How Do We Get Faith as Small as a Mustard Seed

How Do We Get Faith as Small as a Mustard Seed?

 

Jesus told his disciples :”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.”  (Matthew 17:20) Jesus’ disciples were upset.  Jesus had given them His authority to heal  and they had prayed for a little boy to be healed, but the boy was not healed.  So, Jesus lovingly healed the child.

 

Discouraged, the disciples asked Jesus why even with His authority, they had not been able to heal the boy.  And Jesus answered that they could not heal the boy because they had too little faith.  So, Jesus encouraged them by telling them that all they needed was just a small bit of faith – as small as the smallest seed - the mustard seed.

 

  Some of us pray for healing for friends and loved ones but they are not healed.  Does that mean that we, like Jesus’ disciples, don’t have enough faith? If so, then how do we get more faith?  Even a little faith the size of a mustard seed?

 

Randy Clark, a faith healer, insists that we cannot work up this faith on our own.  That this “mountain moving” faith comes from God as a gift. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of faith. Scripture says that the Holy Spirit gives each of us a spiritual gift, “For to one is given the word of wisdom, through the Spirit to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another the gift of faith by the same Spirit to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit.  To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits to another different kinds of tongues and to another the interpretation of tongues.  (1 Corinthians 12:8-10) 

 

This mountain moving faith is not normal faith.  Dr. Clark believes that this kind of faith is a gift of grace from God, enabling the believer to have the faith for a specific outcome in a specific moment – like a healing, or for a person to accept Christ as Savior.

 

  Jesus commands His disciples to “Have the faith in (or of) God” (Mark 11;22) We cannot be commanded to have something that we don’t have!  But Dr. Clark says that in this verse, the word “have” has been translated from the active form of the verb (have) which means “to take hold of (something) or to grip or seize”.  He believes that Jesus is commanding His disciples to make an effort to take hold of, or to seize the faith of God.  To ask God to use us in any way He wants.  To give us the power to hear His voice and to heal through us if He so wills.

 

Perhaps that is part of the reason why the Bible often encourages believers to fast and pray.  The believer really wants more of the Holy Spirits’ power and is asking for God’s answer in a need. Scripture says that our heavenly Father gives gifts to those who ask for them or really want them and humbly wait on the Lord to receive these gifts.  And fasting promotes a humble spirit in us as we wait and lay our out requests before our heavenly Father.

 

  I don’t believe that our heavenly Father wants a ho hum or casual prayer quickly thrown at Him for the big miracles we need from Him in our lives.  I think He wants us to ask and seek and knock and keep on knocking. So, if we are asking God for the faith to believe that He will make a loved one’s blind eyes see, we are not asking for normal faith.  It is a special faith for a special need. This faith for healings and miracles is a special gift from God related to the operation of healings and miracles.  But we can ask for it.

 

 Scripture says: “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.  If a son asks for bread from his father, will the father give him a stone?  …Or if he asks for a fish, will the father give him a snake?  …If you, being sinful, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”  (Luke 11:9,11,13) Here, our heavenly Father promises to give us His Holy Spirit power if we ask Him.

 

Dr. Clark says that the kind of faith that comes from God as a gift, is not there all the time.  You cannot create this faith, but it is simply given by God as a gift.  Dr. Clark mentions one of the other gifts that Scripture says the Holy Spirit gives to believers – the gift of knowledge.  (1 Corinthians 12:8-9)

 

 Randy Clark says that often there is a strong connection between the gift of a word of knowledge and the gift of faith. A word of knowledge from God allows us to know the specific will of God in a specific situation, and that causes great faith to rise up in our hearts for answered prayer for a healing or a prayer request. Faith is an important part in almost every healing or miracle from God.

 

Mary Healy tells a story of how the Word of Knowledge (one of the gifts of the Spirit) was used as a tool for evangelism.  Mary had a friend, a Catholic priest.  This priest was on the phone with a woman named Susan, an unbeliever who began to ask the priest some questions about God.  The priest saw an opening to share the gospel and began telling Susan about God’s love and how He gave His Son, Jesus to die for her sins. 

 

As they were talking, an image came into the priest’s mind of Susan looking at herself in a mirror, with her earrings on. And Jesus was looking at her with great love. The priest decided to take a step of faith and share his impression with her.  He told her that he saw the Lord Jesus looking at her as she was looking in her mirror, with her earrings on.  He got more words of knowledge and he told Susan that: “The Lord wants you to know that He sees your beauty and delights in you, and that no matter what you’ve done in the past, He loves you and has a plan for your life.”

 

There was silence on the line for a minute or two.  Then the priest heard Susan crying and saying: “How did you know that?”  She then shared with the priest that a month earlier she had fallen into a black hole.  That she had done things in her past that she felt were very bad and that had ruined her life.  And she felt like she was worthless.

 

 But earlier that day she had put on a new pair of earrings and looked at herself in the mirror and she wondered if there might be hope for her somewhere. She accepted the priest’s challenge to read a book about Jesus and she promised to come to church and learn more about God. The word of knowledge that God gave the priest – the impression he got while talking with her - was given to help Susan have faith in Jesus.  And later she gave her heart to Christ and joined the church.

 

Susan probably would have not had the faith to start going to church or to believe in Christ as her Savior if the priest had not shared with her the “word of knowledge” that he received from the Lord.  The priest was supernaturally shown something about her that he wouldn’t have known without that “word”. - or mental picture.  The body of Christ shies away from these supernatural gifts because sometimes they can be mis-used.  And there are false prophets and fakes pretending to have spiritual power.  But the Bible promises that believers will be given these spiritual gifts to use here on earth for His glory.