BLESSED ACCORDING TO OUR FAITH

Proclamation:

"As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, calling out, 'Have mercy on us, Son of David!'  When He had gone indoors, the blind men came to Him, and He asked them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?'  'Yes, Lord,' they replied.  Then He touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you'; and their sight was restored." Matthew 9:27-30 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were spoken by Jesus, The Christ, as recorded by the Apostle Matthew.  After His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus came down from the mountain side and healed many people.  Before He blessed the two blind men by giving them their sight, Jesus asked them if they believed that He could cure their blindness.  After they said that they believed He blessed them according to their faith in Him.

Application:

Sometimes we are blessed without our having to ask.  There are other blessings we receive only if certain conditions are met first.  Most blessings are such that we either received them or we miss out on them.  However, the blessings mentioned here are given out based upon a sliding scale, the more faith we have in Jesus, the more blessings we receive from Him.  No faith, no blessings.  If we have a little faith, then we receive a little bit of the blessing.  The issue here is not if He can, but the issue is do we really believe that He can.  Our doubt, our lack of faith, or our limited little faith can interfere with our blessings and we do not receive all that is available for us. On five occasions Jesus talked about His disciples (and indirectly about us) having “little faith". (Matthew 6:30, 8:26, 14:31, 16:8, and 17:20)  We need to pray like the man with the son who was possessed by an impure spirit, “Lord, I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)  Our “intelligence” gets in the way of our believing the whole Bible.  We need His help with our unbelief and our “little faith” so that we may receive the full and complete blessing of The Lord.  We have to believe in Him and step out on faith in order to be blessed.  Believers walk by faith and not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)  Without faith in Him, it is impossible to please Him. (Hebrews 11:6)