And he said to them, “Why
are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and
the sea; and there was a dead calm. Matthew 8:26
I have been
blessed as of late with many things of God and once again taken back by the awesome
that is God. I have met people and have had conversations that I could not have
had without him. I have been given a wealth of words to put to paper that I
will get credit for, when they truly are not my words. Dead asleep by midnight
and awake again with words to write by 1am.
Through
these encounters however I have been given insight that can build towards a bit
of wisdom. One of the people that I have had the pleasure to meet recently is a
man named Jeff Harsbarger, a man whose walk to Christ was very like my own, he
just returned to Christ 25 years before I did. Listening to some of his words a
quote really moved me because of the truth of it, “Too many Christians are
concerned with reacting to the Devil, when all they have to do is respond to
God.”
There is a
truth in that statement of true power. I’m sure that had something to do with
the inspiration for this topic. I have talked about faith quite a few times,
but this time I want to focus on a few different examples. In the Bible, Jesus
tells us time and time again just how powerful Faith is, and even among his
disciples who are right there with him, how little faith we can have.
Jesus tells
us that with faith the size of a mustard seed a mountain can be tossed into the
sea. Jesus tells us that all he does, he does in faith of the Father. The only
time that he was not able to do miracles of magnitude was in his home town with
doubt and fear around him. There were more people that did not believe than
there were believers I feel.
Even with
that though, he was able to heal the sick. I have pondered on the parable of
the mustard seed more than once and I often asked why a mustard seed was used.
We are told that it is a very small seed and it grows into a tree large enough
for birds to take nest there. In this there is a deeper meaning of why Christ
chose the mustard seed.
Each of us starts
with a seed of Faith within us. This seed is watered and nurtured and eventually
begins to sprout with proper care, just as any other seed does. This begins to
grow in us and develops roots. This seed is the seed of our faith. It sprouts
within us and begins to grow. Even in its infancy there is power in that faith.
From the beginning
we are called to just draw closer to God through love. We are told that we have
been brought into God’s covenant and that he is our tower of refuge. We are
told that our faith from the beginning is powerful enough to move mountains. We
have a hard time keeping this in our minds when the seas are not calm.
Even the
disciples had fears and doubts, we are not perfect. Only Jesus was perfect, and
we are made perfect through Christ Jesus. I tell you though, Jesus is right,
faith the size of a mustard seed is capable of changing the world. Many times
it is changed in ways that we do not recognize or realize.
The faith
that we have in God is what keeps us safe. It is what keeps us on track with God’s
purpose. How can faith of a mustard seed change the world, by continual growth
and willingness to listen to God’s will and purpose. Demons had no power with
Christ. Christ dwells within us. The demons even feared the Son of God and
begged him. How can they have power of us if Christ dwells within us?
Without
faith the sea will remain rough. Without taking up your cross daily and walking
with God daily we neglect that patch of dirt that our seed is planted in and
allows weeds to grow in to choke out our faith. Ever diligent and ever faithful
will we keep to what God wishes for us.
I have been encouraged by what God has taught me through the words he
has blessed me with. These things are not mine, it’s a God thing.
What keeps
us where the devil wants us? Doubt and fear. The only power that he has over us
relies in us forgetting that he has no power over us. “Greater is he that
dwells in us than dwells in the world.” I may sound like a broken record, but
Faith is that important.
When I was
an Occultist there was a question that was asked constantly, “How does magic
work?” The answer is one that Christians will be familiar with, through the
belief that it will be done. It is our human will that puts forth our belief
and our faith that something will be done. We believe that we are protected in
Christ and have faith in the father and it is done.
It is not
that we are making it happen, we believe in the truths that we have been told
in the bible and through the testimonies of those far more wise than we are. I
am still a toddler in my walk with God. Even at this point though there is
power in the faith that has been built within me that no one can take from me,
save the Lord.
Job is
always a hard read for me because of all he goes through. And I understand that
it is supposed to be a testament to endurance and perseverance, but honestly
not many Christians want to experience what Job went through. He was blessed in
the end, but went through hell on earth. In that though the encouragement that
I get from it is just how much of a stalwart he was to the truth that God was
God.
Job
questioned why God was doing these things to him, but never denied God the
right. We are his children. Job stood his ground against the devil and was
blessed. I do not believe that all of us have to go through these struggles as Job
did, not to that level anyway, but look at how many people were blessed by his
story.
I leave with
one last point. Your faith is not something to keep to yourself. Your faith is
to be shared, go out and share the good news is what we are called to do as
disciples. So where is the light of your faith? Do you have it tucked away
under a bowl, or do you have it as a lamp for others to find the God that has
blessed you? You want your mustard seed to grow into a tree; it is going to
need some sun for that. You got to pull it out and that means other people will
see it and want to ask you about it. That’s the scary part isn’t it, talking
about your story and how you came to Christ and taking the risk that the person
will reject you because you’re one of those crazy “God hates fags” people.
I would not
be a Christian right now if someone had not reached out to me and shared their
story. Pull your tree out of your pocket and let people see it. You don’t want
to have a tree in your pocket anyway, watering it really wouldn’t be that
pleasant of an experience now would it?
“We are not cisterns
made for hoarding, we are channels made for sharing.” Billy Graham
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