Exceedingly Abundantly

Matthew 17:20 NIV

20He 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."

A. Mustard seeds. Jesus wants us to have faith enough of one of these tiny mustard seeds.

Here is the fruit of a mustard seed...look at this huge tree. Our faith or lack thereof has it's consequences.
We get so limited in our thinking that we can't conceive that small of a grain growing into something this large so we usually cease to believe.

Yesterday I opened my Sword of the Spirit and began to read about Jesus feeding the 5,000 plus women and children. The disciples had just returned from spreading the good news of the kingdom of God to the Jews and they came back in from the journey and they were exhausted. Seeing their need Jesus gets them to withdraw so they can get some rest. My favorite account in all four of the gospels of this paticular segment is in Mark 6:
30The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."
32So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Here is where I can put myself in this scene: D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E. Desperate for Jesus. Can you even imagine what it was like to have the Godhead bodily in the flesh on earth for a time? The peoples needs were so great and so are our needs. We have an insatiable need to be filled in the innermost being by something, someone greater yet so often we will search to the farthest ends of the earth in vain. Anyway, here is Jesus raising the dead, healing the sick, performing many miracles and the people were desperate for Him to touch their lives. I think about the hemorrhaging woman and how she just touched the hem of His garment and her blood that was flowing (FOR 12 YEARS) STOPPED as soon as she touched Him. Anyway, Jesus saw the people coming and had compassion on them so what did He do? He had compassion that they were like sheep without a shepherd. They were lost or aimless. So He taught them. I love this about Jesus because if I had just come to a moment of conversion and had never grown in my knowledge of who Christ is and how He wants me to live there is NO telling where I would be. I am a dumb sheep enough on my own and in desperate need to hear my masters voice. The voice of truth and purity. Discipling others is so important for this very reason. We need to know truth and not be deceived by false teaching. Our view of God really does determine everything about us. This brings me to a personal story. When I read of how the disciples wanted Jesus to send the crowds away to other towns to find food and lodging before it got late it sent me in a tailspin. They were so just like us. The Lord may show up in our lives and do many miraculous things and then we get our heads stuck on the ground and we forget. Anyway, they had seen Him heal the sick and raise the dead yet they did not believe Him to feed all of those people. This would not have been a far cry if they would have thought of the Israelites and how God so literally rained their food down from heaven. So Jesus told them to feed the people and you see Philip and Andrew began to calculate with human reason what it would take to feed all of those people...it was humanly speaking: IMPOSSIBLE. So then Jesus fed them with the five loaves and two fish and they had twelve baskets left over. That is just like us to use human calculation instead of thrusting ourselves at the One who is the Blessed controller of all things and controls the very universe. Nothing is too hard for God.
So, I have had some heavy burdens on my back for a time now. I can't go into detail so here is the brief synopsis. I got on my knees yesterday morning and confessed how I have tried in my own efforts to meet my needs and reaffirmed that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I asked God just to be God and show up in my circumstances as I prayed specifically over what they were (He already knew but I had to tell Him). As I prayed I realized how truly unworthy I am for any heavenly crumbs to fall from His table into my mouth but acknowledged that He could still bless me if He wanted to. He has been so good to me y'all. I asked Him to take this weight off of me. Within minutes (almost like Daniel while He was praying God sent the answer) the Lord worked out a huge situation. Then later in the day (a totally seperate issue) I had a debt cancelled to put it brief. Now what in the world! That was God. I took my little mustard seed of faith to the Throne of Grace to find help and boy did I (Psalm 5:2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.). I so wish I could give you the details. Anyway, I never want to cease to remember the great things the Lord has done for me and for others. I want to keep believing Him when I feel discouraged and forgotten.


I read these verses today out of Matthew 16 and it reminded me about how quickly we forget. Let's keep choosing to remember the great things He has done.
Matthew 16:7-9
7They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread."
8Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?