Yesterday, as I was running my errands I got a phone call from DD. She said she had a question that she wasn't sure had an answer but she was really looking for one, I think. So I said to bring it on. I would try to answer if I could. Her question was, "How do you measure faith?" She was referring to the scripture in Matthew 17:20-21. "You don't have enough faith," 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." Her thoughts were that we are facing lots of big problems within our extended family and she wanted to know how much faith you needed to have to overcome them. At least that is what I think she was concerned about. The wise wisdom of Mom needed to kick in to give her an answer to help her understand. Yeah, your right the wisdom did not come from me. I am reminded of scripture that says not to worry about what you will say that God will give you the words to say at the right time. So, God's words rose up in me because truly I did not know how to answer her at that moment. I told her, you can't measure faith, look at that scripture again, it says you only need the tinest speck of faith in order to produce great results, just like the mustard seed is just a speck of a seed yet it grows one of the biggest trees. She got so excited saying, "I understand it now. I like that you don't have to measure your faith, you just have to have it." By George, I think she's got it. (a little English accent there.)
My morning devotions this morning took me to Matthew 21:18-22.
In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry, and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again?" And immediately the fig tree withered up. The desciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" Then Jesus told them, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more. YOu can even say to this mountain, "May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it."
Faith, how does faith affect our joy? Remember our Joy filled journey.... I can see first of all, that when we face "a mountain" in our path, whether it be a health problem, or a financial problem, a relationship problem, if we have faith that God is in control (and by the way we have to hand over the control to him, I love Carrie Underwood's song, Jesus take the Wheel.) and that God loves us (really, more than we love ourselves) and that He will work everything for good to those who love Him (ask yourself if you qualify). This brings us back to joy because without the assurances that I just mentioned, joy would be pretty hard to find and especially to hold onto long term.
Have a blessed day and remember to do something kind for someone else.
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