Devotional for Monday July 27th

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Faith”

Our Bible verse for today: “Everything is possible to the one who believes.” Mark 9:23 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Strong faith is a powerful thing.”

I love the children’s story of “The Little Engine That Could”. It’s the story of a small sized railroad train engine whose regular job was to simply reposition individual railroad cars and move them around the railroad yard. It was the job of the larger more powerful engines to pull the long heavily loaded freight trains long distances.

But one day there was a string of cars that needed to be pulled up a steep mountain grade.  One after another the larger and stronger engines made excuses for why they weren’t available to do the job. Finally the little engine was approached and asked to try. Without hesitation he agreed. As he huffed and puffed and struggled up the mountain, towing this impossibly long line of heavily loaded freight cars, he repeats to himself over and over again, “I think I can … I think I can … I think I can …” And then, once he crests the top of the steep mountain and begins to cruise down the other side, “The Little Engine That Could” changes his chant from “I think I can … I think I can.” to “I thought I could … I thought I could ..” And then of course, he did.

It’s an old story with an even older theme. Strong faith is a powerful thing. That was Jesus’ point in Mark 9:23. In this case a desperate father asked Jesus to free his son from the clutches of a demonic spirit. Jesus’ reply to the man was that if his faith was strong enough not only could the demon be banished from the boy, but such a faith would enable many more miracles in the man’s life as well.

Christian author Joyce Myers once wrote, “Positive minds full of faith and hope produce positive lives.” I’m convinced that is true.

Unfortunately, too many people live life far below their potential. They’re like the big engines in the children’s story which made excuses for not even trying, rather than tackling the tough task with faith and then just doing their best. But with faith in Christ and with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can all be much more like the Little Engine That Could. With strong faith in Christ the story of your life can be, “I thought I could, and then I did.”

God Bless,

Pastor Jim