Communication Key:
Mustard Seeds and Hope Bridges
#46 in the Series: Daddy, It's Me--Conversations of an Ordinary Person
with an Extraordinary Heavenly Father
“…“Truly 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 NIV
I imagine the idea
of mustard seed faith is one of the best known, but least understood, concepts regarding faith. A whole library of books has been written on
the subject of faith. It is a subject that
I have not mastered. My mustard seed is
still in the process of growing.
Sometimes I wonder if it has even sprouted. Sometimes I think it is thriving. Why so much mystery and confusion around the
subject of faith? I may not be the one
qualified to answer those questions but I know where to find the answers. Let us go to God’s Word for some insight.
First what is
faith? Here are three different
translations of the well known definition of faith given in the Bible:
“Now faith is confidence in what
we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1 NIV
“To have faith is to be sure of
the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.”
Hebrews 11:1 GNB
“Now faith is the assurance
(title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the
evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends
as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].”
HEBREWS 11:1 AMP
I remember when I
went off to college the first time (I was a back country mountain girl in the
big city of Tulsa and quite out of my element…not unlike believers in an
unbelieving world!). My mom said she
would send me a monthly allowance of $60.
She had told me she was going to send it. I believed her, even though I had not seen it
yet. I was confident in my hope to
receive the money even though it was not yet visible. I had faith in my mom’s ability to do what
she said she would do.
God has given us
many great and precious promises.
Promises to save, heal, deliver, provide, protect, comfort, strengthen, give
peace, joy, love and so many others. He is capable of doing what he has said
and promised. When we ask according to
His will as revealed by the Holy Spirit’s presence in us, we know he hears and
we know we have what we asked for.
“This is the confidence we have
in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we
asked of him.”
1 John 5:14-15 NIV
And there is the
rub! We know we have
what we asked for, but we may not see it yet!
That is where faith comes in!
Even while we are waiting for the answer to become visible, we have to hang on to the hope.
“Now faith brings our hopes into
reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It
is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.”
Hebrews 11:1 TPT
One way to hang on
to the hope is to ask the Holy Spirit
to show you the promise scripture that God wants you to hang on to. Then, memorize it. Every time you begin to doubt, say it…out
loud!...multiple times if necessary. I
doubt it will work if you go hunting for a scripture promise yourself…that
might lead to the downfall of James 4:3:
“When you ask, you do not
receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on
your pleasures.”
James 4:3 NIV
Jesus makes a bold,
unbelievable statement:
“And Jesus answered them,
"Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not
only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this
mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen. And whatever
you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."”
Matthew 21:21-22 ESV
If we
couple this with the other statement made by Jesus about praying the will of
the Father, it would still seem to be a criteria for moving the mountain. Many people make this an analogy…that you can
speak to the mountain of a problem and have it move…and that may be an accurate
application. In either situation, we
still must be speaking the will of the Father.
So we have returned full circle to the necessity of learning to hear
clearly the voice of the Father. To do
that we must believe He is and that he rewards us with his presence when we
seek him.
“And without faith it is
impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he
exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6 NIV
““Ask and it will be given to
you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For
everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks,
the door will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7-8 NIV
So, my
friend, do not lose hope! Ask the Holy
Spirit to show you the will of the Father and then hang on to the hope! Faith sees as a reality what cannot yet be experienced with the physical
senses. Hope is the bridge that must be
walked to bring that faith reality into your physical world. That walk will take some time. So, I repeat, don’t lose hope!
Hope
will bring freedom to your mustang heart!
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Teri