Page 12 - Potters Vessel - Vol 1, Jan 2018

FINAL 2 - Jan 18_Potters Vessel - First draft 13/01/2018 18:08 Page 12

the BLESSED
Are you in the company of the
Blessed?

uke 1: 28-38 recorded how God sent angel Gabriel How does God perform His Word?
to announce the birth, name and part of Jesus’
For conditional promises, God needs our own ‘mustard
Lministry to a well-favoured, naive but godly virgin
seed’ type of faith to perform His word, though we believe
Mary who gladly accepted God’s promises. e angel
it. Our attitude should be, ‘When an honourable man says
confirmed that God had equally visited her cousin Elizabeth
anything, he also does it. So it is with God. When God says
who had been barren for several years. After some time, the
that He has given me something, I know by faith that it is
Holy Spirit hastily moved Mary to visit Elizabeth, her
truly mine. With faith, I believe that it will come to pass;
pregnant cousin. As soon as Mary, who was carrying the
God He will do it for me. Faith always asks only for what
Testimony of Israel in her womb greeted her cousin, the
God has said, and then relies on His faithfulness and power
Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth and the Spirit of prophecy
to fulfil His Word. God instructs us to meditate on His
acknowledged the favour of God on Mary:
Word (Joshua 1:8) daily. e Word should be received into
"Blessed is she that believed; for there shall be a performance of the innermost depths of our hearts through the avenue of
the things which were told her from the Lord" (Luke 1:45). faith.
In the passage above, we can see that one of the criterion of When we become possessed with this conviction,
being blessed is to believe that there would be a performance established in it, God always does what He has said, at His
of whatever God has spoken concerning our lives. From appointed time. With Him, speaking and doing always go
insight, Mary’s heart believed the good news and her mouth together; the deed always follows the Word:
echoed ‘Yes Lord’ to what was proclaimed by the angel of
"Hath He said, and shall He not do it?" (Num 23:19).
God. en, there was manifestation of what she believed
and said amen to. at is faith in action. However, we To keep us on our toes whilst waiting, God desires that we
cannot exercise the Biblical faith without believing. become importunate; praying without ceasing; worshipping
him in anticipation of what we have received but is yet to
Biblical faith is usually conditional; an ‘if’ and ‘then’:
manifest. He delights in those who “keep not silence, And
“Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make (their)
would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40) Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isa 62:6-7).
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Abraham was fully assured that God would fulfil what He
ee…” (Isa 26:3). had promised him (Rom 4;21). Paul firmly believed that it
shall be even as God has spoken (Acts 27:25). Even, Albert
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves,
Einstein said, "It is better to believe than to disbelieve, in
and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
so doing you bring everything to the realm of possibility."
then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal
their land” (2 Chr 7:14).
Faith is nothing more than the certainty that God speaks
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my the truth: "I know for certain that this promise is truth, and
covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, that You will fulfil it." Every day, we must make at least a
for all the earth is mine;” (Exo 19:5). verse of the scriptures the subject of special reflection in
order to strengthen our faith. No matter how weak we
In the examples, we see that faith and belief are
may be, we have been empowered by God to believe that
inter-twined; working hand in hand. Faith is the ‘advance
He will perform whatever He has spoken concerning us
information’ (received from God) we have at hand to act
because His Spirit lives in us.
upon. Believe (like a verb) involves doing; that is, acting
upon our faith (the advance information). Whenever we erefore, let us:
receive a word from God, we must ask the Holy Spirit to t Surrender every aspect of our lives to God
enlighten us as to what action to take in order to secure the t Ask God for power to walk daily with Him
fulfilment of it. t Securely hold the promise
t Ask God for the ability to patiently wait and endure till
Our action could be spiritual:
our change come and
t Settling our mind on Him so that he may keep us in
t Trust God for the fulfilment.
perfect peace (Isa 26:3).
t Obeying God’s word and keeping his covenant
(Exo 19:5).
r
Or physical:
u Praying, seeking God’s face and turning from our e Potter’s Vessel
wicked ways (2 Chr 7:14)
u Bringing tithes and offering into God’s house
(Mal 3:10-12).

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