Most Loving God, I know that I cannot earn right standing with You by being or doing good. If I could, the gift would not be free but an obligation. Relying on myself has proven futile and all I can do is cast myself before You asking for mercy and grace. Help me to never wonder if my faith was strong enough to be saved. The act of redemption does not depend on the strength of my faith; instead, I must believe that You are strong enough to save me no matter what level of faith I have. You offer me salvation as a gift because You love me, not because I’ve earned it through powerful faith. Faith is the mechanism by which I believe and trust You as the one who redeemed me from the power of sin and eternal death. I must never forget that no sin is too big to be forgiven. David committed multiple sins … adultery, murder and lying … yet You forgave him and called him a man after Your own heart.
The promises that I inherited through faith are the product of grace. In order to be a beneficiary of Your blessings, I must understand that my faith emanates from Your grace and there is nothing I can do to earn it. Faith is a spiritual muscle that needs to be exercised in order to grow stronger. It is the trials that come into my life that act as bar bells to increase the strength of my faith. Once I succeed with faith, it’s mine and I can use it as a shield to extinguish the fiery darts which the enemy uses to destroy my belief in You. Faith helps me stand firm when everything around me is trembling because I trust that You are greater than anything formed against me. The way to increase faith is to look to You as the One who supplies it, causes it to grow and provides me with opportunities to apply it. When the storms of adversity come to erode my faith, I know You will respond to my request to “help my unbelief.”
As a believer, You instruct me to walk by faith and not by sight. As an example of how this works, You’ve given me the story of the time when Your Apostles set out to cross a lake in a boat. Once they were on their way, a storm came up. When You walked across the water to rescue them, they became terrified because they thought You were a ghostHe was a ghost. That’s when Peter called out “if it is You, tell me to come to You on the water.” You responded for him to “come”. At Your command, he left the boat and began to walk toward You on the water. When he saw the fury of the wind, he became afraid and began to sink. You rebuked him for doubting. The reason he sank is because he took his eyes off of You and let doubt creep in. I sometimes sink in fear because of a storm that comes into my life. What I need to do is stay focused on You and call out for You to “help my unbelief”. And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!!
Mark 9:23 Jesus said “everything is possible for him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.”