Bible
Study: Malachi 3, 1 to 6. And Luke 1, 57 to 66.
Do you
sometimes doubt God’s power to do certain things? Do you believe that there is
a limit to which God can act? Are you scared of people or native doctors,
ancestral gods, or witchcraft such that you feel worried, unsettled or troubled
by their threats despite your standing as a Christian? Do you believe satan has
powers that equals or rivals that of God? Do you believe that unfortunate
things happen to you as a result of demonic powers despite your closeness to
God, daily prayer and exercise of Christian virtues?
These are
very hard questions especially for us Africans, who are still trying to grapple
with a break from our ancestral religion, which creates a worldview that, the
world is controlled by the gods, and that for everything that happens, there
must be a metaphysical explanation, and if anyone dies under any circumstances
at all, he or she must have been killed by these unknown forces.
Our faith
in God as African Christians is seriously challenged by our strong belief in the
power and existence of witchcraft, demons and spirits. Even when we go to
church and pray, our faith in God as the ultimate ruler of the universe is
brought down seriously by our fear and the moment any unfortunate thing happens,
we begin to panic and soon we accept explanations from people that give
excessive credit to the existence of demonic powers, charms and evil spirits.
Today,
many have made it their business to exploit people including Christians as a
result of their ability to create fear in their minds through such cheap explanations
and they make a lot of money in the process. They tell you the source of your
problems and they claim to have the solutions as well. They make you feel as if
your personal prayers are completely worthless, that, otherwise so and so would
not have happened to you. Unknown to you, they create a serious doubt in your
personal ability to seek God’s intervention in your life. They do not tell you
to pray anymore, they say just go and bring this amount of money and they themselves
will go into battle on your behalf and your problems will be over. It is sad
that many Christians fall easily for such tricks undermining the power of God. They
live in constant fear and their problems never seem to come to an end.
Christmas
is a reminder that WITH GOD, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. The birth of John the
Baptist of which we read about in today’s Gospel passage is one of such
instances where God reveals his greatness and power. Zechariah was dumb because
he doubted God as many Christians do today who have stopped believing in the
potency of their personal prayers. God would not allow his doubt prevent his
plan from coming to pass hence, he sealed Zachariah’s lips until when the boy
was eventually named. The prophet Malachi had already foretold that Elijah
would return and he would be the one to prepare the way for the Messiah. Nothing
was going to stop this from happening.
When we
doubt God, we are not doing ourselves any good. At times, we are not even
conscious of our doubts because we allow so much fear of unknown forces becloud
our reasoning and we love to believe that some evil person or demon is responsible.
We will know when we start believing in God by the time we start believing in
our power of our personal prayers. By the time we pray and rise from prayer
with full confidence and peace of mind, then and then only can we say we
believe in God. By the time we are no longer afraid of what demons, evil
spirits or witchcrafts claim to do, by the time we refuse to accept explanations
of physical phenomena that do not give credit to God as the ultimate controller
of daily events, then and then only can we say we believe in God.
Doubt is
dangerous. Let us take a moment today to examine our conscience very well. It is
a sign of humility to accept the fact that we doubt God. Once we acknowledge our
doubts, then it is time for us to deal with it by casting out our fear of powers
other than God. It is time for us to start believing God is the ultimate, that
no power on earth, or in heaven is greater than his. We need to believe God so
much that like Shedrach, Meschach and Abegnego, we are prepared to walk into
the blazing furnace fearlessly saying: “We know God is there to help us but
even if he decides not to help us, the fact that we would suffer will not make
us run to other gods.” See Daniel 3, 16 to 18. Yes, the fact that unfortunate
things could sometimes happen to us despite our prayerfulness and holiness will
not make us run to people, native doctors, so-called business men and women who
would increase our doubt in the name of trying to help us.
Let us
Pray:
Lord
Jesus, as I prepare for your coming as man, increase my faith in you as the one
for whom nothing in impossible. Let not my circumstances affect my faith in you
as God. Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you.
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