The Highest Life – A Life Of Faith

Very often when we commit to God, we don’t fully understand the life we choose. I recall that when I committed to Christ, I was told that believers live by faith but I know now that I didn’t fully grasp what that translates to. Faith sounds super spiritual and exciting when it is only linked to receiving things from God but that is such a myopic interpretation of the just living by faith. We give up on our faith so easily because we don’t fully understand the consequence of living by faith. It only gets clearer as an honest and sincere walk with God deepens. Only then does it gradually sink in.

It is often not as exciting as it sounds, to “acknowledge God in all our ways” because He then directs our path and His preferred path is often not our path of choice; this is the albatross. Though He may leave you in your comfort zone for a while, He gradually draws one to the place where one is confused and helpless. The writer of the song “Oceans” describes it as “the great unknown where feet may fail” and “life without borders.” Life sometimes gets confusing when one walks with God. It isn’t always together. 

Mathew 14: 24 – 27 “Meanwhile the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, it’s a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them at once.’ Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘Take courage, I am here!”

Sometimes one makes a decision which seems right to all, but God is pushing another decision deep within you. You want to ignore His persistent voice but then you hate to disobey Him and He refuses to align with your desire. Bear in mind that His counsel often contradicts “reality,” so that obeying Him would, from time to time, take you to the place where you don’t understand what is going on; you just trust that He does. Of course His plan will eventually unfold and His wisdom be revealed. I can imagine how confused His disciples were when as they crossed to the other side, upon His instruction, they faced difficulty. The waters were so stormy that they fought to keep from drowning; they were so focused on saving their lives that they did not even recognize Jesus as He walked toward them. 

Sometimes it is such a struggle and we are struggling so much in our strength, we don’t see or recognize Him when He appears. Unfortunately, He does not always appear in the same way. I am comforted by the fact that Jesus understands that this is a tough way to live and knows that we would sometimes sink so He remains just a call away; yet we may miss Him if we are consumed with our difficulties. He expresses His love for us in not walking away even when we miss Him. He makes several other efforts to help us see or discern Him and/or His help. He can never be accused of not trying enough.

Mathew 14: 28 – 29 “Then Peter called to Him, ‘Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.’ ‘Yes, Come,’ Jesus said.”

Who would imagine that Jesus would ask Peter to step out of the boat without first fixing the storm; but such is God’s way with us. His instructions often require us to act despite our fears. He doesn’t have to fix the storm to bring one through it. We must keep walking despite fear, trusting the voice that leads us. If we feel like we are sinking again, it is okay to cry out. We must learn to accept guidance from the Sovereign Hand which we don’t see but trust. O! What loss we suffer when we are guided by fear. 

Mathew 14: 30 – 31 So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. Save me Lord! He shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. You have so little faith. Jesus said. Why did you doubt me?”

You Have To Confront ‘You’ From Time To Time If You Must Go Forward

It is truly sad that believers struggle with facing the truth of “who we are.” Facing the truth of who we are at any point in our lives is not to beat ourselves but to make necessary improvements so that we go forward to fulfill our destinies. It is sad when one’s life remains stagnant, which can happen for several different reasons, for the fact that the person refuses to confront themself. It is even worse when we, ourselves are so desperate to go forward that we pray and fast asking God to take us forward only to turn away when we find that the solution to our going forward is in fixing certain things in us. Refusing to acknowledge the truth, we lock ourselves in; remaining stagnant we distort God’s big picture.

Proverbs 26: 13 “The lazy person claims, there’s a lion out there! If I go outside I might be killed”

Our reasons for refusing to confront ourselves or deal with our issues vary. I know, for example, that some people are afraid of being emotionally traumatized so they would rather avoid facing the truth of who they are. No matter how wonderful your excuse may seem, the underlying truth is we hate to deal with the fact that the responsibility for making the changes rest on us and not on anyone else. It is just easier to blame it all on someone or something else forgetting that your life is yours and the persons you seek to pass the buck to are working on their own responsibility - their life. They are going forward while you are stagnant. Sometimes we even want to pass the buck onto God but we must realize that these things won’t make God any less than He is. When God has completed His part, it then becomes our responsibility to act. Unfortunately, the life is ours yet we toy with it. It will be sad to live and die talking about His promises and never experience them for silly reasons such as we are discussing today. 

1 Corinthians 11: 31 “But if we examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.”

At the end of the day we are doing ourselves a lot of injustice. No matter how much we blame others, the life is ours. It is like placing food before one who is hungry and they are waiting for someone else to put the food in their mouth. Of course, eventually they would lose the food. Even if no one else takes it, it would go bad. God expects us to use the hands He already provided us to take the food, so that He will not come down to put it in our mouth. There is a place for everything He gave us. Simple common sense teaches us that. If He would come down and do what we ought to do, then why equip us to live physically on earth? Since He gave us a brain, He must intend for us to use it though following His guide.

1 Corinthians 11: 32 “Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”

Moreover, God’s thoughts toward us are always thoughts of good which should ultimately bring us to that good predestined end He has for us. So when it appears like He is forcing us to confront ourselves, it can only be for our good. He won’t even do it before you are fully equipped to deal with it. As we all know, He does not make us deal with all our wrong at the same time, it is usually a step at a time confirming that He would not let you take on more than you can handle. If He reveals the weakness, then He is certain that you are equipped to deal with it. No one else can deal on your behalf, with what you ought to deal with. You waste your life and time when you refuse to confront yourself and deal with the issues. 

1 Corinthians 10: 13 “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experiences. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

Refusing The world's Delicacies

Generally, around where I live people hardly refuse offers. The idea is to grab as much as one can grab even if you don't need or may never never it. We don't think much on whether or not what is being offered can harm us; our response to most offers is "yes." I remember my late father's driver who worked with him for several years and became a member of my family. We often laughed at him because he never said 'no' when offered food and he in turn, would counsel us never to refuse a good offer. He counseled that even if you didn't need what was being offered, keep it for the rainy day. It was very funny to us then but I have come to realize that this is the mentality of a lot of people in my area which is also fast leading many, astray.

James 1: 14 - 15 "Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death."

Unfortunately, this is also the attitude of a lot of believers in my area. We have not learnt, despite that we are saved, that we must refuse certain offers. We still have the "grab" mentality that those who are yet to come to the knowledge of Christ have making it difficult for us to refuse the "delicacies" of the world.The devil knows this and has passed on this knowledge to his agents through whom he hopes to lure us back to himself. They are aware of this common weakness and use it to the utmost. They offer things we can hardly resist festering the greed in us and we never say "no". A lot of us would say, "let me do this once and ask God for forgiveness latter." The truth is you will do many others because the offers get more tempting until you are lured completely out of the kingdom.

Proverbs 5: 22 - 23 "An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness."

Many believers will not fulfill their destinies for this reason. We must learn self-control and/or discipline. We must learn to refuse things we ought to refuse even when we think we need it. It is even more sad when it is not something we need because we already have enough but we just want to save some "for the rainy day" or think we should have all. The devil always starts with an innocent looking offer and continues to pile them on until one is trapped and unable to resist him. He then begins to manipulate such people despite that they are still in church and may even be ministers. The truth is underlying all this is greed. It is true that the lure of the world is strong but we must learn to put a "knife to our throat"

Proverbs 23: 1-3 "While dining with a ruler, pay attention to what is put before you. If you are a big eater, put a knife to your throat; don’t desire all the delicacies, for he might be trying to trick you."

If we must be useful to God, then we must ensure that no one is able to put a price to us. It is often said that "everybody has a price, you just need to know how much or what it is." It cannot be so for us. The only price that needs to be paid for us has been paid and that is the blood of Jesus. We must be able to say "no" to certain offers. Many believers have fallen from great positions because they could not resist these "delicacies" yet God led them to the position they occupy without them playing games. They did not have to give anything, particularly not their souls to get to the office but having gotten there, the challenge has been to refuse the enemy's offers. It is a trap through which the enemy brings down believers and the success rate appears to be high.

Mark 8: 36 "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?"

Proverbs 23: 4-5 "Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle."

Daniel and his friends were able to refuse a good offer.  This offer, on the surface of it, was not to trap them. The king said he wanted them to look nice but they knew who they were and knew what was not their portion. They could have argued that everybody had to eat the food and there was nothing they could have done about it but they realized that to be truly great, you must refuse satan's delicacies. Despite the fear of all that could happen if the king found out they had rejected his very rich food, they went ahead to refuse and continued to eat their seemingly miserable portion through which God worked mightily to bring them to a good place. The world we live in today offers us a lot of delicacies from the devil's table; like Daniel, we can and must say "no". The truth is there is a reward for remaining on God's side. Furthermore, that thing you think you will continue to eat secretly shall surely be exposed. One day, it shall be shouted on the rooftop for all to hear.

Proverbs 23: 6 - 8 "Don’t eat with people who are stingy; don’t desire their delicacies. They are always thinking about how much it costs. “Eat and drink,” they say, but they don’t mean it. You will throw up what little you’ve eaten, and your compliments will be wasted."