ARE YOU STILL IN THE FAITH?

Dearly Beloved, ARE YOU STILL IN THE FAITH? “And [Delilah] said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ So [Samson] awoke from his sleep, and said, ‘I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!’ But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes..." (Judges 16:20-21a NKJV). As my wife switched off the electric fan in our bedroom, I noticed as the fan continued to rotate at a slower speed till it came to standstill after about two minutes. The spiritual life of many Christians is like that electric fan that is just being switched off or disconnected from its power source. Many Christians that used to be fervent in the Spirit and in the things of God like prayer, reading and meditating on the words of God, worshipping God, fellowshipping with other believers, evangelizing the world about Jesus Christ, and the likes find themselves dwindling in such spiritual things. They may think that they are still in the Lord and fervent in the things of God, but the reserve is the case. The main causes of this degeneration mostly are sin and carelessness. No wonder, Apostle Paul admonished, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall [into sin]” (1 Corinthians 10:12 NKJV). The life of Samson is a good example here. Samson was a mighty man who did great exploits for the Lord by delivering the Israelites from the Philistines (see Judges 14-16). There is even a record that “…he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat..." (Judges 14:6 NKJV). However, he dabbled into sin and carelessness by unequally associating himself with a Philistine woman - Delilah, and he paid dearly for it. He thought he was still in the Lord and as powerful as before. Nonetheless, the enemies came and conquered him (see Judges 16). As Apostle Paul again admonished, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5 NKJV), are you still in the faith? Are you as fervent in the Lord as when you first believed? Is the Lord still with you, or rather, are you still with the Lord? Take heed, lest you become a disconnected fan! In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor). Prayer Point: Pray that you will always examine yourself to make sure you are still in the faith.