Scriptures: Matthew 21:21, Hebrews 11:1, Ephesians 3:20 , 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
Faith to move Mountains and witness Miracles.
Matthew 21:21-22 NLT
21 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.
22 You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”
Faith is adjusting my vision to see things from God’s point of view.
Faith is a way of looking at the world from God’s point of view.
Hebrews 11:1 NLT
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen and to be certain of things we do not yet see.
2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT
So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
The Bible has many many examples of people seeing with spiritual eyes or seeing from God’s point of view.
Genesis 21 - God opened Hagar’s eyes
2 Kings 6 - The Lord opened the eyes Elisha’s servant, Gehazi.
Genesis 13 - God opened the eyes of Abraham.
Luke 24 - God opened the eyes of Jesus’s followers so that they could recognize that Jesus had been with them al along the road to Emmaus.
The story of the Children of Israel in Numbers 13 and 14.
They arrived at a place called Kadesh and they’re getting ready to cross the Jordan and go into the Promised Land.
This is the land that has been promised to them for 400 years that they would have their own country, they would have freedom, they would be free from slavery. Moses sent in 12 men to spy out the land. 10 came back with negative reports and 2 came back with positive reports. 10 saw with eyes of fear and 2 saw with eyes of faith.
What happens when we see with eyes of fear (from the story in Numbers chapters 13-14):
We exaggerate our problems.
When you look at your problems with eyes of fear, they get bigger.
Numbers 13:27-28 NLT
This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. 28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!
Numbers 13:31-32 NLT
31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” 32 So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge.
We underestimate our own abilities.
Numbers 13:33 NLT
We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!
We start to cry and then we complain.
Numbers 14:1 NLT
Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night.
Numbers 14:2 NLT
Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained.
Proverbs 15:15 GW
Every day is a terrible day for a miserable person,
but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Comfort is defined as a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint.
A lot of people are enslaved by their desire for comfort.
Just like the Israelites, they would choose to be enslaved a relationship, enslaved by a fear, enslaved by a habit, because even though they don’t like it, at least it’s predictable, it’s comfortable. They would rather die in Egypt because they have become comfortable there.
What happens when we see with eyes of faith?
Faith minimizes my problems.
If you have a big God problems gets small. If you got a small God, problems get big.
Genesis 18:14a NLT
Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Luke 1:37 NKJV
For with God nothing will be impossible.
Faith opens the door for miracles.
Faith can move mountains.
Every time God moves and performs a miracle it’s because somebody believed. Faith opens the door to miracles.
Mark 11:22-24 NLT
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.
What’s the mountain in your life?
Matthew 13:58 NLT
And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief.
Their lack of faith caused Jesus to not do many miracles.
Faith moves God to act on my behalf.
Matthew 9:29 NKJV
Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”
Faith gives me the power to endure tough times.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NLT
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
Where do you get resilience like that? Faith.
All of us have been tested over these past several months.
And too often, we’ve allowed our view of current circumstances to eclipse our eternal perspective of God’s plan and purpose for our lives.
This is why you need to work on strengthening your faith probably more than anything else. two prayers that I want you to pray.
First, if you already know Jesus Christ as your Savior, say this simple prayer, “Dear Jesus, help me to see with eyes of faith, not fear.”
Secondly, if you’ve never trusted your life to Jesus Christ then your next step is to say, “Jesus, I want to learn to love you and trust you and follow you. I want to put my faith in you.”
If you prayed to ask Jesus to be the forgiver of your sins today, congratulations and welcome to the Family of God! Please text the word FORGIVE to 954-951-4747 to receive a free digital resource as you begin your new relationship with Jesus Christ.
For prayer, call 844-680-PRAY (7729)