Matthew 17:15-20 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”  “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, 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.”

Let’s get real for a moment, shall we?

Do you believe this passage?

You do?  You believe that Jesus said these exact words?

Great!  Me too.  I really do believe that this happened.

OK.  Now, do you believe He meant these words for you too?

Some of you say “yes”, some say ”no”, some of you have already skipped ahead!

This scripture, in particular the last verse, makes me stop and think.  Do I have pure faith? Not a big faith, just a small faith… faith as small as a mustard seed.

If you asked me that question outside the context of this verse I would say “Yes, I am a faith filled woman.”  But within the context of healing or mountain moving…. ugh… I don’t know…

Problem is, I’m thinking about MY faith, about MY works, MY ability.  And that is NOT faith.

Real faith?  Real faith is found solely in Christ.

My husband went to India a few years ago.  He was amazed at the healings and amazing stories told by the locals.  The villages he visited were not modern.  No doctors, no medicines, no resources.  The people there have 3 choices.  Rely on self, rely on gods, or trust in the One True God.  And when they call on the One True God miracles happen, villages convert, and people’s lives change for Christ.

We wonder why things like this don’t happen in America.  Problem?  Lack of faith.  No different than the disciples in the passage above.  In researching this scripture I came across this commentary:

Jesus explicitly attributes their [disciples] inability to the smallness of their faith, pointing out that even a mustard seed’s worth of faith would be sufficient to cast out not merely demons but mountains… With this illustration Jesus indicates that even were we casting out mountains rather than demons, we would only be scratching the surface of a life of faith. What could we do with faith greater than that of a tiny mustard seed! Like children who have only begun to walk, most of us have only begun our adventure of faith.

Did you catch that?  Moving mountains is just scratching the surface of pure faith!  Oh to see that day!

Where will your faith lead you today?  Have any faith stories to share with us?  What is your prayer for your faith walk this week?

For more on faith check out:

• Living on the Edge (learning to be dependent on God)
• Stepping out in Faith (trusting God as you step forward)
• Have you seen the pit of despair? (God provides even when faced with depression)
• Is God Good? (recent post by Peter Stone – thoughts on faithfulness during depression)

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Visit Shane’s personal blog or her ministry web site. She can’t wait to hear from you!