John 4:43-54. Signs that You Have Faith in God. Breakfast with the Word
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Breakfast with the Word: Monday of the 4th Week of Lent
John 4: 43-54
The gospel of today of John 4: 43-54 tells us about the encounter between Jesus and a court official.
The court official whose son was ill came from Capernaum to Galilee to ask Jesus to heal his son. He asks Jesus to come down and heal the son, but Jesus rather tells him to go home that his son will certainly live.
The man believed what Jesus said and went home. Everything happened the way Jesus has said.
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What The Man Could have done.
In this man, we can see what it means to have faith in God. But before we proceed there are things the man could have done if he is in our position today.
1. In John 4: 43-54, we see that this man is a court official. So, he would be so occupied to seek Jesus. He would have sent one of his servants. Most of our politicians and high ranking officials would have done this.
2. He traveled from Capernaum to Galilee, which has a distance of about 8,704 km seeking Jesus. It is not that he knows exactly where Jesus is but that he heard that Jesus was in Galilee. He did not know the exact place but decided to search for Jesus.
He did this because what he is looking for is very important to him. Considering His presumed busy schedule, he would not have done this.
Today, Jesus stays in the chapel from morning until night, but no one has time for Him. if we are this man, we may not make this kind of sincere effort to seek God, rather we become tired and weak whenever the things of God are mentioned.
3. When the man asks Jesus to come down and heal his son, Jesus rather tells him to go home. The official would not have gone home. The way He asked for it was not the way Jesus did it. Secondly, how is he sure that what Jesus said would happen?
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If we are in his position, many will doubt it. How can someone tell you to go home, that your son will be healed, and you believe without seeing?
Hence, this defines what it means to have faith in God. Therefore, faith is believing in God even when what we believe seems not to happen. It is accepting whatever God says even when it looks as if it will not happen.
Signs of True Faith.
Taking the court official as our ideal model today, these are Signs that you have faith in God or signs that we have true faith. They are:
1. When we make sincere efforts to build our relationship with God. When we sincerely have faith in God, we will seek Him with all our hearts. There is nothing that will make us lose faith in Him. When you take time to analyze those who exhibited signs of faith in the scriptures, you will observe that sincere effort that backs up their faith.
The woman with the issue of blood has to break barriers to meet Jesus, who knows even where she came from.
The gospel of today John 4: 43-54 talks about how a royal official walked from Capernaum to Galilee, which has a distance of 8,704km to meet Jesus. Imagine the distance.
He is an official and may have important appointments and works to do even, but he left all to seek Jesus. He would have sent his messengers to Jesus, but he took the pains to seek Jesus because what he needs is very important to him. This man is not ready to give up, who knows how many hours he has spent already searching for Jesus.
2. When we listen to His word and keep to it because of what it is; the word of God. The court officer may not have seen Jesus before, but He looked for Jesus because of what he heard about Him, and then took pains to see Him.
How many times have we read, heard and taught about Jesus? How many times have we seen what God has done for many? But our lack of faith made it difficult for us to seek the face of God.
3. When we decide never to doubt anything once God is involved in it.
This is faith. Faith is simply a lack of doubt in God and what He can do. In John 4: 43-54, When Jesus told him to go home, he obeyed and went home. He did not doubt what Jesus said.
4. When we make out time for God despite our busy schedule. In the 24 hours that we have every day, there must be time for God. Despite his position and how busy the official may be, he came seeking the Lord.
5. When we come to God in humility. The official humbled himself before Jesus and obeyed all he said. When we come to understand that in the presence of God, we are nothing, we begin to tread with care.
6. When we do what God says and not what we want. In John 4: 43-54, the official wanted Jesus to come down, but Jesus decided to try his faith. Let us always know that the way we want something to happen may not be how God wants it to happen. God may have his way and manner. So always walk with God.
The encounter in John 4: 43-54 teaches us that any effort we make towards finding Jesus will never go in vain.
We are in deep trouble, we are suffering, we are afraid, we are in the midst of problems and challenges, we do not know what the future holds, yet we are very weak, tired and unable to sincerely seek the face of God.
Presently the world is in chaos. What can save the world now is the healing power of God. But what may still be in the mind of many is how to jump from one sin to another.
This is the time we all must seek the face of God. It is not a time to make God angry all the more. It is not the time to lose faith. If we sincerely seek Him with our hearts we must find Him. ( Deuteronomy 4:29, proverbs 8:17, Jeremiah 29:13) He is not far away ( Acts 17:27-28).
God have mercy on us, forgive, sanctify us and bring us back again. Amen.
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