Acts - Faith

Today's Reading Acts 15 - 21
Today's Devotion -- Acts 14: 8 - 10
8In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

Ok - I know this devotion is really coming from yesterday's reading, but these are the verses that popped out at me today!

The more I learn about God, the more I realize how little faith I have. I can really empathize with the man in Mark 9:24 who said, "I believe, please help me in my unbelief." I want so badly to hear God's direction and to just go forth and follow Him. But instead I question whether it is really Him, if the instruction is really meant for me, and I struggle to figure out all the angles and 'how to's' before I take action. I also want to understand they why's and I want to know the end result before I start. My heart knows that He is in control and that He knows what is best for each of us, but my head seems to take a little (ok, a LOT) longer to get on board.

What was it about this crippled man that Paul saw? The Bible says that he "saw that he had faith to be healed." Was it something about the way he listened to the message that day? Could Paul see his faith in his eyes? If we would stop and look around us in a crowded room, could we tell who had faith and who didn't?

Hebrew 11:1 tells us that "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." The chapter goes on to give us examples of faith by the early believers -- Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Rahab, and many others. In the gospels, we see many examples of people who were commended by Jesus for their faith -- the woman who knew she could be healed by touching his robe, the four men who tore through a roof so their friend could be healed, the man who knew his servant would be healed by Jesus's words alone.

I want that kind of faith! Lord, please help me in my unfaithfulness!