WUK

03/10/2026

‘Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.’

I wanted to start with this scripture in Matthew 14:27 because it brings hope into what looks like a hopeless situation. This was only one of the times Jesus told His disciples to 'cheer up', or to 'not let their hearts be troubled', before they were about to see a great work of God.

The natural order of things in our world today is this: it is ok to fall apart (allow emotions to tell us how to feel and act; fall into depression, even remain there for as long as outside help takes to come and lift us up; become unproductive socially, relationally, professionally; put on a victim mentality, allowing offense to drive etc) when facing difficult challenges. Our world today has made provision for this, and more and more people cannot find the path out of these dark inner places where they gradually fell into.

Jesus offers us the only alternative that can save us from falling into those dark pits, but is also able to lift us out of those dark pits if we have fallen into them.

To ‘be of good cheer and not to be afraid’ is a thing of faith. No person in the natural - facing tribulations - can by themselves cheer up from the heart and not be afraid. It is a heart decision that regardless of the circumstances, I will trust God and I will have faith that His Word is true. We can allow the joy of God that’s within our spirit to flow out and fill us with cheer, casting away fear, and bringing hope.

I don't know about you, but there's been many times in my Christian life where I struggled to have faith for something that God was surfacing in me. Faith cannot step in when the conditions within us aren’t right. The condition for faith is Hope; Hope precedes faith (Hebrews 11:1), and must be present in us, for us to step into faith.

Hope is believing for a good end, no matter the circumstances - an expectation that God will surely do as He has said He would. Romans 15:13- "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

God said through Jeremiah 'I know the thoughts I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.' (29:11, NKJV). The word 'Hope' is translated as 'an expected end' in King James Version.

Hope is more than just ‘expecting good results’. It involves our entire soul - our imagination within us, which really is the power that sets us in the directions we are currently going in life. We all have a certain way of thinking, learned over long periods and influenced by values and people that have been influential to us. We tend to have dominant pattern through which we translate everything such as our experiences. This pattern influences our internal visualisations - what we allow our imagination settle on, what we let our heart believe etc. All these affect our readiness to hope in different life's circumstances.

Jesus’s Words have the power to alter the patterns of thinking that are dominant in our lives. Away from God, no one can channel their imagination/pattern of thinking to align with God, no matter how good they are. Paul wrote in Romans 1: ‘For when they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God, nor were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.’

But we in Christ have God's kind of hope! Jeremiah said ‘blessed is the man whose hope is the Lord’! (17:7). God is our hope - and in the darkest of hours in life, we can always tap into it, expecting a good end!

The tribulations you may be going through do not come from God, but Jesus told us they would come- the enemy's attempt to hinder the spread of the gospel. Yet for us, tribulations serve an important purpose; they must produce perseverance in us, and as we persevere in Christ during difficult times God moulds our character, and our character produces HOPE (Romans 5:3-4).

Due to lack of teaching and understanding of scripture, many of us have been broken down by challenges, quit ministry, become unproductive in life due to the diverse tribulations and trials that have come our way. We began well when tribulations first hit, and carried on for a time. But with a lack of inner vision - the eager expectation of what God has laid ahead, many of us have not developed perseverance.

Perhaps you have not been able to see the victorious end of your journey because of lack of hope. Do not give up. The Holy Spirit is there to help you stand up and resume your journey. He is able to help you develop patience in the most trying times.

As faith has conditions necessary for it to flourish, so has hope. The conditions for hope are thanksgiving, which will bring us back to the Words of Jesus in Mathew 14 ‘Cheer up, it is I..!’ But first, here's a paraphrase of what Paul said in one of his numerous teachings where he encouraged the Church to abound in thanksgiving at all times:

Colossians 2:6-7: we received Christ Jesus as our Lord by faith; we are hence rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as we continue to abide in the teachings of the Word of God. We abound in this faith with thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving produces hope in our hearts, which results in an overflow of faith in our lives.

It is impossible to hope from a downcast soul. That is why the scripture is filled with exhortations of ‘do not fear’ - and why Jesus told the disciples to cheer up, because hope needs the conditions to be right in our soul in order for it to flourish.

Despite the difficulties facing you at the moment, you can cheer up within you by remembering what God has done for you and your loved ones in the past. Begin thanking God, worship Him for His faithfulness. As you do this, you will allow hope to set in, so that ‘an expectation of a good end’ begins to form within you. Do not stop there. Allow yourself to meditate on scripture. Envision within you the Lord coming through for you, for your loved ones, bringing victory. Know that not everyone in your close circles will understand you, but set your eyes on Christ. Many will expect to see you fallen apart, living your life in reflection to your suffering. Some will think you are in denial, because you cannot show any physical proof yet that your tribulations have ended and you are living your blessed life. But do not worry. The Bible says the things of the spirit cannot be understood by the natural mind, because those are two entirely different worlds.

Jesus, after having told His disciples that they would face many tribulations, be brought before kings for His Name’s sake, be betrayed by family members and friends, He added: ‘And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls.’ Luke 21:17-19. This last verse caught my attention this morning. To possess our souls is to maintain our inner control under great pressure. Our emotions exist in our soul, and in times of great pressure, we have a difficult time trying to contain emotions. As I wrote at the start, it seems completely ok today to let emotions run as wild as they want, because our flesh just doesnt want to handle trouble. But God says we must take control of our soul.

When we do so, we will find that we can ‘run against a troop and we can leap over walls,’ Psalms 18:29. We will never again cower during fierce tribulations, but we will persevere to the end, until we see our victory.

01/08/2026

Throw your nets into deeper waters

God put these words in my heart some days ago, and I believe there is so much depth in them that I decided to share them with you. Let us look at one of the incidents at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, found in Luke 5:1–8.

Peter was a seasoned fisherman, well acquainted with the sea, its conditions, and the different weather patterns that were essential to his trade. He made a living out of fishing - and more than that, he had a family that depended on him. This one night, he’d spent the whole night fishing and caught absolutely nothing. I do not think it was unusual for him to have spent the night out at the sea fishing. But perhaps they almost always caught something. Nevertheless, this particular night they caught nothing. The following day, he was by the shore with his partners, James and John, who were brothers, washing their nets. It was then that Jesus came and sat in Peter’s boat and asked him to push it out a little from the land. Peter did as Jesus requested, and Jesus began teaching the people from the boat. After He was done teaching, He turned to Peter and told him, ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ Peter began to tell him how they’d been fishing all night and caught nothing. But then he said, ‘nevertheless at Your Word, I will let down the net.’

Often we also, when we’ve been working hard and yet keep failing or whatever mountain in life we are facing that never seems to move, it is easy to despair at the mention of ‘try again.’ What if Peter had stopped at the first of his two sentences, ‘we caught nothing’ and dismissed Jesus’ invitation to increase?
I’ve been thinking about Peter this morning, marveling at how spontaneous he was. While in some instances he was a bit too decisive, he also had a childlike kind of faith and was not hesitant to act on it.

However although he did obey Jesus, he threw in only one net. Jesus had specifically said ‘let down your nets for a catch’, and Peter replied, ‘I will let down the net’ - his own net.

There’s an old hymn I often think of, written by Joseph Medlicott Scriven in 1855, ‘What a Friend we have in Jesus.’ One of the lines in the lyrics says ‘Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.’ When I think of this song, I wonder why we’d choose to hold on to some of the pains we suffer, some of the stress - when we can give it ALL to Jesus? Yet we do, many times, without knowing that we are holding back. This is exactly what Peter did. I don’t think even for a second that Peter thought ‘I don’t need all that much fish - one net is sufficient.’ The reason he’d been out all night was to get as much fish as he could - or just five or two, if that's all there was! You know what held him back? His own knowledge. According to Peter’s knowledge as a fisherman, that sea produced a maximum of his net full of fish. That’s probably the most he’d ever fished in a go, or the most he expected to fish at a go, the night after a fish-failure.

The thing between us and the entire blessing of God, is what Peter himself was to later write in 2 Peter 1:3, ‘As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue.’ Through Jesus, this grace has been given to us in its entirety. Everything you and I will ever need - that concerns our lives here on earth, including living godly lives, comes by the knowledge of God. Not by our own knowledge.

Paul wrote about the same thing in Ephesians 1:3, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.’ The words of Paul reveal two things: one, the blessing we have through the grace of God is not in material form. In Galatians 3:14 Pauls says that the blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive that blessing through faith. It was the blessing of Abraham that made Abraham rich - and that blessing was the spoken Word of God to Abraham in Genesis 12-22. Our inheritance as children of Abraham through faith is the spoken Word of God - not the material blessing that Abraham had; those material things were a by-product of the blessing of God in his life, because he acted on the Word by faith. The second thing Paul reveals is that the blessing of God is existing in the heavenly places. It is spiritual. Jesus said that the Word He spoke was ‘Spirit and life’, John 6:63. The Word of God is the blessing to us - and it is Spirit and Life. It will produce for you whatever it is that you need.

If Peter had done exactly as Jesus had said - to let down nets - he could have borrowed as many nets from all the fishermen sitting on that beach that day and they’d all have had the biggest catch of their lives. All the same, once he was out in the deep and realised his net was beginning to break, he called his partners and together they filled their boats until the boats were beginning to sink for the number of fish they contained!

Friend, Jesus doesn’t give you a sample of His blessing. He has given to you His entire grace! If you will receive this Word today, you should go out, get as many containers as you can, call in your friends and family for dinner and expect the Lord of increase to fill your containers!

To throw our nets into the deep water takes pushing the boat back in to the water, getting in and going to the deep waters. It requires an action of faith.

Finally, about Peter. This incident happened before he became a disciple of Jesus. When he saw what the Lord had done for him, he recognised Him. He didn’t go home into a closet to give Him thanks. He went right before Him in public before all those that had been listening to the teaching or that were sitting at the beach for any other reason and called Him Lord! ‘When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’

My prayer for us today is that we would recognise Jesus at the hour of our visitation. Give God the glory whenever things improve - and even when they do not, praise Him that you are alive and that things are as good as they are!

30/07/2026

ARE YOU SAYING WHAT GOD IS SAYING?

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced this: you’ve been recounting to God in the last ten minutes how the situation looks like, how bad it is and at the end of your recounting you ask Him to lift you out of the situation and bring you to the large territory He has promised you where there’s abundance of peace and joy. You breathe in deeply, open your eyes and are ready to go eat when you realise you’re not sure that God is with you on this. Did He hear you?

God speaks Faith - and He wants us to learn to speak Faith. There’s nothing wrong with recounting but if we want results we have to learn to speak what God is speaking.

He has said - “Can two walk together unless they agree?” Amos 3:3 - Choose to agree with God’s Word regardless of what the situation looks like.

There is power in agreement, and God wants you to agree with what He has said for you to see the fulfillment of that thing! God will never ask you to do what He is not doing. Jesus Himself said ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.’ John 5:19

Whatever is not of faith is not aligned with God. Jesus was in such perfect alignment with God that He did whatever God was doing. If God wasn’t doing something, Jesus did not do it. What are we doing in our lives that God is not doing? If we would be bold enough to face up the activities in our lives and end all of those activities that aren’t aligned with God, we’d be letting go of stress, fear, confusion, conflict, disagreements and many other things that are stealing our peace and joy.

Jesus taught His disciples to align with what God was saying - no matter if what God was saying was contrary to what they knew. At the start of His ministry, Jesus told Simon (Peter) to throw his nets into deep waters, even though Peter had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. Peter and some of the disciples were expert fishermen, but when Jesus told them to throw the nets into deep waters they decided to trust His Word, threw their nets into the water and were amazed at the miraculous catch they received (Luke 5:1-11).

Later on in His ministry, after Jesus had finished ministering to the people, He constrained His disciples to get into a boat just before a storm hit, and to go to the other side. This account is covered in three of the Gospels - Matthew, Mark and John, and each of them mentions something different than the other accounts. Matthew and Mark detail that Jesus strongly urged the disciples to get into a boat and go to the other side of the sea (Matthew 14:22 & Mark 6:45). Why did Jesus need to convince them to get into the boat? Few or all the disciples understood the signs of storms and rough waters, and I believe they could tell something of that kind was about to happen. No matter the reason for Jesus having to strongly urge them to leave, the disciples obeyed Him and got into the boat. They had experienced the power in the Word of Jesus by this time, multiple times, and they stepped into that boat simply because that's what Jesus had told them to do. They aligned themselves with His Word. If they’d been driven by fear of rebuke they would have had reason to turn back when the storm hit. During the several hours of struggle against the wind, they had every opportunity to return to the shore from where they’d left; but they had faith in the Words of Jesus.

Matthew’s is the only account that mentions Peter, who said to Jesus that if it was Him, to give him a Word, and he’d come out to the water towards Him. Jesus said ‘Come,’ and Peter, knowing the power of that Word stepped out into the water as though it were ground, and began to walk toward Jesus.
“Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭14‬:‭22‬-‭29‬

Jesus spoke immediately to counter the fear that had engulfed them when they saw a supernatural act they’d never seen before. To help them get into faith, He said ‘be of good cheer! It is I, do not be afraid.’ To be of good cheer opens a door to hope. You cannot be hopeless if you are filled with cheer. Up to then the disciples had acted in faith: they had stepped into the boat against their good judgement, and had stayed on course despite the fact that the wind was against them. For them to see the end result they needed to stay in faith, and Jesus helped to raise their hope, because faith is the substance of things hoped for. Peter got hold of that faith and instantly acted on it. Although there was no real benefit for him to walk on water, he did it anyway, proving the power in the Word of Jesus. Today the story of how he walked on water is told all over the world. All 12 disciples could have stepped out of the boat if they had wanted to, but Peter is the only one that dared to walk on the storm that had, moments before, threatened their lives.

Mark’s perspective of this account highlights a few things that Matthew and John do not highlight. He reveals that Jesus wasn’t unaware of their suffering out there at sea: ‘Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them,’ Mark 6:47. Are you in a situation that seems overwhelming? You’ve tried everything you know how, with all the might you’ve got, but the storm seems to get thicker? Jesus sees you as He saw the disciples straining at rowing in the middle of the sea. Jesus knew the wind was against them - He knows what you are fighting against.

About the fourth watch of the night, which is anywhere between 3am to 6am, Jesus came to the disciples, walking on water. He came to them not only as Son of Man but as Son of God - in power and in the supernatural to save them. They’d been struggling for many hours, but they hadn’t turned back, and the Lord was coming to calm the sea and bring them to their destination.
“Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. And when they saw Him walking on the sea they were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭6‬:‭48‬-‭52‬ ‭

Jesus is bringing help your way. If by any chance you have turned back because of lack of faith, He is merciful and will help you to resume your journey. Romans 8:1 promises that there is no condemnation for us that are in Christ Jesus. Get your faith back on. Speak God’s language and know that no matter the storm, if God has given you a Word, you will make it to the other side.
Mark’s Gospel also reveals that Jesus would have passed them by. Why would He pass them if they’re the reason He was there?

Do you know that God has promised to never leave you and is therefore right there with you every single moment of your life? In fact, as long as you are born again you are in Christ and Christ is in you (Colossians 1:27, 1 John 4:13). Yet the grace of God is received only by faith. Moses wasn’t living in the desert because he had run away from God; he was enduring, expecting God any moment (Hebrews 11:27). If he hadn’t been expecting God those 40y he might have missed the opportunity when he saw a burning bush. The Bible says that God only spoke to Moses ‘when he turned’ - when Moses refused to assume that this was just another desert bush on fire. “Then Moses said, ‘I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.’�So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’” Exodus 3:3-4

Be alert and expect to see God performing His Word in your life.

The Gospel according to John gives us a very interesting feature that none of the others mention. It helps us to understand why Jesus sent His disciples away by boat without Him. We might think it was only because Jesus wanted to be alone with His Father - because He went to pray after sending the disciples away. John points out that Jesus perceived that the crowd - having just been fed supernaturally and had their sick healed - were now about to make Him king by force. This was a crowd of five thousand men. Jesus’ disciples were only 12 men, and He knew they didn’t yet have the boldness they’d later have when Holy Spirit would fill them. He knew also that they’d disown Him when the time came for His crucifixion. It was necessary and for their safety that He sent them away even against their own wishes - as we have seen in Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts. Everything that had been written about Christ had to happen according to the Word of prophecy that God had given to men in the Old Testament; and there was never a mention of a crowd crowning Christ in any of the prophecies about the Messiah. Also important for us to know - Jesus had to protect His own.
“Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world. Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.” ‭‭John‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬-‭21‬

Church, there is a reason why God allows you to step into that boat, even though there’s a mighty storm on the way. Although we cannot know what would have happened had the disciples not gotten into the boat and left, we do know that Jesus was faithfully watching over them and preserving them during His earthly ministry. As Jesus prayed later on toward the end of His ministry on earth, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." John 17:12. In the next chapter when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus He said to them to let His disciples go that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, ‘Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none’ John 18:8-9. This was in fulfillment of His Words in the previous chapter and His Words in John 6:39 ‘This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.’

God has given you a Word - ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the world’ and whatever He tells you to do in your life, you can be sure that you are not alone in it. He will guide you, provide for you, lift you, give you strength, comfort you, until He gets you to the other side.

WUK equips people with the Word of God, for them to accomplish the will of God in their lives.

04/07/2026

God bless the United States of America as they celebrate their 250th year as an independent nation. 🇺🇸

17/05/2026

O V E R C O M I N G O F F E N S E

I remember times when I’d feel very awkward if someone offended me, particularly if that someone was a Christian person. I didn’t know how to deal with the offense or with the person. And it happened that none of the Christians around me knew how to deal with offense either. It was easier to sweep matters under the rug, and pretend that there had been no offense done. Because we had a superficial knowledge on God’s kind of love, we didn’t love enough to rebuke those who offended us. And because they were not corrected they were likely to have gone on to offend others.

Jesus said to His disciples: “it is impossible that no offenses should come..” Luke 17:1

Offense will come our way, even daily. How we deal with that offense is what’s important. But first let’s unpack what offense is.

Offense can be as insignificant as a colleague forgetting your name and remembering everyone else’s at a team’s meeting, to as great as a spouse spending the family’s savings to fund his gambling. In between are countless other offenses. Jesus referred to offenses as stumbling blocks. Stumbling blocks do not themselves cause us to stumble. Think of a few blocks laying on a path one after the other. Unless they’re jumping up and down as you try to walk over them, they won’t harm you. If you look down the path as you walk, and slow down once you see them, you’ll easily be able to step over them and keep walking. But many Christians aren’t paying attention. They either stop altogether and can’t see how to go around the stumbling blocks or they crush into them.

Offense becomes stumbling blocks to us when our minds are not set on God. At a time when David was forced to live aa a fugitive because king Saul sought to kill him, he declared “my heart is set [fixed], O Lord, my heart is set!” (Psalm 57:7). He had set his mind to praise God and not to harm God’s anointed, even when opportunity came and he could easily have wiped out king Saul. Paul said in Colossians 3:2 “set your minds on things above, not on earthly things”. The things above are those things that God has prepared for us - beyond our present sufferings. Hebrews 12 says that Jesus overcame the cross because He placed His focus on the joy that was set before Him.

We always have a choice what to do when offended. Do we forgive, get bitter or fall into sin?

It is a grievous thing for the person that causes others to stumble- Jesus said “it would be better for him if a milestone was hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than he should offend one of these little ones.” Luke 17:2. Anyone that causes others to fall into sin, or deliberately stands in the way of others knowing the Truth of God commits a great sin.

At the same time, Jesus said we too, that encounter an offense, have a responsibility in this matter.

First He says “take heed to yourself” Luke 17:3. To take heed is to pay careful attention “to ourselves”. Instead of walking with our eyes roaming up the skies, be watchful of the path on which you walk. This means to pay attention to our thoughts, to what we see and what we listen to, and the company we keep. To be mindful of our spiritual and moral condition.

Secondly Jesus adds that if our brother sins against us we should rebuke him; and if he repents, we should forgive him. We have a duty toward those who wrong us- to rebuke them. Then He tells us how frequently we need to forgive those who offend us: as often as he comes and repents. Even if it would be seven times a day (verse 4).

When the apostles heard this, they couldn’t understand it. In reality a person in their right mind wouldn’t continue doing wrong that many times, unless their heart was hardened. In that case they wouldn’t return to you to ask for forgiveness. But, if they were in their right mind and they did mess up that much yet returned to apologise to you, would you have the grace to forgive them?

The apostles searched within themselves, and how they’d customarily dealt with offenders. They felt that they didn’t have it in themselves to forgive that many times. So they said to the Lord, “increase our faith.”

As I studied these scriptures, I realised that many times we rely on how things are done “customarily” around our circles. We may forgive a few times, but because by the second or third time we’ve informed our inner circle of friends and they’re all expressing their opinions, we lean more on pleasing them than forgiving the spouse/colleague/neighbour.

How did your family deal with offense, as you grew up? Some of us heard our elders talking about offensive relatives who’d caused such grief that left unhealing wounds on other relatives. They’d done a damage so big that forgiveness wasn’t even an option. How are you dealing with offenses that occur frequently from your family members?

Jesus said to the disciples, “if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you..” verse 6.

The faith you have is enough for you to forgive your spouse/child/neighbour as often as they do you wrong.

Your faith has immense potential to change circumstances. Think of a mulberry tree or an apple tree that you come across and suddenly feel a holy inkling to command to be uprooted and planted in the nearby sea. And it is done. What would that do to you? You might throw your hands up in the air with your mouth open, look around you fiercely to grab the attention of every passerby and shout ‘did you see that?!’ And as they run towards you, you take ownership of that hole from where the tree was uprooted, guiding all their eyes to that mulberry tree that’s now planted in the sea.

But more importantly, inside of you you’d build a memorial stone right there - and maybe physically too - and from that day on you will never EVER forget what God did when you put your faith in Him.

Living by faith is the life God want you to experience!

God takes forgiving seriously, and He knows that in the natural it is impossible to forgive those who offend and hurt us frequently. But the faith He gave us is not natural - we are capable of forgiving everyone that offends us, and as many times as they offend us.

In you is faith that can move mountains; Faith that can believe for a broken relationship to mend and that can bring healing to all those that have been hurt by that broken relationship.

I would have liked to end this post right here, because the point has gone across, but it wouldn’t be complete without going through the rest of Jesus’ teaching in that section of Luke 17.

Having told the apostles what their faith, even as small as a mustard seed, had potential to achieve, Jesus continued: ‘And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ”(Luke 17:7-10)

It is our duty as children of God, to forgive those who offend us. The Bible says in Psalms 119:165 “great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” We overcome offense by forgiving the offender. It is what we must do as believers in Jesus Christ.

I know there are offenses that are heavier and deeper than others. There are those that take years to heal. God knows that. He’s bottled every one of your tears over those hurts (Psalms 56:8). He knows the only way forward for you is to forgive whoever offended you, and allow God to avenge you.

In the beginning of the following chapter (Luke 18), Jesus begins by saying that we must always pray and not lose heart. Then He goes on to tell a parable about a widow who kept going to the judge for justice against an adversary. Jesus says that although the judge did not fear God nor regard men, he said to himself that he would avenge the widow lest she wear him out by her continual ask for justice. He completes this by saying ‘Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:6-8).

If all you have is a tiny amount of faith, trust God and act on it. God will avenge you. My prayer for you is that you would learn to fully trust God’s ability to act on your behalf and His willingness to help you. I pray that when Christ comes back He will find you and I living out our unshakable faith in God.