“Is there a way to get more faith? I don’t seem to be able to get all the answers I need. I feel like I don’t have enough power. My Christian life seems weak.”
Does that describe your life?
Jesus often spoke of faith. One day the apostles said to Him, “Increase our faith.” These were the men Jesus chose as His disciples and later named as His apostles. They had watched Jesus in action, calming storms, healing people, casting out devils, and being faithful in the attacks of the Pharisees, the mocking of the religious leaders, and the criticism of his own people. None of this seemed to rattle Him or shake His faith. He was always at peace.
I hear a sincere prayer spoken in their conversation with Jesus — “Lord, increase our faith!” I’m sure some of you feel exactly the same when you encounter battles with discouragement and no answers.
Jesus’s reply was simple. He used what is known as “rabbinical hyperbole,” or exaggeration, to make a point. “You don’t need much faith. If you have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, you can speak to this mountain (creation hyperbole) and it will move.”
Why the mustard seed? Presumably, Jesus was referring to black mustard, a common plant in Israel then. Under the right conditions, its microscopic seeds can produce a very large tree-like plant. The mustard seeds are almost invisible but from them comes a huge plant that feeds flocks of thousands of birds. So the comparison is the point.
No one can give you their faith, and there isn’t a formula for getting faith. There is just a principle — that the “Word of God” is the source of faith and the way to grow faith.
Jesus was teaching his disciples two very obvious things here. First, faith might be small and our “mountains” or obstacles huge, but we should still speak our faith out. Listen to your words and you know your level of faith. No one rises above their own words.
The second thing Jesus was teaching them is that faith is a verb. It takes an action. Not only does it speak, but it expects things to happen and behaves accordingly. Jesus had demonstrated that to them over and over again. They remembered the miracles and they would have known exactly what He meant.
Romans 12 tells us “you should think realistically about yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given you.” Obviously, we all have been given a measure of faith that is proportional to the gifting and calling of God. The point is, we have it within us!
D.L.Moody said, “I prayed for faith, and thought that someday faith would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, ‘Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.’ I had closed my Bible and prayed for faith. I opened my Bible and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since.”
No one can give you their faith, and there isn’t a formula for getting faith. There is just a principle — that the “Word of God” is the source of faith and the way to grow faith. Other people’s faith can influence us, but in reality, we have to do it. The best and only way to have and grow faith is through the Bible. That means that if reading and studying the Bible does not have any place in your life, you likely have weak faith.
Friends, if you know Jesus today, you already have faith. It might be microscopic like the mustard seed, but give it some water (the Word of God) and plant it in good soil (speak it out), and it will grow! Expect what Jesus promised — a little faith can go a long way if you obey!
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