Now when He had ended all His sayings...a certain centurions servant, ... dear unto him, was sick, ready to die... when he heard of Jesus, he sent... beseeching Him [to] come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him... saying, that he was worthy for whom he should do this: for he loveth our nation, and... built us synagogue. Then Jesus went with them... when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent...saying... Lord, trouble not thyself... I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof... but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard... He marvelled..., turned... and said unto the people... I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel... [Luke 7:1-10]

"...when he had ended all his sayings…"

There is something deep in the heart of The Lord that He does not share with just anybody. Only those who are hungry, are able to pick out what it is that Jesus has left unrevealed. This is one of the criteria that Jesus uses to check our level of affection, longing or desire.

If you have become choked with the little you received, then He holds on to the rest. But if you are hungry for more, He releases more BASED on the quantity of your hunger. He will not give you more than your stomach can contain. He knows that if He does that, you will vomit out even the one you could naturally retain, and whatever is vomited already, is useless and wasted. It can never be swallowed again.

"...they besought him saying he was worthy for whom [Jesus] should [help]: for he loveth our nation and built us synagogue."

A Centurion of great authority, unto who even the elders of the Jews submitted had a big challenge, which his position and money could not solve. He had a beloved servant who was dying. On this, they besought Jesus, and He was easily accessible. They did not have to wait for so long, fill some paper or book appointment before they could see Him. As He was readily available unto those who sought Him back then, so is He also at the reach of everyone who would call on Him today.

"...he loveth our nation, [he] built us a synagogue."

Imagine these religious elders, who ought to know how to walk with God, but are far from it. They are the ones presenting before Jesus, different self-righteous works the Centurion did, as if he had done enough to buy Gods mercies. They see Gods miracles as the payment/wages for doing certain spiritual or religious works. But if Gods mercies were for sale, the richest of earth could never afford it.

So many people today, like these elders, think that Jesus only answers prayers based on the fact that seekers have fulfilled certain demands or criteria. They think that answers to prayers must be earned, so you must have paid some price to merit Gods grace. Just as man behaves in his tit-for-tat actions, they feel that Jesus too will be indebted to them because they have engaged themselves in some religious duties. They assume that Jesus answers prayers by using a ranking system, i.e. the one who has done more is the one that will first be answered.

Has not it become a customary message today that God only blesses because we first paid our tithes and offerings? It is insisted on pulpits that the more money you give, the more God is indebted to you. But looking at the great things Jesus did, and His abundant blessings how He raised the dead, gave miracles of provisions, healed the sick, gave salvation unto men, gave spiritual, financial resources and material blessings, none of His goodness was ever tied to tithing and offerings, neither did He demand it as prerequisites.

Many base their receiving answers on how much they have given to God. The reason why they give at all is because they want to receive more from God. They use God to do business. They do calculation with Him. They never give just because they love God with no strings attached. When you hear "sow a seed", it is NOT because God is worthy of our ALL, that men are sowing so called “seeds” today, it is because they are businessmen who believe that every seed must bring forth bountiful harvests. So, thinking that money grows in Gods vineyard, they go ahead to do business with God.

Many people fast because they believe it is a spiritual exercise which will make Jesus to quickly answer them. They feel that Jesus will see their suffering and abstinence and pity them in their situation very quickly.

These Jewish elders are already stating self-righteous criteria why Jesus must answer their prayers. They are not coming based on grace, they are coming based on works. They feel Jesus will be indebted to them based on what they had done by human energy. They forget that even all the riches the Centurion used to build synagogue were given him by God, so there was no ground for presenting any criteria.

"...Jesus went with them…"

Wonderful Jesus! Even though these people came to Him with wrong criteria, and were not coming to receive from God based on grace, but rather, on works, yet Jesus did not push them away. Jesus did not say “give honour to whom honour is due first before I can answer you”. Jesus was not proud. Even though these men were going to arrogate whatever Jesus was eventually going to do to the fact that it was because the centurion had paid some price, yet Jesus was still willing to bless.

Many times, it is the benevolence of Jesus that grants us answers, yet we think that it was our works we used to buy it off Him. When God answers our prayers after we fasted and prayed, we arrogated Gods blessings to our fasting as if it was by fasting that heaven became opened, yet, it was by Gods grace and mercies.

If God suddenly blessed us abundantly after we paid tithes, we misjudge, thinking God operates with a formula, and the formula is the popular: “give, it shall be given unto you”. So we have made God to become a man in need, who is only triggered by your meagre gift!!! O yes, God gives if you give to Him, but Gods gifts are never tied to your giving, they are tied to His mercies and love. You gave Him nothing to create you in His image. A harlot and sinner who gives bountifully to God is not even accepted by God in the first place, he is an outcast, his bountiful gift is considered as bountiful garbage before God.

"...Lord, trouble not Thyself: for I am not worthy..."

Here was a man whom though others praised and exalted by virtue of his position and possession, yet, he would not exalt himself. He never allowed what others saw of him to cloud his eyes. There are men who relate based on what they have. Their possession and position determines how they relate with others. They are big because their pockets are big. If anyone takes them for granted a little bit, they are quick to defend themselves and say, "do you know who I am?".

The religious Jews were quick to praise the works of a carnal man even before Jesus, yet, the supposed carnal man, who is far from the mainstream of Israel (and church), was more righteous than they were. It is surprising that even the harlots today, are more righteous than those who profess Jesus. Hypocrisies and the love of money have swindled many clergy away from seeing properly.

"I am not worthy..."
Do you count yourself worthy of the least of Gods mercies? The reason why you have become unteachable and recalcitrant, is it not because you are beginning to think you are somebody, even before God? Are you beginning to live haphazardly because Jesus has given you a little revelation of His word? Why is your public life different from your secret life? Is your possession (even of spiritual gifts) beginning to get into your head and you no longer fear God? Do you even count it a great privilege that Jesus should come under your roof? Where is Gods respect?

"...say in a word, and my servant shall be healed."

There is something very instructive here. The centurion said: “I am not worthy to have Jesus as a personality under my roof. I know that I need healing for my servant, but, Jesus does not need to come personally. That would be too much…” He now said: there is a perfect replacement for those gestures that I am not worthy of. What was this? "say in a word, and my servant shall be healed".

Whoa! I thought this man needed healing? O yes, he did. But whatever Jesus was coming personally to do, His word would do exactly that. There is no difference between Jesus and His word, exactly what He would do is what His words will do. The word is not inferior to His person. Even if He came physically, it would still be His words that would work, since it is His words that carry life, transformation and healing. If the ACTUAL WORKER then was His word, He could as well send that word from anywhere.

"...authority..."

Here is a great comparison that the Bible is revealing here: “A Centurion with great authority over his soldiers" is likened to "Jesus with great authority over His words".

The word of God is actually a soldier, girded 24/7 for battle. The word of God is the reflection and the release of His authority. It is the word that shows how powerful God is. The word is what reveals God. Imagine a man who says he is a Centurion but he has untrained civilians and indulgent, spoilt, unskilled toddlers as his soldiers. Could that man be greatly regarded at all? Never! The authority and power of the Centurion is actually gauged & determined by the strength of his soldiers. It is to the extent his soldiers are powerful, that he is powerful.

Think about the President of a nation, he may physically be lanky, without having fought any battle. But because he has very powerful, trained soldiers in his army, the President is termed “Powerful”. The caliber of your servants/soldiers is what reveals the weight of your authority.

By comparison therefore, God is so great and powerful because His word is powerful. That God can change and transform and save, sanctify, polish and renew a man is because His word does exactly that. We can easily say then that God is who He is, because His word (His soldiers) made Him. If Gods words were weak and ineffective, then God would be powerless. God never fails because actually, His words are true. The height, to which Jesus is powerful, is the very height to which His word is powerful. If Jesus did anything, it was because His word did it. No wonder the Bible reveals that God Himself has magnified all His word above His name. This does not exalt the word above the personality of God, nor does it reduce God from being God, it only shows that the actual revelation of Gods WORD unto any man is EXACTLY the revelation of GOD HIMSELF unto that man.

The word of God revealed is what shows us God Himself. The centurion understood that Jesus did not need to come physically since His messengers will carry out exactly what He would do. The strength, power and authority of a centurion are seen in the competence of the soldiers he has. No centurion is more potent than his soldiers. In order words, God is God because His words made Him so.

THE CONFLICT

Many people say, "Oh God, I want to see You, I want to know You, show me Your glory, reveal Yourself to me…", but they are so slow and sluggish with the word of God. They are so uninterested in searching Scriptures to receive the word in its freshness and fullness. The truth is that “you cannot know God more than you know His word, because it is the word that actually reveals Him.”

The Word Revealed:

i. A man under authority... The word is Gods true messenger. It is Gods only messenger, capable of achieving everything you have ever seen God do. Any man of God who lacks Gods word cannot reveal God. All you will get from such a man, are gimmicks and useless things that will occupy your heart and establish you in this world.
ii. The word is the Soldier. Gods word is always battle ready. It is not a civilian or a weakling. It is not inactive, impotent or dull, it is always awake, alive and alert, and fully kitted. A soldier listens to the last command and goes forth in execution without thinking twice.
iii. "I say...go, it goeth…” The word always goes for God. Wherever God will go, it is His word that actually went on His behalf. The word never fails. It then means that Gods word has ears to hear, eyes to see, hands to execute, legs to go. He understands faultlessly.
iv. "Come..., he cometh…”
v. "Do this, he doeth it. That means the word is God in action.

• If I want to know God so much, I will know His Word that much. NO MAN KNOWS GOD MORE THAN HE KNOWS HIS WORD…
• If I want to love God so deeply, I will love His word to that extent.
• If I want to serve God, it is His word I will obey richly.
• The time I spend in Gods word, is EXACTLY the relationship I have with Him. Relationship with God, is not the ecstasy or fun of congregational shouts, it is a communion with Him, IN HIS WORD. His word is the life without which there is NO spiritual life. His Word is the food without which I will die. His Word is the power. Power with God is not just an arbitrary issue of shouting and flexing muscles, it is how much of the word has become flesh in me through much meditation. THE TREASURE IS IN EARTHEN VESSELS.

"...Lord, trouble not Thyself..."

It is an unnecessary trouble when men are so eager for Jesus to manifest Himself physically, but they have no passion to search Him in His word.

Someone says “I want Jesus Himself to appear to me before I can believe”, Such is an unnecessary trouble and request that God may never grant since you can experience the same Jesus in His fullness just by staying close to His word. Those who deeply know God in an intimate sense are not those people you see in our days, who say they have revelations or one thing or the other from heaven. Many of those things never translate to life even if they actually occurred. They can affect your eyes so much and maybe put fear in you, but their effect on the heart never last, it fades away quickly within weeks or months. But deep men who are walking with God, and who KNOW Him, are those who have eaten His word, and the word has become life and flesh unto them. You can easily see God in them, and read the Bible by mere watching them.

Do you realize that an Engineer is made by some words? The Doctor was made by some words? They were taught in schools via speaking some words. A pastor made men not by beating, but by the word. The President leads by the word. Even God made all things by the word, and the Bible says it was Jesus who made all things. This means that Jesus is the Living Word. Know the Word therefore, and you will know Jesus.

Some men want to see a glimpse of glory with their physical eyes, and they pray about it every day. As beautiful as it sounds, it is an unnecessary troubling of the Master. The reason is because THE SAME GLORY is right at your fingertips, in the pages of Scriptures you carry about every day. The Bible has not become THE LIVING WORD OF GOD to us, that is why we think there is something else greater that God can give us more than is bound up in Scriptures.

Hebrews 6 speaks of those who have tasted the good word of God. Their inner eyes have been opened, they have beheld God beyond the ordinary letters of the Bible. The treasures within have broken up. The same glory you sought to see with your eyes, was what they saw in the Bible. It suffused their hearts, and it can never fade away from them.

Whenever the word of God comes to me, I must see it as God Himself. To discredit and wrest the word is to discredit God. I must see the Word as Gods messenger sent for a specific assignment, whose goal is to achieve. If I abandon the word to pursue other things, it is an indication of my disregard for God.If I regard my earthly President, I will abandon every issue and obey his messenger. If the President announces a curfew, no matter how much I love my market, once it is close to the curfew deadline, I will close the shop regardless of how much projection of sales I have in sight or the crowd of customers thronging my shop for purchases. Obedience to his word carries more weight than my business or desires. If government through announcement discontinues your type of business, no matter how much you will lose, many may be affected by the policies, but, because it is the word of the president, you will simply obey it.

Why do you refuse Gods word? Maybe you do not know yet, that His word is Himself, and what you do to His word, is exactly what you do to Him.

"...so great faith..."

See the response of Jesus! "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel" “I have not seen GREAT faith demonstrated in Israel like this sort”

What is great faith? Lots of people preach about faith. They even concentrate their entire teachings on the subject of faith. But if they will be humble enough to ask Jesus how to get to the pinnacle of faith, Jesus would simply have told them, "Trust in My word, take it hook, line and sinker. Read it, meditate on it, eat it and take it AS ME. Let it be your final authority. Submit to it. Whatever contradicts it in your life must be jettisoned immediately, no matter how it hurts..." The faith that TRUSTS GODS WORD ONLY, is the greatest of faith.

“Taken aback, Jesus addressed the accompanying crowd: “I have yet to come across this kind of SIMPLE TRUST anywhere in Israel.”[Luke 7:9 MSG]

The Message Bible puts as “Simple Trust“ what the KJV puts as “Great Faith”. The greatest of all faith is just SIMPLE TRUST.

"...Jesus...marvelled..."

Think about this! What is that issue that gets even Jesus to marvel? It is When I take His words as priceless. No matter what new revelations men are talking about and propagating, even an angel from heaven may come down and proclaim it, once it is not congruent with the revealed word of God, even if it deviates or destroys the word of God by only 1%, you will reject, jettison and discard it.

God Himself respects those who never joke with His word. He knows that those are the men that deeply love Him. It is not miracle-working, great utterances and flamboyant ministry that shows a great man of God. It is men who have become epitomes of Gods word by their lives.

" [Jesus] turned… said to the people..."

There are men that Jesus Christ Himself will testify about their lives, men whom Jesus can boast about like Job. Men He knows will never disappoint Him. Men of great faith. Men about whom God can say without cringing or fearing: "This is my beloved son, in whom I Am well pleased". These are men of the word.

Friend, what weight does the word of God carry in your heart? You read Bible haphazardly, you have no true understanding of what the word of God is. You always have genuine excuses why you must postpone your Quiet Time in the Word. The Word (or rather God) carries little weight in your heart...

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE WORD.

"returning...found the servant whole"

The word of God always manifests Himself immediately. It is active. It does not go through several processes before it can obtain results. The word is not like drugs you need to take for 7 days before it will work effectively. It has a creative power, it NEVER fails. God does not have to wait for it before it will return with feedback. It is not hindered by time, space, distance or delayed approval. THE WORD IS GOD HIMSELF.

SELAH…