Matthew 17:14 and when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." 17 And Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
How big is your faith? Is it like the grain of a mustard seed? If so, why are you not moving mountains? If not, why not?
These are questions we must ask ourselves. If any of you are like me, sadly you have not seen many mountains moved. We must go before God and ask Him to help us.
Another thought came to me while reading this - if I am not moving mountains then I must have a faith that is smaller than a mustard seed! How sad if that is true. Especially considering that Jesus called the mustard seed,"the smallest of all the seeds on earth"
On another occasion the disciples were overwhelmed by their lack of faith,
"The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!. "And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."Lord, it would appear that at times we have faith that is less than a grain of mustard seed. Increase our faith! Lord, we believe but, help us in our unbelief! Help us to focus on you the One whose faith never faltered. The One whose faith sustains us even now. All Praise goes to you Lord Jesus, to the glory of the Father!
I too must only have faith that is less than a mustard seed. At least at many times. I feel sometimes like I praying for something believing with all my heart that God can do it, yet at the very same time I hear my own heart crying out "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief." I guess I'm not alone cause I haven't read any headlines of mountains being moved from one place to another recently. But I did read a story of a christian man when faced with the "Christmas Tsunami" that took so many lives, that he did in fact command a large wave coming toward him in a little boat filled with children from his orphanage, to stop and the wave just went by without hurting them or throwing them into the sea to their expected deaths. i
ReplyDeleteI think that a life saved by the blood of Jesus Christ is a huge mountain!!! To see someone go from being a "hitman" for the mob to a humble servant for Jesus is a huge mountain indeed! God is in the business of still moving mountains. If it were not so, then Jesus would have told us but He told us we could move mountains.
So, as I face a new day, I'm going to pray with a determined "mountain moving" faith. For "nothing is impossible for God." And, I can do all things through Jesus Christ my Lord." AMEN! Thanks Ernie, I needed this reminder.
I rejoice in what you just reminded me, God is still in the mountain moving business. There is nothing too hard for him. But, I also rejoice in the fact that he uses us, with only faith as big as a mustard seed, as a means to show His power.
ReplyDeleteLord your children ask to be used to display Your power by mountain moving faith! May You be glorified in us!