Our God gave a number of promises to Abraham which seemed distant and obscure. But when He appeared to Abraham at 99 years of age, God said, “I will return to you around this time next year according to the time of life”. God’s promise to return was not an indefinite promise; three men had come to Abraham, ate the bread he served and delivered those words to him. The promise that God would return according to the time of life next year was a definite and specific promise, not a vague and indefinite one. Likewise, Jesus Christ’s coming to the earth was not just an obscure concept but He actually became flesh to come. Similarly, the Holy Spirit doesn’t simply come into our minds; the Spirit of God actually comes inside of us to rule over us so that even the demons are driven out.

Since God gave such a concrete promise, Abraham was able to wait for that time next year to come. By that time next year, he would be able to confirm if God’s promises would surely come to fulfillment – that God would become the God of his descendants and they would become His people. From that time, Abraham began to wait for a son to be born. However, Sarah’s menstruation had already stopped. Before that time, perhaps she had some chance of bearing children, but now there was no possibility. So, when Sarah listened outside that she would bear a son around that time next year, she laughed. She laughed within herself saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” When the Lord (Jehovah) asked why she laughed, she denied that she laughed. But He said she did laugh.​

In this way, when God speaks, people laugh to themselves because it’s hard to accept His words according to man’s imagination, ideas and logic. They are skeptical about God’s word being fulfilled. However, we need to consider whose words they are. Who am I speaking to and whose words am I listening to? We need to remember that. If they are man’s words, we may possibly laugh it off. Yet the One speaking here is God. God is speaking and His words are always fulfilled. It says, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” With God, nothing is impossible. Hence every word that comes from His lips is accomplished without fail. And to acknowledge this is fundamental to our faith.

How do we come to have faith? If man is to object to what God has said and doesn’t believe His words, what more can we say? Even the unbelievers can believe that. When I first believed, it was very hard for me to believe in Jesus. I wanted to believe and yet I couldn’t. But then I thought, “Who am I trying to believe? Who is this God that they are telling me about? Isn’t He the Almighty? Am I not trying to figure out if the Almighty is living or not? If He is all-powerful, nothing would be impossible for Him. Then Jesus the Word becoming flesh is more than possible for Him since He is Almighty.” I wasn’t able to believe that the universe was created by God’s word. But if He is the Almighty, why wouldn’t He be able to do it? I am not trying to believe in one of the many gods in the world; I am trying to know about the Almighty, who is the Creator. And if He is really living, why wouldn’t it be possible for Him? So that’s when I was able to believe that. If the One I am trying to meet is the Almighty, of course He is able to create all things. He can make Jesus the Word to come in the flesh. And I wanted to meet Him. So instead of praying, “Help me to believe you”, I prayed, “God please meet me”. When I prayed to the Almighty One asking Him to meet me, He did. And even unbelievers come to believe in that way.

Thus, if people who claim to believe in God do not believe in the words that come from God’s mouth and doubt Him, it’s their own choice. They just choose not to believe. Because they are determined to perish, they do not believe. But if one desires to live, he ought to believe that God’s word is fulfilled. Therefore, whether a person has faith or not depends on what attitude he has towards God’s word and its fulfilment. A few days ago, a person commented on a video about the casting out of demons. The person wrote in the comment that the Lord will say “I never knew you” to those that say “Lord, Lord we cast out demons in Your name”. So, I replied to his comment saying, “You are trying so hard. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. The Lord said, “Many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” So according to your argument, preaching the gospel must be wrong too! In that case, performing power is wrong and casting out demons is also wrong according to you! As you are trying to deny the casting out of demons, you are denying every word of Jesus without even realizing! Read the Scriptures properly”. That was my reply to his comment.​

The next day, I attached the words of Jesus from Mark 16. I wrote, “Didn’t Jesus clearly tell us to drive out demons and do wonders? Would He call them who obeyed His words evildoers?” And then this person began to show his true colors unknowingly. He commented, “So does that mean in His name we can pick up snakes and not be harmed even if we drink deadly poison? Are you saying that those words are all true?” So, I replied, “Look, aren’t you an unbeliever? Isn’t that why you do not believe in casting out demons and that you can be saved by believing in Jesus?” How come he couldn’t believe? Because he couldn’t accept it. So, he wasn’t living a faith life but only trying to believe what seemed acceptable according to reason. He is an unbeliever because he was seeking to understand this based on his knowledge and logic. I haven’t said this part to him yet. What can I say to this unbeliever? I am waiting to figure out what I should do.

If we are unable to believe what God has spoken, we would be unbelievers. If one is questioning whether God loves him or not, he is an unbeliever. Why? If God has given us Jesus Christ, that means the love of God has already been poured into us. It says that the coming of the Holy Spirit means the love of God has been given to us. So, if a person is not sure if God loves him or not, then it means he doesn’t believe in God’s words and he does not believe in the many promises God has given to us. That is why our faith is to believe that God’s word will surely be fulfilled without fail. I haven’t had the experience of drinking deadly poison yet, but how would I know whether or not that has happened to me? I haven’t been harmed and have survived until now, but how would I know if I did consume deadly poison unknowingly at some point? Probably there were many times where deadly poison came into me without my knowledge. What are viruses and bacteria? They are germs and a kind of poison. I have ingested such poison many times but no harm has come upon me until now and I am living fine. So, what would happen if I were to deny His words? How can I survive from now on? There are so many types of poison everywhere even in the air.

Hence even if I may not have experienced them yet, I believe that those words will certainly be fulfilled. At times I may say that I couldn’t experience them because of my lack of faith and hence disobedience, yet I don’t ever deny God’s words themselves. His words will certainly come true. So let us pray, “Lord help my soul not to become an evil one but one who always acknowledges that Your words will always be fulfilled and have many more experiences of it”.

Sometimes when men of faith speak, you might giggle or laugh at it. And at the same time, you feel alarmed. As you are giggling you are convicted that you would giggle at the words of faith. So let us pray that such things will never happen in all the days of our lives.

God our Father, help us that we will never laugh at or doubt God’s word because we are unable to believe it. Help us so that we never go against God’s word in all our life. However, we know that without inspiration this can happen to us, so fill us by the Holy Spirit and with inspiration to always be watchful and have the same vision as our Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.