Take Jesus at His Word

“Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”The man took Jesus at his word and departed.

John 4:50

Yesterday, we began examining the second miracle of Jesus, focusing on the official who came to Him. From his example, we learned how we should approach everything in our lives. We often have many plans for bringing life to various aspects of our lives, but many times, we neglect the One who is the true source of life.

I used to be someone who was accustomed to failing at things. Back in my secondary school days, I failed many subjects. I had to repeat a class and even got ‘F9 parallel’ (if you know what that means) at one point. It reached a stage where I thought there was nothing important about me and that I would probably fail at anything. I couldn’t even pass JAMB. But after I was born again, I gained admission into the University of Lagos. God said to me that I would not fail any course throughout my time at the school. I thought to myself, “Even people who never failed in secondary school still fail in university; how much more me?” It took me some time to build enough faith to accept God’s Word over my life. And behold, the first semester came, and not only did I not fail any course, but I was also among the top in the class. I was amazed, my faith skyrocketed, and I never failed any course until I graduated. Jesus gave me life, even in my education.

But in the case of this official, he didn’t even have much time to build faith; he simply received faith in the Word of Jesus. Initially, this man expected to bring Jesus to his home so that He could heal his son. But Jesus responded by saying, “Go; your son will live.” For some of us, when things don’t go the way we’ve planned in our heads, we get discouraged and lose faith. But instead, we saw a different response from this man—he chose to take Jesus at His word and departed. By this act of faith, he went home to a living son. This shows that our life is a product of our faith in Jesus. He who believes in Him has life. Therefore, to bring forth the life of God into every area of your life, it takes believing in God for that life.

At this point, can you take a quick scan of your life and examine every area where you acknowledge needing help, whether you’ve made some plans for them or not? Can you look at your spiritual growth, your ministry, your family, your career, your business, your finances, and so on? In what way have you taken Jesus at His Word? In what way are you walking through it by His Word? How can that area of your life speak to others about life in Jesus?

This miracle shows us that Jesus is life-giving, and it is only in Him that we can have life and have it abundantly. But this life only comes by believing in Him.

PRAYER