What is faith?
Faith is the confidence of what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:6). It will therefore be right to say that faith is certainly, the unseen. Another school of thought say that faith is believing in something that you have not seen. For me, faith, is really about taking a chance without solid assurance or guarantees of the outcome. It’s a compelling metaphor for making decisions without having full knowledge of what might happen, thus requiring courage and belief in oneself or others.
So, talking about the topic’ ’ A leap of faith’’, the US Dictionary describes ‘’ leap of Faith as’’ an idiom and an act of believing in or accepting something intangible, unprovable, or without empirical evidence.’’ Come to think of it, we do not need to search into the dictionary to know what faith is because our daily lives already reflect faith, for a man constantly believes that he will live tomorrow.
Some of you may be tempted to ask, why the topic, ‘’ A Leap of Faith’’, where does it come from. First and foremost, the expression “leap of faith” comes from the Latin phrase “saltus fidei” and was introduced by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard as a metaphor for religious belief in God. Kierkegaard emphasized that God is a spiritual, not physical, entity and exists in a realm completely separate from the material world that humans inhabit. Therefore, to truly embrace spirituality and believe in God, Kierkegaard argued that individuals must take a courageous “leap of faith,” which involves trusting in the existence of a higher power without tangible evidence or rational explanations. – (US Dictionary.)
Coming to the reason why l chose this as a topic, the answer is that, l was compelled to because of a personal experience l was confronted with, few days ago. So, as l pondered over the whole scenario, l concluded that, l just had to take’’ a leap of faith’’ to solve the problem. I realized that l have to pray more and ask God for increased faith because, Faith in Jesus does not disappoint. Think about it, referencing the bible, Jesus points out that the secret of healing, miracles and impossibilities, is faith in Him. Hence if we have faith in Jesus, great things can happen . Several times when people got healed, witnessed miracles and were not disappointed, it is because of their strong faith in Jesus. In fact, what they did was asked Jesus in trust for something or healing without waiting for Him to respond, because they were convinced that He would do it. That is what l call taking a leap of faith.
Lets’ look at the faith of a man who approached Jesus as stated in the bible. ”The man approached Jesus and kneels before Him. His prayer was simply in affirmative,’’ Sir have mercy on my son who is epileptic….’’ We can see in this prayer that the man was certain that Jesus has power to do what he asked for. We can also see the respect and humility he had for Jesus first by, kneeling down and secondly, begging. This shows that the man already believed in the power of Jesus to heal his son. This is a conviction that we can get what we need when we sincerely take a leap of faith and believe.
My question therefore is, what has changed? Why are we unable to receive healings and witness miracles as it was during the time of Jesus? Why all the long prayers, night vigils, fasting and what have you . Not to talk of the shouting and noise before we see results. So, in my own thinking, l figured that we lack faith. What God wants from us is not necessarily how much words we say or how much fasting we do but how much faith we have in Him. You would recall that there is nowhere in the bible that Jesus praised anyone for shouting on Him but in many passages of the bible, He praised many for their strong faith in Him. If we have faith we can easily win Jesus love. Prayer is basically communication with God. We need to ask God for a strong faith and also for the grace to persevere, for a man’s faith is tested in difficulties. Simple prayers can be effective, we just have to mean what we say and sincerely believe in the power of Jesus. Bartimaeus said that kind of prayer as recorded in (Mark ,10: 46 – 52), when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout,’’ Jesus son of David! Take pity on me’’. The repentant thief also said the same kind of prayer- ‘’ Remember me, Jesus, when you come as king’’ (Luke 23:42). He believed that Jesus is King. Even the Canaanite woman- ‘’ Son of David’’ she cried out. Have mercy on me. Sir! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition’’ (Matthew 15:22). So, no matter the situation you find yourself or the condition of any of your family member(s), just take a leap of faith and trust in Jesus. He will come through for you.
What is essential when we pray is the magnitude of our faith in Jesus. If we have faith in Jesus, our prayer will be highly effective and powerful. Let me conclude with this quote from (Mark 11: 24) ‘’ Therefore l tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Faith is like oil to a lamp, if we have faith we do not need to stage act or shout before we believe that He has heard.’’ We pray that God will bless us and give us the grace to have strong faith in Him.
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