Waiting Here For You...

Great Faith
Bayless Conley

In today's devotional, I want to look at the third level of faith. It is found in Matthew 8:5-10,

Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented." And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,' and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!"

We saw in previous devotionals that the first level of faith is no faith, the second is little faith, and now the third is great faith.

Great faith says, "Lord, Your word is enough." The centurion said, "Only speak a word." He understood the authority of Jesus' words. He said, "Jesus, all You have to do is say it. You don't even have to come into my house. I don't have to see anything. Your word is all the evidence I need."

That is what great faith says, "Lord, Your Word is all the evidence I need. Things don't have to look differently and I don't have to feel differently. Your Word is it. I don't need any other kind of confirmation. It doesn't matter what the circumstances say. Lord, Your Word settles the issue for me."

That is great faith, and that is what we should be pursuing.

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God.

May 20
The Power of Love
Dr. Charles Stanley

1 Corinthians 13:4-6

Today’s verses teach that love does not “rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.” This means believers aren’t to dwell on another man’s wrongs and give up on him as a hopeless, despicable criminal. Love enables us to hate the evil unjustly visited upon the innocent while valuing the one who committed the act. More simply, we hate the sin but love the sinner.

In spite of everything that seems apparent about someone who’s been driven to sinful actions, God has created him or her with the potential to be made into something good. Outwardly, it may seem as if substandard upbringing, poor treatment, or negative influences have corrupted a person’s morality and worldview beyond repair. For such individuals, the capacity to love and rise above circumstances can get buried so deep that it may seem nonexistent.

God still considers the most evil and corrupt person worth saving. How do I know this is true? Because in the first verse we teach our school children, He said that whoever believes in God’s Son will haveeternal life (John 3:16). Many of us are guilty of thinking we deserveHis love because we look so good compared to unlovable kinds of people. God doesn’t work that way. He loves every single person, no matter how awful his or her sin may be.

God doesn’t want anyone to mistreat others; such sinful action will bring repercussions or divine discipline. But the Lord does extend His care, His mercy, and His salvation to anybody who wants it. He keeps no record of wrongs. He loves without conditions. And He wants us to love in the same way.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org



Waiting Here For You - Christy Nockels



Today's Scripture Reading

The Cup of God's Wrath  --  Jeremiah 25:30-38 

The events described in these chapters took place in 609-608 B.C., before events described in Chapter 25.  Chapter 26 describes how and why Jeremiah was put on trail for his life.

God reminded Jeremiah that he wanted his entire message given -- "do not omit a word."  Jeremiah may have been tempted to leave out the parts that would turn his audience against him, would sound too harsh, or would make him sound like a traitor.  But by God's command, he was not to delete parts of God's message to suit himself, his audience, or the circumstances in which he found himself.  Like Jeremiah, we must never ignore or repress important parts of God's word to please anyone.  

Life Application Bible Study Notes, Zondervan Press.