Six Seeds that will Change Your Faith

November 5, 2024

In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says, “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.” Some time ago, “Reader’s Digest” printed a story about a company who mailed out some special advertising business post cards with a mustard seed glued to it with a caption that went something like this: “If you have faith as small as this mustard seed in our (particular product), you are guaranteed to get excellent results and be totally satisfied.” Signed, The Management

A few months later, one recipient of this promotional piece wrote back to the company and said, “You will be very interested to know that I planted the mustard you sent on your advertising card and it has grown into a very healthy bush producing wonderful tomatoes!”

Sometimes we grow things we don’t expect because we plant the wrong seeds. That is certainly the case if we want to have mountain moving faith. Most people read the above scripture and think, “Those are nice sounding words, but they aren’t very realistic”. If we want to have a Christian faith that is characterized by realism, any old seeds will do. If we want to be used by God to advance His Kingdom and see God use us to do miracles, we must be willing to plant seeds that grow into great faith.

In his book In the Spirit’s Power, Brad Long lifts up six seeds that we need to plant if we want to have amazing faith. The first seed is to act in obedience to God’s calling. George Mueller (1805-1898) felt God call him to start an orphanage in Bristol, England in 1835. At the time, he had two shillings (50 cents) to his name. Through the power of prayer, he would go on to establish five orphanages, which served two thousand orphans. We should never play the comparison game when we hear such stories. We are called to be obedient to God. Is there anything God is calling you to do to glorify His name?

The second seed of mountain moving faith is to immerse yourself in scripture. The Bible teaches us about the character of God. The more we know about God, the greater our faith. The stories of the great faith of Abraham, Esther, the disciples and many others teach us what great faith looks like. These stories inspire us to be more obedient and trusting of God.

The third seed is to practice trust in small things. There are things that I must deal with today that demand me to have faith and trust in the Lord that would have crushed me decades ago. God started me on small tests of faith and, over time, the tests got more difficult. God has the advantage of perfect wisdom about what the future can be if we are obedient. We have the choice to trust Him and follow His will.

The fourth seed is one that really goes with all the other seeds, and that is to pray for more faith. The Bible is full of guidance on prayer and seeking God’s will. The words from Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Prayer is one of God’s best ways of communicating with us. The more we pray the better we will become at hearing God’s gentle whisper in the midst of all of the other noise that clamors around us.

The fifth seed really pushes us to new limits. Don’t avoid those things that seem impossible. I remember asking a Christian friend if he had ever attempted to do anything for God that was bigger than he could accomplish on his own wits and wisdom. He could not think of anything. Have you ever done anything that crazy for God? There is a saying, “Do something that seems hard, and the stage is set for a miracle. Do something that seems impossible and the stage is set for a great miracle.” Has God called you to do a God-sized task to glorify His name? A God-sized task is one that we cannot accomplish without the help of God.

Finally, be mentored by the great people of faith. Can you name a mentor for your faith? When you study people like George Mueller, Billy Graham, Mother Teresa or Charles Wesley they inspire us to greater faith. I know who my champions of the faith are. Choose who yours will be and learn about them. Let us always praise God for His might and victory!