Dare to Have Faith

Faith expects from God what is beyond all expectation.  Andrew Murray

Remember how little faith the disciples had in Jesus when he fed the four thousand.  In Matthew 15:32-39 the multitude had been following Jesus and the disciples for three days and there was nothing to eat.  Jesus didn’t want to send them away hungry.  The disciples asked Jesus: “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a multitude?”

Jesus responded by asking them how many loaves of bread they had.  They told him seven loaves and a few fish.  Jesus took seven loaves of bread and a few fish blessed it and fed four thousand men along with the women and children in the multitude.  Sometimes my faith is so small that I don’t believe God can provide for my family; much less four thousand. 

There is another story in the Bible that shows what it means to have extreme faith.  In Matthew 15 there was a Gentile woman whose daughter was demon-possessed.  She cried to Jesus to heal her daughter.  Jesus had been sent to save the lost sheep of Israel and when the woman cried out to him he made this statement: “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  He was saying why should He give the children of Israel’s inheritance (life everlasting) to a Gentile (dog).   Her response was all about faith in the Savior.  She responded by saying, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”  This Gentile woman had heard of the Messiah and by her faith she believed He existed.  She traveled a long distance in faith to ask Jesus to heal her daughter.  

Sometimes we lack faith so we seek healing instead of seeking the Healer?  Jesus came to save the lost and each one of us is lost until we find Him.  We need to be daring in our faith as this woman was in the parable.  She didn’t stop at Jesus first words to her.  She kept after Him until He answered her request to heal her daughter.   That’s extreme faith.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of giving up on You instead of pursuing you with everything in me.  I want a faith that is strong enough to be the only option.  Having faith that You will answer my prayer.  Having the kind of faith that doesn’t back down in tough circumstances.

   

Scripture: By Faith We Understand

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.  By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.  Hebrews 11:1-3