I asked You, “how do I increase my faith because I am scared.” Luke 17:5 NKJV says, “and the apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith’. So the Lord said, ‘If you have faith as a mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you.”
When I have fear I think, “the terminator of fear is faith”. Faith is based on the Word of God.1 The Word of God is that which you believe. What you believe are called convictions. Faith is not based on emotions, but convictions. Fear challenges faith. Fear fights against your convictions. I watched a youtube video where a woman shared her husband’s words, “I do not negotiate my convictions.”
“Faith is what you can perceive spiritually” – my pastor
When I firmly stand in faith, I can tell fear this and that, and it will obey me. When I tell myself this and that, I will obey me. Why do things obey me? Because I represent the Word of God, and the Word of God has the ultimate say.2 Look at creation. Regardless of what I feel, what the enemy tries to influence me with, or what anyone else may say about my circumstance, the only thing that can stand against my convictions, is myself.
The devil can’t make you do anything. He can’t make you lose faith and let go of God’s promises. He doesn’t wield that power. The only thing he can do is influence me to let go of God’s words myself. So myself is the only thing that has a chance of stopping me. Things can try, but when I am rooted in Christ3, like HE says I am, then nothing stands in my way. God is for me, therefore; who can stand against me?4 The only thing? Me.
I also read on the internet when I was looking up this verse that the small amount of faith Jesus described, a mustard seed, can accomplish a big, difficult task. The tree uprooting from one place into another is huge. But Jesus says, it will obey me. Then He continues to say, “And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat?’ But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.”
The plowing and tending of sheep is my pre-preparation for God. I think it is the time where you go behind closed doors and work on yourself. It’s the time where you figure out how to trust in God, how to increase faith, how to gird yourself with the necessity, how to learn wisdom, etc. So that when you come into a new place you can begin to prepare that which God has commanded of you for His kingdom. For Him.
I think of it like peanut butter jelly sandwiches. When I read that He won’t thank me for obeying Him, I found it mean. Distressing. But I considered it. I laid down my life for Jesus because I am unstable without Him. I am in an environment where everyone is making peanut butter jelly sandwiches. Without God I can barely open the jar of jelly let alone make a sandwich. I decided to walk in God’s path. I decided to let Him guide me. So I’ve left the path of making my own sandwich.5
God has to command me in order to make the sandwich. He gives me instructions to how. And He gives me rules to follow. God giving rules and commandments, sounds negatively in connotations. Those words alone. He doesn’t thank me. I automatically received a feeling of God being mad at me. (especially because I disobeyed Him last night, and I have feelings of failure riding my consciousness) But the Bible talks about obeying God and how He is pleased with those who obey Him.6 Why does God give me instructions? I don’t know how to make this sandwich, let alone how to make one for Him. So I NEED instructions. I need commandments because those actions will produce the qualities in me7 to reach8 the sandwich I am to prepare for God.
God isn’t mad at me when I follow His commandments, on the contrary, He is pleased. Abraham lived his life following the commandment of God, Moses did, David, Paul, all the men who walked personally with God, God was pleased with.
The word says that first I need to prepare for God, for Him to eat and drink. For Him that which I create. This helped me understand the perspective I keep hearing, “It’s not about me, its about God.” This perspective does not diminish the human being, in God’s eyes the soul is the most precious thing9, but it helps me understand something deeper about my journey. An understanding I have not fully discovered, but am on my way to figuring out. The meal prepared goes to God first. That’s what Abel did.
Abel, “brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering.” – Genesis 4:4 NKJV. My pastor also has given the example of when David said he would not give God an offering he had not paid for.10 God was not going to receive a working David didn’t work for. My pastor says, pay the price, give God your best. Abel prepared a meal for God and gave it to Him first. What I create is for God first. Jesus says, “afterward you will eat and drink.” (verse 8) The bible talks about eating of your fruit and labor. You eat that which you sow. The last sentence says that we are unprofitable. Jesus does not mean “unprofitable” literally. It threw me off first. When Jesus says we too will then eat, we will have eaten what God eats. What God delighted in.
We are taking part of a meal that was meant for God. Going back to my peanut butter jelly sandwich, I didn’t just make any peanut butter jelly sandwich. I made a 5 star, top tier level meal. I thought I was making a sandwich, but ended up making something far beyond my abilities.11 Why? Because I made it in communion with God. I get to delight in that which God delights in. Paul is a perfect example, he delighted in preaching the word and watching people transform into God’s children. He found it great joy to be witness to this, so did God.
I read another version of the last sentence and it says we are still unworthy. Another pastor talked about translations and how they can be tricky. He gave the advice to get multiple bibles with a different translation, then the Holy Spirit will speak to you for understanding. Jesus isn’t saying we don’t gain anything by following the commands of God, no we gain everything. Our character, our life, our soul. We gain it all. But when we do good that doesn’t make us good. We still make mistakes regardless of what we achieve. We still sin regardless of how close we can be to God.
Therefore, our work does not make us worthy. We will never be worthy of anything. I will never be worthy of what I have with God because just last night I disobeyed Him and that hurts God. I will never be worthy of my life, yet I have it. What I learned is that I am worth it. God sees me as someone who is worth all of it. Why and how? Beyond me. But I know that to Him, I am worth it all. My work doesn’t make me worth it. My being just is.
I understand what Jesus did, He saw I was worth it and gave everything He had for me. It is my duty – my responsibility and honor- to have faith in God. To follow His commandments, and I do it in a way that integrates FAITH. Faith can increase with this example. Going back to Abel, he got God’s respect. RESPECT is defined as, a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements. God respects me when I give that which I prepare first. Before eating myself, I give it to Him. He also linked Abraham with righteousness when He believed in Him! Oh to be linked with righteousness! We gain a lot in our walk with God.
Index
1- Romans 10: 17 NKJV
2- Hebrews 11: 3 NKJV
3- Colossians 2: 7 NLT
4- Romans 8: 31 NLT
5- Mathew 16: 24-25 NKJV
6- 1 Samuel 15: 22 NLT
7- Romans 8: 29 NLT
8- Philippians 3: 14 NLT
9- Mathew 16: 26 NKJV and 1 Corinthians 6: 20 NLT and John 17: 23 NLT
10- 2 Samuel 24: 24 NKJV
11- Ephesians 3: 20 NKJV