Faith isn’t Laziness

Introduction

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that life comes with its fair share of struggles. We all face pressures and problems that stem from living in a fallen world. Jesus himself said in John 16:33 that in this world “You will have problems”. That is a certain.

1. Introduction
2. Your promised land has giants
3. Embrace the “struggle” in improving
4. Embrace the “challenges” to the promise land
5. Conclusion

Your promised land has giants

In Joshua 13, when the Israelites had reached outside their promised land, one thing they found out quickly is that there are giants in their promise land. They likely thought that it was going to be a cakewalk, but instead their fiercest battle was just before they took hold of the promise.

I’ve met plenty of believers who have unrealistic expectations about Christian life. Some think that becoming a Christian means smooth sailing without any opposition or problems. This mindset often leads to a lack of discipline and determination in facing challenges, because they aren’t expecting any. For example, one friend of mine received a promise that God would give him a job, but he wasn’t preparing for the job or even preparing a proper resume because he wanted to testify that “God was responsible for all of this”. Though his heart was in the right place, people with these delusions often when they face challenges, the get depressed. This is the devil’s tactic. He wants to defer our hope so that we will be depressed.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 13:12

Some of my buddies went and got themselves massive loans for their cars in the name of “faith”, and now they’re just “hoping and praying” for a miracle to pay it all off. I ain’t against having faith in a miracle, but what I’m trying to say is that wishful thinking combined with laziness is a recipe for failure. Faith ain’t some quick fix that lets you off the hook from work. It just doesn’t work like that. Right after creating Adam, the first thing God did was give him a job – to look after the garden. God ain’t a fan of slacking off. He wants us to put in the work, all the while having trust and knowledge that He’s got things under control.

Embrace the “struggle” in improving

Since everything worth having involves some kind of struggle, it’s crucial to find the right kind of struggle for you. If you love blogging, it might take a while for it to gain traction, but if you’re not willing to push through and don’t believe the effort is worth the reward, you’ll stumble along the way. Pursuing something that brings you joy means you won’t be easily discouraged by the ongoing challenge; in fact, you’ll come to embrace it.

There are believers who think that any sort of improvement is worldly and a management tactic, but it is not. If you want to play an instrument, be the best at it, put the work on it, after all even the Psalmist says to “play skillfully” (Psalm 33:3). If you’ve set your heart on mastering the guitar, get ready to cuddle up with the struggle. You won’t wake up one morning magically serenading the neighborhood with flawless guitar licks, though God has blessed us with everything (Eph 1:3).

For instance, I distinctly recall how I always wanted to play the piano, but I couldn’t. Then, in 2019, I decided to take the “I have been blessed” (Eph 1:3) verse to heart and dove into YouTube tutorials on playing “How Great Is Our God” on the piano. Surprisingly, within just a few days, I was playing what I wanted! I mean, if Eph 1:3 wasn’t for me, and I didn’t believe in it, I’d probably still be struggling. It did get easier, but I had to put in the work and effort to learn. God may have provided the talent, but this is God and me on a partnership.

But here’s the million-dollar question: are you willing to endure the struggle? Just because God has blessed you, doesn’t mean it is automatic. For instance, even in our daily Christian life, we have promises that are supernatural and incredible. However, it is not just automatic, but we need to have “faith” in those promises, and also renew our minds to the truth of the Word and promise.

Some of you are probably hoping that God is not only going to provide for you your inheritance in a platter but spoon-feed and chew it for you. But look at Joshua 22:43 – the Lord HAD delivered on His promise of land to their forefathers. But fast forward to Judges 1, and you’ll find some tribes STILL FIGHTING over the land of blessings, while others like Judah and Benjamin (Judges 1:19-21) were tangled up with unbeatable “iron chariots”. These were fulfilled promises from God, but these tribes didn’t have the guts to take on the iron chariots and claim what was rightfully theirs. It wasn’t a promise problem – it was a “get off your couch” problem. On the flip side, there was Caleb, still raring for a fight at 80! Because he enjoyed the struggle and had the tenacity to fight, he got his slice of the inheritance. There are cases where God requires you to trust Him, but If you’re thinking that your “belief” entitles you to a heavenly room service, think again. That’s just plain old laziness.

People also wait for a call from God to evangelize, but Paul in his second and third missionary journey’s didn’t get a special call from God to go, but he just went because he wanted to. For Paul it was more like, I will go, and if God wants to stop me, he will. Trust me, He will. I remember in 2022, I was applying for a job, and the problem with me is that I can get all ambitious and get too much into the efforts and trust in my own efforts. So I got an online interview call, and before the day arrived, I checked the company website, and was about to go on a preparation spree, when God stopped me and asked me to “not prepare”, but just “have faith”. Now, this is different because my heart was to prepare, and that was my default setting, and God was asking me not to. When I arrived at the interview, I was nervous, and not sure what to say, but the interview turned out to be the best I ever had. God was showing me that it was a partnership, and that I should not think its by my efforts. That’s what happened to Paul too. He went everywhere, and he was stopped by God before he landed in Asia. But we don’t see that happening again. If you are waiting to hear from God whether to share the gospel with your neighbour, or command healing on your friend, why didn’t you do it when you wanted to decide which job to take, or which career to take?

Embrace the “challenges” to the promise land

Not just in improvements, sometimes our promise land will have challenges, and if you have the attitude to fight you won’t be disheartened, no matter what challenge comes your way, because you will be ready to overcome it. When the doctor brings a report that says that you have major complications, it is a giant standing in front of your promise, and have the mind to fight it. How do we fight it? We fight it by renewing our mind to the truth of the Word of God that “By His stripes I am healed”. The war is in your head, and you fight every giant that stands in the way. Don’t just stay idle.

If you have been recently recruited, the giant you are facing could be that the job is tough, and hard to learn, but take the tenacity of faith, and renew your mind to the truth that you are a blessing, and that in your spirit you know all things, and can learn anything. Use that to fight the giant and take the promise of being a blessing at your workplace. Don’t just stay idle saying that it will all happen automatically.

Yes, it is faith to believe that “thousands may fall beside me and ten thousands around me, but it shall not come near me”, but it is also faith that if it comes, it will regret as I will fight against it. David didn’t get disheartened when he saw Goliath and the Philistine army taunting and threatening them, but rather, he took his sling and went to fight.

Jesus faced many challenging giants in his ministry life. He heard that “Lazarus” had died, and he went and overcame it. The devil dared to endanger the boat which had Jesus in it, and Jesus slept, knowing that nothing would happen. He overcame the challenges.

Conclusion

This attitude will help you greatly, in your life. Fight it. If you have a sickness, claim the promise of healing, and fight it till you see it is done. If you want to learn and new skill or improve in an area, struggle through it, and work hard. When you have the spiritual warrior attitude, nothing will overcome you!

That’s why Jesus said in John 16:33, “But I have overcome the world”. Jesus was saying that He overcame the world, and thus, we can too stand against any giants that come our way.