scripture
Matthew 17:14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
observation
How amazing is it that the father had faith but the disciples, the closest followers that Jesus had, could not heal the boy.
Notice how Jesus felt about their lack of faith, he is distressed that their faith had not grown enough to do the work that he had sent them out to do. He just sent them out and empowered them in Matthew 10 he told them:
Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near. 'Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.I am sure that he is patiently waiting for me to exercise my faith so that I can be more useful for his kingdom. We all must fall so far short of our potential for kingdom work just because we don't have faith that is at least the size of a mustard seed.
Want to know how to increase your faith? Jesus tells us that increasing our faith can be done through prayer and fasting but it also takes the Holy Spirit working within us to empower us
application
I want to grow in faith so that I will be more useful for the kingdom, I know that whatever you tell us to do you have given us the power to do it.
prayer
Increase my faith Lord through the good times and the hard times. Help me to rely on you and to know that I have supernatural power within me.
