READ: 1 Samuel 7,8; Psalm 120; Luke 17: 1-19
SCRIPTURE: Luke 17: 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
OBSERVATION: When we are in a great need, or when we are waiting for a healing, or when we fear about impending dangers or diseases we ask the Lord to increase our faith to face or to overcome those things. Whenever we feel our faith is not enough to face our life situations, we pray, "“Increase our faith!” Some Christians misunderstand or misinterpret that they need an increase in faith to see the supernatural blessings in their life. However, when we see the context in Luke 17, we see Jesus' expectations related to stumbling and forgiving others — one should not cause others to stumble, and must be continually ready to forgive anyone who asks forgiveness. The apostles must have felt that they need more faith to do it, so they asked Jesus, “Increase our faith!
Interestingly, the word "faith" [pistis] is mentioned only five times in all the preceding chapters of the Gospel of Luke. In each occasion, the word faith denotes a faithful behavior (Lk. 5:20; 7:9, 50; 8:25, 48). Here, apostles did not say it would be difficult to follow or impractical, but expressed their willingness to be faithful. Jesus taught us to pray, "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us (Lk.11:4). Like we need God's forgiveness in our day to day life, we need to forgive others as well. To do this we do not need a great faith. Jesus told the apostles that even with the small faith like the size of a mustard grain they could do it. Except Matthew 17:20, in all other places Jesus spoke about the Mustard seed to refer the Kingdom of God. In the Kingdom of God, if we are willing to follow Jesus' teaching, our small faith like the size of mustard seed can make the impossible possible.
APPLICATION: To live in this materialistic world, I need faith, faith in God. I will grow in faith as I practice it everyday. The expectations of the Kingdom of God are opportunities to practice my faith and to show my heart desire to follow Jesus Christ. The least thing I can do for other Christians is not to stumble them in their faith. When I pray for God's forgiveness, I must be ready to forgive others who repent of their mistakes. Remembering how God forgives me, I should show the LOVE of God to them. Am I ready to be an example to others? Am I willing to forgive others?
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