Daily Devotional

“Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” Matthew 8:13

As I began meeting with the Lord in Matthew this week I noticed a huge theme in the lives that Jesus touched in chapters 8 & 9.

  • The leper who said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.“  8:1-4

“Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “ I am willing; be cleansed.”

  • The centurion who came to Jesus to ask him to heal his paralyzed servant. And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 

And the Centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.”And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.”  8:5-13

  • “And when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. So He touched her hand, and the fever left her.”  8:14-15

  • The 2 demon possessed men coming out of the tombs and He said to the demons, “Go.” And they ran into the sea and perished. 8:28-34

  • The paralytic that they brought to Jesus, and “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you…then He said to the paralytic, Arise, take up you bed, and go to your house.’ And he arose and departed to his house. “  

  • 9:1-8

  • The ruler who came and worshiped Jesus saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.”  And Jesus went into the ruler’s house “and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.”  9:18-19, 23-26

  • The woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. “But Jesus turned around and when He saw her He said, ‘Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And the woman was made well from that hour.” 9:20-22

  • The two blind men who followed Jesus saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us! “

And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”And they said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”“Then He touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith let it be to you.’ And their eyes were opened.”  9:27-31

  • And the mute man that Jesus cast a demon out of and the mute man spoke.  9:32-34

As I read through these accounts I was drawn to the people affected by Jesus’ compassion. Some came with great faith; some didn’t ask for His healing, some didn’t know they had something keeping them from being healed. I feel like there are and have been moments in my life that I can relate to each one of these.  

In the past several weeks I have been acutely aware of so many in our small local body who have been affected by life-threatening illness, loved ones passing away, and others dealing with extreme suffering.  I wondered why we only have the accounts here of the positive outcomes. My answer came in one word, FAITH. My need right now was for God to encourage and increase my faith. He wanted to remind me, that in spite of some of the impossible circumstances I (we) am affected by, He is a God of miracles.

“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labors are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into His harvest.” Matthew 9:35-38

HE IS A REALLY BIG GOD!
OH, HOW HE LOVES US!
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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