King
James Bible Daily Devotion – Learning
Scripture One Day At A Time
Date: Saturday,
October 17, 2015
Chapters: Mark 9-10
https://imfollowingjesus.com/Bible-Reading-290.html
Message
Title: Works
That Accompany Faith

Hello My Friend,

We
talk a lot about faith, which is the substance by which everything of
God falls on, but we do not talk much about the thing that must
accompany faith to make it stick and in fact, increase our faith,
works. While our works for God have nothing to do with our salvation,
it has everything to do with our relationship with Him after we get
saved, and the impact it has on our lives as we increase our faith
through them. “Even so faith, if it hath not
works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and
I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew
thee my faith by my works.” - James 2:17,18.

Many
people have faith in God, but few are willing to take the one step
needed to get saved and make Him present in their lives, and that is
to receive Christ as their Saviour. It often takes something tragic
for us to see that we need Jesus, all throughout His ministry we see
that many followed Him around, but few actually received Him into
their lives. We come to a man who had a son possessed by an evil
spirit, he tried to get the disciples to help him first, but to no
avail, desperate, he seeks Jesus to cure him. “And
he asked his father, How long is it
ago since this came unto him? And he
said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and
into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have
compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If
thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with
tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that
the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying
unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit,
I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.”
- Mark 9:21-25.

“Lord, I believe;
help thou mine unbelief.” Jesus was well aware of the boys
problem, and how long he had it, He wanted to see his fathers faith
and waited for him to call on Him alone to cure the boy. Faith is
great, but if we do not actually call on Jesus to help us, He can't
help us. Why? Jesus never forces Himself upon anyone, that's free
will, He will never intercede unless we actually call on Him. As much
as we believe in Jesus, even the strongest Christians can have some
unbelief that He can help them sometimes, and it takes a last resort
for them to call on Him. All things are possible with God! All it
takes is one call and He will be there to help us, just as He saved
us. Once we are saved, the devil can't touch us, we belong to Jesus,
yes, he can still tempt us, but he can't have our soul, Jesus bought
that with His blood the second we received Him and will save us to
the uttermost. If we want to see Jesus do more than that, we need to
have a relationship with Him. “And
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I
will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments.” - John
14:13-15.

Many people believe in Jesus, I remember growing
up, being taught about Jesus, on Christmas we knew it was His
birthday, during lent we would give us something we enjoyed, and eat
no meat on Wednesday and Friday. On Good Friday we observed His death
on the cross, and on Easter we celebrated His resurrection. These
were all works not necessary to be saved. Many religions are very
good at telling us about Jesus, but leaving out one vital piece of
information, we need to receive Him to be saved. Even more
astonishing, many will deny Him upon learning that vital piece of
information. Why? They do not want to give up what they have. A rich
young man, following the ten commandments came to Jesus asking Him
how to be saved, Jesus, tells Him to sell everything he had, and give
it to the poor. The man left, never receiving him. Jesus, was kind of
angry by this.

“Then Jesus
beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One
thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give
to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take
up the cross, and follow me. And he
was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great
possessions. And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his
disciples, How hardly shall they that
have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth
again, and saith unto them, Children,
how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the
kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who
then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With
men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are
possible.” - Mark 10:21-27.

“How
hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of
God!” We must understand that Jesus was not telling this
man that selling these things would save him, He was testing his
faith, if he really wanted to be saved than he would have been
willing to sell all he had. Following all of God's commands does not
save us, following man made rules does not save us, only believing in
Christ and receiving Him saves us. God will often place circumstances
in our lives in order to increase our faith in Him, Jesus is always
with us, we just need to call out to Him, such as the case of a blind
beggar who heard that Jesus was passing by.

“And
when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and
say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him
that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal,
Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and
commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto
him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away
his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said
unto him, What wilt thou that I
should do unto thee? The blind man
said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said
unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath
made thee whole. And immediately he
received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.” - Mark
10:47-52.

“What wilt thou that
I should do unto thee?”
Although Jesus was in His presence and very well knew what the man
wanted, He did not give Him what He wanted until he first cried out
to Him, and secondly, Jesus wanted to see his faith. It is not enough
to simply have faith in God we must act upon that faith and call on
Him. Faith is great, but without actually doing something about it it
is dead. “If ye fulfil the royal law
according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,
ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are
convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the
whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Thou
believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also
believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith
without works is dead? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so
faith without works is dead also.” - James
2:8-10,19,20,26.

Today's Prayer:
God, it is amazing that we can simply come to You through Your Son,
and be a part of Your Kingdom. We do not have to work our way to
heaven or pay our way to get there, because Jesus paid the price for
us, we just need to simply have faith in His finished work. Lord, I
offer myself to You as a living sacrifice, I am trusting in Your Son
to help me endure every trial and temptation as I follow Him. I know
that I do not need to do anything to keep by salvation, but if I want
a lasting, fulfilled, and abundantly blessed life with You, I need to
be led by the example of Your Son. Even if I fail I know that You are
always with me and will help me when I humble myself before You and
call You as Your child. In Jesus' name. Amen.

God Bless
You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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