Studying to preach on Mark 7.24-37 yesterday, I was convicted about my lack of faith. The Syrophonecian woman had faith Jesus was willing and able to cast the demon out of her daughter. She was so convinced that she did not stop pleading. She even entered into the dialog Jesus initiated with her even embracing being called a dog.
I learned from this that the evidence of your faith is not your confession of theological concepts but the constancy and content of your prayers to God. I immediately confessed my lack of faith in Jesus’ willingness and grace by this standard. I realized I didn’t really believe God would save a lot of people through my gospel ministry. That is a tough thing for a pastor of a gospel-believing and gospel-preaching church to admit. But my prayers, or lack of prayers for God to save the lost convicted me.
Then I read an article this morning that encouraged me. The excerpt grabbed me and I had to read it. Here’s the excerpt:
Do you need a pep talk to keep you going in gospel work? Have you just heard the media totally misrepresent Christian truth yet again? Are you worried about the Bible being totally banned in public schools? Are you sick of Christians being blamed for all the evils in the world? Do you look out your window and doubt that your neighbours will ever know Christ? Have you resigned yourself to be at least faithful, but not fruitful?
I encourage you to read the whole article.
PJ's personal blog. For articles see gospelize.me 