FAITH ON TRIAL

In the early hours of Good Friday in 2011, I woke up with the most confused look ever. I was in labour with my second child and I didn’t see it coming. The mucous plug had come out but there were no contractions. So I rushed to the hospital, when I got there, the hospital was very quiet and I wondered. Then I realized that the workers were on break for the Easter. I even forgot it was Easter! How could I? I have been nesting LOL. The Doctor on duty examined me and said oh I cannot feel your baby. Then I gasped! Really! I don’t believe it! Do you feel the baby he asked? Yes, I replied faintly. I was losing hope then I pulled myself together and said  to myself, my baby cannot die like that, it just cannot happen. I quietly said a heartfelt prayer to God and immediately my faith grew and my strength was renewed. Then the Doctor came with all his gadgets and performed an examination on me and said Oh! The baby is alive! I quickly smiled and said I was never going to fall for that. I really had FAITH!  Some hours later, there were still no contractions, I was just worn out. So they had to induce labour and the pain was very excruciating. After going through all that and with God by my side I pushed out the most beautiful baby girl I had ever seen, a precious gift from God. God blessed me with the perfect gift ever, I was so overwhelmed. My sufferings turned out to be a blessing and most importantly my faith in God heightened and I believed Him without any reasonable doubt. Hebrews 11:6 sums it all up by saying “And without Faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that he exists and that He reward those who earnestly seek Him".

MY PILLOW IS WET, PULL THE COMFORTER OVER MY HEAD

Are you lost in the world? Is your world crumbling? Life is full of complexities that sometimes we find ourselves entangled in a problem in one way or another. Do you feel like nothing makes sense anymore? You have tried all solutions, it is just not working. You feel like giving up on life. Friends and family have dejected you. You suddenly feel you are at an empty nest stage. Checking again, you just turned 30 and have a couple of grey hairs on your head. Don't be too hard on yourself, try prayer, through Christ Jesus for in Him there is hope. He will help you be the change that you need, for Christ in you, the hope of glory. James said in Chapter 1:2-3 “My brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patient have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing”.

Jesus Christ is your comfort in all things. He is the one who can comfort you so that you can lend a comforting hand to others when the need arises. 2 Corinthians 1;3 says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us in our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort  with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

SEE SAW, UP AND DOWN

I remember my childhood years when I used to play this game; it was one game I really enjoyed. When one side goes up the other side goes down. I am going to relate this game to having Christ in your life. When Christ  in your life goes up, things of the flesh goes down so that you are transformed by the renewal of your mind so that you don’t conform to this world  and you may prove what the will of God is, that which is acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2)

Furthermore, when we are strengthened in Christ the goal is to make Him our only consolation. We pass through many “trials” or I would like to call it “strengtheners”. In 2 Corinthians 4; 16-17 Paul said “therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, this is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”.

When you are going through such trials or strengtheners, I urge you to press on; you are closer to Christ than you think. When Christ becomes your All in All, your faith in God grows and you call things of the flesh vanity. As Paul said in Philippians 4:7-10 “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. If by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead”.

GOD, THIS IS YOUR PORTION.

When we are faced with a challenge in life that is when we feel the need to pray. God cares about our day to day activities, don’t let Him out. Sometimes we take the problems we feel it’s difficult to God and the ones that we feel it’s not difficult, we try and handle it. God is a sovereign God and don’t underestimate his sovereignty. Let Him handle the things we think is trivial as well as important. Note that God cares for all things so don’t share the responsibility with God when making your requests. Don’t go on like this: God, you take care of this because I cannot handle that but as for this one I can handle ,it is trivial, so allow me. Try and bring everything to God in Prayer. Hey! He cares so much about the little things such as “what am I wearing today?” yes he is so interested. Every little thing is his business. Quite relieved huh?  1 Peter 5: 7 says “casting all your care upon Him because he cares for you” Note the word” all” not “some”. He loves you so much so turn all your cares and worries into Prayers.

FINDING CHRIST

How do we find Christ? That is a million dollar question. We can find Christ by abiding in him. In John 15:4 Jesus said “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me".

Abiding in Jesus was an instruction Jesus gave and that is the only way one can be fruitful and most importantly getting to find and know Christ in the process. When you abide you allow Jesus to roll out your life for you and you just move along. So simple, isn’t it?

When you begin to abide, he prunes and removes all unnecessary factors affecting the growth of the tree, so that the tree will be even more fruitful and finding Christ is so close. No worries!  Jesus is the gardener and you are the tree. It is not that hard, because he wouldn’t prune in such a way that you can’t handle. Good news! He brings relief on the way. What a Loving father!!!. He is just emptying the jar deposited in you and refilling it with Christ, So that Christ will be your ALL Dependency.

IT IS WORTH THE WAIT!

 We often get bored whilst waiting for God to do something for us. You are not alone! Don’t give up! It is definitely not just waiting that matters but it is how you behave whilst waiting. In waiting, just remain in the lord by constantly praying, dwelling in the word of God and solely depending on Him. Yes, it is hard but it is worth the wait. You will be happy you did. Can you imagine what you would have lost if you didn’t wait?

At times we wonder why we have to wait so long only to discover that He is cooking something BIG.

REMOVING THE BLOCKAGE

Sometimes our prayers are not answered because the passage is blocked. We must learn to forgive no matter what. Yes, it is difficult but learn to forgive so that your heavenly father will forgive your sins.  Mark 11:25 says :And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone , forgive him so that your father in heaven may forgive your sins. Life can be frustrating, we hold certain grudges against our partners, families , friends, relatives and those around us. We are not willing to let go. It is healing to forgive each other and have love in our hearts which is the greatest commandment that God gave  and see whether God will not move on your behalf.