Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith:but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. God demands and expects His children to trust Him at all times. He declares, Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him:for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. without faith it is impossible to please Him That clearly makes the matter short and straight. The child of God is required to live by faith. Anything outside of faith is sin. Rom.14:23. God wants us to be confident in Him enough to trust Him in all matters. He wants us to trust Him with the big things and trust Him with the small things. He wants us to trust Him in the open and trust Him in the secret places too. It is amazing how many children of God try to exhibit faith or trust in God in the open but never in the secret. What I have found out is that many substitute FAITH with TRICKS. This is practiced among both ministers and non ministers alike. Gen. 32:24-28. Jacob was a blessed man but he had been living his blessed life in trickery and schemes. Sometimes, we fail to see that the things we want to get by trickery, God can give us through faith. At the end of the day, those things come along with broken hips. The desire of Jacob, expressed in his prayer was for God to enable him return home. Gen.28:20-22. Many times, we sincerely call on God but we do not sincerely trust Him to do it all. God indeed provided for him, he had prospered, had wives and children. God had done all these but the bring him home in peace was one thing he still struggled with. He thought he had to trick his way home or trick his way to acceptability. This is where many Christians, especially ministers are trapped. The quest for acceptability. This is what drive some into titles, schemes, tricks and devilish ideas called strategies. Do not get me wrong. Strategy is not evil but there are evil strategies. Strategies informed by Satanic and sinful ideas. I was trying to address this in a pastor many years back and he told me it is called witty inventions. You cannot christen an ungodly idea with a bible name. Jacob was going to taint the blessings of God with tricks. God would not allow it. He had the audacity to wrestle with God. God gave him a pin-fall and left him with a limp. He still did not get it until God drew his attention to his name. Genesis 32:27-28 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel:for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. when God asks you a question, he does not really need the answer because He always knows the answer. The reason He asks you is to make you conscious of the answer. The respond to what is your name was Jacob which means, trickster, deceiver, conniver, manipulator, sub-planter etc. That what is your name can be rephrased with..by what are you operating? In this case, he had been operating by deception, tricks and manipulations. It had worked to produce a lot of livestock but it will not provide the ultimate need in his life. God said, your name shall no longer be any of these. You have have my blessing without deception. You can have my blessing without manipulations. You can have my blessing without lies. You can see miracles in your ministry without tricks. At the end of the day, he did not need the tricks to meet Esau. He met Esau as Israel and not Jacob. He had his dream cone true without tricks. You can have that miracle with BLESSING and not with TRICKS
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 17:35:03 +0000
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