Saturday, June 22, 2013

The Substance of Faith: Matthew 17:16-20

"And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” -Matthew 17:16-20 (ESV)

What is Faith

Well, the well-known passage in Hebrews 11 describes is it as so: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
  
"Faith is the substance."
Now this is where we begin to understand what faith truly is, as revealed by God.
Faith is not simply the extension of one's belief to bring something to reality. 
No, rather it is the actual realization of what is already matter of fact

Faith is the affirming of what is truth. It is not simply one's belief, but something much more concrete than that. As Matthew 17 says, "you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move." It is not something that is relative or metaphysical, it is real and tangible.

When we pray in the spirit and God says something is so, it is.
No matter if it has come to fruition in the physical or not, when God speaks it is so.
Faith is knowing as a fact (more than just believing) that something is so, even when the physical might not reflect it. 

Faith is not wishy washy. It is firm and solid. 
Faith in the declaration of what is so, not the belief of what could be. 
It is a far stronger force than we may realize, which is why Jesus was so intent on expressing both the lack of such that the disciples had and also His wish that they would indeed have that level of faith. 

Our call is to be like Jesus, and He had faith beyond measure. 
We should in turn be seeking to elicit the same level of faith in our day to day lives. 

Through God's grace that guides us ever onwards to His eternal promises of life and light,
~Jadon

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