Category: Newsletter

Introduction

Many a time, prayers seem to delay or remain unanswered. This makes the children of God discouraged, wearied and they finally give up on God instead of persisting in their prayer life. In this edition of our Newsletter, the result of persistence in prayer is discussed.

Some Background Facts

“For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter” (Mar 7:25-26 KJV).

The following could be said of the woman who received an answer to her prayer for her child. The woman had heard of him, for it is written that “And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him. For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues. And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God” (Mar 3: 8, 10-11)

The woman mentioned above, coming from the same region of Tyre and Sidon, might have had enough knowledge about the Christ to help her receive faith to act upon. This tells that faith in Christ comes by hearing of the word of God (Rom 10:17). Believers need to familiarize themselves with the word of God. They ought to read and listen to the word of God as oftentimes as possible. Tyre and Sidon were traditionally pagan territories. Sidon was the home of Jezebel (1Kgs 16:31). This woman was described as a Canaanite (Mat 15:22), a people most morally despised of as Israel’s enemies in the Old Testament. She was a gentile or a foreigner, and possibly, a person of the descendant of Baal worshipper.

The Discourse

This woman was determined to receive from Jesus Christ but her cries were not initially answered. Jesus did not answer her a word” (Mat 15:23). God may seem to be silent but that does not mean that He is unconcerned. This woman knew it well that Jesus would not be silent forever so she continued to demand her request in prayer.

When she persisted with her request, the disciples entreated Jesus to send her away but Jesus´s answer was more discouraging than the silence. In His answer, Jesus said, “Bread is for children but not dogs. “Let the children first be filled. For it is not right to take the children’s loaves and to throw it to the dogs” (Mar 7:27). This implies that Jesus considered this woman a dog. Today, many people might have considered Jesus´s answer to the woman as unethical and insensitive. In spite of this, the woman did not give up but pushed further for the deliverance of her child.

Instead of answering back at Jesus for His response, this woman demonstrated an attitude of humility and faith in answering back at Jesus. She acknowledged that indeed she was a dog but “even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ tables” (Mar 7:27-28). She accepted the fact that she was not a child but a dog, but calling Jesus the Son of David, she pleaded for mercy. This means that being a gentile or a Canaanite, her child deserved to die, but she asked Jesus not to grant her what she deserved, that is the death of her daughter. It was her honesty and faith demonstrated in her discourse with Jesus Christ that moved Him to say unto her “For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter (Mar 7:29). By the time this woman went home, her request had been granted (Mar 7:29). Believers should understand that nothing moves God to act in their favor except their faith and relentlessness.

Conclusion

God is ready to touch the lives of His people and bless them but they need to persist in prayer regardless of the distractions and discouragements. This woman was a gentile but she endured till she received her answer. Now, being children of God by adoption, we deserve more blessings than when we were unbelievers.

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, may your Holy Spirit continuously strengthen us and help us in our prayers to you since we do not always know how we ought to pray.

Introduction

A believer is likely to feel discomfort or angry when someone creates incongruities in your mental or cognitive structure by questioning or challenging the reason for his/her faith. It should not be so! Peter advises Christians to sanctify the Lord God in their hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks them a reason for the hope that is in them with meekness and fear (1Pet 3:15).

Reasoning with Scriptures

People who question our faiths are not altogether antichrists but they might do so out of good motive because they do not understand. We need to have the readiness to answer them in humility and reverence. How can we answer those who question our faith and the word of God if we do not know what our faith or God´s word teaches or affirms?

Pardon me to submit that many of the modern-day Christians are lazy. The obligation to study and interpret the Scripture has been pushed to only the clergy some of which do not even understand what they read from the Bible. Paul challenges believers to study to show themselves approved unto God, as workmen who need not be ashamed but rightly dividing the word of truth (2Ti 2:15). If we study to understand our faith we shall not be offended when our faith is challenged, but we shall be able to explain to them the reason why we believe. It should not be said of us that “Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm” (1Ti 1:7).

Jesus, the Author, and Finisher of our faith took time to explain systematically to His audience the reason why they should believe in Him. For instance, “.. one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, which is the first commandment of all? (Mar 12:18-31). Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God (Mat 12:29).

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ needed to suffer, and rise again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom he preached unto them, was Christ. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women, not a few (Acts 17:1-4). We read that many people who believed and accepted Christ Jesus as their Savior did so only when they had been convinced through scriptures that the Christ is the Savior who is to come.

Similarly, many noble Bereans believed in God because they accepted the word of God with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily to see whether those things preached to them were so (Acts 17:10-12). Jesus charged the Jews to search the scriptures because in them they think that they had eternal life, for the scriptures testify of Him (Joh 5:39). The Scriptures would produce its intended purpose if read and interpreted in context. Nothing brings an unbeliever to God but the true and the unadulterated word of God. This explains why Jesus took time to explain it to His hearers. We read that “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luk 24:27). Then He opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures (Luk 24:45).

We must show by scriptures the reason why we believe and the reason why others should accept our faith. When a certain Jew named Apollos of Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, went to Ephesus (Acts 18:24), he mightily convinced the Jews, and that he diligently and publicly showed by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ (Acts 18:28), by this, he won more souls unto Christ Jesus.

The Authority of God´s Word

It is believed that the Word of God is authoritative and should not be doubted or challenged. Yes, but from whose interpretation is it authoritative? Should it be left unchallenged even if it is misinterpreted and quoted out of context? Not at all. Jesus would term this as “the blind leading the blind” (Mat 15:14). Scriptures must be interpreted aright to save lives because failure to do that is disastrous. As also in all Paul´s epistles, speaking in them of God´s salvation, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction (2Pe 3:16).

Conclusion

Believers are encouraged to study the Word of God to be in the best position to explain their reason for their belief to those who ask them about their faith. Making claims to revelation could be dangerous without reflecting it against the written word of God. If any person wants to interpret the word of God in any other way, it is advisable that the original interpretation is given first before it´s applied interpretation is presented.

Prayer: Our Lord God Almighty, we ask that you give us the zeal and the joy of studying your word and the wisdom required to explain our faith to those who question it, so that we may be able to bring them into your Kingdom. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN!