Hello Family,
Let’s start with, “What is faith?”
Hebrew 11:1-3 NLT reads, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. 2 Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen."
[Note: “Days of old” is basically the equivalent of “Back in the day”, or in this case, Before Christ (B.C.)]
Faith is the glue that holds our relationship with God together. Unfortunately, life packs some heavy punches and will make many of us question whether having faith in God is worth it. I have questioned whether having faith in God, and whether living for God was worth the “Hassle” more often than not.
I am not exempt from doubt just because I believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and believe God IS who He says. My hope in Jesus is my evidence that He is real.
“How much faith should I have? How much faith is enough?”
Hebrew 17:14-20 NLT reads, “14 At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them (Note: “them” being Jesus, Peter, James, and John). A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”
17 Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”
18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well.19 Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?” 20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.””
Now MIND YOU… A MUSTARD SEED IS REALLY LITTLE.
[Unsplash License photo of an individual holding black mustard seeds]
God isn’t expecting you to have faith the size of a grain of sand, nor enough of that sand to build a sandcastle. God does expect you to have, “Faith even as small as a mustard seed.”
I believed if I wasn’t preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ at a podium, wasn’t condemning other people for their “sin”, or wearing long dresses and baggy jeans I lacked faith. I can confidently say WAS WRONG and I misunderstood what faith truly was. Now, there is room to exercise faith through everything I mentioned in that list, except for condemning others for sin because that IS NOT our responsibility.
We are human beings that are quite familiar with sin. Although we don’t always intend to sin, we do, and with that we have NO ROOM to condemn anyone who also sins. Whether an individual intentionally or unintentionally sins, condemning other believers is not our job (Romans 8:1, Romans 14:10). Also, accountability and condemnation are two different things… let me get back on track. This is another message for another day.
God wants you to carry this mustard seed of faith with you on this journey we call life.
I spent hours in a grocery store a few days ago. Once I made it to the grocery isle where seasonings are I ran across a bottle of “mustard seeds”. I was amazed at how small mustard seeds are and I was also immediately reminded of how much faith God is requiring me to have. I thought to myself, “Where did my faith go? God only expects me to have a minimum of faith the size of a mustard seed and I barely have that.”
Life is difficult. Smelling the roses, remaining optimistic in the face of adversity and being grateful for circumstances that you no longer want to be in is tough. God never said that faith-filled people would be absent of struggle, stress or even exempt from experiencing hopelessness occasionally.
Faith is the anchor for our souls. Our Faith in God keeps us grounded. When we face hard times our hope in God enables us to keep fighting and enables us to pull strength from God when we’re weak (2 Corinthians 12:9).
I may not know your story in its entirety, and you only know a fraction of mine, but I am convinced that we can cultivate a mustard seed of faith. I believe in you. I believe in us.
I love you. Jesus loves you MOST.
Hang in there. Keep your head up, and if you can’t that’s okay too.
Xoxo Miss Ponder
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CITATION:
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
- Unsplash License photo of an individual holding black mustard seeds
Thank you for this 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾