Thursday, October 22, 2015

Day 20 Faith and the Mustard Seed


Day 20 was Tuesday and I didn't post a thing that day but I will consider this post Tuesday's and continue writing until I can finally shout:

Hallelujah it's the 31st!!!

Last week I talked about the book Simply Tuesday. I like things to follow a theme so this Tuesday post will be a little about what was shared so far in the book.  As I was reading along, I came upon a section around page 32 about the kingdom of God being one inch above the ground (a different concept than what we usually think of, right?).

FYI -- I live in Belgium and have been living in Europe continuously since 2001. In Europe, you will see large fields of these beautiful yellow flowers. They are breathtaking even when the skies are gray which happens a lot more than when they are blue. We didn't know what these flowers were at first but finally asked someone and were told that they are rapeseed and the crops are an important source for vegetable oil.  If you Google "rapeseed" you will find out that it is also known as oilseed rape and is in the mustard or cabbage family. In the book, they talk about this little white house off of Highway 38 and there is a rapeseed crop that surrounds this little house. The author used this picture in her mind of this home surrounded by yellow and decided that the kingdom of God surrounds her just like this crop did with the house. It is a good visual to help you think about life around you and God's kingdom.

This led me to thinking about mustard seeds and how tiny they are. Here's a picture of just one little mustard seed in a glass container. It is really small. Of course, many of us have heard the story of faith the size of a mustard seed being all that you need. That amount of faith is sufficient to please God.



The definition of the word "Faith" is 1) allegiance to duty or a person; fidelity to one's promises; sincerity of intentions; 2) belief and trust in and loyalty to God; belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion; firm belief in something for which there is no proof; complete trust; and 3) something that is believed especially with strong conviction, especially: a system of religious beliefs.
The disciples questioned Jesus after he healed a boy who had been afflicted with seizures. The disciples weren't able to heal the boy but Jesus could. They said "Why couldn't we drive it out?" and he replied:

"You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." Matthew 17:20 NLT

If you look at the definition of Faith again, you will see that it means "fidelity to one's promises." We all know that it is so important to keep your promises. People are relying on us to keep our word. Well, human beings are fallible but God always keeps his promises. His love for us is never ending. What a great feeling!
So often we are faced with situations where we don't have enough faith or trust in God to make it through a challenge or struggle. If we can only remember the tiny mustard seed and give the struggle to God, He will give us an answer on how to move forward. All we need to do is muster faith the size of a mustard seed and give it up to God. He makes all things possible.

I'm going to use that faith and continue working at this promise I made to myself to continue writing every day this month to complete the challenge. Now where did that little mustard see go???????? 

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