June 8 Big Faith

Luke 17:5-7 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”
 
IF the disciples were responding to Jesus’ rebuke and forgiveness lessons in the previous verses, perhaps, as one commentator says, they should have said, “Increase our love!” After all, the more we love God and others, the more easily we will do God’s love.
    Surely, though, their plea for faith is a good disciple’s plea for all of us. Faith in God’s Word can be defined as Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. What blessed assurance we have when we surely believe God’s Word is useful – it is real to fulfill God’s will on earth and active for our lives! This seems to be the disciples’ desire. They want to trust Jesus’ teachings are effective for all aspects of transforming lost souls into the eternal Kingdom of God.
    “Increase our faith!” is a faithful prayer. Such words indicate they are submitting more to their Maser’s discipling. The students are daily witnessing Jesus’ impact on all those who faithfully receive his teaching. They want to be as Jesus to be a difference in Israel.
    I pray our minds are growing in the same way. When we are confident Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6), we will trust what we have learned is useful for our lives and useful for all others. How many times have you held back from sharing Scripture or encouraging people with your personal experiences with Jesus? What stopped you? Was your faith too small to believe, “God’s Word is useful for this person.” Perhaps you should have quietly prayed, “Lord, increase my faith.”
    Faith in God is letting go of our restrictive thoughts to trust his expansive authority over each life. Faith is knowing God acts for one’s good according to his purpose. Faith is understanding our Lord wants to see and hear your trust in him. Faith is the confidence to patiently and lovingly speak of the Lord and await his response.
    One day, the disciples would be full of faith. They would go into the world, completely trusting God’s Word was useful for the salvation of the world. As a result, the “mulberry tree” was uprooted and planted in the sea. In other words, the church begun with 12 men in the Spirit’s authority, supernaturally grew as the apostles faithfully proclaimed God’s useful Word to the world. It continues to do the same today. Each church begun is God’s response to faithful witnesses declaring his Word. 
    Will you be one of those witnesses?
 
Prayer: Increase my faith, Lord, to know that your Word is useful for the salvation of lost souls. Amen.