[00:00:00] Let us pray, Grant together on our knees. Let us pray, Grant together on our knees.
[00:00:13] When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun, O Lord, ever see all the meek.
[00:00:26] Welcome to Words of Inspiration with your host and teacher, Elgin Carelock.
[00:00:31] And now let's hear from Elgin.
[00:00:33] O God have not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
[00:00:40] Brothers and sisters, I welcome you in a mighty and matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Christ,
[00:00:47] to another edition of Words of Inspiration.
[00:00:52] Another opportunity for us to rightly divide the Word of God and share in our thoughts as the Holy Spirit does dictates.
[00:01:01] Today I wanted to speak with you in regards to faith larger than a mustard seed.
[00:01:08] The concept of faith and size of the mustard seed originates from a teaching of Jesus found in the Gospel of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
[00:01:18] In these passages Jesus uses the imagery of a mustard seed which is one of the smallest seeds to illustrate the power and potential of faith.
[00:01:30] In Matthew 17 we have Jesus coming back from the mountain with Peter, John and James reading from verse 14.
[00:01:43] And when they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying,
[00:01:51] Lord have mercy on my son for he is a lunatic and sore vexed.
[00:01:56] For oftentimes he followed into the fire and off into the water and I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him.
[00:02:06] Then Jesus answered and said, Oh faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?
[00:02:13] How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me.
[00:02:17] And Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour.
[00:02:25] Then came to disciples to Jesus apart and said, Why could we not cast him out?
[00:02:31] And Jesus said unto them because of your unbelief, For verily I say unto you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed
[00:02:41] you shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place and they shall remove.
[00:02:48] And nothing shall be impossible unto you.
[00:02:52] So what is Jesus saying? He is explaining to us the power that we have access to through our faith,
[00:03:02] that if we have the smallest of genuine unwavering faith,
[00:03:09] that we have power to accomplish great things, the muster seed though tiny has the potential for remarkable growth,
[00:03:17] symbolizing the transformative power of faith in the life of a believer.
[00:03:25] There is a difference between believing who God is and having faith in who God is.
[00:03:31] And what Jesus was explaining to them is that when challenges arise, it's your faith that allows you
[00:03:40] to be able to tell that mountain to move.
[00:03:43] The disciples had trouble saving that child, Jesus called it unbelief and in today's world we would call it doubt.
[00:03:53] We would call it fear. But if we have one muster seed sized true genuine expectation that what God says he will do,
[00:04:07] that he is faithful, that he cannot lie, that his word is immutable which means it doesn't change,
[00:04:14] then it is that faith that will then grow in our lives to allow us to be used by God to bless others.
[00:04:25] So I say to you in closing brothers and sisters that be of good cheer and encourage,
[00:04:31] that the mere fact that you hear the sound of my voice means that God is still using you and God still has purpose for you.
[00:04:39] And I wish you well until we meet again. God bless.
[00:04:43] I have wandered far away from the heart. Now I am coming home.
[00:04:59] Words of inspiration with oddly McLean is a ministry of harvest international.
[00:05:04] You may write to oddly at harvest international post office box 6690, Ocala, Florida 34478.