A Grain of Mustard Seed

You don’t have to have great faith to win a battle against the evil one. All you need is one small seed.

Jesus said that, 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. Matthew 17:20

Jesus was addressing the disciples inability to bring deliverance to an afflicted man.

He said that because of their unbelief they could not cast out the devil.

This is not difficult to understand when you realize that Jesus sent his disciples out to heal the sick and cast out devils. (Just the same commission he has given us today.) How many are doing this?

Most of us when confronted with some guy flaying all over the place and out of his mind would have a hard time dealing with that situation too. Why? Because the devil likes to put on a show! He likes to flex his muscles and say, “See y’all, I’m a tough guy, you can’t handle me!”

To most of us this is intimidating. Not many of us Christians have signed up for the deliverance ministry. Most of us have to be drafted!

Satan does the same thing with our circumstances. They can be so big, so monstrous, so huge that they look like a giant mountain standing in front of our face! A seemingly impossible situation. Intimidating!

What does Jesus say to the disciples who failed to cast out that devil? He confronted their unbelief.

In order to fully understand the correction Jesus was giving we need to look at what unbelief means. In English unbelief is another word for disbelief. In Greek unbelief is apistia which means disbelief, or disobedience.

Disbelief according to the dictionary is the inability or refusal to accept that something is true or real. So, as we can see unbelief can be willful or non willful but either way it is a sin. God himself calls unbelief a sin.

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:12,13

We have established at this point that unbelief is the inability or refusal to believe.

Believe what? Believe that God is able to do what he promised to do!

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Ephesians 3:20,21

Look at the rest of that verse in Hebrews. ‘departing from the living God.”

Unbelief is departing from the living God!

Now that sounds harsh but in the context of this chapter the author is talking about not having a hard heart deceived by sin which causes unbelief. He uses the example of the Israelites who had to wander around in the wilderness because of their constant unbelief.

After seeing all the miracles, you would think that the Israelites would believe in Yehovah and trust him, but they did not. Why? They loved the world! They wanted to go back to Egypt! They distained the ways of God! (Numbers 14)

Do you think that the Lord wants to hog tie a group of people and force them to serve him or else? No, he does not. That is why he gave them over to their sin. Those Israelites never entered the promised land!

It’s the same with us. If we love the world or anything else more that we love God, then we won’t receive his promises either.

After confronting their unbelief, Jesus says two things to his disciples in order to deal with the devil.

He says IF you have just a little bit of faith then you can cast out the devil from your circumstance BUT you must also fast.

In other words, the small seed of faith will be sufficient if you deny your self.

Fasting has some health benefits and is a great religious exercise, BUT its real purpose is to humble you. There is no greater way to humble oneself than to deny the flesh pleasure.

Many Christians miss this point about fasting. They think that fasting is all about developing spiritual prowess. While there is some truth to that, it’s real purpose is to help us die to our sin! In this way we can submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee! (James 4:7)

Therefore, also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Joel 2:12-16

When we fast, we are humbling ourself before the Lord. We get our sin dealt with, including our unbelief. The Lord will reveal to us even hidden sins, we never acknowledged, and yet hinder our walk with him.

When we fast God will hear our prayers and heal our situation. The devil will have to take a hike! The small faith we have in our hearts will grow and become bigger when we submit to the Lord. All we need is a small seed of faith with our fasting. By this we are saying, “Yes, Lord, I am willing.”