Live By Faith And Trust Everyday

Faith takes you to God. In Heb 11:6, the bible tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him". Did you notice "He that cometh to God must believe"? In other words, if you want to go to God, then you must have faith. God is never far from faith; the moment faith appears, God appears. When you find faith, you've found God. LET'S TALK ABOUT WHAT FAITH REALLY IS... Many people claim to be waiting for God, when in actual fact, God is waiting for them. 

In Isaiah 30:18, the bible says "And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him". Did you notice those bold lines? God is waiting for you to exalt Him before He can become gracious unto you. The word exalt can scripturally be used to replace "please". In other words, God is waiting for you to please Him. And we all know that without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Let me rephrase, God wants to be gracious unto you, but He's waiting for your faith. It's important to mention that God's timing overrides nature's timing. Naturally, it may not be your time to be promoted or favoured, but with faith, it's acceptable that you have them now. In John 4:1-11, the bible shares a story about the first miracle that Jesus performed at Cana. It was a wedding where guests were invited as usual. But coincidentally, the wine was exhausted, and the chairman of the occasion was still on his table. Wine had to be available as long as he was still around.

When the servants told Mary - who also happened to be the wedding planner, she turned to Jesus hoping that He'd perform a miracle. Jesus immediately told Mary that it wasn't time to perform a miracle. But with faith, Mary insisted. She directed the servants to Jesus and said "whatever He tells you to do, do it". It wasn't time to perform a miracle, but faith made it time. Naturally, it may not be time to receive that miracle you desire, but with faith, you can have it now.

God loses His negotiation power when faith is at work. According to Hebrews 11:1, faith is not a "later" force, it's a "now" force. If you don't want the blessing now, then there's no need to put your faith on the line. Someone once asked me how I know that my faith has worked, I responded saying "when I see the miracle". Faith is not something you "hope" will work, faith is something you should be "sure" will work. Faith is a 'Now' force, it gets things done immediately.

 If God's accepted time is now, then it is only wise to engage faith, which also works for immediate matters. Let me share a few testimonies with you. Sometime ago a member of my fellowship called me and said "Pastor, please o, my wife left home since morning, and all she said was 'I am coming'". I left the dinner I was preparing to have and rushed quickly to his place to pray with him. I got to his house at 7:25pm, and prayed till 7:30pm.

I particularly declared that "in 30 minutes, his wife must return from wherever she was". After the prayer, I sat down with him in his sitting room - with an assurance that his wife would return. At exactly 7:59pm, his daughter called him. After they exchanged pleasantries, he began to report the matter to his daughter when I grabbed his hands and said "No! We have seen your wife, stand up, let us go and open the gate for her".

He followed me to the gate, and as we opened the padlock, we saw his wife standing right in front of the gate, about to knock. Stop waiting or looking for material evidences, faith is the evidence. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that "... Faith is the evidence of things not seen". Seeing your spouse is not evidence that you will marry, faith is the evidence. Gaining admission into school is not evidence that you will go through school, faith is the evidence.

Conception is not evidence that you will have a child, faith is the evidence. I sat down with the man for 30 minutes because I already had the evidence. Material evidences may fail you, but the evidence of faith will never fail you. A lady once approached me and said she needed a job. I prayed about it and told her that before the 21st of that month, she was going to be gainfully employed. She came to my office on the 20th of that month and told me she just got a job.

While I was exalting God, she expected my reaction to be more than I was doing. When I asked why she was gazing at me with surprises, she said I told her that the job will come before the 21st and it was so. Faith sets a target and hits the target. Hope waits till whenever it will happen, faith works towards the set time for it to happen. Watch out, if you’re trusting God for a miracle job, within the next 21 days, you'd be gainfully employed, in the name of Jesus! A certain woman approached me and said that God asked her to share her situation with me.

She said her daughter would be 28 this year and no man had ever asked her out, let alone propose to her. I prayed for her and declared that within 6 months, God will visit her daughter with marital laughter. Just a Sunday into the sixth month, she came to testify that a man proposed to her daughter a day before. Christians don't live by hope; we live by faith. The bible says "faith is the assurance of things hoped for". In other words, we no longer have to hope for things, because we now have an assurance of those things in God's word.

Heb 10:36 tells us that "we have need of patience, that after we have done the will of God, we will receive the promise". We don't have need of hope, but patience. And the reason why we need patience is so that we can complete the will of God that releases the promise we desire. When you see someone who is waiting on God, ask him if he is doing the will of God that guarantees the release of the blessing he is waiting for.

God's promise does not manifest in our lives "one-day one-day", it manifests after we have done the will of God. Some people have complained that they've completed the will of God but they've not received the promise; that's not true! Moses also thought that he had completed the will of God, yet, God continued to harden Pharaoh's heart because He still wanted to do something. And until Moses really finished God's will, the promise to set Israel free from Pharaoh didn't come to pass.

The truth is, if you can finish the will today, then you should also receive the promise today. If you've not received the promise, it's either you've not completed the will of God or you're just ignorant of this truth. You don't have to hope, have faith! A lady was already 2 years into her marriage and no sign of conception. Her in-laws were already threatening her. She shared the challenge with me and I asked her if she was ready to have a child. When she said yes, I told her to have it in six weeks. Barely six weeks after, she told me she was pregnant. Hebrews 10:35 says "cast not away your confidence, which has great recompense of reward".

In other words, faith is always compensated with a reward, or your expectation. The proof that you had faith on a matter is the reward that you would see at the end. So do not tell me "I had faith, but...", faith has no "buts". If you have not seen the reward, then continue in faith until it comes. Faith always speaks at the end; though it may tarry, wait for it, just like I waited for 30 minutes, because your blessings will surely come.