BEYOND HEARING ~ Precious Victor Akah
Let's begin with this interesting Bible reading. Please read it: John 4:39-42, "Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”
This Scripture shares two important things with us: (1) Many Samaritans FIRST believed in Jesus just because of what they HEARD: what the woman told them that Jesus told her. (2) This same Samaritans later told the woman that now they believe in Jesus, not just because of what she told them, but because after being with Jesus and hearing directly from Him (personal encounter) they know of a truth that He is indeed the Saviour of the world and they believe in Him.
Many of us, especially those born and raised in Christian homes or Christian nation, came to believe in Jesus just because of what we heard. We heard from our parents, older siblings, relatives, that Jesus is the Saviour of the world. We heard from people around us about Jesus and saw people going to church every Sunday to worship God, and so we went with the flow.
So our belief in Jesus is not because we had a personal encounter with Him and have really discovered from the Bible that Jesus is indeed the Saviour of the world as the Samaritans testified, but our belief is simply because of what we heard from our parents, relatives, friends, teachers, people around us, and the society.
Well, that may seem good or commendable on the surface, but the sad thing is that, without a personal encounter with Christ, we cannot stand firm and we won't be deeply rooted in our Christian faith. We can easily backslide when what we're experiencing is not what we are told in the Bible will be our reality. This is why some people stop going to church when their prayer requests is not answered within the time they expected. It is also the reason why some people forsake Christ and abandon their faith in Jesus or reject the existence of God, when something bad that they never expected could happen to them happen to them or any of their loved ones. Some stop serving God because they lost their parents or one of their parents in a car accident or because they lost their child to a terminal disease. All these cannot stop anyone from serving God faithfully if they had a personal encounter with Christ and a personal revelation of who Jesus is.
No wonder the Bible boldly declares: "Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39 (NLT)
Nothing (no challenge, no problem, no situation, no circumstance, or incident) has the power to separate anyone who truly believes in Christ Jesus, who has a personal knowledge and revelation of who Christ is, from the love of God. Because what makes many people backslide is entertaining and believing this wrong thought from the devil: "GOD DOES NOT LOVE ME or GOD DOES NOT LOVE ME ANYMORE, that is why He has 'refused' to answer my prayer or that is why He has 'failed" to heal my child or 'refused' to give me a husband/wife or 'refused' to give me a job or a school admission or visa."
Therefore, each and everyone of us must get to the point (like the Samaritans in the Bible reading) where we know God for ourselves, this is what will enable us live the Christian life successfully to the end.
We must go beyond "I believe because I heard" or "I believe because of what I was told" to the level of "I believe because I have discovered for real, from God's Word or via a personal encounter with God that Jesus is my Saviour and the Saviour of the world; God is indeed real."
Before I became born again, I "believed" in Jesus because that seemed to be the norm in my country, state, city, and family, and so I went to church, prayed everyday and read my Bible because that was what everyone else was doing and I had to join so I won't be the odd one out.
But after I became born again, I believed in Jesus because I had a personal encounter with Him and know of a truth that He is the Saviour of the world, that He actually died and rose from the dead and is currently in Heaven. And that He is the God and Creator of the universe and exists for real.
This personal encounter is what you need to last in the Christian faith. Ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you and give you a personal revelation of who He is. If you ask sincerely and desperately, He'll grant your request.
Remain blessed.
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