God cares deeply about each of His children’s perspective of Him. When we read or hear a passage of Scripture, God looks to see whether we believe what we just read or heard about Him. He wants to know how much we are willing to take Him at His Word. Often, we read the Bible as a book that tells us what happened in the past or who God was, as if He no longer has power. We don’t realize that the moment we pick up the Bible to read it, God is there watching to see how much of what we read we actually believe. The beautiful thing about God is that He is not just a God of the multitudes, but He is also a personal God. I remember mentioning this in one of my previous blogs, and I think it is important to reiterate that we serve a God who can perform miracles out of the norm and out of the blue to honor His children’s trust in Him.
As examples, we can consider two different biblical scenarios:
The first scenario is the faith of the centurion who was not a Jewish leader but a Gentile. Jesus performed that miracle because of his level of faith in Him. Even though Jesus wanted to help the centurion, this was not how He originally intended to do it (Matthew 8:5-13). Consider that this man asked Jesus for the favor to heal his paralyzed servant. In the New King James Version, it says that Jesus told the centurion, “I will come and heal him”, meaning Jesus had already decided how He was going to help him, and that is by going over to his house and healing his paralyzed servant: “I will come and heal him”. Yet, because of his faith, Jesus not only healed the centurion’s servant but also healed him the way the centurion wanted. So Jesus didn’t go to his house; instead, he said in verse 13, “Go your way, and as you have believed, so let it be done for you. And his servant was healed that same hour.”
The second scenario is the faith of a Canaanite woman who came to Jesus for help for her demon-possessed daughter, and Jesus’ responses were: “I was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel” and “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:24, 26). Jesus not only made it clear to the woman that she shouldn’t expect any help from Him but also responded as if He cared less about her need. Yet, this woman’s faith caused Jesus to go back on His word and do what He didn’t plan to do.
Therefore, you and I need to pay attention to what we read and hear. The Word of God is meant to build our faith and correct us when we stray, not to condemn us or create doubts and confusion.
We can easily prevent a miracle from happening in our lives if we believe in our hearts that we are far from God’s grace. Jesus died for us all, not for a particular group, class, race, or type of people. We can all receive His salvation, grace, mercy, healing, protection, and deliverance.
Do you often find yourself asking these types of questions? Such as:
Can Jesus do it for me?
Does He love me too?
Does He love me enough to perform it?
Does He see me or does He hear me?
If you catch yourself thinking or asking these questions, this indicates how you see God. And how you see God personally matters to Him because your journey with Him requires your own faith, not somebody else’s. The Bible says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
I remember growing up, I held on to a particular verse from the Bible as my favorite Scripture. Psalm 103:5, which says, “Praise the Lord, who satisfies your desires with Good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” I had memorized it in French first, and years later, I memorized it in English. The funny thing is, I could barely remember it verbatim, but I would often say it the way I could remember it. So, I took God at His Word, and God keeps on keeping me. He never allows me to look like what I’ve been through. God is always faithful, especially to those who dare to believe in His Word.
The Bible says in Jeremiah 1:12, “Then the Lord said to me, you have seen well, for I am actively watching over My Word to fulfill it.”
No wonder Jesus asked His disciples in Matthew 16:15, “But about you? Who do you say that I am?” This question was important to Jesus. But why? After all, He is Jesus; He can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, and there is nothing the disciples or anyone else can do about it, anyway. Nevertheless, their faith mattered to Jesus. He wanted to know how much of what His disciples have seen and heard they believe. This also means our personal walk with God is even more meaningful to Him. This also helps us understand why sometimes one person’s prayer can move mountains while somebody else’s prayer doesn’t seem to do much because of their unbelief.
Believe God and His Word!
SCRIPTURES
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word about Christ.” Romans 10:17
“For we live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7