“Summoning his twelve disciples, [Yahshua] gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness,” writes Matthew [10:1]. After this, Yahshua spoke at length, commissioning these men before sending them out on the first-ever outreach programme. They returned full of joy and excitement having experienced the thrill of Yahshua’s authority working through them. However, sometime later there was a problem. Yahshua wasn’t around, and the disciples couldn’t help a distressed man who had brought his son for healing [Matthew 17:14-16]. When Yahshua returned He healed the boy, which later prompted the question, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” The reply was brutal, “Because of your little faith” [17:19-20].
Have you ever experienced something similar? One day we seem full of faith, connected to Yahweh through the Holy Spirit and witnessing precious answers to prayer, and the next we see – nothing! What’s happened? “We cannot call up faith at our bidding,” writes Andrew Murray shrewdly, “it needs close communion with [Yahweh].” It’s important to live our lives in unbroken fellowship with Yahweh, to rest on His omnipotence. To understand, to be fully persuaded, He’ll fulfil every promise He’s made! Andrew Murray describes this as living “in that utter helplessness and dependence on [Yahweh] alone which is the very essence of faith” [italics added].
When I think of people of faith, ‘helpless and dependent’ aren’t the first adjectives which spring to mind. So, let’s consider ‘essence’. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as ‘the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something, especially something abstract, which determines its character’. Helplessness and dependence on Yahweh alone are, therefore [according to Murray], the indispensable qualities which determine the character of faith. Now that’s a lot to take in, isn’t it? What a challenge!
It’s important to see that the ‘utter helplessness and dependence’ aren’t isolated, but, in order to produce faith, must be divinely connected to Yahweh! We’re not talking about a pathetic clinging to Yahweh, but a considered dependence that rests firmly on His Word and holds tightly to His promises.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
https://pixabay.com/photos/faith-love-hope-hands-contact-3772000/
You Are The BranchesClick to see the whole passage:
1 timothy 3:16 NIV - Beyond all question, the mystery from - Bible Gateway
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