A POWERFUL FAITH BUILDER

Greetings, 

I love the entire ninth chapter in the book of Matthew in the Holy Bible, and I encourage you to read it today.  Christ heals a paralyzed man, forgives sin, calls a man to be one of His beloved disciples, heeds a desperate father's request to resuscitate a child who has died,  restores the sight of two blind men, casts the demon out of a possessed man, and literally "traveled through all the towns and villages...announcing the Good News about the Kingdom, healing every kind of disease and illness...having compassion on the crowds..."

Jesus brings health and wholeness to the soul, the body, and the mind. He defines a life's purpose for Matthew when He called him to be a disciple, and He rewards faith. And Christ did all these blessed things with compassion and unparalleled power and authority.

There is not one area of your life, nor one aspect of your being that is beyond the reach or the might of Jesus to bring health and wholeness. 

Remember the paralyzed man Christ healed? "Some men brought him to Jesus."

Remember the girl who Jesus raised from the dead? He did so in response to a father who pleaded, "Come and put Your hand on her, and she will live."

Remember the two bind men whose sight was restored? First they, "followed Him, calling out, 'Have mercy on us,  Messiah!'"

Remember the demon-possessed man? He was "brought to Jesus."

Let us bring others to the Lord in prayer, and let us plead for ourselves while we are at it. Let us follow after the One Who has infinite compassion, power, and authority.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for Matthew chapter nine. This is a faith-building chapter because Your unlimited power is on display. We praise You for Your willingness to use it in response to prayer! You know what is best, and we need You in every area of our lives  -  soul, body, and mind.  Have mercy on us, Messiah! In Jesus' name, AMEN.

A Faith-building Chapter: Matthew Nine

Greetings, 

I love the entire ninth chapter in the book of Matthew in the Holy Bible, and I encourage you to read it today.  Christ heals a paralyzed man, forgives sin, calls a man to be one of His beloved disciples, heeds a desperate father's request to resuscitate a child who has died,  restores the sight of two blind men, casts the demon out of a possessed man, and literally "traveled through all the towns and villages...announcing the Good News about the Kingdom, healing every kind of disease and illness...having compassion on the crowds..."

Jesus brings health and wholeness to the soul, the body, and the mind. He defines a life's purpose for Matthew when He called him to be a disciple, and He rewards faith. And Christ did all these blessed things with compassion and unparalleled power and authority.

There is not one area of your life, nor one aspect of your being that is beyond the reach or the might of Jesus to bring health and wholeness. 

Remember the paralyzed man Christ healed? "Some men brought him to Jesus."

Remember the girl who Jesus raised from the dead? He did so in response to a father who pleaded, "Come and put Your hand on her, and she will live."

Remember the two bind men whose sight was restored? First they, "followed Him, calling out, 'Have mercy on us,  Messiah!'"

Remember the demon-possessed man? He was "brought to Jesus."

Let us bring others to the Lord in prayer, and let us plead for ourselves while we are at it. Let us follow after the One Who has infinite compassion, power, and authority.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for Matthew chapter nine. This is a faith-building chapter because Your unlimited power is on display. We praise You for Your willingness to use it in response to prayer! You know what is best, and we need You in every area of our lives  -  soul, body, and mind.  Have mercy on us, Messiah! In Jesus' name, AMEN.

Weak Faith is Still Faith~

Mark 9:24 “I believe, help me with my doubts!”

Last Friday we looked at this verse about a dad who desperately wanted Jesus to heal his demon possessed son.  This dad put into words what we have all experienced, and there are four points to consider:

1. No one is a perfect believer with perfect faith.
2. There may come a time when we face a crisis and discover that our faith is not 100%.  This should never make us doubt the fact that we at least have some faith and the faith we do have is real, legitimate, and genuine.
3. Life is a journey of faith. It progresses and gets stronger the further we travel along.  I bet you the desperate father who cried out the words in the verse above had stronger faith after Jesus healed his boy.  Amen!
4. Some biblical scholars have suggested that in the verse above the father asks Christ for a miracle with a 50/50 split of faith and doubt.

All four of these points can be summarized in one life-changing truth: Weak faith is still faith, and Jesus responds to it.

Jesus did not sit there and preach to this suffering dad about his less than stellar belief system in order to increase his faith.  Rather, Christ met him in his suffering, accepted the faith that was offered, accepted the honesty that there was doubt in the mix, and did two amazing things: He helped the man overcome his doubts and answered the prayer anyway.  Win/win!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Sometimes when we are struggling, the last thing we need is someone to tell us that we don’t have enough faith.  That makes things worse and makes us feel as though we will never receive the answer.  Thank You that the only One Who can make that call anyway is Christ, and He always accepts us and our faith, no matter how weak or strong it might be.  Our faith united to Christ through prayer has unlimited possibilities.  May we never give up on You or prayer.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN~