Tag Archives: mustard seed

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.P. – Growing Faith

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Like all humans, Robert Ludlow, the tallest man that ever lived at 8 feet 11.1 inches, started out as a tiny embryo. A newborn elephant grows from about 200 pounds to as much as eight tons. A two millimeter mustard seed can become a tall tree.

A grain of mustard seed, which, when sown…is the smallest of all the seeds.  Mark 4:31

Jesus said if you had faith as big as a mustard seed, you could command a mulberry tree to be planted in the sea, or you could move mountains (Luke 17:6 and Matthew 17:21-22). Yet you may become discouraged, thinking, “If mustard seed-sized faith moves trees and mountains, my faith must be microscopic.” Remember…embryos, baby elephants, mustard seeds and faith grow. You may not be able to raise the dead or relocate landscapes, but you can exercise and nurture the faith you do have.

How do you grow your faith? Know God is your authority (Matthew 8:5-13). Pray for faith (Luke 22:32), meditate on who Jesus is (Acts 3:16), and read the Bible (Romans 10:17). Be encouraged by the faith of others (Acts 14:22), and recall answers to your prayers, knowing God can do anything (Romans 4:21). Whatever the size of your faith, thank God for it and use it to seek Him concerning your personal needs, your family, your church…and your country.

Recommended Reading: Matthew 6:25-33

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Faith Without Love

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John MacArthur

“If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2).

In Matthew 17:19 the disciples came to Jesus wanting to know why they couldn’t cast a demonic spirit from a child. Jesus responded, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (v. 20). He repeated the same principle in Matthew 21:21: “Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall . . . say to this mountain [the Mount of Olives], ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ [and] it shall happen.”

Those passages have puzzled many people because they’ve never seen anyone move a mountain. But Jesus wasn’t speaking literally. Moving mountains would cause all kinds of ecological problems and would be a pointless miracle. The expression “able to move mountains” was a common figure of speech in that day, meaning “to surmount great obstacles.” Jesus was speaking of those who have the gift of faith–who can move the hand of God through unwavering prayer.

The gift of faith is the ability to believe that God will act according to His will, no matter the circumstances. People with that gift are prayer warriors and tend to stand as rocks when others around them are falling apart. They see God’s power and purposes at work and trust Him even when others doubt.

But, says Paul, even if you have such faith, if you don’t have love, you are nothing. That’s a harsh rebuke, but it places the emphasis where it belongs: on our motives. The Corinthians’ motives were evident in their selfish pursuit of the showy gifts.

What motivates you? Remember, without love it doesn’t matter what gifts you have, how eloquent your speech is, what you know, or what you believe. Only love can validate your service to Christ.

Suggestions for Prayer:

Ask God for a greater capacity to trust Him, and the motivation to pray more fervently.

For Further Study:

Read Hebrews 11, drawing from the examples of the people of great faith mentioned there.

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Alistair Begg – I Know

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I know that my redeemer lives.

Job 19:25

The essence of Job’s comfort lies in the little word “my”–“my Redeemer”–and in the fact that the Redeemer lives. Oh, to get hold of a living Christ. We must get a share in Him before we can enjoy Him. What is gold to me while it is still in the mine? It is gold in my possession that will satisfy my necessities by purchasing the things I need. So a Redeemer who does not redeem me, an avenger who will never stand up for my blood, what benefit is there in that?

Do not rest content until by faith you can say, “Yes, I cast myself upon my living Lord; and He is mine.” You may hold Him with a feeble hand and half think it presumption to say, “He lives as my Redeemer.” But remember, if you have faith even as a grain of mustard seed, that little faith entitles you to say it.

But there is also another word here, which expresses Job’s strong confidence: “I know.” To say, “I hope so, I trust so” is comfortable, and there are thousands in the fold of Jesus who hardly ever get much further. But to reach the essence of consolation you must say, “I know.” Ifs, buts, and maybes are sure destroyers of peace and comfort. Doubts are dreary things in times of sorrow. Like wasps they sting the soul! If I have any suspicion that Christ is not mine, then there is vinegar mingled with the gall of death. But if I know that Jesus lives for me, then darkness is not dark: Even the night is light about me.

Surely if Job, in those ages before the coming of Christ, could say, “I know,” we should not speak less positively. God forbid that our positiveness should be presumption. Let us make sure that our evidences are right, in case we build upon an ungrounded hope; and then let us not be satisfied with the mere foundation, for it is from the upstairs rooms that we get the panoramic views. A living Redeemer, truly mine, is unspeakable joy.