Matthew 17:20 (NLT)
The disciples asked Jesus Christ a question after witnessing him cast out a demon out of a boy. “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?” “You don’t have enough faith.” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”
I consider myself a born-again believer with a mature level of faith in certain areas of my life. I believe that God is our all-powerful, all knowing, wonderfully magnificent Creator. Everything belongs to Him, and He is the most omnipotent and loving Father imaginable. There isn’t anything that God can’t do. He can do what we cannot do, and the extraordinary truth is that He is willing and able to use His power on our behalves. As long as we humble ourselves under His Will, God will do amazing things in our lives. This is beyond our greatest expectations, but sadly, many of us are moving away from this truth. Like I have done at times, some might have prayed to God for something really important to them, and it hasn’t yet come to pass. But instead of increasing their faith, they are losing faith and beginning to doubt God’s promises. When your faith takes a hit like this, you’ve got to know that the enemy is messing with your head, and something about your approach to faith has to change.
Recently, my youngest daughter told me that she prayed to God and asked Him to give her an answer by the next day. Well, the next day came and went, and she didn’t feel as though God had answered her. She said to me, “Mommy, I’m upset because I prayed to God, and He didn’t answer my prayer.” I quickly assured my nine-year-old daughter that not only did God hear her, but He will answer her in His own perfect timing. I told her to be patient, and this seemed to ease her mind. My daughter’s approach was innocent and common to children her age. Sometimes they think of God much like being a kid in a candy store. He’s got all the goodies, they realize it, and they feel entitled to ask Him for just about anything they want. There are no boundaries in their desires, because they don’t understand boundaries, but as mature adults in Christ, we don’t have anything like a child’s excuse.
Heavenly Father loves it when we come to Him with the desires of our hearts, but we can never forget that becoming like Jesus Christ and following his example is God’s top priority for us. Romans 8:29(NLT) declares, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” This is forever and always both the starting and ending point for all God’s children. From the moment we accept Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives, we begin God’s transformation process. We should continually abound and grow up in him, but somehow, many of us lose track of this, and it’s how we allow our faith to slip and then we fall out of God’s Will.
Many women become frustrated because they are waiting to receive marriage or some other blessing. Some have been praying for years, and they don’t seem to be any closer to the manifestation of their faith. There is always a reason for the wait, and when we’re not sure what this reason is, we become disappointed and angry even. Waiting on God is a commandment. It is a required spiritual discipline. First of all, He is worthy of the wait, and second of all, He’s always on time. God’s timing is always perfection.
Some of us are praying for God to bless a relationship with a person that isn’t in harmony with God’s Will for our lives. Others are desperate to meet the man they will one day marry, but they haven’t shown a desire to know God with the same intensity and passion as their desire for the man. There are women who pray for marriage, but don’t pray for others nearly as much. There are also women who’ve done nothing to prepare themselves to be a wife; they can’t cook for themselves and couldn’t put something together in a pinch for their families. Then, there are women that are praying to meet the man, but don’t read and study God’s Word and have no intention of being a witness to their future husbands. They just don’t take the things of God seriously.
Godly living is living the way God says to live, and He doesn’t reward us for not getting fully on board with His plan. In Deuteronomy 10:12(NLT), He told His people living in Old Testament times, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul.” During the Old Testament Biblical period, God’s people were servants. Because of Jesus Christ and all that he made available to us through his life, sacrifice, and resurrection; we are God’s children through the new birth experience.
Jesus Christ said in Luke 12:48 that for the person to whom much is given, much will be required. The covenant that Christ ushered in between God and us is a better covenant than the one He had with those under Mosaic Law. We are more than servants of God; we are His children. Infinitely more is required of us because we have received more in Christ than we could ever have hoped or imagined. God’s expectation is that we will rise up to the level of what we’ve been given in Christ, that our faith will be through the roof, and we will continually seek to do His Will.
For many single women the mountain of singleness and loneliness is huge, but we must remember that the pace of our blessings is determined by the pace of our diligence to do what God requires. And if we don’t know what He requires, we need to use our time wisely and seek Him until He tells us.
One of my favorite biblical records portrays an example of how faith works and what happens when you trust God with all your heart. It’s in 1 Samuel 17, and it tells us the record of David, a young ruddy boy, slaying Goliath, a Philistine champion that stood over nine feet tall. The giant had taunted the Israelites in battle, and they were terrified of him, but David took him out with a rock and a slingshot. He did this because of his unrelenting faith in God.
David’s advantage was an unwavering belief in God’s ability and his faith that God would deliver on His promises. He trusted God to deliver him out of the hands of his enemy. He had fought lions and bears many times in his life, and David said each time, God had delivered him out of harm’s way. He knew what all of us should know, and it is that God doesn’t change. We must begin to pursue what is important to our Heavenly Father, and not be so focused on our own agendas. God wants us to build our faith through reading and studying His Word, because this is the way to show ourselves approved before Him. When we discipline ourselves to do this and trust Him with all our hearts, our faith will soar, mountains will move, and we will witness firsthand that with God, nothing is impossible. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Faith Works” written by Kim Times, edited by Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!