Faith is not the absence of reality. In fact, faith is pulling the impossible into our reality, by calling on the name of Jesus.
One of my favorite scriptures is Mark 9:24, there is a father and his son, the father sees Jesus, calls out to him and asks him to heal his son.
Earlier in the story, we see there are people arguing and making a fuss, Jesus approaches the crowd and asks what is going on, it is in this moment the father speaks to Jesus and tells him about his son and his condition. In verse 24 we see the father's response to Jesus, it is one of humility and boldness.
I believe it is in his response to Jesus that the healing he was asking for was done. His faith in Jesus' ability to pull the impossible into his reality was seen in his response. To my knowledge of the passage, the father had never had a face-to-face moment with Jesus. This is the very first time he is seeing Jesus, yet he must have believed enough about what he heard to ask Jesus to do this thing for him. This is an act of faith.
In Hebrews 11:1, we find a definition of what faith is, based on that understanding of faith, the father has exercised the faith he had to ask Jesus for this one thing.
I have the ability to pull the impossible into my reality by calling on the name of Jesus and humbling myself. When I acknowledge my inability to do things on my own and call on the one who can do all things, I am releasing my pride and saying I need help. In those moments I can then pull all the faith I have together and Jesus to do what only he can for me.
I invite you to challenge your faith and trust in the Lord by asking him to pull something that seems impossible into your reality.
Here are more passages about faith:
- Mark 9:24
- Hebrews 11:1
- Mark 10:27**
- James 2:14-16**
I will leave us with a prayer,
Father in heaven, thank you. Thank you for who you are and for what you have done. Thank you for your grace, your peace and your love. I pray now that you would ignite my faith in you, that it would grow to be enough for what I am asking you to do for me. I pray that my faith would be solely in you and not in myself or in those around me. I pray my faith would grow to match that of the father of the boy in Mark 9, that I would be able to acknowledge where it falls short and allow you to pick up the slack. I pray I would humble myself in prayer, in my thought life, in my actions and in my heart to come before you in prayer and ask you to bring the impossible into my reality. Most importantly Father, I ask that my faith in you would lead me to trust you more and more each day.
I pray and ask all of these things in your son Jesus' name,
Amen