This week I have been sharing the first 7 days of a 21 day devotional made available at Grace Community Church.  It was produced by Pastor Charissa Morgan and written by her and other co-laborers in her family in Christ. She shares that it is commonly thought to take 21 days to make or break a habit.  She is believing that this devotional will be the launching pad God uses in individual lives to catapult each one into a deeper, more meaningful relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I pray you will enjoy each day’s insight from different authors, and I am honored to have been given the opportunity to write the devotion for today and I hope it is a blessing to you.  You can go to the web page at  gracecommunitysalem.org to learn more about our amazing church family at Grace.

Day 5: Dare to Believe!

By Rhonda Barnes

There is a song that has been sung at our church for years with this title. It encourages us to believe that miracles still happen, healing is still available, and mountains still move! During Jesus’ short time of ministry on this earth, He performed more miracles, healed more people, and moved more spiritual mountains than could be recorded in Scripture. John 21:25 says, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.”

Miracles were not limited to Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament; we can also see many examples from the Old Testament. One example that I love is found in 1 Kings 17:8-22. In this passage, Elijah asks a widow for some bread and water. She tells him that all she has is a handful of flour and a little oil, which she plans to use to prepare her last meal for her and her son to eat before they die of starvation. Elijah tells her not to be afraid, but to go home and first make a small cake of bread of him, and then make one for her and her son. After her obedience she is told by the prophet that, “The jar of flour will not be used up and jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.” This is how it was! The needs and misery of this poor widow were not insignificant to God. He sent Elijah to strengthen her faith and to provide for her needs. The widow’s faith in God and His Word through the prophet led her to exchange the CERTAIN for the UNCERTAIN, the SEEN for the UNSEEN! Her faith was strengthened to dare to believe!

If you keep reading in this passage, you will learn that at some point after this miracle, the woman’s son became ill and died. She dared to believe that if God could spare their lives once he could do it again. She calls for the prophet to believe with her and the Bible tells us that Elijah prayed 3 times and life came back to the boy. Elijah didn’t stop believing after one prayer, he was persistent. Don’t give up! Regardless of how big the miracle is that you need continue to DARE TO BELIEVE!