Day 40: According to My Faith
Please read the Bible verse for today:
Matthew 9: 27-34
Jesus Heals the Blind and the Mute
27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they replied. (Matthew 9:27-28)
I find that I am much like these two blind men. I follow Jesus around. I barge in on Him where ever He is, with no respect to time of day or night and pray and call out to Him, "Have mercy on me!" Of course He loves that I come to Him, but 'do I believe that He can do all the things I ask of Him?' Am I praying with faith that He can do all the things I request of Him? I think I do. I hope my response would be a confident, "YES" like the two blind men.
29 "Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; 30 and their sight was restored." (Matthew 9:29) I wonder if, 'according to my faith I would have had ONE eye healed! Or healed, but my eyesight wouldn't be 20/20. I'm not joking. I wonder how much I believe because I think I would be honestly shocked if I went from blind to seeing in an instant! If I am shocked, doesn't that show a bit of doubt in me? If I believe wouldn't it be more like, "I knew Jesus could do it." I want to have mountain moving faith. Sure faith. Believing faith.
"Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” 31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region." (Matthew 9:31) Jesus told them sternly...NOT to tell anyone about being healed and being able to see, but they flat out disobeyed. I know they must have been excited, their whole life just changed, but to completely disregard, yikes! I cannot think exactly why Jesus didn't want them to tell the world about the miracle He performed, but He didn't and that should have been enough. God wants us to obey Him whether we understand the reason or not. There is always a blessing in obedience, but not so with disobedience.
32 "While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” (Matthew 9:32-33) This guy could not talk! He could not ask Jesus to heal him, he could not beg. And with demons inside of him I'm sure he wasn't even able to think that he wanted to be set free from the way he was living. People just brought him to Jesus. Jesus doesn't ask any questions. Doesn't say, "Because of your friend's faith, you are healed." He just does it. Jesus heals the man completely. Jesus knows our hearts. He sees us and out of compassion He does more for us than I think we ever ask. There have been countless times I've had a concern on my mind or I was worrying about something and because I was spending so much time on the worrying I forgot to pray about it. Then the problem is resolved, and I look to heaven and say, "I didn't even ask you, but you knew. THANK YOU!"
34 But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.” (Matthew 9:34) I am sorry, but I think this is just about the dumbest statement I have ever heard. Why would a demon drive out a demon? The Pharisees are in such denial that Jesus is God that they would rather believe that He is the devil. How sad.
Pray with me:
Jesus, I pray that according to my faith I would be healed. Heal my heart and mind and body. I believe you can do everything! And in the areas that you know I am not strong in my faith, build me up. Make me faithful. I want to glorify your name in every area of my life. I want to live for you. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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