Good morning!

Today's writing, "SHOW ME," talks about our doubts and having faith. Read on below to find out why God calls us blessed! May your faith be strengthened.

You are blessed,
Jan

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Today's Devotional:

"SHOW ME"

Jan Andersen

I grew up in Missouri, nicknamed the “Show Me” state. Though the origin of that phrase is debated, its current meaning is that the people of that state are stalwart and incredulous, not wishy-washy. They wear that nick-name with pride. But that isn't always considered a positive quality.

There was a “show me” disciple whom we often malign for his refusal to believe the other disciples when they reported they had seen Jesus alive and walking the earth after His crucifixion. Thomas said he would believe it when he saw and touched Him for himself, hence his nickname, “doubting Thomas.”

But we all have our “doubting Thomas” times where our belief wavers or our trust in God to handle our difficulties falters. It is definitely more difficult to have a strong faith in something we cannot actually see or touch, or when we are waiting for answers, seemingly indefinitely. We start to question: “How can God care about me, one small speck in the universe? How can anything good come from this problem? Is God really there? How can such awful things happen in the world if God is so loving? God can't possibly care about the little things in my life, so I won't pray about them. Does God really hear me when I pray, and will He answer my prayers? I'll believe it when I see it!”

Thankfully God has great patience with our doubts. Sometimes when we struggle harder with doubt, we come out with stronger faith. We have to make a conscious decision to move forward in faith, and God gives us the power to do that through his Holy Spirit. Even the tiniest mustard seed of faith can carry us through and move mountains. We don’t have the privilege of seeing the risen Christ with our own eyes or touching his wounds with our own hands like Thomas did. God recognizes this and calls us blessed when we believe:

John 20:29 ESV Then Jesus told [Thomas], “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

So instead of saying “seeing is believing” we can say “believing is seeing” - through faith we can more clearly see God working in our daily lives. Instead of saying “show me” to God, we can say “let me show you” to others as we witness to them about what our loving and faithful God has done for us in our lives.

Dearest Father in heaven, thank you for your gift of the Holy Spirit who plants faith in You in our hearts, and for your gift of your Son who freely gave his life for us in order that we might live forever in heaven. You have helped us to believe in our hearts so we can see that you are real and that you are faithful in caring about us. Thank you for your patience with our "show me" attitude at times. Help us to continue to grow in faith in You and to witness to others about your great love for all and your free gift of forgiveness and salvation. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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SONG:

QUESTIONS (YOU ARE FAITHFUL)

Matt Redman