This week I was reading in the gospel of Mark, and God really spoke to me through the Mark 10:46-52:
"And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind begirt, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." And they called the blind man, saying to him, 'take heart. Get up; he is calling you.' And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him. 'What do you want me to do for you?; And the blind man said to him, 'Rabbi, let me recover my sight.' And Jesus said to him, 'Go your way; your faith has made you well.' And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way."
This blind man had such incredible faith! He called out to Jesus, knowing that Jesus had the power to take away his affliction. In fact, this type of faith is seen repeatedly throughout the New Testament. People flocked to Jesus to ask him to heal themselves or their loved ones, fully believing that He would, and He did again and again!! In Luke 8:43-48, a woman had so much faith that Jesus could heal her that she thought if she just touched the fringe of Jesus' garment that she would be healed, and SHE WAS!! She had incredible faith!
In Mark 11:22-24, Jesus talks about the type of faith that can move mountains:
"And Jesus answered them, 'Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be taken up and thrown into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.'"
After reading the story of the blind man and being reminded of what incredible faith looks like and then reading this passage, I was so convicted about my lack of faith. For over a week, God has been asking me how much I trust Him, because honestly, I have been doubting Him.
As many of you know, I am currently raising all of my finances in order to do full time ministry with Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ) at the University of Southern Californa (USC). I know this is where God is calling me, and I have no doubts that He will provide, but I have been praying for God to raise 100% of my funding in 100 days, and I have been doubting whether or not He will do this. I don't want to be disappointed, but that shows my lack of faith! God is asking for more from me. He is asking for me to fully believe that if it is His will, He will provide my support in 100 days and to believe it wholeheartedly. When you have faith like that, it is powerful!!
It seems to me that these days we are too scared to pray expectingly. We are scared that God will say no. Instead, we pray timidly and don't ask Him expectingly to do BIG things. Sure we hope but we don't pray expectingly because what if we are wrong? or what if God has different plans? or what if I get hurt because God doesn't answer in the way I asked Him to answer?
Here is the truth: God answers every single prayer! He will get the glory, and His plans are better than ours! God can do the impossible! We need to be confident in His power but also submissive to His will.
Mark 14:36
"Father, all things are possible for you…yet not what I will, but what you will."
"God delights to 'give good things to those who ask him' (Matthew 7:11) and is capable of granting any prayer, though we must ask with godly motives (James 4:3) and according to God's will (1 John 5:14)…Those who trust God for the right things in the right way can have confidence that God will 'supply every need….according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.' (Philippians 4:19), knowing that he will work 'all things together for good' and will 'graciously give us all things' (Romans 8:28,32)" - ESV Study Bible
Why not pray bold and expectingly?! Why not pray big? Why not pray with that kind of faith?! What is holding us back? What is holding me back?
I'm praying for blind faith, and I'm praying for 100% in 100 days! What will you pray for?
