Help my unbelief

Good Evening!

I trust you had a great weekend and are rested and ready for the coming week. Don't forget to keep your eyes on Jesus. 

Mark 9:23-24 says “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” 

One of my first Wednesday night sermons was on this verse, and it came back up in my devotions recently.

Do we truly believe that God can do anything that we ask?

Do we truly believe God WILL do when we ask of Him?

 If we look at the difference between these two questions, that difference is our unbelief. I admit it, there are a lot of things I doubt He will do if I ask. Sometimes, I even wonder if He is listening or cares enough to listen 
I know in my head, that He is, but that little bit of doubt sometimes raises its ugly head.   

I believe that if we are honest with ourselves, We will find that we don't believe in God as much as we say we do, or even as much as we want to. I want the level of belief (the faith) of the apostles in the book of Acts where they look at a crippled man and tell Him, out loud to get up and walk, in front of crowds. That's faith that God won't leave the apostles hanging and looking like a bunch fools. I want that kind of faith. 

We should ALL have faith that is strong like that. Jesus says that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, that we can tell a mountain to be cast into the sea, and it will be so. Did Jesus mean that literally? I believe so. It gets interpreted in a spiritual lesson most times, but remember, God SPOKE this world into existence. He can do it. How do we get that level of belief or faith? Through Christ. 

Father, help our unbelief. Forgive our unbelief. If we look back over our lives, we can start to see the God has ALWAYS been faithful to us and has proven that we can believe in Him. The interesting thing, I find, is that the more belief we have, the more we can truly rest and abide in Him. 

May our belief in Him grow today. May we keep our eyes on Him and rest in Him today. May His favor ever be upon us today. Amen

In the Shelter of the Almighty

I was reading some scripture tonight about Security in the Lord.  This brought to mind the following passage from Psalms 91.  King David (from the Old Testament) is somewhat of a role model for me.  God, Himself, said of David "He is a man after my own heart."  I cannot think of a higher honor than that.  

Anyways, King David went through all sorts of hell in his life.  He was betrayed by family. He committed murder and adultery.  How can God call a person who committed such acts as these "a man after my own heart"?  I truly believe it is because of David's faith, and repentance..  The following passage was written during some of the darkest times in David's life.  The faith of David is legendary, and is clearly shown in the following verses of Psalms 91

1 He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3 Surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence.
4He shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings shall you trust: his truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5You shall not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flies by day;
6Nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness; nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.
8Only with your eyes shall you behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the most High, your habitation;
10There shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
11For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.
12They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13You shall tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the serpent shall you trample under feet.
14Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
15He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him.
16With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

I do not believe that there is a clearer passage in scripture where God's mercy and grace are spelled out for those that abide and trust in Him.  Does this mean that we won't go through trials and dark times?  No.  It just tells us what will happen when we go through those times.  We are not alone, and never will be.  

I thank God every day that he was with me during my darkest hours. 

Faith and Patience

I have been reading a lot lately, and it seems the theme for this week is faith and patience. Patience is one of the hardest things for me to learn. I ran across this passage tonight.

James 1:2-8
Bretheren, Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But, let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like the wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

I find that when I pray and ask God for wisdom, or for Him to do a specific work in my life, or in the lives of others, that I have to vocalize my faith. Vocalizing my faith helps to drive out the doubt. The way I vocalize my faith is to first ask. Even though God knows what we need, or will be asking of Him, the first step of faith is to ask. Once I am done asking and praying about whatever it is, I then thank Him. I thank Him that he will do as I have asked, and that He will honor my prayers in His time. This is the vocalization of faith. The bible says to "pray with thanksgiving" How can we do that, if we never thank Him for His work (even before He has done that work) Faith is believing that what we ask will be done, even before we see it done.
One more thought on this too. When we are falling into various trials, recognize that as the Hand of God working. He is allowing our faith to be tested so that when He does answer our prayers, that we will see his mighty power and have even a stronger faith at the end of the trial.