I got thinking about what Jesus said to his disciples when he rebuked them one day for having so little faith.
A certain man had a son that was possessed with a demon that Jesus’ disciples could not cast out, so the father of the boy asked Jesus if he could do anything about it.
This demon was so powerful that it caused the boy to have seizures; making him foam at the mouth. The spirit would try to drown the boy when he was near water, and it would force the boy to get burnt when near an open fire.
Jesus was amazed at the father’s request, that if he could do anything about his boys’ condition, and assured him that for everyone that believes everything is possible.
Jesus was revealing to the man that there is not one thing that cannot be done if you actually believe it can be done.
Jesus was not referring to man’s ability to work and create with his hands or his brains, but was referring to things that can be done that require supernatural power; the miraculous power of God.
The world is a difficult place; especially if you are a believer in Christ and actually do follow him.
Sickness comes, disease eats away, and this world’s economic system is meant to keep you under the thumb of its rulers.
We pray for change, we bind and rebuke, we believe that miracles will manifest, but like the disciples when they could not drive the demon out of that boy we end up standing bewildered and puzzled. Having our face buried into our pillow is so familiar.
The demon was expected to come out of that boy when the disciples prayed over him, that sickness is expected to reverse when we lay hands on it, we presume that disease is cured after we finish rebuking and taking charge over it.
Jesus exposed his irritation with his disciples when he said they had little faith, and insisted that they were difficult, a perverse generation, because if anyone was able to deliver this boy from the powers of darkness it should have been them.
Prior to this encounter the disciples received Christ’s power to cast out demons, to cure those with disease, and to heal all with sickness.
Christ has given authority to the Church, they that believe, to drive out demons, speak in unknown languages, placing hands on the sick will cure them, and even drinking deadly poison will not harm those that believe.
The Church has the power to overcome the power of darkness; demons are to submit to those that have Christ’s power.
A frightened father brings his son that is bound with the devil to the disciples and they could not heal him; the demon would not submit to them.
Jesus determined right away that it was because of their unbelieving hearts; this is why he identified them as difficult.
He gave them his authority to work miracles, but for some reason when this challenging situation came along they did not believe in their heart that they had the power to set the boy free.
Was it the power of this demon as he convulsed the boy around that overcame the disciple’s faith?
Faith believes that God is who he says he is, and that his word is always and forever true.
Bible faith is a powerful energy, a spiritual substance that can create miraculous and mysterious power when practiced; its existence began when God spoke.
At one time, Jesus assured a certain woman that was supernaturally healed after hemorrhaging blood, that it was her faith that healed her. By touching Christ’s clothing her faith released miraculous energy and God’s power then healed her of an abnormal and unhealthy flow of blood.
Blind Bartimaeus, was healed by his faith and then able to see, as he believed that Christ could and would heal him. His insistence that Jesus would have mercy on him released the same unearthly power that stirred up God’s power to give him his sight.
We often wonder why nothing happens when we pray, just like the disciples wondered why they could not drive the demon out of that boy and all Jesus did to heal him was rebuke it, he scolded the demon for possessing the boy, and then it came out of the child.
When we pray for a miracle to occur, whatever the situation may be, we seem to not even be surprised when the unfortunate circumstance remains the same. Rather we should be surprised if a miracle does not manifest and the situation does not change.
Jesus did not keep the disciples failure a secret, pricking their ego and being politically correct was the least of his concern.
They had little faith, and it took more than little faith to deliver the demon out of this particular boy.
Jesus knew that if his disciples were to carry on his work once he ascended back to his Father’s right-hand than they would have to know why they could not overcome the power of this demonic being that had the boy trapped.
If the Church today is to overcome the power of the devil, with the little time we have left before we are raptured into heaven, than we have to know why our prayers are not effective and no power is produced.
The Church is a body, and it is not just certain individuals that are referred to as so-called super or celebrity Christians. Nobody is to be esteemed, admired, or favored higher than any other believer.
Each one has their calling, but each one should also have authority over all the powers of darkness, the spirits should submit to every believer, our hands should be healing vessels; we should be experiencing the miraculous power of God all the time in all kinds of situations, unless there so happens to be usurped human resistance as the consequence of another person’s will; like Jesus experienced in his hometown.
Another person’s desire or wishes that conflict or are in discord with your desire will be a great hindrance to a perfect outcome to your faith achieving its purposes—it is called an obstruction to faith.
Jesus explained to the disciples that if their faith was even the size of a mustard seed than they could literally speak to a mountain and tell it to move from one place to another and it would actually move.
He was not just speaking in figurative terms, using this description to represent moving symbolic mountains in our life, but he was also actually meaning that if they had even a tiny amount of faith, the size of a mustard seed, than the physical mountain would actually move if they told it to move.
This seems like an impossible thing to happen, but Jesus said it could happen. He did say to the father of the demon possessed boy that nothing is impossible to him that actually believes it can happen.
Another time, Jesus explains to the disciples, when they asked him to increase their faith, that if they again had faith like a mustard seed they could speak to a mulberry tree to uproot from the ground and go take root in the sea, and further, meaning it would produce fruit there, the mulberry tree would then physically obey their command.
Again, Jesus was not just using symbolism to explain how much faith it takes to uproot unwanted and unhealthy situations in the disciples life, but he actually meant that even also this tiny amount of faith could literally uproot a physical tree from the ground if told to do so, and then upon further command, the tree must be planted in the sea and grow fruit from that destination.
A mustard seed is a small round seed, and is typically about 1-2 millimeters, or 0.039-0.079 inches. This tiny little seed can produce a tree more than three meters, or more than ten feet high.
If it only takes faith the size of a mustard seed to move a physical mountain from one place to another, and the same to physically uproot a mulberry tree by its roots and then make it continue to grow on the seabed, than how much faith does it take to cast out demons, or to heal the sick, or to cure disease, or to make miracles occur in any and all situations?
Jesus is saying that it takes less faith than the size of a mustard seed to cast out that powerful demon out of that boy, and therefore, it seems to reason that it takes less faith than the size of a mustard seed to drive out any demon, or heal any sickness, cure any disease, and to create miracles in any and all situations.
It seems to me that we are experiencing a lack of the miraculous power of God in this generation because the contemporary church has little to no faith.
Is this not the point that Jesus is trying to make to his disciples?
The problem is not having faith like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds, but the problem is having faith way smaller than that; faith so little that it hindered the disciples ability to cast the demon out of a little boy.
The supernatural power of faith is greater than what we can even imagine. It is an explosive divine energy that can help create miracles in this physical dimension as easy as it is for humans to breath.
Faith is produced by the words God speaks, the words he established in the Holy Scriptures.
The words God speaks in the Holy Scripture will spawn and generate faith in our spirit if we allow them to.
Faith will develop in our inner man as we hear and meditate on God’s word, and willingly believe his word is true; there can be no doubt or unbelief.
People in the hometown of Jesus did not receive any miracles because they did not believe, the supernatural power of God was not allowed to work because of their lack of faith.
They did not allow the words of Jesus to manufacture faith in their heart because of doubt and unbelief.
Faith will work for the believer like a servant works for his master. It will move the power of God in our life to create miracles.
A servant does only what he is told and knows his place in the order of things.
Jesus promises the believer that if he believes he can take whatever he prays for, only if he uses faith to take what he asks God for, and faith will get it for him like a servant in the service of his master.
The power of God will work to perform and create miracles if faith is used as the servant that carries out the supernatural operation.
Pictures: CC0 Public Domain
