INCUBATION TODAY (BRO EMMA OKORIE)

THURSDAY 10TH AUGUST, 2017

TOPIC: STAND FIRM IN FAITH

 

Meditation:
“And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.” (1 Kings 18:43)

Today’s Text: 1 Kings 18:42-44

 

Faith is from a Greek word which means to agonise. Paul saw the Christian life as a fight, an intense struggle requiring perseverance in loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. God calls every believer to stand firm in the faith, letting nothing move us. Faith is a spiritual ammunition and we are meant to fight and win issues based on the word of God. Irrespective of symptoms or facts on the ground we need to go on doggedly with whatever God has asked us to do for faith is a servant of vision.

God never promised and failed to bring it to pass. All we need is to stand our grounds, believe Him, pray and He will accomplish it. The prophets and patriarchs of old fought the fight of faith. It was faith at work when Elijah prayed for rain the first time and persistently thereafter. How many times did your business yield nothing, your health gone down and everything seem not to be working? Did you pack and go to sleep or did you like Elijah say “go again seven times?” You can’t always get it the first time.

The servant of Elijah kept going back again and again. How do you follow a leader in a tough terrain? How long will He speak and you will go on trusting him? To follow and lead at such times is often difficult. The follower may think he has a better idea. The leader must have faith but the faith of the follower is equally as important. Faith has to be sustained by anointing and the vision of what God wants done. As we mature in ministry, our experiences become diverse in different situations. In faith fights, one plus one does not always amount to two. When push comes to shove, don’t throw away your bible and quit. It takes extra effort of faith to follow. It takes this attitude that God cannot lie. Instead of backing down, God expects us to be steadfast and immovable. Esther, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Daniel, David and Joseph did not back down when their lives were on the line. My message is to go back again to faith. If anyone tells you that going back is unbelief, ignore him.

 

Prayers:
1. Ask God for the stamina to fight like the heroes of faith.
2. Pray for the grace to resist all distractions to faith.

 

Confession:
Dear Lord, I choose to stand on faith no matter what people or circumstances say. Help me to trust till the end in Jesus name, Amen.

 

Further Study:

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.”

 

Romans 4:20
"He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.”

 

Exodus 14:13
“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.”

 

James 1:6-8
"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

 

2 Chronicles 20:17
“Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.”