MOVED ANY MOUNTAINS LATELY?

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!

O YE OF LITTLE FAITH!

Matthew 14:28 “And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."

Peter asks; “if it is you” do this.

He asks not out of strong faith. In fact it reminds me of Gideon who put the Lord to the test with the fleece. But while I am not sure that I would recommend Peter’s questioning way, I have observed that one, the Lord did not rebuke him for doing so, and two Peter did not sit quietly idle. No one else was saying anything. And Peter was the only one who was asked to come out and walk on the water with Him.

His weak, and in fact lack of faith, continued and is recorded, But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus (did not hesitate but) immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Jesus, instead of a strong rebuke, makes a mild rebuking observation (“O you of little faith”) and asks a stinging question (“why did you doubt?”).

O brothers and sisters let us not fail in our faith, leaving ourselves open to the Lord's rebuking observations and His stinging questions. But rather let each with grains of mustard seeds move mountains, for the glory of the Lord, for his glorious kingdom's advancement!