“Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said. And the Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. The Lord will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:1-8 NIV)
This is an account of Moses speaking on how his strength had failed him. He was 120 years old. According to our text, God had already told Moses that he would not cross over Jordan with the Israelites because of how he disobeyed Him [The account of what happened with the water and the Rock]. Moses then gathered the Children of Israel and told them that the Lord had promised to take them over the river Jordan where they were promised a “Land flowing with Milk and Honey.” After telling this to the Israelites, he called Joshua and spoke to him. From the book of Joshua, chapter 14, we were then told that every promise that was made by God to the Children of Israel was fulfilled.
How did the Children of Israel receive the Word of God? It was through Moses; they believed the Word of God which was then passed down to Joshua. Joshua then took them on until the promise of God came to pass. How then are we expected to receive the Word of God? We receive it by faith. For the Christian, faith is a whole package and if you must receive from God you must have faith. The Bible in Habakkuk 2: 4 says, “We live by Faith.” In 2 Corinthians 5: 7 the Bible says, “We walk by Faith.” And in Ephesians 2: 9 – 10 the Bible says, “We are saved by Faith.” Every Christian is a compendium of Faith, a complete package of faith. We pray, walk and live by faith. And when the word of the Lord came to us this year 2023, it says, He is the “God of all impossibilities.” And God knows we cannot achieve this without faith. That is why when God gives an instruction or a declaration of Himself, you need faith to achieve it.
How do we receive faith? The Bible tells us in Romans 10: 17 that, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God.” For every Christian what we do is based on faith. How we live is faith. How we act is faith. Whatever we do is faith. We therefore anchor on the Word of God that says it, then we leverage on it to act upon it. What then is Faith? “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” We must keep hearing and hearing the Word of God so that we can be in faith and our faith can be full. To achieve great things or see God happen for us, we must live by faith. We can only connect by faith.
God does mind blowing things but we must connect by faith for it to work for us. Most times as Christians we operate on the “Flip” side of faith. We get to a point where we think we have faith but what we have is an “Unbelieved faith,” a “Doubtful faith.” This is why sometimes God does not happen or come through for us. We believe that God would do it but we still always have a “Plan B” that does not include God’s plan. The only time a “Plan B” works is if you trust God and hold on to His word. Then the Holy Spirit leads you into the next steps to follow.
Every time, our life is in a balance of our faith and our doubt. Constantly our doubts are in contention with our faith. Every time your faith is activated your doubt is also activated. Your faith sees beyond reality and believes before it becomes reality but your doubts sees the reality but wants to see it manifest first before it believes. For example, when you seek a miracle from God and He has promised to do it; it then activates your faith to see beyond reality. But then your doubt also gets activated making you respond and react based on what you hear or see (reality) be it canal or spiritual and you begin to believe it by acting towards it.
We must get to that place where we must see beyond the reality of things. God’s word is His personality and His character; whatever He says He does. All you need do is just believe and begin to see beyond the seen. Everything one is today is based on one’s response or reaction to what one has heard and/or seen.
One of the numerous examples in the Bible where faith was at work is the story of the woman with the issue of blood in the book of Mark: “A woman [in the crowd] had [suffered from] a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much [suffering] at the hands of many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse. She had heard [reports] about Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His outer robe. For she thought, “If I just touch His clothing, I will get well.” Immediately her flow of blood was dried up; and she felt in her body [and knew without any doubt] that she was healed of her suffering.” [Mark 5: 25 – 29 AMP]. Sometimes we have the ”if” kind of faith but we are not confirming it with the “will” or the “shall” kind of faith.
Let’s also look at the man Peter in Matthew 14: 25 – 31, “Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” Peter had faith in Jesus’ word and acted on it but later on, you would see that when Peters’ doubt happened to him he began to sink. One of our father in the Lord’s [Rev. [Dr] Williams Okoye] favourite quote says, “Circumstances does not change the character of God.”
Another example we would look at is that of the man whose son was possessed by an evil spirit that had rendered him dumb in Mark 9: 20 – 24; ”… So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” This man acknowledged the fact that he needed a boost in his faith and God came through for him. The content of faith is anchored on your belief of God. Your faith will not change the situation but it will take you above that level so that you will not struggle in that realm.
How do we now overcome what we see: 1]. Fix your eyes on Jesus [Hebrews 12: 1]. 2]. Feed yourself with the word. 3]. Speak the word. When you activate your faith and live in that realm and it happens, know that the sovereignty of God has happened. Just don’t dive into your doubt.