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“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “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, NLT).
Jesus chastises His disciples for not having enough faith. If Jesus were talking with us today, would He say, “You don’t have enough faith”?
It’s important to know whether we have enough faith as Jesus follows up His challenge to His disciples (and to us today) with the promise that if we possess faith as small as a mustard seed — then nothing would be impossible for us today.
How many of us are facing impossible situations? If not now, we will, especially in these last days of increasing trials.
Here’s what I’ve learned about mustard seed faith.
Mustard seeds are small.
Jesus doesn’t ask for “raising the sick from the dead” faith at first, but He might nudge us to stop and pray for a co-worker who admits feeling depressed. Every time that we stop and pray, our faith increases.
Our flesh resists mustard seeds.
When God asks us to do something, our first response can be fear originating from the flesh.
Our calling is the area in which we need faith.
However, the evil one knows our calling better than we do and has probably infected us already through past experiences with fear.
Those with an impoverished background may have difficulty being generous, and those called to foreign countries might have a fear of flying. Personally, I’m a preacher with a fleshly nervousness about public speaking.
Mustard seeds grow.
Those of great faith see a mustard seed and then imagine a fully grown plant. As the Apostle Paul writes, “We walk by faith and not by sight.”
What do you imagine when asked to take a step of faith? Is it fear? Is it not having enough money? Is it inability? All these questions originate in the flesh and not from the Spirit of God, who says, “All things are possible.”
Jesus chastised His disciples after they failed to cast out a demon from a young boy. They tried and failed, but Jesus didn’t placate them by saying, “That’s okay, nice try.” Instead, He told them, “You don’t have enough faith.”
Do we have enough faith?
The rebuke of Jesus indicated that the apostles needed to repent of unbelief. What unbelief has attached itself to our flesh? What do we imagine when asked to take a step of faith?
Is it possibility or inability?
We know that the apostles, just like Jesus, could later cast out demons, heal the sick, and raise the dead.
They developed mustard seed faith. We can too!