I wonder sometimes if my requests to God are just words thrown into the airspace due to my desperation.  I wonder if I really believe what I say I believe about God is really real?  When I stop to consider, ponder, meditate on His promises and revisit the day of my salvation, the answer is yes, I believe!  This “exercise” of faith is important to evaluate the depth of our believing faith in the One and Only who can change lives with His unchangeable love, mercy and grace.  Jesus tells us at the end of this healing story that who we are and what we truly believe inside reveals the depth of our faith. 

What you and I really believe will always be reflected in our behavior in this world while we wait expectantly for the next eternal home…”because you believed”.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER  (“Have a Little Talk with Jesus” moment)

What do I believe? 

Who am I because I believe? 

What do I do because I believe? 

What do I say and how do I say it because I believe? 

How do I behave each day, all day long, because of what I believe?

What do I think about most because of what I believe?

Crowds push and shove to be near Jesus who has now gained popularity for healing everyone who comes to Him. But what does each individual in that mass of people really believe?  Since God knows hearts, Jesus tells them clearly and uncovers the depth of their faith.  Yikes.

What would Jesus say about the depth of our faith as believers?  “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!”, said Jesus to the mostly Jewish crowd.  One thing we can always count on—Jesus will always reveal Truth because He is Truth.  I love that!  In a world of charades, playacting, work enough to get by, blaming instead of owning our mistakes, gossip, lies and game playing, Truth will always, sooner than later, be revealed.  Faith is revealed.

Do I really believe that what I think and believe about God is really real?  Ask yourself this question often.  Because the enemy tries to get between our faith and God daily.

EXERCISE YOUR FAITH MUSCLES BY REMEMBERING WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY DONE

Jesus shows us that faith reveals what we really believe.  Stop and pause to answer this question for life today, right now:  What did Jesus do or provide because you had the faith to ask and believe?

Because I believed, God ________________.  Fill in the blank.  THIS is the testimony of our faith!

Matthew—The Law Fulfilled

Matthew 8:5-13, NLT

The Faith of a Roman Officer

⁵ When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, ⁶ “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”

⁷ Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”

⁸ But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! ¹¹ And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. ¹² But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³ Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.

I’m now singing a chorus I sang in my youth, “Faith in God Can Move a Mighty Mountain” as worship to God.

Faith in God can move a mighty mountain,
Faith can calm the troubled sea;
Faith can make a desert like a fountain,
Faith can bring the victory.

Followed by singing the chorus of “The Solid Rock”

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name

Abba, Father in Heaven,

Our hope, faith, trust, is built upon what you have provided in your gift of salvation.  Jesus, you are the foundation of faith that is built on believing all you revealed to us when you came down from heaven to seek and to save us, the lost, the hopeless in an unbelieving world.  You turned the world upside down and inside out with what believing, trusting and obeying I all about.  You are still doing it!  Thank you.  Thank you for your mercy and unended grace as we build our faith strong enough to move mountains with you. You are God and we are not.  I believe in You.  Life is all about you.  My life is in you!

In Jesus Name, Amen.  I believe.

Faith truly is the Victory that overcomes the world!  (Yes, another old hymn, it’s that kind of day!)