But How Many Truly Believe In That God Today?
Even the devil believes in God with trembling. So, we ought to do better than him as people of God. Do we live by God's standards today? Or, are we just using Him as a remedy out of many possibilities.
We must all know now that God is never desperate to use anyone, but that we might make our lives meaningful; is why He calls us. God doesn't need us, but we need Him.
'His hands are not short that He cannot (do things for Himself)'
If we believed in God, we would be faithful to Him. Then His words concerning our situation would not seem void. God is faithful, though we are always proven to be liars. If we waited, everything always works out for our good.
If we truly believed we would see God's glory. It takes a very thin line to cross from a place of obscurity and destitute, into God's glory and power. That thin line is called absolute consecration and faith.
To literally see God by one's faith is to completely trust Him for all things and in all situations. Never looking at Him as having disappointed, if things did not go as we wanted.
'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.' Psalm 23:4
Quite so, because even in His seeming inaction; He is actually doing very much that we may not see, just yet. God's purpose is always being done in all and through all things.
Most of us have the appearance of belonging to God, but we never take a stand for Him and the core values He instructs. Let us be for God indeed, in our hearts, going forward. Let us walk with God with conviction, not just because anyone says so. Nor, because it makes us feel respectable in society
.
'Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.' Matthew 21:31,32
I would stop making a show of my walk with God today. Is it not time too for you to make that change? It's not for anyone else, it's not a pretense; but it is for my love for God.
Dear God, please give me grace to follow You and your ways, simply and truly. Thanks.
The Importance of Bearing Fruit in Life
It is true that every fruit free that does not bear fruit should be cut down, but expecting fruits from a fig tree when it was not the season for figs is not fair. God Himself is the author of seasons.
Surely, Jesus knows well the laws of cause and effect. Why, then, did Jesus curse the tree for failing to deliver on what is clearly out-of-season expectation? Did he act irrationally as a result of hunger? Was he not the one who withstood Satan's temptation to turn stones into bread after a forty days and nights fast?
'In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside he went to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once.' (Matt 21 : 18, 19)
A case has been made that he was driving home the point that we needed to be prepared to account for what we are given without notice. But, does this hold true even when the work is in progress?
However, what happened to the tree is instructive. Jesus did not say exactly that the fig tree should die. He said,
" May no fruit ever come from you again!" (Matt 21:19)
I think it translates that for it to never bear fruit again means death. To live, therefore, is to bear fruit, and to not bear fruit is to die.
Because of Jesus' curse of barrenness, the tree ceased to be in the basic condition to live, which fruit bearing condition. God said He will bless whom He chooses and curse whom He will, so we may not fault Jesus' action.
But we have seen that when one loses the capacity to bear fruit, one withers and dies. Really, it doesn't need saying any more that we need to bear fruit to continue living.
You say, 'what if we can't bear fruit?' We can, because we are alive, so the seed is in us. We would be dead already if we could not bear fruit.
Now, to the aspect of this incident which the church belabours. Faith to do anything.
'When the disciples saw it they marvelled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?" And Jesus answered them, "Truely, I say to you, if you have faith and never doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ' Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will be done. And whatever you ask in prayer you will receive, if you have faith."(Matt 21: 20-22)
It is becoming clearer now. With the argument given above still holding true, I say that the fig tree was sacrificed for the underlying reason of Jesus wanting to demonstrate to us how we can accomplish obviously impossible things by having faith.
And why the tree? It was just a tree. Who knows, it probably just grew randomly. No one likely owned it. Even then, he was Jesus. I suppose he could do anything he wanted :
he took an ass and a colt, which we are not told was returned to the owners; he cast out demons and sent them into a herd of pigs and they drowned with no record of a compensation made to the owners even as it is a forbidden animal, so who is to speak for this tree in a public place?
Faith, never the less, has indeed proven to work wonders. It is not a respecter of persons. Whether it is Jesus, or you and I, faith will empower us to do things beyond ourselves if we would step on it.
There are days we feel like we don't want to wake up. Inspite of trying to hold up our heads in the face of all our challenges. We all see such days, when our accuser challenges our Maker to our faces and makes us wonder if, like the secular world believes, we're not being deluded.
Remember that God does not change. He is the same at all times. Know for sure that God is coming. Hold on, wait for Him. It may not yet appear what He is doing, but He is doing things. He is coming.
The question is, will He meet you standing your ground when He comes? Would you have left your watch? Would you have left your place of rendezvou?
Our human temperament often betrays us when all seems bleak and lost. We forget that God is time personified. He comes right. But we worry that the flood would flush us away before God comes round to attending to us.
God is always on time. In fact, He is always with us. It is only we have not seen Him respond the way we desire. We let our mind play tricks on us and we bring to manifest that image we fear. That is why we are encouraged in Philippians 4:6 to
' be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.'
So, we tend to want to throw in the towel. Some say, 'so to move on', 'face reality'. Whose reality? Whose report are you believing?
And where move on to? Where else can we go? We are greatly favored in this life that God found us before we were done in.
Many people are still being prevented from seeing God. And we, having been in the light, shall we regress back into darkness?
God is our confidence and trust. He has never failed anyone counting on Him yet. If anyone thinks God has ever failed him, he is not putting his experience in the proper perspective. But for God, we would all have been consumed.
God is coming, wait for Him. Though we must know that He does not pamper His people, He does not spoil His children! We who are to assess the angels, ought we not be upstanding? Let's be patient, for He is doing so much more than we can readily see.
What else would be wise to do but to wait, giving Him thanks and praises? Not in a patronising way, but in the full understanding that He has us covered, dwelling in His secret place.
You know, all things eventually work out for our good, for we are God's covenant people through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross. They always do, if only we would hang on there, and not leave our place.
While we wait, therefore, let us begin to do whatever good our hands find to do. It is usually difficult to wait when you are not occupied with something constructive. Let us prepare for the days ahead, as the Spirit leads us, even while we are in this backstage of life. God is coming. Lets wait for Him.
