Acts 4:11-12, 1 Cor 3:10-15
In most African natives, elders held the community together for they were the custodians of the norms and the rules that bond the same cultures together. Although this has slightly changed, there are communities which have very strong elder’s council. They make things work for the communities and tightly knit together.
In Christianity, the Bible is the word of God and has everything that is required of us as people of God and gives direction on how things should be done. It is the compass for every believer.
The word of God should at all times dictate how we live and relate with each other and as well form the basis of our faith.
The foundation of any strong building dictates how big the house can be and how long it can last.
The strength of any culture and character depends on the foundation of the same and how it was passed down to the subjects.
As believers of the Gospel, our faith should be informed by the word of God. What we hear, what we see and learn repeatedly informs how we relate and live. The Bible says how can they believe what they have not heard. We should choose to listen to the word of God and obey God’s word. The Bible says, obedience is better than sacrifice.
We are called to listen to the word and lead a practical life. That is living as the word says despite many oppositions all over. We are not to compromise our faith in spite of any opposition. The world is always against God but even if we are in the world we don’t belong to the same world if we live a faithful life.
It is said that African Christians have a very long faith and belief of God but only an inch deep. What this means is that, most of such like faith is swept away by small or very little opposition. In Kenya for example, and during the electioneering year, we are normally so divided along political inclinations that we don’t listen to what God is saying if at all He says anything to us. When the results go against us, many question whether indeed God hears our prayers.
To be grounded in faith, we need;
- To be good listeners. We should always listen to what God is saying about the situation that we find ourselves in. Romans 10:17
- We should read the word of God so as to know what God is saying. You read the newspapers; you will hardly hear God speaking to you. You spend most of you time in social platforms, you will only read or hear things that will erode your faith and choke it up. Ps 119:11.
- We should grow in the knowledge of God. This is only possible when know the statues of God. We should saturate our lives with knowledge of God. 2 Peter 3:18.
- We should only fix our attention on Jesus and only trust in Him. He is the author of this faith and he has all that we need to be well established in faith. Heb 12:1-2
- We can only grow in the knowledge and trust Him more when we learn the art of prayer. Its only through prayers that we commune with God and thus have time to express our desires to Him and because God answers prayers, then our issues are sorted by our faithful and gracious God. Ps 127:1
- Finally, to have a good foundation of faith, we need to learn the art of praising and worshipping God. Ps 103:1-5 When we are praising Him, we will invoke him to do more things to us as Christians.