I love Paul’s humility in 1 Cor 2:1-5. He gets to the very crux of the source and power of Christianity. He says I came preaching the Gospel with fear and trembling; speaking only God’s word, not man’s wisdom and not with elegance of speech. Paul dared not insert himself but focused on Jesus; allowing the Spirit to give him the words to share. He gave pre-eminence to the power of the word of God to affect and change men’s hearts and lives. His preaching was accompanied by clear demonstrations of the power of the Holy Spirit; signs wonders and miracles.

To preach, as the word is defined, is simply to proclaim, publish or herald. As the word is preached, the Holy Spirit takes it, reveals it to the sensitive and receptive heart and provides the power for the word to impact, bless and change the receptive listener (1 Cor 2:10). Paul was bold enough to say that as we preach in obedience to God and as directed by the Holy Spirit, then the father will demonstrate his power among us.

God’s word, his power, humility, fear of God and obedience, as exemplified in Paul’s life and ministry, are a recipe for change. We really need to meditate on this and get it down in our spirits.

In Jeremiah chapter 23 we see that Israel listened to the false prophets because those prophets tickled their ears. To have your ears tickled is to hear things that please and appeal to our carnal or fleshly nature. Jeremiah warned of God’s anger with sinful Israel but they would not listen. Do we take heed of God’s word, his whole word or are we selective, hearing only our favorite words? If we want to move on with God and be all he wants us to be he will need to change us and chasten (to discipline or instruct) us with his word (Rom 12:2; Heb 12:5-11).

Often, we pray but the results don’t come or we make decisions and they prove to be the wrong ones. We must hear from God with our spiritual ears not just our physical ears and minds and be changed (Matt 13:14-16; 1 Cor 2:14). We need to humble ourselves and repent (1 Peter 5:6), plough up the fallow ground of our hearts (soften our hearts toward God; Jer 4:3). God’s word can break and change us if we let it (Jer 23:29), but we have to allow this to happen. To fail to submit to God in this way assigns us to the status quo, mediocrity and frustration. To allow God to change us maybe painful, but it leads us on to his highest and best: “above all that we ask or think” (Eph 3: 20-21; KJV). Wow, I want that, what about you? Let’s press into God’s word and let him change us; nothing held back.

“Wait” in the Old Testament can mean waiting hopefully and expectantly. “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me and heard my cry” (Ps. 40:1; KJV). As you all know we often don’t get answers to our prayers immediately. Many times, there is a period of waiting between the amen and the receiving. It is during this time that we must maintain and develop our faith. That is why we need to wait expectantly and hopefully.

There are many verses in the Old Testament concerning waiting on the Lord. “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa. 40:31). The prophet Jeremiah wrote in the book of Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 25 that Lord is good to those who wait for him. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him” (Ps 37:7a); “My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning- Yes, more than those who watch for the Morning” (Ps 130: 6).

As we wait for the manifestation of answered prayer, we must be patient (Heb 6:12) and focused on God’s promises in his word. Staying in the word as we wait on the Lord helps you to focus on God and your answer rather than the problem that needs fixing. Waiting on the Lord will create calm in place of turmoil. Take a few minutes each day to wait on the Lord, praise and thank him for the answer to prayer and experience his peace (Isa 26:3).

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I think the only place in the New Testament where we are told to work is in John 6:29, where we read: “our work is to believe”. To believe is to have faith or trust in God. Faith is described in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1 (KJV) as: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.

In Mark’s gospel he quoted Jesus as saying: "Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:22-24).

Faith is knowing that you know, that you know”. It’s believing in our hearts not just head knowledge. Jesus said that when we pray, we should believe that we have what we asked for. Paul said that our faith gives substance to our hopes and evidence to things not seen in the physical realm (Heb 11:1). In other words, when we pray in faith, we have what we ask for, we see it in the spiritual realm, in our hearts and if we stand in faith and patience (Heb 6:12), not doubting, no matter how the devil tries to convince us otherwise, we will see the manifestation of our faith in the physical realm.

A Sunday school Teacher told a group of youngsters that something they had all prayed for some time ago had come to pass. She expected jubilation in the class but the kids just stayed focused on their lessons with little or no reaction. She asked why they were not as excited as she was and they replied, well teacher, God answered our prayer when we first asked him and we have been thanking him, so we knew we would see the manifestation in the natural in due season.

Have faith as a little child (Luke 18:17) eh?

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