The Supernatural: The Miracle of Growth

In the Last article (please click here to read), it was established that the miraculous is an essential part of the Christian walk. As a matter of fact, to believe in Christ is to believe in the miraculous. Rom 10:10 says that to believe that ‘Jesus was raised from the dead’ and confess him as lord is what it means to be saved.

Furthermore, you hear of promises that the supernatural life in Christ brings overnight prosperity, you are promised success without work, appointment without qualification yet there is not a single portion of scripture that encourages mediocrity or instantaneous wealth. The supernatural is not mysticism; grace is not license for laziness. 

The Supernatural : Walking in the Miraculous

The fact that God does miracles is not news to Christians and non-christians alike, it is alluded to in the multiplicity of fake miracle centers around, after all a fake is only a testament to the efficacy of the original. It is confirmed during emergency situations where “Jesus” is spontaneously chorused by otherwise non-believers. Most importantly, the Bible is filled with testimonies of God stepping in to change situations and reverse the natural order for the sake of men. But why don’t we see it in our midst as often as we should? 

One reason perhaps, is that we have left the miraculous to Pastors and ministry gifts in general. We somehow disqualify ourselves from having the ability to do the miraculous. “It is not for every Christian you say” yet the Lord Jesus himself said “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” John 14:12. Please note that the qualification for doing the works and even greater works than Jesus did is to simply believe. In essence, a day-old believer can do the miraculous. On the same point, Jesus said in another scripture that “these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark 16:17-18. In case we are unsure of what the works were in the previous verse, Christ expatiated on them here but the qualification remains the same.   

The life we have received is not an ordinary life; we are not and should not be limited by the natural. We have received the eternal life of God (1 John5:13) and thus the supernatural is our daily experience. Expect the impossible to become possible for you because you serve a wonder-working God. In John6:16-21, we see Jesus walking on waters but in verses 22 -25, we realized that Jesus walked on the waters because there were no more boats and he would not be limited by the natural. When the treasurer was not available and he needed to pay tax, he simply ordered it from a fish (Matthew 17:24-27).

Leadership In the Workplace

And masters, treat your servants considerably, be fair with them, and don’t forget for a minute that you too serve a master in heaven Colossians 4:1 Msg

From the Scripture above, Christian leaders are to be mindful that they also are subject to God who is the Master of us all. Our leadership attitude should be modeled after Christ. Apostle Paul who shows an exemplary leadership in the bible said emphatically that we should follow him as he follows Christ 1 Cor 11:1 In Col 3:22 the bible advice followers, to obey their masters in all things, not with eye service but with singleness of heart. But leaders are not to Lord over their followers, but lead with Meekness and Love.

UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP

To become a good leader, we must have a perfect understanding of leadership from biblical perspective. You call me your teacher and Lord, and you should, because that is who I am. And if your Lord and teacher has washed your feet, you should do the same for each other. John 13-13-14.  From the above scripture, Jesus demonstrated the perfect leadership, as he lead by example. In teaching His disciples to serve one another, Jesus himself started by serving them and showing them how to do what he teaches them to do. Whether in the church or at our place of work, we should lead by example rather than commanding without taking actions. Jesus Christ explains the perfect leader as a one that is willing to serve. As professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders in the workplace, there is a need to show Godly influence at our workplace but we cannot do this by acting as lords over our followers, our Godly principles should be lived out in our daily relations with our followers. Through this, we will effectively assert Godly influence.

Who Do They Say You Are?

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.  Matthew 16: 13-17.

One day Jesus thought; ‘hey guys, who do your community people say that I am?’ And the disciples one after the other, I believe, started mentioning names; Elias, John the Baptist, Jeremias or one of the prophet. Sigh. Then Jesus asked: "who do you say I am?" And Mr Peter answered. He certainly was in the spirit when he did. It was not head knowledge, it was revealed unto him!

But why did the 'men’ who saw Jesus as a prophet think that?  Was there some particular way prophets dressed that Jesus followed? Was there a particular look they wore? Was their diet different? Was it a function of their complexion or height? I'm just wondering. 

The Prayer Life of a Christian

One of the advantages of being a Christian is the fellowship we have been called unto in Christ. When we come in union with Christ through our Faith in his blood, we come in fellowship with God our father. However, our confidence in this fellowship is seen in our praying life. Prayer is our way of engaging this fellowship and the results are numerous. I can only know how much you know about prayer when I actually see you pray, not when you talk about it often. Our knowledge about prayer does nothing compared to when we actually spend time praying.

Our constant prayers to God shows our dependence on Him. Sometimes we want to be perfectionist, doing things in our own way, but soon realize that there is a limit to what we have control over. Praying helps us build confidence in Him who controls the heart of the king. After praying, we also discover that while events might not play out the way we desire, Our father always has His way of doing things which will always bring better results than when we try with our limited abilities.  The bible tells us not to trust in our own understanding but to acknowledge God in all our ways. When all the business plan is written and all the money generating ideas are about to be worked on, we still need to pray about them. Sometimes not so much that the venture can work, but to involve God in whatever we do. We can achieve much more with God than on our own.

Don’t Take Offence

In our last article, we saw how the Syrophoenician woman got the healing of her daughter along with a commendation from Christ because she refused to be offended and persisted till the end. We will in this piece look more closely at offence and how to correctly relate with it.

Offence is simply a cause or occasion of stumbling or sin, any action or words spoken against your person that could cause you to be displeased or angry. Hardly will a day go by that you will not have a reason to be offended. As long as we are in this world, there will always be a cause for displeasure, a reason to be angry. But the choice to be angry or offended is yours and we will dwell more on this later, first what are the consequences of getting offended.

As can be seen in Matt 15:22-30 (The Syrophoenician woman’s story), taking offence can deny you of your progress or desired goal. It distracts you and whittles away the energy needed for success. You spend time and resources dwelling and reacting to an offence thereby draining the present of the same resources. One of the greatest tool the enemy is using in the church today is offences, you see brethren refusing to work with each other because of years-old grudges.

Taking offences could also have ramifications far beyond the immediate action. You will be surprised how many persons are in prison today because of actions done in a fit of anger, they just had to react to a slight. A momentary loss of control and years of consequences. There is no better example than those of Simeon and Levi, brothers-in-arm who got offended that their sister was raped and took revenge on a whole city (Gen 34). Hear their fathers’ blessing (verdict seems more apt) on them “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel” (Gen 49:5-7). For that singular act, their generations were scattered abroad and the scepter of authority was given to their younger brother. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools (Eccl 7:9).

Stay Focused

                      

And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Matt 15:22-28

The above story could have gone thus “And behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”  The same setting, same challenge, same request and obviously same outcome. Yet it would have been an accurate but incomplete summary of what transpired. We would have been left wondering what made the woman’s faith great? A couple of persons had their faith commended by Christ but only one other person was ‘great faith’ ascribed to (Luke 7:1-10). So, the difference was in what transpired between verses 23 -27 and there were two things that she did that is worthy of emulation.