It’s Not the Amount of Faith That Matters, but it Must Be Pure

And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

Luke 17:6

Okay, this is a little bit of a preview of our next podcast series, but I really want to share something that I think is extremely powerful with you today!

But first, before I get into the teaching, I want to say THANK YOU to our generous Unstoppable Partners and the GIVING TEAM for my recent Kenya trip. We were able to successfully complete the mission God had for us in this part of the world–to serve, encourage, equip, and empower local leaders with the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in this day and age.

In this short trip, my team and I ministered to over 600 people and saw about 20 people saved, 25 instantly healed, and almost 60 people baptized in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues instantly (49 of them were pastors!). God was moving powerfully and even allowed us the grace to minister in a church with Muslim leaders and Christian pastors at the same time! This was phenomenal, and those present told me later that no one believed the event would take place. They were all surprised that the Muslims came to the meeting, and they were downright flabbergasted that they stayed and listened to the Word of God. This event marked the beginning of a new season in a “hard area,” and the Name of Jesus was glorified! 

But today, I want to share with you a simple truth that transformed my life: you don’t ever need to ask for more faith. Faith doesn’t come by asking, it comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. 

We have Scriptural evidence to back up this claim. When the disciples asked Jesus, “Increase our faith,” how did Jesus respond? 

Luke 17:4-6 says,

4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

This is critical: notice that Jesus responded to their request for more faith by telling them that it’s not the amount of faith that you have, but it is the quality that matters. 

Jesus didn’t say, “Okay, guys, you are right. You need more faith. Here you go,” and held out His hands and faith came out and lodged in their hearts. Nope. He responded, in essence, with “Hey guys, you don’t need more faith. Just a little bit of faith will go a long way, if it is pure.”

That’s what I want to encourage you with today. Before we go off thinking that we don’t ‘have enough faith’ for something, we ought to see what we are doing with the faith we have. 

Here are some questions to consider this week that will stimulate your faith to action: 

What are you doing with the Bible revelation you currently have?

Are you stepping out and using the faith that you have now? Or are you sitting on it, allowing your Bible knowledge to collect dust in your mind, and your ‘faith muscle’ is relaxed and flabby?

Are you  planting your faith as a mustard seed? Even if you have but a tiny amount of faith, are you using it? Are you sowing it in the soil of a pure heart? 

I pray that you learn to use the faith you already have before automatically thinking that you need more faith. Yes, there is a way to grow and build our faith… and we will discuss that in future blogs and podcasts. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” That’s how you build faith. But for now, we need to ensure that we are walking in the light of what we have. We need to make sure that we are using the faith we have NOW. 

Be encouraged today, friend, that whether you think you have a lot of faith or just a mustard seed-sized amount of faith, you can see the impossible take place if your faith is pure. 

Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash