The Size... of A 'Mustard Seed'

“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"

Mathew 17:20

A mustard seed is about 1/20th of an inch in size. It is one of the smallest seeds in the world. A mustard seed is very, very tiny. (as shown in the picture above), however, once planted, it grows into a plant large enough to provide food and shelter for animals.

Take a look the clutter of mustard seeds in the picture above, imagine picking one from the cluster. That seed in your hands, will be so tiny that you can barely feel it.
Another way to envisage the size of a mustard seed is to look at the end of a Biro pen, yup that's about the size of it.
Now, imagine what a mountain looks like, or google the word mountain and see the pictures that come up. Massive isn't it? Now compare this to the mustard seed. In the natural, the size of a mustard seed, can never move a chair not to talk of a mountain, BUT God assures us that if we have faith the size of this mustard seed, we can do and move anything, even things the size of mountains.

For us to exercise the faith of a mustard seed, we must act according to Mark 9:23 we must believe, it reads "And Jesus said, [You say to Me], If You can do anything? [Why,] all things can be (are possible) to him who believes".


How can you develop your faith you might ask? Here are a few things to we can do:

• Listen to the Word of God: This we must do as much and as often as possible as commanded in Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God". Constant attention to the Word of God produces faith, more so if we embrace it with an open heart and mind. Proverbs 4:20-22 encourages us to keep the word of God constant in our hearts, it reads "My child, pay attention to what I say.Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body".

• Develop the measure of faith given: According to Romans 12:3 we have all been given a measure of faith, however it is our job to develop them. Like muscles are developed in the gym, we must work on them by putting them into action. we can start with the smallest things and progress from there.

• Speak the WORD: Our faith is a spoken faith. We must learn to say the words of God with our mouth to workout and build our faith. We must constantly confess God's word over our lives and in prayer. Jeremiah 23:28-29 reads "Let these false prophets tell their dreams,but let my true messengers faithfully proclaim my every word. There is a difference between straw and grain! Does not my word burn like fire?” says the Lord.“Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces"? Selah

• Keep company with like faith: We must learn to spend time with people of faith, so that we can be encouraged and do the same for others, as taught in Proverbs 13:20 which reads "Walk with the wise and become wise;associate with fools and get in trouble" .

• Obey God: We cannot have 'living faith' without taking practical steps of obedience to God's instructions. Romans 1:5 explains that "Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name..." God will not show or reveal more things to us until we are faithful in the things He is revealing to and telling us to do NOW.

Now we know some of the things we can do help develop our faith, how do we then use it when we pray? We can do so through the following ways:

• Trust in God: Trust in Him that He watches over His word to perform it. So all we must do is declare His word in faith.

• Develop our measure of faith: God gives everyone a measure of faith as explained in Romans 12:3 ..."as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.,". However, like muscle is built through regular workouts in the gym, we must give our faith a regular workouts by acting and declaring God's word. We can start with the smallest of things, such as believing God for that special job, or promotion to the bigger things such as healing the sick. We must also build our faith up according to Romans 10:17, which reads "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God"

• Continuous Relationship with God: We must develop, and keep a constant relationship with God and Have faith in Him. This is the beginning of faith. We must have faith in God and His word and have not an ounce of doubt that His word is able. We should strive to have a relationship with God such a David did and be able to declare as he did in Psalm 16:8 that "I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me".

• Remember Mark 11:23-24: This teaches us to have faith in God and what He says and have no doubt at all, then ask and believe and we you will receive. Mark 11:23-24 reads "I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours".

• Remember Love is before faith: We must continuously develop, walk and work in love: in ourselves and with others. 1 Corinthians 13:2 tells us that faith has to be proceeded by love, it reads "If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing".

As you start a new week by God's grace, I ask you once again to look at the size of the mustard seed in the picture above. Remind yourself that "this is the size and amount of faith I am required to have and use to move mountains" (... and that by the way is just the starting point of what faith can do!).


So to that problem at work, at home, with your health, family, finance or whatever the devil might be trying to hold you down with; exercise, work and walk your faith all over it.
Use your faith, without doubting and see Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit work in and through you, moving away all obstacles; whilst making God the Father famous along your way.


Much Love, Remi
***picture by photobucket***
Click on  66 BAGS OF SEEDS to read the POEM FOR THE WEEK

Seek Guidance

Teach me how to live, O Lord.

Lead me along the right path,

for my enemies are waiting for me

Psalm 27:11

• To teach means: to impart knowledge or skill
• Guidance means: to give advice or counseling
  

From the moment we arise from sleep we are presented with opportunities to make choices; from "should I get out out of bed, or sleep a bit more" to "should I approach the day with a positive attitude or a negative one".

Life is full of choices. If we want to make the right choice that will please God, we have to ask for His help. The only way we will know if our choices is in line with God's will and therefore pleasing to Him is to seek His guidance and the counsel of the Holy Spirit.

We can find and embrace God's help and guidance in all our choices through the following ways:

• Cleansing our hearts: firstly we must make sure that we are right with God. We should ask ourselves "is there anything in my life that is or will hinder me from hearing you Lord"? We must remember that sin cuts us away from God as confirmed in Isaiah 59:2, which reads "It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore"

• Surrender to God: We must yield ourselves to God's will in confidence that He knows what is best for us. We can do this by not following the customs and behaviour of this world as encouraged in Romans 12:2, which reads "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect".

• Ask from God: It is amazing that sometimes, we can talk about all our problems and the burden of choices we have to make, but forget to ask God for guidance on what to do. However, we must remember that God promises that when we ask Him anything, according to His will, He hears us and because He has heard, He has answered as declared in 1John 5: 14 - 15, which reads "14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for."
  

• Meditate on the Word: The Psalmist knew the importance on meditating on God's word. We see this in Psalm 119: 15-16. He reasoned that if he continously thinks about God's words, their meanings and their importance, it deter him from sinning against God (verse 11), hand the result of pondering on God's word will bring clarity and be a light to his journey through life - choices and all.

• Waiting on God: This word and position seems to be the most difficult for us all. We have prayed and spoken to God about all our problems, but there seems to be no answer forthcoming - well none that we can see yet. A show of hands from those who know what I am talking about!!!. To wait on God is a choice we have to make, even when in the most difficult of situations or cross roads. However, before we run off and try to do all things in our own strength and wisdom, we must remember that God has promised to act on our behalf when we wait on Him as confirmed in Isaiah 64:4, It reads "For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!" I encourage you to wait on God for the answer you are seeking.
  

• Receive from God: It is one thing to ask for advice and it is another thing to be open and ready to accept the advice given; no matter how difficult the answer. If you are like me, sometimes I have to remind myself that 'NO' is also an answer!. To receive God's wisdom we must tune our ears to it as advised in Proverbs 2:2, which reads " Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding". When we do, God will give us guidance in all things, knowing right from wrong as confirmed in Proverbs 2:9 which reads "Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go"

Theses are just some things we can do to seek and obtain God's guidance every step of our way. When we embrace these and more we will have peace from knowing that we are making daily choices in life based on God's guidance. This in turn will help to keep us firmly in His will.

When God guides you, the choices that you make might not make sense to those around you, however, what matters is that you have heard from the one who really matters the most - God.

So, as you make a start to a new day, a new week and indeed a new month, I encourage you to seek God's counsel, guidance and help in everything you do. From the rising of the sun till the going down of the same, meditate on God's word and ask for His counsel.

Apart from saving you from a whole lot of unnecessary stress and trouble, walking in tune with God will give peace and rest.

I encourage you to seek God's guidance to inform your choices and actions; making Him famous along your way.

Much Love, Remi

***pictures by Photobucket***

Further Reading - POEM - WISDOM CALLING