SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/29/2022 11:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Intro to “The Power of Faith”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 17:14-21
Message of the verses: “14 And when they
came to the multitude, a man came up to Him, falling on his knees before Him,
and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic, and is very
ill; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 “And I
brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him." 17 And Jesus
answered and said, "O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall
I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me." 18
And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at
once. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could
we not cast it out?" 20 And He said to them, "Because of the
littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a
mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it
shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you. 21 “But this kind does
not go out except by prayer and fasting."
I find it kind of amazing to be just
finishing teaching the 11th chapter of Hebrews and then coming to
these verses from Matthew chapter seventeen and they all have to do with
faith. I think that the Lord wants me to
understand more about faith, and it is my prayer that I will be a good
listener.
As we begin looking at Matthew 17:14
it marks the beginning of a special period of instruction by Jesus to the
Twelve that will continue all the way through chapter 20. MacArthur writes “Having given them a
revelation of His person as King and of His program for the kingdom, He now
gives them further principles for living in the kingdom. The first is the foundational principle of
faith. Just as spiritual life must be
received by faith, so also it is to be lived by faith.” Colossians 2:6 is a verse that has always meant
a lot to me and it goes along with this quote from MacArthur. “Therefore
as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” How does a person receive Christ Jesus into their
life? 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works,
so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). If
you combine Colossians 2:6 with
Ephesians 2:8 you will see that that a person is saved, by faith,
is the same way the same way that we are to walk, by faith. The truth is that from the moment we are
saved until the moment we go to be with the Lord, either by dying, or by being
alive at the rapture we are to live by faith, faith in God, and that is what
the Lord is teaching in this section of Matthew chapter 17.
Warren
Wiersbe in his commentary on the book of Hebrews entitles the tenth chapter of
his book which teaches the 11th chapter of Hebrews “FAITH—THE GREATEST
POWER IN THE WORLD.” John MacArthur
actually has eight chapters in his commentary on the 11th chapter of
Hebrews and as you may guess all of the titles have to do with faith. Like I said I believe the Lord is getting my
attention to learn more about faith, and I have to say that I am very happy to
do so.
I
will close this SD with a quotation from John MacArthur’s commentary: “Scripture gives continual testimony to the
power of faith in God in the lives of believers. It was faith in God’s power that caused young
Caleb to look at the land of Canaan with its giants and report to Moses, ‘We
should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely
overcome it’ (Num. 13:30). It was faith
in God’s care that enabled Job to say of Him in the midst of personal disaster,
‘Through He slay me, I will hope in Him’ (Job13:15). It was faith in God’s protection that enabled
Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego to stand at the edge of the fiery furnace and
declare to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us
from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O
king. But even if He does not, let it be
known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the
golden image that you have set up’ (Dan. 3:17-18). It was faith in God’s protection that enabled
Daniel to continue faithfully worshiping God even though it meant being thrown
into the lion’s den (Dan. 6:10). It was
faith in Jesus to forgive her sins that brought spiritual deliverance to the
woman who entered the Pharisee’s house and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears
and dried them with her hair (Luke 7:37-50).”
Lord
willing, we will look at another paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary and this
one will what he writes about the people from the 11th chapter of
Hebrews.
10/29/2022 11:51 AM
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