And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). 24 And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 But He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!" (Luke 8:24, 25). Jesus asks them where their faith is. Did He look around the bottom of the boat to see if it was floating in the water that I’m sure came aboard? Where could their faith have been? Were they carrying it with them all the time, but simply didn’t put it into practice? Could they have stopped the storm? Most assuredly yes. The Body of Christ is vastly ignorant of the power they carry with them all the time.
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And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"(Luke 18:8). 44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” 48 Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." 49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" 50 Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace." (Luke 7:44–50). This woman knew Jesus well enough to worship Him with extravagance. For what was she having faith? For exactly what she received—forgiveness of her sins. She wanted to made clean. How was her faith expressed? Through love. Do we love Him enough to be extravagant? To spend our money on Him? To express our love in public, even when no one else is doing so? From this act of love her sins were forgiven, she received salvation (to spend eternity in heaven with God) grace to live in abundance here on earth—salvation has weighty significance—and she received peace. Peace is priceless. It is rare on the earth, but in heaven peace is the atmosphere. She received heaven on earth! May your faith save you! And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Faith can be seen. It doesn’t just lie there dormant, waiting for God to do something. The person who just waits for God to act, is a fool in my opinion. God sets tasks for Himself and His child to do together. If you want God to do something for you, act like God, work with Him to make your faith come to pass. Like the men who lowered their friend through the roof to lay him at Jesus feet. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. 20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you," (Luke 5:19, 20). Faith acts like the thing hoped for has already come to pass. Faith talks like the owner already has it. Faith thinks thoughts and uses the imagination to confirm the possession of the thing hoped for. A certain missionary I know wanted to build a steel bottomed boat to float on the Amazon, to take a medical clinic and a Bible school into the outreaches, where no other boat could go. He talked about that boat to absolutely everybody. He didn’t just talk, he prepared. He found a boat company that would do the work, he designed it on paper. And one day, someone gave him the money to build it. Right now the Amazon has a steel bottomed boat carrying the Gospel and medical supplies to the outbound! That’s faith! Go ahead! Lower your man down through the roof, even if people laugh at you or try to get you to stop. You just keep on proclaiming your faith by word and deed, and it will come to pass. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord,” (Luke 1:45). According to Luke’s Gospel, Mary is the first person to demonstrate faith. As a young girl, when the angel approached her to tell her she would have a baby, Mary was troubled by what he said, apparently not by his presence. Maybe she was accustomed to seeing angels. Perhaps if we weren’t so distracted by other things we would see more of them. The angel said three things about her and those are the things that troubled her. He said she was highly favored, that the Lord was with her, and “blessed are you among women.” She didn’t seem to know that any of these were true. Then after the angel tells her how mighty her son will be, her first reaction is to ask how can this happen since she doesn’t know a man (intimately). The angel brings the conversation back to a normal level, talking about Elizabeth expecting a baby. And after that, Mary makes a leap of faith. She says to let it be done to her according to the angel’s word. She buys the whole package. What interests me is that she says this right after the angel says, “For with God nothing will be impossible.” That is also what we hang our faith on—God. He can do anything. He wants to do it. He will do it. |
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