Saturday, November 24, 2007

Matthew 8:5-13: Faith that can move Mountains

The account of the Centurion is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. The Centurion had asked Jesus to heal his servant. When Jesus offered to come to the Centurion’s house, the Centurion forbid Him and said he wasn’t worthy to have Jesus come into in his home. But he knew if Jesus just spoke a word, his servant would be healed. Jesus marveled at the faith of the Centurion and said, “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel…. Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee (Matthew 8:10,13) [bold added for emphasis].

When you pray, how would you feel if Jesus answered, “As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee”? If I sincerely believed, I would be very happy. But if I were plagued with doubt, I guess I would be disappointed.

Nothing is impossible for God (Jeremiah 32:27, Mark 10:27, et al). Yet, we often become so caught up in our worries that we cannot imagine that God can deliver us. We pray to God, but sometimes we pray “hoping” God can help us – not necessarily "believing" that He can. Or worse yet, perhaps we feel so hopeless that we do not even ask – “ye have not because ye ask not” (James 4:2).

Jesus said that if we just have faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains (Matthew 17:20). When you accepted Christ as your Savior, did you not sincerely believe God was able to save you? Didn’t God remove a mountain of sin when he saved each one of us?

God is waiting to bless each person who asks Him. Consider Malachi 3:10, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

Wow! God promises us more blessings than we have room to receive! In Malachi He is literally saying, “Just try Me.” All we need to do is ask, believing.

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