Not long ago, a young man came forward during a prayer service at Times Square Church, shaking and crying. He told me he was from the state of Washington and that earlier that night he'd walked into our service accidentally. He had left and gone to a music concert, but then he left that event and returned to the church. Now he wanted prayer and so I asked him, "Are your parents Christians?" He answered, "Yes, sir. They keep praying for me."

Paul asked the Galatian church, "Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (Galatians 5:7-9).

It was with confidence that Paul could say to the church at Rome, "When I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ" (Romans 15:29). He had a holy confidence in his walk with Christ. He claimed, "Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men" (Acts 24:16).

"I am sure that, when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ" (Romans 15:29). Paul wrote these words to the Christians in Rome. He was telling them, "I have no doubt that when I meet you, it will be in the fullest measure of Christ's blessing."

Just before Jesus healed the deaf man in Mark 7, we read, "Looking up to heaven, he sighed" (Mark 7:34). The word for sigh here signifies an audible groan. Evidently, Jesus grimaced and a groan came out of His heart. Of course, the man couldn't hear it, because he was deaf—but what was this groan about?

What's the first thing Jesus did when the deaf man was brought to him? "He took him aside from the multitude" (Mark 7:33). Christ knew immediately what this deaf man wanted. He longed for his own touch, his own experience. He couldn't settle for something "they" had found—it had to be real for him. He wanted Jesus to open his ears and set his tongue free. And it had to happen between the two of them.

The deaf, tongue-tied man’s only hope for healing was to get to Jesus (Mark 7:31-35). He had to have a personal encounter with Him.

In Mark 7, we find Jesus performing a great miracle. The whole dramatic scene takes place in just five verses:

My dear friend, God’s forgiveness has no limit. Jesus told His disciples, “If [thy brother] trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him” (Luke 17:4)

Can you believe such a thing? Seven times a day this person willfully sins before my very eyes, then says “I’m sorry.” And I am to forgive him—over and over? Yes— and how much more will our heavenly Father forgive His children who come in repentance to Him. Don’t try to reason it out! Don’t ask how or why He forgives so freely. Simply accept it!

One of the most encouraging scriptures in the Bible is 2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” Then Paul goes on to describe those earthen vessels—dying men, troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, cast down. And even though never forsaken or in despair, those men being used by God were constantly under the burden of their bodies, waiting anxiously to be clothed with new ones.