JANUARY 20

²⁷ When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

²⁸ And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows it.” ³¹ But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country. Matthew 9: 27-29

The bible has lots of examples of men and women exhibiting faith, perhaps one of the most recognised chapters being Hebrews 11. Then there was the faith of the servant girl in the healing of Naaman the leper in 2 Kings 5. One of the most miraculous stories for me is the story of Gideon and the fleece which you can read here in Judges 6:36-40.

There are indeed many more, but the story I want to focus on is found in Matthew 9: 27-29. This chapter is action packed.

It begins with Jesus forgiving and healing a paralytic (verses 1-8), much to the disgust of the on looking scribes. He then recruits Matthew the tax collector as one of his disciples (verses 9-13), with the Pharisees this time questioning his motives.

In verses 14-17 Jesus was then questioned as to why his disciples did not fast but the Pharisees did.

We find the well sung about healing of the women who ‘touched the hem of His garment’ and also the girl who was healed through the faith of her ruler in verses 18-26.

But I want to focus on Jesus’ question in verse 28 and his answer in the following verse. After the blind men who were brought to Him asked for healing, note the question.

“Do you believe I am able to do this?”

Immediately the onus is on the asker not the giver.

‘They said to Him, “Yes Lord.”

No doubts. No time for on the spot soul searching. No quick consultation period as they were both blind, but answered together.

That was the prelude to the crucial question.

‘Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” And their eyes were opened.

Note those four words – according to your faith.

That is some faith. I pray that we can organise our days sufficiently to give God the time he truly deserves to develop that kind of faith.

Our song today, “Please don't pass me by” by Fred Hammond.  Click on the picture to listen.

       

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here