Daily Devotionals

Bowen's Daily Meditations

Devotional: January 5th

"If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth," - Mark 9:23.

"If thou canst do any thing," said the man, "have mercy upon us and help us." The question is not, says Christ, what I can do; but what thou canst believe. All things are possible to me; but this will help thee little. Have faith, and then all things will be possible to thee. My power is given to faith; and fills every channel that faith provides.

Christ has all power in heaven and in earth; and he is with his servants, even unto the end of the world: but something beside these facts is necessary that Christ’s mighty power may be manifested among men. It is still true that faith determines the exhibitions of his power; he could not do many mighty works in Nazareth because of their unbelief; and it is doubtless because of the Church’s unbelief that he doeth so few mighty works in this our day.

Compare the power that accompanied the Christian Church in her first evangelistic, steps with what we behold now. See how she clothed herself with thousands in the city of the crucifiers, day by day; how these thousands had all things in common and were filled with love and joy; how a Saul was converted; an Ananias and Sapphira hurled lifeless back from the church they wished to desecrate; how Peter came to Lydda and Saron, and straightway all that dwelt in Lydda and Saron turned to the Lord; how he came to Joppa, and immediately many believed; how Philip went to Samaria and the people with one accord gave heed unto his preaching. Ask the world if it sees any such unequivocal displays of Christ’s power in these days; it will reply to you thus: - We see nothing like it; we see that the Church is moving forwards with the general impulse of the age; participating in and profiting by the many facilities of these latter times; the press aids her, but it aids infidelity and everything else. So too with the providential movements of the day; what they do for her they do for her in common with numberless other systems; and she has so far accommodated herself to the spirit of the times we live in, that men can join her communion without sustaining any particular worldly loss or inconvenience. If we may believe what is written, from the days of Abraham to the days of the apostles, divine power was exerted in behalf of the Church in ways that were quite distinctive, and so as to give testimony concerning the people of God apart from other people: and this would seem to be the only kind of testimony available for the object in view.

Well, the Lord’s arm is not shortened that it cannot save. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But our faith is feeble. We cannot suppose that he is any more loth to answer the prayer of faith, any more loth to be revealed in connection with his people than he was in former times. The spirit of Egypt was not drowned in the Red Sea, but appeared afterwards in the camp of the Israelites to the grievous detriment of the chosen people: and the Church is by no means emancipated from the spirit of the dark ages.

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