I want to talk about faith. Not just the kind of faith that you have to have to become saved but the kind of faith that changes the way in which you live your life day by day, minute by minute, step by step.
Lets start with a very general definition of faith…faith is the persuasion of the mind that a statement is true. II Thessalonians 2:13 simply states it as… belief of the truth. I believe God gives His elect or chosen the amount of faith that they need in order to achieve salvation. The day-by-day, minute-by-minute, step-by-step faith is our responsibility as we grow and mature in Christ. The problem seems to be is that we as Christians seem to think that that’s all the faith we need. In a way I guess that it is. You will get into heaven with that much faith.
But is that glorifying God? Is that all He really expects or wants from you? That faith is just the beginning of our walk with Christ. Our faith will not be complete until we are standing with Christ in His presence. But here is the problem… Us Christians have gotten lazy in the faith department. I am speaking for myself. Even as far as I’ve grown in Christ I have a bad week and I am ready to give it all up and wallow in my misery instead of trusting God through the trial. Certainly I can’t be the only one who has done this or is going through this right now. Has God done nothing for us that we shouldn’t trust Him through our petty little trials? What are we so concerned about anyway? In Philippians chapter 3 Paul tells us that everything we have here whether it be possessions, status in the community it is all dung compared to Christ. What do we have to lose in losing everything? Nothing worth anything! We are so busy saying “God why did you do this to me?” Instead what we should be saying is “God why have I done this to you?” and “God thank you for doing this to me”.
Phi 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do you trust Him enough to believe His word? Some people don’t seem to have enough faith in God to believe that the Bible could still be accurate after the translations and what not. Pray for them because my Bible tells me in Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God. What kind of a God do we serve if He can’t even preserve His very words. I believe my God is strong enough to preserve His words through any attempts by humans to change it.
In saying that I would like you to look at a verse with me. Lets look in the book of Matthew chapter 17:20.
(ASV) And he saith unto them, Because of your little faith: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
(ESV) 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."
(KJV+) And1161 Jesus2424 said2036 unto them,846 Because1223 of your5216 unbelief:570 for1063 verily281 I say3004 unto you,5213 If1437 ye have2192 faith4102 as5613 a grain2848 of mustard seed,4615 ye shall say2046 unto this5129 mountain,3735 Remove3327 hence1782 to yonder place;1563 and2532 it shall remove;3327 and2532 nothing3762 shall be impossible101 unto you.5213
(YLT) And Jesus said to them, `Through your want of faith; for verily I say to you, if ye may have faith as a grain of mustard, ye shall say to this mount, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you,
What I would like you to take notice of is that it does not say if you have faith the size of a mustard seed. Which happens to be one of the tiniest seeds. What it does say is, faith as a mustard seed. I have researched this in the Greek and in several translations and even in Luke 17:6 the same words were used. Strong’s uses the phrase ‘In that manner’. Why do I see this as significant you may ask. It is because I believe a mustard seed has an incredible amount of faith. Again a mustard seed is among the tiniest seeds there are and yet it becomes one of the largest in the garden, rivaling that of a small tree. When that seed is planted it knows nothing else of what to do than to grow. A mustard seed does not have its own agenda. It by immeasurable faith just begins to grow, not being concerned of what will happen next or how tall it will become. Whether or not it will get washed out by a flood or burnt by a drought. Just grow. It just focuses on what it was designed by God to do day by day, minute by minute, step by step regardless of circumstances.
So how do we get to the point that we have faith as a mustard seed? I’ve already mentioned that faith comes by the Word of God. So, as I have said a number of times before we have got to be reading the Bible. Waiting patiently on the Lord is faith. Faith that God will handle any situation in our lives. Not trying to solve problems on our own. Eastons Bible Dictionary says that knowledge is an essential element in faith. We gain knowledge in the Lord by reading the Word, listening to preaching and teaching, and studying on our own. Eph 6:16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; Faith gives us the ability to extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one.
Dan
