Faith to Move Mountains

"...he had the faith to be saved..." 

Acts 14:9

I've read this passage before, but this time, this verse jumped out at me. While Paul was preaching in Lycaonia, a man who was crippled from birth was listening to Paul. Perhaps he had been listening intently. Paul then looked directly at him and saw that this man had the faith to be healed and saved. Paul then said, "Stand up! On your feet!" The crippled man jumped up and began to walk. 

What is faith? Even faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains and stop a storm. Unfortunately we can't place an order for even a mustard seed of faith on Amazon. But we can grow whatever size of faith we have. "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.(Romans 10:17)" The crippled man listened to Paul and his tiny little seed of faith got planted in his heart and blossomed into a belief that saved him. In contrast, the people in Jesus' hometown listened but did not accept His words, and He could not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith (Matthew 13:58). Imagine that! Jesus couldn't do miracles because He didn't find faith in His neighbors' hearts!!!!!

We need faith every single day and that is why it is necessary to find ways to grow it. This whole weekend my son was finishing his thesis for Computer Science. He was having a hard time making the program work. I asked him, "Did you pray?" He answered, "Several times." I was confident he would get it to work because he didn't depend on himself alone. During dinner, he had a eureka moment, and thought of one little tweak that would solve his problem. My husband Luigi said programming is very humbling. One little comma can ruin everything. It's the same as anything in life. A friend asked me yesterday how we grew our 50-year old business. I could only answer that is was one miracle after another.  How could my family, a group of artists and designers grow a business without God? No way! 

Father, thank You for the gift of faith. Whatever tiny 1/100000 of a mustard seed I have, help me to grow it. May I continue to hear, read and study Your Word, so that my faith will grow and You can work more miracles in my life.