October 24
Dear heavenly Father, I appreciate You dearly for Your love that passeth all understanding. I thank You for all that You have done in my life, family and ministry. Like David, You choose me from the lowest state and set my feet upon a broad land where only You is the builder and the keeper. Thank You Father, blessed is Your Name alone both now and for ever. Amen!
Dearly beloved, did you spend time at all praying and forgiving all that had offended you or yours is to seek forgiveness from those you offended? May the Spirit of God help you. Amen!
Peradventure, you have been seeking and it seem as if nothing is happening, you are not alone; many have pass that way before you, all you need is to encouraged yourself as David did and sooner than you expected your answer will come knocking:
“But He answered her not a word.” Matthew 15:23
Genuine seekers who as yet have not obtained the blessing, may take comfort from the story before us. The Saviour did not at once bestow the blessing, even though the woman had great faith in Him. He intended to give it, but He waited awhile. “He answered her not a word.”
Were not her prayers good? Never better in the world. Was not her case needy? Sorrowfully needy. Did she not feel her need sufficiently? She felt it overwhelmingly. Was she not earnest enough? She was intensely so. Had she no faith? She had such a high degree of it that even Jesus wondered, and said, “O woman, great is thy faith.”
See then, although it is true that faith brings peace, yet it does not always bring it instantaneously. There may be certain reasons calling for the trial of faith, rather than the reward of faith. Genuine faith may be in the soul like a hidden seed, but as yet it may not have budded and blossomed into joy and peace.
A painful silence from the Saviour is the grievous trial of many a seeking soul, but heavier still is the affliction of a harsh cutting reply such as this, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.” Many in waiting upon the Lord find immediate delight, but this is not the case with all. Some, like the jailer, are in a moment turned from darkness to light, but others are plants of slower growth. A deeper sense of sin may be given to you instead of a sense of pardon, and in such a case you will have need of patience to bear the heavy blow.
Ah! poor heart, though Christ beat and bruise thee, or even slay thee, trust Him; though He should give thee an angry word, believe in the love of His heart. Do not, I beseech thee, give up seeking or trusting my Master, because thou hast not yet obtained the conscious joy which thou longest for.Cast thyself on Him, and perseveringly depend even where thou canst not rejoicingly hope.
Difficult! Not when Christ is the one leading you, hand it over to Him and you will see the difference. Once again Christ is asking you” why are ye troubled”? Let not play the saint here, there a times where events or happening around send you thinking and worrying as if the solution lies with you. Recently a friend told me, O! Ify, you must be a strong woman to talking and laughing amidst of what is happening, and I replied, what do I do when I know the healer and He has given His word concerning it; I trust Him and I know He will not fail me. His name is faithful. So beloved, are you troubled or you know someone whose spirit need to be lifted, please forward this mail, am sure the person will be encourage:
“Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?” Luke 24:38
“Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” The Lord cares for all things, and the meanest creatures share in His universal providence, but His particular providence is over His saints.
“The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him.” “Precious shall their blood be in His sight.” “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose.” Let the fact that, while He is the Saviour of all men, He is specially the Saviour of them that believe, cheer and comfort you. You are His peculiar care; His regal treasure which He guards as the apple of His eye; His vineyard over which He watches day and night. “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
Let the thought of His special love to you be a spiritual pain-killer, a dear quietus to your woe: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” God says that as much to you as to any saint of old. “Fear not, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”
We lose much consolation by the habit of reading His promises for the whole church, instead of taking them directly home to ourselves. Believer, grasp the divine word with a personal, appropriating faith. Think that you hear Jesus say, “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.” Think you see Him walking on the waters of thy trouble, for He is there, and He is saying, “Fear not, it is I; be not afraid.” Oh, those sweet words of Christ!
May the Holy Ghost make you feel them as spoken to you; forget others for awhile—accept the voice of Jesus as addressed to you, and say, “Jesus whispers consolation; I cannot refuse it; I will sit under His shadow with great delight.” I conclude with Jer 29:11.
Remain blessed In the Lord.
Evang Ifeoma Ohondu
