Faith Like a Mustard Seed: How Can We Strengthen It?
Have you ever heard of the phrase: “Faith can move fountains”? Well, it’s true. In fact, it is backed by scripture. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus explains to His disciples why He was able to cast a demon out of a boy after one try, and they were unable after many. He explained that it was due to their lack of faith. “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Our faith is like a mustard seed. As those tiny seeds grow, they break out of their shell and become a huge mustard tree. Though they started small, something great came out of them. That is faith. There is so much potential bottled up in it and when released, those who possess that faith can accomplish even what was deemed impossible by worldly standards because this faith is not rooted in the world, it is rooted in God. God can work with even the smallest amount of faith.
Our faith is capable of growth. We want to emphasize the “can” in our phrase of the day, “Faith can move fountains.” “Can'' means it is conditional. Faith is conditional. Faith can move mountains only if it is placed in the right source. When placed in God, faith is capable of growth and greater things result from it as it grows. Problems we had trouble overcoming become a stepping stone on our journey. Things we once feared are now viewed behind courageous eyes. All because our faith is found in God. That is the first and foremost step in strengthening our faith. Our faith shouldn’t reside in anything or anyone other than the Lord. God has provided us with many resources to strengthen our faith in Him. He has not called us to do this alone. For it says in Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” This order is not limited to personal friends but includes believers everywhere. We are instructed to better one another as a spiritual family.
Our first resource to strengthen your faith is your circle. The people you keep around you matter. They can either bring you down and or uplift you. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says that “Bad company corrupts good character.” If you walk with those who don’t have their own relationship with God you will also find yourself straying from God because you become who you surround yourself with. People cannot help with what they don’t know. If your friends don't know God, they cannot help you know God better. If your friends don’t know their Word, they cannot help you with your understanding of the Word, if they do not know prayer, they cannot aid you in your prayer life. Prayer is essential to strengthening your faith in God. For it says in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” In everything we do, prayer should be involved. It is how we communicate with God. It is how we hear God and God hears us. When we are amidst situations and acknowledge God’s power through speech, choosing to lean on Him and not on our own understanding, placing everything in His hands, our faith is being strengthened because we are taking the situation out of our hands trusting that God can handle it better than we can. If you are going through a time of hardship and you lack the faith in God that is required and your friends also lack faith or disregard the significance of faith, you will have no one to encourage you to put your confidence in God or intercede on your behalf. The faith of your friends can work for your good just as it did in Mark 2. A paralyzed man was healed and his sins forgiven, because of the faith of his friends who fully believed that Jesus had the power and authority to heal him. Seeing one with a faith so strong, impacts you to strive for the same or even greater.
Another resource is podcasts. God has given those who speak sanctified words a platform for a reason. We can learn a lot from podcasts including gaining a different perspective that may help us understand something more or realize something we missed. Seeing things from different angles allows for depth in our perception of things such as the importance of faith to God, how our faith can help us in our relationship with God, and what things are connected to our faith, which are all necessary to know regarding strengthening your faith. The words we speak to one another should be encouraging, as it says in 1 Thessalonians 4:18. Other believers’ podcasts should inspire you and give you takeaways to reflect on. A podcast, though beneficial, is not equivalent to personal time spent with God. Its goal should be to urge you to go deeper into the Word of God and meditation (not sitting cross-legged humming but rather a period of focus on something specific like a scripture.) A good podcast that I recommend is “The Just Different Podcast.” I feel that their content pertains to youth in a way that they can understand it.
One last resource to help strengthen your faith is music. The Bible says in Psalms 150:3 that we should “Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre.” Music is a form of praise to God and the music we listen to can become a reflection of our life. If we listen to music that glorifies the world, our behaviors, thoughts, surroundings, and desires will mirror that. If we open up our ears to listen to edifying music that glorifies God, everything about our lives will mirror that. I recommend going to https://www.flowtempleministries.org/playlists and listening to some of the gospel playlists which include various genres (shameless plug!!) These playlists were created to assist our fellow spiritual brothers and sisters in the very topic of strengthening their faith.
The more that we spend time around a positive support system, learning more through podcasts, and changing the way we carry ourselves through the music that falls upon our ears, the more our mentality changes. Our mindset shifts to one that is God-centered which is the result of a strengthened faith.
