Who Would You Call?
If you were on your death bed and wanted to be healed, who would you call to pray over you?
Or, put another way, who do you know personally that has such a great faith in God that you believe they can truly move mountains in the name of Jesus?
Do you have one person you could call? Two people? Ten people?
If you do I am glad! I am worried though that the number for many of us is very low and often times its zero.
With God's help I am going to change that.
Uncommon Faith
The reality is that truly great faith is not common. You don't find it on every street corner like you would a Starbucks in New York City.
The same was true in Jesus' day.
In countless interactions Jesus had during His ministry there are only two accounts in the gospels of Him observing great faith. Interestingly both times He commends individuals with great faith it is found in people you wouldn't generally expect to have it. One was a mother from Canaan and another was a leader in the Roman army. Neither were jews and they certainly were not part of Jesus' inner circle.
And yet, when both of them come to Jesus asking for help, He marvels at how BIG their faith is.
In contrast there are four occasions where Jesus comments on how small the faith is of His closest disciples. Those who traveled with Him and saw Him perform unbelievable miracles, the ones you'd expect to have the greatest faith were found to have a low balance in their bank account of faith.
Could this be true today? What would Jesus see if He walked in to your church? Would He see people of extraordinary faith?
I hope He would and I certainly believe there are christians with great faith; but I know it is easy to remain like Jesus' disciples with a small faith that isn't growing.
I know this because I have both seen it and experienced it myself. Many times in my walk with the Lord I am confident He'd have said to me: "Your faith is too small."
Growing Your Faith
There are many reasons we can lack faith but I'd like to point out two that are at the top of my list. First, for those of us who live in developed countries (i.e. those of us with "first world problems" like having our latte made incorrectly), we just don't need it. We have all the things we need and this causes us to not depend on God.
Money can be, and often times is, at odds with faith. Even if we don't feel like we have much money we spend so much energy and effort trying to earn it there isn't much room for faith.
The second problem, that is related, is that we just aren't intentional about growing our faith. What happens to a tree that doesn't get sunlight or water? It can often survive but it won't grow. Similarly, our faith won't grow if we aren't intentionally putting our trust in God and taking steps to move forward.
It just sits there and remains the same or worse it will shrink with every new show we binge watch on Netflix. (I love a good TV show so if your toes hurt on that one so do mine!)
So how do we grow our faith so that it can be like a tree planted by still waters?
That is the purpose of this ministry. To help christians to see practical ways to grow their faith.
The first thing I'd tell you to do is to just start asking God for Him to help you. On your own you may make a little bit of progress but it will eventually stall out just like our 1985 Grand Marquis did many times when I was a teenage driver.
You'll need God's help and strength. And He wants to give it to you! But you must ask.
There is a lot more to growing your faith like reading His Word and pushing yourself, in sometimes small ways, to act even when you can't see the outcome. To start though just ask God for help.
You Can Do It
I am worried that this introduction to GreatFaith.com may appear negative. I am claiming after all that a large number of christians' faith is not what it could be.
I am actually a very optimistic person. My only goal here is to offer an honest assessment that is quickly followed by some words of encouragement!
Are you ready?
✅ You can have GREAT FAITH!!
✅ Your best days are still in front of you.
✅ You can do extraordinary things with God's help and faith in Him.
✅ You can be first on the list of people your friends call who need help during desperate times.
✅ You can have faith like Jesus describes below which starts small but grows exponentially.
"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 for you"
What an incredible statement! Mission impossible? That is not even a thing with great faith!
You just need to be intentional, ask God for help and start moving out of your comfort zone. And of course make sure to return early and often to greatfaith.com! 😀
I'm Right Here With You
If I'm being honest I feel very uncomfortable writing this and starting this ministry. I am having to "practice what I preach" every step of the way here.
Without God's help this ministry would never happen. He's providing the courage and love and support I need to do this. But I am also having to take steps of faith without knowing the outcome.
However, by faith, I believe with full confidence that this ministry will be just like the mustard seed Jesus spoke of. It is very small today, but it will grow into a resource that stirs the faith of millions to make great faith more common.
Thank you for reading this far. You definitely deserve a medal! I'll close by asking for your help. If any of this resonates with you please ask God to help me and to open doors for this ministry to grow. Just pray... and have faith!
p.s. I know I have generalized a good bit here and glossed over some topics that need more thorough treatment. So I'll ask for some grace in those areas. There will be time, by God's grace, to dig deeper in the future.