30 Day Course on Faith - Day 23

Faith to Receive

"Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you." ~Matthew 9:29

According to our faith, we can receive spiritual healing, physical healing, temporal blessings... it all depends on our asking and then having the faith to receive. 

I had an interesting experience happen to me a couple of years ago that helped me understand this better:

Fred (name has been changed) is a friend of my husband's from high school who has several disabilities. He lives on a very limited income.  He called my husband a couple of years ago and said that he had been diagnosed with diabetes and needed an exercise bike so he could get some exercise to help with the diabetes.  Because of his limited income, he couldn't afford the bike.  So he was calling all of his friends and asking them if they would pitch in some money (he said $5-20, but he would also be grateful for $1). He said some people were mad at him for asking so he wanted to be sure my husband wasn't mad at him.  My husband assured him that he was not mad and that we would be happy to help him buy the bike.

When my husband told me about the call, I felt impressed and excited to help Fred buy the bike! I told my husband that we should offer to buy the bike outright for Fred.  I felt like Fred really needed the bike and he needed it right away, and we had been blessed with the means to provide it for him.  (Plus it was "seed" money so I knew that whatever we paid for the bike would come back to us tenfold).

So my husband called Fred back, but Fred told us just to send the amount that we were comfortable sending.  So we sent him a check (we would have been willing to double the amount on the check if he just would have asked us). 

A few weeks later Fred called us to let us know that he had purchased the bike and was excited about it, and that he had started using it!  He said the money we had sent him had really helped and that he was really grateful for it.  But then he told me that we had sent him too much money and that he was going to return some of it.

I assured him that we sent him the money for his birthday and we really wanted him to have it!  It took quite a bit of convincing to persuade him that we still wanted him to keep the money (even though there was money left over after buying the bike) and that he could go out to dinner or something to celebrate his birthday!

It was interesting to be on the other side of the "ask" equation - to be the generous giver. When we ask, we need to be specific about what we are asking for.  Because we are not specific enough we may get a smaller gift than the one God wanted to give us. (Remember we would have sent more than twice what we sent Fred) ...OR... sometimes we feel like God has given us too much and we need to give some of it back!  When really what God wants is for us to receive His gift and ask for MORE! 

Daily Challenge: Every day for 30 days in a row, 

I want you to say the following out loud at least 10 times each day!!!  

Be sure to say it cheerfully and enthusiastically!  

This scripture is found in Philippians 4:13:

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” 

You've now completed this challenge 23 days in a row!
Be sure to congratulate yourself for a job well done!