It's Called a Mustard Seed, Sweetie

Listen, you're not naive, you're not blind and you my dear, are most certainly not stupid. They are.

This is my near daily self talk in order to accomplish the tasks the Lord has for me on the daily. You see my mission/purpose/calling is to empower women and men to be their own advocate physically, emotionally and spiritually. Also the amendment to that is I'm also called to be a bridge- a bridge between believers in Messiah and those who do not, a bridge between races, white folks and everyone else, a bridge between parents my ages and their children. I don't share this to bare it all out there for you to think any which way. I share it simply to give you a picture of what the Lord has called me to. In fact, those are His words, not mine. Never would I ever assume a white girl like me could ever in a million and two years be a bridge between races, especially in 2021. Yet, those were His words and this is exactly what He has accomplished in my life.

Your Calling

“Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.” – Virgil

I've heard it said you have a calling, you have a purpose and you have a mission. Frankly I have never been able to decipher the difference, much like I cannot decide which is which for me- mission statement, vision statement or otherwise. It all seems to overcomplicate the matters at hand and I would much rather just know that I I was put on the earth to do this and such. Whether it is a calling, mission or purpose, I scarcely believe that matters.

FAITH AS SMALL AS

I love a good #metaphor, don't you? Our Messiah Jesus certainly must have as well because He used a few of them as well. A personal favorite is 'If you have #faith as small as a mustard seed, you will move #mountains.' Of course we all hear, "just have faith as small as a #mustardseed!"and desire such faith but we tend to find ourselves in more of the orchid seed faith category. Many strong believers cry out "Lord I do believe, only help me with my unbelief!!"

I wonder if the Lord is like, "oh you again? The one who has told me they do believe yet ask for help with unbelief? Yea no."

Ok, let me clarify, the Lord of Heaven and Earth is not snarky. At all, but if He was, I believe He may sound like that... Ok maybe it's more of if I were God. and everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief....

So we've all done it and said it- Lord help me with my unbelief! But we only see this example of His grace and kindness in this manner once. The word of God says however, that Jesus couldn't do many #miracles because of their lack of faith and then it goes on to say He was amazed at their unbelief!

First of all, the bible says here that He couldn't do something!! The One who made literally everything, couldn't do something. Why? Because they didn't believe. And His amazement was not the "oh wow! That is so amazing and wonderful amazement, but more holy smokes I can't believe I came all the way to Earth to die for your sins and you've already seen Me do some cool things like feed a massive amount of people, raise the dead etc, and you still can't believe, kind of amazement. A shaking the head in astounding bewilderment, amazed.

Faith as small as a mustard seed is a funny plot twist in our society. Many would say it doesn't take much and assume the mustard seed is super tiny so perhaps one simply must only think of having faith and poof! Faith arises. Actually, while a mustard seed is small, it is not the smallest. It is my opinion that the Lord was calling us to only have a little faith, but not minuscule faith. Just a little, something He can work with.

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It's not that hard

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1

Being sure of what we do not see is really quite simple. You can't see the wind right? Sorry, stole that example from the late Billy Graham. You can't see the sharks in the ocean yet you feel concerned when you swim out to deeper waters, right? (That is my example) When I was scuba diving in Fiji they called us back into the boat because there was a Tiger Shark sighting. I was not stupid enough to wait until I saw it for myself. We swam quite quickly back to the boat and did not care to return to the water for some time.

Someone told me there was a shark so of course, I listened.

Someone told me there is a requirement of faith to please the Lord and see miracles, so I listened.

Sadly, many would rather wait to see the shark for themselves and never experience the goodness of our God.

They wait for Him to manifest a miracle in their own lives before believer for more and bigger. And yet, do you even realize how miraculous it is that you are reading this right now? Not the 'oh you woke up today miracle', but the actual miracle of sight. The amount of things that must occur every second in order for your eyes to see these words, miracle! Oh yes, and the waking up thing. So while you may not have had a sea part, unless you appreciate that miracle, recognize it as such and do something with it (like tell the whole world!), you cannot handle more. Faith as small (or as big) requires you to see miracles that occur on the daily so that you can grow that faith and believe for more.

Opening the scriptures daily is another excellent place to grow that faith.

Coming to faith in Messiah Jesus has become like a checklist. Pray a prayer and then be sure you come to church. This does not create faith as small (or as big) as a mustard seed. It literally does nothing. You prayed a prayer.

To quote King George from Hamilton, "awesome, wow. Do you have a clue what happens now?"

Coming to faith ought to change everything, but especially, our reading of the word of God. It's a manual for life that will assuredly grow our orchid size faith into mustard seed faith and mountain moving faith beyond that! When we read this we see inspiring storied in scripture, we think- maybe that could be me? Maybe I could raise the dead, or at minimum heal the blind/sick/lame? Then we ask the question, how do I do these crazy things? Well, you start to look at the OG Healer, the One who started the who thing, and study the life of Messiah Jesus. What did He do? Spent time with His Father. Hmm... well isn't that interesting?

And it continues from there. We study and read and read and study and all of a sudden, waBAM!!! Mountains are moving.

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Position Yourself

In order to grow this kind of faith, one must position themselves in places and situations that require that kind of faith. It requires a person to step out without looking at times. Or maybe you know the path but you aren't clear of the how so you start walking. Sometimes His kindness includes giving us a prophetic word and we then know the next years worth of steps. And sometimes His kindness is a "trust Me on this one, but it's going to be super fun!".

I've been on both paths, and yes, the second is my most favorite one. When the Lord tells me what's coming, honestly, that is harder for me to believe. I know, it's weird. I rather the times when He's said, move your whole family across country and trust me for a house big enough to accommodate your crew. When I don't know or can't see the path it has given my Father the opportunity to blow my socks off with His miraculous provision.

In our nation we have this glorious privilege to be anything and do anything. With one caveat- be sure you have security and safety. Well, dear friend, the Lord is anything but our definition of safe and secure. Oh He is safe and He most certainly is secure. He promises to not allow one hair to fall unless He deems it so, yet He can at times call us to unusual ways of doing life. Have a look at the stories in the old testament some time. Did you know the Israelites used the most unconventional, (read super weird) weapons in history? I mean, clay pots and torches, seriously? Our God sure likes to show off His power and might with the strangest means.

In the state I live in, when you enter they give you a bible, a truck and a gun as a welcome gift. Ok, not really, but it's highly encouraged you have all three ASAP. I'm not opposed to guns, at all. In fact going to a shooting range is one of the few positive memories I have of spending time with my dad. But when it comes to protecting my home and family, I would rather leave it up to our Father. I've heard fire from heaven could put a hurt on someone and well, one might survive a bullet wound. I'm just sayin'.

I frequently position myself in situations that require His assistance, and so my faith is huge. I believe, with every fiber of my being, that God is who He says He is and He can do what He says He can do. I don't worry about the days ahead, because He knows them. If our nation suddenly comes down with a case of the #communism or #socialism, color me unconcerned because I simply pray. I have faith that He will care for the righteous- because He promises to do so. In fact, I pray before perceived trouble begins. I pray for our leaders so that I may lead a quiet and tranquil life. (I Timothy 2:1-2) Taking #God at His #word is far more interesting to me than seeing what I can do.

So when they call me naive, blind or stupid, I rebuke and reject it and remind myself that no, not any of those things. I am simply one who has seen my Savior work and move mountains. Once you've gotten a taste of that type of faith, it's real difficult to believe any other way.