Faith in His Word 9/8/14
Jesus was asked by his disciples regarding
a demon they could not get to leave a certain man. He saw that they lacked in
the area of a faith to believe for it.
So Jesus said to them, “Because of your
unbelief, for assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed you
will say to this mountain “Move from here to there” and it will move; and
nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20
What is a mustard seed of faith? If you examine a mustard seed you will find it
to be quite hard. It can be and is ground to become mustard the way we enjoy it
on a sandwich, but it is just a hard, tiny little seed. If you plant it
straight from your spice rack it will grow. I have done this before to test it
when I was speaking on trusting and having faith in God.
When I first came to you, dear
brothers and sisters, I did not use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s
secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything
except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in
weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using
clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust
not in human wisdom but in the power of God. Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of
wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers
of this world, who are soon forgotten. No, the wisdom we speak of is
the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it
for our ultimate glory before the world began. But the rulers of this world
have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious
Lord. That is what the Scriptures
mean when they say, “No eye
has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
1 Corinthians
2:1-9
Faith is trusting not in what man says to you, not
what man encourages you is the right thing, but what God shows you through His
Word and through your prayer time with Him. When you have faith there is peace.
I have told you before about the story of my son John’s birth and the faith
that carried me through this time with amazing peace in my soul. This is what
faith is like.
That is why the writer of the book of Hebrews says. "Now faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Hebrews 11:1 KJV
In the New Living Translation it words it a
bit more clearly explained;
Faith is the confidence that what
we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot
see. Hebrews 11:1
So if we are walking in faith, really we are being confident
that God will complete what we are hoping for, even when we cannot see the end
or the means in which to have it happen or come to pass.
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| Sometimes you can't see the top of the tree but you just know its there. Faith can be like that! |
When I was healed of a torn rotator cuff I felt the healing
physically but I could not see the healing myself. If I had seen it myself I
may not have gone for the surgery that actually fixed a problem we could not
foresee until the surgeon was in there working on finding the miraculously
healed tear. He found a remnant of a fractured bone that we had no idea had
been broken, or little idea at the time. I had been hit by a car, in a cross walk,
with the light and yet I walked away from it with pain ten or more years before
the surgeon found the bone that caused my partial movement from time to time.
After the surgery that I truly believe was God’s plan for my life, I healed
quickly, had little need pain medication and I knew, and know still that God
healed me the day they prayed for me. Sometimes we have to walk out our faith
by going through something that proves to others that God has done what He
promised.
My testimony has inspired or spurred on other peoples faith
in God to heal them as well.
I have to admit that that healing took the faith of not just
me, but of a few close friends.
Sometimes that is what it takes, and that’s okay.
The Word of God tells us about Jesus healing a man because
of such faith; the faith of a few close friends.
Faith is not something that we can bring about, but something
that comes from God, because he has given each of us a measure of faith. Not so
that we can think we have all the control as some would teach but because we
just have to believe that God is in control.
For by the
grace given me I say to every one
of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think
of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has
distributed to each of you. Romans 12:3
Dear heavenly
Father, help us to believe the faith you have given us is big enough for the
mustard seed to grow before us. Help us to move mountains of doubt and shove it
into the sea of faith you have given us. Give us understanding as to what that
faith truly is. In Jesus name, amen.
Suggested
reading: Romans 12:1-21, Hebrews 11:1-40, Hebrews 12:1-29, 1 Corinthians 2:1-16
and Proverbs 3:5-6