When Faith Steps In

John 20:19 – 31

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

When Jesus steps into the room the first thing he offers is peace, second he breaths on them and fills them with the Holy Ghost. To me this is so amazing, the breath of God gave Adam life in the garden, and now just the breath of God can fill each of us with peace, joy, and that wonderful sweet Holy Ghost. He gives it to us freely; all we need to do is believe.

In these scriptures Thomas wanted God to prove to him that Jesus had risen, for he had seen Jesus beaten, carry that ole’ heavy cross up to the place where he laid down and big old rusty nails were put into his hands and feet. He saw Jesus suffer a long and painful death on that lonely hill and when they pierced his side the blood and water flowed. He, like many of us, we want to see physical proof. Before Thomas could believe he had to touch him, this is what some of us do over certain circumstances, we want to touch the miracle before we can believe it is possible.

Many of us have all heard and know the scripture that gives us the meaning of faith; it clearly states this by saying Now faith is… (Hebrews 11:1). It’s these three small words that when used, it can move mountains; sometimes the mountain is physical but many times it’s emotional. We are saying God can do it for you but we forget that means for ourselves too. In John 20 the verses 29 & 31 the gospel goes on to explain, Jesus is no longer speaking to the disciples but he is speaking to the people of today and as we read or hear these words:

Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. …these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

The word says (Romans 12:3 …according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith), we are given this which is how we can believe in the above scripture that Jesus was speaking to every person born in the world after his death and have not seen him as the disciples did and yet we believe he is. As a child our mother’s teach us that her love for us does not waiver. She encourages us to be the best man or woman we can be, to stand on our own feet, to know that even when we mess up or stumble; her love for us will grow stronger and this cycle continues with each generation. A mother’s love is so precious and powerful and only thing that is stronger is the love of Jesus.

Jesus has a love for each of us that is so strong and we know that he is always there. Our faith begins as we kneel down at the altar of God and ask for his forgiveness of our sins, it will continue on throughout our lives as long as we trust in the Lord. 

Our faith is tested regularly. In I Peter 1:7 it says That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: …even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

The more our faith grows, the more it is tested and the more we use our faith the more it will grow. It says in the word that (I Peter 2:4, If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ) we are chosen by God and are precious to him. We should continuously be growing in faith, in the word, and acceptable to God.

I hope I have been able to put into words and paint the picture what I felt the Lord wanted me to give to you today. For Jesus is so precious to me and you. We are on the greatest journey of our lives and there is so much to lose if we chose not to pursue after Jesus. Let us come together in one mind and one spirit and know that through our faith we can change the world.

Written by: Karen ReNee