Personal development coaches and motivational speakers often will say “believe you can or believe it cannot, either way you are probably right.” It is an interesting phenomenon that your belief has an effect on the outcome.

The Bible describes a similar situation in Matthew 13. Jesus arrives in his hometown, and people question how this son of the local carpenter could be so knowledgeable and be able to perform miracles. Rather than opening their hearts and having faith, the people are skeptical and resistant. Verse 58 says “He (Jesus) did not do many miracles there, because of their lack of faith.” Are we the skeptical and resistant, or do we have the faith and belief that God can and will do miracles in our lives?

Dear Lord, help us with our unbelief and give us faith in your unlimited power. In Jesus name we pray. Amen

Paul tells us in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Great we think, “Faith is confidence in something we want, but don’t see how it can happen.” That doesn’t help us if we don’t know the answer to the question, “How do we get faith?”

In Paul’s letter to the Romans 10:17, He answer’s that question, writing, “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.”

Do you want faith? Read God’s word and hear it preached.

Dear Lord, You lead us to the answers in the Bible. Help us overcome our resistance to read and hear your word preached, so that we might have the faith in what we hope for. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Courage is uncomfortable. It takes courage to step outside our comfortable, familiar activities and habits to do something good but difficult.

To become better at something, forgive someone, serve on a church committee, volunteer at a shelter or soup kitchen, go on a mission trip, or go against the peer pressure to criticize, and gossip, takes courage.

Sometimes we see a worthy objective, but we don’t want to accomplish it bad enough to endure the discomfort that comes with the courage of taking action. To act, we need enough courage to tip the balance toward action. In ways, courage is delicate.

We can affect each other in this process. When we discourage someone, we make it more difficult for them to take the action, but alternatively, when we encourage them we make it easier for them to go outside their comfort zone and accomplish something valuable.

Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

This is one of the important reasons we attend worship services and fellowship with other Christians. We can encourage them, and they can encourage us to move the balance toward Christian action.

Dear Lord, help us remember the importance of encouraging each other to “acts of love and good works.” We may never know the power our simple encouragement may have on someone to do great things to your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

You have likely heard of “pass interference” in American football, when one player physically interferes with an opposing player’s ability to catch a pass.

A close reading of the parable of the spreading of the seed in Luke 8:4-15 tells us that the Devil tries to interfere with people’s acceptance of God’s word. You may recall the parable, the farmer spreads seed, some falls on the hard footpath, some on rocky ground, some in the thorns, and some on good soil.

In verse 12 Jesus begins to explain the parable and he says “Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”

The Devil is out there trying to interfere with our hearing and accepting God’s word. We need to realize this, and defend ourselves with the tools God has given us; The Shield of Faith, the Breastplate of Righteousness, and fight back with the Sword of the Spirit that is the word of God, as described in Ephesians 6.

Dear Lord, as we say in the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us from evil,” Help us rely on you to defend against the Devil’s schemes. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

Matthew 8:5-10, is the account of Jesus healing the Roman soldier’s servant. “When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.” Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” 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. 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.” 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!”

The officer came to Jesus to ask for the healing miracle which demonstrated his belief and faith, but the significance that Jesus highlighted, is the Officer’s understanding of Jesus’ power. The officer described this understanding in his own terms, showing Jesus and those around that he understood Jesus’ incredible power, and accepted it.

How does that apply to us? Do we really understand and accept that God can do miracles in our lives and those we love?

Dear Lord, help us truly understand your unlimited power, and accept that in your love for us, you can do miracles in our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.