Jesus went to a man born impotent at the pool of Bethsaida and asked him a question ‘will thou be made whole?’ And the man replied I have no man to help me. One of the problems people have is that they do not really listen and many times hear only what is going on in their head not what is being said to them. The man should have answered yes but rather he took away the responsibility of him getting whole from his own hands. The man’s reply also shows that he was waiting on people to help him and without their help he won’t be able to get out of the situation’. Then Jesus asked him ‘will thou be made whole and he said yes. Jesus said ‘arise and immediately he got up and walked. The minute he decided he wasn’t going to depend on any man he got healed and walked. In the same way the minute you decide that you are no longer going to rely on anything or anyone on the outside it means your deliverance has come. This shows you have realised that there is a way you can make progress in life without necessarily getting the support of people you think you should have. What faith does is that it puts that responsibility back in your hands. It puts you back in a place of dominion and control. The minute it dawns on you that ‘whosoever can have whatsoever’, you get whole. Jesus then told him ‘go and sin no more’. This sin wasn’t fornication, it means go and don’t depend on man again lest something worse comes upon you. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith is giving substance to the things that you hope for. Faith also provides the evidence of things that are not seen. When a person is living by faith, he shows the evidence through his life. This means that in the life of that person, he gives evidence to the unseen and by the time you look at the life of that person and interact with him, you will know the unseen is at work in his life. That is there are angels at work in his life. It will seem like an invisible hand came to the earth and moved things on his behalf. The only way you don’t get result is if you don’t practise this principle and people can see on the outside that you are struggling. But if you allow God in your life, He will use you for His glory.

The problem is when crisis severs some things; one might tend to follow the wrong direction. Like God removing idols in your life, cutting people that you were subservient to and disconnecting you from certain relationships. People now start to predict that it’s all over. Then suddenly they see a new kind of fruit that didn’t come from a natural trunk but a divine place and it’s different. The fact that you are fruitful is enough but you are now producing something rare that is the miraculous. Faith is the warranty deed that what you fondly hoped for is finally yours. For instance you hoped for a house; when you get the title deed you automatically own the house because it is the written document or instrument that transfers the property from one person to another. The title deed has your name on it and describes the property and that is given to you. The day you get the title deed for a house, you are sure the house belongs to you. You don’t carry the house with you, it’s the title deed you carry and keep. What I am saying is that faith is more convincing than manifestation. Faith in your own heart persuades you of the reality of something in your life than you getting it. For instance if someone gets healed beside you and you also want to get healed, you are excited but that is not faith; if you get the title deed for your own healing, you will be more convinced that you are going to get healed than seeing somebody else jump off his wheel chair. If you are driving a car and a police man stops you and asks for your papers, the fact that you are in the car doesn’t make it your own. This means that the papers are more powerful than you being inside the car. The minute he sees the deed or the papers, something is transferred to him and he is assured because it is an assurance that what you hoped for is finally yours. What we are saying here is that faith is actually that title deed that is given to you when the scripture is opened to you. Therefore without faith you can do nothing or achieve anything and once you have faith for something just start rejoicing because it is a done deal.

Pastor ‘Poju Oyemade