Good morning to all on this Thursday morning! God is a good God and will protect us all on this day. Waine is in Jamaica for a week and I continue my travels in Louisiana. Pray God's traveling mercies for both of us. I had the occasion to be able to talk with my husband on "skype" this morning. The technology is really awesome and had he had a camcorder mounted on his computer we would have had a wonderful time conversing with one another. As it was I was able to hear my husband clearly, more clearly than on the telephone. Boy God has given us some wonders to behold through the mind and skills of man!
I am continuing my journey in Matthew 17, verses 14-23, "When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before Him. "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought Him to your disciples, but they could not heal him." "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."When they came together in Galilee, He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and on the third day He will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief.
The frustration of Christ over the lack of faith of His disciples is almost palpable. They had spent three years with Him and still didn't get it. Most of us would have fired this group of disciples by now and then started over; I think there is a lesson there. I think Jesus understood the frailties of men; Jesus understood that, what sin robs us of is our ability to exercise the power of our faith. I had to stop and think about that myself. When Adam and Eve sinned, they allowed Satan to introduce doubt into their consciousness. Doubt that God was true to his Word. When they accepted doubt then sin had free reign in their hearts and minds and for the first time they KNEW fear. Satan works in our minds first which then infects our hearts. Jesus tells us to guard what we put into our minds because that is the quickest path to our hearts and what we put in our hearts will be carried out in our behavior.
Fear will have us not trust the things that are unseen which means we then have to rely on only what is seen and felt. There-in lies the lesson of exercising our faith. Hebrews 11:1 tells us "Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Do you live your life boldly? Do you live your life with assurity? Are there things, plans, positions you desire and have faith that God will provide for you? Then you have the faith of a mustard seed; your faith can move mountains, your mountain! Or do you live in Doubt? Do you walk around being scared because you don't know what your future holds? If you know Jesus then you know your future! Your future and everything you touch along the way will be blessed because He said so! I know Jesus and He is a good friend of mine. I have it on good authority (His) that He had written the end to my story, hallelujah! Jesus has secured and bound me here on earth and in Heaven and my happiness if of utmost concern to Him. Can you grasp that concept? Jesus has angels on my watch! They are there to do one thing and one thing only, portect Stephanie. He, Jesus, has numbered the hairs on my head and He has counted me in His "chosen". I am His child and will live boldly today. I am my best today because of Him!
To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to serve Him. Be blessed today in Jesus name. Amen and amen!
Stephanie
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