The Process of Faith

UV 1581/10000 The Process of Faith
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Matthew 17 v 20

We begin life with the belief that some things are possible, some things are impossible and some things are in a dark area we do not know about. Faith is not a blind leap into the darkness. Rather it is walking into the light out of darkness. It is not leaning or limping on a crutch but the mustering of inner strength and spiritual resources. Faith enables one to meet great challenges with comparatively little strength or resources. A disproportionately small amount of total faith is enough to alter the contours of the most humungous problems. But the faith should be total, pure , undoubting -not resting on who we are but on whose we are, on knowing who God is and that He is both capable and willing to do the impossible triggered by the smallness of our faith. The power of faith lies in our mouths. Apart from holding an inner strong belief, we should express or confess that faith positively for Jesus said, “… say to the mountain.” The mountain is a metaphor for a huge issue or challenge. Jesus is telling us that we need not face or climb the mountain but that we can command it to be removed. Even the biggest of giants cannot move a mountain. But we are given mountain-moving power through the process of faith. Reason and human rationale based on our experiences and conditioning hitherto is itself a huge mountain that limits us. Faith enables us to overcome the limits imposed on us by reason and experience. Our ability to move things or cause that which we hope for to happen is no longer limited by the extent of our strength but by the extent of our faith. It is said that we see things not as they are but as we are. Through faith we begin to see things not as we are but as God sees it. Nothing is impossible for us as nothing is impossible for God. Faith transforms each of us into Joseph, the dreamer-doer.

An inner belief accompanied or followed by an outer expression of faith in what we want to see accomplished has amazing miracle-working power to heal, deliver, resolve and save. The context of this uni-verse is that the disciples came up against a mountain, a wall. They could not heal a young man who suffered from a severe mental illness. They were telling themselves that this disease is too difficult for them to heal. When we pray we should experience the strength of faith in our hearts and souls, see the possibility of that which we prayed for or the promise that we claimed and then our mouths should agree with our hearts and minds. To begin with our minds go through this process when we come up against a mountain: 1. The situation is impossible 2. I can do nothing 3. I am helpless 4. Nothing is impossible for God 5. The Lord can help me in this situation 6. The Lord is helping me 7. The impossible is possible 8. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens my faith. By step 3, we are up against an implacable wall. Step 4- the mustard seed of faith that seemed dormant is waking up- we realize that we are not alone in this universe, that there is Someone out there who can help us. Step 5: The problem is resolved, the miracle has happened. By Step 6, our faith is greatly strengthened. The mustard seed is sprouting and becoming one of the greatest of plants. By step 7 and 8: the mustard plant is bearing fruit for the glory of God.

The book of Proverbs says that the power of death and life lies in the human tongue. The power of death is the power of disbelief, disobedience to God, sin and negativity. Faith in our hearts cures our mouth of the power of death. Hereafter, the kingdom of God rules and reigns over our mouths. The kingdom of God is not one of eating and drinking. The tongue is meant to taste but not exclusively to eat and drink. The kingdom of God is one of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Our mouths will have mountain-moving power when they express what is in our hearts- our faith in the Lord and our consequent enjoyment of righteousness, peace and spiritual joy.
Prateep V Philip