CALL UNTO ME (Part 3)
Jeremiah 33:3
3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Have you learned the art of truly believing on Christ? You may have faith in him for salvation, but do you have faith in him for daily life and living?
Matthew 17:20 - And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
You say “Yes! That is what I want...Mountain moving prayers!” Well then, there is something to be understood concerning mountain-moving faith! The Bible speaks of……
• No faith - Mark 4:40
• Little Faith - Matthew 14:31
• Great Faith - Matthew 8:10
So then we can all look to ourselves and ask the question - What level of faith do I have? We all need to pray this prayer…
Luke 17:5 - …Lord, Increase our faith.
I think this is a funny statement....not the statement itself, but the circumstances surrounding the statement….
Luke 17:6 - 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.
We often read these verses about moving mountains and removing trees and planting them in the sea and think.... “oh if I could only do that!”…..
This is not the point!
The point was, they were having trouble with enough faith to forgive their brother!
Luke 17:3–4 - Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
…The only mountain that needed to be removed was the mountain of their un-forgiveness....and this could only be done with faith!
Luke 17:5 - No doubt they said… “Lord, Increase our faith.”
Your prayers shall be answered in proportion to your faith
Charles Spurgeon once interviewed George Muller. This was his record of that experience.
“It was my privilege, some two years ago, when at Bristol, to visit the Orphan House of Mr. Müller, and I never saw a more striking or startling exhibition of the power of faith than I did there.
“Mr. Müller supports three hundred orphan children on no resources but his own faith and prayer. When he needs anything, he calls them together, offers supplication to God, and asks that necessaries may be supplied; and, although there are three hundred to be fed, to be clothed, and to be housed, and though they have often been brought so low that there has not been a farthing in their coffers, nor a handful of meal in their barrel, when mealtime has come, there has always been abundance of bread in the house in answer to prayer.
“I shall never forget my interview with that holy man of God. Some gentleman said to me, “I wish you would ask Mr. Müller a question or two, if you see him, as to the foundation of a new Orphan House which he proposes to build to hold seven hundred more children. Now, I feel that three hundred is quite enough for one man to care for; I think it is very absurd for him to have seven hundred more; he will never be able to support a thousand. As to the present Institution, I believe that generous persons hear about it, and send him subscriptions for its maintenance; but as to his supporting seven hundred more orphans, that is impossible.”
“I replied, “I think there is something in what you say. I will ask him when I see him.” But when I saw him, I could not, and dare not, ask him any such questions; and when I saw what a great work he had done by his faith, and began to remark upon it, he said, “Oh! it is only a little thing that I have done; faith could do far more than that. If it were God’s will that I should feed the universe on prayer and faith, I could do it. If I had more faith, it could be accomplished.”
“I was just going to say that, possibly, a thousand orphans would be more than he could support, when he said, “When I got three hundred children, I began to pray God to send me money to build an Orphan House to hold seven hundred more; and I have already £17,000 sent in for it, although I have never solicited a contribution from anybody but the Lord. I believe God has made me to be here, to be to the world a proof that he hears and answers prayer.” I thought so, too, when I saw that huge building, and the many dear children rising up to praise their God, and singing so sweetly in honour of the good Shepherd, who had gathered them like lambs to his bosom, and had gently folded them there."
LORD, increase our faith!
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