“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”” - Mark 9:24
There are times when even with the best will in the world, we feel our faith struggling to stretch far enough for a particular situation or problem. We know the promises of God, we’ve seen God work in our own life before or in the lives of others, we are sure that nothing is impossible with God, and yet somehow we cannot muster the faith to go the whole nine yards. God help our unbelief!
Great Faith
Thankfully God does not require of us titanic faith in every moment. Jesus tells us that even mustard seed faith properly wielded can work unbelievable feats (Matthew 17:20). The difference between great faith and little faith is not about God, it is about us.
“I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible". - Matthew 17:20
Great faith, grown through being tested, produces patience and endurance (James 1:2-4).
Great faith, expressed through belief and trust in what Christ accomplished on our behalf, produces great joy (1 Peter 1:8).
Great faith, resting on the understanding that Christ in his death overcame every trial and healed every hurt, produces great peace (John 16:33).
Great faith, centred on trust in the power of God working through us, produces great strength (Isaiah 40:31).
Let us continue to pray, as the man who cried out to Jesus did, for our faith to grow and grow to the point where we will not have to wrestle with unbelief. For “without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6) and we want more than anything for our lives to be pleasing and acceptable to God.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever". - Hebrews 13:8
But even in the midst of our unbelief, remember that the size of our God does not change depending on the size of our faith - he is absolute, constant, “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
So right now, let’s hold on to God with that little mustard seed of faith, knowing that it’s not our faith that produces the result, but the one in whom we have placed that faith.
