Peter had made a promise to Jesus that he wasn’t able to fulfill. He promised Jesus to never abandon him even if the other disciples would. That Friday morning, as Jesus was being taken to the authorities. Peter denied Jesus three times. He swore to have never known him. Jesus was killed and all the expectations and dreams the disciples had about him were shattered by a cross. The disciples didn’t expect the resurrection,
Last week we talked about the idea of faith, how to believe or trust is evident; it is proved by your actions. Where James, the brother of Jesus, teaches us that faith without action is dead. Jesus always applauded people’s faith or trust in him. People’s faith in Jesus was based on what they already knew about him. They had the confidence that Jesus was the one who could fix their problem. Jesus commended those who showed faith, but reprimanded those who showed lack of faith. O you of little faith, why did you doubt.
Everyone claims to believe in something or someone; however, at times, such claim doesn’t match the actions. Faith is defined by Webster as a strong belief or trust in someone or something. A system of religious beliefs.
Faith, biblically speaking is: belief, trust or even confidence in someone or something. Faith is never portrayed as a religious system in Scripture. Jesus never said to someone, your religious system has made you well. Nevertheless, there is a great number of people who understand faith today as a system or religion. They would ask you: what faith do you belong to? Meaning what religious institution are you affiliated with? When the Bible talks about someone having faith, it refers to someone trusting, believing or having confidence in someone or something. Everyone believes or trusts; you can tell whether someone truly believes or not.
We talked about following Jesus as a race in which at times you truly progress; however, sometimes you feel as though you are moving backward. It’s easy to believe when things go well in your life, when you have “mountain top” experiences; when you feel closer to God; however, it is in the valley moments, those times when you are not in control that we tend to doubt God; for some it is during trials, suffering and turmoil that they question God. I think is safe to say that the majority of us at one time or another have struggled with trusting God wholeheartedly; perhaps you are truly wrestling right now with doubts and unbelief. How can you overcome these struggles?
Most of us or most people take supplements; a supplement is something that is added to something in order to make it complete. There are all kinds of supplements, hair loss, for losing weight; to enhance performance; to fight anxiety, and so forth.
The Bible tells us about some supplements we are to add to our faith. As followers of Jesus, we also may experience deficiency in our walk, in our faith or even in the knowledge of how to live for God in a hostile world. God has given us everything we need to continue to grow in him, but sometimes we feel we may not be growing at the rate we want, because we have not added these supplements to our faith in Jesus.
