Mustard Seed Faith

In Matthew 17:14-21, a father brought his son to the disciples for healing an epileptic demon. They could not heal the boy. When the disciples questioned Jesus about it saying, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" Jesus replied, "Because you have so little faith." Then Jesus proceeded to tell them their faith was even smaller than a mustard seed, one of the smallest seeds in the plant kingdom. He said,

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Thank the Lord, God works with a scalable, developing faith. However, I hear the Lord saying - it would help tremendously if you at least had faith, the size of a mustard seed.

Any level of faith seems to be able to adjust whatever issue the believer is facing. Zero faith level to a mark before mustard seed faith level will grant you differing results (i.e. able to move a bush-sized-problems faith), because as Christ says, "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed" the believer can move mountain-sized life-challenges with God.

The next step in the maturity of a believer in his/her faith walk with God would be to imagine what greater faith could accomplish and allow for God to develop it. The size of an athlete's muscles training in the gym start small but develop as they are tested and toned. The same is true of the believer's faith. The size of mustard-size-seed-faith will grow as it is watered, fed and tested.

Each growth opportunity carries with it another deeper understanding of God. However, as believers mature in age and wisdom - exercising their veteran faith by declaring God's promises in His Word - realize God always holds the trump card in every situation; God always has a disclaimer for every issue or problem we experience - God says in every situation, "I have the right, authority and power to alter The Plan."

Many believers have been in the situation where an awesome answer from God is needed and prayed for by not just you and family but friends and the whole church. In addition, Scripture is quoted over the situation and oil is physically placed on the person, place or thing. 

All of this is done with great faith, a faith greater than a mustard seed, only to see the person die or the situation fail. This is a prime example of the altered plan. At least it was altered in our eyes. The whole situation could have been for others and not the individual, only God knows. And of course that is where the rub comes in, we don't know the details, not even a small hint. So, we continue to live by faith and not by sight and trust God's disclaimer because of His track record, His faithfulness.

As believers live by faith, Christians are at different points on the faith-sizing scale and mountains come in a variety of sizes also. Therefore, comparing one's own faith level anybody else's is not advisable. Is it right to want to be as effective and influential as Dr. Billy Graham was? Of course. Just don't seek his faith-walk, that was his. God has each Christian on a personal faith-growth plan and is working with them intimately to develop that faith. 

Faith and its size demands a Personal Plan from God for our lives, not an immediate "Blanket Covering" of the same faith level for all Christians. However, all must start at the beginning with improvement encouraged by Jesus to His disciples and believers down through the ages to at least have Mustard Seed Faith.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Decisions, decisions, decisions - I have to pull the trigger on many things daily and accept the consequences. I don't want the mountains, I do not even desire the molehills for the size and types of problems they bring. I would much prefer living in peace, as a flat-lander with my decisions.

Knowledge on matters of interest and necessity is no issue for me. Wisdom, on the other hand, could be with me or not. This is my challenge going forward and my strong encouragement to you forever - make sure wisdom is always part of the decision-making process. A person can have all the facts about a situation, but if he/she does not use wisdom to discern how to use those facts, they remain non-applicable.

Interesting, the view some of us take of mountains and molehills. I am experiencing a seismic-sized-situation in my life and the roots stem back to a decision made thirty plus years ago. Some people would claim if the challenges that the mountains bring did not come then we could not "exercise" or develop our "climbing legs" for future mountains. Remember, mountains come from a build-up of dirt and seismic events over time and accepting it along the way.

Molehills are a different animal. They are plural - many. They cause a mess and create an underground, underlying network of tunnels or connections from one hole or issue to the other. The bad habits and ill-advised tolerances in our lives are examples of molehills with their network of connected tunnels that lead to other problems.

For the Christian, let us examine what the Scripture says on these topics of decision-making, mountains and molehills.

Jesus speaks about not worrying where your next meal will come from or about your attire if you trust in God as life-provider in Matthew 6:25-34.

In Matthew 17:14-21, the disciples tried to cure a boy of an epileptic demon. When the disciples question Jesus about it saying, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" Jesus replied, "Because you have so little faith." Then proceeded to tell them their faith was even smaller than a mustard seed. He said,

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Thank the Lord, God works with a scalable, developing faith. However, I hear the Lord saying - it would help tremendously if you at least had faith, the size of a mustard seed.

The key to all decisions and decision-making is what would Jesus do? This is not a reliance on a crutch phrase or trendy saying. This question places our focus, our attention squarely where it needs to be - on Christ, first. 

The Old Testament has dibs on this idea through the writer of Proverbs or wise sayings. Proverbs 16:3 states - 

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do and He will establish your plans." 

Then the one many believers know, Proverbs 3:5-6 says, 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight."

The answer Jesus gives to the worrying in Matthew 6:25-34 is to "seek first His kingdom and righteousness", then all the things we have been worrying about will be redeemed.

Seeking Him first must have as its foundation - faith. As mentioned before Jesus says that even if your faith is as small as a "mustard seed", we can move mountain issues. Imagine if we allowed God to grow our mustard-seed-faith, the kind of obstacles, challenges and decisions believers, with God, could overcome. The writer of Hebrews emphasizes this by saying,

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)

As the Journey song goes - "Don't Stop Believing".

As stated before, just because I have the knowledge, the key to better decision-making, doesn't mean I will seek out wisdom to help me implement it, but I should, especially for every major Decision, Decision, Decision.