COLLECT YOUR ‘CHANGE’

“For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off” – Prov 23:18

Anyone who says he has faith must have an expectation; faith has substance and though it is not something that we touch, yet faith makes the invisible things visible, faith at work, produces!

‘Change’ in the Nigerian parlance primarily deals with the balance one collects after making payment with higher denominations. Therefore, it is in the light of this context that I bring this message to you.
By the leading of the Holy Spirit, I have decided to draw a correlation between the Lagos bus conductor and you, who may have at different times, paid the conductor and you expect your ‘change’. You don’t beg for your change, it’s something you expect and all things being equal, you will leave with what is rightfully yours. Even when the conductor seem not to have change, once you have boarded the bus; you’re to a large extent sure that he will find the change for you. That’s his duty and yes, you must collect it.

It’s funny how we will liken different instances of our daily life, to learn one subject that is crucial for everybody. God has in store everything that pertains to life and godliness – in fact, He has given you everything that pertains to life and godliness; the same faith you express to collect that which is rightfully yours, is the same way you should express in obtaining that which the Lord has given you.

God is not a bus conductor – there are no bases for comparisons at all! We take a look at this everyday event just to glean wisdom and understand that your faith should deliver. Your prayers and the Word in you is like the payment you made to the conductor, you waiting and being focused for your change, is the same way you should be expectant after you have prayed by the Word. You don’t have to be rude – God is not unjust! Even if you forget as long as you have invested your prayers and professed the Word, then be sure God is committed to remember you.

Do you know that God does not even give us what is lower, He doesn’t just give us mere change; He gives us beyond what we ask or think. Please read through and learn in all humility and I pray your faith begins to deliver.

HE CHANGES YOUR NAME
“No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.” – Gen 17:5

“Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name’” – Gen 17:15

I know by now you know that when you are expecting your change from the conductor, all he needs to do is call you by the exact change he owes you; and all your attention is drawn to receive. Suddenly your name changes to ‘500’ or ‘400’ – it depends on the type of conductor; he may choose to call you by what you gave him or he may choose to call you by what you are expecting – but you know very well, that once the conductor calls you ‘400’; you don’t argue that that’s not your name – you receive it with all satisfaction because at that time your money is what is important to you. Your name may be Tobi but as long as you have change to collect from the bus conductor – you will answer your change.

How I wish believers would understand the benefit of speaking by faith and not burdened with their issues; accept what God calls you and not what situations have called you. You’re in God’s vehicle and even though you entered a failure or barren, or maybe you expected an exchange of situations; know that once you have submitted your petitions; you have to accept his verdict and the change of name He gives to you.

“So He said to him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Jacob.’ And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.’” – Gen 32:27-28

God intends to change your name; He has changed your name since the day you came and surrendered your life to Him; even the day you came crying and you were desperate for a change; the Lord Himself had changed your status – no more will you be called barren, no more are you a sinner; you’re the righteousness of God in Christ. He has given you a new name; the issues that seem present will disappear when you embrace the new name the Lord has given you.

Jacob did not just prevail with God but with men; I know men may not know that your name has changed; but really, it is what you want to be called that men accept to call you. You have to start putting a disclaimer in the minds of men who take delight in calling you based on your negative situation. You now have a new name and you should start answering your name.

“You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land anymore be termed Desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah and your land Beulah. For the LORD delights in you, and you shall be married” – Isaiah 62:4

WILL HE WITHHOLD FROM YOU?
“For the LORD GOD is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” – Psalm 84:11

This is the time when most commuters get angry with the bus conductor; nothing is more annoying than seeing the change in his hand yet the conductor is refusing to hand it over. Sometimes, maybe because he owes many people; he may refuse to hand it over just like that – he may choose to wait and see who alights first before using his discretion to hand it over; it still doesn’t stop you from being angry. Some also just wait so they can ‘tie’ you with another person who they owe change.

When you do a spiritual transaction with God in form of need or request, be rest assured that what you can see by faith is as good as being delivered into your hands. It doesn’t have to be on first come, first serve basis; if it be so, then grace has become works. But the Lord answers to your faith and not necessarily on your works. So, the matter would be about what can you see; are you afraid that God does not just want to meet your needs – it’s not so my brother, it is not like that my sister. God in more desirous to meet your needs than you.

Your needs are not the same with the other person; God will not ‘tie’ you together with someone who may not even be going your way; God whom I have served in my not too long life, will not bless you with a burden of another – the scripture clearly states in Proverbs chapter 10:22, the blessings of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow.
God actually wants you to see, unlike the conductor who hoards change; God wants you to see; because it is in your seeing that you are close to the miracle. If you are already seeing, then rejoice because it is yours; it is when you cannot see, that you should keep praying.

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” – Rom 8:32

God has already given you the most priced of His asset, Jesus Christ; all other things that you need or would need are freely given. You didn’t even pay for the salvation; it was freely given; what is ‘fruit of the womb’ to God? The character of God is also a major thing to consider when you come to Him, He is not like the conductor who is cunning; has He promised you that you’d receive? Then you can as well be relaxed – because His promises are as good as delivered. He is too faithful to fail.

The emphasis here is to be able to see with the eyes of faith and not the natural eye; we walk by faith and not by sight – you are to be strong in the faith concerning the things that you see. I know several people who have had a promise from God, yet their heart is already failing; you know very well the promises of God concerning your life; why have you allowed the reality of the earth shake you? God who promised was not considering the human reality before He promised Abraham and Sarah; it doesn’t work like that.
Do you have a fibroid that is increasing? And it looks like you have passed your bus-stop? Just keep seeing what He hold is store for you.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” – Heb 10:23

Don’t stop confessing it, don’t stop believing it – the Lord has called you blessed. The Lord has made you His own; He is too faithful to fail. Even if you forget about the promise, the Lord will remember you according to the time of life.

ENTER WITH YOUR CHANGE
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” – Heb 11:6

This is not a contradiction to other points that have been made; this ‘change’ is about the confidence you have that the driver knows how to drive and that, you will reach your destination – what’s the use in collecting your change from conductor but end up at the wrong place? What’s the sense in getting all you need only not to be able to get to your destination; maybe because of an accident. It’s not all drivers who know how to drive – even when you have the correct denomination in your hands, yet you always want to be assured that you’ll get to your destination in good time and in good health.

Do you have confidence in God’s ability? – that’s your change. Don’t come to God for a miracle as if it was a drug trial. You can’t come and expect and at the same time doubt as if God is subject to human speculations. God is NOT an option among many possible solutions; He is the option and the only one at that. Your faith is the only thing required when you come on board with the Lord. If you cannot be asking every Lagos driver when he got his driver’s license and where the driver’s license is – why then do you doubt God’s ability?

It is not just about those who seek him – it is about the diligence you attach to seeking Him. Your diligence is an indicator that you have faith in His ability. Don’t be with Him and yet be scouting for other solutions; rest your hope in Him because therein lies your hope and your solution. Your diligence will make you obey, your diligence will keep you praying, your diligence will produce thanksgiving – these are the indicators that you have faith in Him who has called you.

“But He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ and they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, ‘who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!’” – Luke 8:25

I may not know if you have the required ‘change’ now; but the truth is that circumstances will reveal if you entered with your change or not; at the point of fear and the point of distress – the true nature of your expectation will be revealed, whether you entered with faith or you entered with fear. Faith is your most potent weapon to staying with Christ; faith is the legal tender that produces goods in every situation.

Change isn’t just about what you put it in; change is also about an exchange – exchange of death to life, exchange of sorrow to joy, of shame to grace, of guilt to justification, of fear to love and yes of pain to gain.

The Lord will give you your change in Jesus name (Amen).

God bless you and I love you.

Akinsuroju Femi
© The Fundamentals