January 27

Readings: Gen 46:28-48:22; Ps 16:7-11; Matt 17:14-18:9.

Psalm
v7 I find it very easy to lie awake at night worrying about something, yet here we read that it is the Lord who counsels us, even at night. If only we would learn to keep the Lord the focus of our minds. Satan will try to distract us, especially in difficult situations when we do need to focus on Him.
v9. What joy we find when we place our trust completely in God - He provides the security we need.
v11. We can have all these things in God when we allow Him control & enter into His presence through worship.

Proverbs.
If our wisdom comes from the Lord, who by His wisdom created the heavens, then what fantastic wisdom is on offer - if we can put in the effort we need to go & get it.

Matt
17:17 Jesus clearly expected the disciples to be able to heal the boy
v20. Jesus blamed their unbelief, from what I have read of healing revivals, and I know that in these things God is always soverign, but what seems to bring a breakthrough is that they believe God can do the impossible & then look for God to do the impossible in the every day.
It is part of God's nature to heal & was won for us on the cross, but do we believe it is for today? Those who start to believe & pusue it are the ones who have healing in their churches. There is nothing special about them, they just believe. Many of them pray for months for people, without seeing anything significant, but they still believe.