Couldn't I?

I don't think I'm the only person who has ever said, "I can't".
I don't think I'm the only person to think "I'm not good enough".
But Jesus paid my debt. While I was still, and am still a sinner, my debt is paid.

What an incredible gift!

I am saved from death, yes. I am saved from unhappiness and I take that so for granted. There are so many people taking pills for depression.  There are so many people who end their lives because they can't find a way to be happy. My own mom ended her life because the stress of the world was too heavy on her. Completely unnecessary! Even if my world turned upside down...even when my world turned upside down when I was 8 and then thrown for another loop just a year ago, I still have every reason to sing His praises and be filled with indescribable joy. My Savior took my sins, washed me white as snow and now His Holy Spirit lives in me. There are so many people addicted to drugs or alcohol that give them that temporary high when they could have this permanent freedom and joy that no man-made drug could ever produce! I am so grateful beyond words and emotions for the sacrifice made on my behalf, but it can't just stop there. I can't just be grateful and continue living in my little grateful bubble. What are we doing?

Matthew 9:18-22
While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

This woman was healed by merely touching Jesus' cloak, right? No. This woman was healed because she believed that by merely touching his cloak she would be healed. So often in my life I have desperately wished I could have walked with Jesus. I wish I could have been there to see Him perform miracles. I wish I could have seen Him walk on water. I wish I could have heard Him speak and witnessed first-hand how He loved others with the perfect amount of justice and mercy.

WAIT. STOP.

 

This is crazy! Why would I believe that Jesus would perform these miracle, teach great life-changing sermons, love His people perfectly, die for my sins, rise again to be seated with the Father, and then all of what he did just vanish? This is a ridiculous belief! Now, I didn't realize that that was what I was believing but that is sure how I was acting! After He ascended to be with the Father, it says in Acts 2 that "all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit". When I took the step of believing in God, His Holy Spirit came to live in me. Yes, Peter got to walk and talk with Jesus, but I have Him living in me. 

 

I believe His Holy Spirit lives in me. Couldn't I teach great sermons?

I believe His Holy Spirit lives in me. Couldn't I love His people as He did?

I believe His Holy Spirit lives in me. Couldn't I perform miracles?

 

We are capable of great things not because of our own goodness or willpower but because our powerful and perfect God.

 

Take a step out of the comfortable grateful bubble. There is a world beyond imagination that we were destined for! A world of the seen and unseen. A world of spiritual warfare and great miracles.