The Power Of Faith In God
Stephanie Nickel discuss the power of faith; faith that is biblical and real. Learn how to place your faith and trust in God.
The Power Of Faith
Matthew 17:14-21 says,
And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.’ And Jesus answered, ‘O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.’ And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.’
Matthew 17:14-21
Faith is Powerful
There is something in this passage that I have never truly considered before: Faith is one of the most powerful things in all of creation. If you’d asked me if I believed this, I would have said yes, but I’ve never thought of it in these terms before. (This is one of the reasons I love reading God’s Word; even familiar passages overflow with rich truths and meaning we may never have considered before.)
If we equate faith with belief, then we can apply the truth that faith is powerful across the board, to both Christians and non-Christians. If we truly believe something, it affects the choices we make, the words we speak, the endeavours we pursue.
Biblical Faith
But of course, Jesus wasn’t merely speaking of faith in general. He was speaking of biblical faith, of faith in Him and His authority. And beyond that, I believe He was speaking of faith in His willingness as well, not only His willingness to heal this particular boy but His willingness to do it using others as a conduit. After all, the father in this story brought his son to the disciples, but they were unable to help.
They didn’t deny that Jesus had the power to heal. After all, they had seen Him do so before. In fact, even the religious leaders of the 1st century believed Jesus did these things, but they questioned the source of His power. They didn’t realize that He was fulfilling the will of His heavenly Father, the very God they claimed to serve. And if God was, indeed, the source of Jesus’ ability to heal the sick and raise the dead, most of them didn’t want to consider what that meant to them personally.
Faith Like A Mustard Seed
What did Jesus mean by faith the size of a mustard seed? A mustard seed is extremely small. Therefore, we can come to the conclusion that real faith is, indeed, supercharged if a tiny amount can move a mountain.
First, we have to understand what God means by the word faith. How does He define it? Hebrews 11:1 says,
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
While we will see results of genuine faith, there are far more that we won’t see this side of heaven.
Faith Is A Gift From God
We cannot, however, stir it up within ourselves. Ephesians 2:8 says,
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8
Saving faith is not something we work up. It’s a gift from God Himself.
Even though this is the case, we have a responsibility to cherish and nurture this great gift. How can we do so? We must be diligent students of God’s Word. Romans 10:17 says,
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:17
If we don’t have a solid, Bible-based faith, we may mistake our feelings for faith. And if we’re honest, we will agree with Jeremiah 17:9, which says,
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9,
Though that’s a sobering thought, it is encouraging. Those days when we feel upset, abandoned, angry, confused or lost, we can count on the truth of scripture. Those truths don’t change with our moods.
Teaching The Power Of Faith To Our Children
We must nurture faith in our children as well. We can pray that God will give them this gift. We can study God’s Word together and teach our sons and daughters the importance of doing so on their own as well. We can remind them—and ourselves—that faith isn’t magic, but it is powerful. We can teach them that their feelings don’t change the truth of God’s Word. And it goes a long way by letting them know that we are still growing in our faith.
Real faith comes from discovering God’s character and the plans He reveals in His Word. We must learn to trust the Lord and His character. Only then can we set a good example for our children. Only then will we discover what He would have us accomplish with this amazing gift, the gift of faith.
Do you think the 10 Commandments are still important today? We would love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us at HopeStreamRadio.
Steph Nickel
Steph Beth Nickel is eclectically interested and eclectically involved. In all she does, Steph seeks to nurture and inspire. She is currently working on the first book in a nonfiction series. Nurture and Inspire LOVE is a compilation of the first devotionals she wrote for HopeStreamRadio.
Steph is a freelance writer and editor. She is the coauthor of Paralympian Deb Willows’ award-winning memoir, Living Beyond My Circumstances, published by Castle Quay Books. Deb and Steph are working on a follow-up book.
You can visit her website, stephbethnickel.com, to learn more about her.
Visit Steph’s contributor’s page or at Steph Nickel’s Eclectic Interests.
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Images courtesy of:
Landscape- Pezibear
Mustard- gokalpiscan
Mountain- Unsplash
Child- Alphalight
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