"Just Believe!"

 "But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight." (John 9:18 KJV)

  "Who has believed our message? To whom has the LORD revealed his powerful arm?" (Isaiah 53:1 NLT)

 Today I want to speak about something that might hit close to home; Home being the heart! As I have mentioned before, this little book called, "My Heart - Christ's Home," and several different things that I got from it in the past; the one thing I don't remember it speaking too much about was belief, as in, a person's willingness to believe in Jesus Christ.

 Oddly enough, I think it is really not that hard to believe that Jesus was born, because history confirms that He was. History also confirms that He was crucified and died on the cross. And just the fact that almost all His disciples died confessing that He rose from the grave, proves that He still lives, and that everything He said was true; so, believing that what the Bible says is true, especially about who He is, is really not that hard to do.

 So, then, what is it that is the problem? The problem is in me! There is a little something to what God did for Adam before He made Eve from Adam's side: He made Adam aware that he needed a woman! Like a simple illustration of an invisible bridge that God has made from us to Him, the bridge is real enough, but do I believe that I am able to cross it? 

 That is the problem I believe many of us deal with, more than we care to admit. How many times I have dealt with that issue, confirming that I have been saved, believing that I have been redeemed; and then wake up one morning wondering if it is really true! Call it spiritual warfare, if you want, because most of the time it is; but some of the time, it is just us looking at ourselves and expecting something that we cannot become.  

 I cannot say what Paul's thorn in the flesh was, and neither can anyone else; that is totally between Paul, God, and anyone that Paul might have told. But I can say with all certainty that it was not really something that God was willing to correct. Paul accepted that, so called weakness, knowing that it was there to keep him humble and aware of his need for God's saving grace. 

 Besides that, this is not an easy journey! Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you," but He also says, "Pick up your cross and follow me." His yoke is easy when we are looking straight ahead, keeping our eyes on Him, but this cross we bare is for this flesh, this flesh that needs to have been crucified with Christ! 

 Believe that and walk accordingly, as best as you can! But with all you that you can, keep your eyes on Christ Jesus for your salvation...

"Or have forgotten that when we were joined with Christ in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin." (Romans 6:3-7 NLT)