Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
An elderly teacher, with a pupil by his side, took a walk through a forest. Suddenly he stopped and pointed to four plants close at hand. The first was just beginning to peep above the ground, the second had rooted itself pretty well into the earth, the third was a small shrub, while the fourth was a full-sized tree. The tutor said to his young companion, 'Pull up the first plant.' The boy did so eagerly, using only his fingers. 'Now pull up the second.' The youth obeyed but found the task more difficult. 'Do the same with the third,' he urged. The boy had to use all his strength to uproot it. 'Now,' said the instructor, 'try your hand with the fourth.' The pupil put his arms around the trunk of the tall tree and couldn't even shake its leaves. 'This, my son, is just what happens with our bad habits. When they are young, we can remove them readily; but when they are old, it's hard to uproot them, though we try and struggle ever so sincerely.'"
We all have weeds and even enormous Redwoods that need uprooting in our lives. It takes a LOT of effort to get strong enough to move those big ones on our own. Instead, let's take that same effort and start practicing faith in the Lord!
Perhaps you're weary of pulling. God doesn't expect us to pull these bad habits ourselves. Let's ask the Lord to do the uprooting today and watch Him gain the victory!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Shortly after WWI, Lawrence of Arabia was entertaining some of his Arab friends in Paris. He showed them the sights of the city: the Arc d’Triomph, the Louvre, the Champs Elysees. It was a remarkable irony to Lawrence that these amazing sights were not what most impressed his Arab friends — but rather the bathtub faucet of their hotel room. They were completely astonished that someone could turn a handle…and get all the water he wanted.
In this prophetic passage the critical question is immediately followed by the powerfully convicting answer. Joel prophesies the Day of the Lord, and asks, “Who can endure it?” The next word “therefore”, is followed by the prophet’s urgent counsel: “Turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning!”
The Lord gave us His promise to send us a helper -- the Holy Spirit. The word for "helper" in the NT Greek is "paraclete". This word has more meaning then simply "helper" -- it was also an ancient term used in warfare. When Greek warriors went onto the battle field, they went out in pairs, so when the enemy attacked they could stand back-to-back, covering each other's blind side. The battle partner in Greek was called a "paraclete" -- he was there to watch your back!
When I was younger I used to take an ax and cut up firewood from the woods behind our house. The one thing I always did was sharpen my axe! A dull axe meant harder work chopping through fallen trees. The sharper the ax the less effort and energy required for the task. So I learned early on to sharpen my ax before venturing into the woods, and I saved myself a lot of time and energy. (Besides I was a small kid, growing up, so I needed all the help I could get! 😉 )
One of His greatest promises to us is that nothing can separate us from the love of God. No tribulation or distress we might ever suffer can obliterate the power of His love to carry us through!
In Israel, the Ministry of the Interior is called Misrad Ha-Pnim, translated literally, "Office of the Faces". Those in charge of immigration and citizenship are looking into the faces of those who seek citizenship or residency within the land. Some have observed that the officials there carefully scrutinize each applicant...