The Battle of Faith. Samuel Joy Tandeka

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ ection>

      Dedication

      To the Almighty God. The glory is all yours.

      Appreciation

      I would like to thank my parents, Pastors Isaac and Prossy Kituuka, for not only being the best parents in the world, but also for introducing me to Jesus Christ at an early age. My brothers, Timothy, Jordan and Isaac have greatly motivated me and I am so excited to see how they'll use their gifting in this world. I am grateful for our forefathers in faith whose words have inspired me to write this book. I also want to thank Joshua, Lee Wilson, Professor Autry, Mr. Glenn, Mrs. Turner and the entire Oral Roberts University community for their love, care and support. This University brings out God's gift in you and allows you to flow in it.

      Introduction

      Numerous Bible verses say that if we ask for anything in Jesus’ name, it shall be given unto us. This includes healing, marriage, children, restoration, and financial breakthrough, name it.

      But the Big Question is what happens if you don’t get it exactly on that day? Does this make God a liar? Obviously no!

      He hath made everything beautiful in his time. ( Ecclesiastes 3:11 KJV)

      God makes everything beautiful in its own time, so what we should do is keep our faith in Him and trust that what he promised shall come to pass. Many of us tend to doubt the ability of God to heal us or even perform miracles for us a which he promises in his word because to us it looks like time is going by, yet our situations have not changed or maybe we can't see any light at the end of the tunnel. In such circumstances, for young or old, male or female, the urge to quit or give up always kicks in.

      The Battle of Faith is for people in the world who are almost giving up on having their Faith in God on an account that a long time has elapsed yet what God promised them hasn’t come to pass. Some may even boldly say that they have done all the things people in the bible did to get their healing, miracles or breakthrough like tithing, fasting for 3,7,21,40 days or even dry fasting, reading the bible, preaching the gospel, sowing seeds, name it.

      After doing many things that the word of God wants us to do and we don’t get our miracles or healing instantly, there is always a tendency of many questions coming in our minds, like, What haven’t I done?, Why does it have to be me?, plus many more others that come in our minds during this time. If we don’t purpose to have faith in God no matter what the situation may look like, we may end up complaining or backsliding, committing suicide, while others may conclude that there is no God at all.

      Faith is often a battle which we keep fighting everyday of our lives. At times we feel like we are trusting and believing God to help us or do a miracle for us while other times we doubt him most especially when it seems like what God promised to do for us is taking long to come to pass. These many times cause us to weaver in our faith and the devil deceives us that we shall never be healed or helped by God.

      And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. Matthew 11:22 (KJV)

      Am sure most of us are familiar with John 11 which talks about Jesus resurrecting Lazarus his friend who had died and had been in the grave for four days already. Verses 1-5 describe the relationship that Jesus had with Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. These verses emphasize that Jesus loved Lazarus (verse 5) and by human reasoning, the sisters expected Jesus to come immediately and heal him since he loved him, but they were wrong! They expected a miraculous healing while Jesus saw a resurrection. In fact, he emphasizes this in verse 4 by saying, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” So, in these trying moments like sickness, delay in getting married or having kids, losing a job, we need to see these situations the way Christ sees them. This will help us to keep believing and trusting God to take us through them since we are viewing them in Christ’s Lenses. You should also know that no matter what you are going through, Jesus loves you. Nothing is a surprise to God, he knows everything and we need to acknowledge that he is in control. In moments of pain, abuse or loss of dear ones, we usually question why God didn't come through for them yet we prayed. God is sovereign, at times we may not understand why he lets some things happen but we should trust that he has only good plans for our lives. "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11.

      Verses 6-10, tell us that Jesus stayed in the place where he was for more two days preaching the gospel, and in verse 11-14, he told his disciples that they should go see Lazarus because he was asleep. They didn’t quickly realize what he meant so he decided to plainly tell them in verse 14 that Lazarus was dead. This always gives me hope because no one had informed Jesus that Lazarus was dead, but he knew. God sees what you are going through. He sees the tears you cry at night, the pain you go through, the huge bills you have spent on medicine, the days you have fasted, prayed or even sowed seeds for your healing, job, to have kids, get married, get a breakthrough or deliverance and trust me, he is coming your way to meet you at your point of need. Don’t allow the devil to deceive you that God doesn’t see what you go through, our God is all knowing he sees everything, even what is going on in your Life and he is coming to your rescue. Don’t lose heart, Jesus is heading your way!

      Verse 17 tells us that Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the grave for four days already. According to research, after four days, the internal organs of the body start to decompose, and the body starts swelling. I imagine that at this point, some of Lazarus’ internal organs had started decomposing and not forgetting the bad smell that was coming out of his grave, but that didn’t matter at this point because Jesus (the resurrection) had come. At times our situations are like that or even worse to the extent that our family members abandon or reject us, those we helped to reach somewhere in life forget us, or even the doctors tell you that there is no cure for your infection and it all looks like darkness is all around you but my brother/sister don’t be discouraged, what matters most is that Jesus has come to roll away that reproach from your life.

      And the LORD said unto Joshua, this day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day. Joshua 5:9 (KJV)

      In verse 21, Martha told Jesus that all this wouldn’t have happened if he had come here earlier. She had revelation and faith in a healing Jesus, but she needed to now get a revelation of the Resurrecting Jesus. Some of these things we go through are intended for God to show us another dimension of his glory we had never experienced, so don’t worry, as believers we know that all things work for good, (Romans 8:28). The devil usually deceives us and makes us to ask God questions of why he didn’t show up, but I want you to know that our God is never late nor too early, he is ever on time. We should just ask for the grace and faith to know that he is in control. We should trust God beyond the expiry date or deadline.

      “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” John 11:24 (KJV)

      I believe that is one of the most powerful scriptures in the bible; Jesus Christ is the resurrection and life. Are you sick, oppressed, barren, in debt, troubled, demon possessed, is your business collapsing or your marriage at a risk of divorce? always remember that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and life, he can restore your body just like he restored that of Naaman.

      So, he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young СКАЧАТЬ