Have Faith!

What is a moment in your life where you felt that you absolutely could not do something, no matter how hard or how many times you tried?

How many times did you fail when you began learning how to tie your shoes? It took me several times before I finally got it right. Do you know how many times Thomas Edison tried and failed to create a lightbulb? While the exact number is unknown, it is believed that he tried and failed at least 1,000 times before he finally got a lightbulb to work. 

He may have failed one experiment, but he kept trying different ways, and upon failing again he tried another, until he finally got it right. He continued trying because he had faith that someday he could figure it out.

Faith. It is the knowing, without direct observation, based on indirect evidence and experience, that something is true, real, or will happen. It is belief, confidence, trust, or conviction.

In Matthew 17, the disciples had gone through a moment of unbelief and Jesus explained to them their lack of faith. 

Matthew 17:14-20  “And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,

Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.

And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.

And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

They couldn’t cast out the devil because they didn’t believe that they could. They didn’t have faith. 

To overcome temptation, it first takes faith. Never say, I can’t overcome the temptation. Yes you can, you just need the Lord’s help. Never say, I can’t, because when you do you leave yourself no room to succeed. You completely shut out the opportunity to do better and improve and to conquer. 

We can do all things through Christ as it is written in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Christ died to forgive us of our sins. To give us another chance if and when we fail and make a mistake. Knowing this, we need to continue to have faith that we can become overcomers. If after the first time you sinned you told yourself, I’m never going to be able to overcome this, where’s your faith? Where’s your faith in the grace and forgiveness of Christ?

Matthew 11:28 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

No more struggling under the weight of your sins, because through faith in Jesus, you can overcome.

Matthew 19:26  “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”

Have faith!

We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc  where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods.