FAITH HAS NO BACKUP PLAN

FAITH HAS NO BACKUP PLAN

In life, it is common place to have one contingency or the other when we make plans so that if one doesn't pan out, we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we at least have another to fall back on. 

While such a practice of not putting one's eggs in just one basket is indeed a logical and strategic one, that gives one the much needed alternative solution to leverage on, when it comes to our faith in God however, we must totally put aside such propensity of self-help. 

The existence of a "plan B" in any matter you have committed to God, just in case He doesn't pull through for you, is proof of your lack of complete confidence in His Almighty ability to save and to provide. 

Faith, which must be one's total confidence in God is essential for us to access all we desire and ask of God, because it is the only way by which God can intervene in the affairs of men for as in Mark 9:23, “ '... “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Harbouring doubt, even a little bit; to the point of agreeing to a backup plan simply negates the faith we need to have in God for him to step in to our situation, for as in Hebrews 11:6, without faith it is impossible to please God, talk-less have Him fulfil our requests because our relationship with Him must be by faith or nothing at all. 

Our faith in the One we believe to be Almighty should be absolute, if we truly have the complete confidence in Him through what we have personally heard and experienced of him in the past. 

Our unshakeable belief in God should get us to the point like in Luke 18:28, where it was recorded that Peter said to Jesus, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

In Matthew 6:31,34, it is written, 

31. So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 

34. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Jesus in the scripture above, admonishes us not to worry; to give no thought (according to the KJV version) about our daily needs or even our needs for the day to come. 

The proof of our faith is not just confessing and saying to others that we have complete confidence in God's Word, for Faith is not faith, unless it is tested; for the testing of our faith is the confirmation that we actually believe. 

Our faith can be tested in a number of ways like when everything looks like it has failed and we are prompted to respond about the plausibility of what we hoped would happen. In such times we need to remain resolute and still continue to confess what we believe the outcome should be, no matter how foolish our utterances may sound, even in the midst of overwhelming facts that prove the opposite. 

So, if we have asked God to meet a need or want, we must work on not pondering over the matter again.  

In having complete confidence in God's Almighty ability to fulfil what we desire of Him, we must make up our minds that we will not brood over the issue to the point that we start to harbour doubts or start looking for a backup, just incase He doesn't come through for us. 

Shalom!

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

There are a lot of things that go on in our lives that are out of our control, but most of the goings-on in our lives are things that are in our purview, that we have the capacity and ability to deal with and do something about to our favour. 

We are the captain of our souls and as a result, we are solely responsible for our lives and destiny, by our actions, reactions or lack thereof, and we shouldn't be fooled into the enemies deception of blaming the situations of our lives on others or forces greater than ourselves. 

Accepting responsibility for all we think, say and do is a sign of emotional maturity; it demonstrates our belief in the inate ability God Almighty has given us all to be free moral agents, that have the power to determine the course of our lives, for better or worse. 

Unfortunately, people who don’t accept responsibility tend to believe they are not primarily to blame for their actions or inactions and therefore have no motivating factor or reason to change.

Accepting responsibility by celebrating our good judgments and owning our errors helps in the relationships we have with God and our fellow men.

People that have the wrong mindset that others must accept them for who they are, feigning they were made the way they are because they don't want to make the necessary effort to change, as a result loose goodwill and trust in the sight of men and God. 

It is however important to know and understand our responsibilities to God and to our fellow men, in order for us to accept that we are supposed to have dependable control over some matters that people have entrusted to us, because they believe we are mature enough, and that we will also be held liable and culpable, if we fail in the confidence placed on us concerning the management of such matters. 

We must see ourselves as faithful Ambassadors of Christ because of the complete confidence we have in the faithfulness of the One who has called us, to complete that which He has assigned to us. 

● RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES BETWEEN GOD AND MAN: 

We have rights and responsibilities as God Almighty does too. 

We have rights; that is, we are entitled to things from our creator, like the provision of our daily bread, etc. just as we have responsibilities; that is, duties, things we must do for our Creator, like abiding by his laws and the Bible, the instruction manual that guides our existence and relationship with Him. 

Unfortunately, many of us unwittingly or selfishly, lacking faith in God, like pagans do, worry and run after trying to fulfil God's responsibility towards us, by ourselves, as found in Matthew 6: 25-32, at the expense of our health and wellbeing, and end up leaving our own responsibilities towards God as found in Matthew 6:33, albeit to our own detriment. 

God's responsibility towards His faithful one's is to help provide for our needs like what we will eat, drink, wear, etc and our own responsibility towards God is to seek first the establishment of the influence of his heavenly kingdom and a right standing with Him in our hearts and also that of our fellow men so that in turn, all the other things that we need for a godly life, will be provided by God as well.

We also have God-given responsibilities towards our fellow men.

In John 10:16, Jesus Christ told his disciples, 

"I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd." 

For this reason, God reconciled us to himself through Jesus and as followers of Christ, He also entrusted to us Christ's ministry of reconciliation: (2 Corinthians 5:18). 

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, so that God can make his appeal through us, and implore those who don't know Christ to be reconciled to Him. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

● WE MUST ALL GIVE ACCOUNT FOR OUR ACTIONS: 

Taking responsibility for our actions is important because as in 2 Corinthians 5:10, 

"... we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." 

Indeed at the end of our lives on earth, we must give account to our maker for how we lived our lives. 

● CALL ON THE ONE WHO IS ALMIGHTY: 

If you are having issues being responsible for what you ought, then you can be rest assured that God who is Almighty is in the business of making up for areas in our lives that we are inadequate or powerless. 

We must remember in all our challenges that though we may be limited in what we can achieve, we serve a limitless God who is waiting for us to call on Him so He can show Himself mighty on our behalf. 

All we need to do is heed His call to drop all our inadequacies at his feat as He calls us now saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

● FAITH IN JESUS: 

Finally, only our faith in Jesus can make us faithful in fulfilling our responsibilities towards God and our fellow men. 

Taking responsibility will always remain an uphill battle for a person who hasn't surrendered his life to Jesus Christ, for as in 2 Corinthians 5:17, it is only when a person is in Christ that he will become a new creature in which, old habits that are prompted by the devil and the inordinate desires of our sinful bodies will pass away, and all things in that person's life will literally become new. 

Let's take responsibility to love, to have faith in, obey and ask God our creator for help because He has the Almighty ability to save by wading into the affairs of men and let's also take responsibility to love our fellow men as we love ourselves.

Shalom!