Chapter 7 - Have Great Faith

Before we move forward and examine what it means to have great faith, the Spirit of the Lord prompted me to say some things about the development of faith. First of all, fret faith has nothing to do with size; rather, it has to do with intensity and application. Jesus said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed…” (Luke 17:6 KJV). Read it for yourself. It has been misquoted as “IF you had faith the size of.” But that is not what it says. It says, “IF you had faith as”’ “as” is not only in reference to size, but also relates to what you do with a seed: You sow it. Jesus is saying, “If you have faith that you can and will continually sow, you can say to a mountain, ‘Be removed,’ and it will obey you.” Someone may say, “Well, how do I sow my faith?” Mark 4:14 says, “The sower sows the word” – that is important. Regarding the development of faith, the Spirit of the Lord also told me to articulate that faith is like the fuel put in an automobile. It is what causes you spirit, soul, and body to move forward in to the blessings and promises of God.

Now, what if you have more than one automobile? If you put fuel in you Cadillac all the time, but never fuel you Buick, you know that the Cadillac will run and the Buick will not. Just because you have fuel does not mean you are putting it in both cars. Fait is like that. Your faith has to be developed in various areas. You may have faith for healing and no faith for sanctification. Because you have faith does not mean it applies to everything; remember, faith is not believing and believing is not faith. If you are speaking God’s Word concerning healing, but your are not putting the Word of sanctification in your mouth and heart, then you have faith for healing, but not for sanctification; you will be healed but with little or no change in your character and nature. You have to fuel every area of your life with the Word of God in order to be exercising faith in every area of your life.

Looking at the foundation of great faith, there are only two passages of Scripture where Jesus is recorded as assaying He has experienced someone with great faith.

Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:5-12).

Now read Matthew chapter 15:

Then Jesus went out form there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us” But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dongs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed form the very hour (Matthew 15:21-28)

These passages of Scripture are the only two accounts in the Word of God where Jesus is recorded as saying that He saw great faith. In both instances, He said that about and individual who was not a covenant person. One was a centurion; he was a Roman and a non-Jew. The other was a Syro Phoenician woman – a Canaanite and a non-Jew. Now this speaks to the fact, again, faith is not a Christian matter. Faith is a law in the earth, and will work for anyone who will work it. However, the Christian has access to the God-Kind of Faith. The vital principle of faith is that faith speaks what it believes, and according to James, Bible Faith is “conviction or persuasion plus corresponding action.”

NEXT

CHAPTERS