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Bold Faith

By January 28, 2013August 30th, 2022Devotional

Last week-end, Janet and I attended church and found out that for the next 5 weeks or so, the Senior Pastor will be preaching a series entitled “Mountains will Move.” I’m sure that it will be a very interesting series, focusing on the things that we should be doing to move mountains in our lives. The Scripture is full of examples of miracles and things that have happened as a result of the faithfulness of God’s people and their expectation of divine intervention.

Whether you go back and look at the fall of Jericho, the resurrection of Lazarus, the parting of the Red Sea, the first Passover in Egypt or thousands of other examples, suffice it to say that the people of God expected Him to do remarkable things on their behalf. As I looked around the sanctuary during the message, I couldn’t help but notice how many people seemed genuinely surprised at the idea of believing that anything is possible with God.

Conversely, Janet and I live our lives expecting miracles every day. While we didn’t always live this way, we have both found that God moves consistently through our lives and we miss many blessings when we don’t look for the evidences of God in our daily lives. Now I know that this seems difficult to believe for many people, but the fact is that God is dependable and reliable and full of surprises for those who love Him. And God, at least in my opinion, didn’t just create the world and then step aside to see what would happen.

God is active – day in and day out – throughout all eternity. He takes an active interest in each of us and I believe that He is swayed by our prayers and our petitions. Jesus even tells us that God answers prayers that are consistent with His will for our lives, which explains why we don’t get everything we ask for. Now there are people who believe in pre-ordination and that God decided, somewhere back at the beginning of time, who will and will not be allowed into heaven. And with that, those same people believe that God has already determined virtually every event in our lives. Therefore, prayer becomes less important – after all, if this is true, God has already decided everything and prayer won’t do anything to change it.

Just to make sure that you understand my position on this, I do not believe that everything has already been determined by God. PRAYER MATTERS – IMMENSELY. And along with prayer, bold faith goes a long way toward the deliverance of miracles. That doesn’t mean that you can just sit by and wait for God to do His thing, however. Belief must be combined with expectant prayer; and ACTION. God helps those who help themselves.

Remember the story of Joshua after the death of Moses? God affirmed that He would be with Joshua as He was with Moses. Furthermore, He instructed Joshua to lead the people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Joshua was concerned – even afraid. God told him, three times, to be strong and courageous. And sure enough, even though the Jordan was at flood stage, and more than eight feet deep just several steps in, when the robes of the priests touched the water’s edge, the river parted and approximately two million of God’s people crossed into the Promised Land, on dry land. What’s the lesson here? Faith, combined with prayer, accompanied by action – an unbeatable combination in God’s sight. And while the miracle of the water occurred, it didn’t happen until the priests took the “first step.”

The verse for this evening is spoken by Jesus, in Matthew 17:20, ” 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.’” Isn’t that something? You can move mountains – and so can every other believer. My encouragement this evening is that you will increase your faith, your prayer and your expectation of miracles in your life. My prayer is that God will WOW you with His faithfulness and His will for your life. So, think big and move out in bold faith. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

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