Faith is a very important concept in Christianity. In fact, nobody becomes and stays a Christian without faith. We are justified by faith and according to Habakkuk 2:4, “the righteous shall live by faith”. This statement is quoted 3 times in the New Testament and it goes to show that the entirety of a Christian’s experience is based on faith. The writer of Hebrews defines faith as the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It is also stated in James 2:14  that faith without works is dead, therefore, the formula for faith is “belief in God” plus “acting according to that belief”. 

Faith requires you to act according to God’s word. The caveat here is that sometimes God’s word requires that you don’t act at all. Therefore, in some cases, staying put and not moving is an act of faith when it is in accordance with the word of God. One may even argue that inaction is still an action, hence, faith is still an “action word”. For example, when Jesus told his disciples after he resurrected to wait in Jerusalem for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In this instance, the disciples had every reason to scatter abroad since their association with Jesus put their lives in danger as well. But he told them to go to Jerusalem and wait. They complied; they didn’t travel or do anything else but wait for the promise and they had an experience that would forever change the course of history and affect millions of lives all over the world. Also, the movement of the Israelites in the wilderness depended on the movement of the pillar of cloud. This was how God guided them on their way to the promised land. When it moves, they move. When it stops, they stop. In Numbers 9:18-19, we are told that:

As long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle, they remained encamped. Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites kept the LORD’s charge and did not set out.…

When an action is done in faith, it means it has its roots in scripture, according to the will of God or it is done at the command of God almighty. Faith is applied according to the will of God for an individual, a people, the body of Christ, or the world at large. For example, Peter was able to walk on water because Jesus gave him permission to do so. Therefore, by acting on that word, he acted in faith. It is very important that we realize how faith has nothing to do with showboating or doing things for the applause of men. 

In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, there have been mixed reactions coming from different denominations of the body of Christ. While some denominations have gone on to emphasize and implement the World Health Organization’s (WHO) safety protocols in their churches, others have said that Christians shouldn’t follow the safety protocols outlined by WHO because doing so is proof of a lack of faith. In the past few weeks, we have also seen the outrage expressed by some men of God against churches buying into the idea of the COVID-19 vaccination. 

One of the verses that some Christians have based their arguments on against adhering to WHO’s safety protocols is Mark 16:18. It is a statement Jesus made after his resurrection in what is popularly known as the Great Commission. He said this was one of the signs that would follow all who believe in him, they will pick up serpents with their hands and if they drink any deadly poison it will not hurt them. Paul in Acts 28:3 had an experience that was close to what is stated above. He gathered a bunch of sticks to lay them on a fire that had already been set, then a viper driven out by the heat of the fire came out and fastened itself to the Apostle’s hand. He shook the snake off into the fire to the amazement of the people gathered there. Some commentaries I have read stated that this is a fulfillment of what Jesus said in the Great Commission. If this assertion is true, there are few points we need to note here from this event and what Jesus said:

1. Paul didn’t intentionally expose himself to the viper just to show that he had faith.
2. Jesus didn’t command us in the Great Commission to go looking for ways to put ourselves in harm’s way. He said, “they will pick up serpents and IF they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them”. 

“They will pick up serpents” doesn’t mean they should intentionally go looking for serpents to pick up but it means if they face the danger of being attacked by a serpent it will be rendered harmless to them. This is exactly what happened to Paul. The second part of the verse even puts things into a better perspective for us. It starts with “IF”, which is often used to introduce conditional or possible situations. So if it so happens that a Christian drinks a poisonous substance and only finds out after he/she has drunk it, it will not hurt the person. 

By definition, faith has nothing to do with intentionally putting yourself in harm’s way and expecting God to deliver you. There is a term for that, it is called “testing God”. Knowing that an act is dangerous to your health and safety but going on to indulge in it is not faith, in the bible, it is termed as testing God. Interestingly, Jesus used this term while responding to the devil’s temptations. The devil, while tempting Jesus, suggested to him that if he could jump off the pinnacle of the temple, God would send his angels to save him. In response, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:6 when he said that “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’”. It is the devil’s preoccupation to get us to test God in our daily lives by pushing us to defy sound logic all in the name of proving our faith or supposedly standing on some scriptures as a foundation to test God. It is important to note that the devil, during this particular temptation, quoted verses of scripture as well. 

”These “sign” miracles are given to encourage us to trust God and not to tempt Him with foolish experiments”. (from Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Copyright © 1992 by Chariot Victor Publishing, an imprint of Cook Communication Ministries. All rights reserved.)

One of the facts about faith I mentioned at the beginning of this article is that it is seen when a person acts in accordance to God’s word or a personal instruction they received from God. So you can see in scripture on numerous occasions where God commanded people to do things that would appear dangerous to them and their lives and even that of others. Yet, in those instances, to act on the word of God is an act of faith but to do otherwise is an act of fear. 

Here are a few more points on faith I noted while studying on this topic:

• Faith sometimes is necessitated when God is testing us not when we are testing God – Hebrews 11:17. In this verse, we are told that Abraham was tested by God to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.
• What is done in faith that brings salvation to one person could bring calamity to another when they do not do it in faith – Hebrews 11:29. In this verse, we are told that the Israelites crossed the parted red sea by faith but the Egyptians drowned in it. 
• By faith some people allowed themselves to be persecuted, stoned, sawn in two, and eventually killed – Hebrews 11:37. Faith doesn’t always require you to step out and do some “superhero” stuff. Sometimes, faith gives you the strength to endure painful ordeals in the name of the LORD. 

Usually, we can see defiance in faith. Defiance of natural laws, medical laws, logic, and sometimes even earthly authorities (as in the case of Moses’ birth when his parents defied the authority of the Pharaoh and hid him Hebrews 11:23). However, there are times when faith is in the simple obedience of authority and the wisdom of God. After all, we are admonished in Romans 13:1 to obey earthly authority. The President of Ghana has issued a directive that suggests that safety protocols have to be taken to safeguard the lives of citizens of this country. Defying this and calling it an act of faith is in direct contradiction of the word of God. Especially because the directive will not lead to the persecution of Christians or the church. There is a virus on the loose, what do you do? Just adhere to all the safety protocols outlined by the WHO to prevent you from coming into contact with it and also get vaccinated if possible. To defy this is to intentionally put yourself in harm’s way and endanger the lives of others which cannot be seen as an act of faith. You are testing God, not your faith in him.

The statement, “the righteous shall live by faith” is found in the following New Testament verses: Galatians 3:11 , Romans 1:17, Hebrews 10:38

One thing that made me even more excited about the movie was the gender rhetoric that undergirded the entire story – in a somewhat subtle manner, yet very profound and powerful. However, that is the same thing that caused all the controversy concerning the movie. Ok, God is portrayed as a woman in The Shack. Do I see anything blasphemous about this? Certainly not! First of all, God isn’t male either. Indeed, anytime we see God manifest in the flesh, he does so in a male body but that doesn’t mean we should assume he is a man. This desiringgod.com article did a good job of establishing the fact that even in scripture God is given so many feminine attributes. You can check it out. We would have to agree on a few things before I proceed.

1. God is not a man, he is a Spirit (according to John 4:24)
2. He created man in his own image, male and female made he them (Genesis 1:27)

It is true that when God decided to come to the earth in a human form as Jesus he was a man (male). So it was when he appeared in the form of 3 men to Abraham. All these are still not enough proof that God is male. We might have gotten accustomed to seeing God appear in the flesh as a man to the extent that we think his portrayal as a woman in a movie is heretic and blasphemous. This is so wrong. If God created man in his own image and made them male and female, appears as a male in the flesh, why can’t he appear as female as well? I’m not saying he is obligated to do that to prove a point or anything. All I’m saying is, women were made in his image too, therefore, his portrayal as a woman in the movie shouldn’t bring about this level of controversy. When Jesus was being baptized in the River Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove. Is this blasphemous and heretic too? Besides, this movie is even a work of fiction to project a certain aspect of God’s character that is predominantly common amongst women, so everybody can chill and just munch on the essential message of the movie.

Now that that is out of the way, back to the movie. In the early parts of the movie, we see the family set off on a trip without the woman of the house. While seeing them off she made a comment that appears casual yet pregnant with so much information. She said to the kids “I have faith in your dad’s mothering skills”. This is by far the most important statement in the entire movie. Through the harsh seasons of our lives, how much faith do we have in God’s mothering skills? Nan made this comment because she wasn’t going to be with her kids on that trip hence they need not worry because their father doubles as a mother. This is a flamboyantly colorful feather in the cap of the man. Did he live up to expectation? We shall find out soon.

On their way, his two older kids begged him to stop by a waterfall. He refused the request initially only to barge at the end. While they stood on a bridge having a closer view of the waterfall, his older kids once again asked him to tell Missy, the little one, the story of the Indian Princess. The waterfall, therefore, appears to be a site he and his elder kids had been before, maybe way before the little one was born. So he goes on to narrate the story. From the story, we find out that there was an Indian Princess, who gave up her life for the sake of her people. The waterfall was therefore created by the ‘Great Spirit’ in memory of the Princess. It is a no-brainer that this Indian Princess is an allusion to Jesus Christ. Once again, we see God portrayed as a woman.

They finally got to their destination and it was a lakeside where other families camped as well. It seemed like a pretty cool and decent place to have a little family vacation. The following morning, the two older kids were on a boat not too far away from the shore and  Missy was by her father drawing with her crayons. All of a sudden, Josh fell off the boat after his sister stood up to get the attention of their father. Mack ran, dived into the water and swam all the way to the boat to save his son. They all came back to the shore only to realize that Missy was gone. She was gone. The police couldn’t find her anywhere. Later they discovered her bloody dress in a shack up the mountain, but her body was not found.

The death of the little girl tore the family apart. Kate withdrew from the rest of the family obviously because she felt it was her fault her little sister died. Josh had also become secretive. Mack also lost faith in God. I must say the little girl is almost the perfect character to die to arouse all the needed emotions and questions that often flood our minds when we go through hard times. She was innocent, sweet and very inquisitive. All these make it hard for anybody to understand why she should die. Or why she should die in such a callous manner.

Not too long after her death, Mack checked his mailbox and found a letter in there from ‘Papa’ inviting him to the Shack up the mountain. He looked but couldn’t find a trail of footsteps in the snow leading either to or away from his mailbox. Which was pretty strange. His family nicknamed God ‘Papa’ so definitely he knew who it was. He decided to honor the invitation and go to the Shack alone although his next door neighbor had wanted to go with him. The Shack was this old dilapidated wooden structure that appeared to have been abandoned for years.

While walking through the woods, he met a young Middle Eastern man who invited him to ‘his house’. All this seemed to happen in a trance because all of a sudden the mountain became a garden with beautiful flowers – especially the path leading to the stranger’s house. Mack arrived at the house only to be introduced to the entire Godhead. Apparently, the Middle Eastern man who led him to his home was Jesus, the Son. And here is another shocker, the other two members of the Trinity were women! How strange it would be to meet the Godhead only to realize two-thirds of the trinity is female. So Papa was a black woman and the Holy Spirit was a slender Asian lady. Mack’s interactions with the Godhead marked his journey to complete healing from the hurt he felt after his daughter died. In one of his earliest interactions, Papa told him ‘after what you have been through, I didn’t think you could handle a father right now’. Papa said this right after Mack questioned her gender. This is another amazing revelation in the movie. God revealed himself to Mack as a mother because he had had a rough childhood experience with his father. Therefore, his perception of who a father is was based on the kind of relationship he had with his earthly father. This is probably why most of us can’t have a great relationship with God because we are seeing him through the lenses of our earthly fathers and those lenses are giving us a poor image of who God is. It is amazing to know that God knows when to be what in our lives. Now when Mack accused God of always abandoning those he claims he loves, especially Jesus on the cross, Papa showed him his nail-pierced wrist. Indicating that while Jesus suffered on the cross, God did too. Which means God shares in our suffering; he understands our pain.

Papa did drop some nuggets in her interaction with Mckenzie. She said “You were created to be loved. Living unloved is like clipping a bird’s wings”. Then she went on to say that ‘this is your flying lessons”. ‘This’ here refers to ‘the Shack’ experience that the Trinity was taking Mckenzie through. The painful experiences are our flying lessons. We need them to first muster the courage to fly and that is how we experience the Love of God.

Mckenzie’s next interaction was with the Spirit of God. They took a walk through a garden where the spirit made a very profound illustration. She showed Mckenzie a twig that was poisonous. Then she mentioned that on its own it is poisonous, but combining it with the nectar from a particular flower produced a substance with incredible healing powers. This goes to show us how both the good and bad times in our lives are meant to come together for a greater good. When we single out the bad times, it may seem our lives are on the rocks, but having a holistic view of our lives – both the bad and the good times – can produce incredible healing anytime we need it.

By far my favorite interaction in the movie was between Mckenzie and ‘Wisdom’. He met Wisdom in a dark cave sitting on her throne. Wisdom told him he was there, in the cave, for judgment. No, not to be judged, but to judge just as he always did throughout his life. The conversation that ensued is probably the most powerful in the movie. It was laden with so much wisdom and offered answers to questions that I have been grappling with for some time now. Why does God allow evil to happen and not do anything about it? Why can’t evil people be condemned to hell immediately to rid humanity of all the hideousness? Wisdom made some profound statements worthy of note. She quizzed, ‘doesn’t the legacy of brokenness go all the way back to Adam?’. Anytime you want to judge somebody, make sure you judge everybody else in human history whose actions had an effect on the said person – all the way to Adam. That is when you can claim to have judged the person justly. The legacy of brokenness indeed goes all the way back to Adam.

The time spent with God was an exercise to heal him of all emotional and psychological pain. So one morning Mckenzie woke up and there stood papa in the doorway. This time not a black woman but an Asian man. Papa said ‘for what we have to do today, you are gonna need a father’. BAM! So you see, God is the complete parent, no wonder he made men and women in his image. His nature couldn’t be revealed in one gender alone. When he wanted to make a being in his image he had to make two of its kind, hence we have men and women, fathers and mothers. The task that day was to get Mckenzie to forgive his daughter’s killer. This exercise required the stern persuasion of a father. That is why Papa chose to reveal himself as a man in this scene. Mckenzie did forgive the killer, pretty much to my amazement.

There is so much I want to say about the movie but time and space are not my best allies now. I learned so much from it. The shack (where Mckenzie found his daughter’s bloody clothes) represents a place of pain yet a place where God is ever present. C.S Lewis said ‘… God shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world’. God is indeed loudest in our pains if only we can pay attention and listen.

I have followed Nabeel Qureshi for some time now. It is no news that I am an ardent follower of the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Nabeel happens to be one of the Christian Apologists in that ministry. He gets to work closely with Dr. Ravi Zacharias himself! *sigh*. What an honour! I have heard Nabeel’s  testimony several times. In one of his sermons, while sharing his testimony, he almost cried when he got to the part where his mother didn’t turn up for his wedding because he had turned his back against Islam. Really, that would hurt. From the start of the book to the end, one thing is clear, after his faith, the second most important thing in his life is his family. So becoming a Christian literally meant that Nabeel let go of the two most important things in his life. One can only imagine how hard it is on Nabeel right now to suffer rejection and excommunication from the very people he loves. Is it worth it? Is Jesus Christ worth losing your loved ones over? Is salvation that much of a big deal?

The first few chapters of the book introduce us to a younger Nabeel – young, enthusiastic and inquisitive about his faith. Those chapters bear his fondest memories of Islam and his family. At a point, you would almost think he was making a case for Islam rather. The reader is likely to appreciate and respect Muslims even more after reading the opening chapters. He spoke with such endearment in his speech about Islam that one could only conclude he was truly proud and serious about his faith. For a christian like me, who has next to zero knowledge about Islam, this part of the book was a real eye-opener. I must say that I have learnt a lot from this book. The purpose of this article is to highlight some of the most important lessons I learnt from it. It is also supposed to be a wake-up call to all Christians to strive to read widely about other religions. Of course, you need to be well-grounded in Christianity first.

One of the most outstanding quotations in the entire book is, ‘effective evangelism requires relationships’. This reminds me of something Lecrae said in his song ‘Dirty Water’. He said, ‘I just dug a well in West Africa, but how many of my friends are Africans?’. We need to build relationships with people we want to convert or reach out to. Now this isn’t the usual approach we take when evangelizing. Nabeel made the quotation above in reference to the circumstances surrounding his conversion. His conversion was made possible by the sort of relationship he had with his closest friend in the University. Prior to meeting David, Nabeel trumped his christian opponents in any inter-religious debate or discussion. Then he met David and everything changed. David had a response to almost every question and doubt Nabeel raised about Christianity. Even the toughest questions. I remember closing the book and plunging myself in deep thoughts almost at the verge of doubting the authenticity of the bible. I hadn’t heard it before. I thought the bible was 100% accurate. When Nabeel raised the issue of the obvious errors and interpolations in the bible I almost threw up my hands in surrender. But the response David gave to this allegation was remarkable (read here). For a friendship to grow stronger through the years, it takes commitment and most importantly, a shared-interest. These two did not believe in the same God. I want to believe it was their commitment to their individual faiths that fueled their friendship and the mutual respect they had for each other.

As I have already stated, the book is an eye-opener. I learnt so much about Islam and was reminded of many things I had learnt about Islam in my Religious and Moral Education class in Junior High School. I would like to share a few with you before I go on to the shocking findings I made in the book:

• Hadith: Muhammad’s words and actions recorded in tradition. There are several of them. Some, held in high esteem as authentic, others, not. Contrary to what I thought, the Qur’an isn’t the only ancient book that Muslims read and derive values from. The Hadiths are respected and read widely by muslims too. Some examples of Hadiths include, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Sitta.
• Like Christianity, Islam, also has denominations. The two major denominations are Sunni and Shia. And each denomination varies in the Hadiths they consider accurate.
• Muslims believe that Jesus is no more than a Prophet. And they consider it blasphemous to believe that Jesus is God.
• One major way that God (Jehovah) talks to Muslims is through dreams. This is probably because Muslims believe dreams are the most common ways through which Allah speaks to them. A popular Hadith teaches that ‘the dreams of the faithful are prophetic’. 
• Muslims made a huge impact in the West in the following fields: Science, Medicine, Mathematics and Philosophy. That is why we still have some Arabic words in some of them like ‘algebra’ and ‘alchemy’.

Now to some shocking findings in the book about Islam. I would like to state emphatically that the following are not my views. I am simply stating what the book says. Objections and other concerns are welcome in the comments section of this page. Anyway, according to Nabeel:

• Some Muslims believe that Jesus was either saved from death on the cross by Allah or his body was stolen by his disciples (The Swoon Theory) instead of the popular belief that he resurrected. Others believe that Allah put Jesus’ face on someone else and that person was crucified instead of Jesus (Substitution Theory).
• Muslims believe that there are verses in the bible that prophesy the coming of Muhammed. One of these verses is Deuteronomy 18:18 – they believe this refers to the prophet Muhammed.
• Many false Hadiths have been fabricated. There are different translations of the Qur’an. The Hadiths were put together about 200-250 years after the death of Muhammed. The 4 men that Muhammed selected as the best teachers of the Qur’an did not agree with the final Qur’an; they didn’t even agree with each other. I am particularly shocked at all these because of the huge fuss some muslims I have encountered made about the inaccuracy of the bible. Apparently, Islam has a few issues here and there concerning its Holy Books too. Usually, they would claim that the Qur’an is perfectly preserved while the bible is inundated with errors and interpolations. The last gospel – the gospel of John – was written 70 years after the death of Christ so there must have been eye witnesses still existing when it was written. We can’t say same for the Hadiths which were put together about 200-250 years after the death of Muhammed.

It was an amazing read and I hope to read more books from the author. I was however disappointed he didn’t shed much light on Jihad and terrorism. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself. Do I consider myself well-informed about Islam? Yes. But information isn’t necessarily education. So I do not consider myself anything close to a scholar of a religion I have read a single book about. In fact, I have more questions about Islam now, than before I opened the book. It is very okay to have questions. The Lord knows the number of questions I have about Christianity too.

At the tail end of the book Nabeel said ‘He (Jesus) assured me that inconceivable pain and social rejection is part of the Christian walk’. Inconceivable pain and social rejection? So pain is part of the package, if you didn’t get it, you were probably sold a fake product… a fake Christianity. I sometimes really want to fit in. I want to look cool just to be accepted by everybody else, but social rejection is part of the package too. This is what you sign up for once you make that decision. For me, Nabeel Qureshi’s testimony exemplifies what Jesus meant when He said ‘Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me’. The Christian walk is a long painful slow stroll through a city where people are shouting and jeering at you because of the path you chose. A Christian is someone who is going up a hill while clutching a heavy cross with feeble hands. Taking slow painful steps as the weight of the cross is pressing on his sore back. The people mocking at you because of your ‘misfortune’ are simply people who have abandoned the call to bear their own crosses. Nobody can help you except the one who went through it all and came out victorious.

With the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains.

It is like faith and actions are an inseparable pair. But how about those times when faith actually requires that you don’t act? How about those times when acting is rather a sign of fear and lack of faith? Faith can actually expect you to stay calm and not move. Inaction is still an action. Therefore, the saying still holds: faith without works(action) is dead.

Accompanying your convictions with actions seems the most logical thing to do. But when you voice your belief and that same belief system in itself requires that you stay put and don’t move, dear friends it is hard to cope with. You automatically start fidgeting. It is just like being told by the doctor to wait outside his consulting room till he calls you in. Watching the hours literally slip by coupled with no notifications from the said doctor concerning how many minutes more you would have to wait for him can kill! The temptation to believe he might have fallen asleep or forgotten about your appointment will weigh heavy on your mind. Your best bet is to knock the door to give him a gentle reminder. But how would he take it? Could he be irritated by you assuming that he had forgotten about you or would he welcome the gesture? It is just an overwhelming feeling but you would have to endure the emotional roller coaster and either walk up and down the hallway or even hum your favorite song hoping he would hear you and be reminded of your presence. When you think about it, you will realize that you are just impatient. You will also realize that if you did exactly what he asked you to do – wait – you would not have to go through that trauma. Did he state categorically that he would call you in? If yes, then your actions show that you don’t have faith in him and what he said. Impatience is indeed the strongest indicator of a lack of faith.

In the bible, a rather short story is told of a man called Uzzah during the reign of David. The Ark of the Covenant had just returned to Israel and as expected there was a lot of jubilation and merry making. The Ark rode on a cart attached to oxen. The oxen stumbled, hence it appeared the Ark could fall off and the worst could have happened to it. The Ark represented the presence of God; the Ark was God in their midst. The command was, ‘nobody should touch the Ark of the Covenant’ – absolutely nobody. We are presented with a very interesting scenario here. The untouchable Ark is about to crush on the ground, what do you do? I won’t lie; I would have done what Uzzah did. Uzzah went ahead and held the Ark in an attempt to save it from crushing on the ground. God struck him dead there and then. Uzzah wouldn’t have died if he hadn’t attempted to save the day. The absurd thing is he was trying to save God. How on earth do you do that … to give God a helping hand? In this case, a person who was full of faith in God wouldn’t have made this mistake. As I have stated already, in some cases, faith requires that you don’t act. Sometimes faith doesn’t require actions but inaction. But in faith inactivity is sometimes recorded as activity; inaction is sometimes the expected action.

As hard as it seems, this is the truth. That sometimes God requires that you be still and know that He is God. He does this especially on occasions where He has spoken already. Sometimes He speaks and requires that you take an action which will yield some tremendous results for you. Nevertheless, after honoring your side of the covenant He appears quiet or totally ignorant of your plight. The pain! The feeling of betrayal! In times like that, please know that faithful is He who has said it, and He is faithful and more than able to perform it.

The moment when you think your actions could save the day but God requires that you wait for him is one painful experience. After Jesus’ death, the apostles’ lives were in danger because the Jews were after them to prosecute them too. But Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the father (the Holy Spirit). The dilemma: to leave Jerusalem and be out of harm’s way or obey the command of God? Waiting on God is not easy, but from the experience of the Apostles, it is worth it a million times more because they reaped tremendous benefits by waiting in Jerusalem. The story is also told of Simeon an elderly man which is quite similar to the story of the 84 year old prophetess, Anna. These two waited with great patience for the birth of the promised Messiah (this is faith). Note: the birth of the messiah was prophesied many centuries before their time by Isaiah and many others. How silly they must have looked to their friends and families, waiting for a prophecy that was many centuries old. Anna was known to be always fasting and praying in anticipation of the birth of the promised Messiah of Israel and the world. We should all learn from this, that while waiting it is best to be prayerful and thankful. Simeon desired to see Jesus and then die peacefully. Only God knows how many years they waited. Guess what, their waiting wasn’t in vain because they were waiting on God. Waiting on God is worth it.

Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to their lifespan?

This is a question Jesus asked in Matthew 6. Anxiety and impatience are a strong indication of a lack of faith in He who it is you are waiting on. If it is God you are waiting on, be rest-assured that He will show up. Maybe not at the time you would have wanted him to, but at the end you will realize that it all makes sense; the wait will make sense. You might just realize you weren’t even ready for your desires when you thought you were.

REFERENCES: LUKE2, 2nd SAMUEL6:7A

The dangers of obeying God: One of the most baffling experiences in one’s walk with God is when he consciously finds himself in the will of God and yet exposed to so much peril. It hasn’t happened just once, not twice but countless times in the bible and in the day-to-day activities of present day Christians. I find it very interesting that Jesus was the one who sent his disciples out on that stormy voyage while he stayed behind to disperse the crowds (that’s strange). He literally sent them into danger. That is rather disappointing and it’s almost a betrayal.  Peter and his cohorts walked into danger by following God’s instructions. Jonah ended up in the same situation by disobeying God. But this wasn’t Jonah this was Simon Bar-JONAH and his colleagues. It is amazing how the disciples experienced the same predicament through obedience that Jonah did through disobedience.

Mark’s account of this story (Mark6:48) is very fascinating. According to Mark, when Jesus appeared on the sea he was walking past them. He seemed to be uninterested in the plight of his own disciples. He was walking past them, until their cries caught his attention. We often assume God knows it all hence he should be able to know all our worries and therefore it is needless for us to draw His attention to us in prayer. Well I have news for you, He is walking by, will you call on him or you will just watch him walk by? Countless times we see this happen in the bible. When Jesus clearly walks up to someone who is afflicted by some disease and yet still asks how He may be of help to the person. God won’t interfere in a situation he isn’t invited into. The truth remains, if you want a load of blessings, heavy enough to force you to your knees, please get on your knees first.

In the second verse of the song it says:

Your Grace abounds in deepest waters

Your sovereign hand will be my guide

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me

You’ve never failed and you won’t start now.

Have you not found yourself praying for abundant grace before? Well, according to the song, abundant grace can only be found at one place: IN DEEPEST WATERS. God’s greatest resource (Grace) is only available when He is the only one available to you. Better yet, His grace is available when you are at your wit’s end. Therefore He said, ‘my strength is made perfect in your weakness’. The ‘deepest waters’ are the places where everybody fails you. They are the places where every single person you know is either incapable of helping you or has totally neglected you. The song writer calls it a place ‘where feet may fail’. The faith I have in my feet is exceedingly above anything else. When I wake up in the morning I never doubt the fact that the moment I throw my feet off the bed the next thing is to walk. My feet are my support. They have never failed me and will never fail me. We all have feet in our lives. No, I do not mean ‘feet’ literally. I mean that physical entity that seems to always have your back and won’t ever leave you, not for all the fish in the sea. It could be your parents, their wealth, your intellect, your beauty, your health, your friend or even that lover. These are your feet. The truth is they may fail you one of these days, if they haven’t already. But a more soothing and sweet fact is that, if they fail you, God is available. In such situations, God has never failed and he won’t start with you.

The desire to be tested in deeper waters: the songwriter says:

Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters, wherever you would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my savior.

What is shocking in the story about Jesus’ walk on the water is the fact that Peter called to Jesus asking to join Jesus on the sea. The call to be taken away from one’s own comfort zone has to be one of the most outrageous things to do. In the midst of the storm, there is enough reason to fret but Peter turns the heat up a notch by desiring to defy Archimedes’s law of flotation. I can almost see the perplexed look on the faces of the other disciples when Peter took that first step on the water. Peter’s decision was one taken in total trust in the nebulous creature before him. Especially because it claimed to be the Jesus he knew. It is worthy of note that our acts of faith are only necessary when we are at sea. When our backs are against the wall that is when our faith is necessary. When you are broke, that is when giving to God even means more to him. For in that, you prove to him that you are not a slave to money but you are happily leashed only by Him. You express your boundless trust in him in such circumstances by desiring to be stripped of any other relief mechanism. The song writer puts it this way ‘… where my trust is without borders’: the place where my trust in God cannot be restrained. The place where my trust in God is ever increasing and gaining more grounds (or borderless) like wild bush fire, is the same place where his grace is abundant; and that is where I want to spend the rest of my life. When the song says ‘Let me walk upon the waters, wherever you would call me’, it only establishes the fact that wherever God will ever send you, there is a sea to walk on. God will always require you to do the seemingly impossible things: a walk on the deep blue seas. Such a place, one cannot walk there except he is sent there purposely by the Savior. That is why the song writer desires of the Spirit to lead him to a place deeper than anywhere his feet could ever wander. At the end of all of this, it is supposed to increase our faith in God. This is an amazing story captured beautifully in an amazing song. The electrifying voice of Taya Smith makes listening to the song a calming and reflective experience. It is just amazing.

I believe Simon Peter would have wished he had heard the story of a pre-historic Peter who encountered Jesus on the sea. By this example he could have kept his eyes on the Savior (or above the waves) and therefore he wouldn’t have sunk. Well, unfortunately for him he didn’t but fortunately for us, we have heard of such a story. A story that teaches us this truth: when you focus on the problem instead of the solution, you will be overwhelmed by the problem. I like how someone put it, he said, ‘don’t tell your God how big your problem is, rather tell your problem how big your God is’. Let’s be God-conscious and not problem-conscious. It is amazing that Jesus came to the rescue of ‘the drowning Peter’. Jesus, the same one who was impressed by Peter’s decision to join him on the water came to his rescue. It is refreshing to know that anytime we fail, his hands are ever ready and present to come to our rescue. This is Grace, Praise God.

Please share with me how the song has been a blessing to you. it is in the link below.