THE ELEVEN
(11) PRINCIPLES/ FEATURES OF FAITH
1) FAITH
IS ADVENTUROUS
a
This is by-far the most interesting characteristic of faith I have ever
known. But unfortunately none of our faith teachers I know have talked about it.
To be adventurous means to try alternative ways. The ADVANCE LEARNERS
DICTIONARY defines it as ‘’willing to take risks and try new ideas; enjoy being
in new and exciting situation.’’
For a believer to lay claim to
faith, he or she must be adventurous. I mean the child of God must always make
attempt to prove the word of God. let’s take for instance when the scripture
asks us to ‘’heal the sick, cleanse the leper, and raise the dead’ as recorded
in MATTHEW 10:8 , a supposed child of God would join in going to burry a young
man who just died, or we look the other way when sick people litter his church.
You know the problem of such a child of God?
Faithlessness off course! Some believers would even want God to speak to
them afresh before they take any move to disgrace the devil in such
circumstance. They don’t want shame. If I pray now and nothing happens, how
would my people see me? Because of fear of the unknown, they allow those they
could have helped in perpetual misery. To be adventurous is to take ‘risk’. Do
not mind the shame. Why would you even think about shame when you are not
God? Or have you made your congregation
believe you are God? The word is God’s. Why not allow Him to glorify His word?
To understand this aspect of
faith better, let us consider two biblical examples. When the children of
Israel were to cross over Jordan Joshua told them something. Let’s consider
what Joshua advised, ‘’and it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the
feet of the priests who bare the ark of the Lord of all the earth, shall rest
in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off,
the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as heap.’’(Joshua
3:13)
Could you imagine God asking the
Priests to step into the water before the water would loss it source from
upstream? What if that point they were to place their legs was dark, and
unclear? Or what if that point was deep? Couldn’t that be a kind of risk? But
Joshua has already told them by the word of the Lord that the priests must
first put their legs in the water before it would divide. That is how God
works. If you believe what you have asked has been granted already, then you
shall have it.
Another interesting scenario was
Moses and the rod turned serpent. After Moses was asked to drop his rod so He
could show him (Moses) the sign that He (God) was the one talking to him, the
rod turned to a serpent. Moses was shocked and ran away from it like everyone
would do at the sight of a serpent. But surprising, God asked Moses to pick the
serpent by the tall for the serpent to return back to the rod. Touch a snake by
its tail? What do you think about that? What if the snake did not turn back to
a rod, and bite him? May we please read EXODUS 4:4? It reads ‘’then the Lord
said to Moses reach out your hand and take it by the tail (and he reached out
his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand.’’
Testimonies are replete of
people who took such ‘risk’ for God, and God never disappointed them. A friend
prayed for a dead relation for almost 2 days before God revived the dead.
Spiritual elders had counseled him to just take heart and bury his brother. But
he insisted that his brother must return to life. He prayed continuously for
close to 2 days before God responded. The apostles took risk in one of the
occasions when they tried to cure the epileptic. (Read MATTHEW 17:14-21).
Although they did not get a positive result, but learnt a lesson that we all
benefit from today: ‘’However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and
fasting’’ (MAT. 17:21).
The late Ache Bishop Benson Idahosa
started his unbeaten ministry with adventurous faith. He once shared an
experience that in one of the preaching of his pastor, the pastor told them that
God said they could heal the sick and raise the dead. After the message, he
asked the pastor if what he said during the preaching was true, and if he (the
pastor) had raised the dead before. The pastor being a sincere person told him
he had not raised the dead before but that the word of God said so.
Knowing the infallibility of His counsels,
(HEBREW 6:17) the late Ache Bishop went out with his bicycle looking for the
dead to pray back to life. He eventually found one which he prayed over for hours.
But the good news was that at the end, the dead revived.
What would you say about that, overzealousness?
It is faith. Faith cannot see the sick without acting. Faith can never stay
calm in the church when sick people are coming and going. Faith is active and
highly adventurous.
But unfortunately, today we
hear people talk about re-bounce of sickness. I still remember an epileptic
young man who fell headlong close to my seat one Sunday in church. Everybody
gave way. Off course, if an epileptic patient touches you, you can become
epileptic. That is the fear today in churches. It is because of the absence of
faith in the people. When you believe what God has said in His word, you must
take the required ‘risk’.
2 )
FAITH
IS PATIENCE
One
erroneous belief among young energetic believers of today is that they are
always on the run.
Do you know of another faith principle? please share on the comment box. thanks.
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