According to Your Faith

Two blind men asked Jesus to have mercy on them. Jesus asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said, "Yes." Jesus then said to them, "According to your faith will it be done to you." When I read that, I wonder how I would have reacted in the same situation. They were asking for something that was impossible. I can imagine they wanted to believe, but there had to be a part of them that doubted.

In another instance when Jesus was teaching his disciples, he talked about forgiving someone over and over again. They said to him in Luke 17:5: "Increase our faith!" It says in the NIV study note: 'They felt incapable of measuring up to the standards set forth in v. 1-4. They wanted greater faith to lay hold of the power to live up to Jesus' standards.'

I can relate. Sometimes when I read scripture, I feel like I don't know how to do whatever the scripture is saying. Jesus reassured his disciples (and us) saying:

"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you."

In other words, no matter how small your faith is, you still have power—not from yourselves, but from God—because we believe.

Ephesians 1:19 tells us:

"...his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of HIS mighty strength."

The NIV note says: '...the extraordinary divine force by which Jesus Christ was raised is the same power at work in and through us.' I love that! It's not in our power—which is how we often approach it—but it is in HIS power.

Then we can truly say the words of Philippians 4:13: I can do everything through him who gives me strength. We can also say the words of Luke 1:37: For nothing is impossible with God!