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. 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

A Faith Healer Tells How God's Healing Gifts Work Through Us

A Faith Healer Tells How God’s Healing Gifts Can Work Through Us

 

The Scriptures tell us that we who believe in Jesus are authorized to heal the sick through the Name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.  (Matthew 10:8, Luke 10:9. James 5:14-16, 1 Peter 2:24, Mark 16:18) Jesus calls us to extend the love of God and His healing to the lost and the sick and those in bondage. But how does this happen?  Dr. Randy Clark, a Christian faith healer, tells us what he has learned in his many years of praying for the sick.

 

We learn from Scripture that faith is the main way that healing is received from God and passed on to the sick.  But, of course, God is sovereign and is also able to perform healing outside of the box. According to Dr. Clark, the faith to heal is different from “saving faith” which enables us to believe that Christ died for our sins and through faith in Him we receive eternal life.  Healing faith has its source in God and not in the person praying. The person praying is the conduit for God’s supernatural healing power to flow through.

 

The faith to heal is a gift of the Holy Spirit that is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:9. Also Jesus speaks of “mountain moving” faith.  Jesus said: “Have faith in God.” (or Have the faith of God)  Jesus said: “ For I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:22b-24)

 

Dr. Randy Clark believes that in the Scripture we just quoted, (Mark 11:22b) that Jesus may have actually said: “Have the faith of God.”  Dr. Clark thinks that Jesus is commanding His disciples to make an effort to acquire, take hold of, or to seize the faith of God, which suggests acquiring the faith that comes from God. Or in other words, being led by God.

 

We don’t have to work up our own faith.  The contents of this faith involves receiving revelation or a word of wisdom or hearing the Holy Spirit’s still small voice – maybe as a strong impression or a knowing that something is God’s will to take care of. It is a gift of grace, enabling one to believe or have faith for a specific outcome in a specific moment. Here below is an example of hearing God’s voice and direction and receiving healing.

 

Years ago, I had a skin disease on my hands.  For five years my hands had had painful blisters and bleeding cuts all over them.  I went from doctor to doctor but none of the doctors could diagnose my problem.  Some of the doctors told me that I must be nervous, and my hands were breaking out because of my nervousness.

 

  Finally, one day as I was driving to work, I was in so much pain with my hands that I stopped the car by the side of the street and took a few minutes to pray.  I held my cracked and bleeding hands up to God and cried out to Him to heal them.  I must have had forty- five or fifty bleeding cracks all over my hands at that time. 

 Right away I had the strong impression that I should drive across the street to the corner drug store and go in and buy a tube of athlete’s foot medicine and rub it on my cracked hands.  I did that and after four or five weeks of rubbing athlete’s foot medicine or fungicide on my hands, finally my hands were healed. Praise God!   I believe that God gave me a word of wisdom or an answer as to what to do to heal my hands. My hands have been healed ever since.    

 

Jesus associated faith and hearing God’s voice with being Abraham’s children. (John 8:39-47)  The Scriptures say that “those who believe are the children of Abraham.”  (Galatians 3:7) And according to Scripture, the pattern of Abraham’s faith was hearing God’s still small voice and believing and trusting God and obeying whatever God was asking him to do.  (Genesis 12:1,4,15:4-6,9-10,23-14:22:2-4) 

 Abraham was willing to obey God’s small voice to lead him - even when God was leading him to places that might be dangerous or difficult or inconvenient.  God called Abraham to leave his home (civilization) and travel to a new place - to far away Israel, the Promised Land. But Abraham left his comfortable home, not knowing where he was going, but following God’s leading.

 

 Perhaps many of us never reach this level of faith that Abraham had, because we may not be willing to give the Holy Spirit that much control of our lives. What if the Holy Spirit leads us where we don’t want to go?  Really how willing are we to follow God anywhere, like Abraham did? Because Abraham believed God, God blessed him and his children mightily.  But I believe that part of Abraham’s faith was his willingness to go wherever God led him, or to do whatever God asked him to do.  He totally trusted that his loving heavenly Father knew best.

 

There is a story in Mark chapter 17 of the disciples not being able to heal a boy with epilepsy and then Jesus healing the boy.  The disciples asked Jesus why they weren’t able to heal the boy as Jesus had given them His authority to do that.  And Jesus answered them saying that the reason they didn’t heal the boy was: “Because you have so little faith. I tell you, 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)

 

So, it seems that Jesus is saying that all we need is just a tiny bit of faith to pray for something that God wants to give us, and it will be given. As a child of God I can ask my loving heavenly Father for anything I need and He promises to give it to me if it is in His Will and if I have the faith of a tiny grain of mustard seed.

 

But then the faith that is related to the operation of healings and miracles, signs and wonders, our faith healer, Randy Clark is saying is different from our own mustard seed faith.  It is a faith that comes from God as a gift – a situational faith gift for the moment.

  Bishop David Pytches, an Episcopal Charismatic says of this kind of faith: “This gift is a supernatural surge of confidence from the Holy Spirit which arises within a person faced with a specific situation or need whereby that person receives a transrational certainty and assurance that God is about to act through a word or action.” Then when the pastor prays for the sick person, the healing takes place.

 

 In another week, in my next blog we will go over some of these healings that happened when pastors and priests and faith healers received this faith gift for a sick person. The nature of faith can seem complex, but God calls us to heal through His Name.  God is intentional about healing, and He is calling us to partner with Him – to let Him use us to heal other through us and to bless others. 

Those first Christians were used by God to heal the sick as well as to save souls. And we are called to do the same.  Scripture says: “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people: and they were all with one accord.”  (Acts 5:12) 

 

Most of this blog was taken from Dr. Randy Clark’s book: “Authority to Heal”.     

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

    

  

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

A Christian Faith Healer Talks About the Power to Heal

A Christian Faith Healer Talks About the Power to Heal

 

Randy Clark is the author of several books about how God has used his healing ministry.  Over the years he has seen tens of thousands healed and brought to salvation.  He encourages fellow Christians to walk in the supernatural power of God.  I would like to hit some of the high points in his book, “Authority to Heal”.  This book has blessed me so much and I hope it will bless you too. 

 

Dr. Randy Clark discusses the Biblical foundations for healing.  He mentions that God always provided a healing stream throughout the Old Testament years before Christ came. That healing stream flows from the very nature and goodness of God.  In the Scriptures God reveals himself as Yahweh-Ropheh, which means “the Lord who heals you.” And God promised to protect Israel from the many diseases that afflicted mankind if they would follow Him and obey His commands. (Exodus 15:26) God healed sick persons through Moses and God also healed the sick through many of the Old Testament prophets, especially Elijah and Elisha. 

 

When Jesus came, He went about healing all the sick who came to Him.  Everywhere He went He took care of the sick people, unless they refused and rejected Him.  Jesus said this about Himself: “The spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  (Luke 4:18-19) 

 

Jesus commissioned His followers to follow in His footsteps and also heal the sick.  And He taught His disciples to be God’s agents and let God’s healing power flow through them to heal the sick. Shortly before Jesus went back to heaven, He gave His disciples the “Great Commission”. (Mark 16:15-18)   Jesus gave all of His followers a job to perform. Our job is to go out and offer His salvation and healing to the world. And Jesus promised that His Holy Spirit would be with us to give us His power for this undertaking.  The healing stream that ran through the centuries during the Old Testament age, now with Holy Spirit power has become a river of healing flowing through our modern New Testament age.

 

In His “Great Commission”, Jesus calls all of His followers to: “Go into all the world and preach to gospel to every person. ..  And these signs will follow those who believe: In My Name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues. They will take up serpents: and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them, they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”  (Mark 16:15,17, 18) 

 

A few Christians, in religious meetings, play with snakes whose venom is deadly and drink poisonous drinks to try to prove that God is with them.  We don’t believe that Jesus ever meant that we should play with real live poisonous snakes to tempt God!   Bible scholars believe that t the snakes or serpents Jesus mentioned could be spiritual evils or demons that try to harm the Christian. God’s power does shield believers from harm. Even when we get sick and die, the grave has no power over us. (1 Corinthians 15:55) I believe we Christians would be amazed if we could see how many evils there are out there that God has protected us from throughout our lives.    

 

Jesus calls whoever believes to go out and witness and heal.  He says: “I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also: and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.  Whatever you ask in My Name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything in My Name, I will do it.”  (John 14:12-14) Healings and miracles were the number-one-way God received glory in the Scriptures.

 

Dr. Randy Clark insists that before the Christian goes out to witness and heal in Christ’s Name, he or she should receive an “anointing” from God.  Even though a Christian receives the Holy Spirit when they believe in Christ, they may need to have a release or fullness of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  Many Scriptures point to this.  Here is one Scripture which shows this truth.  “When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.  When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them: and they had simply been baptized into the Name of the Lord Jesus.  Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:14-17) 

 

Also, in Romans we again find the concept of impartation (passing on a spiritual gift by the laying on of hands)  Paul says: “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” (Romans 1:11-12) 

 

Paul, as he went throughout the Gentile world witnessing to justification by grace through faith in Christ, he also emphasized that receiving the empowering presence of God through His Holy Spirit into one’s life was all important.  The Holy Spirit is the true source of our fruitfulness if we try to live our lives for Christ.  Paul reminded Timothy, his beloved helper in the ministry, to “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of hands.”  (2 Timothy 1:6)

 

A believer can receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit without the laying on of hands. But it is one way that many believers have received this fullness. Another way is through praying and fasting and waiting upon God. Scripture says that God is simply looking for those who are willing to yield their hearts and live by all that God wants to work through them.  – those who are willing to believe for more, because, according to Scripture, there is more. 

 

In the Old Testament we see the principle of impartation (laying on of hands) – a transference of anointing in Deuteronomy 34:9, “Now Joshua, son of Nun was fill with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him.”   There are many other examples of this principle of impartation throughout the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament.

 

Scripture teaches us that God gives each believer a spiritual gift or gifts to use in their ministry with other believers to build up each other in Christ.  These gifts are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11)  “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:  For to one is given the word of wisdom, through the Spirit to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit.  To another, faith, by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit.  To another the working of miracles, and to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, and to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each believer individually as He wills:  (1 Corinthians 12: 7-11)

 

We need power from the Holy Spirit to use our spiritual gift or gifts as we go about doing God’s work.  If you feel a stirring in your heart for more of the power of God in your life and for more of the Holy Spirit to work through your life, you can pray and ask the Lord to create a hunger in you for more of His Spirit and His gifts. You can ask God for more of the power of the Holy Spirit. You can ask that the Lord create faith in you to receive whatever He has to give you.  If you ask and humbly believe, you will receive.

 

Most of this blog has been taken from Dr. Randy Clark’s book, “Authority to Heal” Restoring the Lost Inheritance of God’s Healing Power.     

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Jesus Calls Us to a Life in the Spirit

Jesus Call us to a Life in the Spirit

 

Today we are continuing our study of Jesus’ words on how to live our lives.  He preached about this in His famous “Sermon on the Mount” found in Matthew 5,6and 7 of our Bibles.  Jesus is calling out a people to reject the world’s ways of doing things and live their lives completely trusting their heavenly Father.  As children of God, Jesus calls us to a new way of living, and He gives us His Spirit to help us walk in this new way.  Jesus gives His followers many different commands in this sermon.  Without His Spirit to help us keep these commands we would not be able to obey any of them on our own.

 

We have covered much of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” already in previous blogs.  But today we will continue as He has many commands for His followers.  And some of Jesus’ commands go against worldly wisdom and upsets our sense of pride.  Here is one that I struggle with.  Jesus asks us to go the second mile.  Here is what He said: “You have heard it said, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’.  But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  Whoever slaps you on one cheek, turn the other.  And if anyone sues you and takes away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.  Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow, do not turn away.”  (Matthew 5:38-42)

 

Jesus has a great deal to say about humility.  And no wonder, since it was pride that first caused mans’ downfall into sin when Adam and Eve felt that their own way was better than God’s way.  Now restored godliness requires that we humans do the opposite and humble ourselves before God’s will.  Perhaps here in Jesus’ command to go the second mile and turn the other cheek, He is calling His followers to renounce any form of pride and retaliation against those who treat us badly and leave all vengeance to God.  Obedience is the response of faith to Jesus’ commands. 

 

We are to let mistreatment by others remind us to overcome their evil through love.  Our heavenly Father will take care of us and be our shield and defense.  Even when our enemy kills our bodies, we will be taken to heaven and will be made whole.  In these situations, we are promised that “not a hair of our heads will be harmed!”  (Luke 21:18) But of course, this promise in Scripture must have a spiritual meaning. There is nothing that our enemies can do to harm us that our heavenly Father cannot take care of, even if we don’t see the reward until we reach heaven. 

 

Jesus gives more commands concerning how we are to live our lives in His “Sermon on the Mount.”  He says: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. … No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else be loyal to one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and money.”  (Matthew 6:19-21 and 24)

 

There is a common thread throughout all of Jesus’ commands.  That we should be like little children, trusting our heavenly Father with our lives.  And that we are to “travel light” and not be anxious or worried about grasping for more and more money and coveting more earthly stuff.  And we must not put all of our efforts on becoming wealthy and make that the goal of our lives.  Worldly riches can be stolen or lose their value in a falling stock market.  But our heavenly inheritance is incorruptible.

 

This earth is not our home, we’re just passing through.  Our citizenship is in heaven and our lives should be different because of that.  Scripture always warns about the love of money taking away our love for God.  Jesus reminds us that we cannot put God first and also put the pursuit of wealth first. Jesus isn’t warning us against working to earn money to provide for our families.  Scripture doesn’t say that money is the root of evil.  It says that “the “Love” of money is the root of all evil.”  (1 Timothy 6:10)

 

Lastly, Jesus warns His followers of false teachers that will come in our churches and pretend to be good Christians – or the sheep of God’s pasture.  But really, they are there as ravenous wolves to destroy your church.  Here is what Jesus said: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits.  Do people gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistle bushes?  Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not (Matthew 7:15-20) 

 

False teachers have been there to ravage and destroy the Church from the very beginning.  They plant seeds of unbelief and rebellion wherever they go.  They pretend to be religious and good, but they hate Jesus Christ and they deny that He died for our sins and that He is the Son of God and Savior.  That He came in the flesh and that He is the only Way, Truth and Life. Over my lifetime I have seen many of these false prophets come in and tear apart the Church.  We have been warned by Jesus.  And throughout Scripture there are stark warnings. 

 

And Jesus closes His Sermon by giving the parable of the wise and the foolish builders.  (Matthew 8:24-28)  One person builds his house on the Rock and the other person builds his house on the sand.  When the storms come, the wind and rain are too much for the house with no foundation that is built on the sand.  And it falls down and is destroyed.  But the house with its foundation built firmly on the Rock withstood the storm.  The Rock is Jesus Christ and the sand is everything else that we can build our lives on.  This parable shows the necessity of doing the will of God. 

 

After Jesus finished his Sermon to the crowd that was gathered, He began healing all those in the crowd.  And He spent the next couple of years going through the countryside with His disciples and healing the sick.  He made the lame to walk and the blind to see.  He cured leprosy and He even raised the dead.  Jesus healed everyone who came to Him.  And He sent His disciples out and many were healed when they prayed for the sick.  When Jesus rose from the dead and went back to heaven, He left His Spirit to empower each of His followers, so He could work through them. The early Church grew and was persecuted because the Holy Spirit power flowed through their lives.  And they loved one another, and miracles and healings occurred wherever they went.    

,

 

 

 

.