A Mustard Seed

You can think of this in two ways:
1) All it takes is a little faith
2) If we would have ANY FAITH AT ALL, we would see miracles unfold

The problem is more times than not our DOUBT, FEAR, PRIDE, or our own human REASONING etc, tends to overshadow our tiny mustard seed of faith.... and most of the time those things not only overshadow your faith, but they nullify it.

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{JESUS COMPARES FAITH TO A SEED}
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There are two places Jesus himself compares FAITH to a grain of mustard seed. This is not a simple metaphor, there is great significance to his symbolism. God never does anything without purpose. I'll get into significance in a moment, but first I want to take a look at these scriptures..
The first example is in Matthew 17 (14-20). The disciples are trying to cast a devil out of a young boy who was "lunatick". He was literally going crazy, uncontrollably trying to burn himself to death and drown himself to death. The son's father came to the disciples but they could not cast it out. So the father went to Jesus and asked Him to help.
The first thing out of Jesus' mouth was, "O FAITHLESS and PERVERSE generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him to me."
A rebuke was the first thing out of God's heart. Jesus has been with them years, showing them the power of God that THEY TOO possessed, and even they practiced already, YET, they still found themselves in a situation where their faith was gone. Or at least overshadowed by doubt, fear, etc.

Jesus rebuked the devil and it left the boy, the child was cured immediately. Then the disciples took Jesus aside and asked him why they couldn't do what he just so easily did. Jesus answered and said, "Because of your UNBELIEF. . ."
UNBELIEF... that would be the opposite of FAITH. They just simply didn't really believe in their heart of hearts that they could do the great task...
Jesus continued, "For truly I say to you, if you have FAITH (that is living) like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move; and NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO YOU."

Now, when GOD Himself says "Verily, verily", or "truly I say to you"... that is a prep for "LISTEN UP... what I'm about to say is TRUEST OF TRUE and you NEED to apply this"

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{ACTIVATE AND INCREASE YOUR FAITH}
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So, when we examine the above statements, many of us are filled with fear, doubt, or unbelief. It is our responsibility to ACTIVATE and then INCREASE our FAITH.

Faith is like a muscle, you need to work it out. You need to exercise it and make it stronger. The disciples even asked God to give them an added measure of faith, increase their faith, and help their unbelief! This is a prayer I practice daily. I will pray for increased faith until the day I die, I never want to settle, I always want to be taken to the next level!

And God doesn't leave us in the dark on how to activate and increase our faith. Because faith comes by hearing the Word of God over and over and letting it take root into your heart. And to increase your faith, it must be PRACTICED. How do you practice faith? Take note of what the disciples did. You WALK OUT faith DAILY. Faith isn't JUST hope. Its SUBSTANCE of hope. Faith isn't wishing for things to come true, its EVIDENCE of things that haven't happened yet. So it is basically a MANIFESTATION of our belief. What are some small things you can manifest through faith? Tangible or intangible?
You can start with something small like a cup of coffee, or hearing from a friend you haven't heard from in a while, maybe something beautiful in nature that you desire like a beautiful sunrise, snow, or a rainbow. Maybe something like provision from God financially. Start where your belief activates. $5? $20? maybe it's much larger. But you must locate your current faith. And I challenge you to begin to TEST YOUR FAITH... Write it in a journal. Ask God for something SPECIFIC. Something believable for you. Write the date and time you ask. Believe that you receive it. (Because if we have unbelief- we know the results we will get right?) ... Now the enemy WILL come and try and discourage you with thoughts of doubt, unbelief, human reasoning etc. You wrote it down so that when thoughts of doubt come you can look back and say "NOPE! I WILL NOT DOUBT... I ASKED FOR IT- and I RECEIVE IT!" ...
Because Jesus says MULTIPLE times, whatever we ask for WE WILL RECEIVE IT. .... He didn't say "we might"... or "sometimes you will" ... or "if you pray hard enough"... or "if you are good enough" ... NOPE.... We WILL receive it. When you start small and locate your level of faith, and WHEN you see God answer a small desire of your heart (because HE DOES care about them!) your FAITH WILL INCREASE! Continue to test God in this! He WANTS you to increase your faith- and this is something He has challenged me in recently- We have to understand, God is a GOOD Father, He even says in His Word, if our earthly father's want to give good gifts to us, how much MORE does HE want to give!? He LONGS to give us ALL of the desires of our hearts! THE PROBLEM IS ON OUR END! If we are not receiving, we need to check our faith level. If you are honest enough you will know if there is doubt clouding your heart. That is not to say God doesn't ask us to wait sometimes, and sometimes He will bring something better in our lives. But remember, Jesus said NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE to us! He also said we would do GREATER things than He did!

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{WHY A MUSTARD SEED??}
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Many other plants and vegetables cannot be planted around other types of plants or vegetables. They are affected by what they are planted by. For example if you plant a tomato next to a jalapeno you will get a hot tomato etc. However, a MUSTARD SEED can be planted around ANYTHING, it will NOT be affected by it's surroundings.

It isn't so dependent upon how small or large our mustard seed (Faith) is, but how we are affected by our surroundings. Do we let the seed of doubt infect our mustard seed faith? Do we let our seed of fear, or seed of human logic / reasoning infect our seed of faith? Faith should be unmovable, unshakable, and unaffected by what it is planted by, it's surroundings, or anything that could corrupt it from growing into a beautiful healthy tree.

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{FUN FACTS ABOUT THE MUSTARD PLANT}
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*It has a SPICE / FLAVOR
*It has HEALING properties for a number of alements
*It is known as a CRUCIFEROUS plant because of the four petals (2 long, 2 short) that resemble a CROSS! haha- how crazy is that?!

There are also mustard trees that grow almost as wide as they are tall. Creating a shelter for birds and other animals, and having it's roots deeply and firmly planted in the ground.

The Mustard Tree can grow in almost any climate, they are found all over the world.
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{APPLYING}
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Our FAITH really can and should be likened to a mustard seed. It can GROW into a beautiful, healing, flavorful flower bearing the cross of Jesus Christ. It can grow into a DEEPLY rooted tree providing shelter from doubt, fear, or other fiery darts from the enemy.
FAITH IS ALIVE. And it CAN GROW in any climate! We CAN and SHOULD be unaffected by our surroundings!

It is time for us to take our SEED of FAITH that God has given us. PLANT IT DEEP in our hearts, and NURTURE it with the WORD of God. and TEST IT!

Remember... IF WE WOULD JUST HAVE ANY FAITH AT ALL- We would see MIRACLES like Jesus SAID WE WOULD--
Don't let the perversion of this world, doubt, fear, or your own futile human reasoning overshadow your seed of faith!

Looking forward to hearing about your FAITH JOURNEYS!!