The Good Shepherd!
³I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My sheep 15 As the Father knows Me, own. even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. John 10:11-15
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:1-6
The one who wrote this psalm had an intimate knowledge of what it meant to be a shepherd.
David spent all of his growing up years caring for his father’s sheep in the pasturelands of Israel.
In those years he had lots of time to develop a deep relationship with God.
He also had the perfect opportunity to develop his musical talents. God and Sheep are a great audience to share your songs with.
It is these earliest experiences with God that formed his life work. He would be a shepherd not only a flock of sheep but of men and women as well.
He learned to war protecting his sheep.
David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.´ 33 Then Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36"Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.´ 37 And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
1 Samuel 17:32-37
Our destiny is being established from the moment of our conception. If we understand our circumstances and if we are seeking God all the events of our lives we can find God’s redemptive purposes for our lives.
That is what David did. He took what many would feel to be a terrifying experience never to be repeated and instead saw it as an opportunity for God to demonstrate His power. God loves this!
So it was with one of the most beautiful poems in the world. He drew on some of the most difficult and discouraging periods of his life and saw God faithfully caring for him the whole time.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Psalm 23:1
A good shepherd is a constant caregiver. David saw God’s heart in his own. One who is always protecting, providing One who is always giving His presence.
He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. Psalm 23:2
When David wrote these words he was a fugitive on the run from a man who had thousands of troops and was determined to kill him.
He was living in caves and living from day to day in absolute fear. So where were the green pastures he was led by his shepherd to?
They were in his heart.
I have found that there can be an absolute difference between our outward circumstances and our inward condition.
When we choose God as our Good Shepherd we are continually led to a place of rest no matter what is happening outside us.
It comes down to choosing which reality we will live in. God’s or ours.
He restores my soul;
Psalm 23:3 a
God’s restoration of our soul is what Jesus died for.
Our own wrong choices, the world, and the enemy of souls continually eat away at our inner life.
But as the Good Shepherd Jesus brings the restoration of our souls he paid for with his life.
He lays down his life for his sheep so that they might find life.
He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
Psalm 23:3
David depended on God to direct his life.
He did so in a very specific way. He prayed and believed God would lead him. And God did.
Far to often I find that we pray without expecting an answer.
David knew better. His very life depended on God guiding him into safe places.
He knew a good shepherd would do that.
And he believed that God would guide him purposefully and specifically.
God delights in us praying for His specific guidance and expecting him to give it.
Seeing God act our behalf through answered prayer is such a delight to our souls.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4
David walked the valley of the shadow of death often. As he speaks of it here we understand the secret to the life he found in God.
He knew the reality of God’s presence with him.
Paul the apostle found this same secret:
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Romans 8:31-32
In the midst of terrible trouble David understood God was as near. He was the good shepherd that would never leave him to the bears and lions.
God’s nearness was what gave David the courage to move ahead. It was what delighted him. God’s presence was the quiet waters and green pastures. It was what restored his soul.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Psalm 23:5
The banquet set by God for David did not remove his enemy. But his enemy could not hinder David from feasting with God. Nor should it ever hinder us.
How often do we feel that life keeps us from this place of joy in our Lord. Yet it is not true. It can keep us from the table of the Lord only if we focus on the it as the enemy.
When we choose to live our lives in the joy of God’s presence we find that the enemies of our life are subdued inside us. They cannot harm us.
David ends the psalm by affirming the reality of God’s eternal care. These ³momentary light afflictions´ as Peter called them are reminders that God’s presence with us is the only reality that matters.
His lovingkindness, his mercy, being invited as a special guest to be with him in his home forever makes everything else inconsequential.
The secret that David wants us to find as well is that God’s presence can help us to walk through anything. It is the joy of life when all outward joy has gone.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:4
And it is so because Jesus is our Good Shepherd.
The Lord is My Shepherd Odcf June 4 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
THE GOD OF MIRACLES
THE GOD OF MIRACLES
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: . . . “Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst,. . . . Acts 2:1-8, 14 & 22
It is vital for us to constantly live in the understanding that God is the God of Miracles.
Not one thing has changed since Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to fill the mouths of His disciples with miraculous speech.
After being empowered through the baptism of Jesus with the Holy Spirit they went everywhere preaching the gospel and doing miracles in His name.
In the midst of extreme difficulty their prayer was for God to demonstrate His miraculous power as they preached His Word.
"And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:29-31
Miracles are given to demonstrate God’s love and care for us and to give the world a chance to see God in action. And they are for everyone!
Our God is the God of Miracles.
Jesus said we would see greater works done through us than He did while he was on earth.
God intends for us to continually live in His miraculous power. He intends for us to have our lives touched by the supernatural power from on high. He intends for us to see Him at work in our lives in a very direct way every second of our lives.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. John 14:12
"And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:49
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8
God wants to manifest Himself to the world by providing, protecting and giving His presence to His children.
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: . . . “Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst,. . . . Acts 2:1-8, 14 & 22
It is vital for us to constantly live in the understanding that God is the God of Miracles.
Not one thing has changed since Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to fill the mouths of His disciples with miraculous speech.
After being empowered through the baptism of Jesus with the Holy Spirit they went everywhere preaching the gospel and doing miracles in His name.
In the midst of extreme difficulty their prayer was for God to demonstrate His miraculous power as they preached His Word.
"And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:29-31
Miracles are given to demonstrate God’s love and care for us and to give the world a chance to see God in action. And they are for everyone!
Our God is the God of Miracles.
Jesus said we would see greater works done through us than He did while he was on earth.
God intends for us to continually live in His miraculous power. He intends for us to have our lives touched by the supernatural power from on high. He intends for us to see Him at work in our lives in a very direct way every second of our lives.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. John 14:12
"And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:49
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8
God wants to manifest Himself to the world by providing, protecting and giving His presence to His children.
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9
Another translation says,
For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. 2 Chronicles 16:9
God searches for those who He can pour out His miracle power upon. He wants us to know that He is our helper and that He is strong!
In the parables of the Mustard Seed Jesus gives us some clues as to how to see a greater manifestation of His miraculous power in our lives.
1. Find out what it takes to see miraculous power manifested through you.
When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 "I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” Matthew 17:14-16
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. Matthew 17:19-20
Notice the disciples did not blame the child or his father for the lack of a miracle. They sincerely asked why THEY could not drive the demon out of the boy.
That is what the disciples did and so must we.
I am called to believe God with and for others. If we don’t see a miracle it is me that needs to find out what is wrong. I do not need to find someone to blame – Especially the one suffering.
Not only that I am to believe for the one who is possibly unable to hold on to faith because they are overwhelmed with their circumstances.
Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. 2 Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. Romans 15:1
If we are going to attribute a lack of the miraculous power of God in someone’s life then let us first attribute it to ourselves. Jesus did not condemn those who were suffering he healed them.
God searches for those who He can pour out His miracle power upon. He wants us to know that He is our helper and that He is strong!
In the parables of the Mustard Seed Jesus gives us some clues as to how to see a greater manifestation of His miraculous power in our lives.
1. Find out what it takes to see miraculous power manifested through you.
When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 "I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” Matthew 17:14-16
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. Matthew 17:19-20
Notice the disciples did not blame the child or his father for the lack of a miracle. They sincerely asked why THEY could not drive the demon out of the boy.
That is what the disciples did and so must we.
I am called to believe God with and for others. If we don’t see a miracle it is me that needs to find out what is wrong. I do not need to find someone to blame – Especially the one suffering.
Not only that I am to believe for the one who is possibly unable to hold on to faith because they are overwhelmed with their circumstances.
Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. 2 Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. Romans 15:1
If we are going to attribute a lack of the miraculous power of God in someone’s life then let us first attribute it to ourselves. Jesus did not condemn those who were suffering he healed them.
In actual fact it is it is the whole church that is responsible to believe. A church filled with believing people will see miracles.
In answering the question they asked about why they were not able to see the miracle Jesus told them two things that are vital to build an atmosphere for the miraculous.
First he said it was the littleness of their faith.
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Matthew 17:19-21
Today I am going to share with you an interpretation of this passage that I am almost certain you will have never heard and most likely never thought of. Yet I believe it is true. In fact it is the most consistent way of understanding Jesus’ use of the Mustard Seed.
I believe Jesus was telling the disciples that they could not cast out the demon because their faith was not yet mature. It was very small but it had the potential to grow. It was a statement of hope and not discouragement.
For sure it was a statement of truth. Their faith was very small. Jesus was certainly challenging them to grow in faith. But it was also a statement of hope and encouragement that their faith would grow like a mustard seed.
The mustard seed has a growth process. It starts as one of the tiniest seeds on earth but grows to be a large shrub.
And He said, "How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? 31 "It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, 32 yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE.” Mark 4:30
Jesus was telling them if they would sow their faith they would move mountains someday. But he was also saying on that day they were still developing their faith.
It was an encouragement to grow not a rebuke for something they lacked.
I believe he was saying,
If you sow it you will grow it.
The point is that we are to be continually growing in faith. We may have almost no faith at all yet if we sow what faith we have - just like the little mustard seed - we will grow in faith.
One of the most wonderful financial miracles I have ever seen grew out of God telling me this secret.
I was a “man of faith” when my sweetheart met me. I had committed myself to be debt free and trusting God for my provision. I had lived this for years and had seen marvelous answers to prayer. I had also lived in some very difficult circumstances.
When we were preparing to go to Israel for a year we were short on funds and I told her that we should get a one way ticket and trust God for the return flight. She was not happy with my idea... That is actually an understatement...
As we were “discussing´ my lack of sanity and her lack of faith God spoke clearly and firmly to me. He said, “When I want to teach her faith, I will teach her faith. You leave her alone.”
I had enough sense and enough fear of God to do what He said. I worked a few weeks longer, fixed up and sold a car and had enough money to get a round trip ticket. That was a miracle too but the greatest one was yet to come.
During our stay at the Kibbutz Carie became pregnant. That was wonderful but what was not so nice was the fact her due date was just about the same time as we were supposed to return home.
Though we had bought flight insurance the company we had purchased it from had gone out of business. When we appealed to the airline company they said I could fly home but she could not and that they would not exchange either her flight or mine.
Now you might say that was not much of a problem except that you don’t know how Israeli’s have babies.
Any kind of anesthetic was considered weakness of the highest magnitude. Even Lamaze is for wimps to them. Au naturel with every pain experienced to the full was the true destiny and joy of one bearing a child!
Not only that but the local nurse loved telling Carie she would be coming over on the day she was to deliver and helping her out with the delivery right there in our little stone room.
I was amused. Carie was desperate but I was not the one having the baby was I?
I had never heard her pray such prayers of desperation. She wanted to go home. The problem was we did not have any money to do so. We had spent it all on a round trip ticket that was now worthless.
After several weeks of struggle she did what all of us have to do if we are to see miracles. She asked God to show her what He wanted. It was that simple.
She said she was willing to stay and have her child in Israel if that was what He wanted. She wanted to go home and if that was what He wanted she asked for a tangible sign by the end of the week. She said that if He did not show by a miracle that she was to go home she would stay.
I challenged her that if she really wanted to know that it was God that we should not let others know about our need. She agreed that we would let our Father who knows what we need be the only one who would know.
At the end of that week, shortly before sunset the leader of our team met her on the road and said that God had told him to give her one hundred dollars. She had her first miracle.
Over the next month it happened just like that. Money begin to come from many different sources all unsolicited and each saying that God had put it on their hearts to give.
We had found a flight that was very inexpensive but had to make arrangements to purchase by a certain date. If we did not have the money by that date in spite of the miracles we had seen we still would be staying in Israel.
That day came and we were still $60 short.
No one knew.
That morning before we went to work Carie and I prayed earnestly that God would provide but again surrendered ourselves to stay in Israel if it was His will.
Through the day we were in a state of expectancy, especially when the mail came. We thought perhaps someone would send us the rest of the money. But it was not to be.
The day was coming to an end and we did not see the miracle we thought we would. She accepted it so graciously. As we prayed before we went to our evening meeting with our team she told the Lord that she would follow where ever He would lead.
This is what God means when He asks us to have faith in Him. This is true faith. It was the faith Jesus demonstrated on the worst day of his life and the worst day in history.
This is what God means when He asks us to have faith in Him. This is true faith. It was the faith Jesus demonstrated on the worst day of his life and the worst day in history.
He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Matthew 26:42
But that night of surrender to God’s perfect will for his life did not lead to abandonment but to the greatest miracle of history - the resurrection.
At the end of our meeting a visiting parent of one of the young people on our team came to me and shook my hand. He said he felt God had told him to give what was in his hand to me. It was $60!
Then he put his hand in his pocket and said, “I have some of this funny money (Israeli money) that I won’t use so I want to give that to you as well.” It was enough to buy several presents for her relatives…
No one had known that we had any need much less the specific amount we needed that very night. Carie had her miracle!
My sweetheart learned faith from God and not me. I am glad because I have watched in wonder and awe since that time as she has prayed for miracle after miracle and seen them happen.
With each new experience of believing God for these miracles I have seen her grow in faith. Like a Mustard seed… It started out very small. Now it has grown to be strong and often moves mountains.
It was a process.
When he was very little I used to let Ariel play my guitar as much as he wanted. His earliest music was not what the world expected for him to be the next Canadian Idol but to me it was the sweetest music I could ever hear. I knew a secret…
I knew that if he loved playing that instrument and continued playing it. No matter how it sounded. He would one day play beautifully from his heart.
Like the Mustard Seed, He had the essential element to become a skilled player but it had to grow.
Growth in faith happens by sowing it for a miracle.
He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.” Matthew 13:31-32
Like a mustard seed I have seen that for miracles to come it takes a certain kind of “soil´ for our faith to grow in.
When we sow it into good soil our faith grows and brings forth the fruit of miracles.
My friend Dale knows about the effect of the soil on the crops he grew up planting on his father’s farm.
Good soil does not just happen. It has to be worked into a substance that will give life to the seeds planted in it.
The developing of the soil that will cause our mustard seed faith to grow is the second thing Jesus said to his disciples in his answer to their question about why they could not cast out the demon.
"But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
Matthew 17:19-21
God made it very simple for us. If we want to see a miracle we need to ask for it and to have the proper motivation in our asking.
You do not have because you do not ask.
James 4:2b
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
James 4:3
Jesus told his disciples that to see the kind of miracle that was needed they would have to pray and fast.
Praying is asking. Fasting deals with our self motives.
These are the soil conditioners that create the kind of soil where faith grows.
Prayer and Fasting are the soil conditioners that create the kind of soil where faith grows.
I have seen the power of prayer and fasting to bring God’s miracle working presence into my own life.
I have seen it in history as well.
I would be so bold as to say that I do not believe there has ever been a move of God without believers doing their part by praying and setting aside their earthly preoccupations (fasting) in order to call out to God for Him to show Himself through them to the world.
That is exactly what the disciples were continually doing in the days before the dynamite (dunamis) power from God fell on them in the upper room.
These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, Acts 1:14
But our prayer needs to be one of expectancy.
When we pray to God we need to expect Him to answer. If we don’t we may not even notice that He did.
When my sweetheart and I were first dating she had her bike stolen from her sister’s house in Tulsa Oklahoma.
What made it really bad was it was a gift from her grandmother and had strong sentimental value.
When she told me what had happened I said we should pray that God would show us where it was. I believed that He would. We prayed and I had a vision of the bike in a park under a bush. I knew the park and so we went there to find the bike.
It was there under the very bush I saw it under. The nice part of this story is that my sweetheart is a woman of great integrity. She can tell you that this happened exactly like I am telling you. It is verifiable and could not have happened without God showing me.
In the summer of 1854 Ohio was in the midst of a prolonged and severe drought. A pastor in a local church called his people to pray for rain. An eyewitness of the event wrote,
“As his church gathered for worship on a Sunday morning in 1853, Charles Finney walked into the pulpit, carrying an umbrella. Setting his umbrella down by his chair, he began to pray, “Lord, we do not presume to tell you what is best for us. You invite us to come to you as children to a father and tell you all of our wants. We need rain. Unless you give us rain our cattle will die and our harvest will come to naught. It is an easy thing for you to do, O Lord, send us rain.´”
As he preached his sermon that morning it began to thunder and the rain poured down from heaven.
But notice one very important aspect of his behaviour around this incident. Though he told everyone that they were going to pray for an end to the drought, he was the only one who brought his umbrella.
He expected God to do a miracle and God did.
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you. Luke 17:5-6
Let the request of the disciples sink into your heart for a moment. Why did they ask for their faith to be increased? Was it because they felt condemned for not having enough? Do you think they were consumed with themselves and wanted God to make them rich, healthy and keep them from ever having any problems?
Or was it that they saw Jesus doing the miracles for others and wanted to see the same themselves?
They knew what he could do them because they saw him do it with their own eyes.
Would seeing this amazing man heal the sick, raise the dead and tell people the deepest hidden secrets of their hearts not make you want to do the same?
And that is exactly what Jesus wanted. He wanted them to ask.
When they did Jesus told them once more that they would see what they desired if they sowed their faith as a mustard seed with expectancy of the miraculous.
What a tragedy it is when we lose our expectancy of God’s working through miracles in our life. God wants us to ask. God wants us to have proper motives and God wants us to expect Him to work supernaturally in our lives.
It is our destiny to live a life filled with His power manifested in supernatural works.
He is the God of Miracles.
First he said it was the littleness of their faith.
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Matthew 17:19-21
Today I am going to share with you an interpretation of this passage that I am almost certain you will have never heard and most likely never thought of. Yet I believe it is true. In fact it is the most consistent way of understanding Jesus’ use of the Mustard Seed.
I believe Jesus was telling the disciples that they could not cast out the demon because their faith was not yet mature. It was very small but it had the potential to grow. It was a statement of hope and not discouragement.
For sure it was a statement of truth. Their faith was very small. Jesus was certainly challenging them to grow in faith. But it was also a statement of hope and encouragement that their faith would grow like a mustard seed.
The mustard seed has a growth process. It starts as one of the tiniest seeds on earth but grows to be a large shrub.
And He said, "How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? 31 "It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, 32 yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE.” Mark 4:30
Jesus was telling them if they would sow their faith they would move mountains someday. But he was also saying on that day they were still developing their faith.
It was an encouragement to grow not a rebuke for something they lacked.
I believe he was saying,
If you sow it you will grow it.
The point is that we are to be continually growing in faith. We may have almost no faith at all yet if we sow what faith we have - just like the little mustard seed - we will grow in faith.
One of the most wonderful financial miracles I have ever seen grew out of God telling me this secret.
I was a “man of faith” when my sweetheart met me. I had committed myself to be debt free and trusting God for my provision. I had lived this for years and had seen marvelous answers to prayer. I had also lived in some very difficult circumstances.
When we were preparing to go to Israel for a year we were short on funds and I told her that we should get a one way ticket and trust God for the return flight. She was not happy with my idea... That is actually an understatement...
As we were “discussing´ my lack of sanity and her lack of faith God spoke clearly and firmly to me. He said, “When I want to teach her faith, I will teach her faith. You leave her alone.”
I had enough sense and enough fear of God to do what He said. I worked a few weeks longer, fixed up and sold a car and had enough money to get a round trip ticket. That was a miracle too but the greatest one was yet to come.
During our stay at the Kibbutz Carie became pregnant. That was wonderful but what was not so nice was the fact her due date was just about the same time as we were supposed to return home.
Though we had bought flight insurance the company we had purchased it from had gone out of business. When we appealed to the airline company they said I could fly home but she could not and that they would not exchange either her flight or mine.
Now you might say that was not much of a problem except that you don’t know how Israeli’s have babies.
Any kind of anesthetic was considered weakness of the highest magnitude. Even Lamaze is for wimps to them. Au naturel with every pain experienced to the full was the true destiny and joy of one bearing a child!
Not only that but the local nurse loved telling Carie she would be coming over on the day she was to deliver and helping her out with the delivery right there in our little stone room.
I was amused. Carie was desperate but I was not the one having the baby was I?
I had never heard her pray such prayers of desperation. She wanted to go home. The problem was we did not have any money to do so. We had spent it all on a round trip ticket that was now worthless.
After several weeks of struggle she did what all of us have to do if we are to see miracles. She asked God to show her what He wanted. It was that simple.
She said she was willing to stay and have her child in Israel if that was what He wanted. She wanted to go home and if that was what He wanted she asked for a tangible sign by the end of the week. She said that if He did not show by a miracle that she was to go home she would stay.
I challenged her that if she really wanted to know that it was God that we should not let others know about our need. She agreed that we would let our Father who knows what we need be the only one who would know.
At the end of that week, shortly before sunset the leader of our team met her on the road and said that God had told him to give her one hundred dollars. She had her first miracle.
Over the next month it happened just like that. Money begin to come from many different sources all unsolicited and each saying that God had put it on their hearts to give.
We had found a flight that was very inexpensive but had to make arrangements to purchase by a certain date. If we did not have the money by that date in spite of the miracles we had seen we still would be staying in Israel.
That day came and we were still $60 short.
No one knew.
That morning before we went to work Carie and I prayed earnestly that God would provide but again surrendered ourselves to stay in Israel if it was His will.
Through the day we were in a state of expectancy, especially when the mail came. We thought perhaps someone would send us the rest of the money. But it was not to be.
The day was coming to an end and we did not see the miracle we thought we would. She accepted it so graciously. As we prayed before we went to our evening meeting with our team she told the Lord that she would follow where ever He would lead.
This is what God means when He asks us to have faith in Him. This is true faith. It was the faith Jesus demonstrated on the worst day of his life and the worst day in history.
This is what God means when He asks us to have faith in Him. This is true faith. It was the faith Jesus demonstrated on the worst day of his life and the worst day in history.
He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Matthew 26:42
But that night of surrender to God’s perfect will for his life did not lead to abandonment but to the greatest miracle of history - the resurrection.
At the end of our meeting a visiting parent of one of the young people on our team came to me and shook my hand. He said he felt God had told him to give what was in his hand to me. It was $60!
Then he put his hand in his pocket and said, “I have some of this funny money (Israeli money) that I won’t use so I want to give that to you as well.” It was enough to buy several presents for her relatives…
No one had known that we had any need much less the specific amount we needed that very night. Carie had her miracle!
My sweetheart learned faith from God and not me. I am glad because I have watched in wonder and awe since that time as she has prayed for miracle after miracle and seen them happen.
With each new experience of believing God for these miracles I have seen her grow in faith. Like a Mustard seed… It started out very small. Now it has grown to be strong and often moves mountains.
It was a process.
When he was very little I used to let Ariel play my guitar as much as he wanted. His earliest music was not what the world expected for him to be the next Canadian Idol but to me it was the sweetest music I could ever hear. I knew a secret…
I knew that if he loved playing that instrument and continued playing it. No matter how it sounded. He would one day play beautifully from his heart.
Like the Mustard Seed, He had the essential element to become a skilled player but it had to grow.
Growth in faith happens by sowing it for a miracle.
He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.” Matthew 13:31-32
Like a mustard seed I have seen that for miracles to come it takes a certain kind of “soil´ for our faith to grow in.
When we sow it into good soil our faith grows and brings forth the fruit of miracles.
My friend Dale knows about the effect of the soil on the crops he grew up planting on his father’s farm.
Good soil does not just happen. It has to be worked into a substance that will give life to the seeds planted in it.
The developing of the soil that will cause our mustard seed faith to grow is the second thing Jesus said to his disciples in his answer to their question about why they could not cast out the demon.
"But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
Matthew 17:19-21
God made it very simple for us. If we want to see a miracle we need to ask for it and to have the proper motivation in our asking.
You do not have because you do not ask.
James 4:2b
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
James 4:3
Jesus told his disciples that to see the kind of miracle that was needed they would have to pray and fast.
Praying is asking. Fasting deals with our self motives.
These are the soil conditioners that create the kind of soil where faith grows.
Prayer and Fasting are the soil conditioners that create the kind of soil where faith grows.
I have seen the power of prayer and fasting to bring God’s miracle working presence into my own life.
I have seen it in history as well.
I would be so bold as to say that I do not believe there has ever been a move of God without believers doing their part by praying and setting aside their earthly preoccupations (fasting) in order to call out to God for Him to show Himself through them to the world.
That is exactly what the disciples were continually doing in the days before the dynamite (dunamis) power from God fell on them in the upper room.
These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, Acts 1:14
But our prayer needs to be one of expectancy.
When we pray to God we need to expect Him to answer. If we don’t we may not even notice that He did.
When my sweetheart and I were first dating she had her bike stolen from her sister’s house in Tulsa Oklahoma.
What made it really bad was it was a gift from her grandmother and had strong sentimental value.
When she told me what had happened I said we should pray that God would show us where it was. I believed that He would. We prayed and I had a vision of the bike in a park under a bush. I knew the park and so we went there to find the bike.
It was there under the very bush I saw it under. The nice part of this story is that my sweetheart is a woman of great integrity. She can tell you that this happened exactly like I am telling you. It is verifiable and could not have happened without God showing me.
In the summer of 1854 Ohio was in the midst of a prolonged and severe drought. A pastor in a local church called his people to pray for rain. An eyewitness of the event wrote,
“As his church gathered for worship on a Sunday morning in 1853, Charles Finney walked into the pulpit, carrying an umbrella. Setting his umbrella down by his chair, he began to pray, “Lord, we do not presume to tell you what is best for us. You invite us to come to you as children to a father and tell you all of our wants. We need rain. Unless you give us rain our cattle will die and our harvest will come to naught. It is an easy thing for you to do, O Lord, send us rain.´”
As he preached his sermon that morning it began to thunder and the rain poured down from heaven.
But notice one very important aspect of his behaviour around this incident. Though he told everyone that they were going to pray for an end to the drought, he was the only one who brought his umbrella.
He expected God to do a miracle and God did.
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you. Luke 17:5-6
Let the request of the disciples sink into your heart for a moment. Why did they ask for their faith to be increased? Was it because they felt condemned for not having enough? Do you think they were consumed with themselves and wanted God to make them rich, healthy and keep them from ever having any problems?
Or was it that they saw Jesus doing the miracles for others and wanted to see the same themselves?
They knew what he could do them because they saw him do it with their own eyes.
Would seeing this amazing man heal the sick, raise the dead and tell people the deepest hidden secrets of their hearts not make you want to do the same?
And that is exactly what Jesus wanted. He wanted them to ask.
When they did Jesus told them once more that they would see what they desired if they sowed their faith as a mustard seed with expectancy of the miraculous.
What a tragedy it is when we lose our expectancy of God’s working through miracles in our life. God wants us to ask. God wants us to have proper motives and God wants us to expect Him to work supernaturally in our lives.
It is our destiny to live a life filled with His power manifested in supernatural works.
He is the God of Miracles.
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