DEVELOPING FAITH

Faith is often defined by the Hebrews 11 text: “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” (11:1,3)

Faith is what we hope for and cannot see and what we now see did not come from anything we can see. Now what we cannot see has by faith become the evidence of what we cannot see. Huh?

I remember well when it became a revelation to me that faith is often generated from imagination. What we imagine, hope for, believe, desire, and pray in inanimate ways often become reality. Jesus seemed to use this principle. “Truly I tell you, 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.” (Matthew 17:20) A mustard seed imagination… faith like a small seed… can move a mountain. It is not something we often see before we simply believe by faith… then we see.

“What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” Jesus