How big is a Mustard Seed?

Moses grew up as a prince in the then world power of Egypt. He ran away after he killed an Egyptian slave master in defense of a Hebrew slave. Moses settled in Midian, became a shepherd, and started a family. One day he was called by God to go back to Egypt and lead his fellow Hebrews to freedom in Canaan. Moses came up with several excuses why he couldn’t do what God had asked: “they won’t believe me”, “they won’t listen to me”, “I’m not a good public speaker”, and so on. But a question Moses asked God is interesting. He asked, “Who am I?” It seems that Moses didn’t think he had what it would take to do what God called him to do. He lacked faith in himself, he lacked self-esteem, he seemed to feel like he wasn’t worthy to take on the task. But mostly, he lacked faith in God.

But look at Elijah. Elijah took on 450 so called prophets of the false god Baal in a battle of faith on Mount Carmel. He was so bold and courageous that he mocked the prophets, and their god, when they were unable to bring supernatural fire down to burn their sacrifice. When it came to Elijah’s turn, he prayed to God to bring fire from heaven and show who the one true God was. He didn’t just hope or think that God would respond, he knew it. He knew it and believed it with every fiber of his being! He had a mountain of faith in God’s power, and God delivered in a spectacular way.

Who do you feel like most days? Do you feel like you can’t do what Jesus asks of us and share his good news? Do you lack the faith to change the world?

When some followers of Jesus couldn’t cast a demon out of a boy, they asked Him why. He told them they lacked faith. Then He said that if they only had faith the size of a mustard seed they could move mountains. Did you read that, they could move mountains!

We don’t need to lead a nation to freedom, face down idolatrous hordes, slay a giant, or build a boat to change the world. We only need faith the size of a mustard seed.

How do we grow our faith? Paul wrote in his letter to the Christians in Rome that faith is built by hearing God’s Word preached. We need to worship and study to grow our faith. Solomon prayed for wisdom, we also need to spend time in prayer and be asking for the Spirit to strengthen our faith. Pray for ourselves, pray for each other, pray for the church, just pray!

What could you do with faith the size of a mustard seed?

“Camp” Songs

We watched some videos of singing someone took at Challenge Youth Conference(CYC), in Gatlinburg, TN.  We took our youth group there a few times before I joined the military.  I really miss singing these type of songs like we sung during devo nights at Faulkner University and at Palmetto Bible Camp.  By the way, they are totally appropriate to sing in our worship services at home as well.

What are some of your favorite “camp” songs?

Be careful little ears what you hear!

Its impossible for us to control the words the people around us use, but sometimes we are able to control the people who are around us.  Unfortunately we can’t control who our employers hire to work with us or who is admitted to the schools we attend.

For those of us who work in or study in a harsh environment language wise, Jesus has good news for us!  In Matthew 15:11 He says, “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person”.  Or, its not the things that we hear and see that make us bad people, its what we say and do that define us.

This does not mean the we can surround ourselves with un-Godly things intentionally and not repeat what we see or hear and be ok.  Paul addresses something similar in Romans 6:1-2.  Paul asks, ” Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?”  In other words, do you intentionally commit sins because we know that God will forgive us?  In verse two Paul answers his own question, “By no means!”  This same principal can be applied to who and what we expose ourselves to.

One area that Christians fail in, myself included, is music.  The radio can be a horrible thing for you and your children to listen too.  Good news is there are some wonderful musicians out there that are great to listen to.  Two of my favorites are Acappella, and Faulkner University’s Cornerstone.