Oh Ye of Little Faith

Jesus said,

"Oh ye of little faith."

Nobody wants to have little faith.

So how

do we increase our faith?

How

do we end up with great faith?

This Bible devotion

is going to highlight

a couple of stories about Jesus

and

reveal helpful insights

into growing greater faith.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How to Have Greater Faith

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first story in our Bible devotion is found in

Matthew 6:25-34 NKJV

Jesus is speaking:

"Therefore I say to you,

do not worry about your life,

what you will eat or what you will drink;

nor about your body,

what you will put on.

Is not life more than food and

the body more than clothing?

Jesus continues:

Look at the birds of the air,

for

they neither sow nor reap

nor

gather into barns;

yet

your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

Which of you by worrying

can add one cubit to his stature?

So why

do you worry about clothing? 

Jesus continues

Consider the lilies of the field,

how they grow:

they neither toil nor spin;

and yet I say to you that

even Solomon in all his glory

was not arrayed like one of these.

Jesus continues:

Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

(Or as many of us have grown up hearing, "Oh ye of little faith.")

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

But seek first

the kingdom of God and His righteousness,

and all these things shall be added to you.

Worry

The topic that Jesus was teaching on was

WORRY

specifically- worrying about food, water, and clothes.

~~~

Worry

was the highlighted topic and

the root of the problem was doubt.

Jesus indicated

that the specific kind of doubt was...

Doubting

that your needs will be met.

The scriptures tell us that God wants us to have

Great Faith

that he will provide for us.

Faith was the answer to their worry problem.

Oh, Ye of Little Faith

The disciples had little faith,

and they needed bigger faith.

Notice that Jesus strategically inserted the words “heavenly Father” into his teaching.

"Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns;
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?"

Take note

that even though the Old Testament

indicates that God is our Father,

most people at that time did not really grasp that concept.

Thinking of God

as a loving Father

increases faith in God.

So to conclude this FIRST section:

Jesus taught that we need

more faith to counteract worry.

Strategies to increase FAITH

are in the final section of the page.

The second story in our Bible devotion is found in

Mark 4:35-41 NKJV.

It says, "On the same day, when evening had come, He [Jesus] said to them, 'Let us cross over to the other side.'

Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him.

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.

But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?'

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still!' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

But He said to them, 'Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?'

And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, 'Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!'"

___

The topic here is fear.

The disciples were afraid of physical harm -

possibly dying.

~ ~ ~

The root of the problem is doubt.

There are several different kinds

of doubt

revealed in this story.

The first doubt revealed through the details of the story is

Doubting that you are safe.

They are doubting their safety while being right there in the boat with Jesus.

We all struggle with doubting our safety even though the Lord is always with us.

The second doubt exposed by this story is

Doubting the words of Jesus.

In verse 35, Jesus said, “Let us cross over to the other side.”

The disciples were doubting that they were going to make it to the other side. They were doubting the words of Jesus.

A key unspoken question was: Can we really count on the words of Jesus?

We can easily see how silly the disciples were, but we are just as silly. We all have doubted the words of God.

There is a lot of room for contemplation here for each of us.

The enemy of our soul uses the same doubt tactic against us as he did with Eve in the Garden of Eden when he said, “Did God really say....?”

While we are reading promises in the Bible,
we tend to say in our heart,

“Did God really mean what this verse says?"

"Could God really mean that?”

“Does he really mean that promise for me?”

I used to wonder if God meant his promises for me. I have found strength to increase my faith against that doubt dart from several scriptures. One of my favorites is Psalm 119:38 TLB.

It says, “Reassure me that you promises are for me, for I trust and revere you.”

The third doubt uncovered in the story is

Doubting that God cares.

In Mark 4:38,

the disciples displayed their doubt by shouting,

“Teacher, do you care that we are perishing?”

Doubt many times

has its root in thinking

that

God doesn't care very much about us.

Whatever the doubt darts that are heading our way from the enemy, we need to evaluate what the root of the doubt is and determine solid methods to defeat doubt and grow faith.

We need large faith in order

to deflect doubt darts from the enemy.

~

The promises of God are mainly manifested

in our lives

through our faith.

After this page - consider our page:

Shield of Faith Tips

Learning to Conquer

Conquering

the

"Oh Ye of Little Faith"

syndrome

with

Four Methods

to defeat doubt and Grow Faith.

Method Number One

to conquer the "Oh Ye of Little Faith" syndrome

First - We know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We read that in Romans 10:17.

So we know that our main source and OUR BEST SOURCE for growing our faith is reading verses of the Bible relating to the doubt issue that we have. We need to READ the scriptures and hear them over and over. The repetition produces the faith. Once is not enough.

Note:

 You improve your success

by choosing the

scriptures

that stir your faith up the most

and

say them several times a day.

~

As I mentioned earlier, Psalm 119: 38 deeply inspires me that the promises in the Bible are for me. So I've read it over and over and have memorized that verse.

Note that the Holy Spirit will help you in times of need by bringing to your remembrance scriptures that you have memorized.

Method Number Two

to conquer the "Oh Ye of Little Faith" syndrome

Getting to know God as Father, increases our faith about our material needs being met.

We need to cultivate thinking of ourselves as much loved children of God.

There are wonderful resources out there to help you increase your understanding of the Father's Love. I suggest listening to Jack Frost teaching the Father's love. His resources can be found at Shiloh Place Ministries.

Method Number Three

to conquer the "Oh Ye of Little Faith" syndrome

I have found a helpful strategy to increase my faith in an area.

It is through proclamations.

Regularly speaking proclamations increases my faith.

Proclamations are largely “I will” statements

that set my mind on God's perspective.

For example,

"I will trust God to provide for my needs."

"I will feel safe and secure about my material needs being met."

My Fourth and Final Suggestion

for

increasing Faith

to conquer the "Oh Ye of Little Faith" syndrome

I discovered this idea through a supernatural gift of God. It originates from Mark 4 with Jesus relaxing and resting on the boat while the storm rages around him.

Several years ago, I was upset about something. I felt that my problem was large and urgent. I was telling God in great detail all the troubling aspects of my problem.

I was exasperated, frustrated, irritated – well you get the picture. Then suddenly in my mind, I was aware that I was in a boat with Jesus. Jesus was sitting in the boat resting his head on something with his eyes closed. He was resting peacefully.

I sarcastically blurted out, “Well, you sure must not be upset about all of this.”

Then I stopped.

I began to be aware of the wisdom of God beginning to filter into my mind.

I realized -

No, Jesus wasn't upset about all this. He was at peace. He was at peace, and I want to be at peace.

After all - If the God of the Universe, who knows all things, isn't upset about this, then I shouldn't be.

I then became more relaxed – no totally calm – but a lot better.

I have found myself in the boat with Jesus a number of times since that first time. Each time I know what the point of seeing Jesus is – It is to remind me that the Lord is calm about my situation, and he has everything under control.

I want to conquer the "Oh ye of little faith"

syndrome....

I need to be more like Jesus.

Copyright © 2012 Beth McLendon of Inspirational – Prayers.com

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