Chapter 17

"Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me."

For a generation that believes in crystals, toad spirits, manifestation, and plethora, we tend to lack faith really fast when presented with the right circumstances. Some of us have no faith in totality. This may be caused by a past situation where you might have prayed and you felt like you were not answered, or the answer you were given was not what you wanted.

Truth is, many times we prophecy faith, it tends to be in the view of what we desire, what our flesh [that is dead in sin] wants. Our faith has to be according to the will of God for our lives. The best example is in 1st Kings 17:1, which says, "Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, 'As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.'"

If Elijah was not in the will of God, he would have had faith in his word, but nothing would have happened. Since what he spoke was in the will of God, the drought lasted 3 and a half years, as in 1 Kings 18:41-45.

Here is the thing: we cannot have faith for the sake of it; faith has to serve a purpose. In our case, that is God's will. Our faith must always reflect the sovereignty of God.

Very different from the secular view of faith: faith is not a tool to manipulate God's hand in a way that [we think] favors our lifestyle. Faith is a great tool for us to join in partnership with God's will. Joining in fulfilling the prayer we make, "May your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven"~Matthew 6:10

Jesus continues on to say in Matthew 20, "If you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you"

This power does not come from us or our righteousness but only from God. We are continuously privileged to join in His workmanship

Our prayer today is that God may teach us to rely and depend on Him in totality. Teach us Lord, how to take part in your sovereign will. Increase our faith in you to do what you say. Help us to keep up the good fight and grow consistently. Make us aware of your will for our lives and the lives of those we steward, in Jesus’ name, Amen

"Jesus help us to have faith in you and not ourselves that we may fulfill your will and not ours."