Faith
YOU CAN DENY YOURSELF THE PROMISES OF GOD
The word of God is yes and amen. We know this on our fingertips. Heaven and earth shall pass away but His words cannot pass away. We read it and we often sing with it. We also know that His promises cannot be faulted. Thousands of dead witnesses attested to these sayings. Thousands alive affirm them. The big question is, “Why are the promises not effective in our lives?”
The Scripture is replete with awesome promises from God. They are sacrosanct. Nothing can change them. As I said, we are not ignorant of most of the promises but in Hebrews 4:2, the Bible says, “... The word preached did not profit them NOT BEING MIXED WITH FAITH in them that heard it.”
We have many books on faith yet faith seems elusive to hundreds of believers. Unfortunately, there is no other way we can prove God without believing Him implicitly but a wishy-washy kind of faith cannot move the hand that rules the world. It is your faith in the Word that can prove its authenticity to you beyond every split of doubt. It also shows you that God is behind His words to fulfill them.
For God to perform what He promised you, you must agree with Him. In Amos 3:3, the Scripture says that two cannot walk together unless they agree. The only way you can agree with God is to believe what He said even when it is contrary to common sense – when it seems not to make sense and it does many times. The truth is that common sense to you. Yea, many times, His instructions do not make sense. I want you to know that when God’s word seems out of place with what you know, He wants to know how much confidence you have in Him and His word to you. Examples abound in the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the Land of promise. The great news is that Moses did whatever God told him and he saw results. However, none of the people that did not believe God to the end made it to the end. I should not fail to point out that the journey of the Israelites to the Land of promise is the exact picture of our journey to Heaven. Circumstances may differ but the underlying principle is the same.
If someone promised you something, one way to get the promise is to go and take it. However, before you go for it, you must believe that he or she can be trusted. The only way you can get any promise of God is to believe Him. Yea, most of His promise sound too good to be true. To push this point a little further, some of them come at such times when it looks impossible for them to come true. In all, to give Him time to do what He said calls for faith and patience.
On the other hand, the Bible says that without faith, it is impossible to please Him, Hebrews 11:6. Conversely, if you do not have faith in what He said, you displease Him. In addition, Romans 14:23 says, “…. Whatever is not of faith is sin …” In 1Corinthians 2:5, the Scripture says that your faith should not stand in wisdom (especially the wisdom of the world). If you wait to ‘reason God’s promise out’ before you believe, you will miss out.
The problem is not with reading, hearing or talking about faith. It is putting faith to work. It is having faith. What does it mean for one to have faith? The apostle Paul gave us a window into what it means. In Acts 27:25, Paul says, “… I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me.” Paul knew that what God told him must happen. As he spoke those words, the storm was still rocking their ship but he did hear from God. What he was certain of was not mere head knowledge. That was something far above everything he knew. He was so sure of it. He was so certain about it not because of anything he could place a finger on but because God said so. This is the big difference between those that receive the promises of God and those who do not.
Those scriptures that came screaming at you; those words from a man or a woman of God, that spoke direct to your inner being; those promises God made to you through dreams, prophets or preachers are sure and certain. Do not allow any foreign teaching take them from you. The tragedy is that if you do not believe that they will happen, they may never happen. The greatest news is that if you believe them, they must materialize. They is no power, nor ever can be, that can stop God when He decides to move on your behalf.
The apostle Paul believed what the angel of God told him. It may surprise you to know that the people that spoke those words of God to you were angels of God. Yea, you know some of them personally or you may have something against any of them, it does not make any difference. God has sworn that the word that went forth from Him could not return to Him without fulfilling what He sent it to do. What that means is that He is fully behind every word to make it come true. Unfortunately, the only person that can stop it is you – when you refuse to believe Him. Yea, the Apostle Paul did not base his faith on the circumstances around him. The truth is that the very ship he was traveling in was marked for destruction. He saw it. He knew it because the messenger of God said so. However, because God said that no one would die in the disaster that was about to happen, Paul believed it.
Like other men and women of faith, Abraham had the same opinion. His case was beyond remedy. Everyone knew that Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was barren. The doctors knew she could not get pregnant and by human judgment, based on her age, she was a write-off. There was nothing Abraham could lay hands on to encourage him to believe what God said but because God said so, that settled it for him. The nation of Israel is a living testimony to the faith Abraham had in what God said.
Let me inform you that the decision for God to give you what He said was settled before the foundation of the earth was laid. According to the author of ‘Your hidden treasure, God’s will for you,’ “The only thing you cannot get from God is what your faith has not taken hold of.” By implication, you can get anything from God when your heart is saturated with faith in Him and in His word.
The danger of following God without faith is that disaster is bound to happen. There are no two ways about it – you must fall somewhere along the way. The truth is that God is an embodiment of faith. When He says anything, He considers it done. When He said, “Let there be light,” It did not cross His mind whether it would be done or not. He knew that it was done. Therefore, it came to be. He tells you to consider those things that are not as though they were. This is the faith that gets what God promised. Our journey is a journey of faith and without faith, we will be riding for a fall. This was clearly shown in the journey of the children of Israel to the land of promise. As I said, that journey was in many ways a replica of our journey to Heaven. Among other things, they heard God’s word, they felt his awesome power and they saw many signs and wonders as many of us have seen and heard today. Unfortunately, most of them did not make it to the finishing line. Why? They failed to believe God – their faith did not take hold of the words spoken to them.
We might have attended seminars and conferences. We might have experienced Gods power in many different ways but how much do we believe Him when we encounter obstacles on the way. Yea, the children of Israel encountered oppositions beyond their power; there were forces far above their ability but God saw them through all of them but there was a but. Many of them that left Egypt did not make it to Canaan. It is heart breaking. Among the thousands that left Egypt, only two of them made it to the Land of promise. The only difference is that these two followed God with everything in them. They believed Him completely. They knew that He who made the promise was more than able to perform it.
In Hebrews 3:12-19 (abridged) the Scripture says, “Take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief … lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin … To whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
God’s promises are sure. His promises are certain but beware of unbelief. It may not only cost you God’s promises, it is poised to snatch heaven away form the hearts of many. Many things fight against man from having faith in God and His word. Sin is not the only culprit in this area. Science, technology, human philosophy and tradition seem to have driven away faith from the heart of many people. We aught to know how grossly inadequate and unreliable these things are when placed in balance with “the least spiritual matter.” Sure, some of them have helped improve our lives in diverse ways but the highest level of science, technology and philosophy cannot weigh a microgram when placed in balance with the least grain of spiritual issue. The truth is that there is no way we can compare the two. The former is too light to be weighed while the latter is too heavy to be measured. Do not allow yourself to be carried away by some deceits of men.
The Bible says in Hebrews 4:7 and 11, “… Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart… Let us Labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
By
Chris Anianwu
Some of his manuscripts include,
• Your Hidden Treasure, God’s will for you
• Your family triangle
• Leadership, Essentials for Godly Leaders
• The Earth sits on a time bomb
• The music of the mind
• Reflection without mirror - what is your life?
• Children’s book – Animal World Stories etc.
A Short Message:
• If anyone could help translate books from English to Japanese or Chinese, that would be appreciated.
• Some Christian Publishers want to publish some of the books but they are asking for what they call ‘author participation fee.’ If anyone would be kind enough to help by providing the fee or part of it, that would be greatly appreciated - to His glory. One of the publishers has sent in the contract via courier service but nothing could be done without the author participation fee.
Contact - Email: [email protected]
Anianwu Obinna Christian
c/o Anianwu Ikenna William
3318 Tienmann Avenue
Bronx
NY 10469
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