What do you do when you face crisis and crippling situations? When you face issues that seem to take the fun out of your life, how do you respond? We all encounter situations that don’t look like they were designed to make us smile. It may be your overbearing flatmate or neighbour. It may be a delayed promotion. It may be a crumbling business that forces you to consider compromise. It may be the burden of a crippling illness. Or maybe your flat bank credit. Or possibly, the unpalatable detours of plans and dreams. We don’t always have the “sunny side up” in life and hence discomforts are relative ‘normal’.
We are now at the 16th lesson we can learn from the miracles of Jesus and today, we are looking at the miracle of the restoration of sight to a blind man or two blind men, depending on whose account you read. Also, I am writing this one with one of our authors, Demiana Odinaka. At first, Jesus appeared not to be paying any attention to them, but as they persisted, He budged. In these passages, we see persistence win over the attention of Jesus, stopping Him right in His tracks. Even though the crowd tried to shut them up, the blind men cried out to Jesus even louder. You see, Jesus once taught His disciples to âask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be openedâ (Matthew 7:7-8, NIV). When you have asked (prayed casually), and sought (prayed fervently), and still havenât received the miracle you seek, maybe it is time you walked up to that door and knocked, maybe even banged on it (fasting and praying).
The most common translation of the word ârepentâ is to âturnâ or âreturnâ. That is, turning from evil and returning to good. The English dictionary defines repentance, as a condition of being penitent or a feeling of regret or remorse for doing something wrong.
About a week ago, I received a beautiful realization about God that changed my prayer life completely. (Yea, I know I have written a lot about prayer. It seems like every second post is on prayer. Can’t blame me though; I only pen down what I receive.) So, I was having my quiet time with the Lord and studying Paul’s first letter to Timothy when I came across a familiar text that ministered to me a lot different than it used to – 1 Timothy 2:1-2. Then, as I meditated on it, I began to inquire from God about why many people (including me), a lot of the time, find it difficult to maintain a lifestyle or habit of prayer. I mean, why does it look like an impossible feat to sustain a life of ‘continuing’ prayer (see 1 Thessalonians 5:17)? Do I have to go live with the hermits or monks to be able to maintain a constant prayer life? Do I need to turn off my internet connection, stop playing video games or watching movies and be done with all social media and most distractions? (I’ve done all these before at different times – one time for a whole month, another time for a whole year – each time under God’s instruction. I’ll tell you now, it ain’t fun.) As I pondered this question, God spoke to me, just according to His promise in one of my favourite scriptures since childhood:
Reading Time: 5minutesPhoto by Omar Lopez on Unsplash
Introduction
Everyone needs a best friend. If you don’t agree with me, you probably will by the time you finish reading this post. How would you really describe a best friend? A best friend can take many forms: someone who you can rely on and trust to be present whenever you need them (except they have a very good reason not to be); someone who genuinely cares about you and would defend you always, even when you’re not present. I’m sure there are many other ways you can describe a best friend (and I’d really love to know your thoughts on this in the comment section of this post) but, probably, a few of the best descriptions of a best friend are someone who will not condemn you no matter what, who will not take advantage of you, whose company you enjoy a lot and never get tired of, and one who can assume any role you need them to at any moment. What I mean is that your best friend can assume the role of a friend, father, mother, brother, sister, mentor, etc. A friend can assume the role of an older brother or sister if you don’t have one and just need someone to pamper you but not like a parent or friend. And if you’re like me who does not have a biological younger sibling, a best friend is someone who can play that role when you feel the need to pamper someone. And last but not least, a best friend is someone who can portray the role of a boss. (Yes, sometimes, you definitely need someone who can boss you around in order to compel you to get some work done!đ)
There is a long-standing tradition of a dividing cup popular among the Asians and not alien to the Egyptians. The cup was proposed to possess the properties of representing the world, all the things in the world and the activities of it. This cup, which is said to contain the elixir of immortality, was usually passed from hand to hand among different potentates and royalties across generations. Coincidentally, when Joseph, son of Israel, was made Prime Minister in the land of Egypt, he was handed down that cup. The cup was ideally used for divination, hence the name, but Joseph obviously didn’t need it. He divined from the Lord. However, by virtue of tradition, the cup was required to be in his custody.
The Bible recounts an exciting story of the sons of Jacob during the famine that ravaged the whole earth at the time when Joseph was second-in-command over the land of Egypt. See the story in Genesis 43.
The background of the story was that after the prophesied 7 years of abundance came 7 years of deleterious famine all over the earth. When nations exhausted their proceeds (obviously they were not as informed as Egypt, so they didn’t store up food), they started to visit the land of Egypt for their meals. Jacob was also in this category of the uninformed. He instructed his sons to go to Egypt for food. They did, and they came back with Simeon locked in the Egyptian prison and a demand for Benjamin, without whom they should not come to Egypt again.
In our 14th miracle lesson, we saw this same story where Jesus had been away on a prayer retreat with Peter, James and John (Matthew 17:1) when a man brought his severely sick child to Jesus’ disciples. They tried all the prayer styles Jesus had taught them and still couldn’t heal the boy. Fortunately, Jesus returned before the man’s debilitated faith died off completely. He proceeds to heal the man’s son with just a command.
Thinking about this COVID-19 pandemic, I couldn’t help but think about prophet Elijah’s time during the drought. I wouldn’t want to narrate the whole story but I want to highlight some key lessons in the events recorded in 1 Kings 18:1-46 (you might want to go through that, even if only for a refresher). And since seven is the spiritual number for perfection, I have decided to have them in seven points. It is my prayer that after going through this post, you will understand the role you too can play for God to rain down His presence, power and glory on the earth. Hallelujah! Let it rain.
There Is a Huge Difference between a Weak Faith and a Small Faith (Matthew 17:14-21)
While Jesus was away on a short retreat to the mountain with three of his most trusted disciples (see Matthew 17:1), a man brought his son who was a âlunatic and sore vexedâ (KJV) to Jesus’ disciples to cure him. They tried to exercise the power that Jesus had given to them, but couldnât. Now, these disciples of Jesus were the same set to whom He had previously given âpower to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illnessâ – Matthew 10:1. When Jesus first gave them that authority to perform miracles, they had not fully known Him. They were ‘baby Christians’. Yet, they were still able to achieve tremendous success; for, even demons submitted to them in the name of Jesus (Luke 10:17). So, what went wrong this time?
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