"For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
Does Jesus actually mean that if my faith was deep enough I could literally move a mountain? Honestly, I'm not sure! Obviously in my human mind it seems impossible, but then again, with God all things are possible! My point here isn't to figure out if we can or cannot move a mountain with enough faith, but rather to challenge you on thedepth of your faith. Jesus in this statement, was still implying that with faith things are possible. In the Bible, faith is what brought miraculous healing, what parted the Red Sea, what allowed the ark to be built! The Bible is full of men and women of faith. It would be a great study in your personal time. Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." Is God pleased with your faith? Has God asked you to anything by faith? Did you obey?
The Lord has asked me to do a few things in faith. Here are a couple examples:
Without faith, many things are impossible. God uses our faith to move in us. When we step in faith and God shows up and does something divine, it draws us so much closer to Him. It allows us to take bigger steps. It allows God to do bigger things. He wants us to trust Him. Remember when God asked Moses to speak to Pharoah in Exodus 4, and Moses told God that he wasn't a good speaker, use someone else. Even after God said, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak." That is amazing! God was asking Moses to have faith, and trust in Him rather than in himself, but Moses did not obey. He asked God to use someone else.
What stories of faith do you have? Do you have memories of not obeying God asking you to trust Him? I encourage you to take a small step of faith today, and ask God to give you more faith. Ask Him to give you an opportunity to trust Him. When He asks you to have faith, trust Him, and obey. It has always been a blessing to be obedient. God wants to do great things in and through us, but it requires us to have faith and do what He asks.
I would love to hear some of your faith stories, email me at feedback@pruningme.com with them!
~Leanne~
Does Jesus actually mean that if my faith was deep enough I could literally move a mountain? Honestly, I'm not sure! Obviously in my human mind it seems impossible, but then again, with God all things are possible! My point here isn't to figure out if we can or cannot move a mountain with enough faith, but rather to challenge you on thedepth of your faith. Jesus in this statement, was still implying that with faith things are possible. In the Bible, faith is what brought miraculous healing, what parted the Red Sea, what allowed the ark to be built! The Bible is full of men and women of faith. It would be a great study in your personal time. Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." Is God pleased with your faith? Has God asked you to anything by faith? Did you obey?
The Lord has asked me to do a few things in faith. Here are a couple examples:
- This website. If you read Why the Site? [/why-the-site.html], you will understand the purpose for which I started this 10 1/2 months ago. It first started off as me using a free Google site that I just used as a personal site, not sharing with anyone. Then it was laid on my heart the purpose for which God asked me to go public, and that was to share Jesus and how He prunes me. The faith came when I had set up the site and had posted my first blog (which has been permanently deleted accidently). The moment when I had all my Facebook friends- all three hundred some- invited to see my blog. The moment of faith- and the moment I received much opposition from the evil one- was when I clicked on "Send". This was a big deal for me. In high school I was very insecure. I cared a lot of what people in high school thought of me. It was my identity. And all of a sudden, what God was asking me to do was of way more importance than what any of them would think of me. I'm sure many of them think I'm a fool, but I know the King, and to reject Him is a lot more foolish.
- Go off birth control. Joey and I had been married almost 4 years and God laid it upon our hearts for me to get off birth control. I had been on it several years and it was a measure of security I had placed my trust in. Joey and I at the time had thought about having children, but had decided we weren't sure if we wanted any at that time or at all. The burden from God was so heavy, that we knew it was something serious God wanted us to obey. So we did. We prayed and surrendered our plan for our lives to Him. By faith, we were trusting that God's plan was better than our plan. And it was. I got pregnant almost a year after we stopped using birth control. We now have two precious little ones: Oskar, 2 and Mischa, 7months.
- Moving to Barronett. Two and a half years ago, we moved to Barronett, WI. We started feeling stirred to move north (from Fond du Lac, WI) about a year or two before we moved. We had our own reasons why we thought it might be a good idea, but God knew there was a much bigger plan. It was hard to move. On one hand we were excited to start in a new place (of 100 people, by the way!) but it really hard on the other- we were leaving family, good friends, our favorite city that we've lived, a nice house, conveniences, comforts, our church- lots. But the leading to move here was strong, and we couldn't resist. Since we've moved here, the Lord has used people from our church and the church itself to develop much deeper roots in Jesus. Since there isn't much to do in a town of 100, we also have had much time to spend with Him, and He has pruned us right back to the branches. God has changed us so much since we've been here. He has given us new purposes in life, been building us as leaders, challenged us to live by faith- even more than we thought, and given us great people to speak into our lives. We are new people.
Without faith, many things are impossible. God uses our faith to move in us. When we step in faith and God shows up and does something divine, it draws us so much closer to Him. It allows us to take bigger steps. It allows God to do bigger things. He wants us to trust Him. Remember when God asked Moses to speak to Pharoah in Exodus 4, and Moses told God that he wasn't a good speaker, use someone else. Even after God said, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak." That is amazing! God was asking Moses to have faith, and trust in Him rather than in himself, but Moses did not obey. He asked God to use someone else.
What stories of faith do you have? Do you have memories of not obeying God asking you to trust Him? I encourage you to take a small step of faith today, and ask God to give you more faith. Ask Him to give you an opportunity to trust Him. When He asks you to have faith, trust Him, and obey. It has always been a blessing to be obedient. God wants to do great things in and through us, but it requires us to have faith and do what He asks.
I would love to hear some of your faith stories, email me at feedback@pruningme.com with them!
~Leanne~
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