Date: 14-Feb-2024
Name: Eddy Aigbologa
Topic: THE JOURNEY OF FAITH
Content:
Though the bible says in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith, it is impossible to please God, I agree with the scriptural position in 1 Corinthian 13:13 that faith is not the most important virtue of a Christian. For our recallection, 1 Corinthians 13:13 quotes - And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. In agreement with the relative importance of faith, we need to practice faith if our scriptural focus for 2024 in Daniel 11:32 will be fulfilled in our lives this year. You have to practice faith to have an effective knowledge of God. The benefits of an effective knowledge of God are well expressed in the section of Daniel 11:32 that says those that know their God shall be strong and do exploit. This truth has remained true from the beginning of mankind, even unto the end.
Daniel 11:32- 35 describes two groups of Christians and how they will respond to persecution from the northern king in the end times. This also applies to us today.
1. Those who develop a knowledge of God as they live their every day by doing faith and not live their every day by the facts about God.
Firstly, Romance 10:17 lets us know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by God's word, which explains how we access faith. But how we live by faith is explained in Joshua 1:8, which says this Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. For every step of faith we live through, we acquire a customised knowledge of God that no other person can know better than ourselves. Hence, the bible says in Rom 14:4, who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. We should have our own faith experiences with God or build on our faith experiences to enable us to do great exploits. There is a higher level of exploit a DIY association with God can elevate you to.
2. Those who see or hear about people's experiences and exploits in God but never get to live their own experience with God.
In so doing, this set of Christians form an opinion about God based on people's faith exploits and not their own experience with God. Just reading the bible to access faith without doing what is instructed in the bible falls under this category. Psalm 103:7 says God made known His ways to Moses, but His acts to the children of Israel. We can tell from the experiences of the Israelites on their way to the promise land that just knowing God's acts is not sufficient and never a good ending for the children of God. Our lack of actively living out our faith in order to generate exploits not only denies ourselves and the people around us our manifestations as sons of God, but it is also not a good place to be as Christians because when the storm comes, you can barely stand.
Let us see in Exodus 33:8-11 how the children of Israel related to God by His acts and how, on the other hand, Moses and Joshua related to God face to face.
So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
Combining the insights from Exodus 33:8- 11 and Joshua 1:8, explain the gulf between what Joshua and Caleb saw in the land of the Amalekites and what the rest of the spies saw.
While Joshua and Caleb saw exceedingly good land that flowed with milk and honey, the rest of the spies saw a land that ate its inhabitants.
While Joshua and Caleb saw giants as bread for them, the rest of the spies saw giants of great stature and saw themselves as grasshoppers in their own sight.
While Joshua and Caleb requested that they were well able to go at once to take over the land of the Amalekites, the rest of the spies complained against Moses and Aaron, requesting that they go back to Egypt.
Our knowledge of God acquired through actively practising our faith determines how much exploits we can achieve for the glory of God.
Prayer Points:
