Mustard Seed of Faith

“He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith.  I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.'”

– Matthew 17:20

What does it mean to “have faith as small as a mustard seed” here?

We have heard this Scripture probably a hundred times or more.  But what does it mean?

To put this verse in context, a man had brought his very ill son to Jesus for healing.  The boy would have such great seizures and suffered so much that he would throw himself into the fire or water.

Can you imagine how distraught this father was seeing his son suffer so much?  I bet he would have gladly taken on this suffering for his son so he could be healed.  If this was me, it would be torturous to see my son suffer in this way.

So this man, after bringing his son to the disciples for healing, brought him to Jesus.  He told Jesus that his disciples tried but could not heal him.

Jesus is frustrated at the unbelief of His disciples.  He told the man to bring his son to Him.  Jesus rebuked the demon that was in the boy and he was healed from that moment.

So later, in private, the disciples asked Jesus why they could not drive the demon out of the boy.

Verse 20 (above) was his response.

First He tells them it was because they had so little faith.

And then Jesus goes on to tell them that if they have “faith as small as a mustard seed”, they can move mountains.  Nothing would be impossible for them.

Do you see the irony here?

Jesus first tells the disciples that their faith was too small to drive out the demon.  But then He tells them that if there faith was even as small as a mustard seed (google it to see how small it is) they can move mountains.  Nothing would be impossible for them.

So what gives?

Small faith is not the issue here.  I believe it has to do with who your small faith is in.  Small faith in something other than Jesus will get you nowhere.  But small faith in Jesus will move mountains.

So I think the disciples small faith stemmed from they did not believe they could heal the boy.  They were looking to themselves to drive out the demon when they needed to rely on the Lord and His strength.  So their unbelief kept them from seeing a miracle.

Oh how often I have done this!  How it pains me to think of all the things I have missed out on seeing God do because my faith was in the wrong place.

We all struggle with unbelief.

But the key to having faith that moves mountains is our gaze, our focus, where we place our trust.  Who are we trusting in to accomplish what is before us?  Am I going to focus on my situation that looks impossible or am I going to choose to direct my focus on the Mover of Mountains?

So – where is your small faith?  Is it in your abilities?  Your gifts?  Your talents?  Your strength?

OR

Is it in THE ONE who can truly move mountains.  THE ONE who NOTHING is impossible?  THE ONE who is for you and not against you?

Where is your struggle?  Who are you going to choose to place your “small faith” in?

Let’s choose today to place it in the Mover of Mountains.

Where Do I Store My Treasure?

We all are in the business of storing treasure.

The question is:  Are you storing your treasures in the right place?

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:19-21

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend my church’s Women’s Stay Treat.  [A Stay Treat is where we have a retreat at our church rather than go out of town]

The speaker was my college friend, Lori Joiner and the topic was Laying Up Treasure.

Lori did a fantastic job helping us really think about where we are laying up our treasures, how to lay up treasures in heaven, and thinking about what kind of legacy we want to leave behind.

The fact is we are all storing up treasure either in heaven or on earth.  It is one or the other.  There is no in-between.

So where are you storing your treasure?

I loved Lori’s definition of what is a treasure in heaven:

Isn’t that good! That means it is not just the big things that we do for God that are treasures for His Kingdom.  It is also the little things He calls us to do every day.  Changing diapers, respecting our husband, being the manager of our home, being a faithful employee, etc.  Every act of obedience matters.

So I want to share with you Lori’s 5 Treasure Tips to help us on this journey of laying up treasure in heaven:

1.  Read God’s Word

2.  Listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit

3.  Have faith that what God says is true.

4.  Don’t compare yourself to others

5.  Make every day count.

I want to emphasize we all fail at laying up treasure in heaven at one point or another.  All of us will have some wood, hay, and straw on the day we stand before the Lord.  The only person who would not have any wood, hay, or straw would be Jesus.

So don’t beat yourself up about what you have or haven’t done.  Just start today and do what He has called you to do.  And if you fail, go before Him and tell Him.  He loves you and does not condemn you.  He wants to you to keep going and not give up.  So let’s keep pressing on and lay up treasure in Heaven for God and His glory!

My Weight Stuggles

I have struggled with my weight ever since high school. I thought I was fat. I was made to think I was fat. I did not think I was good enough.

My senior year I was on the drill team. But I barely made it on because of my weight. But you see if you looked at my pictures, you would not have thought I was fat. But I thought I was huge because I did not meet the weight requirements. I had to be weighed every week and it was posted every week for everyone to see. And every week I could not perform because I did not make my requirement. The only football game I got to perform was the Homecoming game because it was the one game everyone got to perform.

I was ashamed and embarrassed. One week I was 3 pounds from their requirement and the officers wrote on the sheet for everyone to see how close I was to making the requirement. I don’t know if it was their way to embarrass me or encourage me. If it was meant to encourage, it had the opposite effect. I was embarrassed. So the next week I fell further from the goal.

So I went into college thinking I was fat. But the truth was, I was at a healthy weight for my body.

So I struggled. And I struggled. And I gained weight. I felt defeated and worthless.

Then in my junior year, I took an awful aerobics class for one of my PE credits. One of the things we had to do at the beginning of the semester was we had to weigh and everyone saw it. I saw the number that as I the scale and I was in disbelief. I did not believe what the scale said. I could not believe my weight was so high. Cue embarrassment again.

All through college I struggled. Especially when it came to dating. I thought if I lost a certain amount of weight then so and so would ask me out. But that was just a dumb roller coaster I was on.

If my weight was keeping someone from asking me out, that said more about him and not about me. Boy how I wish I knew then what I know now. But that is another story for another day.

I have struggled and struggled with that dumb number on the scale. I have let it determine my worth for so long. So back in 2013, I had enough and I threw my scale in the trash. You can read about that here.

I wish I could say that was the end of my struggle. It was freeing but not the end. The fact is I still struggle. It is definitely a thorn in my flesh. But I am learning more and more that it is not a battle of my will. It is a spiritual battle for my heart, mind, and soul.

Last weekend I was praying about this and I searched for verses with the word struggle in them. And this verse was the first one that came up:

Ephesians 6:12

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Exactly what I needed from the Lord. With this journey, you are made to think you just have to will yourself to do the workouts and eat the right way. To suck it up and do it. But in reality, if it works, it will only last for so long. I believe is a big reason why so many people gain the weight they have lost and then some.

We have to change the way we think about this battle. It is a battle. It is not easy. It is super hard. But God does not leave us to fend for ourselves. He is right in the midst of it – He is here to help us and guide us every step of the way.

I certainly DO NOT have this nailed down. But I am learning to rely on Him more and more. I want to share my failures along with my success. And I hope to encourage others along the way. I also want to hear about your victories and how I can pray for you. So please comment below or if you want to send me a private message, you can go to my FB page and send it to me there. I would love to hear from you.

Let’s fight this battle together in power and strength of our Lord!

Words

 

I love words.  I love to look up the meaning of words.  I love to use a word or words to descibe my focus for the year.

In the past I have used words like enjoy and expectation.  This year I decided to use 3 words that come from Matthew 7:7,8

 

My words for Ask, Seek, Knock.  It stems from my word last year – Expectation.  I have some big goals for this year and I feel I do not do well in asking, seeking, and knocking with the Lord.  He wants me to ask, seek, and knock.  So that is what I want to do this year.

I also decided to use this verse from Jeremiah as a verse for this year as well:

God has laid some big things on my heart and I believe He wants me to walk in faith for these big things.  So I am excited to see what He will do!

What is your word for the year?  What are you expecting from this year?