According to Your Faith

Friday 4th December 2020. Read Isaiah 29:17-24, Psalm 27:1-14 and Matthew 9:27-31 

“The blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to him: ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then he touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith be it done to you.” (Matthew 9:28-29) 

While the prophet Isaiah (in today’s first reading) speaks of a time that the deaf shall hear and “out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see,” Jesus is literally fulfilling this prophecy in our Gospel passage. 

There is a song that goes thus: “Great things happen when God mixes with men.” Truly, great things happen when we allow the baby Jesus to take residence in our hearts and in our lives. Advent is a season of joyful expectation and hope, a time to rekindle our trust in God, a time to remind ourselves that faith in God is capable of generating physical healing.

Do you still believe in the power of God over any situation you may be facing? Jesus asked this question to the blind men and somehow Jesus is asking you and I the same question today. Do you believe I am able to do this? Do you believe I am capable of turning things around for your good? Have you forgotten that I am the creator of the whole world and that I fixed the laws of nature?

There is a song by Don Moen: “God will make a way where there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see. He will make a way.” In really tough times, it is good for us to constantly repeat this statement to ourselves. It is good for us to answer the question Jesus asked (Do you believe I am able to do this?) from the depths of our heart.

If these blind men were pretending, Jesus would have known. Jesus could read people’s hearts. He knew what the Pharisees were thinking even if they didn’t speak. So when the blind men responded “Yes Lord” Jesus knew they really believed. We cannot pretend about our faith in the power of God. You may be the most active Christian on earth, a prayer warrior, an all-night prayer champion but it all comes down to, what you really believe. In other words: “what are you expecting to happen after all that prayers of yours?”

Jesus then said: “According to your faith, let it be done for you.” Once I was listening to a radio program and listeners were asked to call in to predict the future of our nation in five years’ time. Over eighty per cent of those who called (despite being Christians) were very negative; they had no atom of faith that anything good would become of our country. The truth is that just as they cannot see anything good in the future of the country, they cannot also see anything good coming into their own lives.

Dear friends, your tomorrow is according to your faith. You cannot cheat reality. If you believe something will happen, it has already happened in your heart and because it has happened within you, it will soon happen to you. Like an artist who does not begin a painting without a clear image of the desired outcome, we all need to have a clear image of what we want when we approach God in prayer and faith to believe that as we have seen it in our minds so shall we see it in reality.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, deepen my faith in you always so as to receive healing from you. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Friday of the First week of Advent. Bible Study: Isaiah 29:17-24, Psalm 27:1-14 and Matthew 9:27-31).