Tag Archives: belief

A Prayer Prompted by John 3

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Dear Father in Heaven,

We thank you for sending Jesus Christ, your Son, so that we might believe in him and receive eternal life.  We do not want to be among those who would hear this message from Jesus and yet reject him all the same.

We grasp the fact that our eternity depends upon our response to Jesus Christ.  We receive him and believe in him so that we might be born again – born from above – and be able enter your kingdom.

We receive this free gift of eternal life, which we cannot earn or strive to achieve.  It can only come from you. This is in fact why you sent your Son, so that we might believe in him.  Cleanse and renew us now by your Holy Spirit’s power.

Let Christ now increase as we each decrease.  Let us be who you make us, nothing more, or less or other than who we now are, in Christ.

Amen

And his disciples believed in him – John 2:11

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This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

The works of Jesus do not bring about the same response from everyone.  Two people can experience the same thing, witness the same event and participate in the same activity.  One believes and one does not.  The difference is in the person, not in the sign, which is one and the same for both.

“His disciples believed in him.”  These are the true learners, the real followers, the ones who are receptive to the signs.  The effect of the signs on the skeptic will be negligible.  

This was the first of the signs that John recorded. He will of course record several more, and as he tells us in John 20:30-31,

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

The result is life for those who believe. For those who remain unmoved after exposure to the works and words of Jesus, there is no other hope.

John 1 – Verse by Verse

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John Pic

John takes us through a long sweep of history from before the creation of the world, through the incarnation and on to Jesus calling his first disciples before starting his public ministry.

John 01.pdf

John 01.mp3

Here is a link to the livestream video:

A Prayer Prompted by Mark 9:23-24

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The interaction between Jesus and the father of a demonized boy is highly instructional.  

23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 

Heavenly Father,

We know that you are all-powerful and all-good.  You deserve every bit of faith and trust that we can give.  Sadly, however, that faith and trust is still sometimes sorely lacking.  We believe and yet we don’t.  We trust you, but not completely.  We have faith, sort of, but it wavers almost uncontrollably.

We believe, Lord; help our unbelief!  If the faith we have is no more than a mustard seed, please respond by moving the mountains that we face.  It may look as if our chances and hopes are dismal, but they are no worse than the hopes of this father with the demonized son.  Our challenges are no greater than those of the disciples on the Saturday after Good Friday when your body, Jesus, was still in the tomb.

Please act, Lord!  Please hear our prayer!  Please pull us up from the depths of our unbelief, doubt and despair, and teach us to trust more fully in you.

It is in your name we pray,

Amen.