“Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.'” Luke 18:42
“Then he (Jesus) said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.'” Luke 17:19
“Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.'” Luke 7:50
“Then he (Jesus) said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.'” Luke 8:48
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.'” Luke 5:20
As I was reading my Bible yesterday, all these jumped out at me and the common word: faith. People were healed by Jesus because of their faith. People’s sins were forgiven because of their faith.
This is only a sampling of the amount of time Jesus talked about faith. We all believe in God based on faith alone. We can’t see Him. We can’t physically touch Him. We can feel and hear Him but not like we can feel and hear our spouse or our dog. His presence is spiritual only.
I think our lesson for our time is the same as in Jesus’s: faith is paramount to knowing and accepting Jesus. It’s the key to everything else.
Even when Jesus was present on Earth some believed and some didn’t–because of faith.
This is what we teach our kids, right? If you believe you can do something, you can. If you believe anything is possible, it is. I think some forget the crucial element: “All things are possible with God, Jesus said.” Mark 10:27
We must keep the faith even when it’s the last thing we want to do. Faith alone must remain when everything else is gone all around you.
“They should always pray and not give up…cry out to Him day and night.” Luke 18 1 & 7
BSF’s study of Isaiah talked a lot about how God is faithful. But what about us? We must be faithful to God as well. It has to go both ways as in any relationship. We must be faithful as God is faithful.
If we pray and believe and have faith, God will be there; He will accomplish His will; He will answer.
What a wonderful message that you sent out today… Have a blessed Easter, and Praise God for His giving His life, so that we may have life…..
Thank you. This came at a time I really need this message.
Hi and Hugs…and HAPPY EASTER, Atoz!!
Well the wee one is napping (Thank God for naps!)…but I don’t think he will be much longer…but I wanted to write yesterday and started but never got to finish. Although I never can be succinct…I’m going to try. 🙂
What struck me about this post was that I had just read one of our pastor’s blogs and was thinking about that when I read your post…and it all tied in (well, at least in MY brain they tied in, you know how I can connect dots in weird order sometimes ;-)….
His blog was on Job. Job is like the poster child for faith, isn’t he? His wife tells him to curse his God (out of pain, I’m sure) and his friends wonder what the heck he’s done to tick off God so much that all this calamity gets dropped on his doorstep.
Most of us think we have faith till we read Job. To lose EVERYTHING and STILL praise God? I don’t know about you…but I’m kind of going along in the story wincing but reading and then I hit the part about losing all the children..and I think…ok…that’s where my heart stops and wonders…do I have THAT much faith?
And I’ve see it. Not where EVERYTHING is taken away, per se, I guess…but I remember one Christmas Eve at the hospital, where a man came in unconcious from a car accident. They were coming home from a family event and his pregnant wife and three children were killed by a drunk driver. The word spread through the hospital, as it can, and all of us working the holiday just felt some immense pain for him and intense gratitude that we had our children and spouses to go home to. There was no usual “working the holiday grumbling” that year.
None of us envied the doc who had to go in there and tell him when he came to. I was there when he told him. The cry that came from him, I will never forget. No words were necessary. We all just stood there in tears. The doc came out with watery eyes…the man asked the doc to just give him too much pain medication and kill him. Who wouldn’t think the same thing? Why would you want to go on living without them?
Sorry, kind of off the dots again..but what I wanted to say is the pastors blog had to do with..what if the point of the story was to point out how Job handled the lies. Satan’s lies.
Do we not think that Satan was right in there with the lies that go through all of our heads in times of pain? That he hits us with daily?
But if you think about it…it’s those lies Satan slips in that makes faith tough. It isn’t that I don’t know God is God and can do whatever the heck he wants to and that he keeps his promises and I can trust him. I know that. I believe it.
But it’s the lies that tear that down. I mean Satan is GOOOOOD (with a capital “G”)…at lies.
The little seeds of Why do I have to..(fill in the blank)? But what if the kids don’t (fill in the blank)?…and then when you realize your thoughts and you say, “I’m sorry God, Please forgive me for complaining, worrying (etc…fill in the blank)..”…
Then Satan starts the next round of “You screwed up again,” mode.
I guess all I am really saying Atoz, is that dealing with Satan’s lies is a component of maturing and growing strong in faith.
If your spiritual muscles aren’t developed from some good sparring with Satan, on a daily basis..recognizing the thoughts he slips in..and pushing them OUT…you won’t be able to push them out when your body /heart are breaking..or when you are weary, when God’s timing isn’t “your” timing? When something takes 20 years to occur….or when it happens for someone else (like healing) and it doesn’t happen for your loved one?
Sometimes I think that Satan’s daily impact isn’t talked about enough. It’s like it’s us and God and Satan doesn’t exist…or exists remotely somewhere else.
I just went to a Marriage…conference?…not sure exactly what you’d call it. Mark Driscoll, was the speaker/pastor. You either hate or love Mark. I happen to fall in the latter camp. I’ve grown up a lot from listening to him…
But..two word pictures I never thought of that he gave stuck with me. You know how the Bible says to never let the sun go down on your anger? Well..I’m not always so good at that. I’m a quiet anger person (I know, you’re shocked 🙂 LOL..) But Mark said, the next time you go to bed angry at your spouse…I want you to imagine that Satan is right there between you…because he is. Right there. Feeding your anger. Feeding your spouses hurt..etc. I haven’t gone to bed mad since…because it just was a picture that stuck..that made Satan real in marriage.
The other picture was one he gave about trash. He kind of did it in a different way, but what struck me is the picture that if you don’t take out the trash in your house it gets pretty ugly. So every time Satan gives you trash, if you don’t deal with it daily…and it will be there daily…you will have ugliness in your home/marriage/kids, etc.
OK…enough said. Sorry got off topic again there.
Our God is an awesome God.
Thanks Atoz for sharing your thoughts with all of us. There’s always something to relate to…grow with..for all of us.
Peace, my friend to you and your family.
Nancy