Bible League: Living His Word "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"A father brought his son to Jesus to be healed. He said "if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." "'If you can'?"' said Jesus. '"Everything is possible for one who believes"' (Mark 9:22-23). The father responded with the words of our verse for today. There is a spiritual struggle going on within the soul of every Christian. It is the struggle between the sinful self and the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul, using his metaphor "flesh" for the sinful self, described the struggle this way: " For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other" (Galatians 5:17). Given that everything we do flows from the soul (Proverbs 4:23), it follows that the spiritual struggle manifests itself in every area of life. Since the struggle cuts across every area of life, it's not surprising that it shows up in our faith life as well. Every Christian has been saved by faith. Faith is given to us by the grace of God. It is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). Although we have this faith from God, there is a human component as well. We must exercise the faith we have been given. We must put it into practice (Mark 11:22). The sinful self, however, struggles against putting faith into practice. Through the faith we have been given by the Spirit of God we believe the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe everything the word says and everything it entails. We believe that we "can do all this through him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). We believe God "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20). We believe that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (Romans 8:28). And we believe many other things from the word as well. The sinful self, however, does not believe. The sinful self struggles against faith. We need help. Like the father of our verse for today, we need Jesus to help us. We need Him to send the Spirit to fill us full so that we can overcome the unbelief of our sinful selves. Lord, we do believe; help us overcome our unbelief! Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingEzekiel 4, 5, 6 Ezekiel 4 -- Siege of Jerusalem Foretold NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Ezekiel 5 -- Jerusalem's Famine, Plague, Attack, and Dispersion Foretold NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Ezekiel 6 -- The Judgment of Israel for Idolatry; Yet will I leave a remnant NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Hebrews 10:1-23 Hebrews 10 -- Christ's One Sacrifice is Sufficient for All Time; Perseverance NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you.Insight The gospel came “with power''; it had a powerful effect on the Thessalonians. Whenever the Bible is heard and obeyed, lives are changed! Christianity is more than a collection of interesting facts; it is the power of God to every one who believes. Challenge What has God's power done in your life since you first believed? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Luke 18:1 Men ought always to pray.If men ought always to pray and not to faint, much more Christian men. Jesus has sent his church into the world on the same errand upon which he himself came, and this mission includes intercession. What if I say that the church is the world's priest? Creation is dumb, but the church is to find a mouth for it. It is the church's high privilege to pray with acceptance. The door of grace is always open for her petitions, and they never return empty-handed. The veil was rent for her, the blood was sprinkled upon the altar for her, God constantly invites her to ask what she wills. Will she refuse the privilege which angels might envy her? Is she not the bride of Christ? May she not go in unto her King at every hour? Shall she allow the precious privilege to be unused? The church always has need for prayer. There are always some in her midst who are declining, or falling into open sin. There are lambs to be prayed for, that they may be carried in Christ's bosom? the strong, lest they grow presumptuous; and the weak, lest they become despairing. If we kept up prayer-meetings four-and-twenty hours in the day, all the days in the year, we might never be without a special subject for supplication. Are we ever without the sick and the poor, the afflicted and the wavering? Are we ever without those who seek the conversion of relatives, the reclaiming of back-sliders, or the salvation of the depraved? Nay, with congregations constantly gathering, with ministers always preaching, with millions of sinners lying dead in trespasses and sins; in a country over which the darkness of Romanism is certainly descending; in a world full of idols, cruelties, devilries, if the church doth not pray, how shall she excuse her base neglect of the commission of her loving Lord? Let the church be constant in supplication, let every private believer cast his mite of prayer into the treasury. Daily Light on the Daily Path Ephesians 2:18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.John 17:23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. John 14:13,14,16,17 "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. • "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. • "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; • that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; • one Lord, one faith, one baptism, • one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Luke 11:2 And He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Hebrews 10:19,20,22 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, • by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, • let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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