Understanding the value and need of faith is essential for both new Christian and matured Christian alike. One can call growing in wisdom and fellowship of Jesus Christ as nothing but increasing your FAITH on God and understanding God’s love for us. Paul in his letter to Hebrews in chapter 11 has beautifully described that how the whole Bible is based on Faith.
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Jesus emphasizes on the importance of Faith which we can see in this verse.
Mark 11:22-24
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
So, now once we have understood that FAITH is a very important and essential component of Christian life. Now one would ask “How much faith do I need?” Well the answer is here.
Mathew 17:20
Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
So even a small faith like grain of mustard seed is more than sufficient to move the mountains! But hearing this everyone will say, well that’s not difficult I already have that much faith, then why my prayers are not being answered?
The reason for prayers not being answered could be DOUBT. Irrespective of how much faith you have on the power of God even a smallest of smallest doubt can create a problem. So, Jesus said that a small faith is more than enough but there should not be any doubt in your mind.
Mathew 21:21-22
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
So for all of us, having faith little or big is not that much a difficult task. But having no doubt in mind is really a challenging task. So how one can go about doing this? If you are not following what I mean by saying having little faith but no doubt then consider this incident recorded in Gospel. Everyone knows that Jesus walked on water.
After the disciples saw him they could not believe this. At this Peter seeks Jesus’ permission to walk on water. At this point Peter had faith and NO DOUBT. So he successfully started walking on water. But then as he was about to reach Jesus DOUBT started to rise in his mind when he saw the wind and hence he could not walk even a step further and started to sink.
Mathew 14:28-32
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he (Jesus) said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
Well one might get hopeless now by thinking really this Faith with no doubt is not in capacity of a normal person like me. But, my dear friend don’t lose HOPE. If you carefully read above passage. When Peter had doubt in his mind. Jesus did not let Peter drown in water saying, I don’t need a disciple who cannot trust me. But because Jesus loved him and he loves even you and me, Jesus immediately stretched out his hand and took hold of Peter. So, even if you might think that I am too weak to have that much great faith in God. Then listen to me, Jesus is there to help you increase your faith and will help you to overcome your doubt. He will catch hold of you and will not let you sink in water for he loves you.
So, essential thing is to try and have faith in God that he can do anything and everything and if by chance you stumble then remember Jesus will rescue you. So, the requirement is a GOOD START. Like Peter did when he stepped into the water, he had no DOUBT, he did not think initially that he might sink in water. So, this should be how one should start off with his faith. And as you see great wonders happening in your life. Your faith will start to increase and you will cease to doubt. And whatever you ask in the name of Jesus will be done and your prayers will be answered.
Well faith is something that cannot be seen, just like air. We say that air exists when we see leaves moving or storm that causes destruction. So, even if we don’t see air but we can see the effect that air can cause. Similarly faith cannot be seen but once you start praying with faith you will see that your prayers are answered and you will see the effect of faith in your life.
I would like to tell you about a Tree. Well Tree we see is above the ground but if you don’t know, roots are also as big as the tree under the ground, roots provide both support and nutrition. So, you can consider the roots as the faith and the tree as your Christian life. Faith nurtures your Christian life just like roots do for the tree.
So, initially when we don’t have faith and our prayers are not answered we should not give-up. We should continue to try and increase our faith. Well if you have not heard of Chinese Bamboo Tree then I’ll tell you it’s really an interesting plant indeed. Well when a Chinese bamboo seed is sown in ground and you start watering it nothing grows up above the soil. The farmer is hopeless as you are about your unanswered prayers. But as I have mentioned about FAITH above. The farmer has faith and continues to water the plant for 4 years. And meanwhile nothing grows above the ground.
But in the fifth year one fine day, a small green sapling is seen and bamboo now starts to grow above the ground. And within a period of just 5 weeks it attains a height of about 80 to 90 feet. Isn’t that amazing! One might wonder what the tree was doing these 4 years. So the answer is the roots were growing and spreading out all these years. And once it’s prepared, it shoots to such a great height in such a small time since the roots are capable holding a 90 feet long Bamboo and nourish it.
So, we must keep increasing our faith. And the recipe to this is daily reading and meditating on the word of God i.e. THE HOLY BIBLE. And once you have even a small faith like a mustard seed but no doubt in your mind. You will get all you wanted. So increase your faith in Jesus our Savior. Well daily reading the Bible is actually seeking the Kingdom of God which makes your faith increase in God.
Mathew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Also if you have read the miracles Jesus had performed as recorded in the four Gospels. In most of the Miracles Jesus asks the person “Do you believe?” this is nothing but Jesus is checking our faith, and healing was done only when the person showed a sign of faith and had no doubt. Similarly, once we have the faith and we know about the Kingdom of God. All the things we ask in the Name of Jesus will be done for us. And we will start getting answers to all our prayers.
I hope and pray that all those who read this may know the importance of faith in Christian life and that you may increase your faith by seeking the Kingdom of God by daily reading your Bible and spending some time in Prayer.