Hello!
I hope you’re off to a great week! Here’s a couple verses that God used to encourage/challenge me with these past couple of days…
“…But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” [23] “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes. Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” –Mark 9:22-24
This interaction that Jesus had with this doubting dad reminded me of something that God has been teaching me about the importance of my faith. Jesus was basically saying, ‘everything is possible (by God) for the person who believes (in God’s ability to do so)’. The issue is not with God’s power or ability, but it is with our ability to believe that He can or will do something.
I’ve been thinking about the idea of how our faith connects us to God’s power for working in our lives and through our lives to the world around us. It’s kind of like how certain materials are more conductive to electricity than others. Some things like wood or glass or rubber are not very conductive, they have high resistance, to the flow of electrons through them. But metals like gold, copper, and silver are highly conductive, they have low resistance, to the flow of electrical current through them.
It seems to me that our faith is kind of the same way when it comes to connecting with God’s infinite power and ability. Our faith will either be highly conductive for His power to flow through or we can be highly resistant because of our unbelief- like those who Jesus mentions from His hometown in Matthew 13:58, “And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.”
Anyway, I encourage you to join me and think about how conductive or resistant our faith is towards what God might want to do in this world through us. Just as certain metals like silver and gold are more conducive when they are free from impurities, so our faith is more conducive to God’s use when it is free from impurities like unbelief. Like the dad who had an alloy of faith and doubt mixed together, we can call out honestly to Jesus to remove our unbelief, too.
Have a great week and pray on!
–Rich
Rich Thatcher
Pastor – Parker Firehouse Church