The greatest damage to the Christian faith may be a mindset that crept in where we now think “there exists a short-cut to reality.” This mindset is the cause of an upsurge of “miracle meetings” where people think without any real walk with God or fellowship with Him, we can show up at these meetings, get empowered and get results instantly circumventing every form of process.
There is a place for supernatural encounters with God and empowerment but it must be seen as a part of the process and not an end in itself. It is like a great outburst of rain that may make a farmer happy but he does know that a singular event in itself cannot bring the harvest. He must daily apply himself in the fields if he is to get results at the end of the day.
This mindset may have ruined the concept of discipleship, developing the customs of the Spirit of God through which Christian character is formed causing the grace of God to manifest itself in the habits of our life. It almost now sounds like the one who went through a process and applied himself diligently to put himself in a position where they are “qualified” doesn’t really understand “unmerited favour”
There was something in the Scripture I had wondered about for years. Jesus said all one required was faith as a grain of mustard seed to do the impossible yet at the same time, He reprimanded His disciples for their unbelief saying “o ye of little faith.” If all that was required to do the impossible was faith the size of a grain of mustard seed which was the smallest of all the seeds in Israel at that time, why then condemn our little faith?
First, the mustard seed faith which gets the impossible done.
Matthew 17:20 “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
Then the little faith which he reprimanded.
Matthew 14:31 “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”
Matthew 8:26 “And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.”
It was Dr Creflo Dollar who showed certain things from the scriptures that further opened my eyes to this. The little faith doesn’t speak to the size but the length of time. It means you simply had a momentary outburst of faith which wasn’t sustained. It’s like a man who comes for a service, shouts and screams but by Tuesday morning when the “rubber meets the road” you wonder where all the shouts disappeared to.
The mustard seed faith speaks not to the size. Though it may seem small at the moment the person understands he has to plant that faith by speaking God’s words(revealed will) and then stay with it as a farmer stays with his seeds, watering and nurturing them to fruition. The seed will go through a process and through different seasons as it matures and manifests itself in getting the impossible done.
Somewhere we have allowed the lure of the instantaneous draw us away from true scriptural living into false enticements of short-cuts where we are enmeshed in a whirlwind of ever changing feelings drifting away from scriptural facts that form the basis of our faith.
