BORROWED CONVICTION DOES NOT LAST
I still remember the first time that Dad and Mum dropped me off as an undergraduate in Olabisi Onabanjo University (I had an eight months stint there). It was the first time I was going to be living on my own- the goodbyes was emotional.
Some months into my stay, I took ill. It was in the days when phones were still scarce. My flatmates were out of town. I was alone. As my temperature rose that night, I shivered under the blanket but I prayed, “The God that my dad and mum calls on, please heal me”. My health got better until rescue came. I did not have a solid conviction about God so I had to rely on the walk that my parents had with God. It was a good start at least.
Beloved, your journey of faith can begin with what you see God do in the lives of those around you but it must be a bridge that brings you into personal conviction. It must b seen in you also.
when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.
II Timothy 1:5 NKJV
We know your Dad loves God. We know your Mum can pray but can it be found in you also? A man that relies on the prayers of his mum (or dad) as a single man will look for a wife whom he can rely on her prayers as an adult but will deny his children the beauty of a praying father.
If you build with borrowed blocks, what will happen the day the owners demand their blocks? Holes will be created. The house will be exposed or worse, it will collapse. When it becomes critical, can you stand? What is your persuasion? What is your conviction?
The seven sons of Sceva were building on borrowed blocks. They succeeded for a while but one day, they ran into trouble with a demon that had the guts to ask questions about their identity. That day, what they borrowed was not enough. They paid with shame.
One difference between King Saul and King David was their relationship with God. King Saul would always tell Prophet Samuel, “Your God” but if you read the Psalms, King David was always personalizing his walk with God. Psalms was always about “My shepherd, My Lord, My Light, My Life”.
Dear singles, you must build the capacity to know God for yourself. If a brother approaches a sister with conviction that he has heard from the Lord and the sister relies on the brother’s conviction because he can pray or he is a pastor or he is on fire, she is taking a risk. To the brother (if indeed he heard), it is faith but to the sister, it is a risk. Hear God confirm the word in your heart. Do not gamble because he is a spiritual giant.
temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa.