Luke 17:5, 6 - Lord, Show Us How To Increase Our Faith.
Luke 17:5, 6 - Lord, Show Us How To Increase Our Faith.
Luke 17:5-6 (NKJV) And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase
our faith." 6 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.
Luke 17:5-6 (NLT) The apostles said to the Lord, "Show us how to
increase our faith." 6 The Lord answered, "If you had faith even as small
as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'May you be
uprooted and thrown into the sea,' and it would obey you!
Luke 17:5-6 (AMP) The apostles said to the Lord, Increase our
faith (that trust and confidence that spring from our belief in God).
6 And the Lord answered, If you had faith (trust and confidence in
God) even [so small] like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to
this mulberry tree, Be pulled up by the roots, and be planted in the
sea, and it would obey you.
Luke 17:5-6 (CWR) One of His disciples said, "Lord, please give
us more faith!" 6 Jesus said, "Your faith might be as tiny as a
mustard seed, but if you talk faith and live out your faith, God will
make it grow. God can do anything. If you would say to this mulberry
tree, `Pull yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea'-if
God wanted it to happen that way, it would.
Luke 17:5-6 (TLB) One day the apostles said to the Lord, "We
need more faith; tell us how to get it." 6 "If your faith were only
the size of a mustard seed," Jesus answered, "it would be large
enough to uproot that mulberry tree over there and send it hurtling
into the sea! Your command would bring immediate results!
CONTEXT
Faith is like a seed: it seems small and weak, but it has
life in it; and if it is cultivated, it will grow and release power.
We need faith for many areas of life.
Faith to forgive (1-4). When people sin repeatedly, giving up
on them is easy; but we must forgive them and trust God to work in
their lives. We must be stepping stones and not stumbling blocks.
Faith to serve (5-10). It takes faith to do your duty,
whether tending a field or a flock or preparing a meal. It takes faith
to do the extraordinary, like moving a mountain.
Faith to pray (11-19). The ten men believed that Jesus could
help them, and He did. The Samaritan not only brought joy to Christ's
heart but received salvation from His hand: "Your faith has saved
you?" When God answers your prayers, be sure to tell Him "thank You?"
Faith to be ready when He comes (20-37). The important thing
is not to set dates but to be ready when He comes, for true faith
leads to faithfulness. To look around at the increase in sin will
discourage you, and to look back (as did Lot's wife) may destroy you, so
look up and eagerly expect the Lord's return today? [Chapter by
Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren Wiersbe re Luke 17]
COMMENTARY APPLICATION
Increasing Faith:
They [the apostles] felt incapable of measuring up to the
standards set forth in vv. 1-4 [regarding forgivenss]. They wanted greater
faith to lay hold of the power to live up to Jesus' standards. [NIV SB
2008]
The possession of faith, Jesus says, is not a matter of quantity
but of quality. Either a person has faith or he does not have faith.
The very smallest amount of faith is sufficient to accomplish
seemingly impossible tasks. It is not so much the amount of faith, as the
genuineness of it. [SDA Bible Commentary]
Jesus' reply indicates that even a very small amount of faith,
if it is genuine trust in God, can lead to remarkable results. The
issue is not the size of faith, but its presence. [ESV SB 2008]
We do not need more faith to comply with the Lord's
instructions, but genuine faith. It's not the amount that matters, but its
nature. [Life Principles SB By Charles Stanley]
As A Mustard Seed:
Figuratively indicating that the power of faith is as unlimited
as the power of God. [Believer's SB]
Even a little faith is enough to do the impossible. [Andrews SB]
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
The disciples' request was genuine; they wanted the faith
necessary for such radical forgiveness. But Jesus didn't directly answer
their question because the amount of faith is not as important as its
genuineness. What is faith? It is complete trust and loyalty to God that
results in a willingness to do his will. Faith is not something we use
to put on a show for others. It is complete and humble obedience to
God's will, readiness to do whatever he calls us to do. The amount of
faith isn't as important as the right kind of faith--faith in our
all-powerful God.... A mustard seed is small, but it is alive and growing.
Almost invisible at first, the seed will begin to spread, first under
the ground and then visibly. Like a tiny seed, a small amount of
genuine faith in God will take root and grow. Although each change will
be gradual and imperceptible, soon this faith will have produced
major results that will uproot and destroy competing loyalties. We
don't need more faith; a tiny seed of faith is enough if it is alive
and growing. [Life Application SB]
You have to talk faith, you have to live faith, you have to act
faith, that you may have an increase of faith; and thus exercising that
living faith you will grow to strong men and women in Christ Jesus (MS
1, 1889). 5BC1121, 2
DEALING WITH IMPAIRED FAITH
God is always seeking to teach you the way of faith. Your
training for a life of faith requires many areas of learning, including
the trial of faith, the discipline of faith, the patience of faith,
and the courage of faith. Often you will pass through many stages
before you finally realize the result of faith - namely, the victory of
faith.
Genuine moral fiber is developed by enduring the discipline
of faith. When you have made your request to God, and the answer
still has not come, what are you to do? Keep on believing His Word!
Never be swayed from it by what you may see or feel. Then as you stand
firm, your power and experience is being developed, strengthened, and
deepened. When you remain unswayed from your stance of faith, even in view
of supposed contradictions to God's Word, you grow stronger on
every front.
God will often purposely delay in giving you His answer, and
in fact the delay is just as much an answer to your prayer as is
the fulfillment when it comes. He worked this way in the lives of
all the great Bible characters. Abraham, Moses, and Elijah were not
great in the beginning but made great through the discipline of their
faith. Only through that discipline were they then equipped for the
work to which God had called them....
It is this discipline of faith that will bring you into a
knowledge of God that would otherwise be impossible. [Streams In The
Desert By Cowman re Mark 9:24]
If your doubts still persist after facing them, praying about
them, and developing the habit of talking to yourself with a Scripture
passage that refutes them, then seek the help of a minister or a
Christian counselor. God has given us three resources to help us whenever
we get into spiritual difficulties: the Word of God, the Spirit of
God, and the people of God. The final answer to doubt may come as you
share with an experienced Christian the things that are going on in
your heart.
If you are not able to get the kind of help I am suggesting,
then get in touch with your nearest Christian bookshop and ask them
to recommend some helpful reading on the subject. Whatever you do,
don't allow yourself to settle down into a complacent attitude about
your doubts. Adopt a positive approach and determine to do something
about resolving them. This will ensure that even though your doubts
may take a certain amount of time to be cleared away, they will not
be able to degenerate into unbelief...
If the only thing you are able to do is pray, then that by
itself will prevent doubt from becoming unbelief. If you also adopt the
principle of "talking to yourself" from the Word of God, then you have in
your hands the strategy for overcoming doubt.
Father, help me, whenever I don't know what to do, to turn
naturally to prayer. Then no moment will be empty or fruitless. But help
me also to utilize the power of Your Word, the Bible. Let these two
things become my central strategy. Amen. [Every Day With Jesus Bible
with Selwyn Hughes devotional re John 20:27]
ONE LINERS
The Lord does not demand that we have mountains of faith before
He acts on our behalf; a little mustard seed of genuine faith is
all He requires. Then He steps in and supplies what we lack. [Life
Principles SB By Charles Stanley]
Every step toward Christ kills a doubt. Every thought, word, and
deed for Him carries you away from discouragement. Theodore Ledyard
Cuyler (1822-1909)
Prayer is an antidote to unbelief, because it shifts our focus
from what we can or cannot do to the LORD, who can do all things.
[The 365-Day Devotional Commentary]
CROSS REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
Habakkuk 2:4 (NKJV) "Behold the proud, His soul is not upright
in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
John 15:7 (NKJV) If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,
you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Romans 10:17 (NKJV) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God.
Galatians 5:6 (NKJV) For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
Matthew 17:19-21 (NKJV) Then the disciples came to Jesus
privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 So Jesus said to
them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you
have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move
from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible
for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and
fasting."
Mark 9:28-29 (NKJV) And when He had come into the house, His
disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" 29 So He
said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and
fasting."
James 1:6-8 (NKJV) But let him ask in faith, with no doubting,
for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the
wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything
from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT:
Importance of Choice:
http://creationhealth.com/CREATION-Health/Choice
Seeking God Video Clip: http://vimeo.com/31489782
Prophecies Decoded Sermon Series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1A435C5373550657
