The Language of Faith
I had never done this before but it was the job I was assigned to do. Hey, it was a nice sunny day and I would have the opportunity to meet lots of unknown people and get to speak with them for a few seconds… maybe 60 seconds if they gave me an audience. I was to promote a draw at one of the stores of the company I was working for. This can’t be too bad, since it was a free draw and I wasn’t selling anything per say. Well, the venue was in front of the mall and was excited to see a high traffic in this area. If you know me, when I am to make a speech or presentation, my phonetics really comes out, and in the past, many would say they can hear a bit of the British accent (which worked well to my advantage...lol). I began speaking to random people that passed where I was located and I recall this particular family that stopped by. The dad asked me where I was from and I said I was originally from Nigeria and he said, “It seems you have a different accent”. I laughed and gave him my usual response when people made such comments. I said I had been to the UK several times and sometimes, the accent "rubbed off on me’’. He seemed relieved knowing he was right when he noticed a different accent. I was excited because this “accent” of mine had made his whole family stop to talk to me and I was able to tell them in detail why I was standing in front of the mall and get the whole family to partake in the draw.
With this job, the words flew out of my mouth faster than the time to actually notice whom I was speaking to. As I quickly turned to the next moving person with my “British accent”, I realized they were friends of my friend I had previously met. They didn’t seem too interested in it and before I knew it or could think of what to do, my “British accent” automatically switched to the “Nigerian accent” in an attempt to relate with them as people from the same country. In amazement, it WORKED! They decided to enter into the draw, yay!!!
As I reflected on the success of the day, I laughed at how my brain had automatically switched to a different accent in order to appeal to the Nigerians I met. As I kept thinking about that incident, the Holy Spirit began to teach me about “The Language of Faith”. He made me realize that as my accent changed based on the people I met, that is also the same way many Christians change their language of faith based on the people or circumstances that they might be surrounded with. We as Christians are not to allow people or our circumstances dictate what our language of faith should be. Our language of faith is meant to remain the same and not waver, whether the situations change or not. Sometimes when you believe what God has told you and are surrounded by people that may have a different perspective, you might give in and accept that language of unbelief. If you succumb to this, you will have changed your language from faith to one of unbelief or doubt. The same may apply with the present situation you may be experiencing. Stop and ask yourself the question "what does God say about this situation?". It might be completely different from the current situation but whose report would you believe, God’s or the current situation?
Romans 4:20 (New Living Translation) says, “Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.”
By Pastor Ibukun Adewusi