Read your Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
Faith Gets The Lord’s Attention – Pastor Chris Oyakhilome
Saturday 8th October 2016
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).
Matthew 15:21-28 tells us the story of a Canaanite woman who wanted a miracle for her daughter and came to Jesus. She cried, “Master, have mercy on me; my daughter is terribly sick and oppressed by the devil.” The Bible records that Jesus didn’t give her any attention. As the woman got importunate, the disciples of Jesus came to Him and urged him to send her away, because she kept crying after them.
Perhaps she realized that her crying wasn’t going to change anything; the Bible says, “Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me” (Matthew 15:25). When she did, it got the Master’s attention and He attended to her. He commended her faith and granted her request, for her worship was an act of faith. Her daughter was gloriously healed from that very hour.
When we worship the Lord, we get His attention. It’s not our complaining or longevity of our problems that gets His attention; it’s our faith; and worship is an act of faith. God is neither moved by the flesh, nor by long weeks of crying. He’s only moved by the response of the human spirit, and faith is the response of the human spirit to the Word of God. Sometimes, people think God should respond to them because they’ve been “good.” They’d say, “Lord, I’m a good person; why then am I going through this situation?”
God isn’t moved by your situation or by the fact that you’re good. The Bible doesn’t say, “Without goodness, it’s impossible to please God”; it says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6). You’re to respond with your spirit to the Word; that’s what gets His attention. Faith doesn’t complain. Faith doesn’t beg. Faith insists on, and maintains the integrity of the Word. Faith is acting on the Word, refusing to stagger or give up in the face of staggering opposition. That’s what gets God’s attention.
PRAYER
Dear Father, I worship you today. You’re the Most High, the living, true, wise, and faithful God; the healer, my provider, and the supplier of all good things. I extol your majesty, for you’re greater than all. Your Name is exalted, and glorified in all the earth, now and forever, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Further Study: || Matthew 9:20-22 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind [him], and touched the hem of his garment: 21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. 22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. ||
|| Romans 4:19-21 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. ||
Daily Scripture Reading
1-Year Bible Reading Plan: Colossians 1:24-2:1-5,
Isaiah 46-47
2-Year Bible Reading Plan: Hebrews 2:10-18,
Lamentations 4-5
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God bless you.