iWantToBeStolen

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” (John14:1-4 NKJV) Nothing troubles the heart of man as uncertainty. That is why man’s whole activities are geared towards reducing the precariousness of their lives and future.Whenever we are sure or certain about the outcome of an event or situation, worries leave. The heart is then at peace. We make and pursue plans that can afford us a feeling of certainty about our future. Systems, institutions, cultures have been built and are continually improved upon to meet this need. We go to school seeking the best available, seek the best healthcare facilities, eat healthy, make provisions for security etc., all to increase th...

“You were bought at a price;...” (I Corinthians 7:23a NKJV) The idea of buying or selling individuals has been a most troublesome human phenomenon that has rather worsen till date despite all effort to stamp out the practice. Slavery has always been a fundamental part of human existence. The first record of such practices in the bible was that of  Joseph who was sold by his brothers  to slave trader. He was then bought in Egypt by Potiphar. The practice would definitely have been long existing before Joseph fell a victim. Before men began to enslave one another, the entire humanity was already enslaved to a master. God gave a clear warning to Cain of an unseen yet real entity called Sin trying to gain control over his life. “You know that if you do what is right, I will accept you. But if you don’t, sin is ready to attack you. That sin will want to control you, but you must control it.” (Genesis 4:7 ERV) Sin had ever since gained controlled over mankind. Men bec...

The story of the two criminals who were hung along with Christ on Calvary has always been a wonder to my heart. The foolish and the wise criminals (as I choose to call them) represents the two possible outcomes of the work of Christ on the Cross. The unbelievers and the believers. It is much more surprising to know, if we care to look carefully at this story, that the foolish criminal that railed at Jesus demanding he save himself and them had such knowledge of Christ’s ability to save. He must have heard from the synagogue meetings about the coming of a Messiah, the promised Saviour. His knowledge was further established when he heard how the rulers (who probably may have been his teachers) deriding and mocking Christ about his saving others. “...The Jewish leaders laughed at Jesus.They said ‘if he is God’s chosen one, the Messiah, let him save himself. He saved others, didn’t he?...” ‘One of the criminals hanging there began to shout insults at Jesus: Aren’t you the Messiah?...

These few postings on faith are like a drop taken from the sea. What I have been able to share are quite basic and foundational but for one to get the full picture, there are yet many wefts that must go over and under the warps if we would have a feel of the fabric of faith. I would like at this point to highlight a few pitfalls one can get trapped in wanting to express faith. The belief that waiting on God to act means inactivity on our own part. The Bible says faith without works is dead. In Acts 3:1-10, we read the story of Peter and John healing a lame man at the Beautiful gate. After Peter had ordered the man to get and walk (making a demand of faith), the next verse recorded that Peter “took him by his right-hand and helped him up…” That is a work of faith. In our main bible text from Mark 11, when Jesus spoke to the fig tree and it dried up, one may be led to think there was no work of faith in that expression. This is not so. For every faith expression there must be a corre...

...believe that those thing which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith… Lastly, faith can only be said to be complete when its demands are realized. There is usually a time lag between what is being requested and receiving the request. This lag phase is so critical to faith’s expression in that it is the period of trial - “the trying of your faith.” This is the period where doubt persecutes our patience. Patience is defined as the capacity to accept or tolerate delays, problems without becoming annoyed or anxious. I once wrote in a post titled “waiting patiently” giving this simple illustration - I was to meet with a friend by 5pm. I got to the venue in time for the meeting and was waiting for my friend. By 6pm he had not showed up and I couldn’t reach him on phone. He had the solution to pressing problem of mine so I had to wait for that long. By 6.30pm I was already getting annoyed murmuring and muttering and was about leaving when suddenly he appeared…...

“whosoever shall say unto this mountain...and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe…” The third issue of faith is the demands of faith which is expressed by the word “say” and backed with authority by the word “believe”  Faith makes demands and not confessions. Without backing our sayings with believing then it remains mere confessions and not faith. Faith has two components subjective component - believe objective component - sayings No one can act or behave outside what he or she believes.We may pretend for a while or even years but what we believe in carries the day. This is why believing is the bedrock of faith. When we get the matter of believing right, the sayings will always be right. Believing is a matter of the heart and “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” If your heart is filled with doubts,whatever you say (in making a demand of faith) no matter how positive and good it may sound, it will be nothing but wind. “But when you pr...