Seed Of Faith

SoundCloud: Seed Of Faith Podcast

Quick question? Have you ever seen a mustard seed? Do you know how small a mustard seed is? Or better yet, did you even know mustard seeds even existed? Because I don’t think I’m the only one who thought that mustard was just a condiment. But it wasn’t until I read Matthew 17:20 that I realized mustard is a plant and that in order to move the mountains in our lives, a mustard seed of faith is just the right amount of faith we need.

What is faith?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. | Hebrews 11:1

There are two words we can pick out from this verse:

So usually when I’m reading the bible I like to pick out key words within certain verses and define their meaning. Typically with this verse, it can be easy to read it and yet miss the whole meaning and or depth being it.

So the two words that I feel will help make this verse easier to understand are the words; Hope and Substance.

·         Hope: Desire accompanied by expectation

·         Substance: The confidence or assurance 

So now that we have established the meaning of hope and substance, let’s take those definitions and replace hope and substance with those meanings.

-          Now faith is the (confidence or assurance) of things (desired or expected), the evidence of things not seen.

We see faith in action in Hebrews 11 verse 4 through 12

Abel – By faith

Noah By faith

If you haven’t noticed, there is a reoccurring theme and word choice within the context of these verses.

BY FAITH

It was by faith…. It was by faith…. It was by faith……

-          So what does by faith even mean?

Let’s take it back to hope and substance. If we take Hebrews 11:1 with the added definitions of hope and substance, we can then insert them within “By faith”.

Apologies in advance for all my visual learners.

-          By (confidence or assurance of things desired or expected), Abel brought God a better offering

-          By (confidence or assurance of things desired or expected), Noah…

The confidence and assurance of faith rests within the promises of God. They rest in the fact of knowing that God will honor what we are faithful over and that He will keep those same promises.

 That’s what faith consists of. Even though we cannot see what God is doing, how He’s going to bless us, how He’s going to move, etc. we can have confidence and assurance in knowing that He holds our future.

The people that we read about in Hebrews Chapter 11 have had some portion of faith. In fact Matthew 17:20 says that God gives each of us a certain measure of faith.

But faith without the works are dead. And each of these persons have had to act upon the faith that was given in order to enjoy the promises God made to them.

-          There’s an old movie I used to watch growing up called A Bug’s Life. The scene starts with the main character or ant, Flint having a conversation with ant princess Dot. Flik picks up a rock tells her imagine that the rock is a seed, and that the tree that protects, shades and shelters the ant colony started out as a seed. He goes on to say that everything that made that giant tree was already contained within the seed.

-          That is to say that the faith that God has given you is all the faith you will need.

-          Yes your faith will be tested but that testing is necessary for your growth and maturity as a follower of Christ.

-          God is not only interested in your salvation, but He is also interested in your maturity!

So whether you are in seed form or maybe you’re just now budding, there’s no competition. Allow your faith, or should I say; allow your (confidence or assurance of the things expected) from God, to grow. And God will do the rest. Trust Him. He’s the planter, and we’re the seeds…