Growing Mighty in Your Faith

As fellow believers of Christ, we should be of faith. The question is where do you or I put our faith when life throws something challenging at us, whether it’s money, health, our children, our marriage or our struggles, who do you turn to? Who do you put your faith in?

I want to share 3 different stories about the disciples. There are so many stories about faith in the Bible however, the reason I pick the disciples is because they are followers of Jesus. We are too.  They have faith in him, and we have faith in him. 

Well sometimes. Do we?

1. (Matthew Chapter 14: 25-3) Jesus was in the mountain praying. The disciples was in the midst of the sea. There was a bit of distance between them. As the wind was getting a bit strong and the boat kept getting tossed around in the waves. They were getting a bit nervous. Then Jesus went unto them, walking on the water and the disciples saw him walking. They got scared and thought it was a ghost/spirit . Jesus said take courage it is I and don’t be afraid. Peter said Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to the water. Jesus said come, and Peter got out of the boat and started walking toward Jesus. The wind started to pick up again, then Peter became fearful and started to sink. Peter yelled to Jesus to save him, Jesus immediately reached out to him and said YOU OF LITTLE FAITH, WHY DID YOU DOUBT?

2. (Matthew 17:14-20) When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” (I believe Jesus got a little bit disappointed with his disciples) I mean there were many miracles that has happened up to that point.  “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me. Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. The disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”  He replied, “Because YOU HAVE SO LITTLE FAITH.  I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

3. I want share one last verse, Jesus was sitting on the mountainside and the disciples sat down next to him, and Jesus started another one of his teaching moments. In this specific sermon , he talks about faith. Trusting in God with everything and not worrying about tomorrow. 

  In Matthew 6:25

““Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?”

Matthew 6:30 

“If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—YOU OF LITTLE FAITH

Matthew 6:32-33

“For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

I thought that was interesting that as he was preaching, he pointed out “YOU OF LITTLE FAITH”. Jesus knew they lacked faith sometimes.

I think that its wild that these disciples that walk with Jesus daily and witness many miracles.  They still lack FAITH.  Before Peter walked on water or Jesus rebuked the devil out of the boy, 

Here’s a few of he miracles that happened before that,  a leper was healed, Peter’s mother in law was healed and the 4,000 was fed with just few fish and 7 loaves of bread.  Yet after all that, the disciples still had doubts. Isn’t it kinda sad that, Jesus constantly has to keep asking them, why you doubt? Why you of little faith ? 

How many of you agree that’s wild?

But as my Pastor says in his sermons “Don’t judge them because we are all Jacked UP! “

In other words, we’re just like the disciples? Speaking for myself, I know there are times I’ve lacked faith.

I want to share my story about something challenging that I was faced with and my faith was put to test.

When I was 3 years old, my parents found out I was deaf. When I was 5, I had my first hearing aid on my left ear. I am deaf in both my ears but on my left ear with help of hearing aid I can hear 30 percent. So from the time I was 5 till I was 37, Ive worn a hearing aid and still only hear very little with it. So there was a lot of lip reading! By the time I was 37, I noticed that I was having trouble hearing and I thought maybe it’s time to get another new hearing aid. When I arrived at my audiologist , he put me through different test and afterwards he sat down next to me and looked at me and said you are losing whatever is left in your ear so therefore hearing aid isn’t going to work anymore. He wasn’t sure when there rest of it will be gone. He said I had an option and he thinks it would be a good one. He suggested cochlear implant and he did mention it can get very pricey depending on insurance.  The worst part he said was there’s a chance the cochlear implant may not be successful as well.  As soon he mentioned that my heart dropped. I was upset. I didn’t like the idea of having cochlear implant as well and the thought of going completely deaf without relying on hearing aid, scared me. I told him I would think on it. 

When I got home, I’ve talked to my husband Rob about it. He told me to do my homework and talk to the insurance and go from there. So I called the insurance and they told me that unfortunately they weren’t going to be able to tell me if it will be cover or not till after the surgery. I was like how much is this gonna cost without insurance, they said its $100,000. If insurance will pay 80 percent, my out of pocket would be $10,000. It made me sick to my stomach. We don’t have that kind of money laying around. So on top of that, there’s a possibly of the cochlear implant may not be successful for me. I remember walking back to the bedroom and I collapsed on the bed and started sobbing hard and starting to pray. All of suddenly in the amidst of all that, the coolest thing happen. I cannot explain it but everything got quiet  and peaceful then it felt like God put his hand on my back and said do the surgery and trust me through all of this. I didn’t hesitate , I said God I trust you with all my heart. 

Jump forward, a month after my surgery , I went in to have the device (cochlear implant put on). Before they turn it on, they told me to remember that everything will sound weird and different and that I’m basically going to learn to identify the sounds. My brain has never heard before so it will be the first time it does. So when they turn it on, I’ll admit, it sounded awful. Sounded like R2D2 ,you know, that little blue/white machine in Star Wars. It sounded like that. So I’ll admit my first thought was uh oh for a second then I remember what God said trust him “through it all”. So i just starting to listen to all the sounds coming in and trying to identity it. The very first sound that was I heard was the signal in the car. I didn’t even know that the signal in car makes sound! Later on following week, there was this sound in the house that sounded weird. I ask my husband what is that noise and he said it was a cricket! Wow that’s what they sound like? No wonder people complained how annoying the crickets are. It was driving me crazy! I actually went looking all over in the house for the cricket! 

As a result with my ci, within 6 months i was finally able to hear up to 90 percent of the sounds. One of the most beautiful sounds is my daughter’s voice who was 5 at that time. To be able to communicate with her and hear her more clearly and  to hear her singing to this day , is everything to me. I now I can get on Apple Music and listen to old hymns or praise and worship. The worst sound in the world is my husband’s snoring. Honestly I thought there was a earthquake that night when I heard it. Thankfully I go completely deaf at night by taking my ci off which I do every night anyway.  As for the money, it only ended up under $1500. Faith of a mustard seed. 

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.””

Matthew 17:20 NIV

He’s not talking about having a small faith because of the size of the mustard seed. He’s talking about how even small things can grow into something very large and mighty. Grow your faith! 

Remember lacking faith, will probably have same result as Peter when he tried to walked on the water. Do I mean you will be sinking in the water ? Well probably , seriously though you probably wouldn’t be able to tell the mountain to move from here to there. The point is without faith, it’s  not going to be possible. The proof is with the disciples that nothing was possible when they lacked faith.

What can cause lack of faith? Being human, we are born into sinner and we are born doubters.  God gives us tools to fight our natural selves. The Bible is a big one, are we faithful to read out bibles? Praying is another one, Jesus himself spent a lot of time in prayer and he also taught the disciples how to pray. Do we pray like we should? On top of the Bible and Prayer, God gave us his Son, he’s alive today just like he was in the time the disciples walked the earth. Remember Jesus said to his disciples when teaching about faith is to seek his kingdom first and his righteousness and all things will be given as well. 

If you lack faith, maybe its time to reconnect with God. Walk with him. Read the Bible, if your heart cause you to sin and astray, maybe it’s time to renew your heart and start learning to trust him. 

Have faith as small as the mustard seed.  

Grow mighty in your faith!