peter why he doubted Him.
Peter would not have walked on the water at all if he didn’t have faith. It took faith in Jesus for him to have taken the first step. It is either a man has faith or doesn’t have it. Doubt came in and that was what changed the story. Doubt is one moment of fear and that is an attack on faith when brooded upon. Peter definitely had faith but this measure of faith is not scaled in quantity but quality. So, Jesus referring to Peters’ faith as little is not in degree. In this regard, it is not correct to compare faith in relation to results.
Faith’s measure is in abiding!
If it were to be about results, how do you measure that of Rehab the harlot that earned her a slot in the hall of faith? How do we gauge her result to that of Abraham, Samuel, Gideon and others? All she did was abide, staying with believing that the God of Israel was going to give Jericho to Israel just by the testimonies of the wonderful works of God she had heard.
That was where Peter missed it. The little faith in this scripture is not in scale, it is in how long he could endure without wavering which is not about the large amount of the faith. Faith is not a game that you are given in degree to get exhausted after a particular volume of use. It is not in volume, it is in abiding. So, a believer can really start out strong trusting God for certain things believing but at the sight of some difficulties, shift focus from abiding in the word of God (He told me to walk). That’s what it means to have a little faith.
Things are getting scarier around the world; loneliness is increasing due to a halt on social activities; economies have shut down and there is news of recession all around; hunger is in the land and the fear of job loss and pay cut is everywhere. It would take men of faith and not little faith to survive the times and season without sinking. Sinking here is not necessarily physical death from the virus but your devotion to God and the blessedness of abiding.
Just like the three Hebrew boys; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you should say to yourself that “no matter how threatening it becomes, the only constant thing is my life in God.” You can’t afford to bow to the king’s idol to survive.
Just keep holding on; even in the fire, He always shows up. Don’t give in to the ideas of the world.
Be Innovated
Olufemi Ibitoye
Weldone sir..
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