When you hear the term, ‘little faith’, do you automatically think quantity of faith? For a long time I have thought of little faith as an amount of faith. It is usually used to tell people they don’t have enough faith. If they had more, they would see the manifestation of what they are believing for. I have a slightly different view on this. You don’t have to agree with me, but this makes more sense to me. First, some Word:

Matt 8:25-26 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” 26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. (NKJV)

“Why are you fearful, o you of little faith?” The disciples were full of fear, not full of faith. So one aspect of little faith is fear. Why were they afraid? Because they were weighing up possible outcomes for their situation based on the natural circumstance they found themselves in. They viewed the natural as true and therefore unchangeable. When you look at your mountain as immovable, you are of little faith.

Matt 6:30-31 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ (NKJV)

“O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry.” When you worry, you are of little faith. Why? Because again you are looking at the natural circumstance you find yourself in and weighing up possible outcomes believing that the circumstance is true and again, unchangeable. Whenever you decide the circumstance is unchangeable, you are of little faith.

Matt 14:30-31 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (NKJV)

“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Little faith is doubt. When you doubt God’s word you are of little faith. Jesus spoke to Peter and commanded him to walk on the water. Peter obeyed and started walking. Then he started looking at the natural circumstance he found himself in and thought, “It is not possible for a person to walk on water. Jesus couldn’t have meant I was to do this impossible thing?” Immediately his faith changed to little faith and he started sinking. Questioning God’s word and commands makes your faith little because you doubt His Word’s ability to supersede the circumstance you are in.

Matt 16:8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?”  (NKJV)

“O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?” Recognizing lack and looking to your own ability is little faith. Looking at the natural circumstance you find yourself in and thinking that there is a mountain that can’t be moved is little faith. Do you see a pattern developing here? The next two verses are the same verse, but taken from two different translations. Notice the difference in the words:

Matt 17:20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (NIV)

Matt 17:20 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. (NKJV)

Little faith is unbelief. You see, there are at the same time two realities existing in our lives. The natural reality and the spiritual reality. Little faith is believing the spiritual reality is unable to influence the natural reality. Little faith is judging the outcome of a situation based on what you can naturally perceive with your senses and by relying on your feelings. Faith is judging the outcome regardless of what you can perceive and regardless of what and how you feel. Whatever reality you choose to believe in, is what will be true in your life. Faith is believing that the spiritual reality of God’s Kingdom is superior to our natural reality. The understanding that you have the authority and power to make the natural reality obey the spiritual one is faith. Look at the illustrations below.

The way I see it is that little faith is not the opposite of mustard seed faith. What determines whether your faith is little or mountain moving, is dependent on WHERE you choose to place your faith because faith always gets what is believes for. If you place your faith in the natural, your faith becomes little and then it is ineffective. If you place your faith in God, your faith becomes mountain moving and effective because He can then be the finisher of your faith. So in my humble opinion, it doesn’t matter how much faith you have, it only matters where you place it. Once you’ve placed it in God, act accordingly and see how the impossible will bow its knee to Jesus.

Next time I will look at Jesus’ remedy for little faith. Bless you all!

Cornel

Read more about Cornel’s book “So You Think Your Mind Is Renewed?” here!

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