“For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” – I John 5: 4-5.
God’s Word works for everyone – if the person will only believe it – not try to believe. The Word won’t work if you just try it or hope it will work. No, it’s believing faith – apart from physical circumstances – that gets the job done. True Christians walk by faith and not by sight.
In the natural, we do have to go by our senses – walk by trusting only what you are sure of; for example, trust in your sight, trust in your smell or in your feelings. Many people are trying to believe God with their physical senses or with natural human sense. And if their physical senses tell them their prayer has not been answered, then they believe their physical senses, instead of the Word of God. But what do your physical senses have to do with the Bible? God’s Word is firm, whether you feel like it is or looks like it is or not. God’s Word is true all the time regardless of your feelings. No matter what the circumstances, God’s Word remains true. Therefore, you must put your faith in what the Word says rather than in what your senses tell you (Judges 7: 2-22).
One of the greatest mistakes many believers make is to confess their faith in the Word of God, and at the same time, contradict their confession by wrong action. For example, we may say that we are trusting God to provide finances, but at the same time we are worrying and fretting about how we are going to pay our bills. There is no corresponding action there. One minute we confess that the Word of God is true, and the very next moment we repudiate everything we say by wrong actions. Beloved, your actions must correspond with your believing if you are going to receive from God. James 1: 22 says, “But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” We have many self-deluded people. They blame their faith failures on the devil or on someone else when really they have deluded themselves. They are not acting on the Word or being doers of the Word. The action of a doer of the Word must coincide with his/her confession.
Doers of God’s Word withstand life’s storms. In Matthew 7: 24-27, Jesus says, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house, it will not collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and does not obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse like a mighty crash.” Most people miss what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is talking about how different people react to the storms of life. When the storms of life come to many, they fall or backslide spiritually under the pressure of the storms. Their problem is that they are not doers of the Word. They are not practicing the instruction of the Word; the Word has not been built in to them.
Take note that it is not the storms of life that defeat us. If the storms of life defeat us, we will all be defeated because the storms of life come to all of us. Storms of life which connote those trying and difficult times which tend to roll-in in a period of bewilderment and perplexity; dealing with a difficult or broken relationship; going through financial crisis; the death of someone we love; dealing with rebellious children; being laid off from work; dealing with a conflict situation at home; not being blessed with children many years after marriage, and so on. The devil will try anything to get you to take your eyes off the Word; he would want you to concentrate on the physical senses and the situation around you instead of on the promises of God. Some people face the same storms that others face and yet they are not defeated, while others who face the storms are destroyed. Those who are not defeated, act on God’s Word. The defeated ones may be saved on believing in Christ, yet they do not have corresponding action to go along with their faith; and they have not taken time to build their faith on the solid foundation of God’s Word. The winds of adversity blows and the floods come, but he/she who is a doer of the Word can hold fast to his/her confession of faith, for he/she knows that God cannot fail for He watches over His Word to perform it (Jeremiah 1: 12).
Note also, that talkers of the Word mentally assent that the Word of God is true and powerful; but the Word does not do them any good or profit them because they are not making blessings and the benefits of God’s Word their own faith. Faith receives the promised blessing! Faith appropriates what God had already promised in His Word (Deuteronomy 6: 3).
The way you make God’s Word your own is to act upon it. You do what it says. Talking doubt, failure, and weakness brings confusion to your spirit or into your life. The Bible says, “Trust in the Lord with all your hearts, and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3: 5). The only way to trust in the Lord is to trust in His Word. You cannot trust in the Lord without trusting in His Word. God and His Word are one. When you trust in the Word with all your heart and stop leaning upon human reasoning and stop looking to people for deliverance, then you have actions that correspond with your faith – actions that are in perfect fellowship with your confession of faith.
God is a faith God. If you desire to walk in Him, then you have to walk by faith. Regardless of the circumstances and the evil influences of the world around us, let us turn every problem over to His care (I Peter 5: 7). Learn to put God to walk for you. He wants to go to work for you. He wants to work on your behalf. But as long as you hold on to your problems and cares and try to solve them yourself, He cannot help you. It is wonderful to be able to turn your troubles over to Him.
Have a fruitful week as you continue in total obedience to His Word.
Your brother, Vicar & Archdeacon
S. Igein Isemede