Persistent Prayer Grows Small Faith

MT 17:20 “He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.’”

In the beginning of MT 17 Jesus was transfigured. When Peter was mindlessly trying to determine a fitting response God appeared in his Shekinah glory and told Peter, James and John that Jesus was His Son in whom he was well pleased and commanded that they should listen to him. The rest of the chapter follows with examples of how the disciples lacked faith. The first example is when they came down from the mount it was discovered that the other disciples had tried unsuccessfully to heal a demoniac boy. Later the disciples asked for an explanation of their failure, which was a reasonable question since Jesus empowered them to cast out demons in MT 10. Jesus explained their failure was due to “little faith” where if they had only faith the size of the smallest of all seeds or “small faith” then they could move mountains and nothing would be impossible. The principle is clear: God moves powerfully when we believe the power of faith.

So the disciples were given the power to cast out demons, but here they were unable to flip the power switch. If I walk into a dark room I know where the power is at and how to get the power to bring light – I flip the switch. Here, “little faith” is analogous to a failure to flip the power switch. Jesus apparently frustrated at the lack of faith of the disciples, responds by stating that this was a faithless and twisted generation. If I don't trust God and I don't believe in God, I get twisted! For example, I cannot find a job, so I do all I know how to do with all my available resources. The result so far is fear, hopelessness, discontentment, instead of love, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. I should be in worship and prayer – because this incident is not about a job, this incident is about Jesus trying to be in relationship with me. Then I can experience love, peace and joy through a deeper dependent relationship with Christ that is not dependent on my current employment circumstance or any circumstance.

Dr. Luke tells us that immediately prior to being transfigured, Jesus was praying (probably about the cross before him because Dr. Luke also tells us Moses and Elijah were discussing with Jesus about his impending departure). Jesus prayed and God moved. As Jesus came down from the mount of transfiguration, the demoniac boy’s father knelt before Jesus and begged for mercy for his son. The boy’s father worshiped, prayed, and addressed Jesus as Lord and then Jesus healed the boy. The man humbly worshiped and effectively prayed and God moved.

So this all begs the question, why couldn't the disciples flip the power switch they were given in Chapter 10? What is meant by “little faith” that is weak and “small faith” that is powerful? In the past, they would probably lay hands, say something like, “in the name of Jesus be gone” and the demons would split, but not here. Here, the disciples applied what may have become a rote methodical practice and no result. They must have assumed that in this case it was impossible to heal the boy, and their faith must have evaporated. Drawing from my own example of unemployment, I am reminded of the 9th Step Promises in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous where one of the promises is that fear of economic insecurity will leave us. The only way to truly know whether such a fear is gone is to experience economic insecurity. It is easy to believe that I will have resources to pay the rent when I check my account and see a direct deposit, but faith calls me trust especially when the money is not there. All too often I see the empty bank account, hundreds of resumes without response, and I cannot see anyway out and my faith comes to a screeching halt, which brings doubt, despair, and hopelessness. Faith runs out when there is no human way to solve my problem. Worse than that is the truth that such little faith is really no faith at all because faith is the ability to believe God when there are no human resources available.

The disciples did not have their resource available, Jesus and his closest disciples were away on the mountain. Here in the valley, the power resource was not readily available. When they feared death in the middle of the storm (MT 8), Jesus was there. When they did not have food to feed the 5000 (MT 14), Jesus was there. When Peter saw the waves and began to sink (MT 14), Jesus was there. Here, Jesus was gone and so was there faith. Jesus had to ready the disciples for his departure, which was the very subject that was being discussed on the mount between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.

Truth is that the A.A. promise is not always real in my life; I do struggle with this fear, which is “little faith.” This is true, even though I know and believe that God promises to take care of my base needs (MT 5). “Little faith” then is the kind of faith that believes in God when I have available resources to solve life’s problems. The Lord provides! - Easy to say when there is a check coming every week. But little faith can't believe God when it doesn't have available resources. Small Faith – mustard seed size faith – actual faith says I believe God without any available resources. I believe God in the middle of the job search. I believe God though the rent is due and there is no prospect of a job. I believe God though my wallet is forming cobwebs. I believe God though I don't know how I am going to take care of my responsibilities. I believe God.

An important lesson for me to learn is that everything I want and need isn't necessarily going to come the first time I ask God. The disciples tried to cast the demon out and when it did not happen they gave up. Jesus is calling me to persist in prayer. He is trying to stretch my little faith to become faith that is growing. I bet the disciples remembered what Jesus said in MT 13 when he compared faith to a mustard seed. Jesus said, “"The Kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed … when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs …." So the difference between “little faith” and “small faith” is that when the faith is tested, if little – it will die, if small – it will grow! The father of the demoniac had small faith when he said, “I believe, help my unbelief” as opposed to the disciples who had little faith and gave up.

I want my faith to grow. Faith is the basis of my relationship with God and I want to know Him better. So how do I flip the faith power switch? PERSISTENT PRAYER – not once or twice or even for 2 or 3 months – but PERSISTENT PRAYER. I am reminded of Luke 11, right after Jesus taught the disciples to pray (the Lord’s Prayer), He told the story of a man who goes to a friend’s house at midnight for bread, and the friend is more than a little ticked. The result, Jesus says, “[E]ven though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.” The how is the Lord’s Prayer, the when – always and without ceasing - PERSISTENCE.

Enjoy the mountain top experiences because they are rare, but rest assured that the mountain top experience is preparation to enter the valley below. Just imagine, all of the glory of transfiguration on the mount along with the unveiled Christ and Moses and Elijah and the transparent beautiful light radiating from Christ, the glow of the Shekinah, the voice of God, a glimpse of the glory of the Second Coming. Just a few hours after that they descend into the reality of the sin cursed world at its worse. How should I approach the problems of the world? PERSISTENT PRAYER.