Isaiah 60:1-7, John 8:12, Matthew 19:26, Luke 5:1-11, Mark 2:1-12, Matthew 14:28-29, James 1:22-23, Matthew 7:24-27, 2 Corinthians 3:18

Kunle Olabode considers the importance of living what we believe

Kunle Olabode

'Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.' Isaiah 60:1-2

In the above scripture, the Lord commanded or instructed his people (Zion) to arise and shine for their light has come. This is God's divine plan to transform us and make our lives better in this dark world. However, for us to actualise this, we have to recognise in reality that Jesus Christ is the light of the world (John 8:12) and if he lives in us, we cannot sit in darkness anymore or succumb to depression or obscurity.

Are your finances failing? Is your marriage relationship in a mess, or is your spiritual life going downhill? No matter the extent of the negativity surrounding your present or past situations, God is calling on you to arise and shine above them all because with God nothing shall be impossible. (Matthew 19:26)

In order to arise and shine, we as children of God will have to learn to always act on the word of God. It is important to always take God by his words. God said to them arise, shine! For everything else spoken after these words to be fulfilled in Zion, she first has to arise and shine; she needed to act these words. God has spoken and his words are yes and amen and cannot be broken. If everything else spoken and promised her did not happened, it would have been her fault in not acting on the word of God as instructed.

We can look at so many examples about this in the Bible. Remember the man who was lowered through the roof by his four friends in Mark 2:1-12. Jesus said to him "Rise, take up thy bed and walk." Had he not acted on the master's words, he never would have been healed.

In Luke chapter 5, Peter has toiled all night in his attempt to catch fish. Even though he was a very experienced fisherman he caught nothing. Jesus said to him, "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught". Instead of acting on the word spoken by the master, he started to tell stories about how he has worked hard all night and caught nothing. Eventually he said, "Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net."

What changes some of us would see if only we would say, "At thy word I will let down the net."

For Peter and his colleagues, the result of acting on the word of God was mind blowing (Luke 5:6).

Again, when Jesus said to Peter, come walk the waves with me, Peter acted on the word (Matthew 14:28-29).

The mother of Jesus said to the servants at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, "Whatever he says to you, do it". They obeyed what Jesus said, filled the pots with water and the water became wine.

Until we act upon the word of God, it does not become a reality. The more we act on the word of God as spoken to us, the more mind blowing results we shall see and experience.

In James 1:22-23, the Bible says, 'But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.'

It is a good thing to hear the word of God, to read, study and meditate on the scriptures, but we should not stop there. We must also act on the word that God has spoken to us. We must take that step of faith like Peter walking on water and actually do what God tells us to do. When we act on what God says, stepping out in faith, he will back us up by showing himself faithful. Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 7:24-27 when he says that a man that comes to him and hears his sayings and does them is like a wise man which built his house on a rock. But the man that hears and does them not, is like a foolish man that built his house on the sand.

In conclusion, I want to encourage you to start taking God by his words. When you act on the word of God, you will see the miraculous happening in your life. As we step out in faith and act on God's word, we then receive the victory. This grows our faith even stronger and we continue to go from faith to faith and glory to glory - Amen. (2 Corinthians 3:18)