According to Your Faith

Matthew 9:29-30a

29Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you." 30"And their eyes were opened.

Jesus is still in the miracle business! Jesus performs miracles to increase belief in Him and God the Father. When Jesus performs miracles on a person, it is not just for the one receiving it but for those around that they will benefit and increase their belief. During His earthly ministry, Jesus came upon two blind men who wanted to receive their sight.  The ones to whom He performs the miracles already have faith. The blind men had approached Jesus with the faith that He could heal their blindness. Jesus asked if they believed He could heal them. The answer they gave was, "Yes, Lord."   So what is faith? Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The translation of this verse in the NKJ Study Bible also states the Greek word for faith as pistis and it is defined by two words, substance (Greek word hupostastis for "that which stands under") and evidence, (Greek word elenchos for "proof"). And I love this part, "Faith means trust or confidence in what God has promised."  So how do you know what God has promised if you don't know God? Answer, you don't.

The once blind men had already heard of Jesus, heard about His teaching and about the miracles He performed. So by them hearing and seeing what Jesus did for others increased their belief. The blind men sought Jesus because they had faith. The blind men believed in the promise that by Jesus, they could be healed. And so it was according to their faith.

Seven years ago, "According to your faith" was the word my former pastor and friend gave to me after a Tuesday night Bible study call. God showed him a vision of what He was going to do with me but said, "It will be giving to you according to your faith." Within another month, I received another word from another person saying, "your going to be doing a lot of writing." Many of you know how Get Your JOY In The Morning the devotional came to be and then the book. I had no idea about the near death experience that had to come first that would test my faith and the promise that Jesus could heal me. I had no idea that when I started the book and began to recruit my sister, friend and partner, Raiza, that her belief that God had revealed to me my purpose, would lead to her strengthening her faith and her entire household coming to Christ. Standing in a hotel lobby on Saturday afternoon summer 2010, her words were, "You found your purpose! Do you know how many people search their whole life to find their purpose? Many don't find it but you did!" Seeing others come to Christ gives me so much joy! Because I know that when my earthly life is over, no matter who I miss here, I am assured I will get to smile and hug them in the presence of Jesus and God the Father. The mantra of the company Raiza and I started, Get Your JOY In The Morning! LLC, is that it is through faith that one finds purpose.  It is through faith that one finds healing. It is through faith that one can fulfill their dreams. But faith, is the main ingredient by which it all has to happen. Faith in Jesus and coming to know Him is the only way to expose why you are here, how you can be healed and how you can move forward in anything God placed within you. When my pastor continued to say, "you have a writing ministry," I believed him. When our assistant pastor, prophetess said, "this is only the start of what God has for you to do," I believed it. When I was commissioned as a teacher in 2006 at a church, I believed it. When a man of God at our revival said, "you are a teacher and you are doing what you're supposed to do, I had already believed it. He stated it not just for me, but for those around. But again, without faith, none of this could be. My question to you, what do you think Jesus could do for you, according to your faith?