Indy Christian .com -- Daily Internet Starting-line

Plant the seed!

by Becki Jenkins, Director, Missionary Connection



Matt 17:20 speaks of a faith the size of a mustard seed that can move mountains. Why then do we not see the mountains being moved? Perhaps the answer is in the verse before ( Matt 17: 17-19). The apostles were discussing with Jesus the reason why they were not able to drive demons out of a boy but Jesus was. His response to the apostles can be taken to heart in us today, “ Because you have little faith…”

But Jesus did not leave them there. He told His disciples what to do. He told them in verse 20 that if they would just have faith like the grain of a mustard seed they could move mountains.

I had the pleasure of speaking to a seasoned child of G-d who was discussing the mustard seed pendant around her neck. The seed was encased inside a small dome on a Cross. Though her discussion was one of faith I was stricken by the encapsulated mustard seed. I began to wonder if this did not carry some symbolism for the Church today and could it also be related to the lack of mountain moving on a scale that would represent the millions of G-ds people that reside upon His footstool today? I tried not to think about it but I could not escape the spiritual implication of it. I began to look to the word of G-d, intrigued by the question that arose within me. Is faith, faith, if the seed is not planted? It was not long before I ran across Matt 13:31 where Jesus likens the Church to a mustard seed that had been planted in a mans field. “ Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it GROWS, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that birds of the air come and perch on its branches.”

I am a farm girl and have seen mustard seed plants go to seed. Each spurt of growth renders a large yellow plume of seeds that eventually burst to free the thousands of seeds encased within the stalk of the original plant. These little seedlings are then carried by the wind and will find good soil to grow then the process begins again and again. But the original plant keeps growing and as it grows, more yellow plums of seed develop and the process of growth and seed begin again and again on larger and larger scales. The plant, if left alone, will grow as large as a tree and around it will be millions of plants all growing at different rates but will all, if left alone, reach the heights of the original mustard plant.

When I think about this I am awed by the spiritual implication for us today. Especially since Jesus likened His Church to the growth cycle of a mustard seed. As we grow in faith we plant seeds of faith then the seed planted grows and plants more seeds of faith until the Church becomes a mighty tree of faith that no mountain could ever stand against in a forest of new faith growing stronger everyday. This small mustard seed, when planted, then becomes a faith that moves mountains!

Some of us have hidden our seed or have put it in capsule for safe keeping, therefore, no mountain responds to our command to move. Oh, we half heartedly trust G-d for our jobs and our houses/cars/food but we lack the faith to believe He can “Do all things” whatever that may mean. So we live with illnesses of the mind and the body for lack of faith to fight it. W e become victims to our lack of faith knowledge in any situation that confronts us. We fall to snares and we act as though we have no power. Though illness is a by product of sin we possess power against it. Though situations will come, we possess the victory over it before it began because of who He is in us. Because of who He is and because He lives within His people we then have the power to overcome any obstacle for the glory of His great names sake! If we could grasp this, we then can believe G-d when He told us in His mighty word, “greater things than these you will do…”

Think about what the greater thing would be? In our L-rds time on earth he performed many miracles as an example to us and for us. He healed diseases then told us that he “ would heal all of our diseases.” He gave life to those who had fallen in death . Tell me, what could be greater than that? But yet He tells us that we too would do these things but greater than He! Why? Because of Him and His power ,be assured, but in order for His word to be fulfilled we must allow Him to grow our faith by whatever means He deems needed so that His glory in our latter time would be greater. Because He said it, it has already come to pass in the heavenlies and we are playing catch up in the natural. All we could ever fight against is already won because of Jesus, the Christ! When we ask our L-rd for things according to His will and purpose we are simply agreeing with Him for things He has already released in Heaven!

Sometimes we will ask for things that are already ours because we are “joint heirs” in Him. I can almost hear our L-rd saying, “ Why do you ask for what is already yours? I am in you and You are in Me. What is mine is already yours. Praise me for what I have already done!” Yet, sometimes we keep asking for what is already ours. By asking Him again and again for what already belongs to us we are in effect saying, I don’t believe You. Or are we saying we are not in Him? My grandmother once said to me, “ Don’t worry the L-rd so. Once you have asked Him, believe Him and then praise Him for what He has already done.” She planted a huge seed of faith in me that day. It has grown and keeps growing. I see that the spirit of the L-rd, that prompted her to share that gem with me, was straight from the heart of G-d.

One of the greatest sorrows to G-ds heart is that He has given us His power to “do all things through Him who strengthens me” and we stand like weak land fodder for any enemy from the evil ones camp to come by and eat at will then we fall to the ground as waste by product of what had been eaten.

We were not bought and paid for nor were we called by the highest name in the universe, Jesus, to be land fodder! We are victorious warriors with mighty hands of faith if we would simply recognize who we really are. We are the extension of the hands, heart or our G-d if “we would just believe.”

What is our Father saying to us? Just as His word spoke of seed planting, “I planted, Apollo watered and You (G-d) made it grow” , G-d is saying to us, PLANT MY SEED OF FAITH! Water it with my word and knowledge of me and I will make it grow. Our ability to move mountains lies in the original seed, Christ. By His might and His power we will grow and become beacons for others to grow and to become beacons until the entire world is filled with His awesome glory.

Make the decision today! Plant the seed of faith in your heart and let G-d make it grow. Act upon your knowledge of Him on a journey of faith paved with His great mountain moving power, for the glory of His name and the salvation of the world that has already come in the heavens and only to be realized on Earth! Stop being a weak representation of faith ,mocked and scoffed by the world today. Stand up and be who you are in Christ! If you do not know who that is, there is only one way to find out. Ask the one who is the author of your soul, who formed you ,cell by cell in your mothers womb for His great names sake, Jesus, the Christ!

Forever in His service,
Becki Jenkins
Missionary Connection
Director
317-471-0156
becki5789@msn.com

posted by MC Connect @ 4:46 AM