1 August, Sunday — Believing in God overrides obstacles

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Exo 16:2-4,12-15
Eph 4:17,20-24
Jn 6:24-35

Then they said to him, “What must we do if we are able to do the works that God wants? Jesus gave them this answer, “This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.”

Miracles are seen in all works of God to the extent they are now considered ordinary, natural and part of existence. And yet today, people are still very busy looking for miracles. But life itself is a miracle of God — He made it available to us and to animals, birds and even to the fish in the sea; and He provides life in the growth of plants. In all, God has provided every creature means of living and survival. Nothing in all these can be explained by man — every second of existence is known and owned by God. There is no doubt that knowing and believing in God comes from spirit-driven consented actions and acting God is total impossibility. But we can do the works of God; they are works that conform to His order and dictation, and the propelling fulcrum is — believe in Him who God has sent, His only begotten son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Believing in Our Lord Jesus Christ has indicative power exercised by the Church through her teachings and the engagement of trust bestowed on her priests.

In 2010, in the heart of a city in the capital of a state in Northwest Nigeria, the Church, through her faithful members, acquired a piece of land for the building of a church. Temporary arrangements were made to erect make-shift platforms and shelters for use as worship ground, pending the commencement of the building. Two weeks into this setup, a detachment of officials from the state government overseeing town planning came to destroy the make-shift structures and threatened worshippers to desist from praying there. Getting through this became a herculean issue; it’s like breaking the bond of rule to have a Christian place of worship in that locality. And yet the faithful were relentless, believing that God was with them. And in 2011, the Church in Nigeria installed a Local Ordinary to oversee the Diocese that included Churches in that state of concern. The Bishop, learning of the difficulty imposed on the faithful in not having a place of worship, tasked them to continue with the unbroken faith and belief in Our Lord Jesus Christ, and in less than six months of his installation, he secured the permission to erect the Church that stands today as evidence of confidence, belief and trust in God. “This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent”, because believing in Him overrides obstacles.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Julius Otusorochukwu Dike, KSJI, JP)

Prayer: Lord, please help us to see the good in believing in you and trusting in Our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in you to overcome obstacles and challenges, help us to continue to wade through obstacles to your glory. Amen.

Thanksgiving: Dear Lord, we thank you for helping us to overcome challenges and obstacles as we spend our time worshipping you all our life. We thank you, Our Lord. Amen.