Devotion
Lord, That I Might Receive
by Connie Giordano
"And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way." Mark 10:51-52
These two Scriptures mark the conclusion of the great story of the blind beggar named Bartimaeus. Jesus hears Bartimaeus calling him. Now Bartimaeus hears Jesus calling him to come to Him.
A very strange thing happens when Bartimaeus appears before Jesus. Jesus asks him, "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?"
Why would Jesus ask such a question when the answer is so obvious?
I believe Jesus asked him this question because confession is a very important part of faith. "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation." (Romans 10:10) "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." (Matthew 12:34). Our mouths will reveal what is in our hearts. If our hearts are full of doubt, fear, and unbelief; our mouths will speak that forth. On the other hand, if our hearts are full of the Word of God and faith, our words will show it.
So much has been taught in the Christian circles today concerning confession and faith. Mixed with the Truth has been a lot of error or wrong teaching. We cannot just simply confess our own desires, hoping by our many repetitive words that God will somehow grant them. We must make sure that what we are asking of God is His will for our lives and in keeping with the Scriptures.
Jesus asked Bartimaeus, "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" The Bible says, "The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight." Here is a man physically blind but certainly not spiritually blind for he calls Jesus "Lord".
Before we make our confession to God and before men, we must examine our lives as to whether or not we are in complete subjection to Jesus as Lord. As we delight in the Lord Jesus, He will give us the desires of our heart. In other words, He will fill our hearts with godly desires.
Someone once said, "Faith sees God, and God sees faith." Bartimaeus saw the Lord Jesus not only as Lord of his life but Lord over all - even the condition of blindness. He cried out to Jesus in faith, believing that He was able to remove this blindness from him. Jesus saw Bartimaeus' faith and responded accordingly, "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole." The Scriptures say that " IMMEDIATELY he received his sight."
Today God is looking for faith in our hearts. The greatest deterrent to faith is sin in our lives. Consequently, before we ever pray, we must make sure that Jesus is Lord over every area of our lives. If He is not, then we must ask the Lord to forgive us of any known disobedience and commit our lives wholeheartedly unto His keeping. When we do this, faith will burst forth. We will once again begin to see Jesus as our all in all.
Then we must begin to see and confess Jesus as Lord over the condition that we are praying for. This is called "magnifying the Lord". We magnify the Lord. We begin to see Him as He rightfully is - greater than our problem, infirmity, weakness, or sin. As we call on Jesus in prayer, He will be sure to call on us with the answer.
With eyes of faith, let us see the Lord Jesus as our all in all. In turn, Jesus will see our faith and answer our prayer with these most gracious words, "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole."
About the Author
Connie Giordano is an ordained minister of the Gospel. A year ago the Lord Jesus called her to teach the Word of God to His people through e-mail. She started out by sending her Daily Messages to a small group of about 25 people. Now over 1,000 believers are receiving her Daily Messages and being strengthened and encouraged in their Walk with the Lord. If you would like to receive these messages, write to doeroftheword@juno.com.
