I was reading in Matthew, the 8th chapter (asv) this morning and something jumped out at me. I believe Jesus told many of his healings to us because we can’t see Him. He is always with us, but we can’t see a man walking along the road or actually talking to us from a mountain top. The centurion saw Him with a lot of other people walking along the road, but He came up to him and said, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home. He is suffering and in great pain.”

There were many people following him, but He still stopped and listened to the man and He said He would come to his home and heal him.The man said he wasn’t worthy enough for Jesus to come to his home, but if he gave the word, his servant would be healed. Jesus told him to go on home, his servant was healed and at that very hour.

Now we pray, and we pray for someone to be healed.or for better finances,or for our country and many other things and we don’t see Jesus standing there beside us. However, Jesus said the centurion had great faith and He went on, saying, “Many shall come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” That’s us! if we have faith like that of the centurion. He believed the words of Jesus and we can pray and know that our prayers will be answered. Some will be answered quickly, others we have to wait for and still others He will say no.

If we are praying for something we must have faith. What’s the use of praying if we don’t believe Jesus will answer us? We must know that Jesus cares for all of us, even those who don’t care about Him. He died for the whole world, but only those who love Him back and have faith can really belong to Him.

Faith is something you believe. If you sit down on a chair, you believe it will hold you, and if you put something in your mouth, you believe you won’t die from it and even if you get in to drive your car, you have faith enough to believe you will get to your destination safely. Have faith that Jesus cares for you and will answer your prayers.

Have you broken your resolutions yet? It’s only the 2nd of January as I write this, so I imagine you are up to date. Statistics tell us they are usually broken by the end of January. I figure that statistics or poles can’t possibly be right because I haven’t been called on either, have you? I think the best resolution you can make is the one you make shortly after you wake up in the morning: I will be a better person today than I was yesterday.

Many of us buy a Bible. Statistics tell us the Bible has been to biggest seller of books in the world for many years. Even though I don’t believe in statistics, I know folks do buy the Bible, however many of us do not read it. They put it in the shelf or on the coffee table and there it sits. Why? they must know the Bible is God’s letter to all people and that includes you. It isn’t hard to understand either if you just remember the Old Testament was written many years ago and often tells us that a Savior would one day be born and He would die a terrible death. The people living in Old Testament days believed He would be a king and not the humble servant we read about in the New Testament.

Jesus was born in a cave and placed in a manger. You know that, but to follow his life all the way through until his awful death and his wonderful resurrection is really exciting, much better than the books of today! So why not make this resolution: I will begin to read the Bible, not that I’ll do it every day, because you might miss it once in awhile but I will read the Bible. And, if you like early history, you will enjoy the Old Testament too. In it you will learn many truths and promises that God wants you to find.

I pray you will find what God wants you to find when you read His wonderful words written just for you.