Faith As A Grain Of Mustard Seed!

Luke 17:6 KJV
 And the Lord said,
if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed,
ye might say unto this sycamine tree,
Be thou plucked up by the root,
and be thou planted in the sea;
and it should obey you.

I would like to talk a little today about faith. It is something we as Christians deal with constantly in our day by day walk with the Lord. Just what is faith? The Bible talks a great deal about it; in fact, there is a whole chapter in Hebrews devoted to faith. I'll start with what my dictionary says about it and then we shall dig a little deeper.

Faith (1) confidence or trust in a person or thing, (2) belief which is not based on proof, (3) belief in God or the doctrines and teachings (The Bible) then trust in God and His promises as made through Jesus Christ and the scriptures by which man is justified or saved.

I'm sure you, like I, have heard many sermons on faith and read many devotions and or books that have been written on the subject but it still remains one precept that is very difficult to get our minds and hearts to understand. On the one hand we believe the statement above stated by our Lord as fact without a doubt, but on the other hand do we really believe you or I could say to a tree: Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

Does this mean that we have no faith? Or maybe we just don't understand the scripture? Let's go one verse back to verse 5 --- the apostles had just asked the Lord to increase their faith. Was the Lord trying to show them that they could do wonders much beyond what they could do now? Nothing that was fit to be done for the glory of God and the confirmation of the doctrine they preached would be too hard for them. With God nothing is impossible, so are all things possible to him that can believe by faith?



Two things stand out to me: First, that nothing would be too hard to do if done for the glory of God and confirms the doctrine we have been given. Second, there must be the God given faith to accomplish the impossible by the God who makes all things possible.

Mainly due to the culture we are raised in, carnal man today has a very difficult time understanding these things. The world today requires us to accept only those things which we can see, hear and touch. If we don't have physical proof then we will not accept by faith it can be true. The apostles on the other hand walked with the Master, witnessed the miracles and understood everything must be done to bring glory to God. And, of course, were given by God the faith to accomplish miracles that proved the doctrine they were preaching.

Does this mean that I believe that miracles could be accomplished today? Yes, if in God's plan for my life He increased my faith to perform something that would bring Him glory and prove the doctrine He gave me to preach then yes, I believe.



There is one other very important factor involved here. Faith requires action on our part. We must put our feet into motion and act upon our faith. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Luke 8:43-48 KJV 43And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
44Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
45And Jesus said,who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, who touched me?
46And Jesus said, somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
47And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
48And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.



The woman knew Jesus was the Messiah sent from God and put her faith into action, then was rewarded for her faith.

Matthew 15:22-28 KJV 22And, behold, a woman of Canaan (Gentile) came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying; Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26But he answered and said; it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
28Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.
And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.



Notice how this woman put her faith into action? There are many more examples like when Jesus called the apostles to follow Him. They immediately left everything --- their families, possessions and their entire life to follow the Master by faith.

It is when you and I put our faith into action that we find God has given us the faith to accomplish His plan and bring glory to Him. This is how we go from "head knowledge" to "heart knowledge." We put our faith into action and use our lives to bring Him glory.

Understanding God's word to us is a key to finding His will for our lives. When you have 'searched the scriptures' and allowed the Holy Spirit to lead you into truth then you will find your path and with your faith put into action God will lead you into doing the things that bring Him glory.

God wants you to know of His unfailing love for you and His desire to give you an abundant life but it's you who must submit your life to Him and go from having "head knowledge" about Him to having "heart knowledge" and putting that "heart knowledge" into action so He can increase your faith.



Bob Goulding © March 2008