ACTIVATE YOUR FAITH
And it came to pass, that as he come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging; and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, saying, what wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, receive thy sight; thy faith have saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God. ~Luke 18:35-43
As we look at some of the events that took place in this passage, we see that this man found himself dealing with people and things that were put in place to shake his faith. Make no mistake about it friends, our setbacks (snares, entanglements and fiery darts) are just as simple as this blind mans’ who sat on the side of the road begging, hearing the excitement and filled with questions. And if we are honest with ourselves, we too go about blindly looking for help through resources and from people who do not always have our best interest in mind. What I mean by that is when we rely on others, they prevent us from seeking the Lord and the setup or plot twist to choose our path gets complicated.
Another important truth to glean from this passage is that the blind man could not see his healing coming, he could only cry out and believe it was accessible based on what he heard! Friends, I would be willing to say that this was not the first time that he hollered for help because we read that when he began to cry out, the people tried to stop him. Our society has always brainwashed us to cover-up, overlook and quiet down the noise from those who seem less fortunate or not worth our time.
How often have you found yourself in need of help and someone or something came along to prevent you from receiving or believing the power of God?
What if this blind man sat there in his mess so used to being ignored and decided not to ask for help? And what if no one spoke to this man or shunned him? Or what if there wasn’t a witness to tell this man about the power of God through His Son Jesus? And what if no one wanted to tell him Jesus was passing by - that day? Many of us right now are living with problems in our lives. What exacerbates the circumstances is we have been in the rut for so long, we have let these issues prevent us from crying out! Hebrews 11:6 says, without faith, it is impossible to please him. And James 2:20 says, ‘…faith without works is dead. So this tells us not only do we have to have faith but we also have to be willing to cry out to God who is the author and the finisher of our faith! II Corinthians 5:7 says for we walk by faith, not by sight. Therefore, we must always believe that God will take care of us, even when we cannot see it. One thing we know for sure from this text is that this blind man had enough faith to keep crying out, despite what the people around him said to him. This passage should encourage us because God heard his cry! It gives us evidence that our faith in God can move mountains!
We can’t stop things from happening, but we have to have enough faith in God to know He will take care of us at all times. Not only must we cry out to Him believing that all of our help comes from Him, but we must also Glorify God so that others can see His goodness through us. This is how God uses us to be living witnesses to others. We must know that nothing in our lives happens for naught! But when we believe God and cry out, God will hear and bless us! When we cry out, God will carry all of our burdens! When we cry out, God will fix the things in our lives that need to be fixed. And all we have to do is cry out in faith to God!
We must consider why we stay in the state we are in when God is waiting for us to cry out and say yes to Him. When will we activate the mustard seed of faith and boldly believe God to turn us around, pick us up and place our feet on solid ground? Our determination should be dogged, like this blind man. Friends, regardless of our circumstances or the people around us, we must keep and maintain our Faith. It may be a challenge at first, but by reading the Bible, we experience a life-changing and perpetual transformation that nurtures our faith muscle. Through the Word, we begin a relationship with the Most High God and gain the knowledge and confidence that enables us to activate our faith in God when He seems out of reach and far from us.
Friends my testimony is that through faith, the Most High God can take us to places our minds can’t imagine! I know the devil is a liar because when I prayed to God, believing His Word and letting Him have His way in my life, my faith was activated! And that little mustard seed was the prelude to a monolith mountain of faith that ushers in healing and hope, with an unmatchable love and inner-peace. Friends it is with God-confidence that I say to you reading this right now - cry out and activate your faith today.
In His Service With Love,
The Rev
Reverend D.A. Whitney is the founder of Blessed 4 Life Ministries (B4LM), host of “Let’s Be Blunt With The Rev” and co-host of “Chatting With The Whitney’s” on Impact Radio USA @ https://pod.co/blessed-4-life-ministries he is the author of several books including “Overcoming Principalities”. The Rev can be contacted at www.blessed4lifeministries.com or at blessed4lifeministries@gmail.com