Belief - Needs of the soul

By Raly Ewemie

The soul of man has several needs, and one of the needs of the soul is the need to believe. There is a great desire in man to believe in something.

I came across an article on changingminds.org, titled- The Need To Believe. It stated the needs to believe and I quote:

> Beliefs about how the world works and what should be done to make things happen.

> Religious beliefs, in the existences of God and an after life, and the holiness of books and people.

> Beliefs about people, what they think, and whether they are good or bad.

> Beliefs about ourselves, including about our ability and character.

> Belief is something greater than us.

The word and belief

The above are truly the belief-needs in the soul of man. From a believer’s standpoint, Man’s soul is actually created to have a need to believe. I would like to make it known to all that the One who created the Soul, placed that need and is the only One who can meet that need, that is God through Jesus Christ.

Gen 2:7 declares, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Jesus said, “Let not your heart (soul) be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me.” John 14:1

In other words Jesus was saying, “I know and see the need to believe and you have tried several ways to meet that need, but I want you to cease troubling your soul. The need to believe can only be met when you believe in God and in Me.”

John 11:26 records Jesus saying “Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

I remember my mum telling us of her salvation experience. She heard Jesus say to her, “I am the way, the truth and the life, believe in Me.” This truth and revelation brought a great and drastic change in my mum’s life: before her experience with Jesus, she was a devoted and committed Muslim.

Things happen when we believe.

I - The impossible becomes possible

“But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.” Exodus 14:13.

Now, that strategy or plan in the midst of an intense battle is contrary to human understanding. What Moses was telling the Israelites to do was to just believe God to come save them. All they were to do is just believe and nothing else. The only action was “believe”. To the Israelites that was not even an action, it was very passive and very foolish.

But they chose to believe. I know they chose to belief in God, because the camp was not divided and also God came in and did what only He, as God of all that exists, can do; the parting of the Red Sea and making the dry ground appear. But when the enemy made an attempt to cross, God covered the path and buried the enemy in the sea. “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: ‘I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted.

Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.’ ” Exodus 15:1

Amazing what the Lord did for His people! Does He still do amazing things for His people? I believe so and I’d like to share a personal, amazing, ‘mind-blowing’ experience, that my family and I had many years ago.

The first part of this experience was a dream I had of our community experiencing a flood. My family and I were so scared in the dream that we were about to run out of the house to find safety. Then I heard God say to me, “Raly, you and your family should not leave the house like others are.

Stay inside and go on your knees.” I heeded this instruction and so did my family. Our house was the only one saved among all the other houses. Every other house was destroyed. It was amazing and such a great miracle. I woke up from my dream and then wrote this experience in my journal.

Well, five years later this dream actually happened in real life. My mum, sister, younger brother, and I were in the living room around 8 o’clock at night, watching a program on TV. We heard the door slam as another younger brother of mine ran in, screaming that there was a flood. Our house was located close to a river and somehow the river dam had broken. In panic, my younger brother ordered us to take all valuable personal items and flee. We decided to take a look outside and noticed at a distance some houses were covered with water! I still wonder sometimes how we were not aware of what was going on around us until my brother came and alerted us.

Anyway, the next voice I heard was my mum’s. “We are not leaving this house! Everyone is staying here, inside.” Now my younger brother who gave the alert was shocked on hearing this and was so upset with my mum. My mum continued on, “I have made a covenant with our Daddy God; I told Him that I would not remarry after your dad passed away. And I asked God to promise to protect me, all my children, our properties, and all that we have. So this is a time that we can see God fulfill His promise” Now isn’t that a radical kind of faith?!

All the while, my brother was so upset and kept insisting that we leave. But then my younger sister, an amazing worshiper, lifted up her voice and said, “Let us worship God.” She began to lead us in a time of singing praise unto God. You can imagine the look on my younger brother’s face. O was he so very, very upset. We ignored him and continued praying.

At a certain point, Holy Spirit reminded me of the dream I had experienced some years back. The instructions God had given were to stay inside and go on your knees. I saw those instructions being carried out by my mum telling us to stay inside and my sister telling us to worship which is an act of going on your knees.

So excited, I screamed out, “God is going to protect us and our house.” I then narrated the dream to my family. Our joy was so full that we kept praising God. Then I heard the Holy Spirit ask me this question, “Raly who are you?” I replied with the very words He had given me some years back when I struggled with my identity. “I am the daughter of the Creator of all that exists.”

Then He asked, “Do you have authority just like your Daddy God has?” I replied, “Yes I do because He lives inside of me and I am His daughter and representative here on earth.” Then He said, “Go out to your balcony and speak to that water with these words, ‘God separated the waters from the land at the beginning of creation. You waters have crossed your boundary, so I command you in the name of Jesus to go back to your set position.’”

I immediately told my family what the Holy Spirit said and immediately my mum was like, “What are we waiting for? Let’s go and speak to the waters. We went outside and obediently spoke to the waters. Then my mum simply told us it was time to go to bed. Now isn’t that another radical move?

My brother was speechless at this time. After all he had used all the words he knew to let us know he was not in agreement with all we were doing. Before we went to bed, mum asked us, “When there was a storm on the water, what was Jesus doing?” “Sleeping.” we responded. “Then sleep we shall.” Declared my mother.

I went to bed with one eye open as the saying goes. Though I believed God, I was still scared that the water would break through. “I believe; help my unbelief! (Mark 9:24) The voices of my brothers and sister woke me up as I had somehow fallen asleep. I rushed out of my room and out into the balcony where I heard their voices and, looking out, we saw that the water was gradually going back to it rightfully place. We noticed this because there was a particular house that was covered up to a certain point while we were praying. Looking at it now, we could see more of the house than we saw earlier.

At the breaking of the day, we saw the great damage the flood had caused. Some houses were completely destroyed and no trace of them was seen. Some houses that were still standing had lost a lot of personal belongings. Our house was standing, not even the wall of the house was damaged.

WHEN WE BELIEVE GOD THE IMPOSSIBLE BECOMES POSSIBLE.

THINGS HAPPEN WHEN WE BELIEVE GOD.

II - GOD IS PLEASED

“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 rewarded of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6.

Faith is belief in God. When we believe that God is who He says He is and that He can do what He says He can do, then God is pleased with us. Now do note that God did not ask us to enter into a relationship with Him so we can impress Him. No, He entered into a relationship with us so we can have a relationship. We were created by God for His pleasure. He created us that He might find pleasure in us.

He does not need us but He does want us and thus created us to experience His love. “Thou art worthy oh Lord, to receive glory honor and power. For You Lord have created all things for your pleasure. Revelation 4:11

I don’t know about you but for me, it is such a great honor that the Creator of the heavens and earth is pleased when I believe Him. I mean I am so glad I get to bring pleasure to Him by just believing in Him.

This may fly in the face of what many of you have been taught and what they have been led to believe.

Our God does not demand works, does not want us to live afraid of Him, does not give us a yolk of slavery. O how I thank God my family and I are saved and we have the privilege and honor to know the true God and we bring Him pleasure by believing in Him.

Belief is never passive, it is an action, either to be still or to move. Believe and act on the Word of God. “For we are His handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

Raly Ewemie is a devoted Missionary - with over a decade work experience in different countries across the globe. She’s the brain behind www.reflectinghisbeauty.org, a website that enriches people with Godly values and supports Missionaries in their work for God. She’s based in Abbotsford BC, Canada. E-mail: raly@reflectinghisbeauty.org