Accepting God’s Word without restraint

In the beginning paragraphs of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as told by Luke, the angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, the father of John the prophet, and to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Both of them received news of a conception that would take place outside the realms of biology: Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were both old, and Mary was a virgin as yet.

Zechariah doubts what the angel of the Lord tells him and because of this, he is struck mute until the time the prophesy comes true. Mary, on the other hand, asks how the prophesy will come to pass. Once the angel explains,  readily accepts the words of the angel and says “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be done to me according to your word”. Both the prophesies come true, but in the case of Zechariah, he remained mute until the circumcision of his foretold son.

The presence of the Lord is overwhelming, and troubling when unexpected. Zechariah had been praying for a child for a long time and the Lord showed up and answered him. Probably after waiting for a long time for an answer, Zechariah had given up hope and expectations, since the time line of his miracle had passed a long time ago. He probably had even stopped praying about it and accepted it as God’s will, as many are in the habit of doing. However, God shows up, and not subtly I might add. The angel tells Zecharia of his answered prayer, and the best he could come up with is “How can I be sure of this?…” An honest response for someone who has lost hope of the miracle. But this is not how we should receive God’s word…

Mary was dutifully minding her own business, planning for a wedding, when the angel of the Lord appears to her with startling splendour, addressing her with so much favour.  She was distressed. “What have I done to deserver this”, I presume could have been thought that crossed her mind. And how can I be pregnant since I have not been with any man is the question she asks the angel. Once the angel of the Lord explains how the Spirit of the Lord will come upon her, she instantly believes and accepts the will of the Lord, putting aside any fears and repercussions of the pregnancy on her wedding and social status.

Mary’s attitude is one that should be emulated. Accepting God’s word without a grain of salt. God’s word will never fail, and what he said he will do, he will do. The Bible is full of God’s promises and all we need to do is to read and accept the Word. We should not give up hope on what we have trusted in God and has not happened, neither should be put aside the word of the Lord for anything we think we should be doing or accomplishing. No. We should humbly accept God’s word, and let God have his way in our lives for therein lies the great reward.

Unwaivering faith

If I say I do not have my moments of unbelief or doubt then I lie and the truth is not in me. This is because my brain has long been trained to believe what is sees as the only truth, and there is the constant struggle trust on what is promised. This is despite the fact that when I take a trip down memory lane, all I see is evidence that what I had hoped for had come to pass. Christianity is a way of life that places the utmost importance on what is not seen, and calls us to believe on the unimaginable.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. This is a challenge that is not easy to adopt. Our hearts may believe it, but our minds know better. There is this constant struggle that often time will leave us more exhausted than when we first began. When we are trusting God for something, we know that God can deliver, but then we we always have plan B or plan C, not knowing whether God will actually do it.

I believe the reason for this struggle is that we have not taken time to really know who God is and to have the daily constant intimate relationship we have in him.  We only interact with God on Sunday and one or twice during the week instead of constantly being in communion with him. I know that many of the decisions I make in the workplace, at home, in my social clubs are hardly influenced by God, and there are very few times that I actually take a bullet for God. This disconnect therefore puts God as one of the ways to accomplish anything, not THE WAY.

Daily communion with God, therefore, is what will give us the boldness to have faith in God in all circumstances, no matter what the outcome. This is not better illustrated than the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3. These guys knew God and were lived a lifestyle of God. And they had the boldness to keep on serving God even at the threat of death in the fire. What is remarkable is that they knew God would deliver them from the fire, but their salvation was in God not in coming out of the fire, and therefore they also would keep serving God if they did not come out of the fire.

This kind of faith, unwaivering faith in God, should be every believers foundation. We should keep on praying, keep on reading the word of God and keep on keeping the commands of the Lord, and the faith shall grow, giving us the boldness and confidence to know that God Can.

The tongue

A recent Facebook “like” from a friend of friend confirmed to me what God has been teaching me lately, the taming of the tongue. In this “like”, facebook reported “Abcd likes “vitriol about ex” and “Jesus is Lord” (of course the vitriol has been cleaned up for this post). What James talked about in James 3:1-11 came alive, how we praise God and curse men all with the same tongue, and I am no saint in this regard.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue“. With the tongue we can proclaim blessings from the Lord, declare the promises of God and with it we are able to preach the good news of the Liberty found in the Lord Jesus to the ones in bondage. Indeed the tongue is a small part of the body, but with it lies the power to heal the broken hearted and give hope to the hopeless. With the tongue we can inspire confidence and influence peace among the nations. Its no wonder that politicians are able influnce multitudes not with works but with words full of promises.  A word spoken has the power to change attitudes and situations. This is immense power that has been accorded to this one part of our bodies.

Yet with the same tongue lies the power to destroy. With it we break relationships and tarnish characters, engaging in well intended gossip and misinformed character analysis. We instigate violence and hatred, disregarding the well being of our brethren. With sweet words we lie and cheat, ignoring the follies of our ways. We have placed a confidence in our tongues, knowing that are able to get away with anything, so long as we say the right things.

But the tongue is simply a tool for communication, spreading what lies deep in our hearts. If we are to control the tongue, we need a transformation of the heart. Jesus stated that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks“. It is not possible to use our will power to control what we say, but it is through the transforming power of knowing Jesus, and keeping his command that shall we be able to gourd the gateways of out hearts. The Spirit of God is Power! Power to pull down the strong holds of deception and malice in our hearts to planting fruits of love and peace and understanding.

Exercising our faith is therefore the only hope that we have at taming the tongue,by daily meditating on the Word of God. Then shall we be able to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth, approaching with confidence the throne room of Grace. Jesus came to the world to teach us the way, the only way, that transforms the heart, enabling us to communicate love and liberty.