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Isaiah 50:4- “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary…”
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    • Faith That Grows!

      Posted at 1:00 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on December 31, 2019

      Matthew 17:20 – So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

      We’ve been looking at this verse and learning about faith that is like a grain of mustard seed. I won’t review what I have written, but if you are just getting in on the blogs, I encourage you to go to the beginning, “Mustard Seed Faith 1” and then come back to this post.

      Jesus talks about a faith that moves mountains. Many have, I believe in error, taught that a little faith will move mountains. Of course, you already know that I don’t agree with that. But here’s a point about little faith that I think is truly important, it can grow to become great faith!

      A mustard seed in a capsule around your neck is a dead seed. It isn’t doing anything. But had that seed been planted and cultivated, it would have grown. I learned recently that mustard seeds are grown into plants and they are grown for the seed. In the form of a seed it can be used to grow mustard greens, it can be used for medicinal means, and it can be used to make mustard. But a seed encased for a necklace is a dead seed.

      Using the simile that faith is like a mustard seed, I would first like to say that it must be used. Faith that is not used is faith that dies and becomes unfruitful. So if we want a vibrant faith that will grow, we must use it. And like a mustard seed, it will produce a variety of products. And when we use it, it grows!

      Some of the ways we can cultivate and use our faith is:

      1. The seed of God’s word. Faith must always start with the word of God. I once heard that faith begins where the will of God is known. Well, that happens by getting into God’s word and gaining insight to His will. As you study and meditate on what the word says about finances, healing, or anything else, faith will begin to arise in your spirit and then you can put it to work for you!

      2. Then you must begin to use your faith. The first time any of us will use our faith in God is when we receive Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. But after that, we must continue to use it. For the just shall live by their faith.

      3. Begin exercising your faith for things in your life that are not major but give you an opportunity to learn to trust God. For example, you are running late for work and you believe God that the traffic will clear up and that you will make it on time. I’ve done this on more than one occasion, making it to work with time to spare.

      Or you have a headache or pain in your body, exercise your faith, don’t reach for medicine, and believe that God will heal it. Again, I have done this and seen great results. This is how I started praying for the sick. Someone would get sick in the house and I would pray and ask God for healing. And the majority of the time, it would happen, without the aid of medicine. Just this week a woman came to the altar in intense pain in her right knee, but left free of pain! Glory to God! Faith increases!

      Word based faith that is exercised will grow. Paul said that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This is not some mystical, fanatical, hocus pocus stuff, for faith in God and His word is sure. But if you don’t know what His word says, and you don’t believe it and obey it, then you won’t see it come to pass. But if you get in the word, and obey the word, you will see it come to pass. And one day, your faith will move mountains in your life and in the lives of others.

      As 2019 come to a close and move into 2020, a new decade, make this decade the one that will find you exercising your faith and growing in faith! I know I plan to! Wonderful Jesus!

      Posted in Believers, Christian, Faith, Matthew 17:20, Victorious Living | 3 Comments | Tagged Believer, Christian, Faith, Jesus, Matthew 17:20, mustard seed, word of God
    • Mustard Seed Faith Explained!

      Posted at 4:39 am by wonderfuljesus8, on December 24, 2019

      Matthew 17:20 – So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” NKJV

      mustard-seed-faith-explained_.mp3

      I’ve been reading everything I can find on the topic of mustard seed faith and I have listened to a lot of sermons on the subject, and I am amazed that so many theologians are stuck on the size of the mustard seed. I won’t pretend that I understand all of what Jesus said and meant, and I am still searching for answers, but I am absolutely certain that a small amount of faith doesn’t move mountains, trees, or Jesus!

      If we look at the situation that causes Jesus to make this statement in Matthew and again in Luke, we can hopefully get some more understanding of what mustard seed faith might mean.

      A man came to Jesus, knelt before Him and asked for mercy for his son who was epileptic. Now I don’t know if that catches your attention, but I have been a parent of a child who was diagnosed with abnormal seizure disorder, which from what I can tell, is epilepsy. As a two week old baby she was having involuntary shakes that led to the diagnosis. She was immediately put on phenobarbital and given an evil report of things only getting worst and of never having a normal life.

      I can tell you right now that this man’s son was not in a good place. So he goes to Jesus’ disciples and they could not cure his son. But Jesus could and He did! Thank God for Jesus! Then the disciples asked, “Why could we not cast it out?” Jesus replied, “Because of your unbelief, for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you…”

      I think that because Jesus first mentions that the disciples were in unbelief, many have come to think that a little bit of faith is all we need to move mountains. I believe this is a trick of the enemy to keep us from receiving the things that we desire when we pray, as he knows small faith doesn’t move the hand of God, it only disappoints the individual.

      When we compare things in writing, we use similes or metaphors. As a matter of fact, in the YLT it states that Jesus is using a simile in Matthew 13, comparing the size of the kingdom of heaven to the size of a mustard seed. Let’s take a quick look at this passage:

      Jesus mentions the mustard seed in only three conversations in the word of God. In Matthew 13:31 -“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” Here, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed. He talks about the mustard seed being sown into the land. He then makes the point that if you sow this seed, though it is the least (smallest) of all seeds, it will become a tree that birds of the air flock to. I do believe that in this instance Jesus is referring to the size of the seed. After all, the kingdom started with Him, then He included His disciples, and it has grown to billions of souls over the centuries. I get it!

      Now in our key verse, faith is compared to a grain of mustard seed. This is also a simile, where we compare two things using the words “like” or “as”. A familiar simile would be, “I am as hungry as a bear.” My hunger is being compared to the hunger of a bear, not to the bear itself. I believe that faith is being compared to a grain of mustard, not in size, but in its productivity.

      You see, when a grain of mustard is planted or sown, it produces a mustard plant and nothing else; so faith when it is sown should produce what it is sown for. In Matthew 17 Jesus was instructing the disciples to know that when demons manifest, sow faith to cast out demons.

      In Luke 17:6, “So the Lord said, ‘If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, “Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you.”‘ As I was typing, I heard in my spirit, “If your faith is as a mustard seed” meaning, if you have the same kind of faith that a mustard seed has you will say…Meaning that a mustard seed will produce a mustard plant, and when it is sown, it knows it will produce mustard and not apples. And if you have that kind of faith, the kind that knows what it is producing, you will be able to say to the mulberry tree…or even forgive seventy times seven.

      After Jesus tells the disciples that faith as a mustard seed (this time He doesn’t say “grain”) will give them the ability to say to a mulberry tree to be uprooted, He goes on to talk about the role of a servant. He tells the disciples that a servant serves, even when he is tired and doesn’t receive thanks because it is his duty. I believe that Jesus is saying that faith has a responsibility to get done what we believe it will do, even if that means telling a mulberry tree to be uprooted or a mountain to be cast into a sea.

      When the doctors gave us the evil report about our baby, we put faith to work. Six months later, our baby was off the phenobarbital and given a clean bill of health. She has gone on to graduate from law school and has authored and published several novels. And she has never had another seizure. The seed of God’s word was planted in our hearts and we sowed it for her complete healing, and that’s what we received!

      What do you expect a mustard seed to produce? Mustard plants or trees! What should faith produce? The thing hoped for! Even today, I am still learning about faith. I can quote the scriptures and pull the books off the shelf, but I don’t always operate in mountain moving faith. But this blog has even opened my eyes to understanding faith in a different way. Faith, like a mustard seed, will produce what it is sown for: healing, finances, forgiveness, deliverance, a mate, a job…the possibilities are unlimited! Wonderful Jesus!

      Posted in Christian, Faith, Jesus, Matthew 17:20 | 4 Comments | Tagged Believer, Christian, Faith, Forgiveness, Jesus, Matthew 17:20, miraculous, mustard seed
    • Mustard Seed Faith?

      Posted at 5:27 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on February 24, 2018

      What did Jesus mean about mustard seed faith? While I cannot say with certainty what He meant, I can say with certainty, what He didn’t mean. Traditionally, we have been taught that mustard see faith was having just “a little faith, the size of a mustard seed” to move a great big mountain. Well, I don’t think so!

      Matthew 17:20-“So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “move from here to there’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”NKJV

      In the Young’s Literal Translation, this verse reads, “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.”

      As I have already mentioned, Jesus is not talking about the size of the seed. In both of the above versions, size isn’t even mentioned  But we have taught faithfully that Jesus is talking about the size of the seed comparing it to the size of our faith. Let’s look at what Jesus thinks about “small” faith:

      Matthew 6:30-Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (This doesn’t read as a compliment!)

      Matthew 8:26- But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm.” (If they were both fearful and had little faith, no wonder they couldn’t rebuke the storm!)

      Matthew 14:31- “And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ” (Peter walked on water, but “little faith” caused him to doubt and sink).

      Matthew 16:8-But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?” (Again, little faith is not being applauded as a wonderful thing by Jesus.)

      These four scriptures of truth, spoken directly by Jesus, confirms that the size of the mustard seed is not what Jesus was referring to in mountain moving faith. Many Christians have been disappointed in the results of their “little faith” not producing mountain moving results. I believe it is time to get rid of this myth in the Body of Christ and that is why it is my first post. More to come!

      Posted in Faith | 0 Comments | Tagged Faith, Jesus, mustard seed
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