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Matthew 17 Explained Like Never Before · truthunedited

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Speaker 1: You've heard it preached. All you need is mustard seed faith.
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But what if that's not what Jesus meant? A father
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brings his tormented son to the Disciples, begging for help.
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The boy is suffering violently, thrown into fire, thrown into water.
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It's demonic, its urgent, and it's personal. The Disciples try
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and fail. This wasn't their first encounter with the supernatural.
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They had healed the sick, they had cast out demons before,
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They had walked with Jesus, perform miracles in his name,
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even tasted kingdom power. So why couldn't they help this time?
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Confused and embarrassed, they asked Jesus privately, why couldn't we
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drive it out? Matthew seventeen nineteen. And then comes the shock,
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because of your little faith faith that they had left
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everything they were following the messiah they believed. But Jesus
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doesn't commend their effort and fronts their emptiness. Then, almost paradoxically,
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he adds, if you have faith like a mustard seed,
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you will say to this mountain, move and it will move. Wait,
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wasn't their faith at least the size of a seed.
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Apparently not, because the mustard seed wasn't about size. It
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was about substance, something rooted, something alive, something that when
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real doesn't just exist, it grows. By the end of
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this teaching, you'll discover why Jesus wasn't asking you to
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conjure up more faith, but to make sure it's the
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kind that abides in him, because faith that fails isn't
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about weakness, It's about disconnection. A Deep Bible Stories Channel interlude.
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If you've ever wrestled with doubt, spiritual failure, or that
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haunting feeling maybe my faith just isn't enough, this is
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for you. We get it. That's why this video exists
2:01
to help you go deeper into the Word, not just
2:03
further into pressure. We've covered teachings like Psalm fifty ones,
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Cry for Mercy, Habakuk's Honest Wrestling with God, Ecclesiastes Fives,
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Warning on Wealth, and the mystery of Elisha's Bears, and
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every one of them invites you into a bigger picture
2:20
of who God is and how He sees you. You
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can explore the entire video library add free at our website.
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We've also converted many of our most viewed teachings into
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ebooks for offline study and group discussion. This isn't about hype.
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It's about helping you encounter truth that transforms. If that's
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your heart too, we invite you to like, share, or
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support what we're doing using the links below. Now, let's
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step into the mystery Jesus left us and rediscover what
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mustard seed faith was always meant to be. This wasn't
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the first time they'd tried. In Matthew ten, Jesus had
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already given them power over demons, disease, and death itself.
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He gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and
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to heal every disease and sickness Matthew ten one and
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it worked. They came back amazed, their confidence soaring. Even
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the demons submit to us in your name, Luke ten seventeen.
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So what happened between Matthew ten and Matthew seventeen. Why
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could they cast out demons before, but now, in front
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of a desperate father and a suffering child, they are
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suddenly powerless. It wasn't a lack of knowledge, It wasn't
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a missing technique, as it wasn't unfamiliar territory. It was
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something far more subtle than far more dangerous Somewhere between
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obedience and routine, faith had become assumption. The disciples were
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still doing what they had done before, but their authority
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was no longer fueled by abiding they had grown familiar with,
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but detached from the person behind it. And this is
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the quiet drift that can happen to any one called,
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any one faithful, any one experienced. You start depending on
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what worked last time instead of who called you in
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the first place. You move from dependence to performance, from
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prayer to pattern, from humility to hustle. And when that
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shift happens, power may still look present for a moment,
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but underneath the surface, something essential has unraveled. This is
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what made the disciples failure so confusing. They weren't walking
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in sin, they weren't rebellious. They were doing the right thing,
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just without the right connection. And Jesus didn't say you
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didn't try hard enough, He said, because of your little faith.
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The Greek word used here, oligopistia, doesn't just mean tiny
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in a mountain. It speaks of faith that is weak, inconsistent,
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or disconnected, faith that exists but isn't alive. They had
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power before, but power isn't preserved by memory it's maintained
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by intimacy. You can walk with Jesus and still operate
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in flesh. You can use his name and still forget
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his nearness. You can preach the kingdom and still lack
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kingdom authority. Because it's not enough to have faith. That
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faith must be rooted, active, and aligned. This failure wasn't random.
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It was revealing, and Jesus wasn't condemning them that he
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was calling them back back to the source, back to
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the secret place, back to the kind of faith that
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moves more than mountains, It moves the heart of God.
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The moment is tense. A child convulses violently at the
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mercy of a demonic force, a desperate father pleads for help,
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and nine of jesus disciples, once bold, once confident, now
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stand publicly powerless. Later, in private, they asked the question
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that every believer asks when obedience doesn't work, Why couldn't
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we cast it out? Matthew seventeen nineteen, And Jesus responds
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with words that sting because of your little faith. At
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first glance, it feels dismissive, almost harsh. But Jesus wasn't
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demeaning them. He was diagnosing something in them. They wanted
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a strategy. He pointed to a substance. Jesus didn't say
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because of your weak prayers. He didn't say you should
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have fasted more, or you missed the right phrase, or
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you didn't say the words in the right order. No,
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he skipped the techniques entirely and went straight to the route.
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Because of your little faith, not faith as emotion, not
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faith as effort, faith as alignment, faith that abides, breathes,
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and leans, not on the moment, but on the master.
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The Greek word Jesus used, a ligapistian is not referring
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to smallness in measure, dable size. It means fragile, thin,
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or lacking full trust. It's not a quantitative failure, it's
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a qualitative one. They believed in deliverance. They believed in Jesus.
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They even believed they had power. But faith isn't belief
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in belief. It's dependence on a person. This kind of
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failure doesn't come from doubt that God is able. It
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comes from detachment from God himself. They had faith in
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the formula, they were missing faith in fellowship. Jesus had
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just come down from the Mount of transfiguration. Peter James
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and John had seen his glory, but the others left
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in the valley had grown weary. Their faith was no
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longer fueled by intimacy. It was running on momentum, and
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momentum without God leads to religious momentum without power. This
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is the kind of little faith Jesus rebukes throughout the
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Gospels in the ste Why are you afraid, o you
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of little faith? Matthew eight twenty six. When Peter sinks,
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O you of little faith? Why did you doubt Matthew
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fourteen thirty one about provision? If God so clothes the grass,
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will he not much more clothe you, o you of
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little faith? Matthew six thirty. In every case, the problem
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isn't absence of faith. It's the presence of fear, assumption,
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or distraction. Faith that is diluted, faith that is unfocused,
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faith that begins to believe but doesn't abide. Jesus wasn't
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looking for perfect faith. He was looking for pure faith,
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Faith that clings, faith that surrenders, faith that doesn't try
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to control the outcome, but trusts the one who holds it.
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Because here's the mystery. Faith is not something you work up.
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It's something you root down, and when it's real, when
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it's alive. Even must mist seed sized faith moves mountains
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because it's connected to a mountain moving God. So what
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was Jesus rebuking Not their lack of effort, not their technique,
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and not their courage. He was confronting the quiet drift,
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the subtle disconnect, the temptation to perform for God instead
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of depending entirely on him. Because power doesn't come from
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having just enough belief to make a miracle happen. It
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comes from knowing who you're leaning on. When nothing works,
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you can cast out a demon with trembling hands if
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your heart is held fast to the king. And that's
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the invitation to day. Let your faith grow not by
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trying harder, but by abiding deeper, because the problem isn't
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that your faith is small. The problem is when your
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faith is separate, and Jesus, full of mercy and full
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of fire, is calling you back back to the kind
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of faith that doesn't impress the world but move heaven.
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Most people quote Matthew seventeen twenty like it's a spiritual slogan.
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Faith like a mustard seed, can move mountains. It sounds bold, inspiring,
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even magicals. But that's the problem. We've made this verse
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about quantity when Jesus was teaching about quality. When he
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said mustard seed, Jesus wasn't offering a motivational metaphor. He
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was exposing the difference between faith that exists and faith
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that grows. The mustard seed was known in the ancient
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world for one thing. It started small, but refused to
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stay small. Once planted, it grew rapidly, aggressively, almost uncontrollably,
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spreading roots deep, pushing through rock, invading cracks, and dominating
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the soil. You couldn't ignore it. A mustard seed would
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take over whatever space it was given. Jesus didn't say
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if you have faith as small as a m usted seed.
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He said if you have faith like a mustard seed.
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Matthew seventeen twenty Literal Greek. There's a difference. He wasn't
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comparing faith to something tiny. He was pointing to something alive.
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Faith like a mustard seed is not dormant belief. It's
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not mental agreement. It's not emotion on Sunday and fear
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by Monday. It's a living, persistent, pushing trust that refuses
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to stay buried. It presses through the dark. It reaches
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for the light, and it grows even in the most
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resistant soil. So why weren't the disciples prayers working Because
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their faith had stopped growing, It had calcified into routine,
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It had stalled into assumption, it had disconnected from the
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source that gave it breath. They believed, yes, But belief
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without rooting is not the faith that moves mountains. It's
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the kind that breaks down under pressure. Now consider the
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mustard seed again. It doesn't look powerful, but in its
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nature is potential. And that's the brilliance of Jesus illustration.
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He's saying, you don't need massive faith. You need living faith,
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Faith that starts somewhere, Faith that roots deeply, faith that
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responds to the voice of God. Because if the seed
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is real, if the faith is alive, mountains will move.
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And in scripture, mountains aren't just literal, they're symbolic. Mountains
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represent impossibility, oppression, in justice, obstacles to obedience. Jesus wasn't
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giving you a gardening tip. He was giving you a
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kingdom promise that even if your situation feels immovable, even
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if your prayers feel weak, if your faith is rooted
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in Him, things will shift not because of how strong
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your faith is, but because of how strong He is.
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This is why the enemy doesn't fear large emotions. He
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fears living faith, because living faith moves in obedience when
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no one sees. Living faith holds on when answers don't come.
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Living faith keeps growing when everything else fades. So ask yourself,
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is my faith performative in or planted? Do I have
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flashes of belief or the kind that digs into Christ
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and won't let go. The mustard seed doesn't boast in
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its strength. It trusts the one who planted it. And
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if he planted faith in you, you don't need to
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manufacture power. You just need to stay connected to him.
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Because living faith moves mountains, not because it tries hard,
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but because it cannot stop growing. We often imagine faith
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like fuel. The more you have, the farther you go.
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If your prayers aren't answered, if your healing doesn't come,
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if your breakthrough stalls, we assume the tank must be empty.
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So we beg for more faith. We try to manufacture it.
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We measure it by intensity, volume, emotion. But Jesus never
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measured faith that way. He didn't talk about gallons or degrees.
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He talked about fruit. He talked about faith like a seed,
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not a tank, and that changes everything. In Matthew seventeen,
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when the disciples failed to cast out the demon, their
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natural question is what did we do wrong? Jesus could
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have given them a technique, and instead he gave them
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a truth because of your little faith. If you have
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faith like a mustard seed, to us, it sounds contradictory.
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Was their faith too little or was little all they needed?
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The confusion clears when we realize this. Jesus wasn't speaking
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in size terms. He was speaking in life terms. The
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contrast was not between tiny and large, but between dead
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and alive. Dead faith imitates the motions but lacks the movement.
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It repeats the prayer, but lacks the presence. It names
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the name of Jesus but isn't abiding in him. James
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would later echo the warning faith without works is dead
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James two seventeen. Not dead because it doesn't try, dead
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because it doesn't live. You can shout a verse at
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a demon, lay hands on a sickness, quote promises all
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day long. But if your heart isn't rooted in the
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person of Christ, your faith has no authority. Why because
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kingdom faith doesn't come from volume, it comes from union.
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Jesus constantly exposed this misunderstanding. When Peter started to sink
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on the water, Jesus said, O, you of little faith,
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why did you doubt Matthew fourteen thirty one. When his
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disciples worried about provision, O you of little faith, why
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are you anxious about what you will eat or wear?
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Matthew six thirty He never rebuked the amount of their faith.
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He rebuked their trust. They believed, but not fully. They followed,
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but fearfully they obeyed, but wavered when the pressure hit. Now,
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contrast that with the woman in Luke Eate who touched
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the hem of his robe. She didn't shout, she didn't
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ask for permission. She just reached, and Jesus turned not
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to rebuke her, but to honor her daughter. Your faith
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has made you well Luke eight forty eight. What did
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she have? Not boldness and not position, not perfect theology.
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She had faith that moved toward him. Not a measurable faith,
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but a living one. Jesus redefined faith in one breath
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taking moment. If you have faith like a mustard seed,
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you will say to this mountain, move from here to there,
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and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
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Matthew seventeen twenty. This wasn't an exaggeration. It was an invitation,
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not to increase your spiritual output, but to allie your
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soul with the King. Faith in Heaven's terms is not
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measured by what you feel. It's proven by what you trust.
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When you feel nothing, it's not emotional hype, it's rooted hope.
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So stop asking do I have enough? And start asking
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is the faith I have alive? Rooted, surrendered? Because God
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is not requiring volume from you, He's requiring connection, And
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when your faith is alive in Him, even if it
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feels small, it's already unstoppable. We have e books available
17:33
on our website to help guide your deep Bible studies,
17:37
whether you want to go deeper into faith, prayer, suffering,
17:40
or redemption. We've designed these tools to equip you for
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real spiritual growth. You can find links in the description
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let your faith live not by measuring it, but by
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planting it in the one who never fails. You can
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believe and still not trust. You can with conviction and
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still tremble inside. You can confess that God is able
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and quietly fear that maybe he won't. That's not hypocrisy,
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its humanity, and Jesus knows the difference. There's a moment
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in Mark nine, a parallel account of this same story
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that shows us something. Matthew leaves out. A desperate father
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brings his demon possessed son to Jesus. The disciples have
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already failed, the child is still tormented. Time is running out,
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and the father pleads with raw honesty, if you can
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do anything, take pity on us and help us Mark
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nine twenty two. Jesus responds, if you can, everything is
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possible for one who believes. And here it comes the
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most transparent confession in all of Scripture. I do believe,
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help my unbelief. It's the sentence every heart has whispered
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but never dared to say aloud. It's the tension we
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don't know how to resolve. I believes, but I'm scared.
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I trust, but I doubt. I know you're able, but
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I don't know if you'll do it for me. And
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what does Jesus do with that kind of faith? He
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answers it, He delivers the boy, He honors the prayer
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that was messy, mixed, and half way trembling. Because faith
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isn't about having zero doubts. It's about bringing the whole
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mess of your heart, doubt and all, into the presence
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of the one who sees you anyway. This is the
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kind of faith Jesus calls real, not polished, not perfect,
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but pursuing. Faith that fights through inner contradictions just to
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stay near. Faith that doesn't pretend certainty, but refuses to
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walk away. It's the kind of faith that clings even
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while it questions. But let's go deeper. Why do we
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feel this split inside us, this mixture of belief and unbelief.
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Because faith isn't just intellectual, it's deeply emotional. It's spiritual.
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It's historical that carries the scars of past disappointments, the
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weight of unanswered prayers, the fear that maybe this time
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God will stay silent. And those fears don't disqualify you.
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They just reveal the places where God wants to do
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more than answer you. He wants to heal you. Because
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sometimes the miracle isn't the mountain moving. Sometimes the miracle
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is your ability to still pray with tears in your
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eyes and confusion in your chest. Jesus didn't say go
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away and get more faith. He didn't say come back
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when you're sure. He moved in compassion because the man's faith,
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though mixed, was real. And that's the dividing line. God
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doesn't reject you for your unbelief when it's confessed. He
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only warns against unbelief when it's disguised as faith, when
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we fake it instead of lay it down. James warns
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us about being double minded, not because God is respects
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flawless faith, but because double mindedness is the attempt to
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stand in two places at once, trusting God but anchoring
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your heart in outcomes, praying but hedging your expectations, speaking
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belief but secretly preparing for disappointment. And Jesus is inviting
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you out of that duplicity, not by condemning your fear,
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but by meeting you in it. So what do you
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do when your faith feels fractured? You pray the most
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honest prayer in the Bible. I believe, help my unbelief.
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It's a mustard seed prayers. It's small, it's trembling, but
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it's alive. And if it's alive, it can grow, and
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if it can grow, God can move through it. Don't
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bury your unbelief under religious performance, bring it into the
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light of His presence. That's where it dies. That's where
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faith breathes again. Because the mustard seed doesn't pretend to
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be more than it is. It simply roots itself in
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the soil. So root yourself in Christ. Let the word
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anchor you, let the Spirit fill you, and let even
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your broken belief become the beginning of breakthrough. Faith is
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not the absence of doubt. It's the refusal to let
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doubt become your master. We live in a culture that
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treats faith like a formula. Say the right prayer, claim
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the right promise, quote the right verse, and the mountain
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will move right. But scripture never treats faith like a spell.
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Because faith isn't magic. It's surrender. It's not manipulating outcomes.
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It's yielding to a person. The disciples in Matthew seventeen
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tried everything they knew. They had cast out demons before,
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they had walked in kingdom authority. They weren't heretics, they
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weren't rebellious, But this time their words held no power.
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Why because authority, disconnected from abiding, becomes emptiness. Jesus said
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it plainly, and John fifteen. Apart from me, you can
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do nothing John fifteen five. You might still say the word,
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you might still wear the title, but without the abiding
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presence of Christ, power becomes performance, and Heaven won't honor
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a borrowed name used from a distant heart. Authority in
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the kingdom is always tied to proximity. In Acts nineteen,
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we're told of the sons of Skava, religious men who
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try to cast out demons by imitating Paul in the
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name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you, Acts
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nineteen thirteen. But the demon responds with terrifying clarity, Jesus
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I know, and Paul I recognize, But who are you?
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And the result the demon overpowers them. They flee, blooded
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and ashamed. The point isn't to scare, it's to reveal
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a principle. You can't wield a name, you won't walk under.
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You can't carry kingdom authority if you're disconnected from kingdom intimacy.
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That's what missing. In Matthew seventeen, the disciples weren't walking
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in sin. They were walking in assumption. They assumed that
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because it worked before, it would work again. But God
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doesn't move because of history he moves through humility. You
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don't carry power because of yesterday's prayer life. You carry
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it because you're abiding to day. And Jesus models this constantly.
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Even as the son of God, he withdrew often to pray.
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He said, the son can do nothing by himself. He
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can do only what he sees the Father doing John
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five nineteen. He didn't operate from title. He operated from relationship.
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He didn't flex divine muscle. He lived in perfect dependence.
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So if Jesus didn't act apart from the Father, why
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would we think we can act apart from him. Here's
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the danger. When faith becomes magic, we stop seeking God,
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We seek results, turn the gospel into a vending machine.
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Insert prayer, push scripture, received miracle. But God is not
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a product. He's a person, and he doesn't honor performance.
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He honors proximity. Because real authority flows not from confidence
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in what we say, but surrender to who he is.
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That's why Jesus rebuked the disciples for little faith, not
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because they didn't try hard enough, but because their faith
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was disconnected from the source. They were using authority like
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a tool. He was calling them back to relationship. You
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can't carry the power of Christ if you aren't walking
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in the heart of Christ. So what does that mean
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for us? It means we stop measuring our faith by
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results and start measuring it by relationship. Am I surrendered?
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Am I abiding? Is my prayer life a checklist or
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a life line? Because faith that moves mountains doesn't come
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from spiritual technique. It comes from spiritual proximity. You don't
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need more hype, you need deeper roots. You don't need
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louder declarations. You need quieter surrender because faith isn't magic.
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It's yielding to the one who holds the power, and
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when your life is laid down in him, authority flows
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not from what you do, but from whom you belong to.
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Some mountains don't move with words alone. Some chains won't
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break just because you believe. Some spiritual battles are too
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thick for casual faith, there require something deeper. In Matthew
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seventeen twenty one, found in many manuscripts and preserved in
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Mark nine twenty nine, Jesus adds a clarifying line that
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modern readers often skip. This kind does not go out
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except by prayer and fasting. It's not an afterthought, it's
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a reality. Check, because faith is not a button to press,
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it's a posture to take. The disciples had faith, they
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had authority, but they lack something essential. Intercession, dependence, fasting, prayer,
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the kind of intimacy that only forms in the furnace
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of discipline, the kind of trust that's forged when flesh
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is denied and the spirit becomes tuned to Heaven. Jesus
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wasn't saying you need more religion. He was saying you
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need more reliance than Prayer is not optional in the kingdom.
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It is the oxygen of spiritual power. Without prayer, faith
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becomes hollow. Without fasting, authority becomes assumption. Because prayer doesn't
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just ask God to move, Prayer moves you closer to God.
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It's in prayer that you remember your weakness. It's in
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fasting that your flesh is quieted. It's in intercession that
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Heaven's authority becomes yours to wield. And this kind, the demonic,
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the entrenched, the generational, the impossible, only moves when the
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believer is fully yielded. In Mark's account, and Jesus says
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this kind can come out only by prayer, Mark nine
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twenty nine. Some manuscripts include and fasting. But either way
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the message is clear. Faith without prayer is powerless, not
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because God is playing games, but because prayer proves dependence.
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If your faith doesn't drive you to your knees, then
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it's not kingdom faith. It's flesh masquerading as belief. Because
28:26
real faith doesn't try to bypass prayer, it births it.
28:30
This is where many believers get frustrated. You're believing for breakthrough,
28:35
you're quoting all the right verses, you're even declaring it
28:38
in Jesus name, but nothing's shifting. Why Because you're confronting
28:43
the stronghold, but you're neglecting the source of power, and
28:47
Jesus is gently correcting us this kind only by prayer
28:51
and fasting, not to add burden, but to bring you
28:54
back to dependency. Fasting isn't a hunger strike to get
28:58
God's attention. It's a spiritual decluttering to make sure you're
29:02
paying attention. It breaks the soul's attachment to control. Its
29:07
silence is pride. It cultivates clarity. Prayer doesn't manipulate God's hand.
29:14
It aligns your heart, and alignment is where authority lives.
29:18
You cannot cast out what you secretly depend on. You
29:22
cannot break chains from a place of spiritual complacency. You
29:26
cannot confront darkness if you have not first knelt before
29:29
the light. And this kind, the impossible kind, the generational kind,
29:34
the demonic kind, requires faith that is fueled by intimacy.
29:39
Faith that fasts, faith that prays, faith that waits until
29:43
Heaven answers. So if your prayers feel ineffective, if your
29:47
spiritual power feels weak, don't just try harder, kneel deeper.
29:52
The danger isn't that you lack faith. It's that your
29:55
faith may be disconnected from prayer. And Jesus isn't rebuking,
30:00
and he's inviting you back into the secret place, back
30:03
into the fasted life, back into the furnace of intimacy,
30:07
where power is born. Because prayerless faith is powerless faith,
30:12
but faith forged in prayer. That kind moves mountains, and
30:16
it doesn't just move them once, it keeps moving them
30:19
because the one who prays keeps abiding. There are battles
30:23
you win with a word, and there are others, the
30:28
kind that resists, that linger, that fight back in silence,
30:32
the kind that don't come out easily. This was one
30:35
of those, the disciples had cast out demons before, they'd
30:39
seen the sick, healed, the oppressed, set free, the storm,
30:43
obey the voice of Christ. But this moment broke their rhythm.
30:47
It exposed a difference, and the father brings his tormented son.
30:52
The child convulses, foams, collapses, throws himself into fire. It's demonic,
30:58
violent and relentless, and the disciples, speaking with the same
31:02
authority they've used before, fail no change, no healing, no breakthrough.
31:08
When Jesus arrives, the Father pleads again, and Jesus, with
31:12
just a rebuke, delivers the child instantly. Later, the disciples ask, stunned,
31:18
why couldn't we drive it out Matthew, seventeen nineteen. The
31:21
answer cuts deeper than technique. This kind does not go
31:25
out except by prayer and fasting Matthew, seventeen twenty one.
31:30
New King James version, or as Mark's Gospel puts it,
31:34
this kind can come out only by prayer, Mark nine
31:39
twenty nine. There are kinds of spiritual resistance, and some
31:44
require more than routine. They demand dependence. This kind isn't
31:49
about God being difficult. It's about revealing where your trust
31:53
really lives. Some mountains won't move because they are exposing
31:57
something in you, not to shame you, but to awaken
32:01
your hunger. Because declarations without dependence are just noise. They
32:06
might echo authority, but they don't carry Heaven's weight. The
32:10
phrase this kind also tells us something about spiritual warfare
32:14
that many ignore. Not all opposition is equal, not all
32:18
deliverance is quick. Not all freedom comes easy. Some darkness
32:23
has deep roots. Some demons have been enthroned by generations.
32:28
Some chains are reinforced by decades of lies, trauma, pride,
32:33
and sole agreements. Some systems, spiritual or societal, have been
32:38
tolerated so long they believe they have a right to stay.
32:43
And in those moments, God doesn't just look for belief.
32:46
He looks for a vessel empty, surrendered, purified, and abiding.
32:51
You cannot drive out what you still accommodate. You cannot
32:54
rebuke what you secretly rely on. You cannot cast out
32:59
darkness from others if you've made peace with it in yourself.
33:03
This kind reveals what can't be faked. When the words
33:06
don't work, when the prayers feel powerless, when nothing moves,
33:10
God is not abandoning you. He's calling you deeper Jesus
33:14
fasted forty days before he began his ministry. He spent
33:19
nights in prayer before he chose his disciples. He wept
33:23
blood in gath'semone before he conquered death. Even the Son
33:27
of God didn't confront this kind without deep preparation. And
33:32
we think we can live casually and still walk in
33:34
His power. It's not legalism, it's consecration. The kind of
33:40
life where God doesn't just visit, you host him, where
33:44
prayer isn't an act but oxygen, Where fasting isn't a
33:47
ritual but is stripping away of everything that dulls your discernment.
33:53
This kind isn't just about demonic deliverance. It's about the
33:56
parts of your life, your mind, your heart that won't
34:00
change through will power, addiction, bitterness, fear, depression, cycles of defeat.
34:06
Some breakthroughs don't come because you shout louder. They come
34:10
because you surrender deeper, Because prayer and fasting don't make
34:14
you more powerful, they make you more empty, more available,
34:18
more dependent. And in that place, the mountain finally moves,
34:23
not because of you, but because He's in you. So
34:27
if you're facing something that won't break, don't stop praying,
34:31
don't settle for surface. Ask the spirit up. Is this
34:34
that kind? And if it is, go deeper. Strip the noise,
34:38
silence the hurry, Let fasting break the flesh. Let prayer
34:42
anchor your heart. Because this kind, the one that taunts you,
34:46
the one that's generational, the one that doesn't flinch a
34:49
church language. It bows only to a life fully surrendered
34:53
and the good news. That kind of faith may start
34:57
as a mustard seed, but once it's rooted, well cannot
35:00
stand against it. Just have mustard seed faith. It sounds encouraging,
35:06
and it feels empowering, and it's quoted on mugs, stitched
35:09
on pillows, preached in high energy sermons. But too often
35:13
it's been weaponized in some circles. Matthew seventeen twenty has
35:19
been twisted to mean this, if you had enough faith,
35:23
you'd already be healed. If your mountain hasn't moved, the
35:27
problem is you. Faith is the key to unlocking anything
35:31
you want. But Jesus never used this verse to shame
35:36
the broken. He used it to restore the dependent. And
35:40
when we distort this verse, when we turn mustard seed
35:43
faith into a measuring stick or a formula, for success.
35:47
We don't just misinterpret scripture, we misrepresent God. The prosperity
35:53
gospel has hijacked this passage. It promises, believe big and
35:58
you'll be rich. Name it, claim it, and God is
36:01
obligated to do it. So a seed and your miracle
36:05
is guaranteed. But Jesus never described faith as a vending machine.
36:10
He described it as a seed. A seed doesn't perform
36:14
on command. It grows in hiddenness. It takes time, It
36:18
depends on soil, water, sun, and God's timing. To turn
36:23
a mustard seed into a magic trick is to violate
36:25
the very metaphor Jesus used, and it gets worse. Sometimes
36:30
this teaching leaves the hurting even more wounded. A woman
36:33
prays for healing and isn't healed. A father fasts for
36:38
his prodigal son and he doesn't come home. A believer
36:42
gives everything in faith and still loses the job. And
36:46
what are they told? You must not have had enough faith.
36:50
It's cruel, its manipulative, and it's unbiblical because Jesus never
36:55
said that the presence of suffering equals the absence of faith.
37:00
In fact, many in scripture Job Paul even Jesus himself
37:05
suffered deeply while walking in perfect faith. Paul had mustard
37:10
seed faith, and yet his thorn in the flesh remained.
37:14
Three times he pleaded three times, Heaven said my grace
37:18
is sufficient. Second Corinthians twelve nine. Stephen had mustard seed faith,
37:24
and yet he was stoned to death even while seeing
37:27
Heaven open Act seven. Faith does not manipulate God into
37:33
removing pain. Faith trusts God through it. That's the difference.
37:38
Here's what Jesus meant with the mustard seed, not that
37:41
small faith can get you big things, but that real faith,
37:45
even if small, is alive and therefore unstoppable. A seed
37:51
doesn't move mountains because it's big. It moves them because
37:55
it's rooted. It digs deep, it draws life, It presses
37:59
through the solil even when no one sees it perseveres.
38:03
That's faith. So if someone ever told you that your
38:05
suffering is your fault because your faith wasn't strong enough,
38:10
you need to hear this. That's not the voice of Jesus.
38:13
Jesus never shamed the weak, He never mocked the struggling.
38:18
He healed because of compassion, not performance. And when the
38:21
bleeding woman touched his garment. He didn't say you finally
38:25
got enough faith. He said your faith has made you
38:28
well Luke eight forty eight. Her faith wasn't loud, it
38:32
wasn't celebrated, and it wasn't even complete, but it was real.
38:37
Faith is not about results. It's about relationship. Not what
38:42
you can get, but who you cling to is when yes,
38:45
sometimes mountains move, Yes sometimes miracles come, but even when
38:50
they don't, must ad seed faith still wins because the
38:53
goal isn't just breakthrough, it's becoming the kind of person
38:57
who never lets go of God. If someone twisted this
39:00
verse to control you, to guilt you, to crush your spirit,
39:06
let this be your healing. God is not a formula.
39:09
Faith is not magic, and mustard seed faith is not
39:13
about performance. It's about abiding. And if you're still clinging
39:18
to him, if you're still praying, still showing up, still
39:21
whispering hope when everything around you screams doubt, you've got
39:26
mustard seed faith that in the eyes of Heaven, that's enough.
39:29
There is a kind of faith that doesn't roar, It
39:33
doesn't fill stadiums, it doesn't always command miracles, it doesn't
39:37
get celebrated in highlight reels or posted on social media.
39:42
It trembles, it questions, It whispers from beneath the rubble
39:46
of disappointment, pain, and long nights of silence. But it
39:51
still whispers. I believe that's the kind of faith Heaven honors.
39:56
Jesus never asked for grand performances of belief. He wasn't
40:00
impressed with loud prayers or polished theology. He was drawn
40:04
to mustard seeds, to faith that was small but rooted.
40:08
He said in Luke seventeen six, if you have faith
40:12
as small as a mustard seed, you can say to
40:14
this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea,
40:19
and it will obey you. He didn't say if you
40:22
have perfect faith. He said, oh, if you have real faith,
40:27
and reel doesn't mean big, it means alive. There's something
40:31
powerful about small things in scripture. A sling shot in
40:35
David's hand, a widow's two copper coins, a little boy's
40:39
lunch of five loaves and two fish, a thief's dying breath.
40:43
Remember me. None of these were impressive, none of them
40:46
looked strong, but they were enough because they were offered
40:50
in faith. And God doesn't measure the size of your offering,
40:54
he measures the surrender behind it. Real faith isn't about
40:58
what you feel. It's about what you anchor to. Feelings shift,
41:02
circumstances collapse. But faith says, I will trust him even here,
41:06
even now, even if that's what Haboka cried out, though
41:10
the fig tree does not yet, I will rejoice in
41:13
the Lord heback at three seventeen to eighteen. That's what
41:17
Job declared. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him?
41:22
Job thirteen fifteen. That's mustard seed faith, fragile, barely breathing,
41:28
but planted deep. When Jesus spoke of mustard seed faith,
41:31
he was offering hope to the discouraged. He wasn't raising
41:35
the bar beyond reach. He was lowering it without compromising
41:39
its power. He was saying, if what you have is real,
41:42
even if it's small, even if it's cracked, I can
41:46
move through that. God doesn't need a crowd to move
41:49
if he needs a yes, even if that yes comes
41:52
with shaking hands. Do you know why God honors small faith?
41:56
Because small faith shows you're still facing him. You haven't
42:00
turned back, you haven't walked away, you haven't silenced the
42:03
cry You've stayed even when you weren't sure how, even
42:07
when it hurt, even when nothing changed. You didn't need thunder,
42:11
you didn't demand lightning. You just whispered, I trust you,
42:15
and that whisper shook the heavens. When the disciples failed
42:19
in Matthew seventeen, Jesus didn't disown them. He called them higher.
42:24
He was saying, you tried, but your faith needs to
42:28
return to me, not the outcome. They didn't lose their calling,
42:32
they didn't lose their authority. They just lost their connection,
42:36
and he was inviting them back. You don't need mountain
42:39
size confidence. You need mustard seeds surrender. The power isn't
42:44
in how much you believe, it's in whom you believe,
42:47
because small faith in a big God is infinitely stronger
42:52
than big faith in yourself. So stop disqualifying yourself. Stop
42:56
measuring your worth by emotional strength. Stop assuming God is
43:00
waiting for you to get it altogether. If you're still
43:04
clinging barely, weakly, inconsistently, but truly, that's faith that He
43:09
honors it. Jesus said, a bruised reed he will not break,
43:13
and a smoldering wickie will not snuff out. Isaiah forty
43:17
two three. That's you. That's mustard seed faith, still burning,
43:22
still planted, still his, and that kind of faith can
43:25
still move mountains. This story ends not with a formula,
43:30
but with a father. He wasn't a theologian. He didn't
43:33
have polished prayers or perfect understanding. All he had was
43:39
a son being torn apart and the fragile faith to
43:42
bring him to Jesus. And when he saw that even
43:45
the disciples couldn't help, he didn't walk away. He didn't
43:50
give up. He turned to Jesus and said, what many
43:53
of us are afraid to admit, Lord, I believe, help
43:56
my unbelief Mark nine twenty four. That's not contradiction. That's confession,
44:03
the honest kind, the mustard seed kind, the kind Jesus honors.
44:10
So if you've been wondering is my faith enough, here's
44:13
the truth. Your faith was never meant to be enough.
44:16
It was meant to be real, It was meant to
44:19
be rooted. It was meant to reach for the one
44:22
who is more than enough. Faith was never about perfect confidence.
44:27
It's about imperfect trust placed in a perfect savior. Jesus
44:32
doesn't despise mustard seed faith. He planted the image himself.
44:36
He doesn't demand mountain sized belief. He asks for surrendered soil.
44:42
And if your heart is trembling, your prayers weak, your
44:45
doubts loud, but you still choose to trust him anyway.
44:48
That's faith and it's enough. Maybe you've tried to move
44:52
your own mountain and failed. Maybe others told you your
44:55
faith was too small, too weak, too inconsistent. May be
45:00
religion told you you had to earn miracles through effort,
45:03
but scripture says something better. Faith comes by hearing, and
45:07
hearing by the word of Christ Romans ten seventeen. Faith
45:12
isn't summoned, its nurtured. It's born in the quiet place,
45:16
and it grows through failure and clinging, and it matures
45:19
in surrendered And now maybe it's your turn to say
45:22
it out loud, not because you feel powerful, but because
45:25
you've run out of yourself and into his arms. Say
45:29
it again, Lord, I believe help my unbelief. Because faith
45:33
is not proven by results. It's proven by the fact
45:36
that you came to him, and He never rejects the
45:39
ones who do. Let's pray, Father, we bring you our
45:43
mustard seeds, not our performance, not our perfection, just our
45:48
hearts trembling, cracked but open. You see the places where
45:52
our faith has faltered. You know the weight we carry,
45:55
the child we can't fix, the sickness we can't heal,
45:58
the mountain that hasn't moved, and still we trust you.
46:02
We ask you to deepen our faith, not by giving
46:05
us signs, but by giving us yourself. Remind us that
46:09
the smallest seed planted in surrendered soil will grow in
46:14
ways we can't yet see. Help us not to measure
46:17
our trust by feelings, but by the one in whom
46:20
we've placed it. You are faithful even when we are not.
46:24
You are present even when we feel nothing. You are able,
46:28
even when we feel weak. Grow in us. A faith
46:31
that's alive, rooted, abiding, surrendered, the kind that still believes
46:36
when the answer doesn't come fast, The kind that clings
46:39
to you when the mountain doesn't move, The kind that
46:42
looks like a cross and leads to resurrection. We believe, Lord,
46:48
and where we don't teach us how when Jesus Mighty
46:51
name Amen. If you made it to the end of
46:54
this teaching on mustard seed faith, thank you. It means
46:57
you're not just curious, You're hungry for the truth, and
47:00
that's rare. Our hope is that this didn't just inform you,
47:05
but awaken something inside you, a reminder, a warning, or
47:09
maybe an invitation back to God. If this blessed you
47:13
know there's more waiting add free distraction free on our website.
47:19
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47:23
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47:39
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47:58
even after this video ends. May you carry what you've
48:01
learnt into your day, your family, your world, and may
48:05
you never forget He's still speaking. You're still called. The
48:09
story isn't over. We'll see you in the next one.
48:12
Stay close to the truth,