Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20

My Pastor keeps a bottle of mustard seeds in the cabinet under the pulpit to remind us of the faith that the Lord requires of us. One Sunday, he threw out mustard seeds (which we couldn’t catch), then later he asked us to stand and declare – “Lord, I want that faith!” When I sat down, I looked down on my choir robe and saw what I thought was lint or dust, but to my surprise, it was one of the mustard seeds that he had thrown out. I couldn’t believe that the mustard seed was on my robe after I stood up and sat down again. That’s what faith does, it surprises you! When you believe, the WORD of God says that the Lord is able to do far above what you can ask or think (Eph. 3:20). Faith goes beyond us – it reaches to God’s heart. It pleases Him (Hebrews 11:6). Mustard seed faith seems so small, yet it reaches up to heaven. Abraham knew this faith. It is repeated three times in the New Testament: (Romans 4:3), (Galatians 3:6) and (James 2:23). We know when the Lord repeats something, we have to pay attention.

Fear or Faith
Faith means falling into the hands of God but this could be rather frightful when we do not know what to expect. Our Heavenly Father promises to give us only good and perfect gifts (James 1:17). If we believe Jeremiah 29:11 to be true, (For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future) we would know that the surprise factor in faith is in God’s hands and anything that is placed in God’s hands is always good.

The Equation
The Lord equates faith to a mustard seed, the smallest seed that He created, yet it is also one that grows into a large tree. In the same way, our faith should grow daily. I know a tree doesn’t grow if it doesn’t get water and sunlight, but what hinders our faith from growing? In (2 Peter 1:5-7), the Word of God gives us an equation to make our faith grow. It’s a constant addition: faith + goodness+ knowledge + self-control + perseverance + godliness + brotherly kindness + love. Therefore, the way I see it, the way to overcome that fear of not trusting God, that stifles our faith, is through love because perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

Surprises
So, back to that surprise faith. God is just waiting to surprise us, we just have to grow that faith that will please Him. I keep that mustard seed in my bible to remind me of how small the faith that God is asking us to have is. The amazing thing is that He just asks a little of us so that he can bless us tremendously.

Originally published on March 15th, 2007