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Jesus the Author and Perfecter of Faith by Andrew Murray

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BranchinVINE Feb 12, 2024

Mark 9:24 ”“ "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”


What a treasure of encouragement these words contain. Our Lord had said to the father of the possessed child, who had asked for His help: "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” The father felt that Christ was throwing the responsibility on him. If he believed, the child could be healed. And he felt as if he had not such faith. But as he looked on the face of Christ, he felt assured that the love which was willing to heal, would also be ready to help with his faith and graciously accept even its feeble beginnings. And he cried with tears, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief” Christ heard that prayer, and the child was healed.

What a lesson for us who have so often felt, as we listened to the wonderful promises of God, that our faith was too feeble to grasp the precious gift. And here we receive the assurance that the Christ Who waits for our faith to do its work is a Saviour Who Himself will care for our faith. Let us come, however feeble our faith may be, and though it be with tears, cry: "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.” And Christ will accept the prayer that puts its trust in Him. Let us bring it into exercise, even though it be but a mustard seed; in contact with Christ the feeblest faith is made strong and bold. Jesus Christ is the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

Dear Christian, I pray you, as you read God’s wonderful promises and long to have them fulfilled, remember the grain of mustard seed. However small, if it be put into the ground and allowed to grow, it becomes a great tree. Take the hidden feeble seed of the little faith you have, with the word of promise on which you are resting; plant it in your heart. Give utterance to it in the contact with Jesus Christ and fervent prayer to Him; He will in very deed accept of the feeble trembling faith that clings to Him and will not let Him go. A feeble faith in an Almighty Christ will become the great faith that can remove the mountains.

We saw in Abraham how God took charge of his faith, and trained him to become strong in faith, giving glory to God. Count most confidently on the desire of Christ to strengthen your faith. And in answer to the question that each time comes again, "Believest thou that I can do this?” let your heart confidently say: "Yea, Lord, I do believe.” Praise God! I have a Christ Who not only waits to give the full possession of the heavenly life and the blessings of the covenant, but Christ Who secretly works in me the faith that can claim it all.

---------Taken from "The Secret of the Faith Life” by Andrew Murray, 1916

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BranchinVINE Feb 13, 2024


Heb. 12:1-2 ”“
……let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author [Leader] and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.


Excerpts from commentary by Andrew Murray:

Looking unto Jesus, the Leader and Perfecter of our faith.

Jesus is the Leader of our salvation (ii. 10), the Forerunner, who hath entered within the veil for us, leaving behind His track and footsteps for us to walk in. This is the new and living way which, through obedience and death, leads to life and to God. And so He is the Leader of our faith, too. He leads in the way of faith, He walked in it Himself, He opened it for us, He draws and helps us in it. The old saints had given us examples of faith; Jesus is the Leader of our faith, the faith that through death enters into resurrection life and the Holiest of All, that better and perfect thing which God hath provided for us.

Jesus is the Perfecter of our faith. He perfected it in His own person, by acting it out to its fullest possibility, when in the darkness of death He entrusted His Spirit into His Father's hands. He perfected it when He was Himself perfected by it, and proved that faith is the highest perfection, because it gives God room to be all. He perfected it when, having perfected us in Himself, He became the perfect object for our faith. He perfects it in us, because He who is the perfect object of our faith is the living One, who lives and works in us in the power of our endless life. He is the Perfecter of faith””the faith that looks away to Him the perfect One and the Perfecter, is the secret of Christian perfection. He has not only perfected Himself and us, He perfects our faith too. Let us entrust our faith to Him above everything; He will make it His care, the chief and most blessed work of His Spirit. Let us run, looking to Jesus; in His life on earth the Leader, in His glory on the throne the Perfecter, of our faith. Let us look to Jesus. There is life in a look, and power too; the life and the power of a divine transformation, in which, as we behold, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory.

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Yes, let us run, looking to Jesus. Looking, not to ourselves or our sins, but to Him who hath put away sin for ever. Not to ourselves or our faith, whether in its weakness or its strength, but to Him whose presence is the life of our faith. Not to the world or its temptations, but to Him who hath said : Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Not to Satan or his threats, but to Him who hath brought him to naught. Not to men, their fear or their favour, but to Jesus, the God-Man, lmmanuel, God with us, our Brother and our King. Looking to Jesus and Jesus alone.

Looking to Him always and in all. In trial and trouble, as in joy and prosperity; in solitude and repose, as in company and business ; in religious worship, as in daily life ;””always, only, looking to Jesus. Looking to Him, to see what He is, to hear what He speaks, to do what He says, to follow where He leads, to trust for all He waits to give. Looking to Him and His love, till my heart burns with that love. Looking to Him, till His eye meets mine, and l know that He watches over me. Looking to Him in the power of His love and Spirit, knowing that He Himself is drawing me to Himself, leading and perfecting my faith. Looking to Him, to be changed into His likeness from glory to glory. Let us run the race with patience, looking to Jesus.

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Let us say it once again : the whole secret of the Christian life consists in the personal relationship to Jesus. Not what Jesus has done or does for me can be my salvation, except as He Himself has my heart, and binds me to Himself in dependence and attachment, and trust and love.

----- Taken from "The Holiest of All” by Andrew Murray, 1894


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