In the book of Matthew are a number of cases where the Lord said, “O ye of little faith,” and once or twice He said, “Oh, great is thy faith.” But the Lord didn’t say that very often because instead of great faith, He usually found little. What makes our faith little or great? If we work on it we could come up with great faith.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? Matthew 6:24–25.
Do you anticipate that your life will be something short of what God has for you? Be anxious for nothing. Anxiety is based on a negative anticipation of the worst. It is faith working in reverse. Even faith that would be great is counteracted by a negative faith: contemplating disasters, necessities, and being overwhelmed by many needs and problems.
Verses 26–32: “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life’s span? And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? (There it is, “O men of little faith.”) Do not be anxious then, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or, ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
In the days the Lord spoke that, it was true the Gentiles were seeking material possessions more than the Jews, but today it is a toss-up whether the Gentiles or Jews are seeking those things more eagerly. Covetousness has become the way of life and the idolatry of the end time. Don’t be anxious. Your faith is little because of anxiety. Ninety-five percent of the things you worry about never happen. Believe in the prosperity and blessing of the Lord. The circumstances are not really the relative concern. Just realize we’re blessed children of God and refuse to be anxious, because that will limit and restrict our faith.
And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves; but He Himself was asleep. And they came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” And He said to them, “Why are you timid, you men of little faith?” Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and it became calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” Matthew 8:23–27. Their little faith was born of timidity, and if we stopped and thought about this walk, we too could be fearful, for it is filled with every kind of plausible reason for failure and utter disaster. But let’s consider what they faced when they got on the other side.
Verses 28, 29: And when He had come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs; they were so exceedingly violent that no one could pass by that road. And behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with You, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” That storm just didn’t happen. It was advance notice to the devil world that the Son of God was coming. The demons had no way of knowing but what it was the time they would be sent to the abyss.
Why be timid? Go on into the storm. The assault comes because satanic powers anticipate their imminent defeat. Why should we be afraid? We are in battle because the Lord is proclaiming victory and judgment, and the demons happen to believe it. They are raging and fearful, trying to eliminate as many of us as possible. Don’t be of little faith because you are looking at the things created by Satan against you and fail to see behind them. God is bringing their ultimate defeat, and it is coming. soon. Those two men were possessed of many devils but the Lord said to them, “Begone!” And they came out, and went into the swine, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the waters. Verse 32.
Here is a third illustration of little faith. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking upon the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were frightened, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:25–31.
We have anxiety, fear of the future, and fear because we’re in battles initiated by Satan against us. Then comes the doubt in the middle of the storm because we shift our focus. Great faith never turns away from what God says. Little faith will waver, the focus will shift. Attention and focus that is wholly set upon the Lord and His Word is not moved. Peter was doing fine but he saw the wind and waves and began to sink. The Lord asked him, “Why did you doubt, you of little faith?” Faith has to have a steadfast focus.
If your focus tends to shift from day to day, write behind your name “L.F.” That is a degree meaning little faith. Work up until you get a “G.F.,” great faith. Faith comes in degrees. Little faith comes because you are distracted and shift your attention away from what the Lord is saying and doing; circumstances bid for your attention. You need spiritual blinders, like those put on an old horse so she couldn’t see any unexpected movement which would make her panic. Lord, put blinders on some of us.
In this world it pays to be observant and learn as much as we can, but it’s good to have the simplicity that is in Christ, the kind of focus and supreme mental control so that we can say like Paul, … I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I Corinthians 2:2. Every interest must be limited until nothing is greater than the knowledge of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Our desire to know Him and His will for us should be greater than the hunger for worldly knowledge.
You of little faith, do you doubt because of the winds and waves? Get your eyes off that because the Lord is walking to you on the water. Put your focus on Him. Stop and think, “This is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). Great things are coming.
The last illustration I want to give you on little faith is in Matthew 16. And the disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread. And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they began to discuss among themselves, saying, “It is because we took no bread.” Matthew 16:5–7. They thought, “The Lord has some motive for saying all this. Why would He say, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees?’ He must think we’ve failed Him because we didn’t bring any bread.” Being analytical can get you into a hole; using your reason as a spade, you dig a hole and crawl into it.
But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves because you have no bread?” (The King James version is, “Why do you reason among yourselves?”) “Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many large baskets you took up? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up? How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Verses 8–12. This is what happens in this walk. The Lord will give you a word and you can get hung up on that word or you can prevail by it; by the word you can war a good warfare. On the other hand, if you begin to reason things out on your own, you can bring yourself to a weakened state of faith. “O ye of little faith, why did you reason among yourselves?”
If you intellectuals would understand that God gave you your reason and intelligence, you would stop exalting it against Him or using it to direct your lives. In the first place your intelligence is limited. You don’t even know the beginning of what can be known. You don’t even have all of the facts that you could feed into your mind to analyze and reason your life out. Much of available knowledge is limited because it is based upon prejudice, observance, etc., so who can get a true picture even of history?
Who could know the past or even understand the present? The biggest thing of all is the future and you don’t know a thing about that. You don’t know what will come tomorrow or the next day. No matter how objective you are in reasoning, it’s not a safe guide for your life, nor is it a safe guide in this walk. It is given to you for a good purpose—but not to lead, not to take the throne.
What predominantly motivates your life? What determines your decisions, your attitudes, your feelings? Is it your faith? Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5–6. That kind of faith tunes you into Him who knows the past, the present and the future. Faith is the only safe guide any man has for his life.
Many people have questions about this walk, but a fool persuaded against his will is of the same opinion still. Some people want to listen and to reason but even if they had it all figured out, it still wouldn’t bring them into this walk. It has to be a revelation of the Lord to their own heart. No one can be reasoned into this. The minds of men are challenged in this walk more than in anything that has come in the history of Christianity. This walk will produce some of the greatest Bible students of all time. This is the first time anything has been presented to people where their reason is not the basis of their walk with God—rather, it is their faith and an open spirit toward God. Their minds will be developed as tremendous tools in the hand of God because their spirits are being led by God. This is the basis of faith; reasoning limits your faith.
Let’s look at examples of great faith. And behold, a Canaanite woman came out from that region, and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came to Him and kept asking Him, saying, “Send her away, for she is shouting out after us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, Help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once. Matthew 15:22–28.
This woman had real faith. Real faith is persistent and humble. Very rarely does one find persistence with humility. Sometimes humility is a passive and beat down type of meekness that claims nothing and is persistent for nothing. More often seen is a persistence born of some arrogance that aggressively makes demands, but it has no humility and doesn’t submit unto the Lord.
This woman’s great faith had two qualities: she was persistent and humble. She said, “I’ll take the crumbs,” and was so humble about it that the disciples were really disturbed. Repeatedly they said, “This woman is shouting after us. Send her away.” The Lord was not very complimentary to her, either. He didn’t say, “This is a fine thing. We’re moving into new territory where there will be more Gentiles, and it will be good publicity to heal this girl and show our good will.” He rebuffed her: “You dogs don’t get it.” “But,” she begged, “we’ll take the crumbs that fall from the table—just give us a chance.” He said, “Woman, you have faith: be it done to you exactly the way you asked.”
Learn a lesson from her. Be persistent and humble before the Lord. When we determine to have violent faith, the Lord often does something that humbles us, and instead of continuing on with humility and persistence, we become defeated. Don’t think because we’re humble we can’t be persistent. Humility and persistence are a state of heart. We’re not asking that our flesh be exalted to any degree, but let’s be persistent in claiming that the Lord meet our hearts.
This next illustration is the greatest of all. And a certain centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. And when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. And when they had come to Jesus, they earnestly entreated Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue.” Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not fit for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For indeed, I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go:’ and he goes; and to another. ‘Come;’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this;’ and he does it.” and when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that was following Him, “I say unto you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. Luke 7:2–10. Here is faith that is really great, yet asks only one thing: just a word from God.
We want so many things to bolster us. People hang onto the word but they try also to hang on to what they have seen the ministry accomplish. Their faith is in instrumentalities, methods and procedures, rather than the fact that this is a living word that has come from God. We find ourselves drawn into things that should not be necessary because of people’s small faith. Long exhausting labors result because we have to minister a certain way for people to really believe anything can happen to them. Often they need only the word, “You are whole. Go in peace.” But they would slink away, insulted, like Naaman who expected Elijah to at least strike his hand over the leprosy. It can be as simple as “Speak the word only.” That is a sign of great faith. God has spoken, so we stand on that. We don’t feel short changed if a particular style of ministry doesn’t come.
When this walk first came we were slaves to using the oil bottle; everything had to be anointed with oil because of the wonderful promise in James. Then came the laying on of hands, and people would object, “You blessed me but you didn’t say anything.” So we tried it the other way—we didn’t lay hands on them but just spoke a blessing. However, they didn’t like that; they wanted hands laid on them too. Their faith wasn’t really resting in the word but in the mechanics of ministry. This is why the Lord changed methods. He spit on one man (not many requests ever come for that type of ministry!)—He opened his mouth and spit on his tongue. Another time He spit on the ground, made clay and put it on the man’s eyes. We like certain methods and manners of ministry to people, but Jesus was always doing it differently because He was not creating a form. He was trying to get people to open up to the word of God, “Thus saith the Lord.” Believe the promises of God. Stand upon that word. That’s great faith.
Jesus had not seen such faith as the centurion’s in all Israel. Why? Because this man said, “I am not worthy.” All the Jews were saying he was worthy. Worthiness depends upon who is judging and the yardstick they use to measure by. This man had an honesty of heart. He said, “I am not worthy for you to come under my roof but I am a man who knows what authority and discipline is. I tell a man to go and he goes, to another, ‘Come’ and he comes, to do a thing and he does it. All You have to do is just say one word and my servant will live.”
The Lord has spoken to us, “This is what I have done; simply believe it.” We have had the storms come like the one which came against the disciples when they were on their way over to Gadarenes. We’ve had the wind and the waves hit us as we’ve tried to walk on water. We’ve been tempted to lean on our reason and our understanding. We have had everything hit us to make our faith small, but the thing that makes it great is that we will be persistent and humble before the face of God and stand completely upon the word that God has spoken. That will make us people of great faith.
Stand on the promises. And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in my name, I will do it.” John 14:13–14. Let’s stand on the word. Speak the word only, Lord. All we need is a word from God. Believe it and great will be our faith. Persistently, humbly yielded to the Lord, we will pursue after that word and never waver on it.