FORCE VERSUS FAITH

Force is a universal phenomenon to which life and objects respond to. Isaac Newton discovered some phenomenal landmarks in the history of science and motion and these birth the Newton’s laws of motion. The first law of motion states that “A body will remain in a state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line until it is acted upon by an external FORCE”. The truth is, no non-living thing moves except you apply force. As a matter of fact, some humans required that push (force) to move.

As Christians, force also has spiritual significance. The other time I taught about The Spiritual Gravitational Force. It is real that there are two predominant forces that control the universe: the forces of darkness, and the force that is divine, which is the most potent…and this latter force is the WORD of God, it is what holds the world in place. “He sustains all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3).

Now, it is good to know that the world is filled with the activities of “the rulers of darkness of this world” (Ephesians 6:12). One of their missions is to oppose anything that is good. The enemies are both offensive and defensive, while (unfortunately) we have Christians that are only defense conscious. Many Christians engage in defensive warfare and are afraid of launching offensives against the enemy. Some are even afraid that the moment they try to go out against the works and activities of the enemies, the enemies becomes more aggressive towards them, so they prefer to just live calm and most times oppressed lives.

As a child of God, you are a partaker of the divine nature of God and therefore you have the innate capacity to manifest the higher spiritual force to silence the activities of the enemies around you. There are places you step into and for as long as you are there, the existing powers and activities of the enemies are brought to an automatic standstill until you depart. Good always prevails over evil. God is good, and you are in God; evil should bow in the name of Jesus!

Having said this, I want to explain two types of operational forces that Christians tend to apply against the forces of evil and why it seems some achieve results and others do not. We live in a world where people have been taught that all you need to do to make things work for you in life is to use force and in some cases violence. Many even go as far as quoting the scripture: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12) as the premise for their forceful and violent approaches to things.

People are taking everything by force and “spiritual” violence (if there is anything like that). Brothers are possessing sisters by force; sisters are stealing other sisters’ happiness by force; civil servants are embezzling government funds by force, and the list is endless. This type of force is not what the Bibles teaches and is certainly not of God. This is what I call ‘Empty Force’. This is the type that makes people to boast only to become victims of attacks by the enemies.

The second type of force in this context is ‘Faith-filled Force’, and this is the type that carries eternal values and virtue. We are admonished to live “by FAITH” and not “by FORCE”. Yes, force is good, but force without faith is not good! It is speaking with confidence knowing that those words are not empty but back with faith, and certainly faith is power. It is not your words that scare the devil; it is the content (the life) in those words. It will be a consequential error to address the devil with empty words. Stop confronting circumstances with empty words. Stop confusing emotions for faith and power. Crying is not faith. Talking too much and boasting are not faith. Many confront the enemies with empty words and when the enemy gets at them they begin to wonder what went wrong. Even Jesus would not speak empty words; He said: “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

Force can move things, but faith can move them far. Force is stoppable, but faith is unstoppable. Force has limits; faith is unlimited. Force can produce results, but faith produces and upholds results. “By faith (AND NOT BY FORCE) they passed through the Red sea as by dry land” (Hebrews 11:29). Where force fails, faith never fails. I wish Hebrews 11:2 says that “by FORCE the elders obtained a good report”…but it says, “For by it (FAITH) the elders obtained a good report”.

The next time you speak, ensure those words carry life (which comes from a life of prayers, Bible study, fasting, charity, holiness). Some ride on the winds of force, but we ride on the wings of faith. And a combination of Force plus Faith…this will send the enemies into exile in your life and family.