Today I would like to look at a conversation in the Bible between Jesus and his disciples.
They came to Jesus one day with a request. We find it in Luke 17:5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
What a noble request. This would have to qualify for the promise given in John 14 by Jesus, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” That is what makes Jesus’ response interesting. Normally, when the disciples asked Jesus for something, he would grant their requests.
However, in this instance he did not do so. Instead of granting what they asked for (which was more faith) Jesus simply told them that a very tiny amount of faith is sufficient to do great things. “And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamore tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.” A mustard seed is very tiny, yet Jesus said that if we have that much faith, at our command, a tree would tear itself out of the ground – plant itself – sea.
The problem was not that they needed more faith (this is evident as he did not give it to them).
The smallest amount of faith can accomplish the miraculous.
Faith is not measured by its bigness or littleness. What is needed is not so much a large faith as a living faith. The problem was that they were not exercising the faith they already had.
Have you ever seen someone accomplish great things and assumed they were some “super Christian” with mountains of faith? It is probably not that they have some enormous reservoir faith, the key is found in their willingness to use their faith.
Think of the church praying for the release of Peter from prison in Acts 12. As the church met to cry out to God for deliverance, an angel came and freed Peter from the prison.
When he knocked on the door where the prayer meeting was being held, a young lady named Rhoda answered the door.
When she rushed in to tell everyone that their prayers had been answered, they did not believe her. In fact, they called her crazy. When they finally did let Peter in, the Bible says they “were astonished” to see him.
Now let me ask you – Did they have great faith? Not really, no.
They were surprised when the answer came. But they DID act on their little faith.
And God answered their prayers. Faith is simply believing God, and although we could all use more, my challenge to you today is - Exercise the faith you have. Believe me, when you do, it will grow.
