Day 73: Mustard Seed Faith
Please read the Bible verses for today:
Matthew 17: 14-23
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy
14 "When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him." (Matthew 17:14) "When they..." They, are Jesus, Peter, James and John. They had come down from the mountain where Jesus was transfigured right before them. (Matthew 17:1-13) Jesus had told his disciples that He was the Son of God- the Messiah, but up on the mountain he showed them. The apostles saw Jesus transfigured, they saw Moses and Elijah AND heard God the Father's voice speaking from a cloud. The three apostles now knew for sure- Jesus is the Son of God.
15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” (Matthew 17:15-16) This man approached Jesus telling him that Jesus' disciples couldn't heal his own son. It cannot be Peter, James and John that tried to heal the boy, it had to be the others that did not go up the mountain with Jesus.
17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment."
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. 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.” (Matthew 17:17-20) I believe Jesus was truly worried here. He had been with them, preached and taught them so much, healed hundreds of people in front of them, and yet they did not have enough faith to heal the man's boy. If it had been me, trying to heal that boy, I wouldn't have thought it was a demon giving the boy his seizures. I would have thought to say be healed from these seizures in Jesus' Name. It's hard for me to read Jesus words. "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed..." (Matthew 17:20) I pray over my children whenever they get sick and they are not miraculously healed. Is my faith smaller than a mustard seed? Possibly so. And like I said before, I wouldn't have had the discernment to know that a demon was within the boy. That makes me sad too.
Pray with me:
Jesus thank you for yesterday's reading of how you showed yourself transfigured to the apostles. Thank you for doing whatever you could to grow their faith. Thank you for today's story too. Thank you that it only takes a mustard seed of faith to do all things in your name. Help me Lord to believe. Help me to have even that small size of mustard seed faith. I pray for Holy Spirit to give me a deeper discernment. I love your people and would love to bring healing to them in your name. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
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