Power Comes from Faith: Cultivating What We've Been Given
"Train yourself for godliness." — 1 Timothy 4:7 (ESV)
I was reading Mark 9:14-29, where the disciples fail to heal a demon-possessed boy — despite Jesus having already given them the power to do so. When reading Scripture, I often consult a commentary to go deeper. On this day, I was reading The Wiersbe Bible Commentary on the New Testament and highlighted a few points about how our spiritual power is connected to our faith — and what happens when we neglect it. Here are the quotes I underlined:
Quote #1: "How often He (Jesus) must be grieved with us when we fail to use the spiritual resources He has graciously given to His people."
Quote #2: "Why had the nine disciples failed (to heal the boy)? Because they had been careless in their personal spiritual walk and had neglected prayer and fasting. See Mark 9:29."
Quote #3: "Faith must be cultivated through spiritual disciplines and devotion."
The line that haunts me is in Quote #2: because they had been careless in their personal spiritual walk and had neglected prayer and fasting. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT! It's so easy to neglect our time with the Father, or even when we spend time with Him, to miss the communing part in favor of checking our quiet-time box. Sometimes our circumstances are so bleak that we give up. And sometimes we're in a season of peace when our need for the Lord feels diminished. But no matter the season, our faith needs cultivating — especially when motivation isn't there.
What does cultivating look like? It starts with the heart — a desire to know and experience the Lord — and then moves to the basics — prayer, time in the Word, fasting, and fellowship. These aren't boxes to check; they're how we stay connected to the Source of our power. Paul told Timothy, "Train yourself for godliness" (1 Timothy 4:7, ESV). The word "train" implies effort, consistency, and intention. It's a discipline — not something that just happens. When we're faithful in the small, daily rhythms, we position ourselves to be used by God in ways we never expected.
Big Idea
To access the supernatural power the Lord has graciously bestowed upon us, we need to cultivate our faith through spiritual disciplines and devotion.
Questions to Ponder
How are you cultivating your faith? How are you practicing your spiritual disciplines and devotion? Are there things you need to change or improve — what are they? Are you in a season when your motivation is low? If so, why?
Application
If you're in a season when you've been careless in your spiritual walk, what's one thing you can do today to change that? Start with one thing today.
Before the Lord — a daily devotional by Blake S. Crawford. Read more and subscribe free at blakescrawford.com/before-the-lord.