THE CHARACTER OF GOD AND THE JOURNEY TO ANAIAH

TIME: BEFORE ANAIAH  (22ND NOVEMBER, 2017)

SERAH'S LESSON

For a while, I've been battling with a little doubt and discouragement over one seemingly unanswered prayer request. I've been telling God I want twins but for every scan I attend, they just see one.

God and I have been discussing the issue almost everyday and some days I ask him, "where do I draw the line between faith and knowing that what I want, may not be what You want for me?".

Some people say that God's answers are yes and amen. Amen means let God's will be done and one thing I know so well is that His will and my will may not always be the same. Isaiah 55 makes that clear when He says " His ways are not our ways nor are His thoughts like ours...". 

Paul was a man of great faith but three times, he asked God to take a particular thorn from his flesh and God said no, my grace is sufficient for you. That to me, was his Amen to Paul. 

My husband and I had discussed it and we came to the agreement that if God will not give you something, He will tell you and make it clear just as He did with Paul ; but it doesn't mean you lacked faith or your faith failed you. It just meant He had a different plan for you.

The Bible says, if your neighbour asks you for something and you can do it then, don't keep postponing it. God is like that and can't contradict Himself. If He won't give you, He will find a way to tell you. Many of us are parents, your child can't keep asking you for something and you know fully well you won't give them, yet you keep letting them ask. If we, as wicked as we are can't do that to our children, the neither can God.

With that issue settled, I kept telling God to encourage my heart everyday concerning the situation.

Last week, I read Hebrews 11:1 which says "faith is the confidence that what we hope for, we will receive.." the word confidence stood out. Some verses later, it speaks of Abraham having confidence that God would take him to the land he had promised. Again, confidence. I asked God to teach me and help me to be confident in Him, concerning the things I trust Him for that are seemingly impossible.

That same day, God taught me a valuable lesson.

In Deuteronomy, God told the Israelites to always remember to thank him because He was bringing them to a land flowing with milk and honey. That was besides the other reasons He stated for them to thank Him. God reminded me and asked me if I believed in Him concerning the issues of my life. He told me that sometimes we tend to want to give up on Him, concerning some pending issues or give up on life because of two reasons:We either don't believe God or we don't know our God and his character.

He gave me two scenarios which I will place before you as well.

1. He said assuming Bill Gates called me and said he has kept 10 billion dollars for me in Lagos and I need to get there by bus to pick it up, would I go? I said yes.

 Assuming in that bus you board, the ac is not working, the bus is crowded, the person in front of you has 4 screaming kids, the man beside you has eaten enough moi moi and is passing gas any how, the other one by your side is eating garlic, you have those nice Igbo songs playing on the bus and another person has bad breath and body odour, would you drop from the bus and say you are fed up and stop at Lokoja to go back to Abuja? No, I doubt any of us here would drop, we won't drop because of the amount of money we were promised and the person who has made the promise. If it were some uncle that just doesn't keep his words, we wouldn't be motivated to stay in that bus or if the amount we were promised is just a mere 2k we wouldn't want to endure the journey would we?

I told God no.

The second scenario He gave me was with my older sister. My sister is like my mum and my husband, she keeps to her words. Since we were children, she would never make me a promise she couldn't keep. 

My sister works in a choice oil n gas company. I have a good idea of what she makes and has. God asked me, assuming your sister Didi, took you out and said pick anything you want, would you think twice about it? Or you went to a restaurant with her and she said pick anything, would you contemplate eating and ordering what you want? I said no. 

He asked me why? I said because I know her, I know what she makes, what she has and I know her character. She would never say what she can't do nor back up.

God then told me that half the time, my children don't know me, don't know my character and don't know who I am, which is why when I make a promise to them in my word, they doubt me, don't believe me and just don't act on it.

The Bible says "tell me the desires of your heart that I may grant them". That is a blank cheque set in front of you. God would never ask you to ask for something He can not do.

He said we don't know Him nor His character. Because if we did, we would know that nothing is too difficult or impossible with Him. He does things that defy science and defy the understanding of man.

He asked me how does a virgin give birth to a child without knowing any man?

How does a man stay in the belly of a fish for three days and survive? Where is the oxygen he is taking? Where is the food and water he is using? This same man will come out healthy and even able to talk and vex?

He asked me how does a man stay in a Lions den and come out unharmed? Can I explain?

How does a man turn from a Prisoner to a Prime Minister in a country where the people were appalled by his race?

How do people walk around in a wilderness for 40 years without change of clothes or shoes size? Can I explain

How does a woman of almost 90 give birth when her husband is about 100?

I couldn't answer but I got the point and I hope you do too.

Yesterday, I was about to give up on my dream and God again took me to James 5:17-18 which says that Elijah was just a mere man like us but prayed earnestly and for 3.5 years there was no rain. It didn't matter who and who would be affected by the lack of rain, God saw his faith and He answered. That same man prayed again and rain was released.

He told me to pray and believe Him.

Elijah wasn't worried or didn't know how God was going to answer his prayer, he just knew that God would and could answer it. He knew God's character and he believed him.

David knew God's character, so did Moses and Joseph and every person who stood their ground in faith.

I pray that God will help us to better understand his character and believe Him.

Our God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we can ever ask or imagine and He is working everything out for our good; for His plans for us are of good and not of evil to bring us (meaning it's a journey) to a good and expected end. Every situation that is facing you right now has a start date and an expiry date.

This year, I see God as the one who makes a way where there seems to be no way and I choose to be like Abraham who hoped against all hope that God would do as He has said.

Rom4:18 says "even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping/believing that he would be the father of many Nations. For God had said so to him."

Open your ears to what God is saying to you and believe Him. 

Please believe Him for He does not and cannot lie and if it does not happen as we plan, know it is as He planned and His plans must always take preeminence over our own.

Have a lovely day.