Mark 9:24

I remember hearing in a very good sermon that all I can do is look and believe: look at Jesus, and believe Him.

A friend said to me last week, "Do you believe in Jesus, or do you believe Jesus?...There is a difference."

I heard in another sermon that to "believe" is to "rest the weight of your soul" upon something. To believe Jesus is to rest the weight of my soul upon Him.

There is no struggle quite as intense as the struggle to surrender the areas of your heart where your inmost desires and deepest insecurities lay. I have noticed that if we really desire to follow Jesus, He has an excruciatingly accurate ability to pinpoint exactly where we are resting in unbelief and say, "come, follow me." Following Jesus seems like it means that he is always finding a new cliff for me to walk off. Each time I take that fearful step into the unknown, I am surprised anew to find that I am free-falling into His presence and love. Is there anything better?

Praise God! I rest the very weight of my soul upon the hope that God will, against all of the impossible odds, continue to grant you and me the grace to believe Him.