He is Able and He is Willing

Mark 1:41, “Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.””

Strong faith is faith that is anchored in the Word of God. It’s in God’s Word where we can find God’s will, and once we know and are persuaded of God’s will, we can lay hold of what belongs to us as children of God.

We need to be on guard for wrong beliefs and wrong ways of thinking that can hinder God’s Word from working in our lives. For instance, many people will compromise God’s Word to match their experience, or what they heard someone else say. Rather than let God’s Word be their anchor, they let the experience tell them what to believe.

The example of the leper found in Mark chapter one is a beautiful example of someone finding out for themselves the true nature of God.

This leper was an outcast. Anyone who had this type of disease was considered unclean. They could not live amongst the people, they had to live outside the camp because the disease they had was so contagious. Leprosy is a flesh-eating disease that was horrific to even look at. In Luke’s account of this man, he specifically mentions that this was a man “Full of leprosy”, he didn’t just have it, he was full of it. You could imagine what he would have looked like; with limbs and body parts missing. This was a man who needed to know if God was truly willing to heal someone like him, an outcast. In his desperation, he falls at the feet of Jesus and declares, “I know You are able, but if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

This man knew that God was able to heal him, but he needed to know that God was willing to heal him. Jesus forever answered the question, “I am willing, be cleansed.”

It is the true nature of God to heal. That is His will for us.

It is up to us to simply believe what He has said. Rather than filter God’s Word with people’s opinions and past experiences, we chose to believe in the simplicity and power of God’s Word. “I am willing.”

What a wonderful and good God that we serve! I encourage you this week to let God’s Word be your anchor. Let it be the sure foundation on which you build your life. Meditate on it, speak it, write it down, read it, the Word of God will never fail.

Remember, we love you, and we are praying for you.

Blessings,

Chloe