The Lord has been speaking to me such a lot lately about 'faith'. I even bought myself a necklace that had been made to look like a mustard seed because the verse in Mark meant such a lot to me. I may write on some of the other things that the Lord has shown me regarding 'faith' but what I want to share today is -
I had been looking at some books at church that folk had donated and one that caught my eye was Ever Increasing Faith by Smith Wigglesworth. I put some coins into the pot and brought the book home.
The very first page quoted the verse in Mark 11:23,24 For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
As I read the verse and then began to read the chapter in Smith's book one word leapt out at me that I'd not really noticed before in the verse. 'Removed'.
Whenever I read about this passage it seemed to be saying 'faith can move mountains' and I'd always thought that was what it said but the actual King James reading says 'whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed ...
Smith Wigglesworth was a great man of faith, he prayed for many a sick person and they were healed, in faith he believed without question that God would answer his prayer. He took Jesus as his word. A short paragraph in his book says of the verse in Mark ... 'Jesus here uses the figure of a mountain. Why does He say a mountain? Because if faith can remove a mountain, it can remove anything. The plan of God is so marvellous that if you will only believe, all things are possible'.
The Lord has certainly opened my eyes to this truth - and the verse in Luke 17:6 tells it this way And the Lord said, if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Plucked up by the root - removed - isn't our Lord wonderful to give us words like this to show us what even the smallest amount of faith can do. We need to grasp hold of what the word is saying to us so next time you pray for someone or something, remember these verses in Mark and Luke - I will.
I just want to finish with what Smith goes on to say at the end of the first chapter of his book.
I believe there are great many people who would be healed, but they are harboring things in their hearts that are as a blight. Let these things go. Forgive and the Lord will forgive you. There are many good people, people that mean well, but they have no power to do anything for God. There is just some little thing that came in their hearts years ago, and their faith has been paralyzed since. Bring everything to the light. God will sweep it all away if you will let Him. Let the precious blood of Christ cleanse from all sin. If you will but believe, God will meet you and bring into your lives the sunshine of His love.
