13 “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.
14 “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
15 but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.
16 “And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.” Acts 3:11-16.
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Even before I write these words, I was convicted about my lack of compassion for a wide range of people from the people of Japan to two neighbors to even one of my sons. I tend to think that they caused their own problems. I do not have power nor piety to decently live my own life with my own problems. I don’t have faith to deal with my own bad attitudes.
I get on my knees to pray. But, even that is not enough. I lie down prostrate with my face in the carpet, praying for help.
I get up and rush to the words “and the faith which comes through Him“, and I cling to them. I don’t have faith in my own faith. I must receive the faith “which comes through Him”.
I try to remember other verses.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9.
2 Peter 1:1
“Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:”
“For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,” 1 Corinthians 12:8-9.
1 Corinthians 4:7
“For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
“John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.” John 3:27.
“For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” Romans 12:3.
In conclusion, our hope and our salvation is not based on our own power, our own piety, or even just our own faith. My own personal problems and attitudes remind me of my desperate need for a “faith which comes from Him”. I look to Jesus Christ and fix my eyes on Him and what He accomplished as stated in the following The Canons of Dordt.
Article 8. For this was the sovereign counsel, and most gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death of his Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation: that is, it was the will of God, that Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby he confirmed the new covenant, should effectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation, and language, all those, and those only, who were from eternity chosen to salvation, and given to him by the Father; that he should confer upon them faith, which together with all the other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit, he purchased for them by his death; should purge them from all sin, both original and actual, whether committed before or after believing; and having faithfully preserved them even to the end, should at last bring them free from every spot and blemish to the enjoyment of glory in his own presence forever.
With a leap I stand upright and begin to walk, walking and leaping and praising God.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 