Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, “Why could we not drive it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. -Matt 17:19-20
Friends, God is good all the time!
I don't know if you have faith or not; I don't know if you even know what faith is. But, no matter where you stand in your relationship with God and how you understand and apply your beliefs, for faith to work for you, let it must match and correspond with Jesus' infallible statement, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Faith works, and it works for those woo have it and use it.
The book of Hebrews gives an insightful conception of faith. According to the book, faith "is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see"(V.1). So, faith can be understood as confidence in God and in your belief about Him. The confidence that He is kind and powerful to grant what you ask. There is no need for faith when the thing is there. Faith won’t be necessary where the reality is on sight. But hope enables us to see that the reality is there. We must see it when it is not there for it to become real.
Why are people confident that a vaccine will soon be developed for Covid-19? How come that scientist who claim to rely on evidence, tangible reality is confident that they will successfully get a cure for Covid-19 and work towards it, though they have not seen what the vaccine will look like? The truth is that these scientists are relying on faith as defined above. So why won’t Christians use the remarkable gift of faith to their advantage?
The way faith works can be linked to the way we use the mirror in our homes. We feel awesome and good when we see ourselves in the mirror and confidently move away, knowing that we look the way we saw ourselves. We never think that our face changed to become someone else's face; we never think that people will see us and never recognize us. Instead, we gain confidence and trust in the image we carry of ourselves all day at school, workplace, church, grocery store.
Let your faith be like a mirror with which you gain confidence in God to do what He must do. Use the faith that belong to you that scientists are using in their work. Remember that if scientist can use it to develop a vaccine, so can you use it for whatever you desire from God. Carry your faith around like a mirror all day to boost your confidence in God and yourself to receive from God’s rich kindness. As Christians, our convictions and trust must be boosted not by what you see, but what we don't see, and yet know it is there. “For we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7).
Prayer blessings: Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Amen.