“For by [faith—trust and holy fervor born of faith] the men of old had divine testimony borne to them and obtained a GOOD REPORT.” – Hebrews 11:2 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition.
“For everyone born of God is victorious and overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has conquered and overcome the world—our [continuing, persistent] faith [in Jesus the Son of God].” – 1 John 5:4 Amplified Bible.
It was a beautiful summer afternoon, and I was in high spirits, celebrating my graduation from medical school after overcoming many hurdles along the way. As I was reminiscing over my new status as a newly qualified physician with a heart full of gratitude to God for the glorious triumph, one of my colleague, Henry knocked heavily at my door breathing heavily and speaking with conviction that he was sure he too passed the examination but didn`t know why his name was not on the graduating list.
I managed to calm Henry down for a moment and sat him down for a deep conversation on how he produced the conviction that his name was meant to be on the graduating list knowing fully well that once the list is made public, it is final. Any student whose name is not on the list needs to start preparing for another exam.
Henry and I were both taking this final graduating examination with a junior class having missed the opportunity to graduate with our classmates. I have only Surgery left to graduate, but Henry has both Medicine and Surgery. What scared Henry most was Surgery but surprisingly he made it but not passing Medicine was a puzzle to him.
Henry was formerly a CINO (Christian In Name Only) until I was able to influence him away from his ungodly friends and won him over to my discussion group filled with Christian students and godly influences that have brought him to Christ. As we went over the whole dramatic situation in the light of God`s Word, as people of faith, we had an Acts 14:8-10 experience:
“There was a man who lived in Lystra. His feet had been weak since he was born. So, he had never been able to walk. While Paul was speaking God’s message, this man listened to him. Paul looked at him carefully. He could see that the man believed in Jesus. The man believed that God could make him well. So, Paul said to him loudly, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ Immediately the man jumped up, and he began to walk about.” (Easy English Bible).
While I was speaking God`s Word to Henry, his faith came alive, and he jumped to his feet to go to the Medicine department to convince them that he passed the final examination. It was unthinkable and no one has ever done it before. As helper of his faith, I encouraged him to go ahead, and what seemed impossible became possible as they discovered that it was a typo error.
Henry truly passed the Medicine examination, but his name was skipped by accident while they were typing the final graduating students. A bad report was turned into A GOOD REPORT through RESILIENT FAITH – A CONTINUOUS, PERSISTENT FAITH IN GOD! Without Dr. Henry exercising RESILIENT FAITH, he would have missed the opportunity of graduating with us when he did from medical school. A GOOD REPORT IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT RESILIENT FAITH.
Beloved, what happened to Dr. Henry can also happen to you if you choose to believe the God who changes times and seasons (see Daniel 2:21), for God shows no partiality. But in every nation, whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. (Acts 10:34-35 NKJV). The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. (Hebrews 11:2 Message Bible). What RESILIENT FAITH does is that IT SET YOU ABOVE THE CROWD as we can see with Dr. Henry!
A faith that will obtain A GOOD REPORT must be RESILIENT (Continuous and Persistent) because A GOOD REPORT IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT RESILIENT FAITH, and just as the Lord Jesus says in Mark 9:23 God`s Word Translation, “Jesus said to him, ‘As far as possibilities go, everything is possible for the person who believes.”’ [To be continued next week].
