"...the disciples wonder why it didn’t work when they tried."

A thought by Michael Todd, from his book, Crazy Faith. (p. 26). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

And we do too, don't we?

Michael says, "In Matthew 17, there’s a story about a time when Jesus’s disciples are on crowd-control duty (verse 14). Everything is going fine until this one father asks them to pray for his demon-possessed son. Jesus had given the disciples authority to heal sick people and cast out demons (10:1), so why not? They muster up the courage to lay hands on this boy, and…pause for effect…nothing happens.

"The boy’s father does what my dad would do if we were at a restaurant and the server didn’t bring us what we asked for: he asks to speak to their boss. He approaches Jesus, Jesus rebukes the demon, and instantly the boy is healed! That makes the disciples wonder why it didn’t work when they tried."

Michael continues, "This reminds me of a time a while back when my oldest daughter, Isabella, was trying hard to beat a level on her favorite game on my phone. Seeing her on the brink of giving up in frustration, I asked her to let me try. Not only did I beat the level, but I also got the new high score. I winked at her and explained that I had faced that villain before and already knew all his tricks. Isabella may still have been intimidated by the villain, but I had the confidence to beat him—and she begged me to teach her to do it herself.

"Jesus is never scared of opposition, especially the kind the disciples are facing, and He has the greatest response when they ask Him why they hadn’t been able to beat the villain: 'You don’t have enough faith….I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed…nothing would be impossible' (17:20). Let me remix it for you: Jesus tells them if they’d had only baby faith for the boy’s healing, he would have been healed."

He goes on, "That challenges me to think how much authority God has given us. Think about how much power is packed into something as petite as baby faith!

"I imagine Jesus looking around for the biggest example He can find, seeing the silhouette of a mountain in the distance, and adding, 'You could say to this mountain, " 'Move from here to there,' " and it would move' (verse 20). I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a real mountain up close, but they’re pretty gigantic. And in case you’ve never seen a real mustard seed, well, here you go:

Mustard seeds

"But let me encourage you: God sees it, heaven notices, and the entire supernatural realm feels it when we step out in baby faith! You might not be able to see the mountain moving right away, but you have no idea what’s going on under the surface, how God is working on your behalf behind the scenes as you do your reps to condition your faith muscles.

"That’s how much faith Jesus said it would take for you to move a mountain, to dissolve $150,000 worth of debt, to heal a person dying of cancer, to go from being homeless to owning a neighborhood full of houses. Not mountain-sized faith but mustard-seed faith (a.k.a. baby faith). Nothing about a mustard seed seems powerful. I bet if I threw a mustard seed at you as hard as I could, you wouldn’t even notice."

He then says, "But let me encourage you: God sees it, heaven notices, and the entire supernatural realm feels it when we step out in baby faith! You might not be able to see the mountain moving right away, but you have no idea what’s going on under the surface, how God is working on your behalf behind the scenes as you do your reps to condition your faith muscles."

And that is very encouraging, isn't it? Yes, yes! #continuethought

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life. It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed. Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life. Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you. You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good. Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because God is good He will use e

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle? Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who have messed

“What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept?”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Rick posed this question at the end of his chapter, You Are Not an Accident. In this chapter he deals with the fact that God created you the way you are with a purpose. In other words you are not an accident. I am also reading the Apostle John’s view of Jesus and what He said and did while He was here on earth. In the beginning of Chapter 9 there is a story about a blind man. And the disciples who were with Him asked Him a good question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? ” Have you ever asked the same thing about something in you that you don’t like? Like that characteristic is a curse or something. Society has set a standard that is not a standard of God. Remember, He created you and you are not an accident. Jesus did answer the question about the blind

Just Continue That Thought...

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