“Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” John 11:40
There have been moments in my life that has been particularly distressful and emotionally trying, to say the least, one such situation in particular. I won’t go into details in this article, however. It was during this distress that I began to “take account of myself”. For me, this situation, was a season of very close self- examination. In the “Christiandom”, we are very rehearsed in making great declarations of faith. And we should make faith declarations, the Bible says that. But in this season, I began to ask myself what do I really believe, and do I really believe these confessions of faith? What I came to realize was that my life was manifesting what I truly believe.
Now ask yourself, “what do I truly believe about my life, about God, and my personal life goals?”
Where I was in life, what I was doing in life, and my associations – manifested what I believe. Let me ask you, “what are you manifesting?”
I began to realize that in order to believe for greater I must increase my capacity to believe. The Bible states,
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. (Romans 10:17).
In order to believe for greater, I had to reestablish in my heart that God loves me, He is for me and that His word is Truth in any situation.
I also began to realize that I needed to know more. To believe for more we must know more. If I am believing for a business, I need to educate myself in that field. If you are married and are believing for a better marriage, you need knowledge of what a better marriage looks and appears like. Scripture declares that certain things are not attainable apart from growing in knowledge:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, (1 Peter 1:2-3).
Also, I began to realize that I needed to associate with like-minded people. Psalms 1:1 recognize that the right associations are critical, in that they can help or harm your life goals. In the example concerning marriage, you want to find couples who believe what you believe about marriage and who are striving to be examples of godly marriage. The same for business associations. You may have heard the saying “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. I beg to differ, in order to be effective, you need both.
Lastly, I had to learn that believing is not stagnant. Believing requires action. In the book of James, he states,
“thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead”. And “Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” (2:17 & 22).
We must put our hands to the plow.
What I can say, is that those moments of distress helped catapult me into my now season. That moment served as a catalyst, an activating agent. I Praise Jesus for that! Therefore, do not despise your present-day struggle that you are in, it is working for you, giving you the momentum to step out.
Therefore, I say to you, if you believe (develop your capacity, grow in knowledge, find the right associations, and take action) you will see the glory of God show up in your life, relationships, and business.
This is my prayer for you, In Jesus name.