Tag: Faith

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Nathanael’s Journey: Seeing Greater Things with Christ (John 1:50)

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

(50) Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. (John 1:50)

Explain

Jesus connected with Nathanael in a prophetic, personal, and powerful way, and Nathanael believed. Jesus prophesies again saying that Nathanael would see greater things than the supernatural display of his knowledge that he had just experienced. Although we are just about to finish chapter 1 of John, we know this to be true. Nathanael would see Jesus do some incredible things.

Nathanael is only referened by name in John 1 and in John 21. In John 21, Peter goes fishing and Nathanael and some other disciples go with him. They fish all night and catch nothing. Then Jesus comes. He tells them to cast their niets on the other side, and when they do they drew a multitude of fishes. It’s at this point that they realized it was Jesus, and Nathanael along with other disciples had breakfast cooked by the resurrected Christ.

Would Nathanael see greater things than these? You better believe it!

Apply

Without faith it is impossible to please God. Here we see Nathanael commended by Jesus for putting his faith in Christ. We ought to be quick to believe the scriptures, to trust Christ, and to believe in what He can do.

Response

  1. How is your faith in Christ today? Are you trusting him?
  2. What have you seen God do in your life recently?
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Living by Faith: Lessons from John the Baptist (John 1:31)

On By Ben JenningsIn Devotional1 Comment

[31] And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. 

Explanation

John knew Jesus as His cousin. John also knew that his mission was to make manifest the Messiah to Israel. This was the reason that he had a preaching ministry that was leading people to repentance pictured in baptism. They were being prepared to meet the Messiah. They were being prepared by being repentant.

This is the moment where John realizes that the Messiah was Jesus. He prophetically understood in this moment that the person he was preparing people for was here. Think about how incredible that must have been. The messiah is here, and it is his cousin. Amazing!

Application

When God calls us to a ministry, He rarely gives us all of the information that we will eventually have in the doing of that ministry. We learn as we go. We see the providence of God far more clearly in hindsight than in foresight. God has a plan, and we do not always know it from the beginning. By faith in Christ, we act on what we do know and what God has told us through His Word. As we act in faith, God uses us and allows us to see more clearly. One songwriter said, “I’ll walk with grace my feet, and faith my eyes.” I like that sentiment. We need God’s daily grace, and we walk by faith and not by sight.

Response

  1. Where do you need to live by faith today?
  2. Who do you need to point to Jesus today?
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Faith in God helps us endure suffering. Hebrews 11:35-38

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

Highlight:

(35) Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection; (36) And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: (37) They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (38) (Of whom the world was not worthy;) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Explanation:

This passage continues the list of actions that showed faith in the living God even when it was difficult.  The first statement is about women who thought that their loved ones were dead but through faith received them back to life.  The widow of Zerephath in 1 Kings 17:22, and the woman of Shunem in 2 Kings 4:34 certainly qualify.  The rest explain people who placed their faith in God and were mistreated for it.  The phrase that sticks out from the rest, though all of it is remarkable, is the parentheses in verse 38 which says “of whom the world was not worthy”.    This seems to indicate that there was a level on honor the preacher is ready to give and believes that these people deserve based on the faith that they expressed in enduring these calamities.  

Of course, we know that these people were sinners, too.  How did they get to the point where they were willing to endure such trials?  It is the mercy and grace of God in their lives to which they responded.  They believed God and He helped them to live for him in such a critical way.

Listen to this list from these verses:

  • Tortured
  • Cruel mockings
  • Scourgings
  • Bonds of Imprisonment
  • Stoned
  • Sawn assunder
  • Tempted
  • Slain with the Sword
  • Wandered…being destitute
  • Afflicted
  • Tormented
  • Homeless in mountains, dens, and caves

The disciples that Jesus sent endured martyrdom and exile.  It serves an important apologetic today.  These men were not notable before they met Jesus.  They had no reason to die for this falsifiable claim that they were making if it were not true.  They claimed to have seen Jesus live an extraordinary, supernatural life and ministry, die a substitutionary death, and resurrect from the dead.  That this truth is the hope for forgiveness of sins was their message, and they suffered death and exile for this message is crucial.  Their faith helps to assure our faith that Jesus Christ is in fact who He said He is.

Application:

Several points of application:

  1. Let their example encourage your walk of faith.
  2. Question whether or not you would be willing to endure these things for Christ.
  3. Juxtapose their expression of faith, and what God asks of you in living for him today.
  4. Thank God for the example that they are to us.

Response:

Heavenly Father,  I admit that I have it pretty good.  I have much affirmation for my expressions of faith in you.  I have a comfortable life relatively.  Help me to not get soft.  Help me to be bold in my living out my faith in you.  Thank you for their example and for your Son who endured the worst of all of it so that I could have eternal life.  God grow me in this area.  Amen

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Reject the wrong power…Hebrews 11:27

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

Hebrews 11:27

27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

Explanation:

What a beautiful expression of  Moses’ approach to Egypt.  We know that Moses left Egypt twice.

The first time he left Egypt was after he killed an Egyptian slave master.  When he left that time he did fear the king.  He was fearful that the law of the land would bring him punishment for his crime.  He had killed an Egyptian for a Hebrew.  He had that jewish background, and so I’m sure the argument that he was pro-Hebrew and pro-slave was a culturally anti-Egyptian way of thinking.  When he departed that time he literally was in fear of the wrath of the king.

This verse, therefore, has the second departure in mind.  When Moses left that time he took the whole nation and their possessions with him.  What was the difference between the first exodus of Moses, and the Exodus of Moses with the people?  

The verse describes why when it says, “for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.”  When Moses went back to Egypt to take God’s people out, he went with a fear of God in Him.  He did not fear the invisible king because He had a fear of the invisible God.  He had met with God, and this changed everything.  He believed in what He could not see.

Application:

This has always been the key to getting it right when it is time to do civil disobedience.  When the authorities tell us what to do, Romans 13 reminds us that human government is ordained of God.  Yet, when those human authorities that are ordained of God seek to compel us to disobey God, then our obligation is to disobey them.  Fear of God is a faith thing.  It is the beginning of wisdom, and in a sense the beginning of fear of God is faith.

We disobey God when we give into peer pressure that pushes us to disobey him.  In that moment we fear being the odd man out more than we fear God.

Proverbs 29:25 tells us this:

25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

Response:

Lord God,

Help me to fear You today, and let that drive myself to loving you and others the way I ought to love You.  Keep Egypt out of my heart.  Fill my heart so that there is no room for Egypt in it.

Amen