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Welcome to Faith Part 2. The
various types of Faith that were covered in Part One are as
follows: Natural Faith, A measure of Faith and the Mustard Seed
Faith. This week Great Faith, Little Faith, and part of Doubting
Faith will be covered. Part 3 and closing on various types of
faith will be in next weeks Food For Thought Series.
First we explore Great Faith
that is an extraordinary belief and trust in Jesus that reaches
great heights and distance. A good example of this in the
scripture of Matthew , Chapter 8. (NIV)
In this scripture when Jesus
had entered capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.
“Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed
and in terrible suffering.” Jesus said to him, “I will go
and heal him.” Then the centurion told Jesus that he did not
deserve to have him come under his roof. He knew that if Jesus
said the word that his servant would be healed right where he
was.
The Centurion recognized that
the Lord’s rule over the spiritual world was as certain as his
rule over his troops. He told Jesus that when he commanded his
troops to do something they followed his instruction just as
Jesus did the same in the spiritual world. This Roman Commander
exercised great faith and interceded on behalf of a servant.
When Jesus heard this, he was
astonished and to those following him, "I tell you the truth,
I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith."
Then Jesus said to the Centurion, "Go! It will be done just
as you believed, it would."; And his servant was healed at
that very hour.
The Centurion had gone a
distance from where his servant laid suffering. His Faith was so
great that he knew Jesus would heal his servant even from a
distance, that by his Faith his servant was healed. In those
times most people who had servants or were over others did not
show the concern and love that this Centurion showed his
servant.
In our times we do need to
show great Faith in God through Jesus to trust and know that
God’s does what is best for us in times of trouble and
tribulation. He does not cause the bad things that happen but he
will turn it around for our anointing and his Glory, when we
seek him, trust him and believe in him. For more about Great
Faith read your Bible and find other examples of Great Faith and
reflect on your Faith as you grow a personal relationship with
God.
The next Faith we move on to
is Little Faith. Is there such a thing as little faith since
there is a mustard seed faith (a tiny seed of faith) that can
move the mountains in your life. Yes there is a little faith. It
is not the same. It can be that one knows about God but not know
him, not having a relationship with him. One may have a little
faith in God that he exist and may even have the some of the
morals or thinks they do, set out in the Ten Commandments. In
Matthew 19, 16-22, the scriptures speaks about a Young Rich Man
who comes to Jesus to see what he good thing he must do to get
into heaven. This scripture actually fits more than just little
faith but also its the next faith (doubting). You will see why
that both types of faith fit.
Matthew 19, 16-22 Now a rich
young man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good
thing must I do to get eternal life?”
“Why do you ask me about
what is good?” Jesus replied, “There is only one who is
good If you want eternal life, obey the commandments”
“ Which ones ?” the man
inquired. Jesus went through all the commandments. The young man
told Jesus he kept all these commandments and still wanted to
know what he lacked, and Jesus told him if he wanted to be
perfect, go sell all his possessions , give to the poor and you
will have treasures in heaven. Then come follow me.”
This man left dejected because
he was very wealthy and did not want to give up material things.
This man was insecure about
his standing with God, as evidenced by his question in Matthew
19:20. Jesus was prompted by love because his response (also in
Mark 10:21 NIV) was intended for this man to realize in fact
that he didn’t love his neighbor as much as he loved himself or
his money and it is a commandment. He only had a little faith,
he believed in God, but not enough to make a difference where he
would have eternal life and store up treasures in heaven.
This leads into the next
faith, Doubt. The young rich man with material wealth and power
doubted that he would be happy without them.
Doubt means dubious, to be
uncertain or undecided, a wavering of opinion or belief. There
are several scriptures about doubt. Scriptures that you can look
up are : ( Luke 24:38 and why does doubt rise in your minds?
Romans 14:23 the man who has doubt is condemned, Jas1:6 he who
doubts is like a wave of the sea.) There are many more
scriptures that you can find either in a concordance or may be
able to find in the back of your Bible.
One of the scriptures to focus
on is John20:24-28. (NIV) This scripture deals with the
disciples one that is particularly mentioned is Thomas. (Called
Doubting Thomas by some)
“Now Thomas (called Didymas,)
one of the Twelve was not with the disciples when Jesus Came. So
the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “unless I see the nail marks in his hand
and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his
side, I will not believe it.”
A week later his disciples
were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the
doors were locked, Jesus came them and said “ Peace be with
you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, see my
hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop
doubting and believe” Thomas said to him “My Lord and my
God!” Then Jesus told him, “ Because you have seen me,
you have believed, blessed all those who have not seen and yet
have believed.” There is more to come in this section for
Doubting Faith. We will close here and pick up next week.
Tune in for the Last Part of Faith, (Fantastic
Adventure In Trusting Him) in the Food For Thought Series.
May you have all God’s Blessing and Favors ! |
