SCHOOL OF DIORTHORSIS
17TH JANUARY, 2023
Minister: Pst Omodele Olubi
The subject of faith is broad. The more we study, the more we find out about it. Also, the more we practice, the more it becomes a part of us. Meanwhile, we must be careful never to mistake every result we see from people to be a product of faith. Faith goes beyond casting out evil spirits or foretelling the future. Faith is what enables us to transact with God. No one came to love God alone; faith was ignited in us and made us believe. Believing Him brought us into a relationship.
According to Hebrews 11:6; it is by faith that we are able to please God. Likewise, it is by faith that we can do great things as stated in Matthew 21:21. Faith helps us to understand the person and the doings of God. The level of our faith will reflect in our ability to understand. As Matthew 8:5-11 recorded, ignorance can be an indication of faithlessness. Faith helps us understand even what the human mind cannot fathom (Matthew 16:8). Through faith, we can do things that will earn us God’s approval (Hebrews 11:4). God designed faith and so, it is He alone who can reward our faith; no man can.
While faith helps us believe, we must be careful not to equate believing with faith. God designed faith as such, any belief that is not God-inclined is not faith-based. By implication, not all workings of miracles or doing of great things were faith-ignited. One good way to test faith is to check if God is pleased with us. God needs to be able to testify about us, else, our faith is in vain. God could testify of Abel and other patriarchs because they pleased Him. Faith requires us to give our best always.
Just as we can recognize false prophets by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-19), God recognizes us by our faith. Faith goes beyond results; it speaks of God’s approval of us. We might cast out devils in the name of Jesus like the prophets in Matthew 7:20-23, but our faith is in vain unless we are approved of God. For a man like Balaam, one would have thought that he was totally in tune with God but as we would see, it took his horse to show him that God did not approve of his journey.
Results are never a sign of approval. Many things have been tagged faith but are not. This is why we must discover faith the way God designed it. While faith has a broad concept, God has left us guidance in His word. Anything outside what He has said is deception, and we must beware of them so that we don’t ignorantly expose ourselves to a system that will wreck us. Watch out for people who will not by the spirit of God express their outcoming toward us. Many people call Jesus Lord but do not believe in Him; such we must be careful of. We only have faith when God approves of us. Although we may fall/fumble, as long as we keep pressing, with faith, we will overcome. Father Abraham was considered the father of faith, yet, he made mistakes but did not stagger. Likewise, we must not lose hope. We must keep pressing until we lay hold of that which has been promised us. We must also learn how to stay with the Lord and His word, and then see how God fights our battles.