Tag Archives: Paul and Silas

UNWAVERING FAITH

The faith of Christian lawyer HORATIO GATES SPAFFORD, author of  “It is well with my soul” is as strong as that of Job who lost all and yet did not forsake God. He was even asked to curse God but he refused  in the spirit of God owns “my life and whatsoever he does with it I will neither query Him nor swear against Him.” When his three friends began to blame him, expressing their thought that spoke of Job’s possible hidden sin; he ignored them including his wife’s suggestion that Job should curse God and die apparently because of the serious agony he was experiencing. Job took it stoically but at a time wished he were dead and put an end to the excruciating pain and sorrow. He still anchored his faith in Jehovah.

All is well that ends well. God allowed Satan to lay his hand on Job and got to a point God had to uphold His instruction earlier on, that Job’s life was not to be tampered with. God had Job’s health restored, his loss was replenished many folds more than it was before the test of his faith, and he was commissioned to pray for his friends who had sort of ‘blasphemed’ in the way they judged an innocent man like Job. The chain of disaster and misfortune that HORATIO suffered was enough to make a weak believer or non believer to commit suicide. It was like he hung on to the thread of faith that his redeemer lives.  History puts it that so many rich people committed suicide during the Great Depression of the 1930s The millionaires that woke up to find their wealth had literally flown away resorted to ‘end it all’ via suicide. In other words, Trust in God was amongst people of ages gone by and we in our contemporary society find it hard to change our orientation. Can anyone fault the faith the three young Hebrews  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego showed in bluntly refusing to worship the king’s gold image. Even though it incurred them the wrath of King Nebuchadnezzar, but did not bulge and insisted on their stand of not disobeying the God of Israel. In the king’s consternation, he said only three men were thrown into the fiery furnace but he was seeing four people  and the forth person looked liked the son of God. WHO TOLD HIM .OR SHOWED HIM THE FOURTH PERSON WAS THE SON OF MAN?

There are more examples of disciples that showed faithfulness during persecution like the records in Acts 5:40-42, Romans 8: 17-18, 2Corinthians 4: 10-11, Hebrew 11: 24-25 (The faith of Moses)

Spiritual Strength

Spiritual strength is divinely superior to our physical strength. It is invincible.

Spiritual strength is divinely superior to our physical strength. It is invincible.

Being strong in Jesus Christ constitutes spiritual strength. It is the quality in a believer that makes him to tenaciously believe in the inspirational words of God especially when confronted with daunting situation. (Jack Zevada: www.christianity.about.com…strength) A unique example is the praise and worship songs of Paul and Silas in prison. Acts 16: 25-30. Their spiritual strength triggered off God’s earthquake that shattered the shackles, fetters and chains used to hold them bound. The same spiritual strength in them made them to boldly and honestly remain and waited for the jailor to see that they were not jail-breakers. They were fearless of what man could do. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27: 1) God’s spiritual words are a source of strength to all believers. No doubt the jailed Apostles, in spite of their ordeal were so confident that load of fear did not manifest in them rather, by their spiritual strength, the jailor and the magistrate feared them. They could no longer prosecute them and therefore freed them asking them to go away from their territory.

 

In Isaiah 40: 31 we read: ‘Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like the eagle. They shall fly and shall not be tired; they shall walk and not faint’. Eagle is a symbol of strength. In Isaiah 41: 10, the Lord said ‘Fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes I will help you. I will hold you with my righteous right hand’. These are reassuring Words of God that infuse greater spiritual strength in one to be able to withstand the devil or adversaries. In Ephesians 3: 16, Paul psyched the Ephesians not to lose heart in “that HE (God) will grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His spirit in the inner man” During Elijah’s flight away from Jezebel, even during extreme flight, God sent a raven to feed him with two meals which gave him strength lasted him for 40 days and 40 nights without eating. 1 King 19: 8 presented a vivid scenario of how “he arose; and ate and drank and he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God”

 

What added up to become spiritual strength are namely, fear of the Lord, serving the Lord in sincerity and in truth; praying without ceasing; putting away of all idols; serving the Lord in the areas one is needed, reading and studying the bible along with memorizing verses for various life’s needs. It is also paramount that quotable quotes from Jesus Christ, David, Peter and Paul as well as many anointed servants of God like Isaiah, Jeremiah with other major and minor Prophets are needed to give a believer spiritual strength